In most cases, a city provides water and wastewater service within its boundaries,
but when development occurs outside city limits or when the city cannot provide
services, there must be some method for paying for the water and wastewater services. In
Texas, a developer can create a Municipal Utility District (MUD), which is a political
subdivision authorized by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to
provide water, wastewater, drainage and other services within its boundaries. In this
arrangement, the infrastructure is paid for through bonds; and these bonds are then paid
back through a tax levied on the homeowners within the MUD boundaries. Developers
often form MUDs when there is not another financially feasible option for the infrastructure. Often the city nearest to the MUD may feel that it is losing developmental
control and can see MUDs (that have bond debt) as a hindrance to growth through
annexation. In the city of Austin, MUD development allowed development to occur in
sensitive areas in which the city did not wish to see growth. In 1997 the city eradicated
many MUDs through annexation, in which the city assumed significant MUD debt. With
substantial growth and a new state highway under construction, MUDs are still
continuing to form in the Central Texas Region. Without a clear plan and significant
regional cooperation, Austin has little control over the development of MUDs. But with
regional cooperation and a vision for future growth, MUDs can become a funding
mechanism for accommodating healthy and well planned growth consistent with a larger
vision. / text
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTEXAS/oai:repositories.lib.utexas.edu:2152/22537 |
| Date | 04 December 2013 |
| Creators | Lyons, Ashley Elizabeth |
| Source Sets | University of Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | electronic |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author. Presentation of this material on the Libraries' web site by University Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin was made possible under a limited license grant from the author who has retained all copyrights in the works., Restricted |
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