The fire district funding emergency services across the Spring area is projecting an $8.1 million budget shortfall for fiscal year 2026-27.

Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9 (ESD 9), which funds the Cy-Fair Fire Department (CFFD), presented the gap at a Thursday, Sept. 10, budget workshop, Community Impact reported. The budget projects $109.6 million in revenue against $117.8 million in expenditures, based on the no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.038548 per $100 of valuation.

Assistant Chief of Administration Mike Clements attributed the shortfall to 49 new full-time employees needed to open and staff Stations 15 and 17. The department is projected to keep running shortfalls in future years as it adds stations and personnel to match community growth.

Commissioners are split on how to close the gap. At the Aug. 27 regular meeting, the board proposed a higher tax rate of $0.045 per $100 of valuation in a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Rob Paiva and Jaime Martinez voted against it.

Martinez suggested cutting a proposed 4.2% employee compensation increase instead. The Thursday, Sept. 10, workshop laid out three options: a 3.2% raise saving $730,119, a 2.2% raise saving $1.5 million, or no raise saving $3 million. Clements said the 4.2% figure reflects a rolling five-year Social Security cost-of-living adjustment average.

Martinez also floated selling unused district land and negotiating with special-purpose districts inside ESD 9's boundaries for a share of their sales tax revenue.

Commissioner Cameron Dickey argued the district has kept its tax rate low compared to other Texas emergency services districts. He called the increase modest, saying the proposed rate would cost the average homeowner less than two coffees a month.

"We need to protect this community as it grows; that's our job up here [on that dais]," Commissioner Naressa MacKinnon said at the Thursday, Sept. 10, workshop. "If that means raising taxes by a menial amount, then that's what needs to happen."

Fire Chief Amy Ramon said at the Sept. 10 workshop that emergency services districts were intended to be sustained by property tax revenue. At the Aug. 27 meeting, Ramon said the district would have to draw down cash reserves at any rate below the voter-approval threshold.

Commissioner Bevin Gordon said at the Aug. 27 meeting that the district would need to tap reserves with any rate chosen below the voter-approval rate.

Three of the five ESD 9 commissioner seats, held by Paiva, MacKinnon and Dickey, are up for election Nov. 3. The commissioners voting on the budget Sept. 24 may not hold their seats after November.

General Counsel David Manley said commissioners can lower the proposed rate before adoption but cannot raise it. The budget document will be posted on the CFFD website after adoption, according to Chief Ramon.

The board meets at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, for a final budget workshop at the District Administration Building, 10710 Telge Road, Cypress. The budget adoption vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at the same location.