 The county is responsible for providing essential services (except for fire and ambulance, which are often supplied by volunteer fire departments).Unlike other US states, Texas does not allow for consolidated city-county governments.Cities and counties (as well as other political entities) are permitted to enter "interlocal agreements" to share services (as an example, a city and a school district may enter into agreements with the county whereby the county bills for and collects property taxes for the city and school district; thus, only one tax bill is sent instead of three).