These are real governments with taxing power, governed by boards almost nobody can name. They are the least-watched ring in this section, and they are funded out of the same tax bill as everything else.
A special district is a single-purpose government: it exists to do one thing — water, drainage, emergency services, economic development, a hospital, a college — and it has its own board and its own claim on revenue.
Because they are single-purpose and their board elections are small, they draw very little attention relative to the money they move. A resident can be inside several at once without ever having voted in one of their elections.
School districts belong to this family too, and are usually the largest single line on a Texas property tax bill.
Deer Park's sales-tax districts — police, fire and EMS, and development — are on the record with their own page, and the school district has one of its own.
The Council on Local Relations does one thing: it establishes the record and keeps it honest. We do not organize, campaign, or tell you what to do about any of it — the moment we did, every fact above would be worth less.
Want to do something about it? That is Think and Act Locally — a separate organization, where residents meet about what the record shows.