The Legislative Budget Board, in cooperation with the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), has determined that:
This bill creates 7S Ranch Municipal Utility District (District) with the powers and duties of a standard municipal utility district under Water Code Chapters 49 and 54.
Population: The very specific description of the proposed boundaries does not allow staff to develop precise population estimates.
Population growth in the specific area since the 2010 census is unknown. The 2010 population estimate for areas of Williamson County served by small water systems or private wells (‘County-Other') was 29,929. The Williamson County-Other population projections adopted for the 2022 State Water Plan projects the population to be 26,295 in 2030 and 61,294 in 2040.
Location: The proposed district's initial boundaries are described with a combination of Original Texas Land Surveys, Official Public Records of Williamson County, and metes and bounds. Due to the complexity of these boundaries for the various subareas of the district, staff is only able to determine the general location of the proposed district.
The proposed district's area is approximately 0.76 square miles in northwest Williamson County, northwest of the City of Georgetown and south of the City of Florence. The proposed district's territory is within the City of Georgetown's public water utility boundary.
Comments on Powers/Duties Different from Similar Types of Districts:
House Committee Substitute (HCS):
The HCS codifies the creation of the District under Chapter 8267, Special District Local Laws Code. The HCS removes language that allows the board to elect to hold an election to elect the appropriate number of directors on the uniform election date provided by Section 41.001, Election Code, in either May or November of each even-numbered year. The HCS removes language that allows the District to exercise road powers without submitting a petition to or obtaining approval from the TCEQ. The HCS revises some of the specifics allowing for the division of the District. The HCS specifies that the District may not issue bonds payable from ad valorem taxes to finance a road project unless the issuance is approved by a vote of a two-thirds majority of the District voters voting at an election held for that purpose. The HCS specifies that at the time of issuance, the total principal amount of bonds or other obligations issued or incurred to finance road projects and payable from ad valorem taxes may not exceed one-fourth of the assessed value of the real property in the District. The HCS specifies that if the bill does not receive a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house, the District may not exercise the power of eminent domain. The HCS does not make any other changes to the Introduced version of the bill.
Introduced:
The District must receive consent to the creation of the District from each municipality in whose corporate limits or extraterritorial jurisdiction the District is located prior to holding a confirmation election. The bill grants the District authority for road projects. The bill specifies that the District may exercise road powers without submitting a petition to or obtaining approval from the TCEQ as required by Water Code, Section 54.234. The bill allows the District to divide. The bill grants the District the power of eminent domain. The caption of the bill references eminent domain, however, there is no further language in the bill discussing eminent domain.
Overlapping Services: TCEQ does not have mapping information for water and/or wastewater providers because this function was transferred from the TCEQ to the Public Utility Commission on September 1, 2014. As a result, TCEQ is unaware of possible overlapping service providers.
TCEQ's Supervision: As with general law districts, the TCEQ will have general supervisory authority, including bond review authority and review of financial reports.
Water Use: Within Williamson County, 80% of the total water use was supplied by surface water, and municipal was the largest volume water use category comprising 96% of the county total water use in 2018. The water source the proposed district might pursue is unknown.