Relating to the creation of the Wolf Creek Municipal Management District No. 1; providing authority to issue bonds; providing authority to impose assessments, fees, and taxes; granting a limited power of eminent domain.
SB 3065 creates the Wolf Creek Municipal Management District No. 1, a special district in Hunt County associated with territory in and around the City of Greenville. The bill establishes the district as a political subdivision under Texas law and sets out its governance structure, beginning with temporary directors appointed through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and then transitioning to a five-member elected board with staggered four-year terms.
The district is authorized to carry out a wide range of public infrastructure and development functions. These include designing, constructing, acquiring, improving, operating, maintaining, and financing projects such as water, wastewater, drainage, road, recreational, parking, and pedestrian improvements, as well as economic development programs, law enforcement contracts, and related services. The bill also allows the district to create a nonprofit corporation to assist with projects and services, to add or exclude land, and to divide into new districts under specified conditions.
The bill gives the district financial powers typical of municipal management districts. It may impose assessments, subject to a petition requirement from property owners before assessment-funded projects are undertaken, and it may issue bonds and other obligations secured by assessments, contract revenues, other district revenues, and, if approved by voters, ad valorem taxes. The bill also provides that assessments become liens on assessed property and sets out procedures for dissolution of the district under certain ownership thresholds and debt conditions.
A notable feature is the bill’s treatment of eminent domain. Section 4 makes the district’s eminent domain authority contingent on receiving a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house; if that threshold is not met, the bill is amended so the district has no eminent domain power. The bill also contains standard legislative findings that the district serves a public purpose and supplements, rather than replaces, county and city services.
Overall, the sentiment appears favorable and largely procedural rather than contentious. The Senate committee reported the bill adversely but with a favorable committee substitute, and the committee vote was 5-0 with one member present not voting, suggesting support for the concept with possible revisions. The available voting history shows the bill advanced in the House without recorded yeas or nays on the listed procedural steps, and there is no committee transcript indicating substantial debate. The main point of potential contention is the scope of the district’s powers, especially taxation, assessments, bond authority, and eminent domain, which are common issues in special district legislation.
SB 3065 would add Chapter 4015 to the Special District Local Laws Code, formally creating the Wolf Creek Municipal Management District No. 1 and subjecting it generally to Chapter 375, Local Government Code, except as otherwise provided. It authorizes the district to levy assessments, hold tax elections, issue bonds and other obligations, contract for services, and exercise limited eminent domain authority only if the constitutional supermajority condition is met; otherwise, the district would have no eminent domain power. The bill also affects property owners within the district by potentially subjecting them to assessments, liens, and voter-approved ad valorem taxes, and it establishes procedures for annexation, exclusion, division, and dissolution of the district.
The overall sentiment appears supportive and nonpartisan, with the bill moving through committee on a favorable substitute and a unanimous committee vote in the Senate committee record. The lack of recorded opposition in the available materials and the absence of committee testimony suggest the bill was treated as a routine local district creation measure. The only clear caution reflected in the text is the Legislature’s sensitivity to eminent domain authority, which is conditioned on a two-thirds vote and otherwise removed.
The main areas of potential contention are the district’s taxing and financing powers, the imposition of assessments and liens on property owners, and the possibility of eminent domain authority. Property owners within the proposed district may be most affected by assessments, ad valorem taxes, and bond-backed obligations, while local governments may be attentive to how the district supplements existing city and county services. Eminent domain is the most explicit flashpoint in the bill text, as the legislation includes a fallback provision eliminating that power unless the bill receives the required supermajority vote.