Stormwater staff seek 5% fee increase to fund mid‑size flood projects, inspections and partnership funding

Stormwater staff told the Fort Worth City Council on June 16 that a modest 5% increase to the stormwater utility fee would support mid‑size flood mitigation projects, expand partnership capital and fund a new position to improve inspection and asset management capacity.

Jennifer Dyke traced the program to its 2006 creation after 2004 flooding and said the fee is charged to properties with impervious surface. Under the proposed 5% increase, a typical tier‑2 single‑family home would pay about $0.37 more per month (rising from $7.29 to $7.65).

Staff said they have identified roughly 83 areas with about $500,000,000 in total mitigation needs from prior engineering evaluations; the average mid‑size project is about $5M and reduces neighborhood flooding for multiple properties. Dyke highlighted recent partnership projects — Westcliff (~$16M, benefiting ~57 properties) and Greenfield Acres (~$16.5M, ~66 properties) — and said increasing partnership funding would allow stormwater to leverage other departmental projects.

Dyke said inspection capacity is constrained — currently one SWFMA inspector and one channel inspector — and proposed a new position that would increase SWFMA inspections by roughly 110 locations per year and add five miles of channel inspection annually; staff also proposed a two‑person drone inspection team to improve coverage of hard‑to‑reach areas.

Staff noted the City of Fort Worth is the largest stormwater ratepayer and that major users (including ISDs and large commercial sites) can pursue fee credits. Staff plans to contact large payers about impacts and credit renewal processes. Council members asked for more detailed maintenance‑cost breakdowns and urged careful outreach to top ratepayers.