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Lewisville consultants present $135 million baseline and urge predictive approach to infrastructure funding
Summary
Consultants told the Lewisville City Council an updated infrastructure funding study puts the city t a $135 million annual replacement baseline and recommends shifting from reactive repairs to predictive asset management, flagging near-term large projects that could push utility rates higher.
Consultants told the Lewisville City Council on Monday that an updated infrastructure funding study sets a $135,000,000 baseline for annual capital replacement funding and urged the city to move from reactive maintenance toward predictive asset management to smooth future costs.
Chris Eckert, a consultant presenting the study, said the work builds on a 2023 analysis and uses improved GIS data, condition indices and industry-standard indices to estimate costs over short-term (10-year) and long-term (30-year) horizons. "We're really here to talk today about how we've enhanced the work that started in 2023," Eckert said.
The study shows a shaded projection of annual spending with short-term and long-term average bands; Eckert said the city is currently near the middle of that band but warned of spending spikes in 2027–2029 tied to several large projects. He identified the need to balance cash funding and bond debt and said planners aim for "rate gradualism" — smaller, predictable annual utility rate adjustments — to avoid sudden rate shocks to customers.
A consultant noted combined water and wastewater annual capital spending in the study totals about $85,000,000; the study team also advised considering longer bond repayment periods (for example, 20–25 years rather than 16 years) to better align debt service with asset lifetimes and reduce intergenerational inequity.
Aaron, a vendor presenting VOTA AI tools for asset prediction, described how the technology uses installation dates, pipe material and topography to predict failures and prioritize replacements. "You don't wanna spend precious dollars on pipes that don't need to be replaced yet," Aaron said, explaining the system's primary benefit is avoiding premature replacements and focusing dollars where the probability of imminent failure is highest. Presenters cautioned VOTA AI will likely predict water-line failures more accurately than sewer failures because sewer deterioration is heavily influenced by internal sewer-gas chemistry such as hydrogen sulfide, which the model cannot fully observe.
Council members pressed consultants on assumptions driving cost escalations and timing. A consultant said the team down-weighted unusually high inflation seen over the past 4–5 years so projections do not over-weight pandemic-era spikes, but that the model still uses somewhat higher inflation assumptions than a decade ago. The study also notes uncertainty in parks and facilities data, meaning those categories may require revision and could raise long-term averages when more facilities are added to the dataset.
Eckert closed by saying the study is a snapshot based on current data and will need updates as new information arrives. He urged council to lead a community conversation about service levels because legislative or funding changes could force choices about the level of service the city can afford.
The council recessed for lunch without taking formal action on the study; consultants said they will return with refined data and the NewGen rate study results are expected at the August budget workshop.
