It’s good to know what’s going on!The January 11th City Council meeting was packed with substantive issues, leading to much discussion and a late night. Please take a moment to thank your Council members for the time they donate to make our City a better place to live, work, and play! Here is a link to the presentation and agenda packet for the meeting.
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Planning & Zoning CommissionIn the not too far past, the Council and Planning and Zoning Commission were not able to conduct city business, due to their inability to form a quorum of the respective bodies. This resulted in the Council dissolving the Planning and Zoning Commission and taking back on the responsibilities that had been delegated to the Planning and Zoning Commission. The Planning and Zoning Commission is an advisory body that holds public meetings and recommends the boundaries of zoning, enforces the the appropriate regulations, and advises the City Council on zoning applications. Further, the Planning and Zoning Commission will be deeply involved in the review and update of the city’s ordinances regarding development in New Fairview. These updates will be recommended to the City Council as amendments to the current city ordinances. The Planning and Zoning Commission will begin holding regularly scheduled meetings in the near future. If you are interested in learning more about this, please plan on attending these meetings in the future. |
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General Homestead ExemptionsCurrently, the city has adopted ordinances for a tax freeze (ceiling) for over 65 and disabled, a $10,000 exemption for over 65 and disabled, as well as a tiered exemption for disabled veterans:
The Council has requested that the staff prepare and present an ordinance that would provide a general homestead exemption. The statute governing the ability of a municipality to offer this type of exemption allows for an exemption up to 20% of the assessed value, but no less than $5,000. What are homestead exemptions used for? A general homestead exemption would effectively reduce the property tax rate of residential homeowners from $0.30 to around $0.24 per $100 of valuation, at the full 20% exemption level. How much would this save the average household? How does this impact the budget? How does this impact the street’s improvement? Currently, it appears that building permits and other revenues may exceed budget but these are one-time revenues that best practice states, cities should not generally consider these one-time revenues when taking on long-term financial obligations. If the other revenues do not materialize, the city would have to look at reducing services levels to offset the loss of revenue or the most conservative approach would be to proactively reduce the scope of the streets project by around 60% to match revenues to expenditures. How does this impact the city financially? While there may be enough excess revenue coming into the budget from other sources, such as new home building permits, as well as increased tax base revenue in future years, from new home construction, it is in the best interest of the city to slightly increase the fund balance each year to establish a positive trend. Finally, the General Fund balance acts as a “shock fund”, allowing the city to tackle tough financial years if something happens in the future that reduces city revenues, such as when the legislature changed the sales tax laws on natural gas production. How does this impact the city long-term? |
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Development ActivitiesNorth Texas is booming with growth. Northwest ISD is anticipating from 10,000 to 12,500 new homes being built within the next five years and New Fairview is right in the line of the growth path from DFW. Active Developments New Developments |
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Ready Mix Concrete Plant |
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The plant would also be looking to employee between 18 and 20 people in the New Fairview area as both office/clerical staff and CDL drivers. The dispatch facility would be operating for four local facilities, which means all sales tax generated from these plants would come to the city. They anticipate between $40-50 million in annual revenues, which would equate to around $600,000 in new sales tax revenue for the city. The Council has requested that they reach out to their neighbors and get input regarding the proposed plant, as well as provide a DOT safety rating, provide details on the TCEQ required dust collection system, and water source for the plant. |
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Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)To participate in this Texas Department of Agriculture’s grant program, the city is required to solicit requests for proposals to act as the grants administrator for the $350,000 CDBG funds the city is seeking. The city received two proposals from firms, Traylor and Associates, and GrantWorks, to act as our grants administrator. Both applicants were well qualified for the role but staff recommended to Traylor and Associates due to previous work experience with their firm. The city is still seeking people to complete the community survey so that we can obtain the 80% participation rate to successful complete our grant application. These funds will be used in streets repair and reconstruction in low-to-moderate-income areas of the city. To complete your survey, please contact Brooke at city hall, 817-638-5366 extension 1004. She can take your info over the phone or you can access digital version of the form here or an online form here. |
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Public Safety, Police, Fire, and Medical ServicesOne of the primary reasons that city’s exist is to provide services that may otherwise not be provided, such as police, fire, and emergency medical services. The City of New Fairview has been discussing what this looks like for many years, the city hall multi-purpose building was initially designed and constructed as a fire station and we are now seeing some of the benefits with an average reduced response time of around 50%. With the city’s existing and new housing, it is becoming even more important to look at what the city can do to build scaffolding for future services, including ensuring the safety of structures located in close proximity to the many oil/gas wells we see in our community. Currently, homes and other occupied structures may be constructed within 200 feet of these oil/gas well sites and in an emergency, our volunteer firefighters are going to be the ones showing up to any incident.
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Oil/Gas Well SetbacksCurrently, the ordinance states that a new well must be 600 feet from an existing structure or they must obtain a Special Well Permit. Alternatively, the construction of a new structure that will be occupied is 200 feet from an oil/gas well. These distances are fairly consistent with what other municipalities in the area have implemented in their ordinances as well. |