Water company almost shuts off town

November 24, 2006 01:06 am

— MUSTANG, Texas (AP) — An unpaid bill nearly caused a supplier to shut off water service to an entire town.
Mustang’s 40 residents had faced the possibility of losing water service Monday if they didn’t find a way to pay a $3,400 bill. Someone made the payment, said Jay Mertz, president of the Angus Water Supply Corp., though he declined to identify the person, the Corsicana Daily Sun reported.
The tiny town, founded in 1972 to provide a home for alcohol sales in Navarro County, had been paying its water bill with sales tax money collected at the only two local businesses — a strip club and a bar.
But both businesses closed last year in the heat of a legal dispute stemming from the sale of the town.
City leaders organized a Halloween fundraiser in October, but it raised only a few hundred dollars.
Thomas Sinclair, operator of the local strip club and bar, purchased the town from its late co-founder, Willie McKie, last year. Within months, both sides alleged breaches of contract in lawsuits that are slowly moving toward a courtroom.
Sinclair said he hopes the lawsuits will be resolved so he can reopen the bar and strip club, which were temporarily closed by a court order in January.
Residents pay no property tax or water fees.