Brian McDougal, former city manager of Port Arthur, said there was a deficit with the water and sewer fund prior to his arrival to the city in 2015.

“The base rates for the water and sewer became a political issue a couple of elections ago. The mantra was pay for what you use. They removed the base charge and they started losing $7 million a year. The fund was in the hole,” he said.

Now, he estimates from $49 million to $50 million is owed to the city’s general fund from the water and sewer fund. McDougal added that there’s not enough revenue to pay for itself.

He said he would periodically ask the City Council to do something about the water and sewer rates, but they were banking on the Cheniere LNG plant in Cameron to pay the city $9 million a year for supplying them water service, but it didn’t happen that way.

“Last August we estimated they would pay $6 million a year that Cheniere said they would buy, but they didn’t need that much water. That was six months into the budget year,” he said. “It was well known by the City Council and staff we were underfunded. If Cheniere had paid us the amount we could get the fund out of debt.”

Another issue is that the water meters are not reading properly.

McDougal said people put the water meters in the right of way or they put stuff on top of the water meters and block access. Following Hurricane and Tropical Storm Harvey, contractors also ripped out the new electronic meters while doing repair work.

For instance, McDougal’s meter wasn’t read for four to five months. Meter readers would do an estimate instead of a reading. His monthly bill then jumped from $30 a month to $60 a month. Some residents’ bills jumped from $20 a month to $90 a month after the meters became functional again.

“We could have $45 million in the general fund to fix roads, but the water and sewer funds don’t stand on their own. They’re supplemented out of the general fund,” McDougal said. “The water and wastewater department is supposed to be a businesslike activity and the city is bailing it out of the water and sewer fund. It’s supposed to operate in the black instead of the red.”