All right, great. Okay, if you have not seen yet, there are a couple of QR codes located uh on the screen. One is to the bond website. The second is to the bond book. If you're present here today, uh we do have
some booklets that are available for you to take home with you today and share, as well as some charter details that will take us to the charter website. You can always visit forth Texas.gov of uh 2026 bond or 2026 charter uh if you'd
like to know more. Okay. And with that, we'll go ahead and get started with the presentation. So, thank you all so much for being part of the very first presentation related to the 2026 bond and charter election. We will walk through the purpose of our
presentation today. an overview of the 2026 bond program, all the development, a program summary, in introduce the sample ballot of what to expect, as well as bond propositions, uh move into charter amendments in which we'll have Gavin Mitchley uh take over, and then
also share the upcoming schedule with an opportunity for question answers. Uh we do have all of our technical experts here today. So, uh all the various proposition teams um are available. if you happen to have some really really uh you know specific questions into project
specifics uh they're more than happy to go and dive into all of that. So the purpose of today's meeting is really to provide information on the proposed 2026 bond program and charter amendments. This is really your opportunity to ask any questions regarding the two as well
as review further opportunities for public education. Okay. And so again, if you have not taken a photo of this particular QR code is located here. And if not, we'll go and get started with a quick little video.
So let's go ahead and hit play on that. Every four years, the city, 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/2026bond. All right. Well, there are some familiar faces in the audience. And so with that, you may be familiar with sort of the process that led to the 2026 bond program. uh that was presented in the video just now. Um even starting all the way back to March 4th uh 2025, we first
proposed a entire bond list uh that we sent to city council. Uh from there on August 5th, city council approved the proposed list to begin that community engagement in which we've seen a couple of each other in different scenarios and asking a couple of questions. Um and to the point where we were able to uh
really begin all that citywide bond. we were able to collect some great um continuous public feedback which I'll go and dive into the numbers that we received as well as uh an opportunity in which we close our public comments on December 31st. And then in January, we
uh actually presented the final project list for city council uh review and approval in which that list was finalized on February 10th in which council was able to order the bond election that then that then led into the bond program that you see today with
the project list. So based off of city feedback, just want to recap all the great work and all the feedback. We received 329 uh submitted comments through the balancing act submission as well as through uh feedback within all the various council meetings. Uh there
were over 260 residents that attended the 11 district meetings. Uh in the first phase there were 18,220 website views as well as 1,19 YouTube views. Um so again great engagement and we thank all of you for being part of that first
phase. Um, but all that really led into this final bond program that you see today, and that is an $845 million program. If you're part of the first phase, a lot of these numbers would look familiar to you. And that's Proposition A uh for streets and mobility
infrastructure is as shown uh $511,480, 700. Um, you may notice that there was an increase to the overall bond program. Uh during the first phase of engagement, the bond program was at 840 million. Uh the bond program has since was
increased. Uh so as how we finalized it and that was because we added um an additional 5 million to Proposition D for affordable housing based off of feedback uh within that first uh phase of bond engagement. I also want to note that this also
includes for each one of these propositions does include public art funding. So each proposition includes funding that can be used towards public art specifically related to one or more of the projects in that proposition. So as shown here, each proposition is treated a little differently as to how
much of a percent um is allocated towards public art. So for example, proposition A for streets of mobility, there's up to 1% that can be allocated towards public art and that is the amount that's shown here. Uh there's also B, C, E, and F that is up to that
2% amount. Um there is affordable housing and that is set at 0%. Um the idea there is that this is a citywide proposition and um a lot of this also ties back to the capital and where it would where because there's some ti some
specifics about where public art can be placed in relation to the projects themselves. Um so that is why you'll see that 0% with affordable housing. Um but know that there's about 10,752,000 um up to that amount. And this uh of course will be dependent on some a
little technical ordinance update that we'll be presenting to council um in April 2026. So how does bond funding work? Well, how did we exactly reach that 845 million? This actually dives into sort of our fiscal year budget process, right? Um,
so the city has a property tax rate that is collected and for every 67 cents per $100 valuation that 67 cents is split into two separate buckets. All right. So the first bucket is operation and maintenance. So whenever you see me here
I am funded through the general fund and I am technically in that operation and maintenance you know bucket. Whenever you go to a parks and you see that the park is maintained and there is city staff that is you know tending to that specific area that also falls under the operations and maintenance um type of
bucket in that in that spot. Now another bucket within that 67 cents goes toward or is allocated specifically and can only be used for citybased debt. And so what you'll see here are the three bullet points that I'll walk you through it that I'll walk you through. As
mentioned, the bond election is a way for the community to vote on measures that allows the city to borrow funding for larger capital projects. It also allows that a portion of that city property tax rate, that portion that I spoke about just a moment ago that's
shown here in blue for debt specific is set aside to pay for the bond programs and other city debt. So, the city of Fort Worth has historically and even in this 2026 bond program structured its bond package to work within the city
property tax rate so that bonds are planned to be that the bonds are planned to be fully paid without raising the city property tax associated with that debt. I say all of this because here is shown a sample ballot. Um, and this is just
for awareness as well. Uh this is what each resident if as as they go out and they would like to cast their vote um they will be met with this type of information. One it will ask you if you are to vote either for or against. It'll also show you that this is a city of Fort Worth special election in relation
to whatever proposition that you would be casting your vote for. In this case it's proposition A. Now at the start of each paragraph and this is statemandated. The attorney general has for the state has uh stated that this has to be included. Um we have to have
this is a tax increase in capital letters which is why we're also here today to be able to provide that education to again inform you um that how the city of Fort Worth structures its bond program. So again in all caps it will say this is a tax increase. It
will also state the issuance of the amount for that proposition. So in this case, proposition A as mentioned is $511,480,700. And it will also tell you what type of proposition it's for. So in this case, it's for street immobility infrastructure improvements. And this is
pretty much what you will see for each ballot. Um we're not allowed to add any additional information. Um, so if you happen to have any questions on again how we structure our bond program, how we end up paying for uh our bond uh program and our debt uh service, we're
more than happy to dive into any of those specifics. Um, and we'll go and take some a few questions at the very end, but I have you noted, sir. All right, so we'll dive into the bond propositions rather quickly here. Uh, the video pretty much did a great job at summarizing, but again, we we do have a
photo here. We have the large exhibits at each one of our proposition tables. Here you'll see that major roadways as well as minor roadways. These are known as neighborhood streets are shown on the bond exhibit. Uh this also includes uh some of our more like bucket categories.
Whenever we start to think about um mobility infrastructure whenever we think about traffic lighting and so forth, we have pedestrian ways, bicycle infrastructure, streetscapes. A lot of the specifics you can dive into that bond program that we handed out. Um so if you have any questions feel free to
dive in. So park B park recreation open space acquisition improvements at 185 million 140,000 and that is for what Dave pretty much also dived in dove into in relation to the water gardens service center gateway park uh botanic garden
infrastructure community centers and various community parks. This does include also that open space um that is in the previous bond cycle was a standalone proposition but again in this uh particular 2026 bond program cycle it is included in proposition B.
Next for public library improvements the amount is as shown 14,586,000 for relocation renovation of various of our various facilities. For proposition D this is affordable housing. Again, this is a new
proposition uh to the city of Fort Worth and also based off of your feedback and also city council feedback, we did expand the scope of how the dollars can be applied. Uh we do want to also know that these $10 million that are shown here as proposed uh for Proposition D.
Uh the intent here is to be able to also use these dollars to leverage. Um so for each dollar that the city puts in, there would be an additional leverage to be able to really make that 10 million um expand. Uh so that is shown for could be used towards land acquisition, construction of housing and neighborhood
infrastructure to support affordable housing, funding affordable housing and home repair programs, funding loans and grants for affordable housing purposes. There is an asterk there just to note that it is as permitted by law. This is new for us. So we will definitely be working with the community um in um for
this particular proposition. So for Proposition E, police, fire, and emergency commun communications facilities, $63,919,300 and Proposition F for animal care and shelter improvements at $59,874,000. Uh, with that being said, I'm going to
go ahead and hand the mic over to Gavin Mitchley, and after that, we'll go ahead and take questions and we'll open it up. All right, here you go. >> Thanks, April. All right, good evening. My name is Gavin Masley. I'm an assistant city attorney in the city attorney's office
here to discuss the uh charter amendments. So, moving into the first charter amendment, uh Proposition G, uh mayor and council pay. This proposition would increase the mayor and council pay from its current rate uh which was
established or set back in 2006. So mayor pay would go from 29,000 to 60,000 and council pay would go from 25,000 to 50,000. If approved, it would be effective at the start of the next uh the city's next fiscal year. So it would
give uh budget time to plan uh for the fiscal impact, which you see there at the bottom, 285,000 for the fiscal year 2027. And on all of these propositions, I have the ballot language there at the top. I'm not going to read it, but I have it
there just in case you wanted to see it in advance. Um, and it is also in the ordinance. So, like I mentioned, this was the current mayor and pay mayor and council pay was last set in 2006. Um,
oh, let me go on. All right. Proposition H, uh, is a proposition to remove department director hearing requirements. Um, if Proposition H was approved, terminated department directors would not be able to force a public hearing before council regarding
their dismissal. Um, and this is to uh resolve or this is to um make the uh city charter more consistent across uh the various articles. Um so city it it reflects the council the
merit the council manager form of government. Um and it reflects that the city manager has final say over employment decisions of his subordinates. Um and that council has no authority to directly override his uh decision employment decisions without also
violating the city charter. Um proposition I would remove uh redundant hearing requirements for council appointees. Um so currently uh appointed officials under the charter are the city manager, city attorney, city auditor, city secretary. Three of those positions
uh there's a provision in the charter that requires it doesn't require but it allows uh those officials to request a public hearing before the hearing on which council takes action uh to remove them. Uh this is a redundant hearing as council would have to hold a public
hearing in order to take a vote on removing them. So, it's sort of asking uh council to confirm that they really do want to remove uh a city manager, city attorney, or city auditor before the before that. Um,
Proposition J would remove a separate budget hearing requirement from the charter. So, currently under the charter, uh, it states that the that the hearing at which the budget is to be adopted can't be at the same meeting as the budget hearing. Uh this is not required under state law and it creates
a an additional procedural hurdle hurdle for uh staff and council. Um this separate like I mentioned the separated separation of meetings is not required under state law which already imposes numerous procedural uh requirements that
allow for public input. Um the proposed budget would still have to be presented by August 15th, placed on file with the city secretary uh 10 days before the budget hearing. Um and uh so in in practice, the city holds this additional
public hearing uh in order to adopt the budget 15 minutes after the budget hearing um is occurs anyway. So the removal of this uh separate budgeting here requirement will just remove a procedural hurdle. It doesn't actually
provide additional uh transparency. Proposition K would remove uh public service corporation annual reporting requirements. Currently in the charter, public service corporations are required to file an annual report with the city. And these are going to be corporations
uh like your natural gas companies, your electricity providers, water um historically franchised uh franchise uh companies that use city city rightways. Uh however, much of the regulatory
authority for those entities has shifted to the state since the charter was adopted. Um and so a lot of that information is available uh online through whatever state agency regulates them whether it be uh public utility commission um so forth. And so rather
than have those reports, which sometimes aren't even filed with the city despite being required by the the city charter, u this proposition would remove that requirement um just to rely on the uh state
uh information online for those regulated entities. Proposition L would remove uh an ordinance requirement for granting of privilege. Uh granting of grants of privileges are typically uh issued for solid waste haulers. Um council has
already adopted some uh administrative requirements for uh franchises who who wish to become you know wish to receive a grant of privilege to operate within the city on this on the city streets. Um and so if this proposition were approved, those grants of privileges
would not require a separate ordinance before council at each at each time. They would be administratively approved by staff uh according to the uh requirements set forth by council in the ordinances. Proposition M would remove the ordinance
requirement for city department reorganization. So, if this proposition were approved, uh council would not need to adopt an ordinance for the city manager to create a department, eliminate a department, uh or combine a department that is not required by charter, existing ordinance, or future
ordinance. Um or to reorganize departments not required by charter ordinance. Council could still create a department by ordinance, but it would not be required to do so. Um and so if it were to create a department by ordinance, only council could eliminate
that um eliminate that department. So existing existing departments created by ordinance would still need to be uh removed by by ordinance by council. Proposition N would align uh vacancy
timelines uh or align timelines to fill vacancies uh with the election code. Um with regard to special elections to fill vacancies, vacancies occurring after the last day to order a special election on the uniform election date immediately prior to the city's general election may
be filled according to the existing city charter process for replacing late term vacancies. And I've got a slide uh on the next slide that that hopefully has a timeline that better explains it. But essentially, current current state law only allows for elections to occur on uniform election dates, which is going
to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and the first Saturday in May. Um so because of those election code provisions, the city's uh timeline in the charter um doesn't align with that. And so this would align that
with the election code. So here here you have a a hypothetical two-year council term or a real two-year council term if you since May 2025 has already passed. But um at the bottom there in red are the uniform election dates. Those are the dates in which the
city is able to hold an election to fill a vacancy. Obviously there's not going to be a vacancy on the May 2025 because that's the general election. Um, and then the next available dates, November 2025. Following that's May 2026, and
November 2026 is the last available um uniform election date before the the city's general election on May 2027. So in essence, if proposition were approved, um it would change the uh the date by which council may fill vacancies
according to the the charter from 90 days before the general election to uh after the last day to order a special election um for the November 2026 election, moving forward elections in November of even years. Um so that's
about mid August most year most years. Um, an example of this might be uh if Councilman Bllelock had resigned uh in I think he uh announced his candidacy for
uh state rep in October of 2025. However, if that had been in October of uh 2026, that would be past the last day to order a special election for that vacancy to be filled on the November 2026 election date. So the next possible
date would be the May 2027 election date which is coincides with the city's general election in which that seat would be filled according to the normal normal process. And so this cleans up uh the charter the charter's election code or election
timelines for vacancies. Proposition O would modernize language uh for documentation required to pay claims. Currently in the city charter, it says that a claim uh may be may only be paid uh upon a supporting purchase
order. However, not all claims paid by the not all legitimate claims paid by the city are called a purchase order. And so this really just modernizes the language there. Um and it would if it's approved, it would allow the city to pay um any claims that support or play
legitimate claims supported by appropriate written documentation. um whether regardless of whether or not those claims are called a purchase order or not. And that's the city charter amendments. Turn it back over to April.
>> All right. Thank you, Gavin. So, you're here today and that is great. Thank you again for attending. Um but if you have friends, if you have family, if you have neighbors that you'd like to share additional dates, they're more than welcome to go and attend any of these. We have six more of these bond and
charter election education meetings uh located regionally all across the city of Fort Worth. Um as mentioned, we are also streaming this live. So if any individual wants to listen in or if you want to hear this again at any point, feel free to hop on to YouTube and uh we
can go ahead and go from there. So the 2026 bond election and charter election, we've started our election meetings. The last day to register to vote is April 2nd. Then, of course, we also have that technical update that I mentioned earlier. The meetings will end on April
18th with early voting beginning April 20th through April 28th with the election day on May 2nd. With that, we'll go ahead and open up to questions. Both Gavin and I are here. We also have all of our staff present. Um, so I
believe you had the first question. And we do have like that. I'm glad to >> Yeah, we do have some microphones that we'll ask uh individuals to use if you happen to have questions um just so that individuals listening online can also hear your question. So, here we go with the mic.
>> Oh, okay. Very good. >> There you go. >> I can hear my question. >> Oh, jeez. Thank you. All right. Yeah. The first question I got is how many do we have more bonds and assistance that we are paying still paying on right now? How many bonds do we have that we're
paying off? And why is the arts not singled out on our deal up here to vote on whether or not we want to give money to art? It looks like they automatically get a percentage of money. And I don't know why we don't have it on there for us to decide the people to make that decision. It seems like it should be on
there regardless. We should have that choice. So why is the arts not on there? And is there are we still paying on any other bonds and how many? All right. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you. Great question. Um I will distill this into two separate questions and I may tap into a few folks
to also help supplement my answer. Um on the first one related to how many other bonds are we still potentially still covering and everything that goes back to that debt service. Remember we had two buckets operation and maintenance and debt. Um that debt is used to pay towards um our bond programs that we
have in place. So that 14 and 3/4 of a penny. So 14.75 can be used towards bond programs and other city debt. So the 845 million is what that 14.75
can pay towards bond programs. But we also use that same debt service to pay for the 2022 bond program with what's left as well um on that >> 2022. >> And so with that we have our city manager Mr. J. Chapa that will be
joining in on that. Answer just know how many are we paying off? >> Sure. So, typically bonds are sold either 20-y year or 30-year. Most are 20-year. So, the 22 bond program won't get paid off till 2042. >> Okay?
>> 2018 bond program won't get paid off till 2038. >> You got 2018, you got 2022. >> You can go back 20 years and we're paying those, >> right? So in a growing city to build streets you have to issue debt to have the
dollars to do that. So what we what she was saying earlier is the way we structure our debt is that we don't issue debt until we pay debt off so we don't have to increase our tax rate for the debt service side. So, we're in a
position where we've paid off enough of our old debt where we can issue $845 million in new debt and leave our tax rate the same. >> I'm just itching itching to ask you a question. >> Go ahead. >> We got a $2 billion budget. What are our tax money pay for this? A bond is money
we're borrowing. >> We actually on the general fund, we have a 1.2 We have a $1.2 billion budget. >> A portion, right? A portion in the general fund. We have a $1.2 billion annual budget. Overall, we have 3.2 billion.
>> We should It is part of that. >> Well, because 845 million would take up almost the whole budget. So, how would you pay for police? How would you pay for fire? How would you pay for operations? How would you pay for all those other things? >> But we shouldn't have as much growth.
Our income does not meet our growth. Our growth is I spend our income. That's why we're strong. >> Do you have another question? >> No, that's Thank you very much, Mr. P. there. >> Yes. >> Thank you, Jay. And the second question that you had relating to public art, uh we do have a public art ordinance and
that is what we tie back to our percentage uh to art, which is why it is um in a way baked in and it's it's allocated per each proposition in the way that the art ordinance is written today. >> Could it be done separately though? >> That would be it could be brought up to
city council and um for for mayor and council. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Okay. Hi. >> On the um housing, the 10 million going to the housing and it's going to be leveraged. Okay. Uh how much would be that 10 million go to homeless as opposed to going to working families
that are lacking or needing assistance and of that leverage fund that would the money that would be leveraged on the 10 million? How much of that would go for the homeless? >> Yeah. And so I'm going to invite uh Casey Thomas, our director uh for
neighborhood services um and she can really dive into the affordable housing probably also existing programs we have today um that can expand on that. Casey, >> sure. Thank you for the question. And so in terms of how much we're going Casey Thomas, neighborhood services director,
in terms of how much would be allocated for those specific groups that you've indicated, um we don't have that answer right now because one of the things that we want to have with this um bond proposition is to to allow flexibility for the best affordable housing
opportunities. And so our focus would be on home ownership opportunities and then also rental housing opportunities. Would that be under the manager or the council >> in terms of looking at the projects
needs as far as districts and >> so one of the things the city already has an housing affordability strategy and so we would use that to guide us in evaluating the different projects that we would get from um nonprofit developers and also for-profit
developers who work in the affordable housing industry. Is there any more questions? >> Yes. Question. >> In terms of the um road and street improvements, uh the specific location
of those certain streets, is that already been decided or does that need to be or will that be decided in the future in terms of letting the community know where? Um, so if we need to schedule or know what's coming up, is that already been has that already been
decided? >> Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so the bond booklet that I believe Yep. So, uh, within the bond booklet, and again, there's a QR code. It's also on our website. Uh, we do detail the major roadways that are all named, and they do
provide the limits in which those major roadways um are planned to be delivered, uh, with should the proposition pass. And there's also a list of neighborhood streets. And so you can also see within that where that's located um for each one of those streets. Now the status of
the programs and and when they're going to go to construction and when they're in design. Um we do have a capital projects like city website. You can search city for Worth capital projects. And there's some specifics that you could dive into there um once the projects are up and running um or the ones that are up and running from
previous bonds. Okay. Thank you. Great question. All right. Any more questions? >> All right. Going once, going twice. >> Is there anybody how much the golf money is coming out of the parks? Is that broke down? >> I know the parks you got golf courses.
>> Yeah, absolutely. >> For years. That's why it's not going to bond. Yeah, we put $20 million in golf courses. You're losing money. We should sell them. And here again, we got golf course on there again. Is it broke down somewhere? We find out the or do you know what the number is by some? >> So the question >> absolutely. So the question is um are
golf courses included in the bond proposition but also how much and if it's named and what type of projects? Uh within the bond book we do list uh the golf course specific projects on there. You're very welcome. Okay. Oh, we have one more question up here. >> I have one
>> Yeah, we have the mic real quick >> on the uh parks. Uh we're looking at um was it the Botanic Gardens? How much would be going to the Botanic Gardens? Yeah, the Botanic Gardens is currently in 10 10.5 million. Thank you, Dave. So,
10.5 million and in the bond book, it actually details the proposed like project scope. Uh so, you can dive into that detail as well. Thank you. All right. Okay. So, we do have all of our staff here. If you really want to, you know, if you have further questions about parks and recreation open space,
um or streets of mobility, uh feel free to walk around the room. Uh we are here at least until through 7 some 7:30. Um so you do have time. Thank you all so much for being part of our very first presentation on the officially proposed
uh final bond program that will be out for vote on May 2nd. Okay. Thank you. And charter election. Thank you. on the same day.