Item 5 Passedunofficial
In plain language — from the agenda backup
This is the annual handshake that keeps Austin-Travis County EMS working as one system: an interlocal agreement for the City to run emergency medical services in the parts of Travis County outside city limits and to provide dispatch support for the County's STAR Flight helicopter program. It matters because ambulance coverage for unincorporated Travis County — the ranchettes, subdivisions, and rural roads past the city line — rides on this arrangement. Travis County pays the City up to $19,546,639 in Fiscal Year 2026-2027, a 3.5 percent bump from what it paid the year before.
The official agenda language
Authorize negotiation and execution of an interlocal agreement with Travis County to provide emergency medical services in areas of Travis County outside the City’s corporate limits and dispatch support services to Travis County’s STAR Flight program in exchange for payment by Travis County in an amount not to exceed $19,546,639 in Fiscal Year 2026-2027. Funding: Under the interlocal agreement, the County’s payment to the City in Fiscal Year 2026-2027 will be a 3.5 percent increase from its payment in Fiscal Year 2025-2026.
"Hearing none without objection. The consent agenda is adopted." — meeting transcript (unofficial)
What got said
- Phillip Fitzgerald opposed, arguing Austin taxes should not subsidize EMS services for non-Austin areas.