Fulshear officials are exploring additional ways to fund street maintenance as infrastructure begins to age.

The big picture

City officials are seeking feedback from City Council on how to handle future street maintenance repairs as expenditures have increased more than 292% between fiscal year 2021-22 and 2024-25, Assistant City Manager Kelsee Jordan Lee said at a May 6 City Council meeting.


This comes after City Council committed in March to maintaining a pavement condition score of 70 or above, Lee said. The pavement is scored on a scale of zero to 100, with 70-100 being good or satisfactory.

“The council did elect to go forward with a scoring of 70 for the pavement condition index, which is very, very good for the residents, but it will obviously incur some sort of financial consideration with it,” Lee said.


Zooming in

Lee said possible funding sources for additional street maintenance include:
  • Increasing money allocated annually through the city’s general fund budget
  • Issuing certificates of obligation, which is a debt taken on by governments
  • Requesting funding from the city’s economic development corporations
  • Creating a street maintenance tax
The street maintenance tax would allow the city to use 0.25 to 0.5 cents of every dollar of sales tax collected for street maintenance and repairs, if approved by voters in an election, Lee said. However, the revenue can’t be used for new street construction, street capacity expansions, drainage or utility upgrades, or work on state- or county-owned roads.

The state of Texas collects a 6.25% sales tax on every dollar spent on goods and some services, and entities have the ability to collect up to an additional 2% tax, with the total not to exceed 8.25% in any area, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Therefore, to utilize the street maintenance tax, the city would have to reallocate its sales tax, since it already collects its 2% within the city’s boundaries, Lee said.


One way this could be achieved is through the dissolution of EDC Type A, which can fund industrial development such as business infrastructure, manufacturing, research and development. Dissolving EDC A was initially outlined in the city’s 2019 strategic plan, Lee said.


What they’re saying

Multiple City Council members, including council member Patrick Powers, said there were going to be hard decisions to make as the city moves into budget season.

“This is a reflection of the fact that our tax base is not healthy,” he said. “We have the second lowest tax rate in Fort Bend County, ... and in the next five years I believe we are going to be wrestling with this.”


Looking ahead

City Council directed city staff to look at increasing expenditure allocations in the city’s general fund balance for street maintenance before turning to the EDCs to see if the corporations can fund road projects.