Good evening. My name is Macy Hill. We're going to get started if y'all would like to find a seat. >> I am council member for district 7 and have the honor to um kick us off this evening for our bond and charter amendment um Q&A. We're going to have experts come up and talk to you about
the election that's coming up. Yep. You ready? We start right there. Okay. I'm gonna turn it over to you and let you walk through the bond. >> All right. >> All right. Well, thank you all for joining uh for today's uh 20 or the 2026
bond and charter election education meetings. Um if we we will have an opportunity to go ahead and um allow individuals to go out to the rest of the tables if they happen to have any questions following the presentation. Uh there will also be an opportunity for Q&A. Um so as mentioned uh this is the
bond and charter election. Today we'll be running through the purpose of the presentation as well as the 2026 bond program. Run through the purpose, the program summary, the sample ballot as well as the bond propositions themselves. We'll dive into the charter
amendments that is part of the special election on May 2nd as well as the upcoming schedule with again um a opportunity for question and answer. we are live streaming this presentation um so it is available for folks over um in YouTube world and so they can also
happen to have any questions so with that when we go into Q&A we do have some microphones that we'll be asking that if you have questions um we'll offer you the opportunity to use the microphone as well so the purpose of today's presentation is really to provide information related to the 2026 bond
program as well as the charter amendments uh to offer the opportunity to ask questions as well as opportunity for future public education meetings. So, when it comes to the 2026 bond program, uh all of you may have received a bond booklet uh as you are entering.
If you have not, and if you don't if you don't have one in hand, a physical copy, uh feel free to wave any of us down. We can provide a couple of copies. I have numerous up here up front. Um but we also have the bond book in a QR code. Um so, you can take out your phone and you can easily take a like a photo and use
it so you have a digital copy that you could share. um either text it to your friends, your family, or even your neighbors. So, with that, we'll go ahead and get started with a very short uh video on the 2026 bond program. 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 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 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 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 veterary facilities, also including new modern kennels with natural light and upgraded playyards 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 forworth, Texas.gov/2026
bond. All right. So, if you've been part of the 2026 bond program development, this particular schedule may look familiar to you. Um, but for context, the 2026 bond program has actually been in development since 2025, as far back as even March
4th, where the city first proposed the bond list uh to city council. Uh, from then on August 5th, uh, city council then approved that proposed list to go out for that first phase of community engagement. And during that time we were able to engage with all the various residents were able to kind of detail
all the various propositions the overall bond capacity to really dive into uh what the residents you know thought about various propositions some of the feedback. So we had that continuous public feedback all the way through December 31st. So between October and November we actually had uh citywide
bond meetings um as mentioned where we were gathering that public feedback. We closed the public comments on December 31st and in January uh we presented um basically that proposed final project list to city council uh where we were able to just kind of finalize and
everything so that um on February 10th, city council was able to meet and order the bond election for that final list that we'll be presenting today. Um so just some quick engagement numbers. uh just really it was really exciting to be able to say that we received 329
submitted comments and this was both through in-person email feedback as well as 188 uh comments through that balancing act. As you may recall, if you happen to use that particular tool, we're able to see like based off of the overall capacity, what projects, what
propositions, how you would have liked to see each proposition uh funded. And so from there, uh, just as an overall, we had 18,220 website views, 260 residents attended over 11 council district meetings, uh,
we had 1,19 YouTube views, as well as, as I mentioned before, 177 balancing act submissions. So all of this led to that final 2026 bond program that we're presenting today. So we have a total of six propositions. Proposition A, for
example, streets and mobility infrastructure, uh, with the final funding at 511,480,700. Um, you know, public library, for example, Proposition C at P public library improvements at 14,586,000 and so forth. As you could see here, um,
what you may note is that the total bond program is set at 845 million. And this is a result of that, you know, resident feedback. Um, in the first phase of the bond program, uh, the bond capacity, total amount was at 840 million. And in
working with city council, um, and really just hearing that resident feedback, uh, you may you may find that Proposition D, affordable housing, was actually increased from 5 million to 10 million. Um, once again, as a result of the overall engagement. Uh so now what
you may also see is that there's also an estimated public art funding baked within each one of these propositions. And this really leads back to the public art ordinance. And so for example, each proposition includes funding that can be used for public art specifically related
to one or more of the projects in that proposition. So for example, Proposition A, streets and mobility infrastructure um can have up to 1% in public art funding uh for the amount shown here. You can also find that propositions B,
C, E, and F have public art funding up to 2% of the projects as shown here. And then affordable housing is set at 0%. Again, this is aligning back to uh the idea that one, it's affordable housing, for example, is a city-wide uh
proposition, also tied to the way that public art ordinances is set up, and that uh the public art would be delivered where it is available and viewable based off of the capital project as it's being delivered. Um, all this to say is that the estimated public
art funding is $10,752,000 as shown here. And this is all based off of an upcoming ordinance amendment that is just some technical updates that will be made to the public art ordinance. So really want to dive into how exactly
does bond funding work. Well, the city property tax rate as it exists today is 67 cents per $100 valuation. That 67 cents is broken up into two separate buckets. One bucket is the maintenance
and operation and that is thatif that 52 and a/4 penny. The debt bucket is at 14 cents and 3/4 of a penny. So these two are kind of thought through in like two separate ways. So for one, operation maintenance when you see me standing
here in front of you today, I am funded by the general fund that actually falls under that operation maintenance. when you go out to say a facility. So we're here at a community center. This is also part of the operation maintenance and that would come out of the particular
bucket at the top which is O andM. Now debt that 14 and 3/4 of a penny ties back to the city's debt service. And I'm going to walk through these three bullet points. So one, a bond election is a way for the community to vote on measures that allows the city to borrow funding
for larger capital projects. Again, that all ties back to that debt right here and how the city can allocate that city property tax rate. A portion of the city property taxes are set aside to pay for the bond programs and other city debt.
Fort Worth has historically and in the 20 and for the 2026 bond program structured its bond package to work within the existing city property tax rate so that the bonds are planned to be fully repaid without increasing the city
property tax rate associated with this debt. So again, a lot of this ties back to that 14 and 3/4 of a penny that allows a city to set the bond capacity as well as use that funding to be able to pay for the bonds into the future.
So just some context here with a sample ballot. So this is what one would expect if one goes out to go vote for any proposition. Each one of these propositions are voted individually. So there's a total of six propositions and sort of the what you'll see is that
you'll either be asked to vote for or against. You'll also see that this is for the city of Fort Worth, Texas special election for Proposition A in this example. And within this paragraph, the first sentence that we have to have in every single proposition when it comes to bond related propositions, and
this is mandated by the state, is in all caps, this is a tax increase. Now, the purpose why you're also here is just to have thatformational, right? The information that the way that the city of Fort Worth structures its bond program and that we do not, and going
back to that previous slide, um anticipate um increasing the city property tax rate associated with that debt of 14 and 3/4 of a penny. But again, by law, we have to have that in all capital letters. You'll also find
that the issuance of the amount of the proposition. So in this case, proposition A at $511,480,700. And it will also inform you into what proposition is for. So in this case for streets and mobility infrastructure, you'll see the same thing for Proposition B and that amount going back
to that summary table and so on and so forth. So now we're going to dive into the bond propositions. Now, the video did a great job of really diving into some of the highlights related to the bond program itself as proposed in this final amount. Um, but just as a refresher, Proposition
A, there is an exhibit on each one of these slides as applicable. And this is a little difficult to read. Uh, but we do have them printed out and available for you to walk through and actually see them like a little bit closer. Uh, we also have these particular exhibits shown in the bond program itself, the
bond book. um we both have we both have it both in electronic format as well as in um this physical format. So this all relates back to streets which related to construction reconstruction rehabilitation. It has projects within intersections, sidewalks, signals,
traffic and signal control, street lighting. Again, for that 511 million, $480,700. Uh what you'll find too in the bond book itself is that major and neighborhood streets are listed individually for each one of these projects. There's also what
we call bucket categories that allow for sort of that flexibility um when it comes to say traffic signal controls and street lighting um as well as like railroad crossings for example. So for Proposition B, we have park recreation and open space acquisition
and improvements for 185,140,000. And this kind of spans quite a bit um relation to community parks. Again, the bond program actually details which community parks are in there, botanic garden infrastructure, aquatic facility, athletic complex, Fort Worth Zoo
utilities. Uh you may you'll also find that open space is included in this uh in the 2026 bond program. If you've been part of previous bond cycle or the previous bond cycle, uh open space is actually a standalone proposition, but now within 2026 bond program, it is
included as part of proposition B. Next is Proposition C for public library improvements and this is for 14,586,000 and this is for the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the Southwest Regional
Library, the renovation of Diamond Hill Jarvis Library. For Proposition D, this is affordable housing. Affordable housing set aside in the amount of $10 million. And the idea behind this is that this is the city
would look at these dollars to then leverage um so for every dollar that the city would put in there would be a leveraged amount um that would could go for that could go towards any of the purposes as shown above but specifically towards like land acquisition the construction of housing and neighborhood
infrastructure to support affordable housing funding affordable housing and home repair programs as well as funding loans and grants for affordable housing purposes. you'll see the little asterk on there and a lot of this is as permitted by law. This is a newer or
this is a new bond proposition uh to the city of Fort Worth and so uh we would definitely still be like learning along the way in terms of uh leveraging those dollars um in relation to this proposition. So for Proposition E, this is police,
fire, and emergency communication facility at 63,919,300. And this is this would go towards the new fire station 46 in southwest Fort Worth, the new emergency communication center, as well as the rebuild of fire
station 40 in northwest Fort Worth. And finally, Proposition F is the animal care and shelter improvements at 59,874,000. And with that, we're going to jump into some charter amendments. Again, we do have an opportunity for question answers. So, we'll go ahead and have
that. So, Trey, you go. >> Sorry. >> Hi, my name is Trey Kwalls. I'm an assistant city attorney um in the Fort Worth City Attorney's Office. I'm going to go through the uh proposed charter amendments. And uh the city charter, as
you probably know, is kind of like the founding document of the city, like the constitution. Like the constitution, it can only be amended after a vote. Um and so there are nine propositions. Uh so jump right in. Proposition G is the
first. Um it comes right after the bond propositions and it's uh deals with uh pay for mayor and counsel. Um, if approved, the mayor pay would go from 29,000 to 60,000. Uh, and then all other council members would go from 25,000 to
50,000. That would start uh beginning of the next fiscal year, which is October 1st of this year. And the total impact of that for all of um the council members and the mayor for a fiscal year is $285,75 for the coming fiscal year and every
fiscal year thereafter because it's it stays at those set numbers of 60 and 50. Um the current numbers 29 and 25 are from 2006. So if approved the mayor and council pay would go to 60 and 50. Uh next,
Proposition H. It removes a requirement in the charter um a non-binding requirement in the charter uh that gives department directors the ability to request a an additional hearing uh before the city council in the event of
their termination. Um it's a duplicative requirement really because uh the city council really can't do anything about their termination because they are hired and fired by the city manager. Um it this also this provision um also is is somewhat in conflict with other
provisions in the city charter that say that the city council can't interfere with the hiring and firing decisions of the city manager. So this is to clean that up. Uh this is similar uh it has uh the city charter currently has a provision that
allows the council appointees to request a an additional hearing regarding their termination. Um it's it's somewhat duplicative again because to terminate some of these appointed positions, city manager, city secretary, city attorney,
city auditor, u those already have to come before the city council, which would be in a public meeting and it already requires a majority vote in a public setting. So this is uh again duplicative of that requirement. Uh, Proposition J is to remove a uh, little quirk that's currently in the
city charter that requires the budget hearing and the budget adoption to happen at two separate meetings. Um, that's not required by state law. Uh, the election Texas election codes has many requirements um that uh, we have to
hoops we jump through to for the um, the budget hearing and then the adoption tax rate hearing and adoption. This is one that we created for ourselves for some reason. I don't know why, but um if you you might remember from last September, what this usually requires is they still
happen on the same day. We hope open one meeting, then the mayor says now I'm I'm closing this meeting. Um then I'm opening the next meeting. So, it's just kind of an an additional process step. It's not really necessary. all the same requirements under state law and under
the um the charter regarding the the uh notice the excuse me the notice for the public hearing and the public hearing and the adoption of the uh budget remain the same. This just kind of removes this unnecessary hurdle of closing a meeting
and reopen a meeting on the same day. Uh K removes a requirement um in the charter that doesn't really have a lot of application anymore. It's because cities don't have a lot of regulatory authority over public service corporations anymore. Public service
corporations are like um oil company or excuse me gas companies, electric companies, water um used to when cities had more regulatory authority. I think there this requirement would require all of those corporations that operate like franchises in the city to file a public
report annually with the city. This is again sort of duplicative because they all now file them with state agencies. They're available with those state agencies and online. Um most of them who are supposed to don't even file them with us anyway. U so this removes that requirement because the information is
available elsewhere. Uh, Proposition L, this involves granting of privilege. Um, and granting of privileges are again like franchise agreements. These are for hauling solid waste in the city. Anyone that does that has to get a a grant from the city to do
so over the city streets. And there's a requirement that the city council has to adopt a separate ordinance for each one of those people who wants to um perform that service. Uh the city council is already in in the city code established requirements for granted privilege
haulers. Uh and so this would remove the requirement to take to city council an ordinance every time we want to approve one of those. Um it already it could be approved administratively following those criteria that the city council has already established by ordinance.
Okay. Proposition M uh would u remove the requirement for the city manager uh it would excuse me it would remove the requirement for an ordinance to be approved to reorganize certain department well departments that were
not already required to be created by the charter. So um it would allow the city manager to reorganize create new departments um when necessary. It gives more flexibility. Um, rename departments for instance used to the parks
department was called parks and community services I think and some places I think it still is just because we haven't been able to change the name officially uh in certain areas. So this would allow the city manager a little flexibility. I will say this would not um there are certain departments that
are required to be established by charter. City manager could not abolish those. Those would still remain. any uh city departments that have previously been established by ordinance, those would have to be to to remove them, they would have to be removed by ordinance. So, that would have to go to the city
council. Um this is would just allow the city manager some flexibility um departmentally later on. Okay. Uh Proposition N, this is probably the most um technical one. It it deals it aligns our uh some of our
requirements in the city code for filling vacancies, short-term vacancies with the Texas elections code. Um when we were looking at this particular provision, we realized that we have a provision that deals with calling the election to special election to fill a
vacancy that actually doesn't align with the election code. So, we needed to fix that. Um and there's a there's a chart I think. Yeah, not sure if this is going to help or hurt, but um as you may know, we can only hold uh our
we have our general elections in May of oddnumbered years. So that's far down there on the left and then far on the right in May of uh odd number years. Those when we have general elections, um we have our in Texas, you can only have special elections to fill vacancies on
uh uniform election dates that are in the election code. That's those other red dots, November 20, 25, May 2026, and November 26. And so we have a provision right now about filling those vacancies that occur um less than 90
days before the general election. and and what the if this amendment were approved, it would allow us to fill those or those vacancies that occur um following the last date on which the city could order a special election
prior to the general election. Um I know this is this is the least interesting one, right? But um I I'll give you an example just to show if for instance we had a council member let's say um that uh we created a vac they resigned and
created a vacancy we'll say in October of 2026. Um as of right now that would be too late for us to order a special election on November 2026. However, because right now the charter says we can only um fill
a vacancy that occurs um 90 days prior to the general election, it would mean from this point to this point, actually from this point to this point, uh that that district would not be served by a council person. So what this allows us to do it it says that if we miss if the
resignation happens after the last date to order a special election before the next general election uh that is just filled in the same manner that the charter already allows. Again don't know if that helped or hurt this is the least interesting one to explain
but if you have questions I'll be over there. Uh and then the I think this is the last proposition O. Uh this is about just uh it's really a technical fix for the language that's uh we have language right now that says the city will pay a purchase order. A and just to make sure
just this one is to clarify that not everything that the city has a bill for is called a purchase order. It may be a an invoice or a bill or a letter of some. So this is just to clarify that not everything that that the city pays
is a purchase order. As long as it comes with the appropriate re written documentation to to support that claim, the city can pay it even if they don't call it a purchase order at the top. So it's really just a technical fix and y back to April.
>> Thank you, Trey. All right. So, we have um sort of we have the schedule for the bond and charter election education meetings. Uh we have a total of seven various regional meetings across the city of Fort Worth. This is meeting number two. So, thank you all so much
for attending and for uh coming here today to take time out of your day. Um if you have friends, if you have family, neighbors that would like to attend future um education meetings, please share with them this particular schedule. Um also again, this we're
we're also streaming this on YouTube, so encourage you all to please share uh the link to that. Uh this will go all the way through April 18th, 2026. Um as shown here, we started on March 25th. The last day to register to vote is
April 2nd, and that is for the May election. So, April 2nd, it's a big day there. Um, on April in April, uh, this month, we'll have that technical update as mentioned earlier related to the public art or ordinance and we will end our citywide bond and charter election meetings on April 18th. Uh, because
early voting will begin on April 20th through April 28th with election day being on May 2nd. in the back of your charter of of your bond books. Um, this does have all the various details uh for
whatever county uh you happen to be a part of. Um, there's information as well as this, you know, voting will take place from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Uh, but with that, we're going to go ahead and open this up for questions. uh we do have all of our technical experts that uh are tasked to really have pulled
together a lot of these projects um in the future should the bond program uh pass in terms of implementation that would kind of also fall onto their shoulders. Um there's bond details, bond book and charter details um if you happen to have more questions um just to dive in. Uh but with that I'll I'll open
up uh the floor for questions. We do have microphones as well so we can always tap on folks. Anything? All right, question up here >> for >> perfect. Trey, come on up. >> Going back to the one that you said was
difficult to explain the elections and everything. Okay. You almost had me, but what I didn't understand is that if we pass it, are you saying that if somebody were to a council
member left in October, they can still the new person can still be on the ballot if this is passed? >> This doesn't have anything to do with who can be on a on the ballot. This is about the time for calling the special election. This is the way it is now,
they can't do it if it's afterwards. So if they're ne if somebody leaves in October and what you're proposing is passed, >> correct? >> Does that mean that you can call a special election? >> You you would not be able to call the
special election because there wouldn't be enough time prior to that. It would just be now >> or yes, there still wouldn't be enough time to call the special election if this were passed. What this would allow is for the city to fill that position, the city council to appoint an individual to fill that position for the
remainder of the term, which it already allows them. >> That's the part I didn't get. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And one more question on there. You said it had to be in all caps on the ballot. This is in tax increase. How are you going to let the people know? I
mean, if I didn't come to this meeting and I go to the ballot and I go, "Oh my gosh, they're going to increase my taxes." No, no, no, no, no, no. How can you let people know beyond us that that isn't going to happen? Can are you allowed to do that?
>> Yeah, great question. Uh the city of Fort Worth is we are not allowed to be advocates in any way before, you know, for against in that case for the bond itself. Um but we are allowed to provide information and so that is what we're really trying here today is to be able to provide the context uh behind how the
city of Fort Worth structures it bond program. Um, so it really does come back to individuals coming to these education meetings, sharing the knowledge, being able to if you have a bond program, um, speak with different folks, um, whatever you happen to say, um, on your own, uh,
you can go ahead and share that. But the city of Fort Worth still stands and just this is the information. This is where we are with the bond ballot itself, and we cannot change it. We can't, uh, I think by the state, we are not allowed to supplement this either. So, education
to the public. >> Yeah. >> I mean, it's going to be up to us or I'm on the board of >> You can use your You can use your mic if you'd like for folks that are listening in. >> I'm on the board of the HOA in Creekwood here. And now I'm going to try and make sure all of our residents know that.
Ignore it, you know, because it's not true. So, I'm hoping other HOAs will do the same. are you? >> Yep. And the comment is is that we are uh putting as much as possible as far as education educational meetings on how
the city of Fort Worth structures the bond program uh through media. Yep. Thank you. All right. Any a question up here? Yep. >> If it says this is a tax increase, how could it not be a tax increase? that listen to you. And yet you're still
spending half a billion dollars or more of taxpayer money on lots of things and I don't see the value of paying property taxes. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you for your comment
but also the question. So, um, as mentioned earlier, we do set aside, uh, for within the city property tax rate 14 and 3/4 of a penny. And so, I may ask Jay to kind of say say this a little more succinctly, but um, what I can add
is that the city of Fort Worth um, does have various bonds that we have taken on and the bonds are structured so that we pay them off over 20 years. And so, Jay, would you like to expand on that? >> Sure. So basically our the way the city
structures its its bond program is that we don't issue debt unless we paid off other debt. Previous debt, most of the bonds get get set for 20-year bond service. So it's like a mortgage on your home, right? When you you can't buy a
second house unless you if your income allows till you pay your first house off. Well, when you build a street and a street's $50 million of one of the major roads, the city doesn't have the cash to do that. So, you use debt service to
build that $50 million street. And we don't issue the debt until we've taken care of enough debt so that we build bond capacity that still fits under that current tax rate of 14.75 cents.
So as we go forward, you you don't have to rely you rely on that 14.75 to continue to issue to pay for the debt for all the projects that are listed out in the bond book. And so that way it doesn't change your tax rate. And so it
doesn't it's not an increase on the tax rate. Now, if the value of your home goes up, you might have an increase in in taxes. But if you live in Taran County, Taran County this year, for instance, is not appraising single family homes. So, it's not going to go
up because they're not changing the tax rate. I mean, your values of your homes. They didn't change them last year. They're not doing it again this year. Um, but hopefully I answered your question. That's that's what that means. I think the state or the the the
legislature when they put that language in what they said it's a tax increase even though it's you don't know if it's a tax increase or not until after the fact because I think they were basing it on a thought that if it didn't issue this debt then you could lower the tax
rate and so it'd be a tax decrease but depending what the economy is doing that tax rate might get shifted to the operations in order to pay for police and fire. On an annual basis, the city council is making these decisions. So, it's never a black or white answer to
that question. >> All right. Thank you, J. The bonds. Are these like when you go to your financial guy and he says, "Do you want to buy municipal bonds?" Like tax-free municipal bonds, is that what you what you guys are offering to
people? So they are they are available. You could buy them through your I mean you'd have to go to like a mutual fund or something like that and if they're investing in that area but yes they're bought they're basically uh are typically bought by large
intermediaries and so this the city currently we're double A+ so our interest rates are usually pretty good. Sorry, I believe I read somewhere in this paperwork in on the website that that
debt or the maintenance percentage could go up. I believe it said something about if circumstances warranted it. It's in it's on the website somewhere. >> Yeah. Uh, so it is on the 2026 bond
program impact on property taxes. And so this is based on, and I'm just going to read it for those who want to tag along. Um, so it's on page one of your PDF of the bond book. And it says, "Based on current financial conditions, trends, and forecasts, the 2026 bond program has
been structured with the intent of debt being issued in a manner that is not expected to require a tax rate increase." Um, is that what you're mentioning? What you're referencing? Yeah. And so again, um, as Jay mentioned, uh, that 14 and 3/4 of a
penny allows us to set our bond capacity as the city pays off the bonds, like the bonds year-over-year that we have a set bond capacity that allows us to continue to um, just basically set ourselves up for the next bond.
>> So all so all $845 million of bonds aren't issued at the same time. The program there's there's not enough contractors to do all the work at one time in the area with all the other work going on with text and everything else. So, this program would basically a five-year
program where the city issues the debt on an annual basis for the projects that are starting in those years to be completed. So, like I said, there's not a it's not a black and white answer. If if we move forward and the intent is to
not change that tax rate. So if the economy goes into a recession for instance, although that's when you want to do the work because everything will be cheaper, but that's a different story. But if the the economy goes into a recession and the city's tax values go
way down, the city council has a choice of saying, and I would recommend this, we told the taxpayers not to we're not going to go change that tax rate. instead of being issued over five years, over four years, we're going to slow down projects and issue that debt over a
longer period of time so we don't have to change. That would be my recommendation to the council. Ultimately, the city council would decide no, we need to move forward on this project. It's too critical or whatever. So it's not a an exact science or it's not a black and white answer but
based on all the trend analysis all the data we use the conservative uh um uh the conservative numbers that we use for growth all those kind of things. The intent is that our tax rate associated
with debt will not change from 14.75. >> All right we have a question up here. Here you go. >> Okay. You said over 20 years the debt will be spread out. Okay. >> The bonds. >> What you're saying is you're going to freeze the tax rate for 20 years.
>> That tax rate has been the same tax rate for over 10 years. >> 67. >> No, the the 1475 the one associated with debt. >> Okay. >> This is what pays this portion of the tax rate pays for debt. >> Okay. So
>> the other the other uh piece at one time the the council I mean when I started at the city the tax rate in the city was 97 cents over the last 30 years it's gone down 30 cents. >> So my my experience is and you can tell
me about this particular site here. I think it was way behind schedule way over budget. What how is that going to be figured in to this? >> I don't I don't I don't think so because this was done with bonds and and the dollars >> but the original budget it was way over
budget. You know my experience with streets everything it's it's always behind schedule way over budget. That's going to be figured into that. Right. >> We've we've figured into the actual cost of the project, >> right? But then the actual, you know, principal is going to be a lot higher in
the long run. So that's going to cause a strain on the tax. >> It has not changed again including this and all. >> But I'm talking about the the amount you've got 511 million budgeted for streets, >> right? That's how much
>> what's going to happen when we hit that 511 million. Are we going to stop spending or are we going to complete the streets? >> You Well, you can't the So the projects can't get we can't spend more than 511 million for the projects. >> Okay. So, we quit spending.
>> Is that correct on the streets? >> I don't understand the question. You're making an assumption that there's not going to be enough money to complete the projects. And I would argue with you that that's not al always the case. There has been inflation since CO that went up 36% across on construction
costs. That happened everywhere. And so, that's just a reality. But that's where where projects got behind or projects went over. But those are things you can't there was contingency but I don't think there was a 40% contingency in the projects but that's an anomaly that
we've seen over the last five years. So it's it's simple to say things like well everything's over budget. We have projects that are under budget and delivered early but those aren't ever talked about. >> Sure.
>> Sure. Where's our TPW folks? because we're constantly moving dollars around. >> Yeah. >> So, everyone wants me to name one project, but I will tell you we have over 200 projects at any given time. So, I will absolutely find you all something
that has come in under budget or uh ahead of schedule. But typically what happens is once a proposition in a bond program has been declared substantially complete, that's when we're able to essentially take those funds and apply
them to the similar propositions. So um for example, Proposition A is broken into arterial projects, uh neighborhood street projects, and uh let's just take traffic signal projects. So once those
traffic signal projects are done, we're able to either take the remaining funds from the projects that went under budget and do more traffic signals. Does that make sense? >> Have you ever considered just
>> I would say we are growing so quickly that our need for projects is, you know, I could do four bond programs worth of work just to keep up with the growth. All right. Thank you, Lauren. Thank you, Jay. All right. We have a question up here.
>> Yes. I'm an old guy, but back in the early 1980s, the city wasn't just as you are today, weren't able to promote passage of the bond election. All you could do was provide information. But there was a citizens group that that actually could
go out and promote passage of the bond election. I know that because I chaired it, but that's been 40 some odd years ago. Now, we've had bond election after bond election since then. And we told them back then, and we've told them over the years, it's not going to increase your taxes. the city manages the the the
sale of the bonds and the implementation of the programs and you're not going to you know it's not expected that this is going to increase your taxes but is there any such group today is there somebody that's that can do that message was the question the lady asked
a great question a minute ago how do we get that word out is there a group that is spreading the word on that >> uh yes there is and I believe it's being chaired by Brian Newbie, the former or the just past U board chair for the
Chamber of Commerce. I'm not sure who all is involved, but I believe there is. >> Okay. Any questions relate any additional questions related to the bond or charter amendments? All right. Up here. >> Thank you. Uh this one is for the uh 10
million for the affordable housing. I don't know who's chairing that but do they have an idea of the areas of where they want to put the proposed 10 million of in the city? >> Yeah. Um so related to proposition D um
so also for context each project and each proposition and project scope it is detailed um in the bond book. Uh, but Proposition D, affordable housing is citywide and I'm going to have Dana expand a little bit more on how those dollars will be utilized across the city. >> So, I'll come up here soon. So, I have
to turn your turn your neck. >> Yes, thank you for the question. So, it is available citywide and so we'll work with the city council on where those dollars could be appropriated or allocated. the um one of the areas that we'll look at for example would be we
have neighborhood improvement program areas that have been previously selected by the city council for improvements. We also have neighborhood empowerment zones that have been designated by the city uh for improvements. We have um um targeted
um I apologize I'm going to forget the name but targeted investment zones through our economic development department through for community development that we could look at as well. urban villages, um transit, um oriented development areas, urban villages. So, there are a number of
areas that have already been designated by policy for investment and reinvestment um by the city council. I'm sorry. >> Yes. But but the city council is not limited to those areas. So, I don't want to say that those are the only areas
where we could look um to to put affordable uh affordable housing >> likely. That's >> that's one of the one of the areas. The other thing though to think to keep in mind is that uh for developers who might be seeking low-income housing tax credits, if they wanted to partner with
the city, then the state has certain criteria that they use um in order to provide those tax credits. And sometimes the locations will get certain kinds of points um where they're trying not to concentrate
uh developments. And so that might uh have influence over where those projects might be. And so that's another factor is where those tax credits might be available. >> And then where would I go to see the list? >> Yeah, certainly the comprehensive plan
speaks to those areas as well as um just certainly if you go to our city website and just type in neighborhood empowerment zones, that'll bring that up. Yeah. Here we go. >> Has the neighbor have the neighborhood empowerment zones been put up recently or
>> Right. Because I was looking on your website only affordable housing and I could not find any specific locations. >> That's correct. Balloon. >> Yeah. The city council has notated on whatever. >> Yeah, that's correct. The city council has not yet designated areas where
they're going to to spend those dollars. >> Areas, >> I'm sorry. >> They have areas they're thinking about. So they've they've not designated areas yet, but just as staff, we would recommend potential areas. And so I'm giving you examples. >> And is that on the website?
>> Yes. Neighborhood empowerment zones, the neighborhood improvement program areas. Yes. >> And they're called that on the website? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Right. Thank you. >> Okay. Are there any additional questions?
All right. Right. Going once, going twice. All right. Thank you so much, Dana. Um, so we're going to go ahead and open um basically the the meeting is not this particular area. It's open for individuals to um go ahead and mingle, work with all of our staff. If you
happen to have any specific questions on where um certain projects are located, if you have questions on the bond book itself, feel free to to catch me at any point. Um, we are available both online. Uh, there's an email on the bond website and if not, feel free to reach out to
any one of our staff. Okay. Thank you so much. Um, and I'll go and leave these, uh, QR codes up here.