Trophy Club boundary expansion is effective; town and MUD remain split on transferring water and fire services

At a March workshop, Town of Trophy Club officials reviewed a Municipal Utility District (MUD) boundary expansion that officials said became effective Jan. 1, 2025, and discussed unresolved plans to transfer the town’s public water system and the funding/operation of the town’s fire department.

The boundary expansion, filed with Denton County on Dec. 20, 2024, and confirmed by the county appraisal office as effective Jan. 1, 2025, moves areas previously outside the MUD into MUD No. 1, officials said. That change shifts some charges that were assessments into a district property tax for affected property owners and gives those residents eligibility to vote in MUD elections, officials said.

Town Manager Brandon Wright said the expansion was intended to simplify a decades‑long patchwork in which the town and the MUD delivered water, sewer and fire/EMS through interlocal agreements. “For the last 40 years, the town and the MUD have provided the water services and the fire and EMS services,” Wright said, describing a long history of cooperation and the goal of giving residents a clearer, single‑system experience.

Why it matters

Town and MUD leaders said three immediate effects flow from the expansion: residents in the newly included areas will appear on the MUD tax roll beginning with 2025 tax data; some fees previously listed as non‑tax assessments will be reported as property tax and therefore can be deducted for federal income tax purposes; and residents who were previously outside the MUD now may run for and vote in MUD elections.

What was approved and what remains pending

Officials said both the town council and the MUD board approved resolutions consenting to boundary expansion and expressing intent to reallocate services in October 2024. The formal expansion request was filed with Denton County on Dec. 20, 2024, and the county appraisal district confirmed the expansion’s effective date as Jan. 1, 2025.

But the larger step of transferring ownership and operation of the town’s public water system and of reallocating responsibility and funding for fire…