FY 2013 Popular Annual Financial Report FY 2013 Popular Annual Financial Report | Page 14

Capital
Investment

D

epartments such as Public
Works & Transportation
and Water Utilities worked
throughout the year to develop
innovative ways to improve delivery
and maintenance of roads and water
and sewer service. The City’s bond
rating continued to improve and new
automated curbside recycling was
implemented citywide.
Public Works & Transportation
Beginning in 2002, the City began
levying a one-quarter cent, voterapproved street maintenance sales tax
dedicated to repairing and maintaining
Arlington roads. This contributes more
than half of the $30 million dollars
spent each year on road maintenance
and repair. Since 2003, this sales tax
has paid for the repairs of 1,500 miles
of roads in Arlington. The tax also
pays for a pavement management
program that includes technology
aboard a truck that records degrees
of roughness and distress along street
surfaces. The information is used to
rate streets’ overall condition. The City
is concentrating on major maintenance
and reconstruction of the worst streets
over the next six to eight years and then
will focus on maintaining all streets in
good condition.
The Stormwater Management
division was recognized nationally
for its annual flood safety awareness
campaign and innovative flood risk
graphic novel, “Sink or Swim.” The
Association of State Floodplain
Managers awarded the City with
its Media/Outreach Award that
recognizes exemplary efforts to increase
awareness about flood issues with the
general public. The City’s efforts also
were highlighted on FEMA’s blog
during National Flood Awareness
Week. The City’s Office of Emergency

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Management assisted in the content
production for the project, which also
won the 2013 Celebrating Leadership
in Development Excellence Award
from the North Central Texas Council
of Governments.

Water Utilities
The department started a fiveyear program to locate, mark, test and
repair water valves throughout the City.
Called valve-exercising, the process
involves inspecting valves, cleaning off
corrosion, repairing non-functioning
ones and operating them for at least
one full cycle to make sure they work
properly. Being able to operate these
valves quickly is crucial to making
timely repairs and reducing water loss.
Crews are making their way around
Arlington checking the City’s 19,000
valves, notating their location and
marking their presence on curbs with
bright blue paint.
The department is moving forward
with a plan to expand an initial pilot
project that installed 17,000 new smart
water meters. Meters will be replaced
at a rate of 9,000 per year through the
nine-year project, eventually covering
all 105,000 meters in the system. The
high-tech wireless water meters will
make meter-reading more accurate.
The new meter-reading system also is
expected to help reduce costs for the