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
  
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*  No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.                    *
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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