Corpus Christi city officials are considering resurrecting a street maintenance fee — a cost that had been eliminated from utility bills in 2024 — to help fund residential street repairs.
The fee, prior to its sunset at the end of December 2023, pulled in about $12 million in revenue for residential streets, said interim Assistant City Manager Ernie De La Garza in an Aug. 21 budget meeting.
City staff in earlier budget discussions had not recommended bringing the fee back, but officials have since reversed course after some City Council members expressed interest in revisiting the initiative.
In this April 2023 file photo, construction workers prepare to pave a strip of Prescott Street near Gollihar Road.
Reintroducing the fee in January 2026 could be a solution to a $15 million projected shortfall for the residential street program beginning in fiscal year 2027, staff said.
When it had been in effect, most residents paid about $5.30 per month — a fee that had never been adjusted for inflation, De La Garza said.
The recommendation delivered by staff Aug. 21 was to reimplement the fee and also raise it to about $6.60.
A fee of about $6.60, if approved, could bring in about $15 million over the next nine months, according to a presentation made before the council — the amount of funding needed to close the gap for the program’s fiscal year 2027 budget.
Funding options
The vote in 2023 to allow the fee to expire was unanimous — a decision several council members have since questioned.
The staff, said City Manager Peter Zanoni, had recommended at that time that the fee be renewed, and at a level adjusted for inflation.
Although some council members have recently indicated support for restoring a street fee, both Mayor Paulette Guajardo and City Councilman Gil Hernandez pushed back on reinstating one during the Aug. 21 budget meeting.
Taxes and fees shouldn’t be considered “permanent solutions,” Guajardo said, asking that the staff return with other recommendations on how to fill the funding gap.
One route may be bond programs, she said — potentially bringing to voters the option of approving funding that could be devoted to residential streets.
Hernandez has asserted that there are other ways to make up the funding lost through elimination of the street maintenance fee, including limiting the reserve balance to 17% of the general fund versus 20%.
That difference represents about $10 million that could go to the program, he said.
“I would rather use that $10 million for streets than let it sit in a bank account, not being utilized,” Hernandez said. “I would prefer doing that instead of adding a fee on somebody’s utility bill that is already going to be increasing.”
Water, wastewater and stormwater fees have all been proposed by staff to increase in the coming year.
However, going the route suggested by Hernandez would be a one-time source and not provide recurring funding, such as a fee would provide, Zanoni said.
Hernandez’s ultimate preference, he said, would be for the city to hold a referendum asking residents to vote on whether to add 2 cents to the property tax rate, with funding going to the program.
That would not be possible this year, but potentially next.
More: Here are some of the new and increased fees proposed in Corpus Christi city budget
More: Could a fee be coming to Corpus Christi’s recycled water program? Here’s what council says
More: What will Corpus Christi water, wastewater bills look like next year? See the proposals
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Corpus Christi officials considering reinstituting street fee
