Water Corporation prepares to reorganize

By LPR Staff

Editor/POST-REGISTER

A process that began more than five years ago will soon be complete, turning the Maxwell Water Supply Corporation into the Maxwell Special Utility District.

In 1999, the Maxwell Water Supply Corporation put the wheels in motion to reorganize to a special utility district. Among other benefits, recognition as a special

utility district will allow for the sale of tax-free bonds and open the door to government grant funds.

“We”re doing this to benefit the members,” said Mabel Vaughn, a representative of the Maxwell Water Supply Corporation.

According to Vaughn, when the corporation becomes the Maxwell Special Utility District, they will be similar to a municipal utility district, but will not be allowed to levy taxes. It will have a board of directors elected from within the district”s territory, which includes portions of Caldwell and Hays Counties.

“That was one of the challenges,” Vaughn said. “We had to work with Hays County, and there was a developer on IH-35 who had overlapping property. We had to do an “area swap” with them.” Once the state approves the special utility district, the boundaries can only be changed by a majority vote from the district”s residents.

Vaughn said residents served by the water district would see little, if any, change in their service or water prices.

“It”s really just about the money,” she said. “[It will] make us tax-exempt, and we will be able to sell tax-free bonds when we borrow money.”

The changeover will take place in the near future, but Vaughn could not pinpoint a date.

“This is the last hoop we had to jump through,” she said of a public notice published last month. “After this, we just have to wait for the state to approve the application.”

Kathibliss@post-register.com