Resident Advocates for your MUD board

Election Day is May 4, 2024

Please take the time to vote in the May 4 Election. Voter turnout is very low and just a couple of votes could decide these races. Many of the incumbents are trying to pass a $288 million dollar solution to fix our aging waste plant infrastructure. It's so expensive because it's using state of the art MBR technology that will require the use of eminent domain to purchase adjoining land. The proposed increases to your water bill are so incredible it's best to take a step back and see if there's a more reasonable solution to fixing our aging infrastructure at waste plant number 1.

In fact in April the trustee board voted to spend $50,000 on a study to find out what it would cost to repair the plant that we have now, in place. Before waiting for that study to even come back some MUDs preemptively decided to spend $40 million anyway.

This slate (see this Resident First Slate Card) of folks got together, some of them engineers and accountants and have ideas for a much more fiscally responsible solution. Give us a chance to save you money. See video clips below, very short, of the proposed increases, the planned expenditures, and ask yourself - shouldn't we look into cheaper solutions to fix our waste plant number 1!?

Polls close for good on May 4 at 7pm.

MUD 47

In this short clip Erich Peterson General Manager of Woodlands Water Agency describes how our annual average water bill now is $104 and how it would more than double if we chose the most expensive solution to fixing our waste water infrastructure.

I find that the clips start at the right time when viewing this video on a larger computer but sometimes start at beginning of meeting when viewing this webpage on a cellphone. Go to minute marker 43:43 if it starts at the beginning for you.

MUD 1

In this clip we see that water bills will be so high that one director seems pleased he won't be around when they're that high. He was just joking I'm sure but this clip is worth watching to capture the magnitude of the price increases coming your way if you don't get involved enough to vote for a more fiscally responsible solution to our aging infrastructure.

Go to minute marker 31:58 if this video starts at the beginning for you.

The 40 million dollars approved last month

Not all MUDs approved this $40M expenditure, and with good reason. MUD 47 is an example; here SJRA describes their ask of 40 million to 'keep the design stage moving' - design of a $288 million dollar state of the art waste plant using eminent domain to buy more land.

What's wild (and fiscally imprudent even) is that in the previous months trustee meeting $50,000 was approved just to find out what it would cost to repair the current waste plant in place.

Why not wait for that $50,000 study to come back before voting to spend $40M. Thanks to MUD 47 for not voting for this.

Trustee meeting $50,000 spend to get more information

For this video you need to invest about 6 minutes. From minute marker 1:17 to 1:23. This recording is from the April 2024 Trustee Meeting. (Trustee board is made up of one representative from each of the 10 MUDs on the Montgomery County side of the TW). Even though MUDs 47 and 46 make up half the water hook ups, each members vote counts the same.

The trustees, in this meeting decided to spend $50,000 to find out what it would cost to repair the waste plant in place. What's wild about this is that before getting this data back the MUDs voted to spend on the more expensive MBR technology as if to preemptively preclude a cheaper solution.

It's VOTE on May 4 or this is a sure thing to pass - to more than double your water bills. Let's wait for the data!

"Lotta dry swimming pools"

Do you have a swimming pool? If so can you afford this steep increase in water bills so that we can have the most expensive waste plant money can buy?

I don't have a swimming pool and I'm glad for the rain we've had this spring but I like to keep the trees alive when we have a drought; this price increase will affect us all, even our forest, our home values. If they succeed in picking the highest priced solution to improving waste plant number 1, there'll be no going back.

Say no to this silliness on May 4; we can find a more fiscally responsible solution to our infrastructure improvements.