Mud (Houston, Dallas, Plano: lease, attorney, houses)

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by nervouslaughter

Complain all you want, but the City is ill-equipped to provide those necessities for you and they cost money. What you may envision as a "cash cow" is merely a group of people ensuring you have adequate water and sewer facilities.

Did you stop the clock for billable hours when you finished typing this?

Sorry I can't help myself

[nervouslaughter]

Originally Posted by ipuck

Did you stop the clock for billable hours when you finished typing this?

Sorry I can't help myself

Haha. Nope. No more than you perusing this site during work hours.

Edit: Btw, I tracked it in 8 minute increments. Where should I send your bill?

[usc619]

Originally Posted by nervouslaughter

While every MUD is different (and some of them are better than others), it is unfair to paint them all as "cash cows." For better or worse, they are a necessary financing vehicle for development to occur in the Houston area (and more increasingly across the State). While I could take the time to walk you through the fallacies in much of this chain, this comment solely addresses election to the Board of Directors. Initially, the Board of Directors is typically an appointed group of individuals. This is due to the fact that when a MUD is created there are no residents to take those spots. Generally, once a resident inquires as to Board membership, one of those appointed Directors steps down and the resident can take that spot. There is no election required for this process. If a person chooses to run in an election and the Board has a non-resident member, generally that member steps down and lets the resident have their spot. In this instance the election is cancelled. If the Board is composed entirely of residents within that MUD, then the election will be held on the standard election date. There is no secret as to when this will be, because it is the same for the entire area. If you are headed to the polls to vote in the Spring of an election year, you will see a MUD Board election. Yes, they also advertise in a newspaper, because that is required by law. However, most potential directors have already been frequent attendees at meetings or have communicated with the District, so the publication is just an extra step.

The Board of Directors picks the time and the location for the meeting. Yes, you are correct that many of those meetings happen at lunch time at the attorneys' office. This is for a couple of reasons. Generally, folks are working downtown so they come to the meetings on their lunch hour instead of driving to their neighborhood. Also, MUDs do not have employees. They have consultants who are paid for their time. If a MUD decides to have an in-District meeting, the District has to pay for the additional time for all of the consultants to travel to the District. That includes the bookkeeper, the operator, the attorney, the tax assessor-collector, etc. If the meeting is at the attorney's office, those fees usually equal an hour of time for each person. However, for example, if your attorney is driving to Katy for a 6pm meeting, they are battling rush hour and must drive back as well, so you are paying for up to 3 hours. Basically, it means a meeting will cost three times as much, and that money comes from the tax-payers (aka-you, the resident). Therefore, having at the attorney's office is more often a cost saving measure, rather than a plot to keep the residents in the dark. At the end of the day, MUDs are public entities that are subject to the open records act. If you have a question, call the attorney's office and they will answer your questions and give you any documents you want to see. They have to by law. You may have one or two bad apples who will cause a fuss, but at the end of the day, they are there to serve the residents. Their job is to make sure you can flush your toilet and wash your dishes. Complain all you want, but the City is ill-equipped to provide those necessities for you and they cost money. What you may envision as a "cash cow" is merely a group of people ensuring you have adequate water and sewer facilities.

Nonsense, MUDs are indeed a cash racket

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by usc619

Nonsense, MUDs are indeed a cash racket

I'd rather pay mud tax than live with well water/septic tanks. That's an option if you wanted to start a neighborhood and offer that as an option

[nervouslaughter]

Originally Posted by usc619

Nonsense, MUDs are indeed a cash racket

Typical expected response for those unwilling to learn about something that affects their wallet directly.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by nervouslaughter

Typical expected response for those unwilling to learn about something that affects their wallet directly.

Yea ok lol

[ipuck]

Originally Posted by nervouslaughter

Typical expected response for those unwilling to learn about something that affects their wallet directly.

I have to ask, how could something as important as this could not be part of the regular city utility infrasture in the first place?

This is like a cook up scheme so fat cats can lined their pockets with all sort of fees. If you look up some of the local papers, it is all those notice for MUD hearing.

How many of them are there? If it is so common, why is the city/county not taking responsible for this?

Instead we get lawyers, accountants, board members, consultants all with bucket in hand.

[theking_z]

So, how do you figure out about when you MUD tax should end? I am in Harris-FB MUD 5 and I know that my subdivision is about 12 years or so old. Should I be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel anytime soon?

[nervouslaughter]

MUDs were originally created to serve areas not in city limits. It was faster and more efficient to get the utilities in place so many cities consented to MUDs with the intent of one day annexing those areas. Turns out the cities didn't have the man power or the money to fund them. Therefore, the trend is for the MUDs to stay. The alternative to MUDs would be to stall development. That would just limit supply and drive up prices even higher. By no means are MUDs perfect, but find me any entity, govt or private, that is.

As for when they'll go away, it depends on so many factors. Instead of building new infrastructure, maintenance and repair must be funded. Typically districts will save up for that. You do not want to be broke when something happens that needs repair...just as you wouldn't in your own home. Save up for rainy days. Btw, by law each MUD district has to have an audit every year and it is available to the public. All you have to do is ask the MUD and they're required to give it to you in 10 days. There you can see exactly where the money is spent. For those that will/have looked at the cost breakdown, you'll see consultant fees. Those fees are significantly lower than actually employing a full time staff like the city, and I'm sure you're aware of the issues with city overhead.

One other thing...water is not cheap. It's been heavily subsidized for years and people are now just having to pay for it. Water is a necessity and people complain about water restrictions, water tastes, water bills, etc., yet those same people are willing to dish out more money for their cable, cell phones, fiber optic internet, lotto tickets, and so on.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by ipuck

I have to ask, how could something as important as this could not be part of the regular city utility infrasture in the first place?

This is like a cook up scheme so fat cats can lined their pockets with all sort of fees. If you look up some of the local papers, it is all those notice for MUD hearing.

How many of them are there? If it is so common, why is the city/county not taking responsible for this?

Instead we get lawyers, accountants, board members, consultants all with bucket in hand.

It should be part of every city's infrastructure, but if the city can get out of taking up the responsibility(and still tax you for other services) and pass the buck to a MUD..... It's a win win situation. Yes MUDs are pretty much ran by lawyers, etc... all with buckets in hand. MUD are big business in Texas, just like ISDs