Boundaries of the proposed Rose City Municipal Utility District. (Brian Crane/Tyler Morning Telegraph) 

Citing a need for increased competition for sewer service, Smith County officials endorsed creating a new utility district for the southern part of the county.

The Smith County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to approve a resolution in support of a bill in the Texas Legislature to create the Rose City Municipal Utility District.

If passed, the bill would place residents in the southern tip of Tyler, northern tip of Bullard and unincorporated area of Smith County in between the two cities into a new utility district starting Sept. 1.

County Judge Nathaniel Moran said he has been working to set up the district for the past few weeks with Commissioner Jeff Warr, Tyler Mayor Martin Heines, Tyler City Manager Ed Broussard and Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler.

“MUD districts are not typically something that I like or want to go down the road of doing,” Moran said. “I certainly don’t want to ever add a layer of taxation, but this bill doesn’t do that.”

He said the bill would help Tyler continue growing south, and provide people in the southern part of the county with competition for sewer services, thereby increasing accountability of the existing provider.

Language in a draft of H.B. 4749, sponsored by Schaefer, says that the entity could issue bonds to build infrastructure and use revenue from fees to pay off the debt, but would not have any power to levy taxes.

“This bill localizes, in my mind, the ability for those people in the southern part of our county to receive better sewer and wastewater services and have more choice and more accountability as it relates to that through a proven provider and manager of that, and that is the city of Tyler,” Moran said.

Since 2005, that area has been served by an Arizona-based company called Liberty Utilities. A spokeswoman for the company did not return a voicemail Tuesday seeking comment.

Under the bill, a five-member board would govern the utility district. Three members would be appointed by the city of Tyler; one by the Smith County Commissioners Court; and one by Schaefer’s office. City employees, such as those with Tyler Water Utilities, could be appointed.

“In this area we have an entity that doesn’t want competition,” Heines told the Commissioners Court. “They don’t want competition because they want to be able to as a monopoly continue to raise the rates and be unaccountable.

“The city of Tyler wants to participate to provide some expertise and ability for us to lay pipes in competition to the current (permit) holder and that competition will keep the rates lower,” he said.

Warr said the idea for this new district came from citizens of the area who have been concerned about the current provider. Those include developers and major property owners who contact him monthly, if not weekly, with concerns about the sewer system, he said.

“I know a lot of them have requested annexation into the city before they will even build the subdivisions,” Warr said. “And when they come and talk to me, it’s evident that their main concern is the utilities that are provided.”

He pointed to tracts of land along Old Jacksonville Highway in Flint and Gresham. He said it’s better for development to go forward because the community benefits from spreading out taxes among more properties.

The Tyler City Council will consider a resolution Wednesday similar to what the Commissioners Court passed, and a panel in the Legislature will hold a public hearing on Thursday.

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