FEMA estimate reduces Cape Loop bridge rebuild cost; court may cut contingency from proposed budget

KERR COUNTY, Texas — County leaders told the commissioners court that engineers and FEMA produced estimates for repairs to the Cape Loop (Cadelloupe/Kegeloop) bridge and a temporary crossing that together are far smaller than earlier worst‑case rebuild numbers, and that the change meaningfully reduces the amount the court had reserved for road and bridge contingency in the proposed budget.

An estimate FEMA produced for repairing the damaged span was presented as $1,170,206.38, and county staff said an additional temporary bridge project — placed at the Rio Vista low‑water crossing to maintain in/out access during construction — was estimated at around $500,000. The judge said the earlier $6.5 million figure for a full rebuild would be removed and replaced by the smaller figures, producing a reduction of roughly $4–5 million in the line the court had set aside for road and bridge contingency.

County staff described the $10,056,057 number currently visible in the proposed budget as a combined entry: approximately $10,000,000 in contingency to meet the FEMA 75/25 matching requirement and $56,057 of ARPA interest / ARPA‑linked projects. Staff said the revised engineering/FEMA estimate will reduce the FEMA‑match contingency the county had planned to keep in the proposed budget.

The court’s auditor and county staff cautioned that reducing fund-balance reserves has tradeoffs. Commissioners were reminded that best practice is to preserve roughly 25% of the general‑fund balance to cover cash‑flow gaps and to maintain creditworthiness; staff said the current plan would bring the estimated year‑end fund balance close to 24% after proposed changes and before other requests (e.g., the sheriff’s supplemental staffing). Staff noted lenders and rating agencies ask routinely about fund balance as part of bond rating and refinancing discussions.

Discussion vs. decision: commissioners and staff discussed the FEMA estimate and how to reflect it in the proposed budget. The court directed staff to incorporate the updated repair and temporary bridge figures into the next budget edition and examine the tax‑rate and fund‑balance implications. No final reduction vote on the contingency line was recorded at the meeting; staff said they would reflect the updated figures in the third edition of the proposed budget so the court could act before the filing deadline.

Why it matters: Revising the road/bridge contingency downward by several million dollars affects the county’s projected fund balance and creates room to consider staffing and other requests without increasing the tax rate as much. The county must balance immediate recovery needs, FEMA match requirements and best‑practice reserve targets while meeting the statutory deadline to file a proposed budget.

What to watch next: The auditor will publish a third edition of the proposed budget reflecting the FEMA/engineer figures; commissioners will decide whether to use the freed funds to lower the tax rate, increase employee pay, or include sheriff staffing requests when they vote to file the proposed budget.