The Fort Worth City Council has driven itself into a rough spot on its way to figuring out how to raise an estimated $1 billion for needed road projects.
Council members must make key decisions soon about how much money developers should be required to pay toward road costs when they build new homes or commercial projects. There's a Feb. 19 deadline under a state law requiring cities to re-examine "transportation impact fees" every five years.Impact fee revenue can be spent only on roads near new development. But even the maximum allowable fee would meet only a fraction of the need.Council members have discussed two other sources of funds: a bond election and a proposed "transportation service charge" tacked onto water bills. But they are not nearly ready to pick through the thorns on those ideas.A multipronged approach to the $1 billion problem is logical, but each prong depends on the others. The council just doesn't have the luxury of putting everything together in a neat package all at the same time.A bond election is more than a year away, and the citywide transportation service charge idea has been hanging around without action for more than two years.Mayor Betsy Price is an impact fee skeptic. She has so far sided with development professionals who say a city staff plan for higher fees would hamper a "very soft" development market that is still in the early stages of recovering from hard times.Still, a decision must be made, the city must put itself on a footing to pay for crucial road improvements, and developers must pay their fair share. Impact fee increases, perhaps staged to cushion the blow over time, have a place in the $1 billion solution.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
