That ordinance requires EPWWS to transfer all its revenues to the City, something that has never been the case.
A few months ago, the City and EPWWS began to address that situation and work together to fix the existing ordinance.
The Eagle Pass City Council met on Tuesday, October 6, in which they discussed an item seeking new procedures and payment terms for the Eagle Pass Water Works System annual remittance to the City of Eagle Pass.
The agreed upon amount is a 2 percent contribution of its yearly revenues.
The EPWWS was created over 72 years ago by the City of Eagle Pass.
Along the years ordinances were placed including one specifically for waters and sewers which include the following passages.
City Code of Ordinances Sec. 27-26 (c) The city waterworks system shall pay to the city any and / or all revenues in excess of any required payments on bond indentures, required capital improvements and any reasonable expenses for the maintenance, operation and repair of the waterworks's system each fiscal year following the passage of this ordinance [Ordinance No. 82-20].
The city waterworks system shall tender such amount as described above on the first day of April each year as shall have fallen due on said first day of April, such portion of said amount being computed on a pro rata basis.
The city waterworks system shall tender the remainder of said amount as described above on the first day of October of each year, in order to conform to actual revenues received during such fiscal year by the waterwork's system.
Each of such payments shall be in accordance with procedures prescribed by the city manager.
Each of such payments shall be accompanied by a financial statement explaining how such amount was computed according to the procedure described above, and shall also be accompanied by a copy of the official audit of the city waterworks's system for such year, which amount of such payments shall conform to the figures reflected in such audit.
If the city manager disputes this computation, the city waterworks's system shall allow the city manager to inspect such books and records of the waterworks's system as the city manager deems necessary, and if after such inspection the city manager still disputes such computation, an accountant chosen by the city manager shall be hired at the expense of the city waterworks' system to compute the amount according to the guidelines prescribed herein above.
The finding of the accountant shall be binding and shall govern the parties.
The City and EPWWS are working on amending that part of the ordinance, requiring EPWWS to provide only 2 percent of its entire revenues to the City of Eagle Pass. The City Council will hear the item another two more times before final approval.