City taking first steps toward 2026 Bond Program

City taking first steps toward 2026 Bond Program

Published on October 23, 2024

At Tuesday's City Council Work Session, an update on the 2026 Bond Program was presented, reflecting the latest analysis of Financial Management Services on the City's debt capacity.

Debt capacity is the maximum amount of money an organization can borrow and still be able to pay it back. In their findings, they determined that the debt capacity available for the 2026 Bond Program is approximately $800 million.

Why it matters: The 2026 Bond Program staff working group has met multiple times to review City growth trends, discuss debt capacity and anticipated bond program total resources, and to hear presentations from submitting departments. Recent meetings of the working group have focused on project scoring methodology and scoring results. Additional meetings are occurring to refine project cost estimates and to discuss project evaluation scores.

What's new: Proposed projects for the 2026 Bond Program have been submitted by Transportation & Public Works, Park & Recreation, Fire, Police, Code Compliance, Neighborhood Services, Property Management, Library and the Open Space/Good Natured Initiative.

The total requested is $2,703,484,948 and the preliminary proposed project totals for these departments and example projects are as follows:

• Transportation & Public Works: $1,727,251,031 for arterials, neighborhood streets and intersections
• Park & Recreation: $516,500,000 for park improvements and community center renovations
• Fort Worth Fire Department: $102,874,917 for Fire Station 46, Fire Station 40 and other refurbishments
• Code Compliance: $97 million for the South Animal Shelter
• Neighborhood Services: $40 million for the Housing Affordability Bond Program
• Fort Worth Police Department: $81,664,000 for a communications center and the Seventh Patrol Division
• Fort Worth Public Library: $49,075,000 for the Far West Regional Library and Worth Heights Library
• Open Space: $22,500,000 for open space acquisitions
• Property Management: $66,620,000 for the combined West Service Center

This list does not currently include funding gaps on existing capital projects or requests from regional partners for a City bond-funded contribution for ongoing projects such as the TexRail extension, the Community Arts Center or other projects. These and other projects may emerge during the public engagement phase and the development of the bond program.

What's next: The City will begin preparing draft recommendations for project funding, with recommendations being reprioritized and eliminated as they are determined not buildable, too costly or are no longer priorities for departments or the City. Once finalized, these staff-recommended projects will be drafted for City Council review. Once City Council approves the preliminary list, public outreach and online engagement will begin in early 2025 through the summer of 2025. In the fall of 2025, the bond project list will be finalized based on public input and with a Council approval targeted by the end of the year.

The City Council will likely set the bond election in early 2026, with public education meetings scheduled in the spring of 2026. The bond election will be held in May 2026.

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Tagged as:

• City Council
• Infrastructure Update