City hopes agreement with fire service lowers insurance rates

Three months after learning that homeowners in Cotulla may be paying higher insurance rates than those living in outlying areas and in Encinal, city councilors have added the La Salle Fire Rescue to an agreement for response within city limits.

In a decision Thursday evening, June 12, councilors described the contract as a formality for documentation with the Insurance Services Office (ISO), which had earlier rated the city at level 10, the lowest possible score in an emergency services assessment.

Members of the La Salle Fire Rescue and county government representatives celebrated an unprecedented high rating of Level 2 for the county and the city of Encinal, a score achieved through documentation of updated response equipment, firefighter availability and training, and response times.

In a February 10 presentation to county commissioners, La Salle Fire Chief Daniel Mendez produced a letter from the ISO confirming that the county’s rating had been improved from a Level 5 to a Level 2, based on a September 2024 inspection.

The rating affects the estimated risk of loss to structures and property in the designated coverage area and the amount property owners are charged for their insurance coverage. A favorable rating equates to a lower level of risk because of improved emergency response services, and is expected to carry over into savings on insurance premiums, the fire chief said.

An estimated mere five percent of the fire departments across the United States are presently rated at Level 2, the fire chief told commissioners in February.

According to both county government, city councilors and the fire service itself, the La Salle Fire Rescue has responded to emergency calls from within Cotulla city limits since the brigade’s inception more than 12 years ago.

According to the late-2024 evaluation by the ISO, however, the city of Cotulla itself is served only by the Cotulla Volunteer Fire Department, which is not equipped with a ladder truck and does not list response times to emergency calls as low as those documented by the county-paid brigade.

“Apparently, there was never an agreement,” City Attorney Steve Pena told councilors of the discrepancy between the county and city ISO ratings. Councilors had learned from interim administrator Juanita Fonseca at a March 27 meeting that the city’s Level 10 rating from the ISO was lowest with which a municipality could be tagged.

“This is the worst you can get,” Fonseca told councilors at their March meeting. “The only option is to partner with the county, and they have agreed to remedy this with an interlocal agreement.”

Atty. Pena echoed county government and fire service representatives in saying he believes an improved ISO rating will affect property owners’ insurance rates and produced a contract which documents an agreement already in effect.

“This is plain vanilla,” the city attorney said of the brief contract between the city and the county fire service. “It just states that in the case of structure fires in the city of Cotulla, the La Salle Fire Rescue will respond, which in fact they already do.”

“This is a formality, the way I see it,” Mayor Sandra Luna said last week. “This is for the ISO rating. This puts us under county response.”

“The issue was the lack of a contract,” Atty. Pena said, adding that he has offered the new document to Atty. Keith Franklin, the legal counsel to the La Salle County Commissioners’ Court, and that the agreement is being readied for the court to approve.

“As long as the county approves it before July, we are good to go,” interim administrator Fonseca said, and added that the ISO assessment is offered every five years.

The decision to sign the contract for emergency fire services inside city limits was made on a motion by Councilor Manuel Rodriguez, seconded by Councilor Mary Koraleski and supported by Councilors Trish Garcia and Gilbert Ayala. Councilor Alejandro Garcia was granted an excused absence from the meeting due to a scheduling conflict.