Tax Hike - Have Your Voice Heard!

The District's financial advisor made a presentation at the September 17th meeting explaining why we needed to consider raising our tax rate. I suppose most of you know that we are not the only taxing entity having to do so.  

Current tax rate is $1.34/$100 value of property, out of which 85 cents is dedicated to debt service and 49 cents is for operations and maintenance (O&M) of the District. The total 2010 HCAD appraised value for the district is $241,322,069 but the taxable value is only $208,602,094 because of homestead, senior citizen, and disabled person's exemptions. The amount under protest by homeowners on their personal appraisals is $11,296,713, which if successful would lower the overall taxable value to $197,305,381.

Here's the facts:

• Taxable value of homes decreased by 11% between 2008 & 2009 according to HCAD. This meant a loss of $19.9 million in the tax base.
• Every penny of tax levy equals approximately $21,000 of tax revenue for the District.
• The annual operating expenditures are approximately $2,400,000 while debt service requirements are $2,750,000 for a total annual expenditure of roughly $5,150,000.
• Tax rate collection is typically in the 98% range.

The financial advisor recommended we raise the debt service tax rate to $1.04 and set the O&M tax rate to 40 cents for an overall tax rate of $1.44/$100 value of property. After much discussion, we decided to set a total rate of $1.39/$100 with $1 for debt service and 39 cents for O&M.


The public hearing for the 2010 tax rate will be held at the beginning of the next District meeting at 11:30AM on Tuesday, October 19, 2010. The new meeting place is the Frost Bank Bldg. located at 6750 West Loop South, Suite 250, Bellaire, TX. Free parking is available.

New Meeting Place in Bellaire

Beginning with the September 7th meeting, the location for WCID#89 meetings will be at the new offices of Strawn & Richardson in the Frost Bank Building.

This is near the corner of Bellaire and the West Loop South. The actual address is:
6750 West Loop South, Suite 250
Bellaire TX 77401

New Security Contract

The security contract that we had with Sheriff Garcia has been canceled. It became official on August 10, 2010 when the Harris County Commissioners Court approved a request by the Sheriff to eliminate the positions that were created by the contract. After having a presentation by Constable Walker of Precinct 7 (which covers our District boundaries) the Board voted to request a similar contract for 3 deputies from her office to patrol our neighborhoods. It has the 70-30 provision (presumes that the officers hired under the contract will be on patrol within the District 70% of the time and 30% patrolling the rest of Precinct 7) because this is the only contract that Harris County offers. Constable Walker said that we can count on upwards of 90% of the time our contracted deputies are on duty to actually be patrolling our neighborhoods.

Special thanks to CG Johnson and Dave King of Brunswick Meadows, and to Johanna Williams and several other Brunswick Lakes residents for coming to the Board meetings to represent the security concerns of their neighborhoods. I believe there was also a rep from Brunswick Place and I apologize for not knowing her name. CG and Johanna - please comment on this posting and provide the names of all those who volunteered their time to act as security liaisons. It was all of you who really made this happen!!!!!

Have An Alarm System? Then You Need An Alarm Permit From Harris County

First, let me say that Constable Walker will be at the WCID89 meeting on 8/3/10 to make a presentation. You are welcome to attend. If you have any questions you'd like to ask her, please submit them to me at jroot@wcid89.org before 10AM tomorrow morning.

Second, I am passing on some information here that the Sheriff requested. I know it's likely to just make you mad, given the lack of service that the Sheriff provided while under contract to the District. But, it is good information. If you have a monitored alarm system (one where the security company calls you when the alarm goes off) you will need to present them with your alarm permit. Please note that all the CAPITAL LETTERS in the rest of this posting are not me shouting at you. They were put in by the Sheriff on his information letter regarding alarm permits. And now, I copy and paste it for your reading pleasure...

PERMIT MUST BE ISSUED BEFORE ALARM SYSTEM IS ACTIVATED TO AVOID FEES AND/OR FINES (Note from me: I didn't have my permit the first year (2005) I had the alarm system because I didn't know anything about it. This house was the first one I ever had an alarm installed. But my monitoring company, Brinks Security, contacted me and said I needed to fax a copy of my alarm permit to them. I had no problem getting the alarm permit without extra fees or fines. But maybe the policy has changed in the last 5 years to include some sort of penalty charge. Every year when the permit is about to expire, I get a postcard from the County Auditor telling me to pay my $10 renewal fee, along with a due date.)

$35.00 New permit for residential and non-residential alarm sites

$10.00 Annual renewal for residential and non-residential alarm sites

$50.00 Reinstatement for residential and non-residential alarm sites

Incomplete or illegible applications will be returned. Applications received without the permit fee will be returned. PERMIT FEES are not required for government offices or for residential alarm sites if the permit holder is sixty-five (65) years of age or older. (Note from me: You can get a copy of the application in a Word document format by clicking here and then clicking on Forms and then on Alarm Permit Application.)

PERMIT TERM: An alarm system permit shall be valid for a twelve (12) month period from the date of issuance as stated on the permit, and shall expire on the last day of the twelfth month. The beginning for the renewal permit term shall be the first day of the month following expiration.

PERMIT RENEWAL: The permit holder, on or before the expiration of the alarm system permit shall submit to the Alarm Detail a renewal permit application, as promulgated by the Harris County - Alarm Detail, along with the applicable renewal fee.

CHANGE OF INFORMATION IN PERMIT APPLICATION: The permit holder has an affirmative duty to amend any information contained or attached to the permit application that has changed or is out of date and filed with the Alarm Detail within thirty (30) days after the information changed or was out of date.

ANY PERSON OR ENTITY OPERATING AN ALARM SYSTEM WITHOUT A PERMIT IS SUBJECT TO A SERVICE RESPONSE FEE OF $75.00 FOR EACH FALSE ALARM. In addition to the service response fee, a citation may be issued and a fine imposed by the Justice of the Peace Court for operating an alarm system without a permit.

REVOCATION OF ALARM SYSTEM PERMIT: An alarm system permit may be revoked if the permit holder:

(a) has violated a provision of Chapter 237, Texas Local Government Code (County Regulation of Alarm Systems), any provision of the Revised Rules Governing the Regulation of Alarm Systems within Harris County, Texas (“Rules”), or any order of Harris County Commissioner’s Court pertaining to the Rules;

(b) has failed to make payment in full to Harris County for any fees, fines, charges, costs and/or court judgments entered by a court of competent jurisdiction within forty-five (45) days of the date the Alarm Detail has mailed a notice to the permit holder;

(c) accrues more than nine (9) false alarms, including the first five (5) charge free false alarms, during the term of the permit;

(d) accrues three (3) or more false alarms subsequent to a reinstatement renewal permit during the remainder of the then current permit term;

(e) is required to attend alarm abuser class as set forth in Section 17 of the Rules, and has failed to satisfy this requirement prior to the expiration date of the current permit term;

(f) fails to renew the alarm system permit prior to the expiration;

(g) fails to update the alarm system permit application;

(h) submits payment by check or credit card made to Harris County, and is dishonored or charged back.

BILLING INFORMATION: Locations with a valid permit are allowed five (5) false alarms each permit year (issue/expiration date on permit) without charge.

EACH FALSE ALARM AFTER THE FIVE (5) FREE FALSE ALARMS ARE CHARGEABLE AND WILL BE ASSESSED AT $75.00 FOR EACH RESPONSE BY A COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

For all payments to the Alarm Detail for fees, fines, charges or costs, payment by check or money order should be made payable to the HARRIS COUNTY TREASURER and sent to:

HARRIS COUNTY ALARM DETAIL
9418 JENSEN DRIVE, SUITE A
HOUSTON, TX 77093

Who Are The Developers In WCID#89?

Arthur Washington, VP of WCID#89, and I attended the Brunswick Lakes HOA monthly meeting last night. An interesting discussion arose about responsibilities of the Developers versus the District in maintaining the neighborhood amenities. I thought you might find this of interest, regarding who developed what neighborhood within WCID#89 and what these developers are supposed to be doing.

In general, activities of a developer in a municipal utility district (MUD) such as WCID#89, include acquiring land for development; defining a marketing program; planning and scheduling development; securing adequate funds for development; arranging for design and construction of utilities, streets, amenities, and other improvements; and, selling developed and undeveloped land to other developers, investors, and others. Ordinarily, the developers pay 100% of the costs of paving and amenity design and construction.

The developer of Morningside Place Section 2 was Fellows Eight Development Ltd. who developed 20 acres into 103 single family residential lots during 2003 and 2004. Lennar Homes was the builder and built out these 103 homes in 2005. Morningside Place Section 2 also includes 25 acres of commercial property which PODS personal storage facility now occupies.

The developer of Brunswick Meadows is 308 Furman (a limited partnership with Lennar Homes serving as general partner) and entered into sales contracts with Trophy Homes and Gehan Homes to build out the 15 sections in this neighborhood.

245 Brunswick Lakes Ltd. is a corporation controlled by Joe Fogarty, who has been active in Houston area land development for over 25 years, and is the developer for Brunswick Lakes, sections 1, 2, 3, and 5.  Royce Homes was the builder contracted for these lots.

Finally is Brunswick Place LP, the developer for what was Brunswick Lakes sections 7-9. The president of Brunswick Place LP is Tom Moughon, who has also been active in real estate development in the Houston area for over 20 years. Choice Homes and D.R. Horton Homes are building out these lots.

A Not So Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the AWBD Conference

All the WCID#89 Board members attended the summer Association of Water Board Directors (AWBD) conference in San Antonio last month. Travel expenses were reimbursed, but I decided to stay with my sister who lives in San Antonio rather than a hotel in order to save the District some money. Unfortunately, I had a minor fender bender on the way to the first day of the conference. It was in stop & go traffic and the guy in front of me stopped, but I just kept going.

I was in my little Hyundai Accent. The guy I hit was in a beer distributing super van. His bumper had a couple of little scratches but here's how my car looked.
Was over $3000 to repair because it busted the radiator, and I wound up with 2 broken ribs and a nasty little shoulder/neck "soft tissue" injury. OUCH!!!!!! I was shocked at the amount of damage done since I was only going about 10 mph.

Believe it or not, I did attend the conference despite missing the Key Note address and the party hosted by the water company on Friday night. Got a rental car to get back home on Saturday and left my car in San Antonio at a place called Miracle Body & Paint. They do something called discounting deductibles. They give you a discount on your insurance deductible equal to 15% of the labor charge for the repair. So, instead of paying $500 for the part that the insurance wouldn't cover, I only had to pay $265 as a deductible amount.

Well, once we returned to Houston, I requested that the Board approve my $265 deductible as an allowable travel expense for reimbursement. In my mind, it would have been about the same amount of money that a hotel bill would have been for the 2 nights, and I was traveling to the event center where the conference was held when it happened.

But the Board voted against allowing me reimbursement. I understood their reasons. Hotel bills and insurance deductibles simply aren't the same thing, regardless if they are in the same ballpark money-wise. I was at fault in the accident, and even though I was on my way to the conference, it was a stretch to claim the out-of-pocket expense for my wreck as a reimbursable travel expense.

So, even though it cost me, I was glad to have been at the conference. I attended a seminar called "Directors 101" that was an introduction for new directors and had excellent information about the legal aspects of MUDs, the role of consultants, duties of directors, etc. I also purchased a book called Water Board Director's Handbook, which is specifially designed for new directors. I'm still reading through it, but I've learned a LOT from it as well.

I also had a very educational experience walking around the exhibitor hall and talking with all the various vendors who contract with MUDs. Had a lengthy discussion with a guy about various chemicals that are used in purifying the groundwater supply and spoke with several waste collection companies about recyclying programs. I followed up with these contacts when I returned to Houston and got all kinds of information on implementing recycling in our district. At the District meeting on July 20th we had presentations from two of these contacts, and I'm still working with our current vendor, Waste Management, about what they have to offer. Hopefully we can get a recycling program started soon.

Reports Are In - Water is SAFE!

After reviewing the actual test results taken over the last 15 months, I am happy to report that the problem with the water WCID#89 had 3 years ago is now a thing of the past. I will continue to filter my kitchen sink water, though, because I've gotten used to the way it tastes filtered. And the replacement filters are found on eBay fairly cheap. But the more expensive filters on my shower heads I feel confident do not require replacing any longer. HOORAY!

For those who are still experiencing discoloration or odor in their water, please contact me and I will ask the water company to flush the lines. This is more likely to happen to those who live in the northern sections of Brunswick neighborhoods because they are the farthest away from Morningside where the water is stored. Flushing the lines helps, but is a temporary solution. In the future there will be another water storage facility built in Brunswick Meadows and that should help eliminate the problem.

I always just took it for granted that when I turned on the tap or flushed the toilet it just worked. Well, you 'd be truly amazed at what it takes to treat the sewage that comes out of our houses and how complex the system is for bringing water into our homes. I have a whole new respect for the word "infrastructure" :--)