Half started, Fort Worth’s 2014 bond program facing millions in shortfalls

With half of the projects in the 2014 bond program still not started, concerns are rising among some Fort Worth council members that there won’t be enough money to complete them all.

A booming North Texas economy has increased construction prices industrywide, and as a result, they fear that the $292 million bond program approved by voters in May 2014 may end up being tens of millions of dollars short to cover those higher costs.

“We’re getting a sense now that the bond budget is not estimated for the current conditions and a lot of these projects now are going to cost more money than was originally put in the budget,” Councilman W.B. “Zim” Zimmerman said. “I’d rather know sooner than later where the shortfalls are in these programs and how we’re going to resolve those shortfalls.”

Moreover, Zimmerman said, the lack of figuring in a contingency budget for each of the projects — a practice typical for construction projects — was a mistake.

“You need to understand we’ve gone out to the citizens and promised them a performance, and now we’re going to have to come up with answers why we’re not performing,” Zimmerman said. “This is no small potatoes. This is a really serious issue. All I’m saying is let’s take off the rose-colored glasses and let’s look at this bond package total and how much are we under bid.”

Zimmerman’s remarks came Tuesday following a presentation updating the council on the status of the 2014 bond program, which has 99 projects mapped out. The bulk of the program, $219.7 million, or 75 percent, is to be spent on street and transportation improvements.

Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa assured the council that staff will be able to meet the bond program, but it could mean hiring consultants to help shepherd the process. Contracts will also carry incentives for early completion and penalties for delays, he said.

Chapa said no project will go forward unless all the funding is in place. Staff will look to bundle projects when prudent, and staff will have to look at what’s being built so they don’t compete for the same contractors.

“More will be done on the front end,” Chapa said. “We have a hot economy. The cost of construction is going up. We have to strategically time and bundle projects and bids to make sure they move up at the right time.”

These latest potential shortfalls come on the heels of the council learning last month that some projects in much older bond programs were never completed and work hasn’t started on others, and that there is not enough money to pay for them.

So far, $1.7 million has been moved from the street maintenance fund to cover those shortfalls. Council is expected to learn by the end of the month just how high that figure will go. It’s anticipated it could be several more millions of dollars.

City staff learned of the shortfalls as it has started implementing a business management software program.

“For a variety of reasons, we’re underestimating some of our projects,” said Councilman Dennis Shingleton. “It’s important we deliver these projects to the public when we said we would. There’s no sense in starting a project if we can’t finish them.”

This story was originally published September 16, 2015 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Half started, Fort Worth’s 2014 bond program facing millions in shortfalls."