Texas-side to hear comments on master fees

The Texarkana, Texas, City Council last year passed a list of master fees without hearing opposition from the public.

Since the passing of the fees, which had not been updated in decades before last year, they have heard a lot of concerns from citizens.

This has prompted the council to host three master list workshops next week to discuss fees for fiscal year 2016. The workshops will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday on the second floor of City Hall in the conference room. The public is welcome to attend and share their concerns, said Mayor Bob Bruggeman.

“There wasn’t any dialogue from the public about this matter, but since we have received

calls, and we want to get input from citizens and developers who have questions about some of the current fees,” Bruggeman said. “We would like them to come out and talk to us about their concerns.”

Ward 3 Council Member Tina Veal-Gooch said one of the largest fee topics to hash out is why building permits for Texarkana are about $9,500, when permits in Dallas are $4,500.

“Their town would be a far better place to build a business, and we are asking for $9,500. Something is off right there,” Veal-Gooch said. “I know Mr. (John) Whitson (city manager) said we have not updated the fees in 20 years, but if we are really trying to make up for 20 years in one year, it is difficult to stomach. I want us to have a ‘welcome to Texarkana’ sign asking the businesses how we can help them, versus ‘it’s going to cost you $10,000 just to get up and going,’” Veal-Gooch said.

Veal-Gooch said now that the council has passed the original ordinances, it will be easier for them to make changes to them individually as opposed to normal items that may be on the agenda several times before they are approved.

“I do think it is important for their voices to be heard—especially the developers,” Veal-Gooch said.

Bruggeman said it is important to keep in mind that other cities have other fees Texarkana does not, so it is important to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

“Other cities have other permit requirements that we don’t have in Texarkana,” Bruggeman said. “That comparison data needs to be included, as well.”

At last week’s council meeting, the council heard from developers upset about fees, as well as two downtown business owners who were upset about being fined after they changed their sign. Although Assistant City Manager Shirley Jaster said that changing a sign requires a fee, Veal-Gooch said she will ask for these fees to be waived, because she doesn’t think the city explained the rule enough to those two businesses.

“If it is difficult for us to understand all these fees, can you imagine how hard it is for a new business owner to?” Veal-Gooch said. “We’ve got to have business downtown. Yes, they took the name off of the signs and refreshed them, but other than that, nothing essentially changed.”

For more information about next week’s meetings, call 903798-3900.