OPINION: Municipal Utility District (MUD) Elections

Friends and Neighbors,

MUD Director Elections matter a lot as The Woodlands continues to mature as a community. These positions may be non-partisan, but they are still critically important to the future of our water service, our tax base, and our quality of life.

I support the following candidates because they are business-focused, they understand the importance of maintaining high-quality water service as our community ages, they recognize the need to keep tax rates reasonable, and they support responsible infrastructure renewal as our water system reaches 50 years of age. If we want The Woodlands to remain a premier place to live and to keep attracting businesses to alleviate our property taxes, we need dependable, well-managed water infrastructure and steady, practical leadership.

Please note too that MUD 1 President and candidate Walt Lisiewski is working toward restructuring the governance of the Woodlands Water Agency by consolidating the bloated MUDs to reduce the number of directors, currently 50, and number of monthly meetings, currently 11, to something more reasonable and cost effective. Walt wants to reduce the size of government.

Early voting takes place:
Monday, April 20, 8am – 5pm
Wednesday, April 22 – Saturday, April 25, 8am – 5pm
Monday, April 27 – Tuesday, April 28, 7am – 7pm

Election day voting is on May 2, 7am – 7pm

Use This Map to Find Your MUD: https://woodlandswater.org/muds/

These are the candidates I support for the five MUDs with contested elections:

MUD 1

Walt Lisiewski
* see additional notes below regarding attacks on Walt

MUD 6

Neil Gaynor
Aaron Hoffstadter

MUD 7

Paul R. Nelson

MUD 36

Peter Perez
Sharon DeMarsais

MUD 67

James M. (Jim) Stinson

*It is also important to address the recent attacks by Steve Lawrence (a MUD 1 Director) on Walt Lisiewski (MUD 1 President). These MUD elections are non-partisan. Steve Lawrence tries to turn a local water and infrastructure election into a partisan fight by invoking state and county Republican organizations and labeling candidates in ideological terms. That is not what these races are supposed to be about. MUD directors are elected to help safeguard water service, drainage, infrastructure planning, and fiscal stewardship for residents and businesses, regardless of party.

Walt Lisiewski’s own campaign materials present a record focused on lean taxes, drainage, oversight, and community service. He points to reduced MUD taxes, a 20% homestead exemption, a $10,000 exemption for seniors and disabled veterans, drainage project approvals, and oversight on costs and expenses.

Mr. Lawrence also implied that Walt Lisiewski was withholding information about a potential water rate increase to fund long-term infrastructure renewal projects following a March, 2024 MUD 1 directors meeting. This is not true. In fact, this was just one of four funding options discussed openly and transparently in the public meeting, all of which had different costs associated with them depending on how the project was financed. The pros and cons of each approach were discussed according to the published meeting agenda and no decisions were made. While residents and businesses would ultimately be responsible for these costs, there is a wide variation in the amount and duration of the cost burden, depending on the funding model. Nonetheless, Mr. Lawrence cherry-picked just one of the four options as though this was Walt’s policy position.

Reasonable people can disagree about policy choices, project timing, and funding approaches. But this election should be decided on competence, judgment, stewardship, and commitment to The Woodlands, not on partisan name-calling. I encourage you to do your own research and vote in the MUD elections.

Yours truly,

Bruce Tough
Former Chairman, The Woodlands Township Board
Founder and Principal Attorney, Tough Law Firm