Educate youself on the issue
Ask Travis
The Texas legislature has provided the City Of Richland Hills one chance to get out of the T membership without incurring a huge debt. Should the citizens of Richland Hills vote to keep the T membership, the city will be liable for a portion of the T debt (1%). That debt could amount to $10 million as the TEX-RAIL project is projected to cost upward of $1 Billion.
Member City / Contract City-What does it mean?
Richland Hills is currently a member city of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority 'The T'. There are three member cities in the T - Fort Worth, Richland Hills and Bluemound. Each of these cities have a designated sales tax of a half-cent dedicated to the Transportation Authority. All of the cities share in the contractual obligations and debt obligations of the Transportation Authority. All three cities have a service plan that can be changed by the T board. The T board is appointment by fort worth city council and Tarrant county commissioners court. A member city other than fort worth does not have representation on the T board.
A contract city is any city that has entered into contract for services. They may or may not have dedicated a portion of their sales tax and they have no obligation of debt out side of their contract.
Can RH change the contract or become a Contract City?
The voters are the only ones that determines membership. The transportation code determines sales tax for the entire authority. So , there cannot be a special deal cooked up for a member city.
How much DEBT will Richland Hills take on if it stays in the FWTA (T)
The debt will equal one percent of all contract and financial obligation. Currently with texrail and cost projections near 1 Billion dollars our share would be 10 million dollars. This debt will only be realized if the voters choose to keep being a member after this May election.
Will the Richland Hills train station close if the citizens decide to exit the T membership?
No, because the law was changed in the last legislative session that the T would not be required to close the train station.
Does Richland Hills have a service plan with the T?
According to the T, there was no service plan on the initial ballot. Originally, a fixed route was implemented in 1992. In August of 1995, it was changed to "rider request".
Therefore, in our opinion, without a vote approved service plan, the T can change the service arrangement at any time.
FACTS
The Richland Hills for Better Tomorrow PAC was formed to educate residents about things that will impact residents’ lives living in Richland Hills. This up-coming T election will impact the city of Richland Hills and have long term consequences.There is a group currently working to keep the T in the city. The information provided by that group is led by the same person who supported consolidation with North Richland Hills. All information his group is providing is based on HIS opinions and understanding of the FACTS. As we all know, he has been wrong on almost everything and this is one of them. This is a dis-service to the residents of the city of Richland Hills.RHBT PAC basis all its information on facts.
1. FACT: We are ALREADY paying for the TEX-RAIL project. Here is a portion of the document by Locke Lord Attorney and Counselors for the FWTA. You can read the full document on the RHBTPAC website rhbtpac.wix.com/nodebt
2. FACT: Can we negotiate a better contract while still being ‘Member City’? The answer is NO as presented in the document by the same T counselors
3. FACT: There will be a combination federal funding for the project. However, these immediate costs we HAVE to pay are not federally funded
We have many more facts and documents that will show Richland Hills residents getting a RAW deal. We recommend voting out of the FWTA as ‘Member City’ and contracting with the T as proposed by their Master Plan.
