Copperas Cove staff outline proposed "Let's Fix Our Streets" utility; businesses press for lower commercial rates

City staff presented details of a proposed street maintenance utility designed to raise dedicated revenue for repair and preservation of Copperas Cove streets, and heard extensive public comment from residents and business owners who said commercial rates and equity protections require more work.

Public Works Director Scott Osborne said the city's 2022 pavement condition assessment by Lockwood Andrews & Newman found 55% of the city's pavement network rated poor or failed and estimated $52.4 million to bring the entire network to "excellent" condition. "This is actually our sixth of 7 town hall meetings on the Let's Fix Our Street street maintenance utility campaign," Osborne said, describing the study and a NewGen feasibility analysis the city used to model fees.

The NewGen study proposes allocating costs by vehicle trip generation and expressing each parcel's demand as a single-family-equivalent (SFE). Under the model staff described, a $10 per-SFE residential fee would produce roughly $600,000 annually; NewGen calculated roughly 34,000 SFE trips citywide (about 38% residential, 62% nonresidential). Osborne told the meeting that to raise the roughly $4.6 million a year the city's 2022 analysis said would be needed to achieve a 10-year target average PCI of 70, commercial charges must share more of the cost.

Osborne reviewed how cost rises with deferred maintenance: crack seal treatments are relatively inexpensive while mill-and-overlay and full reconstruction increase unit costs substantially. He cited recent work the city completed — including mill-and-overlays on Robertson and reconstruction projects such as parts of Constitution and Pecan Cove — and showed examples of failing pavement such as Bradford Oaks.

The feasibility study uses trip-generation rates from the Institute of Transportation Engineers and applies land-use groupings to estimate trips per parcel and convert them into SFE units. Osborne said the study identified large nonresidential trip generators (H-E-B and Walmart among the top). The draft parameters presented during outreach included a residential cap tied to an SFE fee set for public discussion at $10 and a proposed cap on any single business billing to limit exposure; staff said council directed an upper cap in the draft materials under consideration.

Business owners at the meeting pushed back on commercial methodology and potential economic impacts. "The city paid approximately $200,000 to NextGen to complete this study. I'm wondering why we hired a consulting company that has 1 answer to the problem," said Carrie, a local business owner, asking why other funding options were not emphasized more prominently. E.T. Ferris, general manager of H-E-B in Copperas Cove, urged residents to lobby state legislators to restore reimbursement tied to the 100% disabled-veterans property-tax exemption; Ferris said H-E-B relies on a healthy mix of small-business customers and expressed concern for workers on lower wages.

Residents also asked whether the city could repurpose existing fees such as the drainage fee. Osborne said the city adopted the drainage fee in the late 1980s and that drainage revenues have been used on drainage projects and maintenance. He said legal constraints and prior council decisions limit reallocation of those funds for other purposes.

Several business owners requested clearer commercial comparisons and a public fee calculator. Staff said comparative ordinances and rate examples for neighboring cities (including Killeen and Lampasas) would be presented to council and offered to run parcel-specific calculations on request. Multiple speakers also expressed concern about the draft ordinance language that lists broad allowable uses for the utility fund, including administration, personnel and debt service; one resident read language from the draft and warned such language could allow money to pay indirect costs rather than direct pavement repairs.

Osborne and city staff outlined next steps: final town-hall meetings will conclude, staff will forward public comments to city council ahead of a workshop scheduled for October 7 to review public input, and council could take further action at an October 21 meeting. Staff offered one-on-one follow-ups for business owners who want parcel-specific estimates.

What remains undecided: the final residential SFE rate; the commercial banding and discounts (drafts discussed steep discounts for some large nonresidential accounts that commenters said would be inequitable if not applied consistently); and whether the council will adopt the draft ordinance as presented, modify caps or pursue alternate funding such as a property-tax increase, reallocating the EDC quarter-cent sales tax, or continued reliance on grants and the general fund.

For more information, staff directed listeners to the study documents linked via QR code on the meeting materials and to contact Public Works Director Scott Osborne for parcel-specific fee estimates.