With one firm advising both the master district and every paying district, confirm whether any Participant obtained independent review or conflict consent.

Tex. Disciplinary R. Prof'l Conduct 1.06 may apply; Good practice: independent review where advisers serve both sides.

The board action behind it

2026-03-24: Approved the annual review of connection charges under the Master Facilities Contract, as recommended by BGE and subject to comments from Harris County MUD No. 489, and adopted a resolution

What else happened at that meeting

With the President absent, the Vice President presided. The Board approved the bookkeeper's, tax assessor/collector's and engineer's reports and authorized distribution of proposed joint water plant and joint sewer plant budgets for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2027 to the participant districts. Inframark reported that the transition of operations to Municipal District Services, LLC was complete, and MDS reported on chlorine residual issues affecting water supplied to participant districts and its flushing work with other operators. The Board approved the annual review of Master Facilities connection charges, subject to comments from Harris County MUD 489, and authorized critical load filings with electricity providers and preparation of unclaimed property reports.

Source: the meeting record › The approved minutes, p. 4 ›

The law and guidance in force on 2026-03-24

Joint facilities shared by benefit, generally by design capacity 30 TAC §293.44 §293.44: Same text in force then and now	Not shown in the record	BGE's annual review sets the charges; neither the new amounts nor the method are in the minutes (p.4).
Interlocal payments must fairly compensate the party performing the service Gov't Code §791.011(e) §791.011(e): Same text in force then and now	Not shown in the record	Charge levels not stated.

Who's involved

BGE, Inc. (district engineer; also engineer to MUDs 419, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493 and WCIDs 157, 158, 159)

Schwartz, Page & Harding, L.L.P. (SPH) (district attorney (and bond counsel); also general counsel to MUDs 419, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493 and WCIDs 157, 158, 159)

Participants (MUDs 419, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493) (pay connection charges per connection under the Master Facilities Contract)

Possible conflicts

BGE and SPH: BGE prepared the recommendation for MUD 418 (which collects the charges and pays them to the developer) and is engineer to each Participant that pays them; SPH advised MUD 418 and each Participant's board on approving the same resolution. (The same attorney (SPH), engineer (BGE), bookkeeper (MA&C), financial advisor (Masterson) and auditor (Forvis Mazars) serve MUD 418 and the participant districts on the other side of every master-facility payment (consultant schedules in the audits of MUD 418 (2025_Financial_Report.pdf, PDF p.42), MUD 419 (2025_05_31_Audit_Report.pdf, PDF p.70), MUD 489 (HC_489_Final_Audit_Report_FY_Ended_May_31_2024.pdf, PDF p.60), MUD 490 (HC_MUD_No_490_2025_FS_Final.pdf, PDF p.49) and MUD 493 (HC_493_Final_Audit_Report_FY_Ended_May_31_2024.pdf, PDF p.31); TCEQ affiliation records for MUDs 491 and 492 (hcid14-site/bridgeland-records/hcmud491/tceq/tceq-affiliations.html; hcid14-site/bridgeland-records/hcmud492/tceq/tceq-affiliations.html)); MUD 419 arranged standby counsel for Master Facilities Contract conflicts with MUD 418 (MUD 419 minutes June 8, 2026 p.7))

Money or costs moved

Participants (MUDs 419, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493) → HC MUD 418 Updated connection charges per equivalent single-family connection (FY2025 levels were $5,213 water and $3,953 wastewater treatment plus $0-$5,129 sanitary sewer, MUD 418 FY2025 audit, Note 7, hcid14-site/hcmud418-records/website/2025_Financial_Report.pdf, PDF p.26-28). MUD 490 approved BGE's recommended increases Feb 26, 2026; MUD 489 approved April 9, 2026, with BGE reporting MUD 489 owes additional funds to the master district (MUD 490 minutes Feb 26, 2026, hcid14-site/bridgeland-records/hcmud490/website/February_26_2026_Minutes_APPROVED_HC_490_1.pdf; MUD 489 minutes Apr 9, 2026, hcid14-site/bridgeland-records/hcmud489/website/Minutes_April_9_2026_Approved_HCMUD_489.pdf).

HC MUD 418 → Bridgeland Development, LP Connection charges are used to reimburse the developer for master facilities (MUD 418 FY2025 audit, Note 7, hcid14-site/hcmud418-records/website/2025_Financial_Report.pdf, PDF p.26-28).

Why the board approved it

Recorded: “SPH reported five Participants had approved; MUD 489 would review in April. Approved 'as recommended by BGE' and subject to MUD 489's comments (p.4).”

Approval followed the other districts' approvals, but the record does not show the new charges, the method, or any review independent of the engineer who serves both sides.