Farmers Branch council adopts Mercer Crossing PID assessment update as developer reimbursement schedule moves forward

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, the Farmers Branch City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance 3,961, approving the city-required annual update to the Mercer Crossing Public Improvement District (PID) service and assessment plan for fiscal year 2025–26.

The ordinance — part of the city’s ongoing oversight of a PID created in February 2017 — formalizes the allocation of annual installments that repay developer-funded public improvements. Jay Patel, the city’s finance director, told council the developer Centurion financed about $44,400,000 in public improvements under city-approved reimbursement agreements that are being repaid over time through assessments on benefitting properties.

Mark Furman, vice president with Municap (the PID administrator), reviewed the updated budget and the per-unit installments that fund both operations and debt service. He said the update reflects three areas of change: the total authorized improvement costs, the operations and debt-service budget, and the allocation of that budget across benefiting properties. Furman noted a separate reimbursement agreement for a recently completed townhome site of 69 lots, whose infrastructure costs are borne only by those lots.

The update shows modest shifts from last year: principal payments rise slightly while interest declined, administrative expenses remain stable, and the net annual installment decreased in part because the city applied a larger “tourist credit.” The tourist credit is a city contribution that uses a portion of property-tax growth from each property to offset the PID annual installment the next year. Furman said the overall net budget for the PID this year is about $1,529,000 compared with roughly $1.6 million last year.

Council members asked about year-to-year changes and the effect of the townhome site. Councilwoman Reid asked whether assessments would be “within dollars of last year”; Furman replied that before tourist-credit application differences are small and that townhome obligations do not impact single-family assessments. Councilman Neal and Councilwoman Villafranca also thanked staff for the briefing.

Patel said next steps, if council approves, are to send the update to the assessment collector (Utility Tax Service) for billing and online payment setup and to record the ordinance and report in Dallas County records.

The motion to approve Ordinance 3,961 passed unanimously.

What’s next: the assessment collector will bill property owners for the PID annual installments and the city will record the ordinance and report in county records. Council directed staff to proceed with implementation as described.