Official site of Tribune News serving Tomball, Magnolia and Waller

Tomball City Councilman Mark Stoll has been on a year-long quest to receive answers about a water fee that he claims does not benefit residents of Tomball.

Stoll said that the fees levied by the North Harris County Regional Water Authority have totaled up to $7 million paid by Tomball residents in the past 10-plus years. The authority was created to help local water districts convert from groundwater usage to surface water usage per state law. Residents now pay $1.75 per 1,000 gallons of water pumped.

Stoll said his primary concern is that the regional authority has no plans to convert Tomball to surface water usage in the next two decades.

“When are the city and its residents going to get something from this investment?” Stoll said. “It looks like we are just helping other areas develop.”

Stoll and Councilman Field Hudgens have been reaching out to state legislators about this issue for awhile now. Stoll recently asked his fellow council members to issue a resolution stating the city’s opposition to the fee and present it to legislators.

That effort fell short at a recent council meeting, but they all agreed to set up a committee that will investigate the issue further and consider whether the council should formally oppose the fee.

Council appointed Stoll and Hudgens to the committee, along with residents Barbara Tague and Roy Lackey. They were chosen because of their experience with similar issues.

Stoll said that the fee has concerned him since he began seeing it on his water bill. He said the fee is assessed because the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District passed a law mandating the area convert to surface water to prevent subsidence. Subsidence occurs when groundwater levels get so low that the ground begins to sink.

“I’m not closed-minded about this issue and the committee will now hopefully give me a chance to ask specific questions and learn more,” Stoll said. “I’m not convinced that subsidence is an issue affecting our area, but I may find out otherwise.”

Stoll said there is no timetable for the committee to present its findings and opinions back to council. The committee will set up its agenda and functions at its first meeting Sept. 5.

The committee is not binding and does not fall under the regulations of a government body, but Stoll said he encourages the public to attend. The first meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the conference room at Tomball City Hall.

The Chambers of Magnolia Legislative Alliance, a combined effort of the Magnolia Area Chamber of Commerce and the Magnolia Parkway Chamber of Commerce, held a luncheon Sept. 20, where members learned about Obamacare’s effects on small businesses.

Speaking to the group were Kelly Shea, a human resources and employee relations specialist and Gina Clark, a Magnolia certified public accountant.

Members were shocked by some of the things they heard.

Many of the regulations apply to businesses with more than 50 employees, such as the $2,000 penalty for not offering insurance to employees, which Shea said could have some consequences.

‘This will keep a lot of people from going over 50 employees,” she said.

What Shea said she is most concerned with are smaller insurance companies being bought up by the big conglomerates, which has happened before.

“We used to have a lot of smaller companies that would go in and underbid the bigger companies, but their premiums collected were not enough to offset their costs,” Shea said. “So when the bigger companies bought them out, they had all this bad business, so they had to raise everyones premiums by 20 or so percent.”

She is afraid the new exchanges will cause the same scenario, thereby pricing small businesses out of the market.

“If you are with an A-rated company now, I would advise you to stay with it until we see how this plays out,” she said. “There’s going to be a lot of fighting and a lot of court cases as more of this rolls out.”

Another item rolling out is companies with more than 250 employees have to show how much they paid in health care benefits for each employee on their W-2 form. Shea said that is a sign of a future tax on benefits.

“It’s not taxed yet, but it’s coming,” she said.

Clark said the tax implications are huge with the new law.

She said medical costs must now exceed 10 percent of your gross income before someone can deduct them for tax purposes. Previously that rate was 7.5 percent.

"If you are a majority owner of several companies, they will add them all together to come up with your employee count,” Clark said, adding that if that total reaches 51, the combined companies are subject to the $2,000 fine or to carry insurance coverage. They are required to cover at least 60 percent of the cost of health care for the employee.

“If the employees share of the cost (for individual coverage, not including dependants) exceeds 9.5 percent of household income, the employer is required to pay up to 9.5 percent of household income if that amount is more than 60 percent of health care costs,” Shea added.

Clark said that can open up huge disclosure and privacy issues as well.

“You will have to disclose that you have a spouse and what your household income is to your employer now,” she said. “You never have had to disclose that type of information before.”

Both Shea and Clark agreed that this aspect of the law could have huge ramifications, causing married people to be at a disadvantage when competing with single people for jobs.

Clark also told the group that there will be a new surtax added to the Medicare tax of 0.9 percent for anyone making $250,000 or more in combined household income, as well as a new 3.6 percent surtax on investment income. This investment income tax could effect many retirees living off of investments, including those in the middle class.

Shea said that she had a feeling that Obamacare will not be repealed next year, even if Mitt Romney becomes President, because to avoid a filibuster in the U.S. Senate would require 60 Republicans to be elected, or to find enough Democrats to support a full repeal.

“The way things are going, I don’t think that will happen, at least not in the senate,” she said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Mike Sullivan is reminding residents that the deadline for property tax payments is rapidly approaching.
Payments for 2012 property taxes are due by Jan. 31.  A seven percent penalty and interest charge will be assessed beginning Feb. 1 on all unpaid 2012 tax bills.
Taxpayers that are unable to make their entire payment on time can avoid paying full penalties by making a partial payment by the January 31st deadline," Sullivan said.
Sullivan encouraged taxpayers to pay online at www.hctax.net by credit card, debit card and/or e-Check.
To accommodate taxpayers wanting to pay in person, all branches of The Harris County Tax Office will extend their hours until 6:00 p.m. Jan. 31. Additional staff will be present at all Harris County Tax Office branch locations to help accommodate the anticipated high volume of last-minute tax payments.
Tax bill payments may also be made by credit card, debit card and/or e-Check at any of the 15 Harris County Tax Office branches. Each branch is equipped with a computer kiosk available for taxpayers to utilize in making tax payments. A surcharge of (2.15%) will be added to each credit card transaction, as well as MasterCard debit transactions. When using a Visa debit card, there is a flat fee of $3.95. There is no fee charged for e-Checks.
For taxpayers wanting to pay by telephone, they can call 713-368-2273 using a touch-tone phone.  Telephone operators will be standing by to accept 2012 tax payments until 11:59 p.m. Jan. 31.
For more information, call 713-368-2000 or visit www.hctax.net