LAKE JACKSON, Texas – Residents at the Edgewater Apartments in Lake Jackson may soon be without water and waste management services after the city issued a notice to all tenants, informing them that the complex failed to pay for water, sewer and trash services for months.

In the letter, the City of Lake Jacson said the complex had a current past due amount of $77,302.02.

The letter went to say that if the bill wasn’t settled, services would be disconnected on Jan. 2, 2025.

The notice came as a surprise to many residents, who told KPRC 2 they always paid their bills on time.

“Where did that money go? That’s the questions on everybody’s mind, were paying all these utility fees. Where’s it going?” resident Chris Carpenter said.

Lisa Koenig said she was looking for a way out of her lease.

“I’m looking for another place, no matter what,” Koenig said.

Modesto Mundo, the city manager of Lake Jackson, said his office tried repeatedly to work with the complex owners.

“This started in October, when they started to fall behind on their payments, and we reached out to them several times in March or April of this year and executed an agreement with them to repay what they owed. They have fallen behind as much as $85,000, and again they would make some progress and then after the storm this summer, they again fell back behind,” Mundo said.

As KPRC 2 was interviewing residents, one of the complex’s owners showed up.

Patrick Duke expressed to tenants that he was in town to fix the issue. When pressed by residents about why they failed to pay the city, Duke said a previous management company spent a lot of money that was not authorized.

Duke added that he expected to debt between the complex and the city to be settled within the next 30 days.