June 29, 2025 – Volume 8 Number 26

 

HIGHLIGHTS:

* EDC approves first grant under the new guidelines.

* P&Z did not meet.

 

SCHEDULE:

Friday, July 4: Independence Day.

Tuesday, July 8: KKB (Keep Kennedale Beautiful) meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, July 8: Parks Board meeting, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 15: City Council meeting, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, July 22: EDC (Economic Development Corporation) Board meeting, 6:00 p.m.

Thursday, July 24: P&Z meeting, 6:00 p.m.

 

…..

Senior Tax Freeze

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_10.html

 

Texas Open Meetings Act Violations???

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_9.html

 

The Bridge:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_12.html

 

City Council Grades:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_26.html

 

Kennedale Observer website:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/index_3.html

 

Latest Kennedale Observer newsletter:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_44.html

 

KNOW WHAT YOUR CITY IS UP TO...

Your City Council

Last week the finance director presented numbers regarding a potential retiree benefit of full 100% health insurance for employees with 25 years of service. Employees already have 100% employee coverage. [Commentary: Let us start by saying 100% employee coverage is an excellent benefit that current city employees should realize they are receiving. Very few employers offer this.

The stated goal of this new retiree benefit was to encourage long-time [i.e., knowledgeable] employees to stay with the city longer. Unfortunately, this new retiree benefit does nothing to encourage these employees to stay past 25 years. The only benefit would be to get them to stay to the 25-year point.

If you were to do a retirement plan to accomplish the stated goal, it might be more effective if it paid 60% for 25 years to under 30 years, 70% for 30 years to under 35 years, 80% for 35 years to under 40 years, and 90% for over 40 years.

The potential planned retiree benefit would increase Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB). Financial audits must include OPEB liabilities. See .pdf page 83, document page 68, of the city's audit on the city website: https://cityofkennedale.com/DocumentCenter/View/8437/City-Financials-2024#page=83 . OPEB is looked at by bond agencies and lenders which then can affect bond ratings and rates.

This now generates enforcement efforts, as the definition of working or not is applied. It also increases the average age of the employee insurance pool, as previously, retirees would be leaving the employee insurance pool, but not now.

Any future council, or city manager backed by the council, could reduce the 100% employee coverage. If that were to happen, then this new retiree benefit would be even greater than the employee benefit and would further encourage long-time employees to leave the city after obtaining the 25-year achievement. Retirees with 100% insurance coverage could work part-time as contract labor at a much higher pay rate and have full health coverage.

As some people love to point out, I am from Arlington. For FY2026, mostly blaming TAD, Arlington is looking to cut $25 million from their original projected budget. According to their city manager, they have looked at their comparison employers and decided their 90% for employee-only was more than their competition and were going to cut that to 85%. The original plan was to make the cut in two steps, but with the budget shortfall this coming year, one step is one of the options they are considering. That conversation starts about 2:34:40 of the June 10 meeting (https://arlingtontx.granicus.com/player/clip/5152?view_id=9&redirect=true). Again, that 100% health insurance benefit is an extremely nice benefit which I hope the city employees realize and appreciate what they are receiving.

To reiterate, this new proposed retiree benefit does nothing to encourage these employees to stay past 25 years. The only benefit would be to get them to achieve the 25-year point.]

 

Last Week

This week the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) met on Tuesday for their regular monthly meeting.

P&Z did not have a meeting as there was nothing new to discuss. The meeting was canceled.

 

This Week

There are no meetings this week.

 

Public Hearings

On ???, the Building Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on BBA25-01 to consider action on a city-initiated request for demolition of a single-family dwelling, previously deemed sub-standard by the Building Board of Appeals, located at 6713 Lindale Rd.

 

EDC

The EDC (Economic Development Corporation) Board met this past Tuesday, June 24. The agenda can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3590/files/agenda/10187 . The meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1zOhAKx2fU .

(0:18) Start of meeting. There were no public comment speakers.

(0:35) The budget workshop (document). There was much discussion on the purchase of a lift, $134,000.

They then went out of order and addressed the third individual consideration item, the grant.

(45:30) An EDC grant application for JDB Towing (1208 E. Kennedale Parkway) for 50% of $25,000. [starting on .pdf page 20 https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3590/files/agenda/10189#page=20 ] - takes a while to load... This was approved.

Back to the original order.

(1:04:59) The regular financial reporting (financials).

(1:09:10) Consent agenda was approved.

(1:09:37) A discussion of the CP2 Consultant update (report). The consultant was not present; Mr. Hull did the reporting.

(1:12:00) An update on the TownCenter. Mr. Hughes was not present. YMCA is looking forward to getting the old Dollar General location after the anticipated work (estimated at $500,000) is completed.

 

P&Z

P&Z had no new agenda items to discuss and canceled their June 26 meeting. The next P&Z meeting should be on Thursday, July 24.

 

Other News....

TAD Rates

Tarrant Appraisal District has published the tax rates (October 2024) for the county. Kennedale is now the fifth highest municipality. [https://www.tad.org/content/rates/2024TaxRates.pdf ].

Top ten of 41 (everyone else is < 0.65)

1. Everman 1.0260800

2. Sansom Park 0.7796050

3. Forest Hill 0.7240940

4. Blue Mound 0.7220330

5. Kennedale 0.7061900

6. White Settlement 0.6798160

7. River Oaks 0.6758270

8. Fort Worth 0.6725000

9. Burleson 0.6627000

10. Grand Prairie 0.6600000

 

Senior Tax Freeze

Back in June of 2023 the city council approved a senior tax freeze. The three-page ordinance can be found at: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3288/files/attachment/11739 . This would be applicable for the city portion of property taxes where properties have a homestead, and the owner is 65 or older. The KISD, the county, and Tarrant County College also have senior tax freezes.

Apparently, this did not happen for City of Kennedale residents. So, what happened or did not happen? The city manager [poorly] addressed the issue at the November 2024 council meeting. [The “official” stance of the city manager and city attorney is that the tax freeze is happening, as planned.]

The city administration has done a MAJOR INJUSTICE to Kennedale seniors by a) writing an ordinance incorrectly and/or b) failing to explain how the ordinance was to start back in June 2023. For example, Fate, Texas, in Rockwall County, implemented a senior tax freeze (with the ordinance written correctly) in August 2023, two months after Kennedale, and their seniors saw a freeze on their October 2024 statements. The major difference between the two ordinances is the Kennedale ordinance states effective January 1, 2024, while the Fate ordinance states effective immediately.

The November 2024 city council meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFR_rKkFyg8&t=3116s . The discussion of the item begins at about 47:36.

Some quotes:

48:16 Mr. Hull: “Currently, the ordinance is written where it takes effect in 2024.” [Meaning IF the city attorney wrote the ordinance correctly it would have helped seniors with their October 2024 statements, but since he didn't, it won't.]

48:46 Mr. Hull: “The ordinance does not read for 2023 that was not even the intent...” [Not true. He wants you to go back to the June 2023 city council meeting but let us instead go back to the April 2023 Work Session on the subject. (See timeline below for April's council meeting information.) Mr. Hull states, “So ultimately, the tax [freeze] would not affect us until the 2025.” [2025 IS THE OCTOBER 2024 TAX STATEMENTS. These are the statements that DID see an increase, but back in April 2023, based on the city manager's own words, the tax freeze should have affected.]

49:15 Mr. Hull: “Even then [June 2023] it was indicated and confirmed the tax freeze takes place in 2024.” [Here's the problem. In basic English the expectations of “2024” meant the October 2024 Statements. There is no prerequisite for council members to be a lawyer, or in this case, a specialized tax lawyer. The expectation is the city attorney and/or the city manager would explain to the council members any fine points of the law that would make a difference on any subject. At NO point in April 2023 or June 2023, was anything stated to council members of the significance of a January 1, 2024 start date.]

49:36 Mr. Hull: “So with everything that is being said with reference to when we filed it, when we didn't file it, if we did, if we didn't is minute.” [NOT TRUE. If it had been filed in a timely fashion TAD could have pointed out the required changes to make it match Mr. Hull's April 2023 statement. When TAD did finally get it in November 2024, they made suggested changes on another part of the ordinance that needed modification. The city DID modify that other part of the ordinance and passed the modification a month later at the December 2024 meeting.]

50:05 Mr. Hull: “We have looked at the possibility, even as someone made a comment, about doing a reimbursement. Unfortunately, we cannot do that on the legal side. So even if the intent was to be in 2023, we can't do that by law.” [It is true the law does not allow a reimbursement for this reason. However, since they even looked into it, it pretty much tells you the intent was 2023, even though their official stance is significantly different.]

51:19 City Attorney: “If I could Mayor, just add one thing, it's not just the ordinance, Mr. City Manager, it's state law that governs. So, 2024 would have been the earliest the council could have done it anyway under state law. And it is state law that governs in this instance. So, the ordinance adopted by the council was the earliest the freeze could be adopted.” [2024 is the earliest the current poorly written ordinance could be adopted, however, like Fate, Texas, in the State of Texas, where their ordinance was written two months later than Kennedale's ordinance, they were able to write an ordinance that said effective immediately (instead of January 1, 2024) and their seniors got their benefit on their October 2024 statements.]

Timeline.

April 2023 the city council discusses the item as a work session item. [That meeting may be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndf8BqnPjBw . The discussion on this item starts about 1:40:27. ]

1:44:59 Mr. Hull: “So ultimately, the tax [freeze] would not affect us until the 2025.” [2025 IS THE OCTOBER 2024 TAX STATEMENTS. These are the statements that DID see an increase, but back in April 2023, based on the city manager's own words, the tax freeze should have affected.]

minutes: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3017/files/agenda/8873

staff report: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3017/files/report/11354

June 2023 the city council approves the ordinance, 5-0. The June 20, 2023, meeting can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTm2LdTa_YI&t=9815s . The discussion on this item starts about 2:43:35. At no point did anyone mention a delay in the implementation or that the effective January 1, 2024, meant there would be a delay in the implementation from the expectations of the April meeting. There were no statements/comments about this being different than the April 2023 meeting.

2:44:11 Finance Director Horton “[The tax freeze] does seem consistent with neighboring communities, having a tax freeze for senior citizens. Budget impact is minimal. I don't necessarily see a downside from a financial perspective. We will need to make up a little bit of funding, but from a personal standpoint, not a financial standpoint, I do feel the little bit of hardship we might have to face as a city versus the goodwill it will bring for the senior citizens, the correct would be to go with the freeze.”. [Yet the people that CLAIM to have “understood” the implementation delay, caring so little about the seniors, said or asked nothing regarding making a change to aid the seniors sooner. In my opinion, that certainly implies they DO NOT CARE about the seniors.]

2:45:05 Council Member Horton: “Is it my understanding that this won't take effect until 2024?”

2:45:11 Mayor Joplin: “January 1.” [then a comment by Mr. Nevarez]

2:45:42 Mayor Joplin: “And it does say on the last page that the ordinance will be in full force effective January 1, 2024.” [If you are one of the people, as the CLAIM is, who knows this is only loading the cap data, would this not have been a good time to speak up and explain the difference between “full force” and what they claim the law is? [and they claim the ordinance was clearly written...]]

minutes: https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3019/files/agenda/9175

staff report (with NO mention of January 1, 2024 significance; NO mention of timeline being any different than discussed in April): https://kennedaletx.portal.civicclerk.com/event/3019/files/report/11786

Questions

1. So why did the status change from April 2023 and the city manager stated it would affect 2025 to the implementation being delayed? Why was nothing stated about this change before the vote at the June 2023 meeting informing the council (and the public) of the change?

2. Why did the city administration not produce an ordinance to match what was discussed at the April 2023 meeting, and did not tell them they were voting on something different?

3. Why was the effective date of January 1, 2024, used instead of “effective immediately”?

4. Why was the importance of the January 1 date not explained?

5. At the June meeting, after the finance director spoke about the minimal impact, why did not one of the people who “understood” the delayed implementation not ask or comment to implement earlier to help the seniors? Are these people so uncaring about Kennedale seniors?

6. At the June meeting, after the use of “full force” where the majority of the city council and the public thought what they were getting was as it was stated by the city manager in April 2023, why did not one of these who “understood” the delayed implementation not clearly point out that 2024 was only going to be a cap loading year?

7. What is so important and being concealed, that people appear to be willing to fall on this sword for it?

 

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Senior Tax Freeze Missing

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_10.html

 

Texas Open Meetings Act Violations???

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_9.html

 

The Bridge:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_12.html

 

Texas Open Meetings Act Violations???

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/blank_9.html

 

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Latest Kennedale Observer newsletter:

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City Council Grades:

http://arlspectator.mysite.com/rich_text_26.html

 

Old Texas Raceway property project:

http://www.arlspectator.mysite.com/whats_new.html

 

The City of Kennedale website: www.cityofkennedale.com

 

Mayor and City Council Emails:

Mayor – Brad Horton BHorton@cityofkennedale.com

Place-1 David Glover DGlover@cityofkennedale.com

Place-2 Thelma Kobeck TKobeck@cityofkennedale.com

Place-3 Kenneth Michels KMichels@cityofkennedale.com

Place-4 Chris Gary CGary1@cityofkennedale.com

Place-5 Jeff Nevarez JNevarez@cityofkennedale.com

 

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