A citizen petition was officially accepted as valid by the Fairfield Hospital District Board during a Special Called Meeting on Thursday, December 12, 2019.
Citizens are requesting an election to be held in the District concerning the question of reducing the tax rate for the current year, 2019.
The petition was deemed valid as signatures for at least ten percent of registered voters in Fairfield Hospital District were deemed valid.
Fairfield Hospital District includes 6,046 registered voters, meaning that at least 605 signatures were required for a valid petition.
Of the 691 signatures obtained, 669 were deemed valid.
Twenty-two signatures were invalidated for one of three reasons:
–12 were not registered to vote in Fairfield Hospital District,
–8 filed affidavits requesting their signature be removed from the petition, and
–2 signatures were illegible, and could not be validated.
Fairfield Hospital District encompasses a large portion of Freestone County and a small section of Navarro County.
An initial review of the signatures shows 115 residents of Navarro County signing the petition.
That makes up 36.6 percent (just over a third) of the 314 voters registered in Fairfield Hospital District that live in Navarro County.
Looking at those residing in Freestone County, a total of 10.1 percent (or, one tenth) of these registered voters signed the petition.
As the citizen petition has been determined to be valid, the Board is required to order an election.
This action was tabled until the Board’s next Regular Scheduled meeting.
