Alright, we're gonna go ahead and get started.

If you could find an opportunity to take a seat, and then we will have some time left after the presentation for you to circle back with any of our various proposition teams or um you know comprehensive plan and so forth.

I'll walk this way so we don't get some feedback.

Okay.

So we do have a QR code.

Um there was a bond book that was um handed out.

If I could have one copy of here, perfect.

Thank you, Michelle.

Sorry, yeah.

That's time to do.

All right, so again, there is a QR code for the bond website that's also located at Fort Worth Texas.gov forward slash 2026 bond.

And we will also be walking through the charter amendments that's part of the election on May 2nd.

Um, and that is forwardtexas.gov forward slash 2026 charter.

There's the QR code to the bond book if you'd like to share that specific link with friends, family, or neighbors.

Um, and then of course the physical copy.

So just a bit of background on the bond book itself.

Um, it's listed for each one of the bond propositions, the amounts within each bond proposition.

There's a total of six A through B C D E F So six.

It's a it's a Saturday morning.

Um, also it's April 11th, which is a day of giving and a day of service.

If you have not had a chance to sign up for some volunteer opportunities, I was over at Glenwood Park, and I'm gonna run over to actually volunteer at a different location later today with junior league.

Um, today's a great day.

Uh, but all this to say is we're gonna go ahead and get started on this presentation.

My name is Afor Rose Escomia.

Uh, I am with the City of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Lab, Senior Capital Projects Officer, backgrounds in engineering, hyper focused on capital.

So, in speaking about the bond, uh, feel free to ask any questions.

We are surrounded by all of our subject matter experts for each one of the propositions.

Um, depending on the proposition, of course, residents uh may choose to vote for the programs or propositions, however which they um choose to, but each of the propositions will be responsible for the implementation, which is the design, the scoping, um, and then the delivery of each of the projects.

So, again, the bond book itself.

And thank you all again for making time out on a Saturday morning to come.

So, we will run through the purpose of today's presentation, the 2026 bond program as shown here, whether that's the development, an overall summary, what to expect on the sample ballot itself, the bond propositions, as well as the charter amendments, and we do have our representative from law, Mr.

Trey, uh, that will go ahead and speak on that, and then the upcoming schedule with some opportunities for questions and answers.

I'm gonna hang out on this side just because we're getting a lot of feedback.

Um, so there we go.

So the purpose of today is really about providing information as it relates to the 2026 bond program and the charter amendments.

This is an opportunity for you to ask questions, and we welcome the questions.

We have, as mentioned, various folks that can help tag in if for some reason I can't answer them.

And then it's also to review further opportunities for public education.

Uh, we are streaming this particular presentation live today through YouTube.

Uh, so we do have some microphones that we'll ask you to utilize so that individuals in YouTube land uh can listen in and also ask questions as well.

So as it relates to the 2026 bond program, I'm gonna put this down for just a moment.

We have again the QR code.

If we haven't emphasized that enough, uh we have a short video that we'll go ahead and break for about three minutes.

So hop on in.

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 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 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 pretty informative.

But we really would like to walk through how we developed that 2026 bond program.

So there's a few familiar faces that were part of that first phase, but for everyone else, um, this is sort of the background.

So as early as March 4th, 2025, uh the City of Fort Worth first proposed the bond list that was sent to City Council.

And that was as a result of really working with all the various departments.

There was a very large call for projects, and it was in the uh billions amount, right?

And so that had to be packaged back into the capacity of the bond program, which we'll dive into.

So that was that very first bond list March 4th, 2025.

On August 5th, City Council approved the proposed list to then go out to community and for community engagement.

And beginning October 20th through November 17th, we held citywide bond meetings in which that entire time we were able to really receive that continuous public feedback.

We closed down the public feedback on December 31st so that we could prepare that final list for bond discussion.

Um, and so therefore, in January, council reviewed all of the input that was received, as well as that final project list.

So that on February 10th, council did meet to order the bond election in which we are presenting on today, as well as the charter election as well.

So some quick engagement numbers as part of that first phase.

So there was about 18,220 website views, and this is through the Connect Fort Worth uh website.

We had a balancing act that at that time, the uh bond proposition, they were able to look at all the various projects, kind of say yes, no, move some stuff around.

Again, that was all part of that continuous engagement.

There were 260 residents that attended across 11 district meetings.

So if you were in attendance, thank you again for taking that time at that point.

We had 1,109 YouTube views, the balancing act submissions as shown, and then in total, we had 329 submitted uh comments where 141 were in person and email, and 188 were through that balancing act.

So again, that data was aggregated, and that was what kind of fed into that final bond program, which is shown here.

So the bond, the 2026 bond program, is structured so that it is by letter, and that is sort of how the municipalities are structured their propositions.

So that's sort of the differentiation there.

But for the city of Fort Worth, proposition A, for example, is streets and mobility infrastructure at 511.5 million as shown, and each of the breakdowns.

So proposition C public library improvements at 14,586,000.

And you can also see the ratios as it is shown here for 2026 bond in comparison to the average funding ratios in previous bond cycles.

But the total bond program is set at 845 million.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, there was that continuous public feedback.

And so again, the projects were reviewed, and one item that did come through there, come out of that discussion as well, was affordable housing.

And so you may have been, you may have noticed that previously in phase one, the bond program was set at 840 million.

There was some additional debt capacity that became available, which I'll talk about the mechanics on that in a moment, in which 5 million became available.

So discussion with city council, the decision was to add that $5 million towards proposition D as it relates to affordable housing.

So this is the estimated public art funding.

And so each proposition, and this ties back to the public art ordinance.

Each proposition includes funding that can be used towards public art specifically related to one or more of the projects in that proposition.

So it says shown here, this is all specific to an upcoming ordinance amendment that is set to go in front of council for their consideration later this month in April.

And so as part of the ordinance and as part of this technical amendment that will be part of that proposit or ordinance, it'll include for proposition A up to 1%.

That's consistent with how we've had it before.

Propositions B, C, E and F is up to 2%.

And affordable housing is a newer proposition to the city of Fort Worth, and that is set at 0%.

The idea behind that, as we were preparing the bond program itself, was uh this is a citywide based proposition.

It is tied to capital as it should be whenever we consider bond programs.

Um, but based off of the art ordinance and as far as where art is delivered, it would be tied to a specific location with that project.

Again, this is affordable housing, it's across the city, and um to fit within that capacity as well, it's set at zero percent.

Uh, there is another technical amendment included with open space.

Previously, the proposition for open space was a standalone amendment that was also citywide uh based proposition, and that was set at zero percent.

So that is included now in proposition B, uh so that will be uh as part of that, as well as design only projects.

So how does bond per how does bond funding work?

So the city property tax rate is currently set at 67 cents per 100 dollar valuation.

So that 67 cents through the city property tax is broken up into two separate buckets.

Think about it as one bucket, which is related to operation and maintenance, and this is the day-to-day activity.

So myself, I Rose Escamilla works with Fort Worth Lab.

I'm funded through the general fund and day-to-day, that's through operation and maintenance.

We are here at a city community center facility, and that also is funded through the operation and maintenance, and that is set at 52.25 cents of that 67 cents.

In addition, there's another bucket, and that is related to the interest and sinking fund.

But in some in simple terms, it's tied to our debt service, that 14.75.

That 14.75 is a way that the city can structure the bond election for the community to vote on for measures that allows the city to borrow funding for larger capital projects.

It's tied to that 14.75 cents.

And a portion of that city property tax is set aside to pay for the bond programs and other city debt.

So Fort Worth has historically and in this 2026 bond program, structured its bond package to work within the city property tax rate, meaning that bonds are planned to be fully paid, repaid without increasing the city property tax rate as it relates and as associated with that debt amount.

There could be communities, and there are communities where if a bond program is passed, it does increase that debt bucket by a couple of cents.

But again, the city of Fort Worth with our current bond program is set at 0% zero cent increase for that 14.75.

So it took me a bit, I mean, right, we always end up learning about sort of debt structures and so forth.

So I'm gonna go ahead and run into sort of like how why, the why behind it.

So a bond when the city and a bond allows a city to go out for major capital infrastructure.

These are large dollar amounts.

They're not, you know, pay a couple hundred dollars for a door or something, right?

These are large capital infrastructure, major projects that the city is able to take or to be able to do a bond loan at a low interest rate over the course of, on average, a 20-year bond amount.

Now, over those 20 years, that debt amount allows the city to pay off that bond over 20 years, and that also includes some of the interest associated with that bond, again, low interest, and we're able to cover our major infrastructure.

On the other hand, there are some other mechanisms in which that debt service can be paid for, and that could be something like a tax note.

Tax notes are shorter term with a higher interest rate.

But when we consider a bond program, it's from a city perspective that is at a lower interest rate in which we're able to really stretch out those dollars so we can capitalize on that and use it more towards these major capital amounts.

So as a bond program in previous bond cycles, for example, as they were approved, they are paid off over time.

And over time, at the end of that bond program or that bond amount, it is paid off.

And there's capacity available, right?

As I mentioned earlier, that 14.75 went towards paying off those bonds.

So as bonds are brought online, they expire, and others are also stacked on top of each other.

They are still within that 14.75 capacity.

So we are at this point now with the 2026 bond program where we are able to pay off right enough of the previous bond and it's previous debt so that there's enough capacity so that we can take on, if the voter so choose, an $845 million bond program so that we can be able to deliver on respective projects as shown.

So we'll have an opportunity to dive into additional questions and answers.

We have you know pros in this room to be able to dive into that, but just wanted to give some perspective on why that particular debt bucket is important in this conversation.

So this is a sample ballot.

So as a resident goes out, and if they so choose to decide to vote, this is what they will be met with.

So first, they'll be noted that it's the city of Fort Worth, Texas Special Election.

It will inform the voter of what proposition they're voting on.

As mentioned, they're each voted on individually.

This is proposition A.

They will be asked either for or against.

And in LAR in capital letters, the very first sentence, this is state mandated.

We cannot change this, and we also cannot supplement with additional language.

We have to include this is a tax increase.

This sample ballot will also discuss the amount of issuance for that specific proposition.

In this case, proposition A is 511,480,700 for streets and mobility infrastructure.

So proposition B will state the same thing for parks, recreation, open space in that respective amount, and so on and so forth.

Again, this is what one will see, and we cannot modify that.

City of Fort Worth again structures the bond program to fit within the debt capacity.

So therefore there will not be a tax increase as it relates to debt.

So what are the bond propositions?

That video did a pretty deep dive on all the various propositions, but I'm a big fan of just repeating things a couple of times over.

So proposition A, streets and mobility at the amount shown.

And this really covers like streets as it relates to construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation.

If you've been part of the city for a while, you may have heard major roadways and neighborhood streets.

It is actually located in that bond book, and we actually list all the major arterials, the scopes, the the width, like the locations like from and to, as well as uh for the minor roadways, these are neighborhood streets for all the various neighborhood streets that would go into that reconstruction rehabilitation uh bucket.

So there are also intersections, sidewalks, bridges, and so forth that are shown here.

Um those are allocated into what we consider like more flexible buckets and also in the amount shown.

And so the departments can kind of run into what the intent is on those projects as well.

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

And this as proposed is to go towards aquatic facility, athletic complex, the botanic garden infrastructure, community centers, community parks.

I was at Glenwood Park earlier today this morning, and that is currently listed in the bond program itself at $2 million.

So Fort would see utilities, golf course, West Park, Gateway Park, and so forth.

Again, this does include that open space component, which we do have an actual open space priorities exhibit shown right over here.

Also on that topic, there's an exhibit on each one of these slides.

It's a little difficult, sorry, to be honest if you're back in any spot.

But we do have each one of our propositions if there is a specific location for a project where we do specify where those projects will be implemented.

So feel free to stop by at any one of those tables to really dive in.

Or again, it's in the QR code, and you can see the exhibits on your phone.

So proposition D, C, sorry, is public library improvements at 14,586,000.

This is for the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the South We Southwest Regional Library, and the Diamond Hill Jarvis Library.

For proposition D, this is affordable housing.

And this is 10 million dollars.

Really, um the focus on this is to leverage each one of these dollars as shown here for all the purposes that are listed, but really also focusing on some of these four bullet points.

So whether that's land acquisition, the construction of housing and neighborhood infrastructure to support affordable housing, funding affordable housing and home repair programs, funding loans and grants for affordable housing purposes.

There is an asterisk on two of these.

It's as permitted by law.

This is a newer bond proposition for the city.

And we do have our Casey, uh, who's our director for neighborhood services, um, that can really dive into more of the specifics if you if you have questions.

Uh proposition E is police fire and emergency communications facilities.

Uh this is at 63,919,300 for new fire station 46 in Southwest Fort Worth, the new emergency communications center, and the fire station 40 at Northwest Fort Worth.

And proposition F for animal care and shelter improvements at 59,874,000.

And this is towards the construction and equipping of a new animal control shelter facility, um, as the video did walk through.

So with that, I'm gonna hand this off to Trey to dive into the charter amendments.

Hi, my name's Trey Qualls.

I'm one of the attorneys in the Fort Worth City Attorney's Office.

I'm gonna walk through each of these uh charter events that are also gonna be on the election.

Um charter amendments uh for those who may not know that the Fort Road City Charter is kind of like the founding document or the constitution for the city.

It was first adopted in 1924.

Uh it's been amended several times since.

Uh, but every time, just like the Constitution, if you want to amend it, it goes to the voters.

That's why these changes are going to be on this election.

And there's nine charter amendments that the council has approved to put on the election.

Somebody had a good question earlier.

How do these relate to the bond?

And the answer is they don't.

They're just on the same election.

Um so the way these slides are structured, there's like I said, nine, they're lettered to G through O.

Um, and so the top uh of each slide is the actual language that you'll see on the ballot for each of these propositions.

The bottom is kind of an explanation of if it's approved, how that change affects the charter.

So starting out with proposition G, it's uh you can see the language there.

I won't read it, but what it does is it's the one that would change mayor and council pay from currently 25,000 for council and 29,000 for the mayor to 50,000 for council members, 60,000 a year for the mayor.

Um it would start effective the next city's next fiscal year, which begins on October 1st of this year.

And then you can see at the bottom there the total amount annually that that would change the city budget starting with uh fiscal year 2027, which again starts on October 1st.

And that number would stay consistent, obviously, because there's that it's a set number 50 and 60.

That's not an increasing number.

Okay, proposition H will be the next you'll see on the ballot.

Again, there's the language at the top.

Uh and the effect would be right now, there's a provision in the charter that says uh, well, let's start with this.

The city manager hires and fires all department directors in the city.

Um that's not subject to the city council.

The city manager is the one who has the hiring decision, and that's consistent with what we call the the council manager form of government that we have.

The city managers like the CEO, the council is the policymakers.

Uh and so there's currently a provision that says if uh the city manager dismisses one of those hires, a department director, that that hire can request a hearing before the city council about his or her uh termination.

That provision is somewhat in tension with the structure of our government because even if someone were to request a hearing before a city council, the city council has actually no authority to hire or fire that person, so they couldn't actually put them back to work.

So it's just the purpose doesn't serve, uh it doesn't serve much of a purpose.

And again, it's also a little in tension with our council manager form of government.

Our charter specifically says that the council is not allowed to interfere with the city manager's personnel decisions.

So this is a somewhat in tension.

This, if approved, would remove that requirement or opportunity for a terminated department director to request that hearing before city council, because again, there's nothing the city council can do about it.

Um so there's there's no point to the hearing.

Um position I uh it's similar, but instead this one's about council appointees.

So the city council does uh directly appoint several positions at the city, the city manager, the city attorney, the city auditor.

Um they also appoint uh municipal court judges and the city secretary, although municipal court judges and city secretary are not part of this change because this provision is not in their uh hiring uh in the charter in their hiring.

Uh but what this provision would do is similar to with department directors, there's a provision in the charter that says if one of those council appointed positions, uh if council terminates those individuals, those individuals have the right to request a hearing before a public hearing before the city council.

The reason this is also somewhat redundant is for council to terminate those appointed positions.

There's already going to be a hearing that it comes before the city council at a public meeting.

Those are going to be posted within you know with the public meeting here.

Texas Open Meetings Act, public meeting notice, just like every other city council meeting, to remove those council appointed positions.

Council was already going to have to take a vote.

People can already sign up and come speak, including the terminated uh council appointed person.

Uh so this is again just a sort of a redundant.

It's this hearing is sort of like saying council, are you sure um you're you want to do that when they already again have to meet, come to an open meeting, take a vote, determinate one of those council appointed positions.

And again, this only affects this provision would only affect city managers hiring and firing, um, city attorney and city auditor, because this provision isn't in the those other council appointed positions.

Okay, next proposition J.

This there's a requirement currently in the city charter that says that the budget cannot, the annual budget can't be adopted on the same date as the budget hearing.

Uh the if you've ever watched our budget process, there's a ton of hoops we have to jump through due to state law about the tax code and really our tax rate and the local government code about adopting the budget.

This actually is not in any of those codes.

This is a provision that's been in the city charter.

Um it's kind of a self-created stumbling block that we made for ourselves.

So removing it would just allow us to be able to adopt the budget at the same meeting as the budget hearing.

Um this doesn't change any of the notice requirements that's required by state law or other charter requirements for posting of the notice about the budget, uh filing the but the city manager's requirement to file the budget with the city secretary, uh, present it to the council.

Uh all those still apply, all this would mean is you could at the end of the budget hearing, you could actually adopt the budget instead of having to have a separate meeting.

Um, if you've ever seen occasionally what's happens, sometimes when you come when we come up close to the deadline for adopting it, we actually have these two meetings on the exact same date, one 15 minutes following the other.

This would kind of just avoid that kind of funny looking process.

Okay, proposition K involves uh a requirement that's currently in the charter for public service corporations to file an annual report with the city.

Uh public service corporations are things like your franchise utilities, telecommunications, um, natural gas companies.

Uh historically, when the city had a lot more regulatory power over a lot of those franchise utilities.

Nowadays that's been mostly stripped from the city.

So this requirement, um all of those required documents that they have to file annual reports are filed really at the state level now.

And so this is a somewhat redundant requirement to also file it at the city when we really have no ability to hold those franchise utilities responsible for anything, and most some of them don't do it anyway.

Um but this would remove a requirement that's that has always said that they have to file a report with the city.

You can still get all the same information online, usually at the public utilities commission.

They have to file all those reports.

Okay, uh proposition L deals with a requirement in the charter to take an ordinance to city council to approve a grant of privilege.

So in the city uh for a business to use city streets, you have to get what's called a privilege, sort of like a franchise, if you've ever heard that.

Um right now, every time we the city council grants one of those, it has to go to the council, get an ordinance to approve it.

This would allow a designated city staff to administratively approve those, subject to the requirements that are already in the city code.

The example here is um really the solid waste haulers, they have to get a right to operate by to drive solid waste, they collect it and drive it across our city streets.

Um this would allow a designated city staff person um to be able to approve those subject to the requirements that are already in the city code for approving those privileges without having to go to council every single time and get an ordinance to do so.

Okay, proposition M.

Um, this is a requirement that would uh right now there are certain city departments that are are created by charter.

This would not affect those.

Uh, there are also city departments that have been created by ordinance.

This would not affect those.

Um this would allow in the future the city manager to have some a little more flexibility if different city um functions needed to be moved around between departments.

This would allow the city manager to do that if that department was not created by charter already or ordinance already.

Those things have to go charter back to the voters ordinance, would go to city council.

This would give the city manager some sort of prospective flexibility.

The way that usually comes up is in the past we've had at different times it may be more efficient to move certain functions out of one department to another.

Sometimes departments actually close and you move them or create their own department, like in the past, parks and community services was a department.

Really, community services then sort of moved out and became neighborhood services, their own department.

Um that of course required an ordinance change.

In the future, a new department that was created uh or reorganized by the city manager, he could do that without having to go to council for an ordinance.

Again, there this would not affect any department existing that's created by ordinance.

That would still require council action.

Um city manager can't override that ordinance, or uh one of the departments that's created in the charter, which is like police fire, those things.

Okay.

Proposition in uh this is probably the most technical and confusing, but the what it what it does is there's um certain requirements in our charter about when you can order an election to fill a vacancy in the city council when that's created midterm, like if someone God forbid passed away or just resigned, you have a vacancy on the charter on the council.

How do you fill that?

Our charter has requirements about what you can do and when you can order an election.

They actually don't line up just right with the Texas election codes requirements on the deadlines to order a special election.

Uh so this would align those.

Um there is a chart on the next page.

I've been told this usually is more confusing than helpful.

So I'll I'll leave it to say that right now.

If you see that 90 days, January 31st, 2027.

This is a hypothetical.

Um right now there's a limit on uh when the city could only fill a vacancy created after 90 days before the next election following the city's process for doing so.

But if it occurs prior to that, there that's when the timelines don't line up.

I can see your eyes glazing over as I'm talking.

This is my least favorite one to explain because it it's the most technical, but um how about this?

I'll say it's it's designed to align our requirements for the deadlines for calling the election prior to uh an election date.

Um it's designed to align those with state law.

If you have questions about that, I'll be right over there afterwards.

And last but not least, um, so currently the city charter says the city can only pay a debt if it if we receive a quote purchase order.

And there's been a little confusion in the past about you know, not everything nowadays is called a purchase order.

Sometimes it's called a bill for services or an invoice or uh something like that.

So it replaces this would replace the words purchase order with the words appropriate written documentation, just to clarify that as long as long as we get appropriate, certain things are appropriate to pay that don't necessarily say purchase order at the top.

Um and so that's the charter amendments.

I think we'll have time for questions after, and I'll be over here.

Thank you so much, Trey.

We're good, we're good.

All right.

So today's April 11th, and as shown here, we have an additional three more opportunities as part of the bond and charter election education meeting schedule.

Um if you have the opportunity, feel free to come by again.

Uh there's a couple of recurring individuals that it's great to see y'all as well.

Um, but you can also attend any of these, be able to see all of these upcoming uh education meetings online, um, but also encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to attend as well.

Um, and then of course, if there are ever any questions, feel free to um contact any of our city members, and a lot of this information is coming back to us, and we have all this information online as well, uh, just to continuously educate on the bond uh because this is the upcoming schedule.

So we're we're well into April.

The last day to register was April 2nd.

We obviously kicked it kicked off all these educations uh meetings on March 25th.

Uh, there is the public ordinances mentioned earlier that's coming later this month.

Um, and then uh we will be ending our citywide bond and charter election meetings on April 18th.

Um, but what's shown here in the highlighted in yellow is the early voting that begins on April 20th through April 28th.

That is located on the back page of your bond book, just in case if you happen to forget.

Also, some uh voter registration information for all for all the various counties um in which city of Fort Worth does touch.

And so if you're curious about the the voting locations or uh the time as well, um please please feel free to visit any one of those links.

And then finally, election day is on May 2nd.

So with that, again, here are all the QR codes, but we will open this up for questions again.

We are here for you from an education standpoint, and we do have um a microphone that we'd request that you use if you have questions.

Just show of hands.

All right, we have two.

All right, here we go.

Yeah, uh well, uh my name is Rolando.

I'm a city resident and taxpayer and registered voter, but um I was looking at the booklet here for like the streets and mobility on the traffic safety portion.

It says like schools.

So I guess what schools are y'all referring to, and then also um like is it existing um like crosswalks and uh traffic lights for the schools, or is it also pertaining to like schools that need it?

Yeah, Rolanda, that is a great question.

And we actually have our expert here, Miss Chelsea St.

Louis, to dive in.

Hi, I'm Chelsea St.

Louis, the senior capital projects officer in TPW.

And so for that school in the neighborhood um traffic safety uh portion of the bond, we're really looking at existing schools that need additional safety improvements.

And a lot of those improvements um for the schools we looked at on the list really need improvements around signalized intersections, so pedestrian push buttons.

There are some areas where we need uh rectangular rapid flashing beacons to help students cross arterials that are for six lanes.

Um, and so that's really what that's focused on.

And I will also add as part of our operations and maintenance, we do also address school safety.

So if you need to submit a request uh via the My Fort Worth app, we also um maintain school zones, implement new school zones.

Uh, we also have a sidewalk program as well that supports some of those same things.

And so the bond program is really capturing those larger scale capital projects that we need to support schools.

Thank you, Chelsea.

All right, we have two questions.

Like you tell our wall station.

Does this include private schools and church schools, or is it just ISD?

Or so really we look at improvements at all schools.

We don't discriminate based on what type of school it is.

Oh, have a question up here.

I'm Dolores Connor representing Historic Carver Heights Neighborhood Association.

My question is to parks.

Oh, over there.

Yes.

Do you over?

Um are there any plans for the development of West Arlington Lake.

I didn't there.

So I'm with the open space program, and we acquired um close to 200 acres in partnership with the parks department.

Oh, sorry.

So we um acquired uh quite a bit of land adjacent to UG McRae.

Um there was a large parcel um on Lake Arlington.

We're trying to maintain a public shoreline along Lake Arlington.

Uh we have not master planned those properties yet.

Um that will be future considerations, but at that time we will bring in the communities to help us direct how we want to plan our trails, our parks, our natural areas along the lake, but it is preserved, so it will not be developed right now for those city properties.

All right, thank you, Brandy.

Did you kiss there?

Oh, additional question.

I'm just concerned that we keep getting pushed back.

So it's embarrassing that the east side of Arlington Lake, which is developed by the city of Arlington, is quite attractive and attracts entertainment and public activity, and we look like a dump.

What is the forecast that projection for inclusion and development?

She said we can so we only received the funding to acquire those properties through the 2022 bond.

Um so they were purchased very, very recently within the past few years.

Um of the reasons we did want to do that on the Arlington side of the lake, almost all of that is private property.

We wanted to maintain a public area.

Um we have not started the planning process, but that's something that you can reach out to your council member about to our staff to let us know that that's something that you want to prioritize.

Um that's been done on the communities.

Okay, and I'm happy to discuss more of that with you afterward as well.

And Dolores, uh, we do have the East Barrie study, which I believe we did engage with the communities as well to be able to look at the entire corridor that also uh moved into the Lake Arlington shoreline.

Uh, there is the shoreline that was identified uh as a potential like area for future master plan uh initiatives.

So um as as the city does say complete corridor studies or additional master plans, there are it does begin to add on of like other locations to begin focusing on, and as they're also named in these master plans, it starts to we departments can start to earmark like the next areas to begin studies on.

Um so I've I've heard your feedback.

Um, we can touch base with both Dave Lewis and then uh Kelly Porter is the one who developed the East Barrie corridor study.

Um, so we can definitely feed into that.

And I'll I'll get your email after this so that we can provide additional information.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you, Dolores.

All right, we have a question up here or oh, okay, here you go.

Good morning.

Um I'm the assistant director with the park and recreation uh department, Monique Hill.

And just to answer part of your question, we have been talking with council member peoples about that area.

Um, and recently our leadership team had gone over to Eugene McCrae uh Park as well.

So our director Dave Lewis is keenly aware of what the concerns are, um, but also to echo the sentiments.

Uh make sure you continue talking to council member peoples in our uh recent meeting.

She has brought that up.

And I'll tell you, I grew up in our my parents still live in the area, and so my father is one of the domino players that's usually down there, and I keep saying, please don't run my daddy off.

But to your point, uh there have been concerns about it's being congested, people really like to gather there.

So that's been made aware.

I don't know where we are in our timelines, but council member peoples is pushing it, but we also need your support and voice when we're coming out to speak to the community.

Okay, my support is that there we need it continuously.

Thank you so much, Monique.

Questions for bond or charter up here?

All right, and then we have second right find out.

So my question is I heard as on the video, I think there was one of the bonds uh that said this may include, and then I see on here that there they said uh we anticipate no increase.

So what would drive an increase in the tax rate since you're saying it's not anticipated?

Yeah, so we do have a couple representatives here and I'll go ahead and tag um either Jay or if not Reggie to kind of hop in on this question.

But there could be some market conditions uh as it relates to the amounts and Jay good morning Jay Chapa City Manager.

So basically when we put when we put the bond together using the bond tax rate we calculate as we're paying off old bonds how much capacity we'll have in the next five years.

This is a five year program.

And the idea is that we'll have enough capacity to pay off these bonds without having to change the tax rate based on the city's current tax base overall and a slight annual growth since so many people are are moving here.

We can't say there's never a hundred percent so that's why we say we anticipate but my goal would be that it's not going to change if the bottom fell out of the economy completely and Fort Worth's tax base dropped significantly there'd be other measures that we would take recommend to the city council uh so that we don't have to change that tax rate since we told the citizens we're not going to change the tax rate we would recommend to the council to stretch out the bond program instead of five years to eight years or 10 years based on whatever the numbers are at that time so that we only issue debt tied to the capacity that we have to pay it using that tax rate.

So there's nothing you know death and taxes are the only thing that the people say and the amount of taxes I can't guarantee.

So that's why that's why we can't we don't like to have a definitive it's not going to happen but it's not going to happen in real world because our there's other levers to pull to ensure that doesn't happen.

The city council would then have to make decisions on what projects get pushed out further and further and then that's what the community says no don't push out my project and so that becomes a whole other discussion but hopefully we don't have to go there.

We haven't had to go there over the last 20 years as we've been uh Fort Worth's been using this basically this process of not increasing the tax rate on the bond side and in fact in some years decreasing it um as we go forward.

So thank you.

Okay and a second question yeah absolutely yeah I had a question on the charter amendment front if you could speak a little bit more to sort of how you went about choosing these as the as the items like are there specific things that you want to do that you can't do because these things are in place or where did some of these um because I gotta say some of your description of some of them wasn't the most convincing on us so I just want to understand you know some of the background on how these came to be and why we should be supporting them.

Well let me start by saying I can't tell you to support or deny by law we cannot tell you that but all I can tell you about the effect if they're approved.

In Texas you can do a charter election every two years.

I think our last was in 2022 actually um and so whenever after a two year period comes the city council will usually look and say is there anything we need to fix or catch up on our charter um they've you might have seen several presentations that we made about potential charter amendments um just as you can see a large majority of them are what I would call sort of clean up things um and so the city council ultimately picks which amendments are going to go on the ballot and these are the ones they chose if I could add a little cut uh a little color discussion about these have been going on for 15 20 years most of it is to align get into the you know 2025 charter was created in the 1920s change in the 30s and the 40s like the election uh for instance the state has a mandated process for local governments that we have to follow the charter includes uh steps that don't align with the state the change is just to align with state law the budget process the hearing on the same date the state requires us to have multiple hearings on tax rate on on the budget so we already have hearings and then what ends up happening is we only have a certain period of time we end up having to meet the charter requirement a short 20 minute hearing meeting this meeting have another meeting to actually adopt the budget because we can't do it in the same book meeting even though we've had previous meet uh hearings in previous meetings during that process so state requires two meetings right two meetings that start from a from um before you adopt so we have a meeting in August we have another meeting is early September then we have to have a third meeting we're gonna adopt the budget we have to have a on the same day another budget hearing because the charter requires it so we already have the state has these mandated process we have to have another meeting that can't be the same meeting that that the council is is is actually adopting the budget on because the charter doesn't allow it to happen in the same meeting.

So we already have the state has these mandated process.

We have to have another meeting that can't be the same meeting that that the council is is actually adopting the budget on because the charter doesn't allow it to happen in the same meeting.

And we have to make these spending money, shouldn't we be very, very careful?

And especially.

It's it's an efficiency.

Well, it's an it's it's an efficiency.

We're gonna have a meeting.

There will be a hearing on the budget, and then we're and then the council's gonna adopt the budget.

We have to the council has to adopt a balanced budget by a certain date.

So the last date that they can adopt it, we end up having to have two separate meetings in that same day instead of collapsing it into one meeting, which would be much more efficient, because you have it in the same day, you're basically posting twice as much, you know, posting it twice, confusing people.

Why are we having two meetings in the same day?

You could still have the hearing and then have the meeting.

I mean, have the the adoption.

You're not eliminating the hearing, you're eliminating a meeting by doing this.

Sure.

So, like for McDeviden specifically on eight.

Right.

Oh sorry.

So specifically on H, where um, you know, I think the way you framed it was that the city council can't fire or hire the person anyway when when um going before like requesting a hearing, but for my lens, I think of it more as not from hiring and rehiring that person, but like from a transparency perspective, like what's the exit interview process for that person?

How do we know that there's like yeah, like they should still be accountable to the public for if something happened and we should be able to know about it?

So that that was one that I had like H and then also the the department's one.

So that's why I was asking like those particular like H and M, how do how are they getting in the way of efficiency right now?

And not trading off efficiency for transparency for public accountability.

So the city council, when they they're gonna say they're gonna fire me, right?

You all can cheer if you want.

Um city council is gonna fire the city manager, they have to do it in a public meeting.

It's posted.

You all know the process, I've seen you speak.

You can come up and speak for or against that.

The public hearing is set.

What the charter now then requires the council made their decision.

I'm fired.

It's saying now I can demand another hearing after the fact for me to come and the same thing for department heads, already been fired, they're gone, and we can demand another public hearing to come and talk about why we got fired or why did we didn't like that we got fired.

It's not about the public getting to speak, it's about the person that was terminated getting to speak.

And if if I don't like that the way I was I can speak at that public hearing, just like you can, where they're firing me.

The department head can do the same, can come to a public meeting when the public meeting speaking portion and come and speak.

And I can sorry, I'm well they have lots of questions.

They wouldn't and the and the issue becomes we're the only, I think we're the only city in the state or maybe in the country that has this provision.

The issue becomes from as a taxpayer, when you're talking about a process that if somebody decides to sue the city because of their fired, now you're going in front of a court system that doesn't understand why that provision is in there.

So then the judge gives that provision more, you have to go through this whole process of the our attorneys trying to explain that it's part of the charter, it's not part of the employment process.

It doesn't meet up with EEOC, it doesn't meet with any of the the laws around employment, and so it becomes this whole more difficult process when you go into the court system.

It's inefficient, it costs the taxpayer dollars, and the right to be transparent already exists because people can come and speak to the council anyway.

So again, it's trying to get rid of redundancy and inefficiencies.

Well, you've got two things.

You got the bond and you got the charter.

So it takes just a little bit more time.

I'll make it brief.

I got a month worth of complaints, but I'll make it real brief.

First thing on the bond, just a quick statement on that.

It'd been a really smart of our city years ago to put millions into toll rows on the city and selling private market, put the toll rolls in because that would pay the bond back.

We used to have a toll road going downtown to Port Work back in the 60s, and we paid it off and they took it away.

We could have done that again, but instead we have private companies putting a toll roll and making money while we put our money and the golf courses that are losing money.

25 million dollars in the golf courses.

So that's almost selling bond.

Okay.

I'm voting no on the bond completely just to send a message.

Secondly, the um charter.

What I'd like to ask is can you tell us why does our council think they deserve a raise?

And can I rebuttal with quick on each reason?

Why you like data certain rates?

Well why they think they deserve right, not why you said why they find certain no, I can't tell you that.

Um you would have to ask each one of them.

I can't tell I can't speak for the council.

You can't say why.

So we don't know why they're asking for a raise or decide to put it on there and we have to give it off.

Okay.

Well, I understand the reason why we're the lowest pay, but if it was by performance, I sure wouldn't get if council the things I understand but council, they're getting a raise because they're the lowest pay in the state around all the way around.

They are the lowest pay.

And I'm proud of that the lowest, okay.

Uh the other reason is because they're overworked, is why?

I haven't seen a council member at one of these meetings yet, not one.

And then they hire community engagement at 180,000 a year to do their job for them.

So that's where I have a problem with council getting a raise.

But uh nevertheless, I don't want to take I'll take up too much time, but I appreciate it.

I was hoping maybe you can answer their reasons.

I thought maybe they might have laid out why they think, but I think because they don't deserve it really.

Thank you.

Uh thank yep.

Hi.

Yes, hi.

I my name is Tara Moldanotto Wilson, and as a regular person who is running for city council in the city, I'm just a nurse, and I just got mad enough to run.

Um, and when it comes to the city council's pay, I believe that all the problems we have in the city can be solved by regular people like us, but we don't have access to really be able to run for these positions or to mount a campaign really to get in a position that we actually give people the right to come speak to us in a bigger block than three minutes, or to create real engagement that actually meets the needs that you all need.

Like someone like you who's been fighting for 20 years because the east side just hasn't had any representation to fight for us.

Well, we really haven't though.

And and we really haven't.

And if you come to this side of 35, our infrastructure and our development looks so significantly different than the West Side and far North Fort Worth, and all those kinds of things.

But I'm in support of raising city council's salary because for the most part, you have to be independently wealthy to be on city council.

And if you're independently wealthy, you're not feeling the financial strain of our economy on your pocket right now.

So you don't have an incentive to listen to us, so we can talk to you.

So I'm voting yes for this.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Yeah, we we'd we'll so we we definitely want to cover some questions for the bond and charter election.

Um there is a question uh right up right back here.

And if again, if we have any deep dives, um, please touch with our proposition teams.

Hi.

On the other side of the way bonds work, could you speak a little bit to who funds the bond money, what the city's bond rating is, and what is our record as a city in the past on our bond payoff?

Yeah, absolutely.

So Jason, go ahead and dive in.

But in the bond book, uh, we do dive into the bond rating.

So that's on one of the very first pages uh in the bond book.

And Jay, if you'd like to add to that.

Sure.

The so the city's bond rating is double A plus.

The only thing higher is triple A.

And main reason behind the trip that we're gonna have a triple A is the outstanding pension liability that's out there.

Uh but we we made the conversion on the pension about 10 years ago, and over time that's getting better, and so that'll solve itself.

But you have to wait till you get there.

That's the main reason we see from the rating agencies why we're not pretty much a triple A.

But double A plus, the city has never defaulted on a single payment.

And the the payments are made with with tax dollars.

General, these are general obligation, basically bonds that come from the the tax rate.

So it's paid by residents, uh commercial owners, business owners, industrial owners of the properties.

So the annual taxes that we bring in, that 14.75 uh cent portion of the debt service, it's what pays those bonds.

Thank you, Jay.

And yes, that is located on page five of the bond book for the bond agency rating deep dive.

Uh are there any additional questions?

Since we're since we're filming this and this is about questions about the bond or charter.

If you want to filibuster and we'd we'd love for y'all to have the discussion, but we'd like to be because we want to put these on online so that people will watch them.

So if you have questions, that's fine.

But if you want to do the opinion thing, we can do it afterwards.

Yeah, we're just over an hour.

We do want to leave some time for individuals to walk around the room.

We have one more question and then a second question, and then we'll go ahead and provide some time.

Okay.

About the um being able to uh pay something from being called the bill to just being hand ridden and just written.

Yeah.

What do you think about that?

That seems a little bit concerning of just being able to handwrite something and being able to be paid.

Well, it it's not really about uh I think maybe you're thinking about the validity of the debt that is being paid.

Um this doesn't have anything to do with that.

This is really just about changing the word purchase order to appropriate documentation.

So it's it's still got to be an appropriate debt.

We have to actually owe it.

There has to be a real reason for us to pay it.

None of that changes.

This is just about um really what it's called.

Uh I'm I'm happy to explain why this came about.

Everybody talks around it.

I wasn't around when it happened, but um the charter says you have to the charter again was written back way back when where purchase order was required, most of the things the city bought was through a purchase order.

Now things are bought with a credit card, right?

The city, if you're gonna if they're gonna order uh some goods for an event, and they we make our three uh requests from from vendors that are eligible, get the lowest price, you buy with a credit card, they send you an invoice that gets plugged.

We had a city auditor who wasn't doing a great job.

The city council was talking about getting rid of them.

He turned around and said the city's violating its charter because it's not getting a purchase order for every single purchase.

We spend a billion dollars a year or more, and he was making the argument that the charter required a purchase order on every single thing.

I don't know who's a small business order and owner in here, but how many purchase orders do you use on a daily basis?

You don't, it's an antiquated method.

So the idea was to change the law to eliminate those words from becoming a legal issue for the city and the citizens, because then we that's what our taxpayers we have to pay the court and everything else that goes through the whole process.

The whole thing got it got eliminated, but we want to try to uh bring our charter to take.

I'm not telling you to vote for it or vote against it.

I'm just explaining how it why it came about.

Okay, one questionnaire.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Um in terms of, you know, because I think these are like all long-term projects, right?

So in a lot of them involve the ver the variables of the pricing and the economy of what's happening.

So um, you know, you're getting approved for a certain dollar amount.

How, for example, with the library projects, there's three libraries that are getting developed and you're getting 14 million dollars, I think it is, right?

So, how do you then decide?

We're voting on that 14 million versus like the specifics of it, or like how do you then decide?

Well, actually, we can't afford all three, we're gonna do two because in two years, you know, the economy costs of all the things, construction, tariffs, all those things.

So, how do you think like about the actual details and meeting the details that you're listing out when it comes to this?

Yeah, so the bond book itself has that project scope and it does detail uh the various ways in which that the dollars can be used for that specific project, and they are named, uh, meaning that these are the projects that the city intends to utilize the dollars for.

If we start to vary away from that, and as Jay was kind of mentioning earlier, there could be some market conditions and everything, but but for as it relates to our bond rating as well, we do have that obligation to stick with that particular bond program.

Anytime there is a change, say that there's a modification.

I work in, you know, within the civil engineering world, and suddenly hypothetically, uh, we find that the public library, we can't exactly do a site civil, we need to modify it in some way, and what we said we were gonna be able to accomplish in that bond and that scope needs to be adjusted some.

The city is obligated to go to the bond council to be able to make a statement as far as how if we are gonna make a change to any specific project, how that will be done.

Uh so for one, there's transparency, and then Jay can go ahead and dive a little bit more into that.

So each project is individually projected.

And based on when it is on the schedule, our staff, engineers, uh they add in projections for inflation.

So it's not projected with this year's dollars, it's projected and what it's gonna be.

In fact, this program has a lot of a little bit extra because of what we came out of COVID.

We saw a huge increase in a lot of the construction side.

And some years, like 36% increase in inflation on that side.

So the idea, I mean, no, you're never gonna be perfect, but the projections are put together for when it's gonna be done with inflation and with potential increases as we go forward.

Um, so some projects might come in less because you overprojected, and some might come in over.

And the idea is hopefully you balance out by moving dollars from one to the other to make all the projects work.

Thank you, Jay.

I do like cash flowing.

So if you ever want to talk about philosophy on that, we can do that.

Um, we are about on time, and we do want to give everybody the opportunity to walk around the room.

So uh with that, thank you all so much for being part of this uh bond education meeting.

Again, we have three more opportunities to dive into the bond and charter amendments.

Thank y'all.