(A) The
City Council has found and hereby finds that:
(1) The
City will establish a schedule of drainage charges against all real
property in the City subject to charges under subchapter C, chapter
402 of the Texas Local Government Code;
(2) The
City will provide drainage for all real property in the City on payment
of drainage charges, except real property exempted under subchapter
C, chapter 402 of the Texas Local Government Code;
(3) City
will offer drainage service on nondiscriminatory, reasonable and equitable
terms; and
(4) That,
prior to the adoption of this article, the City Council caused to
be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City a notice
stating the time and place of a public hearing to consider this article;
the notice contained this article published in full and the notice
was published three times before the date of the hearing, the first
publication occurring on or before the 30th day before the date of
the hearing.
(B) The
provisions of subchapter C, chapter 402 of the Texas Local Government
Code are hereby declared to be adopted and a municipal drainage utility
system is hereby established by the authority of that subchapter and
the home rule powers of the City under article XI, section 5 of the
Texas Constitution. The drainage of the City is declared to be a public
utility. The program hereby created shall be reviewed annually as
a separate budget issue.
(Ordinance 4517, sec. 1, adopted 9/3/91)
(A) Municipal drainage utility charges are as designated in the Master Fee and Rate Schedule, Article VII, Section
10.85, of Chapter
10.
(B) For
the purposes of this subsection, “impervious area” means
any area not able to absorb rainfall, thereby creating stormwater
runoff. In addition to any mandatory exemption provided by law, school
districts, and property owned by a religious organization that is
exempt from taxation pursuant to section 11.20 of the Texas Tax Code,
shall be exempt from the charges established by this section.
(C) The
drainage charges established by this section shall be billed to the
user of the benefited property along with the bill for other utility
services provided to the property. The drainage charges shall be identified
separately on the bill as stormwater management charge.
(D) The
City shall not require a deposit for drainage charges as a precondition
to accepting surface flow into the drainage system. Delinquent drainage
charges are subject to the same penalties and methods of collection
as other utility charges of the City.
(E) The
income of the drainage utility system shall be segregated and completely
identifiable in the accounts of the City. The revenues produced by
the drainage charges established by this article shall be applied
to the funding of both operating requirements and future system improvements
and other capital costs and may not be transferred to the general
fund of the City.
(Ordinance 4518, sec. 1, adopted 9/3/91; Ordinance 4899, sec. 1, adopted 9/19/95; Ordinance 4984, sec. 1, adopted 7/1/96; Ordinance 6350, sec. 8, adopted 9/1/09; Ordinance 6423, sec. 5, adopted 9/7/10; Ordinance 6937, sec. 3, adopted 9/19/17; Ordinance 7086, sec. 7 adopted 9/3/19; Ordinance
7363 adopted 9/6/2022)