PROPOSED MUD DISTRICTS UNDER FIRE

ENNIS – The Citizens against Ellis County Muds Town Hall meeting will be Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. at SPJST Hall, 1901 E. Ennis Avenue in Ennis.

“If you are against the negative impacts that MUDs can bring in, which include wastewater treatment plants, flooding, odor, trash, wildlife,” stated Ernie Martinek, president of Citizens against Ellis County Muds, “you might want to attend.”

He also added MUDs would affect agriculture, livestock, water resources, burden ISDs, crime, burden on emergency services, lot sizes, high density housing, financial burden on taxpayers for maintenance caused by additional traffic such as county road conditions, and additional financial burden on homeowners in MUDs.

Martinek said, “I will start by saying we are not opposed to development; we are opposed to how it is done. 

“Developments should be created by the standards of cities/counties. 

“By going outside city/county standards, developments can be detrimental to the land, wildlife, and county/city services, while also cause major flooding, and be very costly to citizens.”

Currently there are over 25 MUDs that have been applied for or are being created in Ellis County. 

This week’s meeting is focusing on six of the 25, and all have or will be in the public meeting phase for the opposition:

Shankle Road (Ennis/Palmer)

Butcher Road (Waxahachie)

Palmetto (Waxahachie) 

Risinger Ridge (Palmer)

Wickliffe Road (Bristol/Ferris)

Circle S (Midlothian/Venus)

For those unfamiliar with what MUD is, it stands for Municipal Utility District.

It is one of several types of special districts that function as independent, limited governments according to Martinek. 

“The purpose of a MUD is to provide a developer an alternate way to finance infrastructure, such as water, sewer, drainage, and road facilities because they do not want to follow the county/city guidelines,” Martinek said. 

“Managed by a Board elected by property owners within the MUD, a MUD may issue bonds to reimburse a developer for authorized improvements and the MUD will utilize property tax revenues and user fees received from water and sewer services operated by the MUD to repay the debt.”

Martinek said Citizens against Ellis County Muds got involved in the MUD opposition when a neighbor noticed an application notice in the paper and research began on the Shankle Road MUD.