Residents of the Denton County town of Flower Mound -- the largest customer of the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, one of Dallas-Fort Worth's major water systems -- have publicly likened the regional water purveyor to a "fascist" regime. At a 2006 meeting of the district's board of directors, a Flower Mound council member also mimicked the Revolutionary-era Boston Tea Party, illustrating his frustration with the district by dramatically splashing bottled water into a plastic bowl.

Later this month, Flower Mound and a small group of like-minded critics will push Denton County for an outside audit of the district's finances.

At the heart of the clash between Flower Mound and the Upper Trinity district is the town's staggering financial stake in all the district's infrastructure projects. The town says it's subsidizing projects that don't benefit its residents, while the district says Flower Mound agreed to such arrangements.

In 2004, Flower Mound sued Upper Trinity for breach of contract, disputing its financial share in both the proposed Lake Ralph Hall and the Tom Harpool Regional Water Plant. That share has hovered as high as 40% in the past, based on the town's subscription rate.

The lawsuit said Upper Trinity, which has 24 member-entities, failed to establish separate cost centers to fund improvements in its north and south service areas, as promised. Flower Mound is in the southern service area. The district says no final decision on separate cost centers was ever made.

Flower Mound eventually withdrew the lawsuit after judgments on the original motion and previous appeals favored Upper Trinity.

"Flower Mound's course has always been to try and protect itself from being exploited by the smaller members of the district," said Chris Torley, the town's former representative on the Upper Trinity's 27-person board of directors. "Forty-seven cents out of every revenue dollar in the fresh-water system is paid by Flower Mound."

Upper Trinity treasurer Todd Madison says Flower Mound's complaints stem from the town's dissatisfaction with decisions made by the town's previous leaders.

"Flower Mound has a tough time staying out of the courtroom when they face a decision they don't like," said Madison, who also represents the small Denton County town of Lincoln Park on the water board. "It feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors to cover up their own mismanagement."

Flower Mound, however, contends it took prudent steps to protect its residents.

"We never actually lost the suit," said Harlan Jefferson, Flower Mound's town manager. "We just had to withdraw it, because the court requested we put up millions of dollars in escrow -- $10 million, actually -- just to continue the suit. We decided the financial risk was too great."

This month, a Denton County district court will decide how much the town will have to repay Upper Trinity for legal fees and delays caused by the lengthy legal battle. Flower Mound still refuses to pay the district's estimate on that amount: $4.8 million.

"We pursued the best possible legal avenue that we believe and still believe was in the best interest of our residents," said Michael Ryan, the town's spokesman. "Unfortunately ... our argument was never allowed its day in court."

The fight did not end in the courtroom, however.

Flower Mound and neighboring municipalities Krum, Double Oak and Copper Canyon are still trying to rally other members to its position, charging the water district has overbuilt infrastructure and acquired too much debt.

The group, calling itself Concerned Members for Accountability, say the proposed, $210 million Lake Ralph Hall and the $33 million Tom Harpool treatment plant are excessively expensive and possibly unnecessary.

"I've toured (the Upper Trinity) facilities," said Michael Savoie, Copper Canyon's Upper Trinity board representative. "They have cool gadgets NASA doesn't even have. It's just too much, too soon."

The town of Flower Mound also points to the 48-inch Southwest Regional Pipeline that Upper Trinity installed four years ago. While the town voted in favor of the line, Flower Mound says what it really wanted was a much smaller, 20-inch line. (See story on Page 14.)

Among the group's other allegations: that the district is trying to build infrastructure to serve communities that aren't even part of the district.

Upper Trinity says that's not so. "We don't have these massive plans to serve territories outside our area," said Sandy Cash, Upper Trinity's board president and board representative for the city of Irving. "They read a list of counties included in the service area of one of our members."

The Concerned Members group also points to Upper Trinity's $261 million debt -- particularly its short-term commercial paper borrowings -- as a sign of financial trouble to come.

"We're adding interest on state participation and traditional debt, while trying to pay off the commercial paper," the group's Savoie said.

Cash says that independent financial audits by Deloitte & Touche deem the district in sound financial condition, and that the district has achieved excellent bond ratings.

Still, the Concerned Members group plans to approach the Denton County Commissioners Court this month to force a financial audit. The court, the local entity that voted to establish Upper Trinity in 1989, has the unique power to enforce such an audit.

Upper Trinity, meantime, hasn't remained quiet. "Upper Trinity is not a face-to-face entity," said Madison, the district's treasurer. "We interact on a third-party, wholesale level, so it's been hard to counter some of the things that have been said."

Torley, the former Flower Mound board representative, says the district has resorted to adopting internal policies targeting Flower Mound and has taken shots at the town through executive reports.

In February, the board defeated a proposal by one of its committees to censure members for behavior deemed inappropriate by the district. And, several months later, the Texas Attorney General refused to intervene in the district's move to oust certain board members who were employees of the town of Flower Mound.

Tom Taylor, Upper Trinity's executive director, says Flower Mound has exerted influence over its neighbors to garner support and that the town has fostered an uncooperative attitude for years.

"They (Flower Mound) have long been out of sync with the larger, regional view," he said. "They are following a different course, and no one on the board really knows what that course is."

Denton County Judge Mary Horn says the board has more important issues to deal with -- like supplying the region's long-term water needs -- than hearing Flower Mound's complaints.

"They're just trying to rattle everybody's cages," she said. "And for what? I do not know. We've all got too much to do to get bogged down by all of this."