Crandall residents question outside PAC’s involvement as Mayor calls for disclosure of fire district’s existing debt and future spending plans
Crandall voters will decide in November whether to approve an additional property tax that would increase the overall property tax rate paid by Crandall families and businesses by approximately 11%.
Crandall’s City Council did not call the election. The fivemember, unelected Board of Commissioners overseeing Kaufman County Emergency Services District No. 7 called the election in August.
Crandall Mayor David Lindsey and several City Council members have publicly opposed the proposed annexation and the additional property tax it would impose on Crandall families and businesses.
If approved, the proposal would annex Crandall into ESD No. 7, imposing an additional ESD property tax on Crandall homeowners and businesses on top of the property taxes they already pay. The additional revenue would go to ESD No. 7, a separate governmental taxing entity, not the City of Crandall.
But as the election approaches, questions are emerging about who is financing the campaign to convince Crandall residents to approve the tax increase, and why a political action committee based nearly 200 miles away in the Houston area is involved.
Campaign signs supporting the annexation and tax increase identify Texans United for Education, a political action committee based in Katy, Texas, as the organization paying for them.
According to Texas Ethics Commission records, the PAC’s campaign treasurer is Henry Dibrell, a former Katy Independent School District trustee and founder of Dibrell & Associates, a political consulting firm based in the Houston area.
The PAC’s publicly documented political activity has largely centered on the Katy and Fort Bend County area, including involvement in education- related political matters. Its available filings also identify Dibrell & Associates as a significant financial contributor.
That background is prompting questions about what interest a Houston-area political organization with no apparent ties to Crandall has in a local election that would increase property taxes on local families and businesses.
The sudden appearance of campaign signs has the Crandall Mayor asking why a PAC associated with Katyarea education politics is spending money to influence a fire district tax-increase election in Crandall, who requested its involvement, and who is ultimately financing the campaign.
Mayor Lindsey is calling for greater financial transparency from ESD No. 7 about the debt and future spending obligations Crandall taxpayers could be helping finance if the annexation is approved.
Since a previous annexation proposition failed in November 2025, ESD No. 7 has purchased several parcels of land and begun planning two additional fire stations, along with administrative and training facilities.
Neither of the proposed additional fire stations is located within Crandall’s city limits.
Lindsey says residents deserve a complete accounting of the district’s financial commitments before being asked to approve another layer of property taxation.
“Before Crandall taxpayers are asked to take on an additional tax, they deserve to know exactly how much debt this district already has and how much more it plans to incur,” Lindsey said. “We’re talking about new fire stations, administrative facilities, additional personnel and potentially millions of dollars in financial obligations. How much of that debt will Crandall families and businesses be expected to help pay? Those are questions that should be answered before anyone casts a ballot.”
The Mayor is calling on ESD No. 7 to publicly disclose its current outstanding debt, construction budgets for planned facilities, projected additional borrowing, existing and anticipated annual debt payments, and operating costs associated with fulltime firefighters expected to be hired this fall.
The annexation proposal was initiated by ESD No. 7, not the Crandall City Council. City leaders have questioned why annexation is necessary when Crandall and ESD No. 7 already cooperate through mutual-aid agreements to provide emergency services.
For Crandall voters, the November election presents two significant questions: whether residents should pay an additional property tax to join ESD No. 7, and whether they have been given enough information about the district’s financial obligations and the outside political interests supporting the campaign.
“Crandall taxpayers are the ones who will be paying this additional tax, not a political consultant in Katy,” Lindsey said. “They deserve to know who is behind this campaign, why they’re involved, and exactly what financial obligations our residents could be taking on.”
Voters will have the final say in the November election.