Good evening, everybody.

Let's all settle in and we'll get started.

First, thank you all for being here this evening to learn about the 2026 bond program.

I'm Carlos Flores.

I'm the District 2 City Council member and also Mayor Pro Tem, City of Fort Worth.

So I welcome you along with the rest of staff circling the room.

We're here to answer your questions about the bond.

Every four years we have a bond program.

And this is very noteworthy because it's an indicator that the city government is working, that we are very responsible with your tax dollars, and we have the capacity to have these bond programs every four years.

Why have a bond program?

Very good question.

Essentially, a bond program enables us to go further with our project goals.

That is, capital projects need money to be funded to become reality, whether it be a facilities project, a street project, a park project.

We need those capital dollars.

And the bond program helps us get further along.

This time around, the bond program is 840 million, maybe slightly north of that figure.

So that's a pretty hefty amount, it sounds.

But believe me, you when you start allocating that amount to different needs, it goes quickly.

Approximately 60%, for instance, goes to streets and mobility infrastructure needs, right?

But we're also very cognizant that there are other needs that the city, you know, has and that you all are interested in seeing some work being done.

And some of those needs, and I'll list them in no particular order, you know, come with parks and open spaces, right?

The amenities that come with those parks, maintenance thereof of those parks.

Uh as a city develops, you know, we're very careful about maintaining our open spaces.

Public libraries, you know, improvement of the public libraries and their facilities.

It's very important to us because even over time, you might think if you haven't visited your library, you know, recently, visit it because it is really markedly changed.

We've adapted to you know the current times, and the library serves more people, has better collections, and you'll be really surprised on how it's adapted to the times.

Okay, following that, what else do we have?

Affordable housing.

That's something that we keep hearing about, right?

As uh the city grows, the cost of living grows.

We try to manage that by providing affordable housing in certain you know, AMI ranges.

The city council talked about that recently.

Originally, we allocated five million dollars.

We went back and decided we wanted to allocate more.

So in discussions with the city manager, he made that happen.

Change the allocations a little bit so now it's 10 million dollars for affordable housing.

And I think that's very important.

And then we also have our public safety needs, you know, police and fire, including our communications.

As you've probably heard, you know, we transitioned from a you know privatized ambulance service to now fire-based ambulance service.

We're also improving our call centers, our dispatch 911.

We're co-locating those, and we're gonna continue to do that to be more responsive, you know, to your needs.

And so with these things, you know, we hope to bring to bear more dollars to make these improvements a reality.

So I'll stop right there, and I think on display, you will see eventually A through F as far as propositions are concerned.

And those particular propositions, you know, animal shelter also being one.

Uh, we're replacing Chuck Silcox, you know, that uh old facility has uh, you know, the needs have outgrown it.

So we need to replace that.

We have a lot of uh furry friends that are in need, and we're gonna try to grow with that need.

But when you see the screen here, we'll have a I think I believe a short presentation, right?

Video presentation that'll explain it further.

And if you haven't taken the opportunity to look around the room, you know, depending on what range in the alphabet you have from A through F, you can go to those specific tables and they will give you further information regarding any particular proposition or propositions that you might have further questions about.

So at this point in time, I'm gonna bequeave the mic to April.

Thank you, Mayor Pro Templores.

All right, we do have a few QR codes.

If you have not, um I believe there's a physical copy of the bond book that was may have been handed to you at the very as you're walking in.

Um if you need an extra copy, please feel free to raise your hand and we can bring one right over to you.

Uh it'll be great just to follow along with this presentation.

Um, in addition to the bond book, uh, which is located at Fort Worth Texas.gov forward slash 2026 bond.

Uh, we will also be speaking on the charter election.

So this is the QR code, or also it's fully no forward slash 2026 charter.

Um, my name is April Rose Escamilla.

I am a registered civil engineer and I love talking about capital infrastructure so the bond is near and dear um whenever we kind of have started this whole uh cycle when it comes to the bond itself.

Uh but again we'll go ahead and walk through the purpose of the presentation, the 2026 bond program itself, the development, the program summary, a sample ballot, as well as a kind of breakdown of each one of the bond propositions.

In addition, the charter amendment, as well as the upcoming schedule for the remainder of this time, which again voting is on May 2nd for both the bond and the charter election.

And then finally, we will open this up to question and answer.

Uh, we are streaming this particular presentation live today in you to on YouTube.

Um, so whenever we do jump into QA, we do ask that you touch base with one of one of these mics so that folks over uh in virtual world can go ahead and listen in so we can wave over to them, right?

Um, so to begin, the purpose of today is really about providing information related to the 2026 bond and the charter amendments, as well as an opportunity to ask questions and an opportunity for future public education.

Um there's that QR code one more time, and we're actually gonna do a little quick break for a three-minute video.

Every four years, the city prepares a bond program.

One way of funding large capital projects such as roads, parks, libraries, and public facilities that are appropriate for long-term financing.

During this election, you might notice language on the ballot that says this is a tax increase.

This is new language mandated statewide for all bond elections.

However, here in Fort Worth, we've structured the bond package so that we don't anticipate a tax increase.

The City of Fort Worth's 2026 bond program, totaling 845 million, is organized into several propositions.

Each proposition outlines a set of projects that could be funded through bonds, pending voter authorization.

Proposition A proposes 511 million dollars for streets and mobility infrastructure projects.

It represents the largest portion of the 26 bond package and is intended to fund long-term transportation projects.

The proposal includes funds for 12 major roadways.

The largest amount of money in proposition A, roughly 328 million will go towards rehabilitating our streets.

Other funds will go towards intersections, bridges, traffic signals, street lights, adding sidewalks, and improving safety for street crossings around our schools.

Proposition B includes 185 million dollars for parks, recreation, and open spaces, including land acquisition, facility improvements, and trail enhancements.

Park improvements may include renovations to existing community park areas as well as development of new outdoor park amenities.

Some projects in the proposition include a new outdoor pool, renovations and expansion of some athletic complexes, provide more open space areas throughout the city, and replacement of an aging community center.

Proposition C allocates 14 million dollars for public library projects.

This will include remodeling three of our existing locations.

Proposition D provides 10 million dollars for affordable housing initiatives across the city.

This proposition would provide funding aimed at creating new affordable home ownership and rental housing opportunities, specifically for households earning up to 120% of the city's area median income.

Activities under this proposition may include land acquisition and site preparation, construction of affordable housing, construction of infrastructure to support affordable housing, home repair programs, and loans and grants for affordable housing.

Proposition E proposes 64 million for police, fire, and emergency communications facilities, including new construction and renovations to existing buildings.

These improvements support long-term operational projects for the public safety departments.

Proposition F allocates 59.8 million dollars for a new upgraded facility for our residents and animals, which would replace the Chuck and Brenda Silcox Animal Care and Adoption Center.

This proposition would fund the construction of an upgraded shelter with expanded veterinary facilities, also including new modern kennels with natural light and upgraded play yards for animal enrichment.

The bond election is scheduled for Saturday, May 2nd, 2026, with early voting available between Monday, April 20th and the following Tuesday, April 28th.

For facts and resources, visit Fort Worth Texas.gov/slash 2026 bond.

All right.

So that was a quick little video that ran through sort of how that final project, the final bond 2026 bond program.

But you may also ask how exactly did we get here?

If you're part of the first phase, welcome back.

If you're new to the 2026 bond program itself, uh the entire development of the 2026 bond program actually started all the way back in March 4th, uh 2025, where uh the city staff first proposed a bond list to city council.

Um now the bond need as far as like projects was in the billions.

And so in working with all the various staff, we were able to sort of like work through all the various projects so that we can hone in on that proposed list uh in which it fit as Mayor Pro Tem mentioned earlier, 840 million.

Uh so that particular list uh was approved by city council on August 5th, and so that's how we were able to go out to the community to begin that engagement.

So from October 20th to November 17th, we held citywide bond meetings to have that continuous, you know, public feedback in which we closed all the public feedback on December 31st so that we could really aggregate that data, as well as be able to prepare that final list uh for city council review and discussion, which occurred in January.

So that was the input and proposed final project list.

So such that so that on February 10th, uh the city council was able to hold their meeting uh to order the bond election in which we are presenting on today.

So what were some of those quick engagement numbers in that very first phase?

Well, we had 18,220 website views, and that was across various city website uh pages like Connect Fort Worth, the balancing act, we had a story map about the proposed projects as well as the city webpage.

There were 260 residents that attended across the 11 uh council district meetings, and there was 1,109 YouTube views with 177 balancing act submissions that really looked at the overall program itself and really to get that feedback so that we can prepare that final list.

And there was a total of 329 submitted comments.

So again, of that 329, 141 came from in-person and emails, so thank you if you did email as well, as well as 188 from the balancing act.

Um, so in terms of the 2026 bond program, this is in line with the bond book that you have in front of you today.

Uh in the bond book, you'll find that we do an overall bond program overview uh that also aligns with the numbers that you see here.

It also in the very back page, for example, also has like um you know where you one could go out and vote with the various different uh locations as well as the dates that we will be presenting on today.

So you'll notice here that each of the propositions are lettered.

Um, whenever a municipality puts out a bond pro bond proposition, it is lettered, whereas at the state level it is numbered.

So whenever we're referencing our propositions, that's how we will reference them as letters.

So in this case, proposition A is streets and mobility infrastructure, and that final amount is 511, 488 511 million four hundred and eighty thousand seven hundred dollars.

Uh for proposition C, for example, at public library improvements, fourteen million five hundred and eighty-six thousand, and so on and so forth for a total of that eight hundred and forty-five million.

Also for reference, we're also showing and detailing, you know, what what the comparison is in previous bond cycles if you've been a part of uh those in previous years here at the city of Fort Worth.

Um earlier I kind of spoke about that proposed list versus the final list.

Well, in the proposed list, in that very first phase, we were at 840 million in the 2026 bond program uh for its capacity.

And so uh we were able to um have an additional capacity that was made available uh in December, and so that's where it was a total of five million.

And so that five million after discussion, after taking to account feedback and discussion with city council, that was slotted as Mayor Pro Tem mentioned um in proposition D for affordable housing.

So if you were part of the first phase of bond engagement, you would have seen that number at 5 million, and now it is set at 10 million.

So also included in each one of these propositions is an estimated public art funding.

Now, public art funding works such that each proposition includes funding that can be used for public art specifically related to one or more of the projects in that proposition.

So in this case, for proposition A, you'll find that for streets and mobility, up to 1% of the projects of that project amount is allocated towards public art at the amount shown.

Then for pub for propositions B, C, E, and F, it is up to uh two percent.

And then um for proposition D at affordable housing, it is set at zero percent.

And so we'll be moving forward with City to City Council later this month as we propose this art funding amount.

So how exactly does bond funding work?

So we're gonna get into some of the basics.

If you've been part of the you know fiscal year-over-year budget process, that 67 cents for $100 valuation may seem familiar to you, but that 67 cents is tied to the city property tax rate.

So the 67 cents can be broken out into two separate buckets.

Think about it this way: one is your like day-to-day operation, so that falls under the operation and maintenance.

So of that 67 cents, 52.25 cents goes towards operation and maintenance.

I myself, April Rosa Scamia, work with a Fort Worth Lab and funded through the general fund.

I, from a day-to-day operation, fall under that particular bucket.

We are here at the Diamond Hill Jarvis Community Center, and this is a community center that is funded by the operation and maintenance by that particular bucket.

Now there is another bucket that is split from that city property tax rate that goes towards something called the interest and sinking fund rate.

Now that is a really, really fancy term for our debt service for that debt amount.

That 14.75 again comes from that 67 cents.

That 14.75 is what the city can use towards paying through like uh debt mechanisms.

So what are some of those debt mechanisms?

One of them is a bond, another one can be a tax note.

And the real focus about the debt service is about paying for some of that long-term major infrastructure.

Think operation maintenance day-to-day debt service is long-term capital, like major capital infrastructure.

So a bond election is a way for our community to vote on measures that allows the city to borrow funding for large capital projects.

A portion of the city property tax rate, as I mentioned, is set aside to pay for bond programs and other city debt.

So Fort Worth has historically, and in for this particular bond for 2026 bond program, has structured its bond program to work within the city property tax rate.

So that the bonds are planned to be fully repaid without increasing the city property tax rate associated with debt.

Now that's a lot of words, but the real focus there is a bond, right?

That's the that's the purpose of today's discussion.

How exactly does that 14.75 get paid towards paying off bonds?

Well, a community, right?

There are various communities across the state of Texas that use bond programs as a way to pay for that major infrastructure.

A community can go out for a bond.

If so approved by the voters, that bond would then be used to pay for that major infrastructure.

Remember, it's a large cost up front, and then it is paid off over time.

And in this case, it is paid off over 20 years.

And that also includes interest that's also on that bond.

Earlier I mentioned that there's city tax note or tax notes that can also be allocated.

Bonds offer the city or a community a low interest version, a low interest amount to be able to take and be able to pay for those major infrastructures.

An alternative could be a tax note, which sometimes comes with a shorter payoff time frame, but at a higher interest amount.

So in this case, a bond program from a from a city perspective can be utilized to be able to really stretch out those dollars so that we can so that one can utilize it towards paying off infrastructure.

So we'll go ahead and dive into the specifics if you have any more questions, but just wanted to give sort of that idea about how one can go out for a bond, a bond can come online, and over time it is paid off.

And so as bonds are paid off, the capacity that one uses for 14.75, right?

Those cents can then be used to be able to pay off those bonds.

So as a bond program retire, as a bond retires, there is capacity still left available to be able to continue to pay towards other bond programs.

So the city of Fort Worth has historically set up and paid for bonds using that debt service, and it has kept it as such so that one can cover the 2026 bond program without increasing that particular 14.75 with the bond program that's shown today.

So this is the sample ballot.

The sample ballot that won at a voter can go out, and whenever they go and and they vote, or if they so choose to vote, they will be met with this language.

They'll be met with City of Fort Worth Texas Special election.

It'll inform the voter on what proposition it is.

In this case, it's proposition A.

They'll also ask whether one is for or against to be able to make that vote.

The very first sentence that is now required by state law to include is this is a tax increase in all capital letters.

Now, as I mentioned, the City of Fort Worth has structured the bond program to stay within that debt service.

The issuance will go ahead and be mentioned on there.

So in this case, proposition A is 511,480,700, and it will inform that individual that in this case it's streets and mobility infrastructure.

So for proposition B, for example, that would be parks, recreation open space at that amount, proposition C, public library, and so on and so forth.

Each one of these propositions, including the charter amendment that Gavin will speak on in in a moment, is voted on individually.

Not one as a whole, but individually.

Each one of these slides, if there is a particular uh project list or something, we we do show the exhibits on each one, um, but we do have a full-size amount or full-size exhibit at our proposition tables that you can easily dive into.

It is also included in your bond book if you want to like zoom in a little bit more closely.

Um but the proposition A at 511 million, 480,700, uh would cover streets for construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation for major roadways, as well as minor roadways.

Think of those as our neighborhood streets if you've come accustomed to that as well.

Neighborhood streets um across the city of Fort Worth.

There's also for intersections, sidewalks, bridges, and so forth, as shown here with signals, median improvements, railroad crossings.

Now you may ask, okay, what what projects are are you looking at?

Are they in a particular area?

Well, the bond program, the bond booklet itself, does list each one of the major projects as well as the project scope.

And the minor roadways, the neighborhood streets, is also listed on there.

It'll tell you the limits in which the city would propose to make those improvements, um, as well as you know the full scope.

And you can repeat this for each one of the propositions as well.

So for proposition B, park recreation open space at 185 million, 140,000.

That would go towards the uh aquatic facility, athletic complex, botanic garden infrastructure, a couple of community parks, as as shown in the bond book, the Fort Worth Zoo utilities, golf course, gateway park, and water gardens, as well as open space.

If you've been part of a previous bond cycle, you may notice that open space is now included in proposition B.

Before it used to be a standalone proposition, it is now included in proposition B.

Um, also shown here, so in open space that is a citywide based proposition.

Um so that is we'll also be able to know where it is in space.

So whether what council district is in, or if it's a specific like citywide um particular item.

So for proposition C, this is public library at 14,586,000.

This would go towards the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the Southwest Regional Library, and the renovation of Diamond Hill Jarvis Library.

For proposition D, this is affordable housing.

Uh again, this is new to the City of Fort Worth.

This is a new proposition at 10 million.

And this is really the intent behind this is to also be able to use each one of these dollars to leverage um dollars from you know the for various initiatives in this case.

So it can go towards land acquisition, the construction of housing and neighborhood infrastructure to support affordable housing, funding affordable housing and home repair programs, as well as funding loans and grants for affordable housing purposes.

You'll notice a little asterisk on two of those items in red, and that is as permitted by law.

Um we do have Casey here with neighborhood services.

She's our director of neighborhood services, and she's uh spearheading uh proposition D.

And if you happen to have any questions, we can go ahead and invite her up here to help answer those.

For proposition E for police fire and emergency communication facility at 63,919,300.

This would go towards the new Fire Station 46 in Southwest Fort Worth, the new emergency communication center, as well as the rebuilding of Fire Station 40 in Northwest Fort Worth.

And proposition F would round out with the animal care and shelter improvements at 59,874,000, and that would go towards the construction and equipping of a new animal care control shelter facility.

And with that, I'll go ahead and invite Gavin up here to dive into charter amendments.

There you go.

Thanks, Abra Rose.

Good evening.

My name is Gavin Midgley.

I'm an assistant city attorney in the city attorney's office, and I'm here to explain the charter amendments, answer any questions you may have.

So with that, I'm gonna uh run into well, first, uh just briefly, uh city charter is essentially like a constitution for the city.

So if think of it as the constitution for the US government and the state constitution, a city charter is essentially that, but for the city, it's the city's organizational and foundational document.

And so any amendments to the city charter, because it was adopted by the voters require voter approval, which is why you're seeing a charter election uh on the same same election date as the bonds.

So uh with that, proposition G uh is an amendment to the mayor and council pay.

Currently, mayor and council pay is 29,000 for mayor, uh, 25,000 for council members.

If proposition G is approved by the voters, uh mayor pay would go to 60,000 and council pay would go to 50,000.

This would be effective at the start of the next fiscal year, which is October 1st uh of this year, if it was approved at the May election.

Uh and that's to give staff the time to allow for budget to uh the budgeting to account for that.

And there you'll see the the total financial impact of proposition G if it were to be approved.

Proposition H would remove hearing uh requirements for department directors if they're removed.

Currently, under the count uh council manager form of government, uh the city manager appoints all of the staff below him and charter currently prohibits council from interfering with those appointments.

There's another section in the city charter that prohibits counsel from actually interfering with his appointments.

So if he chooses to dismiss a department director, counsel cannot at a hearing that is also currently required by charter.

Council cannot hire that person back.

The city manager's decision on that's final.

Uh and this is just to reflect that form of government and to clear up that inconsistency in the charter.

So if proposition H is approved, uh a dismissed department director would not be able to force city council to hold a public hearing regarding their dismissal, uh, at which they would be prohibited by charter from even taking any action on.

Um proposition I would remove redundant hearing requirements for council appointees.

So under the city charter, there are a number of council appointees.

These are individuals that are appointed directly by council, so that's going to be the city manager, city attorney, city auditor, uh, city secretary, and the municipal court judges.

Those are appointed by council directly, uh, so they report to council.

Uh in the charter, three of those appointees currently have a uh hearing requirement that requires council to hold a public hearing if they request prior to the hearing at which they take action on dismissing that council appointee.

So it's a redundant hearing, it's an extra hearing.

Umetings act for the council to take an action, there has to be a public hearing that allows for public input on uh on that item.

And under the car under the charter now, this would require two of those hearings, one in which they couldn't take any action, and then one which they could fight take final action.

So it's sort of a the system is it's set up right now is well, we're not happy with the job you're doing, we're gonna get rid of you, and then you have another hearing.

Okay, we're really gonna get rid of you this time.

Um so this removes that extra public hearing.

Proposition J would remove a separate meeting requirement for adopting the budget.

Uh currently under state law, there's a myriad of uh deadlines and hearings required to uh set put forth a city budget.

I believe it has to be on file in city secretary office beginning of early August.

There's a number of budget workshop hearings, uh meetings prior to that, um, as well as the actual budget has to be posted with city secretary a number of days in advance, well in advance of of how meetings are normally posted, which give ample opportunity for public comment, public information or public transparency with regard to the budget.

Um currently our charter requires us to adopt the budget at a different meeting than the budget hearing requirement.

The budget hearings required by state law, but there's no requirement under state law to adopt the budget at a different meeting.

Uh and in practice, what what Fort Worth what Fort Worth has been doing in practice is scheduling a public meeting to adopt the budget that starts 15 minutes after the budget hearing so that they they don't have to schedule multiple public uh meetings on the budget adoption, um, which makes sense because if you think about it at the time they're discussing the budget, it doesn't make sense to wait two weeks or a week to then adopt that budget.

Um and so this would allow this removes that essential essentially self-imposed procedural hurdle into an already tricky budgeting process for staff.

Proposition K would remove uh the annual report requirement for public service corporations, public service corporations are gonna be things you think of uh or entities you typically think of as franchisees, so your natural gas providers, your telecommunication providers, um, utility providers, uh, electricity providers, that sort of thing.

Uh under our charter, uh those entities are required to uh provide a public uh an annual report to the city that's held on file at the city secretary's office.

Um and way back when when the charter was adopted, uh the city had a lot more regulatory authority with regard to those franchisees, those entities that use public rights of way uh to provide services to the citizens.

Um over time, the state has taken a lot of that regulatory authority and and and kept it to themselves or um had it so that only the state regulatory agencies have that authority.

So a lot of these entities file those reports with state agencies, and they're available online through the PUC, uh Railroad Commission for Natural Gas, uh, those sorts of entities.

And so this would remove that sort of duplicative requirement, which a lot of them don't actually file their annual reports because they point to state law and say we're regulated by state law, you're preempted from requiring this, we're filing it with a state.

Um they don't actually file with the city.

So this would remove that requirement under the charter so they wouldn't have to file or that our charter wouldn't require them to file annual reports.

Proposition L would remove uh an ordinance requirement for a granting of privilege.

So granting of privilege is generally going to be a solid waste hauler.

Uh it's it's an entity that's uh granted a privilege by the city to use the city streets for business to collect trash uh at a at apartment complexes and commercial businesses.

Uh and under our charter currently, each one of those entities that wants to operate within the city of Fort Worth has to obtain or council has to approve that granting of privilege individually by an ordinance.

So each one of those entities, when they apply to be a solid waste hauler and get a grant of privilege, council has to adopt an ordinance each and every time.

Uh council has already adopted some requirements for uh solid waste haulers, uh GOP haulers in the city's ordinances, and so in order for them to even be considered for an ordinance, they have to comply with those requirements already.

Um adopt an ordinance.

So if this was approved, uh a solid waste hauler who is wishing to operate within the city of city limits of Fort Worth would need to comply with the existing current city code adopted by city council, uh, meet those requirements, and then the granting of privilege could be admitted administratively approved by staff, provided they complied with council's requirements that they've set by ordinance.

Council could change those requirements if they wanted to, increase them, decrease them, but they would need to comply with that in order to get a granting of privilege if it was if this were adopted.

Proposition M would remove the ordinance requirement for city department reorganization.

Um this goes back to the council manager form of government.

Um under the city charter, there's this number of departments that are required for for the city to have water department, police, fire, uh, uh finance, I believe.

Uh there's a number of required departments, and then also there's a requirement that council adopt an ordinance for each department to be created by the city.

Um if the city manager saw an inefficiency or inefficiency within or amongst departments, it would require an ordinance for council to combine those departments, eliminate a department, add a new department.

So if this was adopted after uh after this was adopted, any departments created by ordinance, they would still need to be removed by ordinance.

But any future departments created by the city manager could be reorganized, combined, eliminated, as saw fit by the city manager in order to increase the efficiencies of the city.

Sorry, there's a bug flying around this.

Proposition N would align election timelines with state law.

Uh currently we are regulated by the uh Texas election code, so any election we have has to comply with the election code provisions, and that includes uh the number of advanced days notice for ordering an election.

Um our charter for a special election to fill a vacancy refers to I believe a 30-day uh period if there's a vacancy that occurs within that 30-day of a special election date, then council can order the election.

Well, that does not comply with the election code, and we have to comply with the election code, which is state law, so we have to comply with state law, and so there's a conflict between our charter and state law, and this would resolve that conflict.

So if proposition N were approved, then the dates when in the city charter would move to alignment with state law.

And I've got a slide here attempting to explain it.

I've been told it's it does more confusion than it does help.

So if that's the case, I'll be over here, happy to explain it if it just confuses you.

Um but I'll attempt to do my best.

Here.

So here we've got a sample council two-year term.

Uh city council terms are for two years.

Um we're only permitted to have elections on uniform election dates.

Those are the only dates under the election code that you you can have an election on unless the governor authorizes an emergency election, which is pretty rare.

It happened a couple times for COVID.

It's happened a few times for small cities where they've had multiple council members pass away or or you know what have you, and they don't have enough council members for a for a quorum, essentially to do business.

It's very rare that the governor authorizes an emergency election.

Uh and so outside of an emergency election situation, those red dates uh at the bottom of that timeline are the only opportunities for an election during that two-year cycle.

So council is elected at uh May of an odd year.

Um then after about August 17th of 2026, so it's 78 days before the November 2026 election, before November of an even yeared election.

You have to order an election 78 days before that.

Um after that date, the next opportunity for the city to hold an election to fill a vacancy if there is a vacancy on council, is the May 2027 general election, which is when that council seat would be filled under the ordinary process under a regular general election.

So it doesn't make sense to order a special election on the same date that you're having a general election.

Um so this would move the uh procedure for council to uh appoint a vac to fill a vacancy under charter under the existing process under the charter.

This would move that date uh back to the last date before uh an election has to be ordered for that November uh 2026 election or that November of an even yeared election.

Proposition O uh would modernize the language uh required uh for the payment of claims.

Currently, the charter makes reference to uh all city claims must be supported by a purchase order.

This is a pretty simple language update that just replaces purchase order with appropriate written documentation, and that's just to reflect that not all legitimate claims that the city has to pay are titled purchase order.

Uh some claims are are are just purchase order isn't contemplated by those types of claims.

Sorry, there's another bug flying around.

Um for example, if the city were sued and had to pay a judgment, a purchase order is not going to be associated with that.

The city's still legally obligated to pay that judgment.

Um and so this just updates the language.

Essentially, it crosses out purchase order, replaces it with appropriate written documentation.

And with that, I'll turn turn it back over to April Rose.

Thank you, Gavin.

There we go.

All right.

So today is Monday, April 13th, and we still have two more opportunities to be able to present on the bond and charter election.

So if you have friends, family, or neighbors that you think may benefit to listen in on this particular presentation, uh feel free to share with them this particular um schedule.

It's also located online, again forward slash 2026 bond or 2026 charter.

Um but uh we're also again streaming these particular uh meetings online, so you can also log on to YouTube and then City of Fort Worth live, and you can easily click on that and then just tag in that way.

So as far as the upcoming election schedule, I'm gonna move forward.

Um we're you know, we have the public art ordinance coming in later this month.

Um and then the early voting will begin on April 20th through April 28th.

That also aligns again with the back of your bond book, also makes uh it also lets you know uh the early voting period as well as the election day on May 2nd.

We also have all the various county voter uh websites as well as our phone numbers if you all if you do if you do have an inquire on locations located on there.

Um much of the information that was presented in this presentation as far as the bond itself was pulled from this bond book.

Uh so as far as a sample election, if you want to dive into that language again, it's in here.

Um, you know, as far as the city's intent on keeping the 2026 bond program within the existing um bond capacity of the debt service that's located that was the 14.75, it's also in here as well.

Um so we also dive into that detail.

Um so if you if you like, you know, nighttime reading, this could be a really fun one.

Um with that, I'm gonna go ahead and open this up to uh question and answer.

Uh please raise your hand if you have any questions, and we'll go ahead and walk over a mic over to you.

Um we can get started.

Hi, gentlemen up here.

I have a few, if that's okay.

Great.

Yeah, absolutely.

Um my first one is regarding proposition G.

Um, I just want to make sure I have an have an understanding.

For the raise for city council is effectively asking for 100% pay raise, is that correct?

Yes, that's that is correct for council.

It's a it's slightly more for mayor, 29 to 29,000 to 60,000, but that's correct.

And the city is anticipating a deficit, is that correct?

And that's why we're on a hiring freeze.

Uh believe that's correct.

Uh I'm not uh I don't work in finance and budget, but I believe that's correct based on my understanding of the process.

I just want to make sure I had that correct.

Um the total cost for the bonds that I saw was roughly eight hundred and forty-five million.

Sorry, I'll just clarify the hiring freeze is for FY26 and the pay raise would be in effect for FY27.

Okay if that helps.

Still a deficit that we're anticipating and the council.

Yeah.

Now the cost for the bonds uh roughly $845 million.

Is that the total cost with principal and interest, or is that just without interest?

For Reggie?

Uh so that is $845 million, and that includes if you want to go.

That is the capital portion of it.

And that does not include the full interest.

Do we know what the by if I if I put a a general six percent interest rate that's about what's going today, that's over 1.1 billion.

I want to make sure that we understand the total cost if all the bonds were to pass, not just 845, but include the principal and the interest.

Yeah, over a billion.

So in the bond book itself, um, so for each one of the bond propositions, we do list the estimated interest for debt obligations to be authorized, presuming an interest rate of six percent.

Okay.

Um so in terms of adding all of that, you can see how that stacks up over time as well as the estimated combined over those 20 years for each one of these.

And we have hundreds of millions in surplus, is that correct?

The city.

Uh can you expand and fiscal 25?

At the end of uh fiscal 25, we had approximately 230 million in the unassigned fund balance.

Okay.

Now since 2020, my numbers may be off a little bit, but the city made over 84 million in interest and dividends.

Is that correct?

Uh I don't have the exact uh amount.

Uh we we do generate interest income from idle cash.

Okay.

And how come those funds aren't being used towards some of these bonds?

Uh some of those funds are dedicated for specific purposes.

Okay.

Such as food, the water and sewer operation generates interest income.

Well, I understand that you say that the funds are restricted, but they're restricted only because of policy set forth by the city council.

Uh not always.

Sometimes bond covenants and the like might restrict any resource generated to a particular fund.

Well, I know in August of last year, the city council changed the policy and pulled 12 million of that interest in dividend funds to put it in the general reserve and use two million in of that for the 18th floor city hall.

So they can change the policy.

Matter of fact, the next city council meeting, they have the power to change the policy and offer taxpayer relief.

Is there uh Mr.

Flores, Councilman Floors?

Is that something you could bring up at the next council meeting, commit to bringing it up to changing that policy and offering tax relief with that interest and dividend money?

Well, I'm getting changing the policy, but bringing it up.

Okay, sure.

All right, thank you very much.

All right, great question.

All right, do we have any additional questions related to the bond or charter amendments?

Yep.

All right.

Okay.

Oh.

That's all right.

Oh, we could use the microphone.

So as so I understand the financing, it's like buying a house, right?

I paid 300 grand for my house, but when you borrow the money from the bank, you're really gonna pay about 400 grand for your house.

So as a taxpayer, I understand the debt obligation and the interest that needs to be paid on the bonds.

My heartburn is borrowing money for art along the roadways and anywhere else within this city, because we have tremendous needs within this city.

I'm all about funding arts and giving people an opportunity to display around the city.

I think it's very important.

But I just have trouble borrowing this money and then paying the interest on the money that we borrow for the art that we intend on placing.

When I just see that those millions that add up, the 10 million dollars that that adds up, I'm gonna pay about 30% interest on that, or maybe 40% of the when you go to one point some billion from the 845, we're up over.

So I'm really gonna be about 13 million dollars to fund the art when I just think there are other opportunities to maybe fund that in some other way besides borrowing the money.

So that's just me as a curiosity.

Just yeah, and so uh that is tied to the public art ordinance uh that city council has adopted and um as we mentioned earlier, we uh we do have a like some technical amendments that are going forward.

Um, but as far as any of the specifics, currently the allocations are set at that one, two percent or zero percent as shown.

Um but if there are future discussions or even in the way that art is being used or allocated for projects, um that is certainly a discussion that we encourage you to have with your council member um just for future discussions as it relates to the public art ordinance.

But at this time, it's currently set as such for the 2026 bond program.

All right, thank you.

We are having ongoing discussions about that.

All right, council mayor pro tem uh mentioned that there are ongoing discussions on the topic.

All right.

Are there any additional questions related to the bond or charter amendments?

All right, going once.

Oh, one more.

Okay.

Regarding, I think it's proposition F for the animal shelter.

Has the city considered corporate naming rights to help finance that?

That would be a question for Brian.

Um hop on up.

How are you doing, Brian Docker D Co Compliance Director?

Uh, which is also over animal care and control.

And yes, that is uh there's many number of ways between the naming rights or even donations, you know, to have benches, bricks, everything like that.

So there's several ways that we're looking at to get any funding we can additional to this, because uh what we're planning on doing if this is approved is it's set up where there's also it can be expanded because one of the issues is capacity that we hear challenged with in the animal world.

And so uh much like at the North Campus, there's there's pod design set up, and so we would take donations like that to if we needed to expand or any additional funding that would need to offset some of this.

So we're trying everything that we can.

All right.

Well, with that being said, uh, we do have we will be here for a couple more minutes, at least easily till 730.

Um yeah, yeah, 730.

Uh so if you happen to have any questions, even one-on-one with myself, with Gavin, Mayor Pro Tem, or any of our proposition teams, uh, please feel free to walk on through.

We do have some handouts as well.

Um we'll go ahead and leave the QR codes up if you'd like to just have them on hand.

All right, well, thank y'all so much for making it out today.