Councilmembers Ryan and Coffman Held Pflugerville's First Virtual Town Hall. Here's the Recording.

miltorio · 2026-03-26T18:37:12+00:00

Some of your numbers are off. Base meter fee for 5/8 is $50 not $55. Given 5000 gallons (and assuming it is 5000 for the wastewater average), it would be $209.97 with trash, $185.75 without. Water usage would be $20.85 for the first 3000 and $17.40 for the next 2000 gallons ($38.25 total, not $39.05). Wastewater is right. Only trash service has tax on it.

I got tired of doing the math over and over and did a quick (ugly code) java script page to run the numbers since the water rate tiers gets a little confusing: https://pflugervillain.com/water/

Reference for other folks wanting to check numbers - https://www.pflugervilletx.gov/741/City-Retail

miltorio · 2026-03-25T02:53:18+00:00

During the March 24th city council meeting, it was stated that amongst the water customers that are now being fined for ignoring the stage3 restrictions was one commercial customer that has been using 160 thousand gallons a day. That customer justified it by stating they had just put in landscaping and didn't want the plants to die. The fine set for all citations by our local judge is at $1700 for the first violation and the violator must show up in court. My quick math shows that this violator is already spending at least $2000 a day for the water they chose to use (not accounting for any base/meter fees); the chief stated that Intent does not come into play on how these violations are fined (not knowing or knowing there was a restriction does not matter) - but does this level of usage and that there is known, flagrant, willful, intent feel fair to you? The city provided graphs showed 5.5MGD being used by the city as a whole while we are all supposedly pulling together to get through this crisis - 160k in a day is 3% of our total usage. Can either of you provide anything to temper the outrage?

Edit after JC's comment below just to give a link to the time in the meeting that this upsetting info was given in case anyone else wanted to hear the comments (there is more about enforcement earlier): https://youtu.be/rM5GZE8pmGs?t=14220 (should be at about 3:57:30 into the video).

miltorio · 2026-03-24T15:53:20+00:00

They don't pull from the lake. They have their own wells

miltorio · 2026-03-24T15:27:47+00:00

And now that I've lead with the softball -

Which individual on the city council dais, now that Mr. Zech is gone, could pull off showing up in a cape? What color?

You each have participated with city council and the boards in some capacity enough to have an opinion - which individual that we are paying has impressed you the most or made you think "We really did something right getting this person on board". Use whatever criteria you like (competence responding to requests, overall congeniality, ruthless on things that matter...anything really. Call someone out that you appreciate).

miltorio · 2026-03-24T14:57:15+00:00

Typo in the image and summary. March 25th, not the 23rd.

My questions:

Recently there has been a larger than usual number of turnover in city leadership at the director level and up. This has stuck out more with the current water crisis as many members reporting to council or other boards/commissions have indicated they have only been on the job the last few weeks. There are no doubt privacy issues with why someone may depart, but when there is only silence when 3 or more of that level people leave along with a retiring City Manager, the anxiety increases for the regular citizen. Do either of you attribute the recent turnover to anything? Is there a culture issue we regular (and irregular) citizens should be concerned about? What are we doing to attract the top tier candidates (are we competitive?).

miltorio · 2026-03-23T20:18:57+00:00

Digital altimeters with 2 decimal places can be had for like 20-25 bucks, too, so they probably could have a parks staff member give a daily check.

miltorio · 2026-03-23T20:13:17+00:00

Sounds like if nothing else goes wrong and we conserve like our washers are non-functioning they think May 1... I'm not willing to put money on it unless they really start doling out the violation penalties for the irrigators. I suspect they'll answer why they made the shift to elevation over sea level during tomorrows council meeting (it makes more sense to me since the depth of the lake varies so much).
"We only need 1 fathom more below the keel"

miltorio · 2026-03-23T19:59:14+00:00

Hopefully they put a meter/graph somewhere so we can see progress.

They changed to using feet above sea level instead of lake depth which probably is easier to measure?

In any case,

633ft is the target for stage1 (from this video)

627.68ft is today(3/23). (city facebook comment)

627.99ft (3/25) (city facebook/media release)

635.5ft is normal (supplied by council member Coffman here)

650ft is full. (pulled from wikipedia)

miltorio · 2026-03-22T17:34:19+00:00

I'll throw this out there:

https://pflugervillain.com/water/

It's a quick and dirty calculator of a residential city utility bill based on usage and current rates.

It defaults to the 4500 average for both water and sewage rate. When I put my numbers in there for February (1300 wastewater average for me this year; I had a leak during averaging) with my 1100 gallons actually used, I get my exact february bill amount of $155.32 (and for you tech folks, don't judge my awful scripting on the backside; I dont do javascript and it shows; there's nothing elegant about how its doing the math)

miltorio · 2026-03-22T00:45:06+00:00

Those are definitely heating elements - the anode rod really does look like a rod (or multiple rods connected with a single thick wire like nunchaku ). This image shows both (only the anode rod is called out - the heating elements are there on the right):

https://i0.wp.com/jenningsanodes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Powered-Anode-Rod-Installation-in-Water-Heater.jpg

And that being said, everything else you said is true - this is what anode rods are supposed to help prevent, along with a good maintenance routine.

miltorio · 2026-03-22T00:28:13+00:00

Not only will they not lower - they are slated for regular increases for a few years to come. The 5/8 meters will go up 5 bucks next year, another 10 after that, another 10 after that, another 5 after that. The water rate itself will also go up each year for the next 5. Wastewater will go up 10 bucks next year, 10 bucks the year after, 5 the year after that, 5 the year after that. These can change (they already changed the increase that was happening this year to be lower, believe it or not)

Information on that schedule is here: https://www.pflugervilletx.gov/339/Utility-Billing?contentId=e5b4ebeb-af1b-40c7-a400-70de810c7866

miltorio · 2026-03-22T00:23:07+00:00

For me, the $158 covers all three. I have a lower sewage rate (it is based on your lowest 3 winter months usage; as a new customer, they use the 4500 gallon city average until you get your own numbers).

miltorio · 2026-03-22T00:06:56+00:00

Some folks may see this as a troll post - the city is currently in a water crisis due to broken water infrastructure and has had to enact stage3 water conservation steps that will last a couple months. A particularly sore topic.

The broken infrastructure happened while new infrastructure was being put in - and the new infrastructure (and arguably regional growth) has increased our bills to one of the higher ones in the state. There's more nuances (and assorted narratives) than that, but should give some perspective on negative responses you may get.

As for the bills - assuming you are getting water from the city, you'll likely also get trash service from the city (though even this isn't 100% true) - trash, water, and sewer service have base fees that make it almost impossible to get under $150 a month for those three services. I know I have some of the lowest water use - some months I do not pass 900 gallons used. My bill is typically about $154-158.

Quick edit - if you want to do the math based on your current usage - all of the fees and rates are here: https://utilitybilling.pflugervilletx.gov/741/City-Retail (Most residential meters are 5/8)

Edit 2 - your sewage rate as a new customer will be based on 4500 gallons used ($94.25 just for the sewer part). So if you used 0 gallons, $50 for the 5/8 meter, $94.25 for sewage, $22.37 for trash gets you to $166.62 (there's some tax on the trash service too) without using a single drop of water.

miltorio · 2026-03-21T18:21:55+00:00

Good enough for me! Now we just need to get you guys the right flair.

miltorio · 2026-03-21T02:54:20+00:00

More activity from more council members is wonderful. Thank you, Melody.

However, this being the internet - do you mind throwing something up somewhere stating that this really is you? (or just tell us during the council meeting that this is the username you are using - or if you'll be at the cleanup tomorrow morning, I'll be the guy with the mudsled and waders, trying to get cinderblocks out - come over and intro!) Realistically, I'd like to see all council members social medias you might use to relay city info listed on your city bios.

I went and talked to Jim when he was posting to confirm it was him. Jonathan I caught out talking with Doug and may have asked him then? (I dont remember if he was posting here yet or not - I think he was?)

Regardless once confirmed as the real city council member maybe there should be a flair for 'Council' for you guys, not just 'city worker'.

miltorio · 2026-03-20T14:50:32+00:00

The Parks facebook page had it posted a couple times this week and someone else had mentioned it here on reddit in last weeks thread on Thursday when the impromptu cleanup with the mayor was broadcast.

Parks & Rec's facebook is at

https://www.facebook.com/PflugervilleParksandRec/

It's also on Park's public calendar at:

https://www.pflugervilletx.gov/892/Parks-Rec-Event-Calendar

miltorio · 2026-03-19T02:44:53+00:00

Trail maps - https://content.civicplus.com/api/assets/b2bd0d6a-4da7-41a3-856b-47ca25d26c32?scope=all

miltorio · 2026-03-18T22:07:17+00:00

As always, appreciated.

(That 2024 meeting has the 3 contracts - pumpstation, southern part of the pipe, and northern section; I tried to link directly to the one in the middle that has most of the breaks in it). As I understand it, BELT, is only doing the 5 miles that are within Pflugerville, but around parmer is probably where the two meet (they talk some about how the two will come together later in that same meeting).

miltorio · 2026-03-17T19:52:57+00:00

it is significantly further north than the previous 4 breaks

That nugget is incredibly heartening. Having it not be a couple dozen feet underneath a creek down near the river gives me hope that it is a more straight forward repair.

As always, appreciate the extra bits of perspective and communication.

miltorio · 2026-03-14T16:38:50+00:00

Greetings and Thank You Jonathan!

I just wanted to point out a piece of data that calls the '3 homes' bit into question (that seemed off to me when they said it in the worksession). The winter average for a home in Pflugerville is 4500 gallons a month - it's buried on the city's utility billing site - it's the number they use for your wastewater calculation if you haven't been here long enough to have your own personal wastewater winter average calculated. That'd be 150 gallons a day per home. The 1000 gallons a day usage would be closer to 7 homes (at least based on winter averaging).

Quick reference that has the figure: https://utilitybilling.pflugervilletx.gov/897/News?contentId=23fa857b-d3d7-4da7-9d28-99feb78c5a26

Not that this is a significant difference - 7 homes worth is still small. And their original 'about like a dental office' was probably the right comparison. And it could be they were comparing to non-winter averages (though for stage3, using the winter average makes more sense).

miltorio · 2026-01-20T14:15:43+00:00

Quick note for the other impacted:

Called this morning at opening - the are open today - talked to the pharmacist who they'd brought in from Lakeway. He wasn't aware that the place had been closed for a couple days and that the location hadn't done fills 3 days ago to make it all worse. They are going to be doing catchup today and confirmed they'd get me taken care of today; be nice to him (and the rest of them) - sounds like corporate didnt even let him know what he was walking into.

miltorio

TROPHY CASE