Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Dallas County Water Department

There is an effort underway for the needed waterline for Wilmer to be constructed by Dallas County along the I-45 corridor. Although the need for a Wilmer access point to secure Dallas Water at wholesale or bulk rates is critical for the development of the city, the plan for Dallas County to exercise its powers created by a special act of legislation, should cause the citizens to investigate and ask questions.The Dallas County plan is advantageous for Dallas County but it critically undermines the self governance of Wilmer.

First, the water infrastructure improvement for the city are needed. Historically, the city has been short on resources to maintain the system that exists today which also lacks the capacity to serve current needs. With the focused effort to identify and prepare a strategy, the 2030 plan was implemented after council approval in 2010. This plan was crucial in identifying critical needs of the city and is now part of the North Texas Council of Governments current assessment of southern Dallas county infrastructure study and can be viewed at www.nctcog.org/trans/sustdev/landuse/funding/plan/sdcia/index.asp . This plan calls for each city, especially the cities of Hutchins, Wilmer, and Lancaster to be responsible for its infrastructure construction. This is important as each city will have differing timetables for build out as development increases. The ability of each city to build as needed allows for better management of the debt.

Next, the plan that Dallas County will present very soon will be to construct a huge 30 inch water line from Stewart Simpson road south to Ferris, TX. The construction cost to build the line will have to be paid for by (a) an increase in property tax or (b) an increase in water rates. How is this option any different than the bond proposal that was adamantly opposed by council member Pena? The difference is that with the Dallas County proposal, Wilmer will not have input in water rates because Dallas County Water Department will have the authority to set rates. Hutchins and Lancaster will not sign on to this project because they have been ahead of the curve and has issued debt for water infrastructure improvements by bonding; therefore, Hutchins and Lancaster will not be part of the factoring of costs associated with this project. So, that leaves Wilmer and Ferris to carry the full weight of the debt for this project. Why should Wilmer be paying the extra expense to extend the oversized water line to Ferris? As Mayor, I had been in initial discussion with Ferris to offer water by the same inter local agreement that Wilmer currently enjoys with Hutchins. This scenario enhanced the viability and sustainability of Wilmer issuing debt for the constructing the water line on its own.


In conclusion, the writing is on the wall and I am concerned that our governmental body is being swayed to opt for the Dallas County option of building the water line. This will have immediate effects to us, the citizens of Wilmer, because the burden for paying for the construction of this project will be evident in the increase of cost to live in this city. With the increase of cost, people will relocate: therefore, the oppressive cost will increase because fewer customers will be available to pay. This defeats any vision of the city of Wilmer to grow.