Fort Worth increased its stormwater utility fee by 15% last year in a bid to tackle rising flood risks across the city. This year, city staff are proposing an additional 5% increase that would bump average residents’ monthly fee from $6.61 to $6.94.
While fee increases often draw criticism from both residents and council members, the stormwater management department says these increases are essential to maintaining or replacing thousands of feet of drainage pipes. Without this work, the risk of sinkholes, flooding, erosion and property damage rises.
Linda Sterne, communications specialist for the division, said a pipe condition assessment identified up to 57,000 linear feet of pipes that need a rehab within one to two years — estimated to cost between $42 million and $172 million. That cost dwarfs the $12 million currently allocated to pipe rehab over the next five years.
“If additional funding for storm drain rehab is not received, the Stormwater Program will continue to prioritize rehab based on risk, but the rehab projects may be smaller and more point specific instead of rehabilitating the asset in full — which is typically more cost effective when considering long term needs,” Sterne wrote in an email.
The 5% fee increase will generate an estimated $2.14 million in revenue in fiscal year 2025 and $2.9 million in fiscal year 2026. The fee will also increase revenue bond capacity in fiscal year 2026, meaning the maximum amount of bonds that can be issued would increase to $11 million.
In addition to a stormwater utility fee increase, city staff are also proposing changes to how the department handles development review application fees.
Currently, there are three categories of floodplain development permits a developer can seek. However, some development types don’t fit neatly into those categories, creating confusion for applicants and city staff. To fix this problem, staff are recommending floodplain development permits be broken down into additional categories, with accompanying fee shifts.
“The application costs for each category of permit will be more closely aligned with the level of review necessary for each permit,” Sterne wrote. “This will generally result in lower review fees for smaller projects, and higher review fees for larger, more complex projects. Resulting in more equitable fees for the type of review needed.”
City staff also hope the increased revenue from development permit applications will help cover the full cost of performing review work.
Right now, the application fees only pay for about 25% of the work; the rest is subsidized by the stormwater utility fee. Sterne said if less utility fee revenue goes toward development review work, more can be used for other infrastructure projects.
The City Council will resume budget discussions in August. Council members will hear from city management about which funding and fee change requests, like the stormwater management division’s, should be prioritized this year. A final budget will be approved in September.