Katy taxpayers may be familiar with municipal utility districts, or MUDs, because of the taxes they pay to their local MUD for services, such as trash pickup and water service. Not every neighborhood falls within a MUD, but master-planned communities typically fall outside of incorporated city limits, so they have a MUD handling the municipal services a city would provide, according to the Houston Association of Realtors.

A levee improvement district, on the other hand, specifically manages and maintains levees. LIDs are not federally funded, so they rely on local ad valorem property taxes. Residents within a LID will pay property taxes to both their LID and their MUD if they live inside both.

Want to find out more? Each Fort Bend County commissioner maintains district information reports for LIDs and MUDs in their respective precincts. www.fortbendcountytx.gov