Tahir Charles

For Director · Harris County W.C.I.D. No. 89

Clean water. Sound systems. Straight answers.

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District 89 · Harris County, Texas

For District 89 · For Texas

Tahir Charles Harris County, Texas

About

Meet Tahir

Nobody thinks about the water district until the water stops. Tahir Charles has spent his career on the other side of that — the mains, the lift stations, the treatment plants that hold a neighborhood together while it gets on with its day.

That work has carried him from the field to the table where the decisions get made, always with the same belief: a utility board is a service job, not a title. It runs on maintenance, plain numbers, and answering the phone.

He's asking District 89 for the chance to bring that same steady, roll-up-your-sleeves approach to the board — leadership measured not by promises, but by whether the system actually works.

  • Water & wastewater
  • Public service
  • District 89

The Office

What this Board actually votes on

Most people never think about a water district until something stops working. Here is what District 89's five directors actually decide.

Water

The District owns and operates its own wells and water plants, drawing groundwater from the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers.

Wastewater

The District owns and operates its own wastewater treatment plant.

Drainage

The District is responsible for its drainage and detention system, including a cost-shared project with the Harris County Flood Control District covering street drainage in Morningside Place.

Rates, budget and taxes

The Board sets water, sewer and garbage rates by written order, adopts the annual budget, and sets the District's property tax rate.

Service and safety

Billing and customer service, emergency response, solid waste and recycling collection, and a contracted Harris County Precinct 7 constable patrol whose monthly report the Board reviews at every regular meeting.

District property tax rate, per $100 of assessed valuation

  1. 2021$0.87
  2. 2022$0.79
  3. 2023$0.74
  4. 2024$0.68
  5. 2025$0.66

The 2025 rate is $0.40 for operations and $0.26 for debt. The 2026 rate has not yet been adopted.

What the District is not. It is not a city. It sits entirely outside any city limits, within the City of Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction, and it does not provide fire protection.

The Board typically meets at 11:30 a.m. on the first and third Wednesdays at 3455 Fellows Rd, and every regular agenda includes a two-minute public comment period. Agendas and minutes are posted at wcid89.net/meetings.

Platform

Where I Stand

Four priorities, all of them inside what this board actually controls — water, wastewater, rates, and service.

01

Water You Can Trust

Steady pressure and water that meets every standard, every test — with results the District publishes plainly instead of burying them.

02

Wastewater & Drainage

Lines and lift stations maintained before they fail, not after. On the Gulf Coast the storm is coming — the question is whether the system is ready for it.

03

Rates You Can Follow

Every dollar on the bill traceable to the work it paid for. Ratepayers deserve to see the math before a rate moves, not after.

04

Service That Answers

Billing questions resolved, emergencies answered around the clock, and a board that residents can actually reach between meetings.

Record & Community

The Work So Far

Proof over promises — showing up for this community long before it was a campaign.

Tahir Charles taping off an open manhole in a residential street, marked with cones and caution tape
01 Collection Making an open manhole safe before anyone gets near it.
Aeration channels at a wastewater treatment plant, water churning between concrete basins
02 Treatment Aeration basins — the stage nobody sees.
Tahir Charles with a family and a constable at a neighborhood event
03 Community At a neighborhood event with local families.
Tahir Charles leaning down to speak with a resident through a car window
04 Service Meeting residents where they are.