By: ELLENA F. MORRISON
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
January 12, 2006

FLOWER MOUND - Town officials say they have no immediate plans to pay a bill of more than $5 million from the Upper Trinity Regional Water District, the latest turn in the long and tumultuous relationship between the two.

Both sides said a disagreement over the construction of the proposed Lake Ralph Hall in Fannin County is not part of the billing controversy, but town officials said receiving the bill after they held several public meetings opposing the district's plans seems suspicious.

"The timing is strange," interim Town Manager Harlan Jefferson said. "It certainly looks like they looked high and low and far and wide for charges."

The district has said the lake is needed to meet needs in Flower Mound and the Denton County region through 2050.

Flower Mound officials have opposed the lake's creation, saying it is too expensive and is not needed. Town officials have also questioned the district's governing structure, the amount of its debt, and other issues. Lake Ralph Hall is named for a Republican congressman from Rockwall.

In explaining the bill, district officials say Flower Mound significantly delayed the construction of the Tom Harpool Regional Water Treatment Plant, causing an additional estimated $4.4 million in costs.

Extra staff time spent answering Flower Mound's requests for information and other issues cost $148,000 more, officials said.

And a currently unused water pipeline must be sterilized again, costing $650,000, according to information detailed in a Jan. 3 letter that Upper Trinity sent to Jefferson.

The district is simply asking the town to pay for work that benefited only Flower Mound, instead of the other almost 30 member cities, said Thomas Taylor, Upper Trinity's executive director. Flower Mound is the largest of those member communities.

"We have a duty to our customers to keep costs down," Taylor said. "If you use extra services, you should pay for them. If you require extra work, you should pay for it."

In late November, town officials asked for a more detailed accounting of the bill, originally delivered in October. The Jan. 3 letter was meant to answer those questions, although town officials called it "unresponsive." For instance, town officials said, the district detailed the cost of staff time by person but not the project on which each employee worked.

In the letter, a general list of activities conducted by district staff members -- including "negotiating efforts and Flower Mound's campaign in the media" -- is in a separate breakout.

"They are penalizing us for asking questions," said Michael Ryan, the town's community affairs director. "If you are a government entity, you should be open to questions and consider all possibilities."

For now, both sides say they are interested in sitting down and discussing the bill, but no meeting has been scheduled.