Tomball city council member Mark Stoll is questioning fees charged on local water bills that are assessed by the North Harris County Regional Water Authority (NHCRWA). The fee, which ranges from $1.75 to $2.20 per 1,000 gallons of water pumped or used, appears on all residents water bills.

Photo: North Harris County Regional Water Authority President Al Rendl speaks to the Tomball City Council about the group’s plans and structure on Sept. 19 as councilman Field Hudgens looks on. Councilman Mark Stoll is questioning the Authority’s fees.

The fee is designed to enable the authority to help bring in surface water to a majority of the area, according to NHCRWA President Al Rendl. Rendl said the Authority was created in 2000, after the Harris Galveston Subsidence District mandated that 80 percent of all water usage must come from surface water by 2030.

Stoll says that reading into the groups future plans, it became clear to him that the authority had no plans to convert Tomball to surface water by the deadline, yet still charges the residents the fee.

  “This subject has always been an issue with me every time I see the charge on my water bill,” Stoll said. “After looking into how much I had paid since 2003 to this group (Stoll said it was over $1,600) and reading their report for their future coverage up until 2030 and them noting that the city of Tomball would not be getting anything out of monies that we have been paying.”

Rendl noted that the Authority was created to help individual water utilities come into compliance with the Subsidence District mandates. Otherwise, it would have cost each district millions and if they didn’t comply, the Subsidence District would charge a fee of $5 per 1,000 gallons pumped. The fee charged by the Authority is less than half of that.

“In 1999 we were formed by the Texas legislature and in 2000 the voters voted to ratify the authority by a huge margin,” said Rendl. “I don’t believe (Stoll) understands that every district would have had to pay (the Subsidence District fee) if we had not been able to covert 30 percent of homes last year in our area.”

Stoll said it’s about residents in Tomball not getting to benefit from the new water sources, since original plans did not connect Tomball to the surface water system.

“The citizens of Tomball are funding this group’s improvements with our monies and not getting anything in return,” Stoll said. “This sounds like legal thievery to me.”

Rendl said that while original plans for the surface water system did not include Tomball, that thinking may be changing.

“Our original thought was that Tomball would not get surface water, but that has changed a bit,” Rendl said. “It is possible that surface water may be coming in by 2030.”

Rendl was a speaker at the Tomball City Council meeting on Sept. 19 and answered questions from the council. Stoll wasn’t satisfied with the answers.

“None of my concerns were alleviated and I will still try and fight this charge,” Stoll said.

Stoll said that while the Authority takes in the fee, he believes that the Subsidence District, which was created decades ago by the legislature, has too broad of powers and is punishing residents by threatening fees. He believes the fees are a loophole around tax elections.

“The only way we the people can probably do anything about this is to contact our State Representatives and let them know what our thoughts are,” Stoll said. “In my opinion Tomball is an incorporated city and we are supplying our residents with water and we can take care of ourselves. We don’t need the state government implementing these fees upon the residents and not supply them with any benefit for their payments.”

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