Council allocates $1 million in impact fees to cover North Milwaukee shortfall

City staff told the Lubbock City Council on Oct. 14 that bids for the North Milwaukee bond project created a funding shortfall and recommended a series of internal transfers to cover the gap. Assistant City Manager Eric Regino said the low construction bid shown in staff materials was $16.3 million and the other bid was $18.77 million; staff estimated the project, without contingencies, at about $19.63 million.

Regino outlined a staff plan that included moving $1,000,000 from impact fees in Service Area A into the capital project, using stormwater fund dollars tied to arterial drainage work, and drawing on prior appropriations from earlier bond projects. Those adjustments, staff said, would raise the project appropriation from $17 million to about $20.7 million and yield roughly a 6.6% contingency.

Councilmember David Collins asked whether scope reductions—such as removing a planned traffic signal and narrowing lanes where the county will not continue adjoining work—accounted for cost differences. Staff said the signal alone would have cost about $250,000 and that redesigns reduced usable lanes in places because the county will not build the connecting portion north of the project.

Collins and other councilmembers also questioned contingency planning across several bond projects and how remaining impact-fee balances would be shared among upcoming bids. Regino said two upcoming projects are in Service Area A and that, if the council approved the $1 million allocation, Service Area A impact fees would drop from roughly $2.8 million to about $1.8 million available for other projects.

The council moved and unanimously approved item 5.2, authorizing the proposed impact-fee transfer and related budget amendments to advance the North Milwaukee construction award and keep the project on track.