Friday, April 26, 2024
Coryell County Commissioners Court
The Coryell County Commissioners Court is expected to take action on financial requests from local rural water districts on April 12.
The commissioners court made $900,000 available to help the rural water districts meet requirements which will allow them to continue provisioning service even during extreme conditions, such as when Winter Storm Uri caused widespread power and water outages in February 2021.
Of the nine rural water districts serving Coryell County residents, four submitted funding requests to the commissioners court and another, Grove Water Supply, asked for an extension.
Those submitting requests include:
The funding is expected to help purchase generators and other equipment which will help keep water flowing even if subfreezing weather causes power failures.
Commissioner Ryan Basham said he wanted to give Grove Water Supply additional time to complete their estimate of funds needed.
"I don't have a problem with giving them an extension if they've put forth some effort," Commissioner Kyle Matthews said.
County Judge Roger Miller said 30 days was requested, but commissioners indicated they would like to have the request in before their April 12 meeting, as four other local water providers have already done.
"Holy smokes, they knew this was coming and we have to get that information to the state," Matthews said.
"I agree there are deadlines," Miller said. He noted that applications for funds from both Mountain Water Supply and Multi County were complete before the county's March 22 meeting, while additional information was needed from the Coryell City and Leon Junction systems.
Commissioners have requested additional information from the local water systems as well, such as an estimate on how many customers are served within Coryell County and how many live outside the county.
"I want to come up with an equitable balance – I think that's reasonable," Miller said.
County Auditor Ben Roberts said the water systems have firm deadlines from the state to get information in and also to make sure they are in compliance, and that the county deadlines don't necessarily have to line up with state ones.
Matthews noted that there are other water systems located in different counties which also serve Coryell County residents.
"Kempner is a good example," Miller said. "They service a lot of customers."
