Some MUD Development money leaves El Paso

Services you pay taxes for, like libraries, swimming pools and other recreational facilities, are being used by people who don’t even live in the city.

Moreover, the taxes those homeowners pay, are not even staying in el paso. These homeowners live in MUD communities, which stands for municipal utilities developments, and which are popping up all over the city’s east side.

ABC 7 found Manuela Molina paying her water bill, but she’s not paying it at the El Paso water department, she’s paying it inside a MUD office on Montwood drive. That’s because she lives in a MUD community.

MUD communities are popping up all over the city’s east side, but, they are not part of the city’s jurisdiction.

Molina was under the impression she lived within the El Paso city limits.

ABC 7 obtained an agenda for a MUD board of directors meeting.

We learned meetings are near Austin, 600 miles away, far for anyone in the eastside for people living in MUD developments to attend. Meetings are video-conferenced to El Paso.

Money Molina is paying on her water bill is actually going to Houston, although she thought her taxes and payments were staying in El Paso.

“I understood it was all staying here in El Paso.” said Molina.

“So the people who are deciding their tax rate, the people who are deciding rates, or whatever it may be, are outside of El Paso” said city representative, Claudia Ordaz-Perez.

City leaders say homeowners who live in MUD communities , like Paseo del Este, are using services that El Pasoans are paying for, services like swimming pools, libraries and recreational facilities.

There’s also a safety concern.

Homeowners in MUD communities don’t have access to city police and fire services, they have to rely on the county for that.

ABC 7 also obtained a map of where some of those MUD communities are.

But the city clerk’s office says there are at least 16 MUD communities in and around the city.

Developers build MUDs with little oversight from the county, and they pay no taxes to the county. They promise to pay for things like water and sewer hookups.

Some MUDs are eventually annexed.

“In the end, 30 years down the road, the developers will be paid back from the taxes that the people in this neighborhood are paying.” said the representative. Ordaz-Perez says MUDs can be annexed even if MUD developers are in debt. The representative says the city assumes the debt.

According to representative ordaz perez, MUDs are responsible for the uncontrolled growth on the east side.

She says city leaders will take a closer look at a master plan to control that growth.