Know Magnolia

A Magnolia mailing address does not put you inside the City of Magnolia. The city limits cover about 5 square miles, by the city's own count, and the Magnolia mailing address covers far more ground than that. Outside the line, the city is not the government that picks up your trash, issues your permits or answers your police call. Almost every question on this page starts there.

First: inside the city limits, or not?

The city will tell you over the phone, and its homepage has an interactive zoning map. The county's permit office gives a test you can run yourself. Look up your property on the Montgomery Central Appraisal District site and read the "Taxing Units" section. If a city is listed there, that city has jurisdiction. If none is, you are in the unincorporated county.

The Magnolia Police Department says the same thing from its side. It patrols the area inside the city limits around the clock, and anyone outside that area falls under the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. The department posts its city limits maps online. For your commissioner and your lawmakers in Austin and Washington, see our page on who represents Magnolia.

Trash and recycling

Inside the city

The city contracts with GFL Environmental, the company that used to operate as WCA. FM 1488 is the dividing line for the routes.

Carts go to the curb by 7 a.m. on your service day. Leave four feet of space around each one. Lid closed, nothing bagged on top, nothing on the ground beside it.

The curbside recycling cart takes cardboard (flattened), paper, junk mail, aluminum and steel cans, and clean plastics numbered 1 through 7. It does not take glass bottles or jars. Plastic bags, Styrofoam, wax-coated milk and juice cartons and greasy pizza boxes are also on the city's no list.

Problems with a pickup go to the city first, not the hauler. The city's sanitation page sends trash and recycling questions to publicworks@cityofmagnolia.com, and staff decide when GFL needs to be called. Businesses inside the city limits are required by ordinance to use the city's contracted service once the building has water or power connected.

Outside the city

The city's carts stop at the city limits. Out in the county, the public option is the Precinct 2 recycling center at 31354 Friendship Drive, open Wednesday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed on county holidays. The precinct lists the number as (832) 971-2024. It takes cash or check only, no cards. Items have to arrive sorted and clean. Unlike the city cart, the center takes glass jars and bottles, along with plastic bags, electronics, tires and car batteries. Some of those carry a fee, so call before loading the truck. The center will be closed Wednesday, Nov. 11, for Veterans Day and reopens Nov. 12.

Precinct 2 also runs one heavy trash clean-up weekend a year. The county's page says it always falls the weekend before Magnolia ISD's spring break.

Water service inside the city

Inside the city, your water and trash bill is one account with the City of Magnolia Utility Department. These are the city's rules for its own customers.

To open an account, the city takes applications through its online service page. What it asks for:

• A copy of your driver's license.
• A copy of your general or special warranty deed showing the property's physical address. Renters send the lease instead.
• A security deposit: $200 for homeowners and businesses, $350 for renters.
• A $35 application fee, paid with the deposit. Card payments carry a 3.95% processing fee.

Applications that arrive after 3:30 p.m. are processed the next business day, and the city does not accept them in advance. A lot that has never had a meter is a different process: contractors email the documents and the meter size they need to utilities@cityofmagnolia.com.

The city is moving water bills from the blue postcard to email. How you pay does not change. You can pay at City Hall, through the drop box at the front left of the building, by mail, by bank draft, through your bank's bill pay, online, or by phone at (866) 638-4102 with the same 3.95% card fee. The Utility Department answers at (281) 356-2266, option 2.

Permits

Inside the city

The city requires permits for new construction and for remodeling, heating and air conditioning installs, electrical work, plus garages and carports. Its list of permit types also covers fences, driveways, pools, standby generators, solar panels, irrigation, tree removal and signs. The city adopted the 2021 International Codes and the 2023 National Electrical Code on Aug. 13, 2024.

Permit applications go by email to building@cityofmagnolia.com. The permit office is at permits@cityofmagnolia.com and (281) 356-2266, extension 7. A contractor working inside the city for the first time has to register before any permit is issued. Registration is free, and the city requires at least $1 million in insurance.

Outside the city

The county is looser, with exceptions that can catch people. Montgomery County requires a development permit for any development in the unincorporated area, and its definition is broad. Clearing or filling a lot counts, not only putting up a building. From the county's own answers:

• A residential roof replacement does not need a county permit.
• An interior remodel does not need one if the house is on public water and sewer and outside the floodplain. On septic, call the septic department. In the floodplain, call floodplain administration.
• Any new septic system or change to an existing one, down to moving a spray head, needs a septic permit.
• A building in or within 100 feet of the mapped flood hazard area has to sit at least 2 feet above the base flood elevation, proved by an elevation certificate.
• Culverts go through your county commissioner's precinct, not the permit office.

The county permit department is at 501 N. Thompson, Suite 100, in Conroe, open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays, at (936) 539-7836. Its permit questions page lists the exemptions, and the county leaves it to the property owner to confirm one applies.

Voting

Texas closes registration 30 days before an election. For the Nov. 3, 2026, general election the deadline is Monday, Oct. 5. A mailed application counts if it is postmarked by that day. The Secretary of State's office notes that a USPS counter will hand-stamp a postmark for free on request, which settles the date.

To register you must be a U.S. citizen, 18 by Election Day and a resident of the county. The application and a status lookup are at VoteTexas.gov, where you can also update an address online. Early voting runs Oct. 19 through Oct. 30.

Montgomery County's elections administrator and voter registrar is Suzie Harvey, at 9159 Airport Road in Conroe, (936) 539-7843. The office's site, elections.mctx.org, posts sample ballots and voting locations. What is on this fall's ballot is in our November voter guide.

Who to call

Emergencies are 911, inside the city limits or out.

Offices change phone numbers and hours, and this page changes with them. Everything above was checked against the office's own website on Oct. 3, 2026. Spot something out of date? Email editor@themagnoliastandard.news.

Sources: City of Magnolia pages for pickup days, sanitation service, recycling guidelines, applying for service, utilities, planning and permits, contractor registration, contacts directory, permit questions and police area of service; Montgomery County Precinct 2's recycle center and contact pages and the county's recycling center page; the county permit department's home page and permit questions; the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office; Montgomery County Elections; the Texas Secretary of State's Sept. 28, 2026, release and VoteTexas.gov; TxDOT's Houston District contacts. All checked Oct. 3, 2026.