HomeMy WebLinkAboutPreliminary (Binder Notes) Operating Budget FY16-17a fir`
T H E`; C I T Y O F
SS
Office; of City Manager
July 29, 2016
Dear Mayor and Council Members:
Please find attached the FY2016-2017 proposed budget document and related materials for your study and
review. We are very fortunate this year to see increased sales taxes as well as increased property values from
both our new construction and existing properties. This has allowed us the opportunity to provide additional
funds in a few critical areas; however, we have continued to maintain a very conservative approach to
expenditure increases.
As you will see, we are recommending that you reduce the tax rate by %C from 46.75C to 46.25C. As we have
advised you in the past few years, although we are recommending a tax rate reduction, the Effective Tax Rate
calculation will require that we publish notice of a tax increase. In reviewing the details of the tax roll, many of
our residents did, in fact, see substantial increases in their values this year. It appears that many of these
properties had lagged the market for several years so the catch up in some cases is significant. Keep in mind,
current state law limits the increase for any given year to 10%. Also, keep in mind that Euless adopted the
senior citizen freeze, so senior residents will see no impact to their taxes regardless of their increase in value.
The water and wastewater fund continues to be a challenge and you will see that we are recommending a $1
increase in the base rate for both water and wastewater and recommending that the volume rates only be
increased by the pass thru from TRA.
We plan to cover most of our budget the evening of Thursday, August 4tn beginning at 5:30 p.m. here at City
Hall. Dinner will be furnished. On Saturday, August 6th, we will begin with breakfast at 7:00 a.m. in the Treaty
Room with the work session following at 8:00 a.m. in the Travis Room. We will wrap up any budget discussion
and then have several presentations on other topics. We will allow ample time for any topics you may wish to
discuss. Please let me know if there is anything in particular that you would like us to be prepared to discuss.
Your staff has worked hard to prepare this budget and have been mindful of the needs of the departments and
the impact on our citizens. I am very grateful to the Finance department staff and the Directors and
Administrators for all their assistance. We appreciate so much the support we receive from you and our
residents. It is our goal that this budget will continue to move Euless in the right direction for the future.
Sincerely,
Lo etta Getchell
City Manager
201 N. Ector Drive, Euless, Texas 76039-3595
817/685-1400 • Metro 817/267-4403 • Fax 817/685-1416
www.ci.euless.tx.us
City of Euless, Texas
Fiscal Year 2016-17
Budget Cover Page
This budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than
last year's budget by an amount of $1,056,626, which is a 7.51
percent increase from last year's budget. The property tax
revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this
year is $489,132.
NOTICE OF 2016 TAX YEAR PROPOSED
PROPERTY TAX RATE FOR CITY OF EULESS, TEXAS
A tax rate of $0.462500 per $100 valuation has been proposed for adoption by the governing body of City
of Euless, Texas. This rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate, and state law requires
that two public hearings be held by the governing body before adopting the proposed tax rate.
The governing body of City of Euless, Texas proposes to use revenue attributable to the tax rate increase
for the purpose of funding the City of Euless Proposed Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Budget as detailed at
www.eulesstx.gov and at 201 N. Ector Drive Euless, Texas 76039.
PROPOSED TAX RATE $0.462500 per $100
PRECEDING YEAR'S TAX RATE $0.467500 per $100
EFFECTIVE TAX RATE $0.433988 per $100
ROLLBACK TAX RATE $0.466172 per $100
The effective tax rate is the total tax rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue for City
of Euless, Texas from the same properties in both the 2015 tax year and the 2016 tax year.
The rollback tax rate is the highest tax rate that City of Euless, Texas may adopt before voters are entitled
to petition for an election to limit the rate that may be approved to the rollback rate.
YOUR TAXES OWED UNDER ANY OF THE ABOVE RATES CAN BE CALCULATED AS
FOLLOWS:
property tax amount= (rate) x (taxable value of your property)/100
For assistance or detailed information about tax calculations, please contact:
Janina Jewell
Director of Finance
201 N. Ector Drive Euless, Texas 76039
(817)685-1444
j j ewell@eulesstx.gov
www.eulesstx.gov
You are urged to attend and express your views at the following public hearings on the proposed tax rate:
First Hearing: August 30, 2016 at 7:00 PM at Euless City Hall 201 N. Ector Drive Euless, Texas 76039.
Notice of Adopted 2016 Tax Rate
City of Euless, Texas ADOPTED A TAX RATE THAT WILL
RAISE MORE TAXES FOR MAINTENANCE AND
OPERATIONS THAN LAST YEAR'S TAX RATE.
THE TAX RATE WILL EFFECTIVELY BE RAISED BY
12.42 PERCENT AND WILL RAISE TAXES FOR
MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS ON A $100,000
HOME BY APPROXIMATELY $8.72.
Page 1 of 1
§26.05(b) of Property Tax Code
Steps Required for Adoption of Tax Rate
Entity Name: City of Euless, Texas
Language Required in the Motion Setting This Year's Tax Rate:
Date: 07/30/2016 01:42 PM
This year's proposed tax rate exceeds the effective tax rate. The vote on the ordinance, resolution, or order setting the
tax rate must be a record vote. A motion to adopt the ordinance, resolution, or order must be made in the following
form:
I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.462500, which is effectively a
6.57 percent increase in the tax rate.
Statement Required in the Ordinance, Resolution, or Order Setting This Year's Tax Rate:
This year's levy to fund maintenance and operations expenditures exceeds last year's maintenance and operations tax
levy. The following statements must be included in the ordinance, resolution, or order setting this year's tax rate. The
statements must be in larger type than the type used in any other portion of the document.
THIS TAX RATE WILL RAISE MORE TAXES FOR MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS THAN LAST
YEAR'S TAX RATE.
THE TAX RATE WILL EFFECTIVELY BE RAISED BY 12.42 PERCENT AND WILL RAISE TAXES
FOR MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS ON A $100,000 HOME BY APPROXIMATELY $8.72.
Statement That Must be Posted on the Home Page of Any Internet Website Operated by the Taxing Unit:
This year's levy to fund maintenance and operations expenditures exceeds last year's maintenance and operations tax
levy. The following statements must be included in the ordinance, resolution, or order setting this year's tax rate. The
statements must be in larger type than the type used in any other portion of the document.
City of Euless, Texas ADOPTED A TAX RATE THAT WILL RAISE MORE TAXES FOR MAINTENANCE
AND OPERATIONS THAN LAST YEAR'S TAX RATE.
THE TAX RATE WILL EFFECTIVELY BE RAISED BY 12.42 PERCENT AND WILL RAISE TAXES
FOR MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS ON A $100,000 HOME BY APPROXIMATELY $8.72.
https://actweb.acttax.com/tnt/application/reports/1469904136025.html 7/30/2016
Page 1 of 1
City of Euless, Texas
Fiscal Year 2016-2017
Budget Cover Page
August 30, 2016
This budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year's
budget by an amount of $1,056,626, which is a 7.51 percent increase from
last year's budget. The property tax revenue to be raised from new property
added to the tax roll this year is $489,132.
The members of the governing body voted on the budget as follows:
FOR:
AGAINST:
PRESENT and not voting:
ABSENT:
Property Tax Rate Comparison
2016-2017 2015-2016
Property Tax Rate: $0.462500/100 $0.467500/100
Effective Tax Rate: $0.433988/100 $<<5year_2015_etr>>/100
Effective Maintenance & Operations Tax Rate: $0.333831/100 $<<5year_2015_emor>>/l00
Rollback Tax Rate: $0.466172/100 $<<5year_2015_rtr>>/100
Debt Rate: $0.087213/100 $0.100929/100
Total debt obligation for City of Euless, Texas secured by property taxes: $4,793,056
https:Hactweb.acttax.com/tnt/application/reports/1469904184059.html 7/30/2016
EULESS CITY COUNCIL
WORKSESSION
August 4, 2016
EULESS CITY HALL
Pre -Council Conference Room
201 N. Ector Drive
Euless, Texas
5:30 p.m.
The members of the City Council of the City of Euless, Texas, will hold a work session for the purpose
of discussing the 2016-2017 Annual Budget and related items including:
Capital Improvement Plan
General Fund including Tax Rate
Insurance and Benefits
Risk Management
Equipment Replacement
Hotel/Motel
Half Cent Sales Tax
Crime Control District
Car Rental Tax
Water and Sewer, including rates
Texas Star Golf and Conference Centre
Texas Star Sports Complex
Other Enterprise Funds
Debt Funds
5 Year Budget Plan
Goals and Objectives
2016-2017 Calendar
Transportation, including SH183 Update
Facility Master Plan
Art Projects
Staffing Levels
Legislative Update
Code of Ordinance Updates
Arbor Daze
Payday Lending Regulations
Northeast Transportation Services
Code Enforcement
Construction Zone Signage
Business Retention / Promotion
Strategic Planning
City Council Communication
Development Update, including Glade Parks, Glade Parks South, Midtown and Riverwalk
Posted this V day of August 2016 by5:00 p.m.
Kim Sutter, TRMC, City Secretary
If you plan to attend this public meeting and you have a disability that requires special arrangements at
the meeting, please contact our office at 817-685-1420. Reasonable accommodations will be made to
assist your needs.
EULESS CITY COUNCIL
WORKSESSION
August 6, 2016
Texas Star
Conference Centre
1400 Texas Star Parkway
Euless, Texas
7:00 a.m. - Breakfast — Treaty Room
8:00 a.m. - Meeting — Travis Room
The members of the City Council of the City of Euless, Texas, will hold a work session for the purpose
of discussing the 2016-2017 Annual Budget and related items including:
Capital Improvement Plan
Transportation, including SH183 Update
General Fund including Tax Rate
Facility Master Plan
Insurance and Benefits
Art Projects
Risk Management
Staffing Levels
Equipment Replacement
Legislative Update
Hotel/Motel
Code of Ordinance Updates
Half Cent Sales Tax
Arbor Daze
Crime Control District
Payday Lending Regulations
Car Rental Tax
Northeast Transportation Services
Water and Sewer, including rates
Code Enforcement
Texas Star Golf and Conference Centre
Construction Zone Signage
Texas Star Sports Complex
Business Retention / Promotion
Other Enterprise Funds
Debt Funds
5 Year Budget Plan
Goals and Objectives
2016-2017 Calendar
Strategic Planning
City Council Communication
Development Update, including Glade Parks, Glade
Parks South, Midtown and Riverwalk
Posted this 111 day of August 2016 by 5:00 p.m.
Kim Sutter, TRMC, City Secretary
If you plan to attend this public meeting and you have a disability that requires special arrangements at
the meeting, please contact our office at 817-685-1420. Reasonable accommodations will be made to
assist your needs.
G/L Account #
Exp Amount
Fund Total
101-9060-590.11-02/22-01
17,590
101-8064-531.11-02
22,000
101-9060-590.12-03
75,000
101-9060-590.29-99
225,060
101-9060-590.74-04
59,522
101-9060-590.74-99
476,632
875,804
201-7080-550.74-99
9,476
9,476
210-1052-550.74-99
122,762
210-1081-540.73-09
353,213
210-1081-540.74-99
196,925
672,900
230-3045-521.74-01
100,000
100,000
231-3045-521.74-01
100,000
100,000
240-9060-590.74-99
435,400
435,400
501-9060-590.74-99
233,074
233,074
610-5015-519.74-99
100,000
100,000
615-5020-519.74-99
175,000
175,000
2,701,654
2,701,654
City of Euless
One -Time Project Status
ForFY2016
Project Status
(Open/Closed Expected
/in Progress/ Spent as of Expense 4/01-
Project ! Account Number Dept Fund Program Description On Hold) Funded 3/31/16 Encumbered Balance 9/30/16 EOY Balance Carryover Return
CM1601
101-9060-590.11-02/22-01 CMO
General
Multi -Media Intern
Roll
$
10,500
$ -
$ - $
10,500
$ 5,250
$ S,250 $
51250 $
-
PW1500
101-8064-531.11-02
PW
General
Part-time Animal Control Officer
Roll
$
25,000
$ -
$ - $
25,000
$ 3,000
$ 22,000 $
22,000 $
-
CM1506
101-9060-590.11.02/22-01
HR
General
Continue Career Prep
Roll
$
31,500
$ 5,425
$ - $
26,075
$ 13,735
$ 12,340 $
12,340 $
-
PW1502
101-9060-590.12-03
PW
General
Contract lnspectorforCIP
Roll
$
75,000
$ -
$ - $
75,000
$ -
$ 75,000 $
75,000 $
-
CM1500
101-9060-590.29-99
CMO
General
Employee One Time Adjustments
Roll
$
225,060
$ -
$ - $
225,060
$ -
$ 225,060 $
225,060 $
-
IS1302
101-9060-590.74-04
Info Svcs
General
IS Consultant
Roll
$
19,715
$ -
$ - $
19,715
$ -
$ 19,715 $
19,715 $
-
IS1402
101-9060-590.74-04
Info Svcs
General
Document imaging System
Roll
$
87,125
$ 16,962
$ 5,356 $
64,807
$ 25,000
$ 39,807 $
39,807 $
-
CM0603
101-9060-590.74-99
CMO
General
Euless Pride
Roll
$
17,968
$ 10,075
$ - $
7,893
$ -
$ 7,893 $
7,893 $
-
CM0802
101-9060-590.74-99
CMO
General
City's Match for TC Home Program/CPR
Roll
$
148,138
$ 42,299
$ - $
105,839
$ 20,000
$ 85,839 $
85,839 $
(0)
CM0902
101-9060-590.74-99
CMO
General
Consultant
Roll
$
61,250
$ -
$ - $
61,250
$ -
$ 61,250 $
61,250 $
-
CM1102
101-9060-590.74-99
CSO
General
Election Expense
Roll
$
20,000
$ -
$ - $
20,000
$ -
$ 20,000 $
20,000 $
-
CM1403
101-9060-590.74-99
CMO
General
Retirements
Roll
$
225,000
$ -
5 - $
225,000
$ -
$ 225,000 $
225,000 $
-
ED1201
101-9060-590.74-99
Development
General
Plan Review
Roll
$
22,200
$ -
$ - $
22,200
$ -
$ 22,200 $
22,200 $
-
FD0706
101-9060-590.74-99
PACS
General
Tree Trimming Contract
Roll
$
5,350
$ -
$ - $
5,350
$ -
$ 5,350 $
5,350 $
-
PR1605
101-9060-590.74-99
PACS
General
Credit Card Machines
Roll
$
9,100
$ -
$ - $
9,100
$ -
$ 9,100 $
9,100 $
-
FM1605
101-9060-590.74-99
Fleet & Fac
General
Generator Replacement - Building D
On Hold
$
40,000
$ -
$ - $
40,000
$ -
$ 40,000 $
40,000 $
-
GC1501
201-7080-550.74-99
Golf
Hotel/Motel
Conf. Center Lighting & Misc. Improvements
Roll
$
9,476
$ -
$ - $
9,476
$ -
$ 9,476 $
9,476 $
-
PR1414
210-1052-550.74-99
CMO/PACS
EDC
Parks Upgrades
Roll
$
124,011
$ 1,250
$ - $
122,762
$ -
$ 122,762 $
122,762 $
-
E01500
210-1081-540.73-09
CMO
EDC
Artfunds (add CY leftover funding of$82,032]
Roll
$
275,119
$ 3,938
$ - $
271,181
$ (82,032)
$ 353,213 $
353,213 $
-
ED1001
210-1081-540.74-99
CMO
EDC
Refurbish Old Fire Station
Roll
$
33,620
$ -
$ - $
33,620
$ •
$ 33,620 $
33,620 $
-
ED1401
210-1081-540.74-99
Planning
EDC
Planning Consultants
Roll
$
167,305
$ 2,000
$ - $
165,305
$ 2,000
$ 163,305 $
163,305 $
-
PD1611
230-3045-521.74-01
PD
Police Drug DEA
Police Equipment
Roll
$
100,000
$ -
$ - $
100,000
$ -
$ 100,000 $
100,000 $
-
PD1612
231-3045-521.74-01
PD
Police Drug State
Police Equipment
Roll
$
100,000
$ -
$ - $
100,000
$ -
$ 100,000 $
100,000 $
-
CM0604
240-9060-590.74-99
CMO
Car Rental
Special Legal Fund
Roll
$
410,400
$ -
$ - $
410,400
$ 25,000
$ 385,400 $
385,400 $
-
CM1402
240-9060-590.74-99
CMO
Car Rental
Relocation Services
Roll
$
200,000
$ -
$ - $
200,000
$ -
$ 200,000 $
50,000 $
150,000
CM0603
501.9060-590.74-99
CMO
W&WW
Euless Pride
Roll
$
83,074
$ -
$ - $
83,074
$ -
$ 83,074 $
83,074 $
-
FM1508
501-9060.590.74-99
Fleet & Fac
W/WW
Fuel Contingency
Roll
$
150,000
$ -
$ - $
150,000
$ -
$ 150,000 $
150,000 $
-
CM1201
610-5015-519.74-99
Insurance
Insurance
Employee Health Clinic Interior Finish Out
Roll
$
100,000
$ -
$ $
100,000
$ -
$ 100,000 $
100,000 $
-
CM1203
615-5020-519.74-99
Risk
Risk Mgmt
Claims Reserve
Roll
$
175,000
$ -
$ - $
175,000
$ -
$ 175,000 $
175 000 $
$
2,950,911
$ 81,949 $
5,356 $
2,863,606 $
11,953 $ 2,851,653 $ 2,701,654 $
150,000
Page 1
August 4th Council Presentation
Proposed purchase of new 100 ft. Platform
• In June 2012 I met with the City Managers Office to discuss ongoing maintenance issues with
the Fire Department Fleet. Primary discussion was the need to look at the next apparatus
replacement. The City Manager and I agreed to look at purchasing a pumper in 2012 (delivery
2013) and 1 in 2013 (delivery 2014)to update the current fire department fleet. Total cost for
both trucks over two years was$924,000. The first purchase was an in stock fire truck to
expedite delivery. Today for example with continued maintenance issues with our 2002
platform and to some degree our 2005 and 2008 quints we have only one reserve in service
which is our 1998 Quality pumper.
' 7
• In July of 2013 the department continued to struggle with apparatus issues and availability of
parts from Sutphen Corporation. At that rime I did a look back to June of 2012 and/Truck 553
had been out of service 67 days, Quint 551 was out of service 57 days and Quint 5/52 was out of
service 85 days resulting in personnel working on reserve apparatus 210 days during the year.
On at least three occasions due to multiple apparatus issues borrowing a truck from
Hurst/Bedford was discussed and phone calls made to see if our neighbors had a truck we could
borrow.
• On July 2014 I received a letter from Sutphen Corporation requesting that we remove from
service aerial operation of the 2002 platform due to 3 incidents across the country in which
similar model Sutphen ladder trucks experienced elevated ladder failure which in one incident
resulted in firefighter injury. Since the date of notification (2 years)Truck 553 has been in
service 103 days out of 730 total days. It is currently out of service today. My other challenge
after the recall has been the lack of confidence by my personnel to work off of or set the aerial.
• In October of this year the 1998 Quality engine will be retired and sold at auction. The 1995
Sutphen pumper was sold at auction early 2015 allowing the 2005 Sutphen quint and 2008
Sutphen quint to be our main reserve apparatus along with the 2002 Sutphen Platform.
• Additionally, I was contacted last September by ISO (Insurance Services Office)to request
coming back into Euless to re-inspect our community for it PPC Rating (Public Protection
Classification). Our last inspection was conducted in December 2007. At that time the
community scored a 94.36 out of a possible 106.50. Becoming the first ISO#1 community in
Tarrant County and 1 of only_in the state and_in the country. At that time we ran an all
quint concept deployment and this did factor into our ability to achieve an ISO#1 in 2008.
Today there are 30 ISO#1 communities in Texas counting Euless and our desire is to maintain
our current ISO#1 designation.
• With continued growth and development in Euless I believe and so does my staff and shift
personnel that when we order our next fire truck that it would need to be a platform because of
the lack of reliability with our current unit. Fleet's current apparatus replacement schedule for
the Fire Department has our next fire truck purchase a platform but the scheduled order date is
in 2018 with a delivery date of 2019. I have asked the CMO based on new commercial
construction/number of 3 story apartments, lack of reliability/confidence of our current
platform and ISO requirements that we consider moving up our 2018 scheduled purchase to this
October with a delivery date of mid to late 2017.
Overview — General Overview of the Budget — Janina will provide
details.
I'm very proud that this budget allows us to accomplish a number of
objectives that we have been working towards for years and does so
while still offering a slight reduction to the tax rate.
As a bit of history, during the recession, we cut 19 positions (from 393
authorized in FY10 to 374 funded in FY2011) from the budget with an
expressed intent to restore those as the economy recovered. However,
we also indicated that as positions were added back, we would do so in
the most critical areas and not necessarily do a full restoration.
Since that time, we have been only been able to restore 6 position. We
added 2 police officers to the GF in FY2013 and funded 3 more from the
seized asset fund with the intent to move those into the GF or CCPD.
We moved one in FY2016, have added one for FY2017 and we have one
left to get funded in baseline. (1 — Secretary PD)
..... ..................... ......... .
This year, addressing personnel shortage was a key goal in order to be
able to maintain proper service levels. You will see that we are
recommending 3 firefighters, one public works field tech, an athletic
coordinator and the conversion of two part time secretary positions
into one full time position.
We have also included a 3.25% pay plan for our employees. Another
major impact to the budget this year was the cost of the health
insurance plan. Over the past few years, we have made a number of
changes to the benefit plan including increasing deductibles, OOP max
and co-payment; however the costs for the current year have soared.
Premiums for the upcoming year are being increased by 14%. Because
of health care reform that limits premiums for employees, mandates
coverage of various items and caps out of pocket costs, we are running
out of options; however, finding solutions will be a top priority for the
upcoming year.
(Rates — Plan B — Total/Employee Portion for Employee $698/174,
Spouse $1,607/401, Children $1,327/331, Family $2,026/506) (Rate —
Plan A — Employee $811/242, Spouse $1,865/556, Children $1,541/459,
Family $2,352/702)
Another area that we have been working for years to increase is our
depreciation funding. The City has had an equipment replacement
fund for many years but was only able to fund it at 55% of the expected
replacement costs.
Originally, the fund excluded large equipment over $75K. Over the last
few years, we have been able to start depreciating the larger items.
The current budget is now based on 100% depreciation for items under
75K and 55% for items over $75K which will put us in a much better
financial position long term to adequately cover replacement costs.
We will continue to try to reach 100% depreciation for all items when
funding becomes available.
Another area that we have worked on for years is increasing baseline
funding for street maintenance. From the PCI study, you saw that we
need to invest at least $900k annually to maintain our current street
condition.
Over the last few years, we have been able to get $300,000 into the
baseline and $600,000 has been dependent upon the available of one-
time money. If the one-time money is not available, we would be left
with either deferring maintenance or issuing debt.
The current budget increases the overall funding by $50,000 to offset
rising construction costs which will allow us to continue the same level
of maintenance and adds $175,000 to the baseline. This gives us a total
of $950,000 with $525,000 now in baseline and $425,000 coming from
one-time funding. We will continue to try to move all of this into
baseline as funding allows.
You will also see that with our increased revenues, our rebates
payments have been increased in accordance with the contractual
agreements. These include sales tax rebates, hotel occupancy tax and
car rental revenue.
We still have relatively minor increases to the baseline budgets and
these are mostly related to increases for janitorial services and
maintenance and contractual agreements
The water and wastewater fund is another challenging area. The cost
increases are primarily attributed to the salary package of 3.25%, the
insurance increases, and the cost of purchasing water and treating
wastewater through Trinity River Authority.
We are recommending an increase of $1 to the base water and
wastewater rate to cover our increased costs as well as a direct pass
through of the TRA increases. TRA is increasing our costs to purchase
water by 20C and wastewater treatment charges are increasing by 13C.
We are recommending to only increase our volume charge by the exact
amount of the TRA increases.
We are also recommending a 25C rate stabilization rebate. We
received a fairly large refund last year from TRA which has brought back
up our balance in the rate stabilization fund so this will allow us to
provide a slightly larger rebate to customers and help to offset the
impact of the rate increase.
In the Equipment Replacement Fund, you will see that we are
recommending to expedite the purchase of an Aerial Platform Fire
Truck. We are currently running one 2008 quint and two engines front
line. We have a platform and two quints in reserve.
The platform is a 2002 and the two quints are a 1998 and 2005. The
2002 platform has been the subject of many maintenance issues
including a recall in 2014 after a fireman was injured by a faulty ladder.
The ladder was repaired under warranty; however, the maintenance
issues have continued.
Since July, 2014, the truck has been out of service 730 days and in
service 103 days. We do have a quint scheduled for delivery in October
that will replace the 1998 quint; however, that will still leave us with
just one quint front line as the 2008 quint will shift into reserve.
The department personnel believes it is critical that we have a platform
truck. We currently have over 250 three or four story structures in the
City. The association has expressed their strong belief that the
platform, which provides a bucket, is much safer for any type of roof
operation or rescue operation.
Wes is also working with our ISO consultant who has indicated that two
front line ladders are required to meet that part of the ISO standards
and without those, we will likely not maintain our ISO 1 rating. Wes has
explored with our neighboring cities and DFW Airport as to whether
they could guarantee us a platform for our large structure fires;
however, none have the capability to give us this assurance.
The cost of the truck is approximately $1.25M. We are recommending
issuing short term tax notes for the financing. We have a drop in our
debt service requirements this year and can issue notes with a three
year term for an interest rate of 1-1.5%. Issuing tax notes is a very
simple process and only requires that we take bids from financial
institutions and present for your award. We have included the required
debt payment into the I&S tax rate and can still maintain an l&S rate of
9.9C for FY2017 compared to 10.11C for the current year.
The proposed budget includes all the things that I have just mentioned
and is based on reducing the tax rate by % of 1C.
We have also spent a great deal of time looking at our Capital
Improvements Plan and have included a plan for all of the items that
are needed within the next five years. We have a few street p`
reconstruction projects including Fuller Wiser and Bear Creek Parkway
that are in need to major reconstruction. We recommend that these
be done in 2019 to coincide with the next debt reduction so that we
can again maintain a level debt rate and not impact the overall tax rate.
You will see that we have split the library remodel and the PATS VII into
a design phase and a construction phase. We put one year between
each to allow us the time to complete the design in order to get
accurate construction cost estimates.
You will see that we are following the plan that we discussed last year
to take the funds available from the payoff of the EDC debt to cash flow
Phase VI at the PATS (synthetic turf for the existing infields) and the
design of the library remodel in the current budget.
We are also recommending that we begin accumulating the cash for
the Phase VII expansion at the PATS. We are recommending that $2M
be transferred from to CIP for this project. The current plan call for
design of Phase VII in 2018 with construction in 2020. We believe that
we should be able to save enough to cash flow the majority of the
project without a need to issue debt. We anticipate the ECD would
repay the Car Rental fund and these funds could then be used for other
city projects.
There are a couple of other major projects that are in the long term
plan that we will need to continue to address. The first is to evaluate a
fire station expansion in the next 5 or so years. We will begin
preliminary work next year to determine what would be required to
expand Fire Station 1 to meet the growth on the north side of town.
The three additional fireman that are being added this year and the
new fire truck will put us further down the road to accomplishing a full
double company in this station at some point in the future. While it
may still be several years out, we are trying to put ourselves in the best
position when the times comes since it would be near impossible to
fund all of this in one year.
Lastly, Chris will have a more detailed discussion on our water wells on
Saturday. All three of our wells are reaching end of life and we are
working to develop a financial plan to address this. Our early feasibility
studies are indicating that it is financially advantageous for us to stay in
the well business. If this holds true, we will be putting together a
detailed plan for the future including site selection, cost and financing
plans.
So before Janina walks you through all the details, are there any
questions on our general direction.