Richland Hills · issues
Civic issues
Topics getting the most attention in Richland Hills public meetings, ranked by how frequently they come up.
Utility rate increases from Fort Worth
Fort Worth is raising water and sewer impact fees on new development in two phases (October 2025 and October 2026), and Richland Hills must mirror the rates in its own ordinance — a combined fee for a typical 3/4-inch meter climbs from $8,256 to $8,742 next October. Existing residents aren't affected unless they add a meter, and the city determined it's not worth a ~$150,000 study to add local fees on top.
Atmos Energy Rate Settlement
A consent-agenda resolution approving a negotiated settlement over Atmos Energy's 2026 rate filing — this affects natural gas bills for area customers.
IT Infrastructure Replacement Package
The city was considering a broad replacement of aging network and server equipment — a Fortinet purchase of up to $210,000 from oil and gas reserves, Dell servers and storage up to $500,000 from the General Fund, and a seven-year meter network subscription of up to $43,763 per year.
Aging city IT network replacement
The city's 16 network switches — some dating to 2018 — are aging out of support, and replacing them piecemeal would cost roughly $99,000 up front. Staff propose a Meter "network as a utility" subscription at about $27,118 a year for five years, covering hardware, monitoring, firewalls and Wi-Fi with free upgrades. Council wants longer-term pricing and a cost comparison before signing anything.
Emergency wastewater main repair
An old clay sewer main on Willow Park was root-blocked and replaced via pipe-bursting, also fixing infiltration problems in a brick manhole area.