Texas City ISD asks La Marque council to waive remaining permit and plan-review fees for Lamarque High School

Texas City Independent School District officials told the La Marque City Council on Feb. 10 that the district has already paid roughly $1.2 million in plan-review and permitting fees for the Lamarque High School rebuild and asked the city to waive the remaining fees so the project would not exceed the district’s budget estimate.

At a council meeting attended by Superintendent Dr. Melissa Duarte, School Board President Lori Carnes and PBK Architects project manager Chris Green, Dr. Duarte summarized the district’s position: “When we passed this bond election and we knew that we were gonna begin building Lamarque High School, our general contractor had estimated around a million dollars is what we would pay in fees for this rebuild for our facility… the district has paid $1,200,000 in fees for the construction of Lamarque High School.”

Why it matters: the district says the fee estimate the general contractor used when budgeting the bond was based on the city’s online fee schedule at that time. City staff said La Marque updated its schedule in 2022 and that the city charges valuation-based plan-review and permit fees that can rise when project valuation or re-submittals increase. Council members pressed city and school staff for specifics about which permits and plan reviews remain unpaid and how much additional financial exposure the district faces.

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