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1. What is a Transportation User Fee (TUF)?

The Transportation User Fee (TUF) is a fee assessed to residents and businesses, based on the traffic levels generated by each dwelling unit or business.  TUF’s use a trip generation factor to classify customers into a rate category.   Residential and low volume businesses generally receive a fixed flat rate category while other businesses and commercial operations receive a category based on their trip generation rate. Considering that a single-family residence normally only has one or two cars while a large box store parking lot attracts 100’s of cars per hour, a fee based on use produces a more equitable method of paying for the system.  Since the box stores receives a greater benefit from the transportation system and causes more demand and wear and tear on the transportation system, they should pay a higher amount for improvement and maintenance.

2. Why does Borger need a TUF?

Based on community feedback, street improvements received high priority in the Council’s 2018 Strategic Vision Session and became a strategic pillar for our community.  .Investing and maintaining Borger’s streets and transportation infrastructure saves money in the long run. Citizens have been requesting better street maintenance and the City has been exploring options to dedicate additional funds for this purpose.  More than $9 million of street maintenance has been identified and a method for the ongoing funding for the street and transportation system was needed.  TUF funds are restricted and can only be used on the transportation system.  

3. What will the money be used for?

The TUF is projected to generate in excess of $540,000/annually which can only be spend on the the construction and maintenance of of the transportation system.  The money will be support the  repair of poor and high traffic streets (10th Street) rated streets, the maintenance (seal coating programs) for all streets, curb and gutter, and the repair and expansion of the sidewalk system.

4. When will the TUF be implemented?

The TUF will begin on October 1st, 2020 in line with the Fiscal Year 2020 - 2021 City Budget.

5. How long will the TUF be in place?

The ordinance creating the TUF provides a review period every three (3) years.  At the end of each 3 year period, the City Council will receive a report on the projects funded through the TUF. and will be able to discontinue it if they feel it is no longer a benefit to the community.

6. How do you classify my business?

The initial trip generation factor will based on type of use categories as defined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual, 9th Edition. The City has categorized the trip index factors into 21 main categories. The categories combines similar businesses and assigns the lowest trip factor of the businesses in that category. 

A trip factors, as defined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers Trip Generation Manual, 9th Edition, represents the number of trips anticipated to and from a property per its land use and established units.  Based on the trip rate, The City groups businesses into tiers (rate categories). For each non-residential property, except lodging, schools, and outdoor recreation, the building area, in square foot, on the property will be multiplied by the appropriate trip factor from the trip factor index in to arrive at a monthly base trip rate. Properties fitting in the lodging, school, and outdoor recreation categories will calculate the monthly base trip rate of the property by multiplying the appropriate trip factor by the quantity of the unit specified in the trip factor index. The monthly base trip rate value will determine which tier the nonresidential property is classified. For each non-residential customer, the building area on the property will be multiplied by the appropriate trip generation rate (as determined by the zoning) to arrive at a value. This value will be compared to ranges that define whether the customer is Tier 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.

7. What are the current rates for the TUF?

Residents who are within the City limits of Borger will be assessed a flat fee of $6 per month on their utility bills. Commercial customers who do not fit into a category or houses of worship will be charged a flat commercial rate of $8 per month.  Other Commercial rates will be split into 6 tiers based on their trip rate with corresponding flat rates for each tier as follows: 

City of Borger, Texas
Transportation User Fee Schedule
Tier # / Type	Monthly Base Trip Lower Rate	Monthly Base Trip Higher Rate	Monthly Charge
Commercial	Flat Rate	Flat Rate	$               8.00
Tier I	0	9	$            25.00
Tier II	9	15	$            40.00
Tier III	15	50	$            55.00
Tier IV	50	150	$            70.00
Tier V	150	349	$          150.00
Tier VI	350		$          400.00
Residential	Flat Rate	Flat Rate	$               6.00

8. How will I know when my street will be repaired?

Projects for the first year will include:

Seal Coating Projects:
Main Street from 3rd to S. Cedar	$75,494.43
Main Street from 7th to 10th	$16,565.11
McGee Street from 3rd to S. Main	$29,956.92
Hedgecoke from 3rd to S. Main	$21,755.88
Bryan & Grand from 3rd to S. Main	$48,803.40
Curb & Gutter Projects:
Bryan Street from Jefferson to Grand	$55,000.00
Main Street at the intersection of Wilson	$32,000.00
1100 & 1200 East Side Block of Coble	$30,000.00
Sidewalk Projects:
100 Block of Kaye	$10,000.00
1100 & 1200 East Side Block of Coble	$30,000.00
8th Street South Side from Cedar to Hedgecoke	$110,000.00

More information on FY 2020 - 2021 projects can be found by clicking here.

The City is also currently working on a 5 year Capital Improvement Program (CIP).  This program will lay out the capital projects, including street projects, for the next 5 years and will be updated each year there after.  The document will be uploaded to our website to insure that everybody can see what is planned and when a project might be in your area.  This will completed before October 1, 2021.

9. What did the Council do to offset the cost of the new fee?

To help offset the cost of the Transportation User Fee and to help provide for dedicated funds for transportation maintenance and improvements, the Council was able to reduce the following fees:

• Vector Control Fee reduced by $1 per month
• Sewer Base Rate reduced by $1 per month
• Water Consumption Rate reduced by $0.10 per 1,000 Gallons

In addition to the fee reductions, the City Council was able to approve a tax rate for FY 2020 - 2021 a little more than 2 1/2 cents below the FY 2019 - 2021 rate.