OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Fort Worth Capital Improvement Advisory Committee Meeting - May 20, 2026

City CouncilWednesday, May 20, 2026
BodyFort Worth, Texas
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, May 20, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 56:46
Transcript — Verbatim
6:22

...

8:32

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

8:36

May 20th.

8:40

Fort Worth Capital Improvement Advisory Committee meeting.

8:46

Our first order of business is going to be the approval of our previous meeting minutes from February 25th, 2026.

8:55

Are there any questions?

9:01

No questions.

9:03

Alright.

9:04

I'll second that motion.

9:05

We have a motion by Mr.

9:08

Edmonds and a second by Ms.

9:10

Cranz.

9:12

Motion is approved.

9:13

Moving on to staff comments.

9:02

Come on.

9:18

I'll take a voice vote.

9:19

All in favor?

9:22

Any opposed?

9:24

Motion passes.

9:33

Staff comments.

9:44

Mr.

9:44

Kamal Cruz.

10:08

Testing.

10:09

All right.

10:11

I learned from the last time I need the mic to be a little bit taller for me.

10:18

So hopefully everybody can hear me this time.

10:20

Alright, again, I'm Kamal Cruz, Senior Capital Projects Officer with the Development Services Department.

10:28

I oversee the transportation impact fee program.

10:33

So for the staff comments, we wanted to run through a few of the items, not specifically in the presentation, but a few items that came up from our discussions last meeting that we need to address.

10:48

Item number one, there was a request that there be uh updates to the presentation to reflect the the changes over time of service areas from fee to no fee service areas.

11:01

So we have included those revisions within the presentation that we're going to see today.

11:18

And currently this is primarily addressed through the neighborhood empowerment zones, and those specific um projects, they they go through uh an application process through our neighborhood uh services department, and those projects are uh it is codified that those uh projects are exempt from the the um transportation impact fees now for projects that are outside of the neighborhood empowerment zones, they have a similar process.

11:51

Uh basically for for those projects, um they will need to um council will need to determine how much of those uh fees will be eligible for waiver or exemption, um, and they would also apply through the neighborhood services department um to be uh to have those fees essentially waived.

12:13

Um, and that application and MNC would also be initiated with the neighborhood services department.

12:20

Any any questions on that item?

12:23

We leave that subject.

12:25

Um I'm just wondering what what can you give us some idea of what the breadth of these exceptions are and credits and how they're deserved.

12:36

Yeah, so they they truly are for uh a public purpose, public benefit, um, and that is determined by by city council uh to determine whether or not they they meet that criteria and there are adequate protections in place to be able to ensure that they meet the requirements that that they have stated that they would meet for the public's uh benefit.

12:55

Uh so that is a part of the um the MNC um process that that is uh detailed what their uh public benefit truly is, and is and that is ultimately taken to to council for uh approval and authorization of that um exemption or or waiver.

13:13

Um, you know, these these don't happen very often.

13:17

Um they truly must um meet the criteria that's very similar to what we see in the in the for the uh the NES, the neighborhood empowerment zone applications.

13:25

Um so that's really the standard that um is currently followed.

13:29

All right, so it's a small percentage.

13:32

That's correct.

13:33

That's correct.

13:36

All right.

13:38

Um next item was the request to clarify how MNC actions affect service areas and um identify associated projects and ensure maps reflect those updates.

13:52

So, for for that particular request, um the MSC actions, they typically impact the service areas by really authorization of the funds that that are applied to projects within those service areas.

14:05

That's really the primary function of the MNC in reference to the transportation impact fee program.

14:13

Other than that, our transportation impact fee study, of course, is uh adopted by uh city council, uh and which also defines really the limits of the service areas themselves and uh the associated collection rates for those as well.

14:30

So all that happens through MNC.

14:33

Um and then, of course, as I mentioned earlier, in some instances, council will consider a waiver of fees uh for a public purpose or benefit if not otherwise codified.

14:46

And then lastly, there was a request that we include uh information comparing Fort Worth's uh impact fee rates uh with those of other sister cities, and to be able to accomplish that, what we're going to do is we're gonna uh we have an upcoming study update uh with the with a consultant uh 2027 uh transportation impact fee program study update uh and we're going to ask uh our consultant once we bring them on board uh to be able to prepare the information as a part of the 2027 uh study update.

15:16

So that's going to be forthcoming.

15:18

All right.

15:19

Do you know when that's gonna be?

15:20

Yeah, so we're we're actually in the process of uh procuring a consultant for that, um, and we we anticipate of going to council to authorize that agreement very soon here, uh, but then the and so that'll be the initiation of the the contract with that consultant, and then that uh contract essentially will you know continue on and the study will be prepared and uh adopted or anticipating uh in late 2027, but we should be able to have that information that you're requesting earlier on in the contract.

15:55

Thank you.

15:56

Thank you.

15:57

If you have time for just one more two-part question, I'd like to ask.

16:01

Of course, um just so we can fully understand it.

16:06

Um as an example, if concrete cost concrete road cost a million dollars a lane mile, just a number.

16:18

And how would you how is this impact fee impact frontage mile long on a project?

16:30

And where does the fee go?

16:31

Second part is, where's the fee go?

16:34

Is it does it cover administrative cost?

16:37

Does it cost, does it go to pay interest on our bond debt, which I think is in the uh the way I read the presentation, it's in it does pay interest on the bond debt.

16:49

Um, how is the money used?

16:51

Because I just ran across a project with the city where a lot of money allocated, but there wasn't it nearly as much money as we thought would be used on the project itself because there was some other administrative cost taken out before the money was allocated.

17:09

Interesting.

17:11

Okay, I'd be interested to find out more about that in specific, maybe um a little later, but uh overall the eligible the transportation impact fee you know eligible costs are are defined by uh both uh Tex Texas local government code 395 as well as our our city code, and those eligible costs are also documented within our our uh TIP as we call it, our capital improvement plan.

17:42

And that includes in the actual hard construction costs as you mentioned, the price of concrete, the actual cost of installing it, but that also includes the soft costs, which means the cost for you know the engineering, the material testing, everything that it takes to get you to that that point.

18:01

But one thing that it cannot be used for is for you know overall just project management.

18:07

Um so that'd be a point of clarification I'd hope to be able to maybe resolve with you, you know, um later.

18:14

But um, but the it is truly goes to the those engineering costs as well as um the the actual cost of the um the capital improvements themselves.

18:27

Now you you had mentioned um you know the bond and bond interest.

18:32

Uh so that is an eligible cost, but basically what that is is that you know within our transportation uh improvement plan, we have identified certain construction costs that were eligible to receive the funds, uh and we have been collecting funds for that, and in some of those cases we have gone ahead and you know use bonds to pay for the implementation of that particular project.

18:53

So we're essentially going back and using the funds what for what they should be used for, using the impact fee dollars to actually go and you know pay pay off what we kind of fronted the money for with the bond debt.

19:06

Does that make sense?

19:09

One more quick question, Mr.

19:11

Chairman.

19:11

So does the what number would come to your mind as being a typical number or division about what we actually spend on the construction versus what we spend on the eligible soft cost?

19:28

Let's see.

19:31

Tough question.

19:32

No, that that's I I appreciate that that question, and we actually have a calculation for it that we have within our within our study when we actually calculate our our um you know anticipated construction costs, including the the engineering.

19:46

And off the top of my head, it is alluding me.

19:48

I'm gonna look for is it the 20?

19:50

Okay.

19:51

Uh yeah, so it is uh 20% is assumed for the the soft costs associated with the each uh individual construction project.

20:01

Yes, so going to the since we've brought it up already, going to the interest payment and the bonding of projects, is are we utilizing traffic impact fees that have been paid by developers?

20:24

Are we using those to bond projects themselves, or are we talking about joining up with a bond project that is part of the city's bond program that happens to include an eligible project within a service area?

20:40

Um there's two different things I heard here, and I want to understand what we're talking about.

20:45

Yes, and um if I understand your question correctly, um both are true and eligible costs.

20:53

So one is a bond project that our you know partners in TPW, Transportation Public Works, are doing and they have bond allocated to that particular project, but it may not cover the full cost of the project.

21:10

So usually what we do is we will you know coordinate with them in advance and and determine you know how much we have that can be eligible to be applied to that project, you know, based on the you know what we currently um have within our our funds, and and so we will be will identify you know this is what we we have uh and then they will um go and request the additional bond to make up that that gap there.

21:38

Uh so that's one example that you're you were referring to.

21:41

Um and then the other is for projects that have been previously bonded, uh, and um we have since collected fees uh transportation impact fees you know over the course of time, and then now we can essentially go and um allocate those fees to pay off the bond interest because that expense that the bond paid for was a transportation impact fee eligible expense.

22:14

Does that you have a follow-up?

22:16

Answers most of it.

22:17

Are there any if if forget bond projects, old bond projects, new bond projects for a second?

22:24

Does the traffic does the city use traffic impact fees to go out on a unique project?

22:34

Okay, that you know, I don't really want to use any roads because most of them are in the bond program in some form or fashion, but if they're gonna go out and build a section of road that needs to be built and they're using just impact fees for that, okay.

22:48

Are they bonding that project and utilizing that interest to help pay for that or are they i uh are they not doing that and they're just using they're just paying money towards the project Jennifer do you want to um so the one example I can think of where this has happened and I will say that the um the city is challenged to go out independently and build a project with impact fee dollars on its own because impact fee dollars cannot be used for staff costs and so if the city goes out and unilaterally builds a road we have our own project management costs of staff doing inspection and material testing and just managing the project um but we are able to use that money to um pay for the costs of the design and for the construction itself because the impact fee dollars are being used to pay for construction there is no bonding so it is um just strictly used as dollars because they're dollars in hand so it's not alone that answers my question so it's you're not going out and doing a project just all on your own it's always usually it's part of the uh you know uh three P or it is something that you're joining up with other city projects bond projects that are there and y'all are helping to pay for a portion of and in the one example I can think of the the staff time associated with that project it's called Cantrell Sansom it's up by the FedEx distribution facility uh the staff cost and everything were paid out of uh general fund so so general funds not um not bonded up dollars or MP dollars thank you all right thank you and that concludes the the the staff comments it's all right uh I would like to can we proceed to the any questions any other questions I think we're ready to proceed all right thank you Chair all right now we're moving on to the uh the review of the semi annual report uh which covers uh Q1 and Q2 of fiscal year 2026 uh that is uh October 2025 through uh March of 2026.

25:28

So just as a reminder for everyone we're still currently operating off of the the 2022 uh transportation impact fee study um and the maximum accessible rates that were determined associated with that um in addition to that we see that the that there are collection rates which is schedule two and uh for non-residential 40% of schedule one uh is being collected which is forty percent of the maximum accessible rate and for residential uh we're currently at 60% of schedule one uh and that has been increasing uh every year by five percent up to sixty five percent which we will hit as of June first of this year of 2026 and it's not um nothing's been authorized to have it um increase anything beyond that um and I believe Chair did you have a a question about that was my question and also will there ever be any percentage increase on the commercial side of things or just residential.

26:32

So uh currently as as approved by by council it's just limited to the the 40% um and that's you know based on what the economic development goals are for for the city um but it really is up to to council to determine in the future if that is something that they would like to to see.

26:50

And it how is that approach is that something that we bring to them or is it you guys staff bring to them or so again we're gonna be initiating our 2027 study and we're going to do do some additional investigation into it.

27:06

And ultimately here um we can have an internal discussions, you know, about how we we proceed with that um but I think there also has to be kind of a balance between understanding, you know, kind of the the impacts on growth and development what what we anticipate um you know, and not wanting to to stymie it, so to speak.

27:29

But Jennifer, do you want to maybe weigh in on what the process has been in the past for how that was initiated?

27:29

So in the 2022 uh study process, what we'll do is we'll go to our stakeholder constituency.

27:45

So yourselves, we'll go to the development advisory committee, we'll go to the real estate council and various groups and ask for recommendations.

27:53

So what our consultant will determine is the maximum accessible rate, so the 100% rate, and then council sets that collection rate, and so they're looking for feedback from the advisory committee from other other parties, and we'll collect that.

28:05

And so we'll give all that information then to council, and then they will determine on the day uh what that collection rate will be.

28:12

So uh, for example, in 2022, when council determined the collection rate, we staff had provided a recommendation.

28:19

We had recommendations from the various parties.

28:21

We kind of made them a table, and um and then we asked them what they wanted to do.

28:25

And so that's where we ended up with the 40% for non-residential, and then a step into 65% for residential.

28:34

Um they had uh we had originally proposed just sort of a 65% collection rate, but council wanted to step into that annually to kind of ease into that higher rate, which you know it's turned out to be a really good thing, and um, and so that's what we ended up enacting.

28:50

So it's it's council's decision.

28:52

So it is capped at 65% until council decides that it's gonna be something different.

28:57

Yes, sir.

28:58

That's correct.

28:59

Thank you.

29:00

Thanks.

29:08

I Dr.

29:09

Jennifer and uh I was interested on how broad based this um discussion would be with interested parties.

29:19

And one of the groups that it will be uh presented to is the DAC, which is advisory committee, you know, that includes the development advisory committee, and um that includes even homeowner associations as well as um developers and historic developers and broad based.

29:41

So I think we're gonna have a lot of input from the community.

29:45

And I I assume that we'll we'll see that input, right?

29:49

We'll get that input before we make a recommendation.

29:52

Perfect.

29:52

Thank you.

29:53

Go ahead, come on.

29:55

I'll also add on that.

29:57

When you meet to hear the presentations, those will be open to the public as well, and we offer the public a chance to address this body as well.

30:04

Thank you.

30:06

Come on.

30:09

So continuing with the presentation, we're going to move to land use assumptions.

30:13

Uh, so in this during this particular six-month period, there have been uh three full-purpose annexations to the city, uh bringing the total since the initiation of the of the program to 31 annexations, uh, or approximately 2600 acres that have been annexed to the the city, and just uh a reminder that the um currently the annexations that occurred since 2022, they will not be included uh until the next study update, uh which again is uh anticipated for October of 2027.

30:55

We want to provide you an update on our audit uh and just a reminder for everyone that the uh the audit was completed, the 2024 audit um was completed in June of 2025, uh and we have a target completion date of June of June 30th, 2026 for all of the the action items that that came from that.

31:17

And so we're currently in the process of wrapping up uh addressing all of those uh recommendations.

31:26

So there were three recommendations that that came from that.

31:30

Uh the first one was that the um transportation public works director uh in addition to the the CFO should determine the feasibility of using transportation impact fees uh for paying all you know eligible uh expenses uh which also included the the bond service and interest that we had um discussed a little bit earlier, um and so these are some of the the um this is the progress to to date on that front um so fMS um they have amended their financial management policy uh basically to reorder the and prioritize the expenditure of of impact fee dollars because that is the most restrictive funds so making sure that those get actually spent first uh because we have that that 10-year shot clock so to speak on those those funds.

32:24

So that update happened in August of 2025.

32:27

Um in addition to that um transportation public works uh FMS as well as uh development services uh we've established a process to use the transportation impact fee funds to to pay for um uh all of those um allowable eligible costs uh including the the the bond interest that we had discussed and there was an M and C to authorize the use of the transportation impact fee funds to to pay for debt service um and that was approved uh by city council on May 12th of 2026.

33:08

So quick question on that.

33:09

Yes knowing that's all occurred fairly recently and we're talking about that it can the bond the excuse me the impact fee funds can be used to pay bond interest um ask the question again in open meeting is that is that proportional to the share of money that came from the traffic impact fee or is that cover all of the interest on the bonds how how is how is that interest calculated and more importantly capped based on traffic impact so it really is it's project specific so we're talking about the the bond um you know bond that was issued for transportation impact fee eligible projects so we um accounted for the collection of those fees within our our um our our tip as we refer to it um so it it really is directly proportional to that because we are it is money directly from the service area that is going to a directly eligible um expense so it really is a one-to-one so if the bond let's say the the project was a 10 million dollar project making up numbers here sure and nine million of that was in the the bond and one million of it was being paid for the you know they came to them said hey we need help with this we want to use traffic impact fees for the other million dollars are the traffic impact fees paying 10% of the interest on that project the on that on that what's allocated to that bond project or is it paying a higher percentage of the interest on that particular project um I'm I'm gonna let Jennifer chime in but I I want to make sure I I clarify what I'm my my earlier statement um the even though in the case you said that transportation impact fees had 10% of of the of the hundred 100% based on how the collections occur within the transportation impact fee program we are doing collections based on the 100% because that's what was included within our our tip so ultimately here even as we're you know essentially paying back um the the the bond money we were collecting based on that 100% value.

35:38

Jennifer do you want to add anything to that?

35:41

Well and just to kind of further reiterate what Kamal was heading towards is that Joe in your scenario you've got the 10 million dollar project 9 million by bond one million by impact fees that project um depending on its scope could have been a hundred percent impact fee eligible and um what we have learned as we've gone through various internal audits and things like this is that we our approach previously has been for projects to sort of top them up.

36:11

So a project could be fully eligible, but we're gonna fund 80% a bit by bond, and so because of how much money is actually in the impact fee program today, we could only fund 20% by the impact fee dollars.

36:22

But it was actually a hundred percent eligible of the costs that are eligible, so not staff time or project management, but the other costs like uh land, engineering, uh surveying, and construction.

36:29

So in the case of these specific bond projects that we are paying this debt service on, these are eligible projects, and the costs are only those that are associated with the eligible expenses, and we have maintained the service areas as well.

36:51

So we've we have um gone through a lot of coordination to make sure that the segment of the debt service that's being paid for through impact fee dollars is only related to the projects that are in the studies.

37:10

So the bonds have a 20-year payout.

37:15

Does that mean that you continue to pay out on that bond over the 20-year life of it?

37:20

Or is this a project-specific payment and you're done?

37:24

And it's a one-time payment.

37:26

Okay.

37:29

Based on that project specifically.

37:31

Yes, sir.

37:31

Okay.

37:32

Thank you.

37:35

Good job.

37:38

Thanks, Jennifer.

37:39

Go ahead, come on.

37:40

Thank you.

37:47

All right, moving, uh, continuing on.

37:49

Uh, recommendation one C was that the development uh services should ensure that the reports provided to the capital improvement advisory committee uh are modified to include uh appropriated, encumbered, expended, slash spent uh transportation impact fees so that we can just be more detailed in our in our reporting.

38:10

Um so development services has updated our semi-annual report uh for QT Q2 of uh fiscal year 26, which is the one that was issued in association with the with this particular meeting to include uh that particular reporting.

38:25

So we have met that requirement as of of this meeting.

38:41

So now into uh program collections.

38:46

So the program itself over this particular period has collected over all of its service areas 20.2 million dollars uh over the six-month period, uh bringing our our grand total for the overall program up to uh 285.5 million dollars that have been collected as of March 31st of 2026.

39:08

As we can see, the service area C is the the highest um earning service area with 43 point uh four million dollars that have been collected uh with um service area Z, the next one with uh 37.4 million dollars.

39:26

And you can see we've identified um service area uh L and W as service areas that are now no fee service areas that at one point in time were fee collecting service areas, uh, but uh based on the quantity of of road road work that was needed within those that were no longer needed to be um designated as fee collecting service areas, so they have fallen off into the no fee um categorization.

40:05

And then here we can see it by um service area again.

40:09

Um, you know, our our the dark blue represents you know our our uh highest uh earning uh service areas, which is also associated with the um service areas that had the greatest need.

40:27

No, here's a more detailed look at the collections that occurred over the period uh with our highest uh collecting service area uh during the period uh service area Z at 4.7 million dollars.

40:50

Moving on to the allocations, how we're using these these funds.

40:56

So while we were in the process of uh working with uh TPW uh as they got ready for their 2026 uh bond projects, uh we've only had uh two uh projects that received allocations uh during this uh six month period uh which totaled to six hundred ninety-six um thousand dollars.

41:23

Quick question.

41:24

Yes, sir.

41:25

How do you determine which projects are allocated funds for?

41:33

Can you can I ask you for so for example the Northwest Traffic Signal Project, these two that you're working on, you have funds allocated for.

41:40

How do you determine that those two are prior to prioritized over the others?

41:44

So it it's uh I don't know that I would use the the phrase uh that they're identified, yeah, but but basically it's based on uh a number of factors, the highest and best use of the funds, the readiness of the projects, and honestly, many of the times it's based on you know how ready the the projects are themselves for the North Point West uh traffic signal project in particular, for example, that in itself is a is a triple P project, so it was really based on you know an opportunity with the developer for us to partner with them and move that particular item item forward.

42:17

So it's really a based on opportunity.

42:20

Um, and then other cases there may be where there's a you know transportation impact fee eligible, you know, roadway project that maybe has a shortfall that we can then utilize the funds to be able to make up that gap to be able to keep the project uh moving moving forward.

42:44

Um, but that that's you know, we we want to make sure that we're allocating the funds towards you know projects that are truly going to happen.

42:53

We have you know it's 10-year shot clock, so we we can't um you know allocate funds to things that we that are not truly you know anticipated to move forward already.

43:06

Thank you.

43:07

Okay, thank you.

43:12

So we wanted to also just give you a forecast of what was coming.

43:17

Uh so you know we've we've been doing a lot behind the scenes, a lot of coordination uh with with uh you know internally and externally.

43:25

Uh and and so based on on that work that was done, you know, we anticipate that within um you know upcoming months that we should be seeing uh allocations of approximately 78 million dollars.

43:40

Um so that's not currently of course reflected in the numbers that we see here, um, but you know, a number of those projects are those, you know, 2026 bond projects that we've been coordinating with TPW that that were voted on, I believe it was was uh May 2nd or 3rd uh when those were voted and passed.

43:58

Um and then we'll be partnering with with them on those um projects as well as shoring up some some uh 2022 projects that are finishing uh up.

44:06

So we see 32 uh.4 million dollars from from those uh projects, uh public private partnerships.

44:12

We currently have seventeen point one million dollars uh that are um uh gonna be allocated towards that.

44:19

That's gonna again based on you know the the level the speed of the developer you know as as well as those projects move forward.

44:27

Uh we uh anticipate uh an allocation with the NTTA uh our partnership uh for uh a particular uh in improvement where we are um anticipating contributing money for the impact fee eligible costs associated with that larger um initiative.

44:45

Um and then as we mentioned uh earlier in this particular uh meeting, the the debt service, uh there is an M and C that uh was uh authorized on May 12th uh to utilize uh uh transfer impact fees to pay uh the debt service, and that was 21.9 million dollars that was allocated for that.

45:07

Um, and we're uh in addition to that, we uh are anticipating to um authorize uh um go to council to authorize the agreement with the consultant for the 2027 transportation impact fee study, which is also pulls funds from each of the service areas to be able to uh establish that engineering contract.

45:26

Uh and uh currently we are identifying um approximately um 0.75 or 0.8 uh million dollars towards that overall contract.

45:29

So that's really the breakdown of what we um anticipate in the short term here uh for uh allocations that total to the 78.2 million dollars.

45:47

Do you all excuse me, do y'all have those broken down by service area?

45:52

We can we can prepare that.

45:54

That would be very helpful.

45:55

Okay, yep, we'll we'll do.

46:00

And uh we did highlight specifically here because uh service area Z is currently such a high collecting um service area that there was 23.3 million dollars of those allocations are anticipated to come from service area Z.

46:16

But we can provide that that greater level of detail for for all the service areas.

46:25

This is a breakdown of the of the allocations across the life of the program uh by service area.

46:34

And again, we we have uh service area uh C with being the highest, was the highest collecting, and it's also the highest in allocations.

46:43

Um the next highest in terms of collections was service area Z, but you see here that it was one of the lower um one of the lower service areas in terms of allocations, but we see that we have uh 23 million that were um we have uh over 20 million that we're anticipating to be um allocated in the in the short term here uh specifically to service area Z, as it is a high collecting service area.

47:14

Question on that.

47:15

So when you say in the short term, like in the next report, we'll see that, or what's the sort of time?

47:21

We anticipate that you'll see some of those in the uh some so the when I say the short term, I'm you can notice I'm I'm being intentionally non-specific uh because certain area certain portions of it are outside of you know our specific um you know couldn't control as we establish these triple Ps with the the with the developers.

47:42

So um we anticipate that there are some that you will see within the next reporting period, you know.

47:49

Some may take you know the next one after that, but um uh the the goal would be that these would happen definitely within you know the the years time frame.

47:59

Alright, thank you.

48:05

And so uh the this is uh just a graphic uh representing the overall allocations uh to date.

48:11

We're at 163.8 uh million dollars for the the program itself.

48:20

And now we're gonna get a little more granular on this.

48:22

I hope you all like numbers.

48:24

Um and I'm not gonna get to the specifics of of each individual service area, but the information is there for you.

48:33

Um but we have a hundred and sixty-three point eight million uh that was totally allocated uh to um impact uh to improvements.

48:42

Um and we uh of that 163 million dollars, 140 or 86% of that amount uh has been encumbered into a contract, uh, and then a hundred and twenty-six million has been actually expended, spent out the door, meaning like the invoice is paid, etc.

49:06

Uh and so that's uh 77% of the allocations themselves have been expended to date.

49:15

And just a confirmation on that.

49:17

So the 10-year term is a function of when it's expended, not necessarily encumbered, correct?

49:23

That's correct, and that's that's why we're really highlighting that particular component because it's important that we actually get not only the things built but actually the the invoices paid and get the money out the door before um within that 10 year time frame, or else you know um the the funds are eligible to be refunded um to the to the applicants.

49:45

Thank you.

49:52

So here's uh you know breakdown of those uh uh expenditures uh by service area again we're we're seeing uh service area C as the the highest uh of the uh expenditures and the and the overall graphic of the city of Fort Worth and how we've utilized that $126.9 million dollars.

50:33

So the Texas local government code uh 395 uh requires the refunding of the transportation impact fees not spent within 10 years after the date of the payment of the collection.

50:44

Uh what we can see, you know, based on our our records is that it was approximately 65 uh million dollars that was collected as of January 17th of 2017.

50:56

Uh and then uh looking back at the information we just presented 126 million dollars has been expended by the program.

51:04

So um all of the funds that were collected you know prior to 10 years have been more than expended.

51:11

So we're um we're currently in compliance with the state law requirements on that front.

51:17

And I assume you're tracking that on a project basis.

51:20

This is just for the slide, but yes.

51:23

So yes, and that that's actually one of the outcomes of our uh the 2024 audit is that we uh in addition to the ones that we've been kind of discussing in detail, has also been kind of the the tracking of the the aging of uh of the funds.

51:42

Um so not by service area and um so that we can make sure we have you know um really the the faith of the public that the funds are being utilized within that 10-year window uh within each particular service area.

52:01

So that is something that is also going to be complete by uh the end of June of 2026, that process.

52:09

Thank you.

52:10

It would be interesting to kind of see some of those projects of just kind of here are the you're the ones that are the closest to 10 years.

52:17

I'm not saying that they are at 10 years, but just to understand kind of what leads to projects taking a little longer than others, just be interesting to see.

52:30

I don't have a poker face.

52:32

Um so we do monitor the expenditure of the fees, but it's by service area, not necessarily by project.

52:39

So the um sort of that the first and first out.

52:46

We're just looking at at the overall balances.

52:48

So we're not able to with our accounting software to kind of track each dollar, but we are able to track the service area as a whole and all the money that's come out and into that service area.

53:02

And so that that's how we are calculating that that 10-year time frame, that time time horizon.

53:08

It's how much should we collect by 10 years ago today and how much have we spent today?

53:12

And is that number bigger than what was collected 10 years ago today?

53:17

And that is in alignment with what the state code requires then.

53:22

Yes.

53:23

Perfect.

53:24

Okay, thank you.

53:25

Yeah.

53:27

So again, just to reiterate the each dollar that's spent, the s the assumption is that that's the oldest dollar that is that is being spent.

53:36

That makes sense.

53:37

Thanks.

53:37

And it really isn't alignment with how the funds are collected themselves, because the, you know, when a developer pays a transportation impact fee, they're not paying for this particular road or this particular project.

53:49

They're paying for, you know, contributing to the pot really for the entirety of the service area's needs.

53:58

Thank you.

54:03

And then lastly, we we have uh a slide kind of just comparing um, you know, providing a summary uh of all the things that we've discussed here today.

54:13

The fact that we've collected uh two hundred and eighty-five million dollars over the life of uh the program.

54:19

Uh we have uh allocated a hundred and sixty-three million dollars of that.

54:24

Um the balance between that is a hundred and twenty-one million dollars that we are working every day to try to get that money uh allocated uh because there's lots of roads that need to be built.

54:36

Um, and then we have expended that uh hundred and twenty six point nine uh million dollars uh actually spent invoiced out the door.

54:46

And that concludes our um semi annual report for October uh 2025 through March of 2026.

54:57

Uh any questions?

55:01

More questions, guys, guys.

55:04

Great job, come all.

55:06

Thanks, sir.

55:07

I'm sorry.

55:12

Thank you for your thorough report.

55:15

Come all and Jennifer, thank you for your clarifying some of the questions.

55:20

Thank you, uh, as on the committee for your great questions.

55:26

Uh, if we don't have any more questions, I think we'll uh open it up for a motion for approval.

55:31

Chairman, I move that the capital improvements advisory committee accept the transportation impact fee semi-annual report through March thirty first, two thousand twenty six as presented by the staff.

55:45

There are no perceived inequities in implementing the capital improvements plan or imposing the transportation impact fee.

55:55

Second.

55:57

I have a motion by uh committee member Edmonds and uh second by our vice chair.

56:06

All in favor.

56:09

Aye.

56:10

Any opposed?

56:13

I think it's approved.

56:17

If if no other questions, do we need to?

56:20

I know we had talked about adding a public comment section after the report going forward.

56:26

Does that need to be on record here on in this meeting, or is that something staff can just do uh on their own?

56:36

By your bringing it up, it is now on the record, and we will definitely do that.

56:39

Thank you.

56:40

You're welcome.

56:41

If nothing further, the meeting is adjourned.

56:45

Thank you.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████████████84%
Procedural████8%
Fiscal Sustainability████8%
Summary of Proceedings

Fort Worth Capital Improvement Advisory Committee Meeting - May 20, 2026

The Fort Worth Capital Improvement Advisory Committee met on May 20, 2026, to approve previous meeting minutes, receive staff comments, and review the semi-annual transportation impact fee report for October 2025 through March 2026. The committee discussed fee rates, eligible costs, bond interest payments, and future allocations. The semi-annual report was accepted unanimously, and a decision was made to add a public comment period to future meetings.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes (February 25, 2026): Motion by Mr. Edmonds, second by Ms. Cranz. Voice vote passed unanimously.

Discussion Items

  • Staff Comments by Kamal Cruz (Senior Capital Projects Officer):

    • Service Area Changes: Updated presentation to reflect service areas that transitioned from fee to no-fee status, primarily through neighborhood empowerment zones (NEZ). Projects outside NEZs require council determination of fee waivers for public benefit.
    • M&C Actions: Clarified that M&C actions primarily authorize fund allocations to projects within service areas; service area limits and rates are set by city council through the transportation impact fee study.
    • Comparison with Sister Cities: Staff will include a comparison of Fort Worth's impact fee rates with other cities in the upcoming 2027 transportation impact fee study update, which is expected to be procured soon and completed by late 2027.
    • Eligible Costs: Impact fee dollars can be used for hard construction costs, soft costs (e.g., engineering), and bond interest/debt service, but not for general project management staff costs. A 20% soft cost assumption is used per project.
    • Funding Mechanisms: Fees are used to fund projects either by topping up bond-funded projects (paying for eligible portions) or by paying debt service on previously bonded eligible projects. Independent fee-only projects (e.g., Cantrell Sansom) are possible but use general fund for staff costs.
  • Review of Semi-Annual Report (Q1 & Q2 FY2026):

    • Collection Rates: Currently 40% of maximum assessable rate for non-residential, and 60% for residential (increasing to 65% on June 1, 2026). No further increases authorized. Future rate changes will be informed by stakeholder feedback (DAC, real estate council, public) and determined by city council.
    • Land Use Assumptions: Three full-purpose annexations occurred in the period, bringing total annexations to 31 (approx. 2,600 acres) since program start. Annexations after 2022 will be included in the next study update (anticipated October 2027).
    • Audit Update: 2024 audit completed June 2025; target completion of action items by June 30, 2026. Three recommendations addressed: (1) FMS amended policy to prioritize expenditure of impact fee dollars (most restrictive funds) in August 2025; (2) TPW, FMS, and Development Services established process to use fees for eligible costs including bond interest, with M&C approved May 12, 2026; (3) Semi-annual report updated to include appropriated, encumbered, and expended/spent fees – requirement met as of this meeting.
    • Collections: Total $20.2 million collected in the six-month period (Oct 2025 – Mar 2026), bringing cumulative collections to $285.5 million. Service Area C highest at $43.4 million, Service Area Z second at $37.4 million. Service Areas L and W are now no-fee areas.
    • Allocations: Only two projects received allocations totaling $696,000 during the period (e.g., Northwest Traffic Signal Project). Future allocations expected to reach approximately $78 million, including $32.4 million for 2026 bond projects, $17.1 million for public-private partnerships, $21.9 million for debt service (authorized May 12, 2026), and $0.75–0.8 million for the 2027 study consultant contract. Of this, $23.3 million is anticipated from Service Area Z.
    • Expenditures: Of $163.8 million allocated cumulatively, $140 million (86%) is encumbered, and $126.9 million (77%) is expended (paid invoices). The committee confirmed that the 10-year spend-down requirement is measured by expenditures, not encumbrances.
    • Compliance: The program has expended more than the $65 million collected as of January 17, 2017, and is in compliance with state law (Texas Local Government Code 395). Staff tracks aging by service area, with a process to be completed by June 30, 2026.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion to Accept Semi-Annual Report: Committee member Edmonds moved to accept the transportation impact fee semi-annual report through March 31, 2026, as presented, with a finding of no perceived inequities in implementing the capital improvements plan or imposing the fee. Seconded by the vice chair. All in favor; motion passed.
  • Public Comment Addition: The committee discussed and formally recorded a decision to add a public comment section after the report in future meetings. Staff will implement this change.

Meeting Transcript

... Alright, we're gonna go ahead and get started. May 20th. Fort Worth Capital Improvement Advisory Committee meeting. Our first order of business is going to be the approval of our previous meeting minutes from February 25th, 2026. Are there any questions? No questions. Alright. I'll second that motion. We have a motion by Mr. Edmonds and a second by Ms. Cranz. Motion is approved. Moving on to staff comments. Come on. I'll take a voice vote. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Staff comments. Mr. Kamal Cruz. Testing. All right. I learned from the last time I need the mic to be a little bit taller for me. So hopefully everybody can hear me this time. Alright, again, I'm Kamal Cruz, Senior Capital Projects Officer with the Development Services Department. I oversee the transportation impact fee program. So for the staff comments, we wanted to run through a few of the items, not specifically in the presentation, but a few items that came up from our discussions last meeting that we need to address. Item number one, there was a request that there be uh updates to the presentation to reflect the the changes over time of service areas from fee to no fee service areas. So we have included those revisions within the presentation that we're going to see today. And currently this is primarily addressed through the neighborhood empowerment zones, and those specific um projects, they they go through uh an application process through our neighborhood uh services department, and those projects are uh it is codified that those uh projects are exempt from the the um transportation impact fees now for projects that are outside of the neighborhood empowerment zones, they have a similar process. Uh basically for for those projects, um they will need to um council will need to determine how much of those uh fees will be eligible for waiver or exemption, um, and they would also apply through the neighborhood services department um to be uh to have those fees essentially waived. Um, and that application and MNC would also be initiated with the neighborhood services department. Any any questions on that item? We leave that subject. Um I'm just wondering what what can you give us some idea of what the breadth of these exceptions are and credits and how they're deserved. Yeah, so they they truly are for uh a public purpose, public benefit, um, and that is determined by by city council uh to determine whether or not they they meet that criteria and there are adequate protections in place to be able to ensure that they meet the requirements that that they have stated that they would meet for the public's uh benefit. Uh so that is a part of the um the MNC um process that that is uh detailed what their uh public benefit truly is, and is and that is ultimately taken to to council for uh approval and authorization of that um exemption or or waiver. Um, you know, these these don't happen very often. Um they truly must um meet the criteria that's very similar to what we see in the in the for the uh the NES, the neighborhood empowerment zone applications. Um so that's really the standard that um is currently followed. All right, so it's a small percentage. That's correct. That's correct. All right. Um next item was the request to clarify how MNC actions affect service areas and um identify associated projects and ensure maps reflect those updates. So, for for that particular request, um the MSC actions, they typically impact the service areas by really authorization of the funds that that are applied to projects within those service areas. That's really the primary function of the MNC in reference to the transportation impact fee program. Other than that, our transportation impact fee study, of course, is uh adopted by uh city council, uh and which also defines really the limits of the service areas themselves and uh the associated collection rates for those as well.

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