In response to resolutions passed by Conroe and Magnolia city councils, the San Jacinto River Authority filed a lawsuit in Travis County on Wednesday regarding their breach of contract for refusing to pay a recent increase in SJRA Groundwater Reduction Plan fees.

On Aug. 16, the Conroe City Council passed a resolution stating that it would not pay a 7.75 percent increase in fees enacted by the SJRA. The increase only affects residents that receive water services from the 151 entities involved in the SJRA GRP—such as residents of Conroe, Magnolia, Oak Ridge North and The Woodlands. The city of Magnolia passed a similar resolution in late August.

SJRA General Manager Jace Houston said the fees were increased as a last resort measure to address the drop in demand for water because of heavy rainfall over the course of recent years. Prior to approval, Houston said the fees were evaluated by a customer review committee composed of representatives from local municipalities and utility providers—including Conroe.

The SJRA GRP fee for groundwater use was increased from $2.32 to $2.50 per 1,000 gallons, and the surface water fee increased from $2.51 to $2.69 per 1,000 gallons. The fee is typically passed from utility providers directly to residents as a line item on their monthly water bills. The new fees went into effect today.

“Up until yesterday, in fact, we opted not to raise rates above what we had projected and instead decided to eat into our reserve funds,” Houston said. “We squeezed the budget, we delayed projects and we delayed studies and anything we could reduce or delay. Then when we got to the end, everyone on the committee recognized we have no choice. This is our last resort.”

Following the resolution by the cities, the SJRA considers the cities to be in breach of the contract they signed when they entered into the GRP. Houston said the breach of contract triggers a specific set of steps for notifying the state, including informing the Texas Attorney General and the Texas Water Development Board as well as issuing a petition in court to confirm the validity of the GRP’s contracts and its ability to enforce them.

“The whole concept is you can’t have a bunch of governmental entities join together, sign a contract and say they are going to build a large project to benefit everybody, then five years later have one of them say, ‘We disagree. We don’t think that was a good deal for us to enter into after all so we are walking [away from] the contract,’” Houston said.

According to the city’s Aug. 16 resolution, Conroe officials believe the Lone Star Groundwater Conservation District and the SJRA are working together to create a system that forces water providers to pay for the $479.8 million surface water plant on Lake Conroe built by the SJRA.

Conroe City Attorney Marcus Winberry said the city will review the SJRA lawsuit during its next city council meeting.

“The city will carefully study the lawsuit,” Winberry said. “We will address that in an executive session discussion in our next city council meeting, and I am sure that a response to that litigation will be forthcoming at that time.”

For more information visit www.sjra.net.