LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD Austin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 77th Regular Session April 1, 2001 TO: Honorable Bill G. Carter, Chair, House Committee on Urban Affairs FROM: John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board IN RE: HB1912 by Capelo (Relating to the authority of a municipality to impose and use utility fees for certain disabled access improvements.), As Introduced ************************************************************************** * No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated. * ************************************************************************** Local Government Impact The bill would allow a city to charge a fee not to exceed $1 per month to each utility bill to be used to construct and maintain streets, sidewalk improvements, curb cuts and signals at crosswalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The bill would take effect immediately. A representative of the City of Corpus Christi reported they have 77,642 water customers. A $1 fee would generate $77,642 per month. The cost of programming to add an additional line to the bill would be $150 per hour and would take three to four hours to complete. The extra line would also cause the bill to become two pages. This would increase the amount of the statements produced and increase the manpower hours needed to arrange and organize the bills, but the additional manpower hours would be minimal. A representative of the City of Coppell said they have 11,400 hookups which would generate $11,400 per month. The representative said there would be a cost for the programmer to key in the information for the extra line. There would also be costs to pull the funds out and deposit them into another account. No estimate of cost was given. A representative of the City of Euless said their cost would be minimal. The administrative cost would be to program in the information at about $150 per hour for three hours. They have 11,441 hookups so it would generate $11,441 in revenue per month. Based on information from three cities, the average cost for programming would be about $150 per hour, which would be a one time expense. There would be a positive fiscal impact on cities in an amount that would vary depending on the number of utility customers in each city. Source Agencies: 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts LBB Staff: JK, DB