Summary: The City of Willow Park vs Halff Asso. Halff and Associates LLC under estimated the costs of the El Chico Water System that is now bringing Fort Worth water to Willow Park and Hudson Oaks. The under-estimation cost the City extra money.
Latest Update: posted 19 March, 2024
Tags: #FortWorthWater #Finance
Index, Lawsuit concerning El Chico Water System. City of Willow Park (City) vs Halff Asso. (HA)
Details in Willow Park Blog > Council votes to sue designer of Fort Worth Water Project, 27 July 2023
Case No. CV23-2017 [in .pdf]
CITY OF WILLOW PARK, Plaintiff,
vs.
HALFF ASSOCIATES, INC., Defendant.
Excerpts
1. Pursuant to Rule 47 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Plaintiff seeks monetary relief in excess of $1,000,000.00.
8. This dispute arises out of Halff’s preparation of an opinion of construction cost, which Halff prepared to enable the City to secure funding from the Texas Water Development Board Revolving Fund (“TWDB”) in connection with a municipal water facility construction project.
9. In or about 2018, Halff undertook to assist the City in obtaining a loan from the I TWDB to finance a water facility construction project (“Project”) by estimating the costs of the Project for the City. There was no contract between Halff and the City in connection with the Halff’s cost estimate. The purpose of the Project was to measure, store, and transmit drinking water from the City of Fort Worth to the Cities of Willow Park and Hudson Oaks. The City sought financing from the TWDB because it provides financing “below market interest rate[s]” for water infrastructure projects.1 Halff undertook to estimate the cost to complete the Project, prepare an engineering opinion of construction cost (“OPCC”), and prepare the City’s funding application to the TWDB. Two primary components of the Project consisted of a transmission line package, and a pump/meter station package.
10. On or about October 2018, Halff prepared a Project budget based on its OPCC of $13,770,000.00 (“Project Budget”) and submitted it to the TWDB with the City’s loan application. The Project Budget provided that the Project would cost $13,770,000.00, and the loan application Halff prepared and submitted to the TWDB on the City’s behalf sought $13,770,000.00 to finance the Project. On or about August 13, 2019, TWDB approved the application and loaned the City approximately $13,770,000.00 for the Project. The actual cost to complete the Project exceeded $13,770,000.00 by millions of dollars. Because of the significant shortfall in funding obtained for the Project at a favorable interest rate, the City was required to secure additional funding at a higher interest rate to cover the shortfall. Additionally, other costs and expenses were incurred by the City that could have been avoided had the costs of the Project been properly estimated.
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