The Legislative Budget Board, in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board (TPWD) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) has determined that:

The bill amends Subtitle I, Title 6, Special District Local Laws Code by adding Chapter 9037 to create Comal County Water Control and Improvement District No. 6 (District) with the powers and duties of a water control and improvement district under Water Code Chapters 49 and 51. The purpose of the District includes providing works and projects under powers conferred by Article XVI, Section 59 and Article III, Section 52 of the Texas Constitution to benefit the property within the District.

The District is subject to confirmation election by the voters. The District is subject to consent of all municipalities in whose corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction the district is located.  The bill names five temporary directors. The majority owners of the assessed land value inside the District may submit a petition requesting the TCEQ appoint the five successor temporary directors listed in the petition, if permanent directors have not been elected by the fourth anniversary of the effective date of the bill.

The bill becomes effective immediately with two-thirds vote of the members or on September 1, 2009.

1)     Population - The proposed Comal County Water Control and Improvement District (WCID) No. 6 is in a county that is expected to have significant growth in the near future.
 
The county-other population for Comal County was 78,021 in 2000 and is expected to grow to 108,219 in 2010 and continue up to 146,868 in 2020.  The proposed district is located northwest of the City of Bulverde, which is projected to grow from its 2000 population of 3,761 people to 8,098 in 2010 and onward to 13,649 in 2020.
 

2)     Location - The proposed WCID is located northwest of the City of Bulverde and south of State Highway 46.  The proposed district does not overlap with any known CCN boundaries. 

3) Comments on Powers/Duties Different from Similar Types of Districts - The bill grants the District the authority for road projects and limits the use of eminent domain to within the District’s boundaries for road projects and recreational facilities. The District has the ability to levy a contract tax.

The bill requires each municipality in whose corporate limits and whose extraterritorial jurisdiction the district is located to consent and to have approved and entered into a strategic partnership agreement with the district before any action can be taken by the district.  The bill would not allow the division of the district into two or more new districts.  The bill would not exercise the power of eminent domain outside the boundaries of the district for any purpose unless the proposed exercise is approved by a written resolution of the commissioner’s court of each county in which the district is located.

4) Overlapping Services - The stated boundaries form an acceptable closure. An area map containing at least two reference points (major road names, road intersections) and the proposed District’s geographic location mapped within Comal County is needed to complete overlapping services check. The district may overlap the following providers: Guadalupe Blanco River Authority and Certificate of Convenience and Necessity No. 12864 for City of Bulverde.

5) TCEQ Supervision - The TCEQ supervision is limited to review of the District’s bonds to finance water, wastewater, or drainage facilities and financial reports required by the Water Code; otherwise, the District is not subject to TCEQ supervision.

6) Water Use - Within Comal County, 46.1 percent of the total water used was groundwater in the year 2004.  Around 58 percent of the groundwater used was for municipal purposes.  Groundwater is primarily pumped from the Trinity and Edwards BFZ aquifers.