A qualifying district or municipality may ask to be excluded from the authority’s boundaries, and the board must grant the request if the filing rules are met.
Sec. 8813.005. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN TERRITORY. (a) A district or municipality that, on the effective date of the Act creating this chapter, is located, wholly or partly, within the territory described by Section 2(a) or (b) of the Act creating this chapter may petition for exclusion of all of its territory from the authority's boundaries by a petition signed by a majority of the members of the governing body of the district or municipality. (b) The board shall: (1) not later than the 120th day after the effective date of the Act creating this chapter, grant the petition and order the territory excluded if the petition: (A) includes an accurate legal description of the boundaries of the territory to be excluded; and (B) is filed with the authority not later than the 60th day after the effective date of the Act creating this chapter; and (2) if the board grants the petition, file for recording in the office of the county clerk for the applicable county or counties a copy of the order and a description of the authority's boundaries as they exist after the exclusion of the territory. (c) If a district or municipality is excluded from the authority's boundaries under this section, the authority is not required to: (1) provide water or any other service to the district or municipality; or (2) include the district or municipality in any groundwater reduction plan adopted or implemented by the authority. (d) If, not later than the 60th day after the effective date of the Act creating this chapter, a district or municipality files a petition for exclusion under this section, the authority may not impose fees, user fees, rates, charges, or special assessments on the district or municipality after the petition is filed with the authority unless the district or municipality is annexed by the authority under Section 8813.006. (e) If a district or municipality excluded from the authority's boundaries under this section petitions the authority to be annexed under Section 8813.006, the authority may annex the district or municipality. The authority may, as a condition of annexation, require terms and conditions the board considers appropriate. The authority may require the district or municipality to pay the authority the fees, user fees, charges, and special assessments, with interest, that, as determined by the authority, the district or municipality would have been charged by the authority if the district or municipality had not been excluded from the authority under this section. Added by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 893 (S.B. 1798), Sec. 1, eff. June 17, 2005.