PRESENTER: Presenter
Jeff Jewell, Economic and Community Development Director
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SUBJECT: Title
Presentation and discussion on the renewal of an annual contract with the City of New Braunfels for administrative support, professional services, and asset management.
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DEPARTMENT: Economic and Community Development
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The New Braunfels Economic Development Corporation (NBEDC) maintains an annual contract with the City of New Braunfels for administrative support and professional services in support of the NBEDC’s mission and business. The contracted amount proposed is $455,386, which is the same as FY25. Specifically, the contract requires the City to perform administrative and professional service tasks such as contract development and management, pay applications, company and incentive auditing services, fiscal impact analysis, financial auditing, board-directed and required reporting and record keeping. The contract also requires the city to provide for all legal services and facilities needed by the corporation in the normal course of its business. Additionally, the city manages feasibility, engineering, design and construction activities for all NBEDC-initiated projects. Services rendered are provided by a wide array of City departments that include Economic and Community Development, City Attorney’s Office, Transportation and Capital Improvements, Planning and Development Services, Finance, and the City Manager’s Office.
In 2025, the City received the Texas Comptroller’s Transparency Star Award for Economic Development <https://newbraunfels.gov/3813/Economic-Development-Transparency-Star>. The program recognizes local governments in economic development for going above and beyond in their transparency efforts and that accomplish the following:
• Open their books in the areas of economic development and compliance.
• Provide clear and meaningful financial information by posting financial documents, as well as thorough summaries, visualizations, downloadable data and other relevant information.
The effort requires the City to quantify and report on values of economic development contracts, as well as the status of any active agreements. The City completed contract audits of all companies with active economic development agreements. All NBEDC agreements represent approximately 1,361 full time equivalent employees and approximately $276 million in ad valorem and business personal property.
Last year, the following modifications were proposed for the FY25 contract: $50,000 increase earmarked to address operating and property management costs for NBEDC-owned properties and costs associated with additional planning and feasibility studies for future NBEDC-affiliated projects. This will provide some level of pre-approved funding for initiatives not specifically identified but that staff can undertake at the direction of the NBEDC as approved in the services agreement and adopted with the budget. In
Two fiscal years ago, the City presented a contract expansion that fully funded an Assistant Project Manager (APM) in the City’s Transportation and Capital Improvements (TCI) department and the marginal cost of moving the ECD’s administrative assistant to full-time. These two position additions increased the amount of the contract by $115,413. Since that time, the TCI department has managed the design and completed construction on three major projects - West Alligator Creek Trail, Common Street Pedestrian Improvements and Last Public Exit Improvement Project - with another (Landa Lake Dam Improvement Project) expected to begin in the fall. The following chart represents all the projects completed, under final design or anticipating construction that the NBEDC has provided funding for (except for the Air Traffic Control Tower, which is funded through an FAA grant but being managed by TCI):
ISSUE:
Renewal of the City’s Administrative Services Contract
STRATEGIC PLAN REFERENCE:
☐Economic Mobility ☐Enhanced Connectivity ☐Community Identity
☒Organizational Excellence ☐Community Well-Being ☐N/A
FISCAL IMPACT:
There are no changes proposed to the administrative services agreement for FY2026 for a total amount of $455,386.
Recommendation
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff requests direction for future consideration of the item.