Author: LFUD

Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Rate

The LAKE FOREST UTILITY DISTRICT will hold a public hearing on a proposed tax rate for the tax year 2021 on Tuesday, October 19,2021 at 7:00 PM at 14223 Lakewood Forest Dr, Houston, Texas, 77070. Your individual taxes may increase at a greater or lesser rate, or even decrease, depending on the tax rate that is adopted and on the change in the taxable value of your property in relation to the change in taxable value of all other property. The change in the taxable value of your property in relation to the change in the taxable value of all other property determines the distribution of the tax burden among all property owners.

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2020 Water and Sewer Rate Analysis

Annual Water and Sewer Collections and Expenses

Lake Forest Utility District (the District) authorized AEI Engineering, a Baxter & Woodman Company (AEI) to perform a Water and Sewer Rate Analysis to determine representative costs of providing water and sewer services, as well as other general District operating expenses. Using data from the most recent 12-month period (July 2019 through June 2020), the analysis determined representative annual operating expenses for the water and sewer systems; overall administrative and management costs for the District generally were allocated evenly between water and wastewater costs. North Harris County Regional Water Authority (NHCRWA) fees (collections and District expense) were evaluated independently.

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2020 Water and Sewer Rate Analysis

Lake Forest Utility District (the District) authorized AEI Engineering, a Baxter & Woodman Company (AEI) to perform a Water and Sewer Rate Analysis at their regular meeting on July 21, 2020.
Using data from the 12-month period of July 2019 through June 2020, the analysis determined representative annual operating expenses for the water and sewer systems, cost per 1,000 gallons to
produce water and sewer services, water usage by connection type, Equivalent Single-Family Connections (ESFCs) by connection type, and maintenance tax per ESFC. Capital expenditures during
the analysis period were significantly higher than typical years. Therefore, a 5-year analysis was performed using data from 2015 to 2019 to determine the capital expenditure cost per 1,000 gallons of water billed.

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Rate Increases / Sewer and NHCRWA Fees

Dear Residents:

Beginning January 2021, it will be necessary to increase Lake Forest Utility District’s (LFUD) monthly sewer rate from $10/month to $20/month and to increase the North Harris County Regional Water Authority (NHCRWA) fees by 10%. The NHCRWA fee is based on raw well water pumped from the aquifer and not the actual amount of treated water billed to the customer. This will be LFUD’s first increase in water and sewer rates since 1996.

In June 2020, LFUD commissioned our engineering firm, AEI Engineering, to perform an analysis of our current water and sewer production costs and the revenue received from current tax, water, and sewer rates along with the fees associated with the NHCRWA. The analysis showed LFUD is currently collecting 91 % of the cost to provide water, 59% of the sewer costs, and about 90% of the fees assessed to LFUD by the NHCRWA.

Based on AEl’s analysis, the Board determined that the majority of the costs for sewer and water could be recovered by adding $10/month to the sewer rate only. The NHCRWA revenue shortfall could be corrected by adding a 10% surcharge to the NHCRWA assessment. The 10% surcharge will recover the cost of water lost from main breaks and water flushed from fire hydrants, etc.

Through prudent management, LFUD has paid off all outstanding bonds but has a $0.245/$100 valuation Operation & Maintenance Tax. Our evaluation has found that LFUD has the lowest water and sewer rates and O & M taxes compared to neighboring districts after the January 2021 increase is implemented.