Frequently Asked Questions
Click on the headline to see the answer.
What is SHAVE ?
SHAVE stands for “Shady Hollow Annexation Vote for Everyone” and was founded in January 2019 by residents of Shady Hollow Jim Bateman, Jamie Rygg and Geoff Lawson.
What is the purpose of SHAVE ?
SHAVE was organized for purposes of public welfare, specifically lobbying on behalf of the residents of Shady Hollow to secure the right to vote on annexation for all homeowners in the Shady Hollow neighborhood. Without a vote, there’s nothing that we can do to fight the predatory annexation actions of the City of Austin.
When will the City of Austin annex Shady Hollow?
The City of Austin will annex inside the taxable boundaries of the Shady Hollow Municipal Utility District (pink areas on map) in December 2020.
How do I know whether I’m going to be annexed?
The section in dashed RED is the expected area to be annexed by the city of Austin.
Unless we can get everyone a vote, those within the pink colored area of the map (click map to enlarge) will be annexed in December 2020 without a vote. The City has no plans to annex the grey areas of the map at this time because they are outside the taxable boundaries of the Shady Hollow Municipal Utility District and get a vote.
What are the disadvantages of being annexed by the City of Austin?
Your property taxes will increase dramatically. Your costs for water and sewer service will go up if you were a customer of Shady Hollow Municipal Utility District, whether or not you are in an area that gets annexed.
What are the advantages of being annexed by the City of Austin?
You get free access to the City of Austin’s library.
Can I vote against being annexed?
Homeowners outside the taxable boundaries of the Municipal Utility District (grey areas) would likely get a vote if the City pursued annexation.
If new legislation is passed, can it be retroactively applied to the Shady Hollow MUD/City of Austin agreement?
Everyone should understand that the bill we are supporting would not apply directly to the MUD/City Agreement (SPA). Instead, it would require the City to use the same voting procedures for the area inside the District as it does for the utility customers outside the District.
The SPA is not affected by the bill because the SPA does not give the City the right to annex the District – the City already had the right under the statute. Fixing the statute will not directly affect the SPA. For example, SB 6 changed the law to require the City to hold an election to annex those District customers outside the District boundaries, and SB 6 did not apply retroactively to the SPA.
However, the City has stated that it has no intention to annex the District’s customers outside the boundary at this time, even though the SPA specifically states that the City intends to annex those customers, so it appears that the City may not be able to comply with the SPA as it stands now. Our bill would fix this problem and require the City to use the same annexation procedures for the Districts customers both inside and outside the District boundaries.
What are the donations paying for?
Donations are used to pay our lobbyist and may be used for administrative expenses. Donations are not tax deductible.
Please donate
The HOA cannot use its membership dues to pay a lobbyist to fix SB 6, so some HOA Board Members have set up a Texas Unincorporated Nonprofit Association called Shady Hollow Vote for Everyone (SHAVE) to collect voluntary donations to pay a lobbyist to fix SB 6 to guarantee a vote on annexation for every member of Shady Hollow HOA. Your donation will be used by SHAVE to send a lobbyist to the Legislature and to pay the administrative expenses of SHAVE, including governmental fees and insurance premiums. Your donation is NOT tax deductible (SHAVE is not a charity).
Contributions to SHAVE are not deductible for federal income tax purposes as charitable contributions.