Street Maintenance Fees

The City of Waco has a street inventory consisting of more than 1,500 lane miles. General fund revenues supporting street maintenance come from property tax revenue (valuation-based) and sales taxes. Neither source has any relationship to traffic volumes generated by the taxpayer. Traffic volumes are a primary factor affecting the lifecycle of a street.

The proposed street maintenance fee is a proportional monthly fee based on the use of the transportation system (i.e. traffic) and is collected on the monthly utility bill. The proposed Street Maintenance fee is a user fee based on demand a given land use places on the street system.

The fee as proposed would fund only about 12% of the City’s Annual Street Maintenance expenses.

The street fee is being proposed because the need for street repair exceeds available tax revenues properties who create traffic (wear and tear on streets) should pay their share to maintain streets.

Property owned by the following would be exempt from the fee: United States, State of Texas, McLennan County, City of Waco, any Independent School District, property owned by a religious organization that is exempt from taxation, and public or private institutions of higher education. Also, property held and maintained in its natural state until such time that the property is developed and property used for cemetery purposes if the cemetery is closed to new interments and does not accept new burials. Finally, Single-Family Detached Housing or Single-Family Attached Housing at which no motor vehicle, trailer or recreational vehicle is registered for street use and no resident of the same has a motor vehicle, trailer or recreational vehicle registered for street use is exempt.

The proposed monthly fee for a single family residential property is $2.00 per month. Non-residential property fees vary. To find out the proposed fee for a particular property, go to the Waco Street Maintenance interactive map. Use your mouse or the + button to zoom in on your property. Once found, use your mouse to click on the property. A window will open showing the data used to calculate the street fee for the property. Use the slider bar at right to get to the bottom of the window. The proposed monthly fee is at the bottom of the window.

Frequently Asked Questions