HOUSTON -- Stephen Gegenheimer thought a stop at a fireworks stand on Fry Road was in order Monday night. With the Fourth of July holiday just days away, a couple of firecrackers to shoot off in the unincorporated parts of the county seemed like a patriotic thing to do.

However, not long after he made the purchase, Gegenheimer was pulled over and cited for illegally possessing fireworks in the city of Houston. While he thought his location was miles outside the city limits where possessing fireworks is legal, Gegenheimer discovered the hard way that he was in what is called an extraterritorial jurisdiction, and thus subject to city of Houston ordinances – including those that ban the possession of fireworks.

In Gegenheimer’s case, a deal struck between the local municipal utility district and the city, is what has him facing the $500 fine.

They are called Strategic Partnership Agreements, which are deals struck when a MUD comes to the city asking for a split of the city sales tax.

The catch for people like Gegenheimer is that the deal allows the city to enforce its regulations in those areas as well.

The deals also mean tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues for the MUD and the city each year. Nevertheless, it can also be confusing for people who think they are following the law and have no idea that the area they are in is covered by one of the strategic partnership agreements.

A map on the city’s Web site can be confusing to decipher as well. Pink areas represent areas outside the city limits, but gray boxes within those areas represent MUDs that have strategic partnership agreements with the city.

Stephen Gegenheimer found that he was in one of those gray boxes.

“It is ridiculous, honestly, because I was going to a legal area,” he said. “If fireworks are going to be illegal, they need to be illegal. You can’t have it both ways.”