The City Council of Fort Worth will conduct a public hearing to consider the following proposed ordinance to amend Chapter 12.5 “Environmental Protection and Compliance,” Article III “Stormwater Protection.” Division 4 “Municipal Drainage Utility System,” Section 12.5-340 “Categories of Drainage Utility Rates” of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, to revise the monthly rates and billing basis for the drainage utility. If approved, the new rates shall be effective January 1, 2026. The public hearing will be held during the regularly scheduled City Council Meeting on September 16, 2025 at 6:00 PM in Fort Worth City Hall located at 100 Fort Worth Trail, Fort Worth, Texas. ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 12.5 “ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND COMPLIANCE,” ARTICLE III “STORMWATER PROTECTION.” DIVISION 4 “MUNICIPAL DRAINAGE UTILITY SYSTEM,” SECTION 12.5-340 “CATEGORIES OF DRAINAGE UTILITY RATES” OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS (2015), AS AMENDED, TO REVISE THE MONTHLY RATES AND BILLING BASIS FOR THE DRAINAGE UTILITY FEE; PROVIDING THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE CUMULATIVE; PROVIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, on January 24, 2006 the City Council of the City of Fort Worth adopted Ordinance No. 16781-01-2006 to establish a municipal Drainage Utility System (M&C G-15066); and WHEREAS, on January 24, 2006 the City Council of the City of Fort Worth also adopted Ordinance No. 16782-01-2006 to amend the City Code by adding Division IV, Sections 12.5-336 through 12.5-347, entitled “Municipal Drainage Utility System” to Article III of Chapter 12.5, by which the rules and regulations of the Drainage Utility System would be governed (M&C G-15067); and WHEREAS, the Municipal Drainage Utility Systems Act (the “Act”), Texas Local Government Code §§ 552.042 et seq., as amended, authorizes the City to prescribe a basis upon which to fund the municipal Drainage Utility System and to assess the fees and charges to support the municipal Drainage Utility System; and WHEREAS, Section 552.045 of the Act authorizes the City to establish a schedule of drainage charges and to revise those drainage charges after three published notices and a public hearing; and WHEREAS, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2019, 2023, and 2024, the City Council revised the rates and charges for the Municipal Drainage Utility System; and WHEREAS, on June 13, 2023 the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 26205- 06-2023 (M&C No. 23-0474) to amend the City Code to replace outdated definitions for different categories of properties to ensure correct stormwater utility rates are charged to each respective property within the Municipal Drainage Utility System; and WHEREAS, the City Council finds that an increase in the rates is now warranted to continue to provide funds for necessary stormwater infrastructure maintenance and capital improvements; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to clarify the billing basis for Low Occupancy Residential Property billing tiers to ensure that the billing tiers do not overlap; and WHEREAS, notice of the public hearing on this ordinance was published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram three times before the date of the public hearing, with the first publication occurring on August 13, 2025, said date being on or before the 30th day before the date of the hearing, in accordance with the requirements of the Act; and WHEREAS, in setting the schedule of charges for drainage utility service, the calculations are based on an inventory of the parcels within the Municipal Drainage Utility System and the actual or estimated impervious area on the benefitted properties; and WHEREAS, it is the intent of the City to fund the Municipal Drainage Utility System to fairly and equitably allocate the cost of storm water control to properties in proportion to storm water runoff potential for each type of property. NOW THEREFORE BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION 1. Chapter 12.5, Article III, Division 4, Section 12.5-340 “Categories of Drainage Utility Rates” of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, is hereby amended to amend subsections (a) and (b) in their entirety to be and read as follows: SECTION 12.5-340 CATEGORIES OF DRAINAGE UTILITY RATES. (a) The City Council finds that impervious cover increases runoff and associated pollutants. For the purposes of calculating the drainage utility fee, an ERU shall be the established standard billing unit. One ERU shall be billed at $7.29 per month. Each benefitted property shall be categorized as one of the following: (1) Low occupancy residential property. A low occupancy residential property shall be placed in one of four billing tiers based on residential square footage, identified below, with building permits or the most recent appraisal district data used as a means of estimating the total amount of impervious area on the property. The median single-family residential parcel in Fort Worth has been determined to have approximately 2,600 square feet of impervious area or surface or one ERU. (2) High occupancy residential/non-residential property. Fees for high occupancy residential/non-residential properties shall be based on the total estimated impervious area on each parcel, with building permit information, aerial photography, or actual measurement used as a means of estimating the total amount of impervious area on the property, divided by 2,600 square feet to determine the number of ERUs or billing units. (b) The City Council finds that it is equitable to assess the drainage utility fee to each low occupancy residential user on the basis of four low occupancy residential billing tiers and such rates are hereby established. Low Occupancy Billing Unit Equivalent Billing Basis Monthly Rate, Effective Billing Tier Residential Units (ERU) January 1, 2026 Tier 1 0.5 ERU Up to 1,300 square feet $3.65 Tier 2 1.0 ERU 1,301 to 2,475 square feet $7.29 Tier 3 1.5 ERU 2,476 to 3,394 square feet $10.94 Tier 4 2.0 ERU 3,395 square feet and above $14.58 SECTION 2. This ordinance shall be cumulative of all provisions of ordinances and of the Code of the City of Fort Worth, Texas (2015), as amended, except where the provisions of this ordinance are in direct conflict with the provisions of such ordinances and such Code, in which event conflicting provisions of such ordinances and such Code are hereby repealed. SECTION 3. It is hereby declared to be the intention of the City Council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this ordinance are severable, and, if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this ordinance shall be declared unconstitutional by the valid judgment or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this ordinance, since the same would have been enacted by the City Council without the incorporation in this ordinance of any such unconstitutional phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section. SECTION 4. This ordinance shall take effect on January 1, 2026. APPROVED AS TO FORM AND LEGALITY: Kevin Anders Jannette S. Goodall Assistant City Attorney City Secretary ADOPTED: