Issues remain for some residents following Dec. 15 annexation

By LESLEE BASSMAN , Four Points News

The past week has seen large changes for River Place residents, with the city of Austin finalizing its annexation of the western Travis County development Dec. 15 and the area’s new Limited District board of directors holding its Dec. 19 inaugural meeting.

At the Dec. 19 meeting, Limited District board members—which included all officers of the River Place Municipal Utility District—unanimously voted to adopt and ratify the Strategic Partnership Agreement, or SPA, between the district and the city of Austin. This agreement allowed the development, upon annexation, to form a governing body tasked with maintaining River Place parks, nature trails and solid waste services, while the remainder of neighborhood utilities and properties come under Austin governance.

According to the SPA, the River Place MUD automatically turned into the River Place Limited District at the moment the development was annexed by the city of Austin, said Scott Crosby, a director of the River Place Limited District.

“The SPA had originally been ratified back in 2008 by the (River Place) MUD,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the River Place Limited District. “So, now that we are a limited district, the limited district had to acknowledge the SPA (terms through ratification). That was done today.”

He said the MUD directors automatically became members of the Limited District pursuant to the SPA.

Three funds of the former MUD board were altered upon annexation as well.

The River Place MUD debt service fund was dissolved, with the city of Austin assuming “the next two years worth of debt payments,” said Michael Luft, an accountant for Inframark, the MUD’s water operations company. “The bonded debt was taken out to pay for the MUD’s infrastructure.”

These bond payments include $19,350 of interest on $525,000 of principal due in both March and September; and $7,538 of interest on $335,000 of principal due in both March 2018 and September 2018.

An excess of $21,000 held in the debt service fund was transferred to the park fund, the only fund that will remain under the Limited District’s control, Reilly said. The MUD’s general fund was also dissolved, with approximately $8 rolling over to Austin coffers, he said.

However, May 5 will be a red letter day for River Place residents who will vote to fill three Limited District board positions, approve the new Limited District and set the Limited District’s ad valorem tax rate to be used to maintain the area’s parks, trails and solid waste services.

The Limited District imposed a tax rate for the 2017-18 fiscal period at 7.5 cents per $100 valuation, Crosby said, the same rate the River Place MUD exacted for its last fiscal tax session.

“The only other issue we have (post-annexation) is ratification by the voters in May,” Reilly said.

A simple majority, or 51 percent, is required to ratify the Limited District, he said. If the vote fails and the Limited District is not approved, he said the district will be dissolved and the city of Austin will assume maintenance of the development’s parks, trails and solid waste services.

“The solid waste alone, depending on the value of the home, is so much cheaper than what the residents would get if the city were to take over that it almost makes fiscal sense to approve the district just for that,” Reilly said. “Nevertheless, the city will maintain the parks and trails at the level they maintain their existing parks and trails. There’s been conversation that if this (Limited District) isn’t approved, the city doesn’t necessarily have the budget to keep the trails open and they may close the trails.”

Tim Mattox, a board member of the River Place Homeowners Association, said his group agrees with the Limited District’s plan.

“The HOA has talked about this (Limited District) and is in support of the Limited District,” he said. “We think it would be a good thing for the community, not only that the city won’t take care of the parks and the trails in the way that we have become accustomed to, but also the fact that the cost of the solid waste disposal alone would offset the cost of the ad valorem tax.”

Crosby, who is also president of the River Place HOA, said the Limited District board is slated to host a meeting in March or April, for residents to address their questions about the Limited District in advance of the May vote.

However, Mattox said some residents are concerned about their cost of living rising post-annexation, including electric rates that were maintained at a lower tier, or level of payment, before the development was fully annexed by the city of Austin. He said he estimates these increased costs, along with higher electric bills and ad valorem taxes tallies about $3 million for River Place residents as a whole.

“It’s going to be interesting as we interact with the city (of Austin) in terms of what kinds of things we can get for the River Place community,” Mattox said.

 

Last ditch effort to avoid annexation

During the week River Place was set to be annexed, River Place Homeowners Association board members approached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, through State Representative Paul Workman, R-Austin, to consider a technical argument that, if it prevailed, would have voided the development’s Dec. 15 annexation by the city of Austin, said Tim Mattox, a board member of the River Place Homeowners Association.

Although no HOA member was present at the meeting between Workman and Paxton’s office, officials reviewed an argument that included the validity of posting the notice of a meeting to create a Strategic Partnership Agreement between River Place and the city of Austin nine years ago, he said.

“We only had one notice and it was way too close to the meeting,” Mattox said. “Because the legal arguments were legitimate, (the Attorney General’s office) just felt it was probably not something that would be successful all the way through the appeals courts.”

Submitted by Leslee Bassman