Capital Recovery Fee Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is Weston Municipal Utility District?

Weston Municipal Utility District is a municipal utility district and political subdivision of the State of Texas. It is authorized to purchase, construct and maintain water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, drainage, and park and recreational
facilities to serve the land contained within its boundaries. The District currently contains approximately 811 single-family connections 83 commercial connections and 1,669 multi-family connections across 717.10 acres.

2. What facilities does the District own and operate?

The District maintains a water supply system which consists of approximately 17 miles of water line, two water plants and two onsite water wells.

Your wastewater is collected via the District’s gravity sanitary sewer system where it is conveyed to one of the three offsite District lift stations or directly to the onsite lift station at the Wastewater Treatment Plant (the “Plant”) where it is treated. The District maintains approximately 2 miles of forcemain and 14.5 miles of gravity sanitary sewer.

The District also owns and maintains four dry and wet bottom detention basins.

3. Why now?

The District was created in 1975. The average useful life of water, sewer, and drainage facilities is 20 to 30 years. Many of the District’s facilities are over 40 years old. The District must plan to replace these facilities as they reach the end of their useful life and begin to fail. This plan is called a “Capital Improvement Plan” or “CIP”. The 12-year CIP is an estimate of which facilities are expected to need repair, rehabilitation or replacement in the next twelve years and the cost to repair or replace such facilities. The CIP is generated by the District’s Engineer and Operator and reviewed periodically by the Board. The CIP calls for approximately $38,000,000 in total construction costs over the next twelve years. Due to the failure of bond elections in 2024, 2025, and 2026 to approve additional bonding authority, the Board of Directors voted to implement a $28.49 Capital Recovery Fee as an alternative funding procedure to establish reserves necessary to pay for CIP projects.

4. How are projects completed?

For projects in the CIP, the Board of Directors decides when and in what amounts CIP projects are awarded and oversees project completion. The Board typically decides to undertake a CIP project once continued maintenance becomes impractical, impossible, or cost prohibitive.

Specific projects include but are not limited to in our current CIP:

• Rehabilitation of Water Plant Nos. 2 & 3
• Rehabilitation of Water Well Nos., 3, 4
• Rehabilitation of the Wastewater Treatment Plant
• Rehabilitation of 3 of the 4 Lift Station’s
• Rehabilitation of the Districts sanitary sewer collection system

5. When will the fee be removed or reduced?

The Board of Directors plans to reduce or remove the fee as soon as financially responsible, which depends on project costs and timing. The project costs and completion dates in the CIP are estimates. If a WS&D Bond election were to pass, the District could then sell bonds to finance CIP projects in lieu of the Capital Recovery Fee, or some combination of the two.

6. How does the District manage taxpayer dollars?