“It’s an effort to help offset the cost of water and sewer and to lessen the burden on the people who are here permanently,” said Port O’Connor MUD Board President Teddy Hawes. He was explaining the reason the Board has given intention to introduce a bill in the Texas Legislature to implement a sales tax in Port O’Connor. “We need more water and sewer capacity to offset the influx we have at certain times of the year. We feel it is reasonable for visitors using our services to help pay the cost of it.”

Currently the sales tax in Port O’Connor is 6¾ % . 6¼ goes to the State and ½% to the County.  The proposed sales tax would add ½ to one cent per dollar of purchase price. The sales tax would apply to goods and services covered by the Texas Sales and Use statute, which excludes groceries.

“We agree with our customers that our rates are high, but they are currently set as low as possible to cover maintenance and a slow expansion. We do not wish to raise the rates or to collect more property taxes, but we do need to expand more quickly than is possible with our current funds.  Basically, a sales tax is the most fair tax you can get,” Teddy said.

Teddy noted that water and sewer is still not available to a large portion of Port O’Connor. There are many dead-end lines which require periodic flushing, an extra expense. “We need to finish the system for the whole town. We could get the water and sewer rates down by spreading the costs over a larger area,” he said.
The Board has begun discussions with local business owners concerning the proposed legislation. Anyone who would like to read the proposed bill may pick up a copy at the MUD office, 39 Denman Drive. If you are in agreement with this proposal, you are encouraged to contact Senator Glenn Hegar and Representative Geanie Morrison voicing your support.

The next MUD Board meeting will be held Monday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the MUD office. As always, regular MUD Board meetings are open to the public.