MUDs ask ATX to stop PUC appeal

Yesterday, a group of local utility districts issued a plea to the city, asking it to reconsider plans to appeal a decision made by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and, instead, respond to City Council Member Don Zimmerman and Ellen Troxclair’s repeated requests for more information about the PUC rate case that was decided in October. The Public Utility Commission has ordered Austin Water to set rates based only on the cost of service and to exclude General Fund transfers as part of the water rate charge. A press release from representatives of the local utility districts – North Austin Municipal Utility District No. 1, Northtown MUD, Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 10 and Wells Branch MUD – read, in part, “With the January 14 issuance of a final ruling before the PUC, coupled with the stated intent from the City’s legal staff to continue to fight this issue in District Court, districts were shocked to see that the City Staff, with plenty of public posting time, did not comply with the request of Council Members to place an executive session agenda item on the January 28 Austin City Council Regular Meeting Agenda.”