Does anyone know this water bill fee? (Houston, Galveston: attorney, purchase)
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We can all see the subsidence. Heck 1960 @ I 45 used to sink 1/2 inch a year.
MY quarrel is the way development happens in Texas. There has never been any kind of thought to long range planning. Citizens have to rely on civil employees, whether they work for the county, the city, the MUD or the RWA. We are always playing catch-up and it is expensive.
For many tears, any fool with money could put in a well and an inferior sewage treatment plant, run a pipe to the creek and call himself a developer. Most of them sold the lots, created banks to do the financing, hired some builders and laughed all the way to Switzerland.
I grew to love John Hill when he stopped development in Houston until they fixed their non existent sewage treatment.
My own MUD president declared the sanitary sewer smell coming from the storm sewer was impossible, but they finally fixed it.
I still think it is all a RICO type racket.
We all know that Texas cannot supply future water needs. Has anybody in Texas suggested not growing until we can handle the growth?
While development in Texas is by no means perfect, your complaints will fall on deaf ears in the political and development world. Politicians are not inclined to oppose expansion. After all, more people means not only more voters, but a larger tax base. The governor has even implemented a campaign in other states urging their business to relocate to Texas for more favorable tax treatment. On a recent business trip, I even saw the ads in Chicago. That said, the infrastructure problems (water, sewer, and roads) are not a problem unique to Texas. They are an issue across the entire nation, and repairing and maintaining those facilities will become the responsibility of this generation instead of those who haphazardly began them.
If these infrastructure problems are nationwide it puzzles me that the congress is fixing to throw the doors open to more people. It is counterintuitive.
We are running out of clean water, the air is dirty, there is no place to put the sewage so let's get more business and more people in texas. Everybody's doing it so it must be OK.
Those MUD guys needed another source of income. Another way into our pockets for the lawyers, engineers and accountants.
Most likely. MUDs are quite possibly the most untransparent government entities in the state and are an embarrassment. They are run by attorneys, it's often hard as hell to figure out when and where they meet, a lot of them don't have websites or any other regular form of communication with tax payers (aside from bills), etc.
Usually the process by which they are created is slimy. Developer gets some deadbeat or poor college student to live in a trailer on the land for the requisite period of time and then they vote to create the MUD. Then the developer takes out a lot of debt that will get stuck to the future residents to that the develop can construct what is often shoddy infrastructure.
I'm not anti-development by any means - in fact, I am extremely pro-development. I just would rather cities, counties or developers pay for the infrastructure directly rather than sending it through opaque middle-men MUD boards.
My MUD post notice of elections and other required public notices on a telephone pole that is on a busy street, with no place to park. We can only contact a board member if we know who they are and where they live. If they are unknown to us, all contact is through the lawyer. Bet if I email the lawyer with a question or to contact a trustee, the charge is 125 dollars per 15 minutes. The last election for trustee was held in a homeowners living room. We had to knock on the door to vote and it cost the taxpayers $25,000. We have < 2000 hookups.
The only way to identify who they are is the public notice of rates they all put in the paper in the fall.
While I would not dare to argue that MUDs are the most perfect form of government by any means, there are some misconceptions in the statements above. First, the reasons MUDs exists is because counties and cities are unwilling or unable to provide for that necessary infrastructure. Therefore, it lands on developers. They have two options. They can either upfront all of the money and build that into their home prices, or a MUD can be created and the payback comes when there is enough value on the ground to support reimbursement for those projects from bonds. Please note that in order to be eligible for reimbursement, the items must comply with all Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules and regulations...including that the contracts are publicly bid. The improvements must meet State standards, so to say they are shoddy is a State regulation issue. The bottom line is that the homeowner will be paying for the infrastructure regardless of the system. However, having a MUD in place at the very least ensures that there are legal requirements for what the developer chooses to spend the money on and historically it has worked out cheaper than adding it to the home prices up front.
The creation of MUDs is by no means an ideal process. In order for a MUD to be created they have to be voted on by people who live in that District. When a developer is dealing with raw land, there are no voters, so yes people live in trailers temporarily in order to comply with the law. However, once people move into that District, any member of the community who lives in the District, is welcome to run and serve as a member of the Board. Turnout for MUD elections is historically low, so it is very easy to be elected. Once again, the complaints regarding the election are somewhat valid, but there is not much your MUD can do about it. They must comply with State election law regarding where they put the notices. Further, the election must be held in the boundaries of the District. If you live in a solely residential District without a community center or the like, that unfortunately means someone's house. Your MUD board does not want to jump through all of those hoops either. They would like to make it easier for voters, but unfortunately often times the election laws make it costly and more frustrating.
As for transparency, MUDs are actually more transparent than other forms of government. When you move into your home, you are given a Notice to Purchaser which not only indicates how many bonds your MUD could issue, but how much debt they do have. Further, all of their information including public information forms must be submitted to the TCEQ. You are correct that many MUDs do not have websites...the reason for this is 2-fold. First, despite what you may think, MUDs constantly have to balance costs and while it does not seem like much website administration does cost money. Second, there are significant rules regarding what can be placed on that website. At the end of the day, the MUD can put hardly anything so it turns out not to be a very useful tool.
As for their administration, MUDs usually meet on the same day every month at the same time and location. There is always an agenda item that says public comment. They are public meetings. MUD boards are more than welcome to have residents attend, and in my experience, they are more than will to answer my silly questions. The easiest way to figure out when they meet is to just call the operator on your bill. Operators tend to be incredibly helpful folks.
Also, as public entities, they are subject to the open records act. What this means is that except for a few items (like the Director's personal DL number and such), you can ask for any record of the MUD and receive it. You want to know their budget? Sure, they will give it to you. You want to know about their testing results? They will give those to you. Finally, most MUDs do not have staff, so their administration falls to the attorney's office in most instances. Yes, that attorney is going to charge you if you call them to quiz them about the District. They are doing their job and should be paid for that. However, their fee is markedly lower for doing so than having a full time staff. If there was a staff with salaries, guess who would pay for that? You! Also, you would have to pay for a facility for them to work at....and health insurance...and deal with tax implications....
In short MUDs are not perfect, but they are not the bullies some people believe. In my experience, the Boards are down to earth people who are willing to answer your questions. Just go to a meeting. We do not live in a magical world where water and sewer systems are free-they cost money and a lot of it. Most Districts are really trying to spend your tax dollars as reasonably as possible and watch out for your best interests. After all, the Board members are your neighbors and they do not like high tax rates any more than you do.
While I would not dare to argue that MUDs are the most perfect form of government by any means, there are some misconceptions in the statements above. First, the reasons MUDs exists is because counties and cities are unwilling or unable to provide for that necessary infrastructure. Therefore, it lands on developers. They have two options. They can either upfront all of the money and build that into their home prices, or a MUD can be created and the payback comes when there is enough value on the ground to support reimbursement for those projects from bonds. Please note that in order to be eligible for reimbursement, the items must comply with all Texas Commission on Environmental Quality rules and regulations...including that the contracts are publicly bid. The improvements must meet State standards, so to say they are shoddy is a State regulation issue. The bottom line is that the homeowner will be paying for the infrastructure regardless of the system. However, having a MUD in place at the very least ensures that there are legal requirements for what the developer chooses to spend the money on and historically it has worked out cheaper than adding it to the home prices up front.
The creation of MUDs is by no means an ideal process. In order for a MUD to be created they have to be voted on by people who live in that District. When a developer is dealing with raw land, there are no voters, so yes people live in trailers temporarily in order to comply with the law. However, once people move into that District, any member of the community who lives in the District, is welcome to run and serve as a member of the Board. Turnout for MUD elections is historically low, so it is very easy to be elected. Once again, the complaints regarding the election are somewhat valid, but there is not much your MUD can do about it. They must comply with State election law regarding where they put the notices. Further, the election must be held in the boundaries of the District. If you live in a solely residential District without a community center or the like, that unfortunately means someone's house. Your MUD board does not want to jump through all of those hoops either. They would like to make it easier for voters, but unfortunately often times the election laws make it costly and more frustrating.
As for transparency, MUDs are actually more transparent than other forms of government. When you move into your home, you are given a Notice to Purchaser which not only indicates how many bonds your MUD could issue, but how much debt they do have. Further, all of their information including public information forms must be submitted to the TCEQ. You are correct that many MUDs do not have websites...the reason for this is 2-fold. First, despite what you may think, MUDs constantly have to balance costs and while it does not seem like much website administration does cost money. Second, there are significant rules regarding what can be placed on that website. At the end of the day, the MUD can put hardly anything so it turns out not to be a very useful tool.
As for their administration, MUDs usually meet on the same day every month at the same time and location. There is always an agenda item that says public comment. They are public meetings. MUD boards are more than welcome to have residents attend, and in my experience, they are more than will to answer my silly questions. The easiest way to figure out when they meet is to just call the operator on your bill. Operators tend to be incredibly helpful folks.
Also, as public entities, they are subject to the open records act. What this means is that except for a few items (like the Director's personal DL number and such), you can ask for any record of the MUD and receive it. You want to know their budget? Sure, they will give it to you. You want to know about their testing results? They will give those to you. Finally, most MUDs do not have staff, so their administration falls to the attorney's office in most instances. Yes, that attorney is going to charge you if you call them to quiz them about the District. They are doing their job and should be paid for that. However, their fee is markedly lower for doing so than having a full time staff. If there was a staff with salaries, guess who would pay for that? You! Also, you would have to pay for a facility for them to work at....and health insurance...and deal with tax implications....
In short MUDs are not perfect, but they are not the bullies some people believe. In my experience, the Boards are down to earth people who are willing to answer your questions. Just go to a meeting. We do not live in a magical world where water and sewer systems are free-they cost money and a lot of it. Most Districts are really trying to spend your tax dollars as reasonably as possible and watch out for your best interests. After all, the Board members are your neighbors and they do not like high tax rates any more than you do.
Thank you for the tutorial. My MUD meets in a hard to get into gated community where there is no guest parking. The building they meet in is shaped like a donut. I have attended many meeting. Due to the shape of the room, the placement of their chairs and tables, the many MUD employees, yada yada, visitors cannot hear a word being said.
Visitors are ignored or treated as a pesky bother. There is never an offer of public comment, even at a declared public hearing. Just like the many kinds and flavors of HOA's, there are all kinds of MUD trustees. The one I live in does everything they can to obfuscate.
The trustees are MUD lawyer shills. A couple rented out their houses in this MUD to move into trailers to form a MUD for another developer. They got a real good price on a new house for their trouble
Didn't some MUD trustees up in north Harris county go to jail a couple of years ago for buying thousands worth stuff at the Depot on the MUD credit card?
It is unfortunate that has been your experience with your MUD. If you have the time and the desire to get more involved to effect change, I would suggest running for one of the Director spots in the next election cycle. If the MUD is so frustrating, I am sure you would have no problem rallying your neighbors to vote for you. It would be advantageous for your voice to be heard, because given the facts you presented the MUD Board is not acting in the manner it should.
As for the statement about MUD directors being prosecuted in north Harris County, that is absolutely correct. They received four years in prison for their actions, and their actions not only horrified tax-payers, but other MUD directors throughout the industry. That misconduct was discovered through an open records request whereby the person making the request analyzed the bookkeeper's reports. While people should not have to take that action and babysit their elected officials, you have the right to request their records and they have to give them to you. That said, you cannot take the misconduct of one Board and apply that to every MUD. Harris County alone has hundreds of MUDs. Most people who serve on those boards follow the law. However, when an individual commits a crime, they should be punished to the full extent of the law...just as they should be if they work for a city or a county. On the other hand, if you're trying to make some type of correlation with this instance to prove your point, you may want to rethink that strategy.
Nervous, as a matter of fact a trustees recently died. The Board appointed his replacement. I did, in fact, volunteer my Civil engineer, by degree husband for the job. Never heard a word from anybody.
The notice of election is posted on the utility pole. I will start watching for the notice early next spring. The thought of spending 4 years of his life around people who are that ethically challenged leaves DH cold. But, it needs doing.
i just received my water bill and compared it to the last two months.the rwa fee went up from$4 to $8 to $21 in the space of 3 months and my water usage has only risen slightly because of watering the yard a bit more..the basic water bill is still at around $45 or so..this is a ripoff and you cannot tell me there have been tons of improvements in the way our water is processed,purifed and sent through the pipes..i have lived in houston/spring since 1977,so i do know how the utlities are in this city..something just isnt right!!!
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