Council ratifies operations-and-maintenance plan and assessment update for Saksley Public Improvement District No. 1

The Saksley City Council on Sept. 15 held and closed a public hearing and approved an ordinance updating the operations-and-maintenance (O&M) service and assessment plan for Public Improvement District No. 1 (PID No. 1). The vote ratified prior council actions and approved levying assessments to fund maintenance and authorized improvements within the district.

Staff and Mary Petty of P3 Works, the city’s PID administrator, presented the annual assessment packet and explained the statutory process under Chapter 372 of the Texas Local Government Code. Petty said the O&M assessment has been levied each year since 2020 under the district’s development agreement and that the service-and-assessment plan includes an itemized O&M budget. She said the O&M budget is contained in the packet (Exhibit E, page 43) and that property owners with mortgage escrows are billed through their mortgage companies in the same way tax assessor-collector processes are handled.

Petty confirmed the O&M PID works in concert with homeowners’ associations and property owners’ associations: the PID funds higher-level maintenance and special features in the development that go beyond standard city maintenance. She explained that the capital PID financed public infrastructure and is limited in term until bonds are paid; the O&M PID, by contrast, must be updated and a public hearing held annually because its expenditures are tied to a changing yearly budget. Petty said the O&M assessment pays for items the developer requested as special benefits to those parcels (lighting treatments, landscaping, enhanced streetscapes) and that the assessment invoices will be mailed to property owners.

Council noted three formal written protests were received and entered into the record. Several council members and staff answered questions from residents’ callers about where the budget and supporting details could be found; staff pointed to Exhibit E (O&M budget) and confirmed the public packet and web postings had been available since the council first authorized publication. Council members asked how a property owner could terminate or remove the PID; staff said termination would require a council action to transfer maintenance obligations to the city’s general fund and that termination would typically require agreement of the landowners and resolution of outstanding capital obligations (tax-exempt bond constraints). Petty said a property owner could prepay the capital PID debt if desired, but that the O&M PID continues as long as the city maintains the capital-financed assets at the higher standard requested by the property owners.

After questions, Council Member Howard moved to approve Item E-1; the motion passed unanimously. Staff said the approved assessment plan will be used to generate invoices for the fiscal year and documentation will remain available on the city’s website.