Fort Worth City Council voted unanimously on September 15 to approve a new pavement management fee, a $3-a-month charge for single-family homes designed to help close a $66 million annual gap in street repair funding. The fee, billed through water accounts, is set to take effect in February 2028 and will apply to residential and commercial properties alike based on usage-related criteria.
City staff have pegged Fort Worth's average annual street-maintenance needs at $98 million, according to Fort Worth Report. Existing funding falls $66 million short of that figure every year, leaving the city's roughly 8,600 lane miles of streets and roadways increasingly vulnerable to deterioration. The new fee is projected to generate about $27.4 million annually, covering roughly 40% of that funding gap once fully collected.
How the Charges Break Down
Residential users, meaning single-family homeowners, would pay $3 per month under the approved structure. Multifamily properties are charged based on dwelling units, while hotels are billed according to room count and schools according to student population. Commercial properties are generally charged based on square footage, a formula city officials outlined through Connect Fort Worth, the city's public engagement platform.
City officials worked with a development advisory committee to hash out the logistics of the fee before it reached council. The revenue collected will fund pavement preservation and maintenance work, with administrative costs the only carve-out from that dedicated purpose.
Why the City Says It Can't Wait
Construction costs have climbed about 73% in recent years, according to Fort Worth Report, squeezing the value of every maintenance dollar the city already spends. In 2025 alone, Fort Worth spent $38 million on maintenance, but that only covered about 80 lane miles — a small fraction of the network the city is responsible for keeping in shape.
Delaying full reconstruction on streets that fall into disrepair could add roughly $375 million in future bond needs for every 150 lane miles per year that go untreated, per the seed reporting. City staff estimate the pavement management fee will avert about $125 million annually in future street reconstruction costs and reduce future bond needs by 34%. The fee is expected to support 75% of heavy maintenance projects and 25% of citywide preservation projects.
Council Debate and Oversight Measures
Council member Michael Crain, who moved to approve the fee, said revenue collected for roads and streets should remain dedicated to those purposes. Crain also amended the approval to require semiannual public reporting on both transportation impact fees and the pavement management fee, and the fee's implementation now requires a 12-month review in a public workshop.
Lane Zarate, the city's assistant director of street and stormwater operations, called the fee an important step with a significant benefit for the city's streets. The city's PayGo program, which uses property tax revenue instead of debt, will continue to help fund street repair alongside the new fee once it comes online.
A Five-Year Cycle for Streets in Good Condition
Under the plan, streets rated in good condition will get maintenance once every five years, a preservation cycle the city says extends pavement life before more expensive repairs become necessary. The goal, city staff say, is to touch every well-maintained street on that five-year rhythm rather than letting good roads slide into the kind of disrepair that demands costly reconstruction.
Fort Worth's Transportation and Public Works Department developed the pavement management fee proposal specifically to improve street conditions citywide, according to the City of Fort Worth. Other Texas cities have taken similar approaches: Killeen, for instance, charges $10 per single-family equivalent per month under its own street maintenance fee, according to the City of Killeen — more than triple what Fort Worth homeowners will pay starting in 2028.
