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Oh, Oh, woah. Test test. Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. All right. So, we're going to go and get started. If everyone can find a way back
to the seating area so that we can get started on the presentation. >> All right, please find your way back to the seating area so we can get started with the presentation. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. >> Okay, we're good.
All right. So, thank you all so much for taking the time to go ahead and um visit with the 2026 bond and charter and election meeting. Yeah. Okay. All right. So, we do have a couple of QR codes here that are located on the
screen as it relates to the bond detail, the bond book, as well as the charter detail. Um, if you do not have a phone out to be able to do this, we also have provided the links to this. So, it's for worth.gov/2026bond or for the charter/2026
charter. um all this information that you have been handed out today. So, including the bond book. I hope each and every one of you have that physical copy. We will be referencing information that's in that bond book. Um but if you do not have one yet, please feel free to raise your hand and we can walk one over
to you. All right. Right. So to begin, we're going to run through the purpose of the presentation, the 2026 bond program, diving into the development program summary, a sample ballot, as well as the bond propositions. We have G Oh, sorry. We have Trey here
today that will go and dive into the charter amendments as well as the upcoming schedule with the questions and answers. So my name is April Rose Esamia. I'm with the city of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Lab. My background is in civil engineering and really like to talk about infrastructure. So, when it
comes to 2026 bond, um I'm your person as it relates to being able to provide information on the proposed 2026 bond program and charter amendments as well as offer the opportunity uh for all of you to ask questions. Uh we do have a
whole room of technical experts that are tasked to really, you know, should the bond it be approved, uh to be able to go through with the implementation. Um, so if you happen to have any questions, uh, feel free to we can go ahead and bring them up here. We will also review
further opportunities for public education. And with that, if I haven't mentioned the QR code one more time before we get started, I'm going to go ahead and break for a quick little video. Every four years, the city prepares a bond program. one way of funding large
capital projects such as roads, parks, libraries, and public facilities that are appropriate for long-term financing. During this election, you might notice language on the ballot that says this is a tax increase. This is new language mandated statewide for all bond elections. However, here in Fort Worth,
we've structured the bond package so that we don't anticipate a tax increase. The city of Fort Worth's 2026 bond program totaling 845 million is organized into several propositions. Each proposition outlines a set of projects that could be funded through
bonds pending voter authorization. Proposition A proposes $511 million 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, 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 this room that were part of the first phase of the bond program in which we went out for um sort of like feedback. Um and so for those that are new to this process, just also want to kind of recap how we arrived here uh in
the 2026 bond program as the final as listed as provided today in the bond program book. So this goes as far back as March 4th, 2025 in which the city staff first proposed the bond list that was sent to city council. Now that bond
list was really came from about a $2 billion infrastructure project need and from that two billion plus we were able to then rightsize that into the bond program that then on August 5th that
proposed list was approved by city council to begin that community engagement. So if you're part of that first cycle, we began from October 20th through November 20 through November 17th citywide bond meetings. Throughout that entire time, we were basically
receiving continuous public feedback from the residents of Fort Worth in which we were able to close the public meetings on December 31st, look through all of that data that was uh submitted and aggregated so that in January we're
able to present to council that final list for their consideration. After discussion and after review, we we finally really did finalize that project list that you see today. And that is part of the bond book. So that on February 10th, city council was able to
order the bond election. So what was part of that very first phase? Well, in that first phase, there's about 18,220 website views and that was across various web pages as shown here, but there are 260 residents both in person
across the 11 districts in city. in the city. We had over 1,19 109 YouTube views, 177 balancing act submissions, which is really looking at the overall program, the propositions, where all the projects were to really be able to get that
feedback where individuals were to be able to type uh their feedback as well. um to the point where we were able to aggregate that for a total of 329 submitted comments where 141 came from some of that in-person engagement as well as via email and 188 were through
that balancing act. So if you're part of that first phase, thank you. So as we move forward, this is where the final bond program ended up landing at 845 million as shown here through the various propositions. Now here's a fun
fact. Each one of these propositions are lettered. At the state level, you'll typically hear about propositions that are numbered, but here at this at a city at a municipal level, they are lettered. So that is why you'll often hear us refer to Proposition A in this case, streets of mobility infrastructure at
$511,480,700 or Proposition C at public library improvements at 14,586,000. If you're part of that first phase, you may also recall that the bond program was set at 840 million. um after discussions with city council but also
looking at our overall debt capacity, we had an additional 5 million available um to be able to add towards the bond program itself because again our debt capacity could which I'll dive into in just a moment could support that in that we're able to increase to 845 million
and that the affordable housing proposition D uh was previously at 5 million and was increased to 10 million as part of the 2026 bond program. Uh, a lot of this ties back to we also include public art funding and this ties back to
the public art ordinance that is that was approved by city council. Let me go and put this over here. Um, so when it comes to public art funding, each proposition does include 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 at Streets and Mobility Infrastructure, our ordinance states that up to 1% can be allocated towards public art funding. For Propositions B, C, E, and F, it's up to 2%. And, um,
Proposition D, which is newer to the city of Fort Worth, which we'll dive into in a moment, for affordable housing, um, it is as shown as proposed at 0%. And I say as proposed because these were some of the technical amendments that will go to city council later this month, in fact on April 28th
uh for their consideration as part of the updates um to be able to include in this case affordable housing as a new proposition set at 0% for public art funding. And the idea behind that is that a a proposition D is related to a citywide proposition. And as mentioned,
it's related to one or more of the projects in that proposition. So being able to tie to a specific project um and in discussion with uh sort of how the public art funding kind of came into play uh it's currently as proposed set to 0%. Um but in all the estimated
public art funding total is as shown as far as how it's estimated at this time. So how does bond funding work? Well, this will go back to a city property tax rate. If you've been part of our fiscal year process, that specific number that's shown on the far left area with
city property tax rate may look familiar to you. And that is that the current city property tax rate is set at 67 per $100 valuation. Now, how exactly does that 67 cents get parcled out throughout the city? And you can consider that
through two separate buckets. The first bucket is really to cover the day-to-day activity as it relates to ma operation and maintenance. and it's at 52.25 cents. So again, of that 67 cents, 52.25
goes towards operation and maintenance, which is the day-to-day. I myself, April Esamia, am funded through the general fund, and I am funded through that operation and maintenance bucket. We are here at a community center that is also funded through the operation and
maintenance bucket. Now, there's another bucket here, and that's tied to the interest and syncing rate. Now that is a a fancy term that in plain language is really goes towards debt service and that is set at 14.75.
14.75 cents of that 67 cents is what the city allocates towards debt to be able to pay off debt over time. So what type of debt can that be paid for? Well, I'm going to dive into three separate bullet points real quick. One, a bond election
is a way for the community to vote on a measure that allows the city to borrow funding for large capital projects. A portion of the city property tax rate is set aside to pay for bond programs and other city debt. Again, that is at
14.75. Fort Worth has historically in previous bond programs and for this 2026 bond program structured the bond package to work within the city property tax rate. The bonds are planned to be fully repaid
without increasing the city property tax rate associated with debt with that 14.75. So that debt service that debt amount is for those major capital infrastructure. So we think about day-to-day with maintenance and with operation
maintenance debt is for that major capital infrastructure that will be paid over time and that goes towards some of the funding mechanisms some of those tools that the city can use to be able to pay for this major in for this major infrastructure. One tool can be a tax note and another tool can be a bond. Now
a tax note often comes with a shorter payoff pay time frame at a higher interest rate whereas with bonds can be paid through over a longer period of time. So on average about 20 years at a lower interest rate. So the city
obviously has two different or couple different tools in that case. But when utilized towards bonds and towards those major infrastructure, that is how one can then use more of the dollars through a bond program to pay towards that debt
at a lower interest rate. So in addition to that, how do bonds, you know, how do they come online and then how do they roll off? Well, the city of Fort Worth, as mentioned, has historically had bond programs. Well, bonds if approved by a voter comes online and it is paid off
over time so that it can then be once it's fully repaid there's still capacity available from that debt service that debt service amount to be able to pay for another you know say round of bonds in that case. So when one considers a
bond program, one comes online, another four years, another can come online, another four years, another come online. Well, after a series of iterations, there are bonds that end up rolling off over time. And all of that is within a debt capacity, a debt service that goes
towards that 14.75. So in other words, as bonds are paid off over time, there's still capacity. And in this case for the city of Fort Worth, we are still able to include an 800 and propose to the voters an $845 million bond program that still
stays within that 14.75 and wouldn't cause an increase at least for now assuming that there's no major um catastrophic economic downturn. Um but we have structured it such that it stays within that 14.75.
So, I say all that because this is a sample ballot that a voter, should they choose to go vote, would see out on May 2nd or April 20th through April 28th if you're doing early voting. Um, you would see that city of Fort Worth, Texas special election. One would be met with
what type of proposition it is for. In this case, it's for Proposition A. One would be asked whether they would like to vote for or against. The state has mandated that we now must include in all capital letters the very first sentence.
This is a tax increase in all caps. We cannot add additional language to this, nor can we supplement any of the information that I just mentioned today about how the city of Fort Worth structures the bond program. In addition to that, uh we will it will also list
the amount that would be issued for that particular proposition. In this case, proposition A at $511,480,700 that would go towards streets and mobility infrastructure. Repeat that for Proposition B for parks, recreation, open space, Proposition C for public
library. Each one of these propositions, including the charter amendments, is voted on individually. So, there's a series of them, but this is why we're here to sort of help that education, help you answer or help answer any questions you may have regarding this.
So, I'm a big fan of repeating things twice. We just sat through a three and a half minute video, kind of ran through all the various propositions, but for good practice, let's dive into it again. Proposition A again is for the 511,480,700
to really cover a series of projects. Now, in your bond book, you'll find some major as well as neighborhood streets. So, major roadways and neighborhood streets in which we actually name each one of those major roadways and each one of those neighborhood streets and the
limits in which we would plan to implement those improvements related to Proposition A. Um, in addition to that, you'll also find some bucket categories and that would relate to the other items that are shown here such as pedestrian ways, bicycle infrastructure,
streetscapes, traffic and signal controls, street lighting. Um, in addition, you'll also find and as shown here on this on this particular slide, you know, an exhibit that's shown that kind of just shows where those major roadways and where those minor roadways are located. um as well as the amounts
associated with the overall project um buckets for proposition B parks, recreation, open space that is at 185, million, 140,000 uh that would go towards aquatic facilities, athletic complex, botanic garden, infrastructure,
community centers, community parks, and so forth. And that is also listed um in the bond book. We have also included if you've been part of previous bond cycles um I believe in the 2022 bond program uh open space was a standalone proposition
in this in the 2026 bond it is included in proposition B and again this is a citywide uh related um type of improvement uh that is included in the 2026 bond program.
Next is Proposition C for public library and that is at 14,586,000 and that would go towards the relocation of the Fort Worth History Center, the renovation of the Southwest Regional Library as well as the renovation of the Diamond Hill Jarvis Library.
For Proposition D, this is affordable housing at $10 million. And the purpose of the 10 million as well is to really start to leverage those dollars. So each one of those dollars would go towards sort of what's shown here as far as the purpose. There's a lot of a lot of words on there, but some of the key takeaways
is that it would go towards land acquisition, 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
a little asterk on two of those items, and that is as permitted by law. Uh the reality is this is a new bond proposition to the city of Fort Worth and we have uh Casey where there we go. Hey Casey, I was Yeah. Hi. Uh so Casey is definitely here to really dive into this proposition if you have any
additional questions um as far as spearheading it. So Proposition E is for police, fire, and emergency communication facilities. And this is at 63,919,300 uh dollars at new fire station 46 for Southwest Fort Worth, the new emergency
communication center at the zipper building uh in downtown Fort Worth, and the rebuild of fire station 40 in northwest Fort Worth. Next is Proposition F and this is for the animal care and shelter improvements at 59,874,000
and this is for the construction equipping of a new animal control shelter facility. So again, if you have any questions, we will open up to questions at the very end. It's also in your bond book, but I'm going to invite Mr. Trey Kalls up here uh to dive into the charter amendments.
>> Hello, my name is Trey Kwalls. I'm one of the attorneys in the Fort Worth City Attorney's Office. I'm going to walk through the charter amendments that are also going to be on the ballot. Um, at one of these meetings, someone asked, "How are these related to the bond?" And that's a great question. The answer is they're not related to the bond at all. It just so happens that you can only
have a charter election every so often. Every two years is the minimum. Um, our last one was four years ago. And so, anytime we are having an election, if we can have a charter election, we save up things that we think might be good things to adjust about the charter. that's why it's on the same election.
Um, so I'm going to walk through each of these just like April did. Um, so as you probably know, the city charter is the founding document of the city. The original was from 1924. I think it's been updated many times since. Um, and but to update it, you have to go to the voters and the voters have to approve a
change to the the charter. Um, and so just like the bond propositions, these are uh labeled G through O. There are nine charter amendments, propositions that'll be following those bond propositions. Um, and so what you'll see at the top of each of these slides is the actual language that you'll see on
the ballot. Um, and then below that is the sort of effect or the explanation of what that language does. And I'll I'll walk through each one of these. So, the first one is going to be Proposition G. And that has to do with increasing mayor and council pay. Um, if the current
mayor and council pay, it's set in the charter at $29,000 for the mayor uh annually and $25,000 for council annually. That was last uh set in 20 2006. And so this would change increase the mayor's pay to $60,000 annually,
increase the city council's pay to $50,000 annually. And then that last number you see on the bottom, that shows what that total impact for um all 10 council members plus the mayor would be in the fiscal year. This would go into effect the first uh of October, which is
the beginning of the city's next fiscal year. Uh there's not a ladder, so those numbers don't increase. That's a set number. So that $285,75 is the total impact every year going forward of that change. Proposition H uh removes a requirement
in the city charter for a hearing before the city council for the termination of a department head. Um so in the city of Fort Worth, the city manager is the head executive. One of his responsibilities is personnel. So he does the hiring of
uh the department directors in the city. if he chooses uh to fire one of those people, um that's within his purview. And so this provision in the charter allows that terminated person to request a hearing before the city council. Uh
there's a couple of issues with that. Um it's in somewhat intention with other provisions in the in the city charter that provide that the council can't interfere with the city manager's um operational decisions on employment. Um, and also the other issue is that this
hearing doesn't really do anything for that person's employment because the city council doesn't have the authority to hire those directors. Only the city manager does. So, a hearing before the city council doesn't really get that person anything. Um, next proposition I, um, there's a
similar provision for individuals in the city who are appointed by the council. So, like I just said, all department directors are hired by the city manager. Um, there are a handful of council appointed positions, one being the city
manager, they appoint the count the city council appoints the city manager, they appoint the city attorney, they appoint the city auditor. Um, there's a currently a provision that says if council wants to fire those people, um, they can demand a hearing before a
public hearing before the council. Um the reason this provision is some again somewhat redundant in this case it's a little different but for the council to terminate any of those council appointed positions they already have to have a hearing um that's already going to be
done at a public hearing at a public meeting that's posted um and people have the opportunity to come speak. Those people who have been terminated have the opportunity to come speak. So this kind of creates a second hearing that doesn't really do anything. Um, if the council
wanted to fire, say, the city manager, they're already going to have to put that on a council agenda. That's already going to be at an open meeting. Um, anyone can come speak, including that city manager who the council has said they're going to fire. The council's got a vote in an open meeting. All that already has to happen. This sort of
isn't an extra step that's not really necessary. Okay. Proposition J removes a requirement that's currently in the charter that says the city budget cannot be adopted at the same meeting as the
budget hearing. So if you've ever watched our budgeting process, it it's about to ramp up in the summer and we do the all kinds of meetings all through the summer. Um, and then there are very strict deadlines in the Texas u local government code and the Texas tax code about the tax rate about when you have
to the city manager has to present a budget. That budget has to be filed with the city secretary. Um, for the notice uh for the budget hearing, there's a set notice period where all that has to be published. Um, so there's tons of tons of hurdles that you have to jump through
to adopt an annual budget. This is one that's in the city charter but is not anywhere in state law. So, this is kind of a self-created hurdle that we've made. Um, it says that it can't be adopted at the same meeting as the budget hearing. So, if this proposition
is approved, it would allow the budget to be adopted at the end of the budget hearing. Um, all the same provisions would still apply in state law. All the same notice, all the same publication, presentation of the budget to council. Um, doesn't change anything about that.
It just says that uh we can adopt the budget at the end of that budget meeting. And really in practicality, the way this has worked a lot of times is if you notice, it doesn't say it can't be adopted on the same day. It says it can't be adopted at the same meeting. So practically what's happened at least the
last several years is those actually do happen on the same day anyway. You have a budget hearing that starts at 5:45. um take any comments on that, close the public hearing, reopen the next hearing, and they adopt the budget. So, this doesn't grant you really, it's not like
taking away a meeting. It these really all pretty much happen at the same meeting anyway. We just have to do kind of a funky little close a meeting, open a meeting on the same day. This would if this were approved, it would prevent us from having to do that little hurdle.
Okay. Proposition K, it removes a requirement for public service corporations to have to file an annual report with the city. These are like your utilities, your franchise utilities, um oil, gas, uh excuse me, natural gas, um electricity, telecom, um
water. So, in the past, many of those things had a lot more the city had a lot more regulatory authority over those utilities. Now, it's mostly with the state. U so all this information is still going to get filed. It'll usually get filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and it's all
available online. Um, approving this would just remove a requirement that they file something with the city as well because we really don't have any authority over them. There's not a lot of reason for them to file it with the city anymore. Proposition LE would remove a
requirement for um an ordinance to grant a for grant of privilege in the city. So in the city you have franchises like you know people put water pipes under the ground. Um and then you have a privilege which is people who operate businesses overground. Um and the really what this
would affect would be solid waste haulers um who haul uh trash, recyclables, environmental waste over city streets. Right now they have to get a privilege from the city. They would still have to get a privilege from the city if this were approved. However, they would not have to go we wouldn't
have to go to council every single time. Right now there's a requirement that says to grant a privilege. Council has to adopt an ordinance. So there are already city uh there are already rules in the city code um ordinances have been adopted about what's required for a grant of privilege. Um who can get it,
what they have to do. This would just allow those to be granted without having to take a ordinance to city council to grant those. Wouldn't change anything about the rules that apply to those privileges. Okay. This uh proposition M uh is the proposition that would uh create some
flexibility in moving city duties or departments around for uh the city manager. And this would be on a future basis because it could only apply to departments that do not that were not currently created by the charter or the ordin or an ordinance. Those could not
be modified by the city manager. Uh if it's created by the charter could only be modified by another charter election. Uh right now all of our departments are either created by charter or by an ordinance because that's how they've always been. So this would not apply to any departments that exist now. It would only apply in the future. For instance,
if the city manager realized, you know, I think we need a new department of data centers or something like that at the city. This would allow him to create a new department of data centers and then maybe a few years down the road, data centers aren't a big deal. I don't think that's going to be the case, but um and he could say, "We no longer need a
department of data centers. let's move those staff into maybe the IT department. Let's close the department of data centers. So this would apply on a go forward basis would allow them to make modifications just to shift duties around or departments within within departments. Again, doesn't apply to
anything that's required by ordinance, which a handful of your departments are like police or anything that's created by or excuse me, charter or ordinance. Okay. A proposition in would align some timelines that are in the city charter that deal with um ordering a special
election to fill a vacancy on city council. This would just align our deadlines to the Texas election code. Right now, there are some that don't quite match up. This explains that, but I found it's much more confusing than helpful. So, if you have a question about that
amendment, come talk to me after and I'll explain this graph. Okay. Last but not least, uh, Proposition O. This would remove a uh, a word, two words I guess, in the city charter that says the city can only pay a bill or a debt if it's receives what's
called a purchase order. And this is really just a recognition of the fact that not everything, not every valid debt or bill that we get is called a purchase order. Sometimes you get an invoice or a receipt. Um, an example is if somebody goes with a city credit card
because we need paper clips, they go to Office Depot, you're not going to get a purchase order from Office Depot. You're going to get a receipt. That doesn't So, this doesn't change anything about the validity. We still have to verify all all payments. This just means that we can pay things that are a valid um appropriate payment based on
documentation, but it doesn't have to be called a purchase order. Um, all right. I'm going to turn it back over to April Rose. If you have questions, though, I'll be right over there. All right. Thank you, Trey. All right. So, we are here April 16th.
Yep. Uh at the RD Evans Community Center. And so, we have one more bond and charter education meetings before April 20th through April 28th with early voting and May 2nd for election day. Um so, we still have one more opportunity
on April 18th, Saturday at 10:30 in the morning at Worth Heights Community Center. If you have friends, family, or neighbors that you would like to share that information with, they can come in and visit. As we may have referenced earlier, we are streaming this live
today on YouTube and we will be streaming it live at t 10:30 in the morning on April 18th. Um, so with that, uh, moving into the schedule, as mentioned, early voting one more time, April 20th through April 28th, uh, April 28, April 28th, we also have that public
art technical, uh, update, the amendment that I mentioned earlier, and then on May 2nd, we'll have election day. Uh, with that, we're going to go and open this up for questions. If you do happen to have a question, we kindly ask that you raise your hand. we will walk a microphone over to you and then we will
help answer your questions uh as it relates to the bond or the charter amendments. All right, first question up here. >> Oh, we're going to go and bring this over to you with the microphone. Yep, the microphone's walking. Just coming
bring a different one. >> Yeah. >> What is the origin of these uh charter amendments? Who thought those up? >> Yeah, >> great question. Here you go, Trey. >> So, the charter amendments, um I will
say we we sort of keep a list of um things that we think next time we have a charter election, we might want >> well everybody at the city. Um, so our office certainly keeps one and then when we realize we're going to have uh potentially a charter election, we usually send out an email to all
departments and say, "Are there things about the charter you think need to be cleaned up?" We get a response. Uh we present those to the city council and then the city council picks out of that menu which ones they feel uh are worth going to the voters on. >> Thank you. Any additional questions? All
right. over here. We'll walk a microphone over to you. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, the question is if we can um go and reference the overall summary of the bond program and the amounts and then the question and we'll go and
walk the microphone over to you. >> I can't talk in those. I can't >> Okay. Um well, my uh one concern I have is the the amount going to parks and recreations because I know for a fact
that these um statues that they put in the parks, I called the park uh department before and I said, "How much do you spend on those?" at least a hundred,000 each. And no one likes them. I haven't met one person that said, "I
like that theme that stuck in the park." Um, and I feel like even though you um separate this out, um, that sometimes y'all move money around when it all gels
out and says, "Oh, we're going to put more there." Also, when the police fire an emergency, um why don't y'all consider when these large apartment um developers come in, why don't they pay for the police and emergency
facilities because they're building a new city instead of us paying for it? >> Okay, thank you for your first comment as it relates to structures, but also the potential for the movement of funding. Um, so as it relates to bond
programs themselves, the dollars that are allocated and as shown for the propositions must stay within that proposition. Um, and that is how it ties back to our bonds and our bonding whenever we for any uh bond that is
passed and approved by voters, uh, we must keep those dollars within that bond proposition. Um, so if if there is ever funding that is moved within a bond itself, it would be within a specific project or within projects. Um, but there are a lot of covenants that are
related to that um that we would really have to dive into, but typically we we do not practice the movement of funds uh between propositions. Um, but then the second um question um Jay would also like to add some additional language on that. >> Jay Chaba, city manager, are you
referring to the public art in parks? Okay. >> Well, it's public art. So, the the city council years ago passed an ordinance um that our bond program would include public art within the within the actual
propositions and 1% of the dollars associated with streets and mobility goes to public art. That public art needs to be tied to the projects. So if you drive around currently around town and you might go to a roundabout, there
might be some public art in the middle of it. So that those are the public art dollars that were put pulled together to to have an artist and there's a whole public process that involves community input and and uh selecting of an artist and those kind of things when they're
when we're doing those. For the rest of the propositions, it's 2%. And and so on the park side it would be 2% of the overall dollars are set aside for public art and the idea is to have public art within along trails in the parks.
Art and art well city the city council it's policy to to have art in the city. It's part of the overall program. It can be changed by the city council. You'd have to we'd have to undo that ordinance. Uh, but overall the city council it's been I want to say it's 25 years that that's been part of the the
the programs. Um, and when it comes to art, it arts in the eye of the beholder, right? Whether people like it or not. And so that's always a question that comes up and some people like what they see and some don't. And the second question is was as it relates to the police, fire and
emergency communication facilities and why developers are not being asked to deliver on the projects as listed in the bond. >> Under state law, we can't make a developer anybody pay for a public piece of property. I mean a a public facility
as a basis for them to have the ability to build something. It's just not allowed. >> Okay. We have a follow-up question up here. Could I make a a statement about public art? >> Sure. >> So, the reason public art is around is because lots of people may not be able
to afford it. It creates it creates opportunity for people to learn and to see and to do those kinds of things. It it can be fun. It can be serious. It can be all kinds of things. But it is really for the better good community because it is allowing young people and people art
is not public art is not a luxury. It's a need and it is to help people. It is to help people understand and experience things that they're not getting often times in school and other places. >> Usually though they have field trips to
the museums. >> It's not the same. It's not the same because it's it's the reason it's not the same is because when it's in a median or in a park, people who are not going on those field trips are getting the opportunity get to see it and experience it. And art is a major part
of our lives and and it can it can uh during all kinds of economic things, art is a thing that keeps going and going. >> Thank you. >> All right, we have a question. >> Yes, sir. We have a question. Are you all considering to move use the
uh I mean the old city hall for the police and maybe the emerging communications field facilities because I mean that's a lot of open space there that could be used for an existing facility. I can answer that question. Actually, the overall plan when city
hall was moved to the new city hall was is the old city hall is going to be renovated for the the central division uh district headquarters for the police department. Currently, the city leases property and has for the last 30 years
kind of east of Sundance Square for a portion and then down off of um Magnolia and Hempill for another portion. So that's that's really the last division that has doesn't have one central
headquarters where all the police officers can meet together and that kind of thing because there's no space and and costs downtown are have been hard to get the ability to get something big enough to put them in. And so the old city hall is being renovated. So that's going to become the new central division
and we'll stop paying rent on the two lease facilities as we move forward. So that project starts this year and it's not going to be completed till the end of next year. >> The emergency communication, if you're familiar with the zipper building, you know, that has that zipper that's right
across the parking lot from the old city hall, that's where that's being consolidated. And part of that is because the city brought in MedStar into part of the city. So the ambulance services, so you have MedStar call takers, you have fire call takers, and you have police call takers. This is
going to combine all of that the call takers into one and dispatchers into one location in that the old that building. That's the zipper building, the old Dickies building. >> Yes, sir. It'll be all three. And then if the if the uh history if the library
piece po uh passes the history m uh portion of the library that's currently in the South Seminary library um which is small. So the big requests have been from folks that actually go and use the history have requested that
it be in one location that would be moved into the lower level of city hall so that you can have it. It fits all of the archives that are part of that. >> All right, we have another question. Okay, if we could use the microphone or reference to it.
>> Talking how many um uh developers bid on the animal care and shelter improvements for that contract because that seems crazy expensive. >> So, the question is how many developers have bid on the Proposition F animal care and shelter improvements?
>> There there hasn't been any bids yet. If it we don't go out the bids unless it passes. It's been it's it was a projection that was put together for what the cost would be to replace the Silox the current Silox facility. That's that's basically a end of life and it's
a really bad place for for animals to be in and for people to work in. That would be the cost and it and it would just replace the same size. It's not a it's not increasing the size of that the ability >> that would go towards design site
development any type of permitting and then the improvements. So go through the entire process as would many of the improvements that are provided or that are shown here. Proposition A for streets and mobility. There have to be scoping, bring on engineers to do the
design, do the permitting as as needed, and then the actual implementation to go through construction. Okay, additional questions on bond or charter. All right, going once,
going twice. Okay. Well, oh, we have one right here. We want to we want to capture all the questions. So, I'm trying to add some pause. >> Sure. Um, can you talk, Mr. Choa, about um
how you're going to fit this 845 in this tax rate in with the latest news about the overall general fund also being down? >> Sure. >> Yeah. So, April Rose showed the two portions of the tax rate. So the the
debt service part of the tax rate has nothing to do with the projections for the operating and maintenance portion. So the operating m maintenance port portion the 52.25 25. Basically, what we're projecting is that
we're going to have cost inflation mostly. Our costs overall are increasing by 3 to 4%. While our revenue, mostly tied to the fact that TAD is not reappraising residential properties, is only going up by 2%.
And so that 2% increase on property tax combined with the sales tax projection of about 4% leaves us short based on what the expenses are going up on the expense side by about $50 million. But that's completely tied to that just this
portion of the tax rate. This is not this is for for the bond. So it's completely separate. They don't intermingle. They don't mix the the 14.75 projection and the 845 million. It's
projected with those what we're what we're projecting for the income that comes in at those increases is already built into that number. If it was, you know, three years ago, we were increased, the values were going a lot f, you know, higher and they were being appraised,
um, you could probably, we would probably been able to do, not that we' do it, but like 950 million. So, that's how we we put that out. And as I mentioned, the 845 or she mentioned 845 million, if it passes, all of it passes,
it doesn't all just get we don't issue all that debt in one year. It's put it's done over fiveyear period and it it's tied to as debt is is um as debt is taken off the books then then we we
bring that new debt on for these projects. So it's a we typically because we were going so fast we have been growing so fast we typically have a four-year cycle for bond elections but the delivery is five years. So that's how we we you know we'll put 200 million
one year, 200 million the next year, 150 the next year as you go through the through that process. So the the projects get staged that way as well. >> Thank you. All right, we have a question up here. >> Okay, so if each one of the propositions
pass, then you get the 845. But what if two of them doesn't pass? Does that change the amount that we you received? >> So if any of these propositions do not pass, those projects cannot be brought forward by the city again for 3 years
under state law. So you just can't move forward with it. So then the council has a decision to make of and we we don't have it here but we we projected say for instance the parks piece doesn't pass then the council has to decide whether or not
that 14.75 should be reduced to 12.98 or do they want to use that capacity for cos or tax notes or one of the other debts to do something different but you couldn't do any of the projects that
were listed on here. So that decision and that would all be done through a public process and >> no ma'am whatever >> it'll decrease that that debt amount by whatever doesn't pass and that's I think the state because I
it I've been city government for a long time having to put the statement this is a tax increase doesn't make sense when we when we set up our deals to not have a tax rate increase and if you're not getting your house reappraised you're not going to have a tax
But I think the the state legislators were thinking about it more by if you don't issue this debt then you could lower that tax rate. So that's how they were looking at it kind of backwards. >> All right. Thank you. We have a question in the back. I knew you all had
questions. This is great. Keep them coming. >> My question is real brief. Uh what's our uh tax rate? I mean, what is our rating on bonds as a city? And have we ever defaulted on bonds?
>> All right, here you go. >> We're we're double A+, which is the second highest rating you can have, and we've never defaulted on any bonds, and we would not recommend that. If something really bad happened, like the economy fell out, the
recommendation for me to the council would be that this no longer is a 5-year bond program. it's maybe a 10-year bond program or a 12-year bond program so that we don't default on bonds one but do two don't have to change that tax rate because we told the taxpayers we're
not changing the tax rate. So, >> and that information is located in your bond book on page five with the bond agency rating um across multiple different rating um companies. All right.
Okay. Any more questions? All right. All right. Well, thank you all so much for being part of the presentation. We will be here for a few more minutes. Please feel free to touch base with any of the proposition teams. Um, if you have any specifics on the projects that are included in the bond book, um, and we hope to uh, see you out
on May 2nd. All right. Thank you'all.