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Home My WebLink About2010-07-23 Euless Articles E DISTRIBUTED TO: PAGE 111 YOR CITY CNCL CITY ATTNY CRIM MCKAMIE BROW'' Y0t`,yG ANIMAL CNT McDONALD COLLINS C. HARKER GETCHELL L1B&4RYADA1LV LIBRARYREF HARTSELL / 2�� /10 DATE -7115'11(2 NEWSPAPER FK ST DATE DISTRIBUTED 7 STAR-TELEGRAM ANALYSIS revenue boosted. City Budget Officer Horatio "This particular go-around, Porter said it's hard to com- FortWortlfs it seems to be affecting the pare cities' financial situa- bigger cities more than the tions. For example, Fort smaller cities," SturzI said. Worth's budget numbers in- The Star-Telegram com- dude funds to tackle long- budget gap is pared the projected budget term expenses such as pen- shortfalls for the largest cities sions and healthcare Itetir- especially large in Texas and Tarrant County. ees. "We don't know what as- The paper calculated how sumptions other cities are in-* each city's projected shortfall cluding in their predictions," With tax revenue down,many Tarrant compares to its current oper- he said. County cities face shortfalls. ating budget, or general fund. It's not clear how Fort By AMAN BATHEJA abathejaL�star-telegramxom The expenses and revenue Worth will balance its budget. FORT WORTH — Cities small and large are that make up a general fund City Manager Dale Fisseler has struggling with budget shortfalls this summer, can.vary by city, so the com- ordered departments to pre- but Fort Worth's budget gap appears to be big- parison is not exact. pare for budget cuts next year ger than other major Texas cities',a Star-Tele- Most cities are preparing —as much 5 plice percent for police gram analysis found. their budgets for the next fis- and fire and 10 percent in all Most of the 15 largest cities in Tarrant Coun- cal year,which starts Oct.1.An other departments. At the ty expect budget shortfalls, but none is as exception is Houston, Texas' same time, officials'ials have daunting as Fort Worth's---$77 million, or 15 largest city. Houston's fiscal cussed raising taxes or elimi- percent of its current general fund, year began July 1,and council nating tax exemptions. That's more than the projected shortfalls re- members last month closed a The story is similar in Dal- ported by Dallas,San Antonio,Austin and Ar- $140 million shortfall—7 per- las, where the expected $130 lington, as well as the budget gap officials re- cent of the previous year's gen- million shortfall represents 13 cently closed in Houston. eral fund—largely by cutting percent of the city's operating The big exception statewide is El Paso, services and raising fees. budget. which is not expecting ashortfall,according to To balance last year's bud- a city official. Revenue woes get without a tax increase, the Cities nationwide are looking for ways to ad- In Texas, the chief problem is city cut hundreds of jobs and, dress diminishing revenue as the recession the drop in revenue from instituted furlough days for ci- continues. A May survey of hundreds of its property and sales taxes, vflian employees. This year, members by the National League of Cities Property taxes, generally Dallas may lay off 500 employ- found that about 71 percent had cut personnel the biggest source of money ees as well as plan more for- in the last year.Sixty-eight percent had delayed for local governments, have loughs, pay cuts and service or canceled a capital project, fallen becausQ of tumbling cuts,according to city officials. Moody's Investors Service reported last property values and increased Both Austin and Arlington week that it was maintaining a negative out- foreclosures. predict budget gaps, but nei- look on the U.S. local government sector be- Statewide,city sales tax rev- ther is expected to be higher enue is down 2.9 percent this than 8 percent of the current cause of concerns that reve- nue challenges on multiple year from last year, according operating budget, according fronts could last through 2011. to the state comptroller. to information provided by "I've been here since 1979, In Fort Worth, the budget those cities. gap is predicted to be$77 rnfl- San Antonio's budget offi- and this is the worst I've seen " lion because revenue from ver predicted a shortfall of$28 it, said Frank Sturzl,executive director of the Texas Munici- both sales taxes and property million in early May.City off- pal League. taxes has declined. cials declined to provide an Shortfalls are the deficits One contributing factor updated projection last week. the cities expect in future bud- may be Fort Worth 37 percent SturzI cautioned against gets unless spending is cut or population growth since 2000. reading too much into the That has led to a need for more comparisons, noting that cit- police officers,firefighters and ies operate their budgets dif- other municipal services. No ferently Both Austin and San other big city in Texas grew as Antonio receive revenue from fast. municipally owned utilities in their general funds,he noted. 'A city's general fund can include a lot of things that aren't necessarily included in a lot of other cities,"SturzI said. _`' o- i DISTRIBUTED TO: PAGE " OF i F ,1IAYOR CITYCNCL CITYATT.,VY CRLtf MCRAMIE BROR;V YOU,VG ANIMAL CVT i1cDONALD COLLIN'S C. BARKER GETCHELL LIBRARYADMIN LIBRARY REF H.ARTSELL (( DA TE DISTRIBUTED lit / U DATEOFARTICLE I / / v VEIiSP.APER _FIfST "We won't gear it up again Projected City budget shortfalls tiKeller reacted to predic-ons of a shortfall of nearly$2 until we can tell what the Largest Texas cities by population million by laying off 6 percent economy's going to do, Chan- Largest Shortfall as of its work force in Mayercent of . The dler said, 'And I can't find a Ci Budget shortfall general e eriaures general fund shortfall is now expected to be single economist who can tell a City 8 P g me that." Houston $140,000,000 $1,933,966,000 7,24 less than $1 million, but the exact number remains a mov- Start writers Mike lee,Susan Schrock, ! San Antonio 28,000,000 887,077,240 3.16 Bailey Shiffler,Chris Vaughn,Jay Board, Dallas 130,000,000 1,018,358,684 12.77 ing target, City Manager Dan a Austin 49,000,000 614,915,000 7.97 O'Leary Said. Nicholas Sakelaris,Terry Evans,.Elixabeth Campbell and Steve Campbell contribut- j Fort Worth 77,000,000 528,401,543 14.57 ed to this repolt. El Paso 0 312,254,719 0 Benbrook,Mansfield __ i on 10,300,000 194,621,571 5.29 Neither Benbrook nor Mans- 1 Arl nAMAN BATNEJA,817-390-7695 1 � field protects shortfalls, ac- Largest Tarrant County cities by population cording to officials with both t Fiscal 2010 Shortfall as cities. general fund percent of "We're in pretty good city Budget shortfall expenditures general fund shape," Benbrook Budget Di- l Fort Worth $77,000,000 $528,401,543 14.57 rector Sherri Newhouse said. Arlington 10,300,000 194,621,571 5.29 property and sales tax revenue ' North Richland Hills 2,200,000 38,631,516 5.69 may be down for the year, but Mansfield 0 34,995,347 0 t i Euless 1500 000 29,906,143 5.02 not by much,she said. l Bedford 400,000 27,692,195 1.44 Part of the city's financial ' resilience is due to its success Grapevine No projection 51,159,144 N/A- years ago in transferring cer- l Keller Less than$1 million 27,363,980 N/A Haltom city 1,000,040 X1,660,797 4.84 twin costs of key city functions Hurst 2,800,000 31,213,270 8.97 out of its operating fund.Two common services—econom- Sauthiake No projection 30,719,520 N/A is development and the library { Watauga No projection 11,702,321 N/A are funded by a penny out Benbrook 0 14,731,721 0 co!leyville 600,000 18,981,970 3.16 of the city's sales tax.The com- Saginaw No projection 11,366,365 N/A inanity center is operated ata w profit by the YMCA,Newhouse Sources:City officials and city „documents � said. Compared to other cit- Tracking Tarrant cities STAR-TELEGRAM ies our size,our budget is very Among Tarrant County's 15 Arlington projects property small, and that's just because largest cities, 10 have project tax revenue for fiscal 2011 to we provide very basic servic- j ed shortfalls smaller than 10 fall 4 to 7 percent because of es,"Newhouse said."We don't ` percent of operating expenses. foreclosures and falling prop- have any fluff." Grapevine, Southlake,Watau- erty values as well as more While Mansfield City Man- ga and Saginaw declined to People protesting their prop ager Clayton Chandler said provide a projected shortfall. erty evaluations.Sales tax rev- the city has no crystal ball, it Cities are expected to ad- enue is projected to remain was prudent in planning bud- flat next year. gets a few ago at the peak just predictions after receiving Years g Arlington Mayor Robert of its growth — a move that }' updated figures from the Tar- Cluck has said Arlington's def- has put it in a better spot now rant Appraisal District on the icit would be worse without than other area cities. property tax rolls this month. Cowboys Stadium,which,be- "We were growing so fast Arlington leaders are work- ing a city-owned facility, that we had to prepare for a ing through a projected$10.3 doesn't generate property tax- slowdown," Chandler said. million shortfall, 5 percent of es but does bring in more than "We were always extremely this year's operating budget. a million dollars in sales and careful. ... We were running j The citydoes not anticipate hotel occupancy tax revenues. lean in the good years.' , hiring, filling noncritical job Cluck also said the city will Chandler said the budget vacancies or giving employees not need to raise taxesi or cut includes a few new fees, such a a raise for a third consec- 1 pay services to residents signifi- as an annual security alarm utive year. cantly. permit fee working its way i Along with cost cutting,Ci_ through the council, to offset ty Council members are ex- other revenue declines. And pected to consider ideas to while the city may have left- generate new revenue,such as over funds for capital and new raising fines and fees and leas- positions, it doesn't plan an ing public land for electronic spending them. I billboards. j, j ' DISTRIBUTED TO: P.I GE / OF l ' All YOR CITY CYCL CITYATTNY CRI,'1f AICKAAIIE BROIVY YOUNG ANLVIAL CYT aVcDONALD COLLLYS C BARKER GETCHELL LIBRA R YADAIIN LIBRARYREF HARTSELL DATEDISTRIBUTED 3 L DATEOFARTICLE l ` NEUSP.APER FUST BRIEFS 1 Pedestrian killed crossing boulevard EULESS -- A pedestrian was killed Sunday night ' when he was hit by a car as he tried to cross Industrial Boulevard, Euless police said Monday. The man ' was identified as David Heath, 30, of Euless, who died at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth shortly afterward. No other injuries were re- ported. Heath, who was ' wearing dark clothing, tried to cross in the middle of the street in the 500 block of South Industrial ' about 10 p.m.,Euless po- lice said. "There wasn't a crosswalk where he was ' walking;' Euless police Sgt. Gary Landers said Monday.Heath was hit by a car driven by an 18-year- old 8-year- old Euless man,according to Euless police reports. The driver stopped imme- diately, police said. No charges are expected to be filed,Landers said. —Domingo Ramirez Jr. t DISTRIBUTED TO: PAGE � OF� AJAYOR CITYCVCL CITYATTNY CRIA1 VCX4,VVIIE BROWN YOUNG A:V141AL C'S'T VlcDONALD COLLLNS C. BARKER GETCHELL LIBR4RYADMIN LIBRARYREF HARTSELL ly -7 73111D DATE DISTRIBUTED 7 / DATE OFARTICLE / NEWSPAPER FWST E Euless hobby store suffers 2nd break-in By Terry Evans tevans@star-telegram.com Online exclusive r Tina and Wade JordanView surveillance feel violated. ® video of the On Sunday, two men break-in at broke in at their busi- star-telegram.com ness,All About Fan Hob- bies&Games in Euless.It was the second smash- dio-controlled vehicles. and-grab in as many If the merchandise is re- months. The Jordans are covered on the basis of a offering a $500 reward tip, the Jordans will add I for information about one of the helicopters the Sunday break-in. and a radio-controlled During the first car to the reward. x break-in, thieves stole Euless police Sgt. Ga- $65. But Sunday's was ry Landers said Sunday's worse. burglary was the third "This sets us back this year at the shopping about three months," plaza,415 N.Main St. Wade Jordan said. "The Landers urged anyone ' k cost of the two helicop- with information about ters alone is$900." the men in the video to Two young men, call 817-685-1532. ' caught on surveillance video, grabbed eight ra- Terry Evans,817-390-7620 a- t � : � k 3 i k a r t j 4 F [ 4 g 3