Denton city staff and outside consultants briefed the City Council on the city’s federal advocacy priorities on Oct. 14, outlining recent developments on earmarks, Opportunity Zones, highway and transit reauthorization, and Federal Communications Commission proceedings affecting local rights-of-way.

Christy Fogel, chief of staff, summarized the city’s community project funding (earmark) efforts and said the city submitted three proposals this year to Representative Ronnie Jackson’s office, including a downtown protective-bollard project and two wastewater expansion projects; the North Marsh Branch wastewater project previously advanced in subcommittee with a $2 million allocation but remained uncertain due to continuing resolutions in Washington.

Ralph Garbusian of Capital Edge (federal advocacy consultants) reviewed the larger fiscal context and key federal packages that intersect with city priorities. He summarized the budget reconciliation effort (referred to in the presentation as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) and said Congress preserved the municipal-bond tax exemption and included extensions and reforms to low-income housing tax credits, new markets tax credits and permanent Opportunity Zones with new reporting requirements and Treasury funding for oversight. Garbusian noted the budget reconciliation package contains provisions that affect energy tax incentives and clarified important construction start deadlines for clean-energy incentives.

On Opportunity Zones, Garbusian explained governors will once again have authority under the revised federal law to designate new tracts every 10 years; staff advised the city should discuss with the governor’s office which eligible Denton census tracts the city would like designated when the state process opens.

Transportation and reauthorization were highlighted as high priorities. Garbusian described the surface-transportation funding picture: federal highway and transit baselines, the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, and the ongoing reauthorization of highway and transit programs (next deadline FY2026). He urged preserving programs that send funding to local governments and MPOs and noted the city should continue to advocate for local access to federal highway formula and competitive grant programs.

Council members asked about timing and local impacts. Several councilmembers raised concerns about the timing of TxDOT corridor improvements in the same presentation, and staff said federal project schedules are set by TxDOT and that the city would require traffic and safety mitigation when development proposals come forward.

Finally, Garbusian warned of two recent Federal Communications Commission proceedings that he described as “a massive preemption of local government authority” over rights-of-way, pole attachments and small-cell deployment. Comments on the FCC proceedings are due in November and the city, the League of Cities and other local-government groups planned to file formal comments.

The council did not take formal action on the briefing, but staff recommended continued monitoring and advocacy on earmarks, Opportunity Zones and FCC rulemaking and suggested the city prepare comments and further policy options as federal proposals evolve.