Management Municipal District Summary

Lindale neighbors have held long-standing concerns about the poor conditions of the streets in the Lindale neighborhood. Those concerns were expressed by a sizeable majority of Lindale neighbors who responded to a street survey administered by the Lindale Neighborhood Association (LNA) late in 2011. As a result, some members of LNA’s leadership began to hold meetings with city staff since last September to explore options that could lead to the improvement of neighborhood streets. One of the options LNA proposed calls for the creation of a Municipal Management District (MMD) as a way to finance the reconstruction of streets, curbs, sidewalks, and storm water drainage systems in the Lindale neighborhood.

The culmination of those meetings led to an invitation of Assistant City Manager Oscar Martinez to the special meeting of the Lindale Neighborhood Association held on May 1st in order to acquaint neighbors with the Municipal Management District option. Mr. Martinez made a PowerPoint presentation on the MMD option and answered neighbors’ numerous questions at that meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, a recommendation was made to hold another LNA special meeting in June to continue to review the MMD option with Lindale neighbors.

Following are some of the highlights of a Management Municipal District drawn from the Assistant City Manager’s presentation on May 1st.

 A MMD can be created in two ways, either of which requires City Council approval: 1. Through formal application to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TECQ) in accordance with local government code. The application must contain a detailed service plan that describes the proposed services and projects. The application also requires a petition signed by owners of a majority of the assessed real property in the district (as defined for Lindale). 2. Through a special local bill in the state legislature.

 A MMD is governed by a board, initially named as part of the application for the creation of a MMD. Thereafter, the initial board can appoint additional members approved by the City Council. Members serve four-year terms and must meet specific eligibility requirements, including being a resident or owner of real property in the district.

 A MMD can undertake a range of services or projects as defined in its service plan including: streets, walkways, and drainage; and solid waste, water, sewer and power facilities. It can finance these services and projects by issuing bonds supported by real property taxes, assessments or impact fees. Levying real property taxes require the approval by a majority of eligible voters in the district.

City staff has estimated that it will take $15,740,000 to completely reconstruct the streets in Lindale. (This includes the installation of curbs, sidewalks, and storm/waste water systems.) It is also estimated (and these figures are very preliminary) that it would cost the average homeowner $1141 in property taxes per year. Meanwhile, tax abatements and reductions are being explored that could lower the average amount of property taxes needed to finance the reconstruction of streets.

If supported by a majority of Lindale neighbors, the creation of a MMD could issue bonds for a term of twenty years to finance this project. The LNA leadership felt that this was the most viable option among those available to finally improve the conditions of our streets. Consider, for example, that a city-wide bond election would not guarantee that Lindale streets would be included in street reconstruction plans and a self-assessment, (as is currently the case on the 600 block of Vaky Street), could prove to be more costly and may not entail the complete reconstruction of that street.

Please plan on attending the next meeting of the Lindale Neighborhood Association to learn more about the MMD option and to help us determine if its creation is one we all can support.