Board President Cecil Bell, Jr. is adamantly against entering into the agreement. Bell, who owns B 5 Construction Company, which builds water and wastewater treatment plans, said he feels that entities like school districts should have some exemptions when it comes to the proposal.

“The problem it presents, if you read all the participants in the program and the lists that have been presented, all of those except Conroe ISD resell water,” Bell said. “It (the contract) has an enormous amount of issues in it where it effectively causes us as trustees to waive governmental immunity inherent to our taxpaying constituents.”

The GRP was designed to collect funds to build a surface water treatment plant that the SJRA feels is necessary to convert groundwater to surface water to meet the 30 percent reduction in groundwater usage the agency has mandated.

Bell explained that although the district supports conserving groundwater, the school district’s maintenance and operation fund is capped and the tax rate is maximized at $1.04 by law, so participating in the GRP would force the district to take money out of funds previously budgeted for curriculum, staffing, transportation or other departments.

“In the case of the school district, we are not in the business to resell water; the only water we consume is used by kids and other aspects of the school system in general,” Bell said. “So it literally takes dollars out of our budget.”

“The contract lasts until 2045,” he added. “The actual cost is forecast, but no one has a clue what the real numbers are.”

Bell said there is a termination clause in the contract but that it has already expired. If Magnolia ISD does decide to join in the next several months, the district will be required to pay a balloon payment “catch-up fee” to pay for that time.

“I do not believe it is responsible to sign a contract that hands over that responsibility or conveys trust that was placed in us by elected trustees by constituents to a third party entity to arbitrarily require us to expend money,” Bell said. “It’s a brutally ugly contract and one that I don’t know how many different ways to say it.”

Bell believes the school district should be an “exempted entity” in the agreement.

“I think the perception of the contract, if you read it, is that you would resell it (water),” he said. “We need to be an exempted entity, not necessarily to seek other options, but exempted from the fee-based portion. It is a strain on a limited budget.”

“If you don’t sign it, you’re still subject to the mandate of it, you still have to maintain 30 percent reduction or be subject to enforcement.”

Bell said if Magnolia ISD were to join the plan, the district would not actually receive groundwater.

“In Magnolia’s case, we would not be receiving groundwater. We would be paying a surcharge on our pumped groundwater to offset the cost of surface water in the dense service area that is anticipated to be where surface water will be delivered,” he said, citing The Woodlands, Conroe and other heavily populated areas of Montgomery County.

Future population growth in Magnolia also concerns Bell, who said that the growth of the community could mean that new facilities would have to be built, which could mean more costs.

Bell said board members will re-visit the issue at a July 12 board meeting.

“At this point, I see no change in what had us not take action on it last time. Our attorneys are looking at it to see if we should even be subject to this particular legislation or statute, because again we do not resell water, we do not have that ability,” Bell said.

“There are six school districts in Montgomery County counting Magnolia, only one has signed (Conroe) this contract and I don’t see how anyone could sign it. You’ve literally sold your constituents down the river. You’ve given away their rights to December 2045.”

An item regarding the plan is on the agenda for the Monday, July 12 regular meeting of the Magnolia ISD Board.

To view an agenda, visit www.magnoliaisd.org.

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