Unofficial brief of New Fairview City Council meeting of August 19, 2024.
Council Member Harvey Burger absent.
Agenda item 7A was unanimously approved awarding Latham Lane reconstruction to 3H Concrete with a bid of $590,660. A “not to exceed” project contingency of $650,000 was also recommended by City Staff and approved unanimously by Council.
(This project is being mostly funded by a Texas Community Development Block Grant (TxCDBG) of $500,000 with a requirement that the city financially participate in the project at least $25,000. The city received eight bids with a high of $823,894 and a low of $590,660. Awarding the contract to 3H Concrete means New Fairview will be required to pay the amount over the CDBG grant; $90,660. This amount will be sourced from the $190,000 of interest the City earned from the $3,500,000 of bond funds held for the Road Improvement Project II. [Note- 3H Concrete is also the Chisholm Hills Project II contractor.]. My personal apologies to the residents on Latham who have been forced to endure a bad road many years. You were not forgotten nor ignored. A lot of work went into successfully getting this $500,000 CDBG grant which saved New Fairview taxpayers the major cost of Latham Lane reconstruction. Thank You for your understanding and patience.)
Agenda item 7B was unanimously approved to set the Atmos Energy natural gas usage rate for New Fairview residential and commercial in accordance with the negotiated settlement between the Atmos Cities Steering Committee (ACSC) and Atmos Energy.
(Currently Atmos does not serve New Fairview. So this annual rate approval is strictly administrative in preparation of future growth; Atmos gas utility expansion into New Fairview in coordination with east side development.)
Agenda item 7C. Council unanimously approved a Project Agreement with Wise County for maintenance and public improvements to city streets.
(The City and Wise County Precinct 1 have partnered on several city street projects. New Fairview pays only cost of materials. The County pays for equipment and labor. This is a tremendous saving for the city. Our working relationship with Judge Clark, Wise County Commissioners, and EMS is outstanding. Both County and City can be proud of the services this working relationship has been able to achieve for the residents.)
Agenda item 7D was unanimously approved for the Installation of a rain water harvesting system from the south roof of the multi purpose building by Rain Rancher, LLC.
(Upper Trinity Groundwater Conservation District (UTGCD) has awarded New Fairview a $30,000 rain water harvesting grant. The estimated cost to the City is $10,000 for materials and labor. This water conservation system will collect and route rainwater runoff into a 10,000 gallon tank. This water will be utilized by Public Works and the fire department. Calculated water shed from the south roof would support a larger than 10,000 gallon holding tank, but at this time a larger tank is cost prohibitive.)
Agenda item 7E was unanimously approved authorizing the City Administrator to apply for a $41,000,000 loan with the Texas Clean Water Revolving Fund for waste water infrastructure and connection to Justin for the Constellation Lake Development.
(This is a low interest loan that will be paid back by the developer of Constellation Lake. There is no financial impact or risk to New Fairview. This low interest revenue source will assist in moving this development project forward in a timely manner.)
Agenda item 7F was unanimously approved to appoint resident Ricky Jones to Place 1 on the Planning and Zoning Commission.
(Mr. Jones recently moved to New Fairview from Justin where he served as a City Councilman.)
On September 10, 2024 the Council will vote on the 2024-2025 budget and tax rate. City Staff is working on a reduced budget with a tax rate of .31 per $100 valuation.
Below are some images from the work session budget presentation. I will share the proposed budget when it becomes available later this week.
⬇️ The $95,540,000 devaluation of minerals this year compared to last year is an impactful number driving us to budget cuts and a .052 purposed tax increase over last year’s rate (.258 to .31) ⬆️
The valuation increase for the Denton County side of New Fairview was not enough to offset the minerals decrease in Wise County. Leaving us with a total property valuation decrease of $71,907,972. That is almost a 72 million dollar devaluation from last year. Other cities in Wise County were not as affected by the decline in minerals. Since New Fairview is the largest city by area in Wise County, sixteen square miles, and has over 400 gas wells, so fluctuations in mineral valuation is very noticeable.
[“over 400 gas wells” is city plus ETJ count]
I&S (interest and sinking) provides funds for payments for the city debts.
M&O (maintenance and operations) funds daily operations of the city.
Both added together gives the total tax rate.