Fort Worth’s City Council along with the Fort Worth Mayor authorized three elections to be held on May 7. The measures were agreed to on February 9, the adopted legislation are to include a city bond and charter election, along with a special city council election for Fort Worth City Council District 4.
Bond Election
In the bond election, Fort Worth voters will be asked to consider five propositions. With propositions ranging from $12 million to $360 million, the package will total to $560 million.
The package would secure funding to improve roads, provide new park and recreation amenities, add a new library, build public safety facilities and acquire open space. The package will also include $56 million in proposed funding for arterials, neighborhood streets and intersections to help relieve congestion and improve driver’s safety. Additionally, there is increased proposed funding for the Forest Park Pool replacement, Stop Six aquatic facility and Botanic Gardens infrastructure improvements, and adding the development of Oak Grove Community Park.
Voters will be able to vote for or against each of the propositions individually.
Charter Election
The Charter election will consist of 13 proposed amendments to the City Charter.
Among the propositions:
- Tripling the annual pay at half of the average annual base-rate salary for all city department heads, and councilmembers’ annual pay at half of the average annual base-rate salary for all city assistant department heads. If the ballot proposition passes, the mayor and council pay rate would be calculated each year as part of the budget process starting this summer, and could go up or down based on the averages of the listed positions.
- Removing the assessment and collection of taxes as a duty of the Department of Finance to reflect that the current practice of assessing and collecting all taxes, including special assessments, is performed by Tarrant County.
- Amending the charter to clarify that the city is not required to assess owners of abutting property for the cost of construction of sidewalks and curbs and that the city may directly pay such costs itself.
- Other propositions are designed to remove outdated language, to reflect the current Fort Worth municipal government.
Voters again, can vote for or against each of the propositions individually.
Fort Worth City Council District 4 Special Election
A special election will be held to fill the unexpired term of council member, Cary Moon, of Fort Worth City Council District 4. This comes as Moon decided to file a run for the Texas House of Representatives for HD-93.
Additional election information can be found HERE.