- Developing a high quality, well thought out product as our beginning point. The budget document is well organized and does an excellent job at explaining where our monies come from, where they go and why.
- Reengineering the budget deliberation process to make sure “the Board stayed focused on the forest without losing sight of the trees.”
- Being excellent stewards of your tax dollars and make sure they are spent the best way possible to deliver the services you all expect.
The Township is enjoying the fruits of a vibrant
economic environment. By the end of 2013, it is forecasted:
- Our sales and hotel taxes will increase to 44% of total revenues; property taxes represent 42% of the base. Our total revenues should be about 7% above budget.
- Our assessed property tax base will increased by $1.1 Billion to $14.1 billion, an 8.5% increase. Of this increase, $223 million will come from new properties added to the tax rolls. The overall estimated average appraisal increase will be about 7%.
- Our Staff have been successful in holding down our Operating Expenses (these are the expenses required to deliver the services expected). These expenses, $76.9 million, are forecasted to be under the 2013 budget by 2.7%.
A great year!
- For the first time, Property Tax Revenue will be less than 50% of our total revenue. We expect Sales and Hotel Taxes to constitute about 52% of our total revenue. This is exactly the opposite of what most cities are experiencing today. A 2012 TML survey shows that municipal government revenue across Texas was derived 58% from property tax and 42% from sales tax revenue.
- The existing property tax rate of $0.3173 will be reduced by 7.4% to $0.2940. This new rate is below the County’s estimated Effective Tax Rate of $.02960. The Township can be proud to say that property taxes are truly being reduced, a trend taxpayers have benefited from for several years. With the 2014 reduction, The Township’s property tax rate has declined 10.4% since its formation in 2010.
- In March 2014, the first date we can do so, we plan to pay off the 2009 Regional Participation Bond Issue in the amount of $14.3 Million. Some of our unneeded reserves will be used to fund part of this debt repayment. This action will save the Township about $5.6 million in future interest costs. The next available date at which we could pay off other debt is March 1, 2018. In 2014/15, we will look at whether we can begin to set aside additional monies to pay off the $8 million we will still owe on these bonds at that time.
- We finalized a plan to provide annual funding to a Capital Replacement Fund that will provide for the replacement of existing Township capital assets when they reach the end of their useful lives. Over the next 20 years, The Township will need to replace or refurbish the $230 of community amenities and other assets that we have today.
- For 2014, we plan to spend $10 million on capital improvements. Of this amount, $7.3 million will be for parks and recreation and $1.7 million will be for the Fire Department (most of which is for the Station#2 renovations). The major items in the Parks Capital Budget includes $2.1 million for the Town Center, $1.7 million for Creekside, $1.7 million on park improvements (the largest of which is for Shadowbend Park), and $.6 million to expand our Maxi Com Irrigation system (our experience shows where this system is used, it reduces our water consumption by about 40%).
- In a continuing desire to take a more proactive role in satisfying our future mobility needs and to meet our Federal transit obligations and needs, we created a new Transportation Fund. This fund will serve to isolate from our Operating Fund the cost of our transportation mobility initiatives and transit responsibilities. We will put about $1.8 million into this fund to begin to build up a “local match” capability for those initiatives that will most certainly result from the two major mobility planning projects scheduled to start in September 2013. The Board also endorsed the principle that our transit activities should be funded from ridership fees and government subsidies without local taxpayer subsidies.
- Our Operating Budget was increased for the following:
o
Adding three new Sheriff’s Deputies to compensate
for growth. In addition, the County is increasing their salaries causing us add
another $180,000 to our budget.
o
Increasing our covenant enforcement staffing
by adding 6 FTE monitor positions. This is in response to the growing problems faced
by some Villages with absentee property owners, an increase in poor maintenance
of rental properties and the aging of some properties.
o
Increasing our commitment to reduce our
own water consumption and working with the WJPA to better educate businesses
and residents on how they can decrease their own water usage.
o
Continued promotions of our CVB events
in order to continue to enhance our sales and hotel tax revenue streams. In
partnership with the County, the Board recently adopted a new policy and
procedure over how events will be approved in order to mitigate the recurring
adverse impact of such events on the same neighborhoods.
o
Funding our 40 Year Anniversary (October
9, 2014) Celebration Event
o
Conducting our periodic recurring Public
Opinion Survey
o
Providing a 4% COLA salary adjustment
for our employees. Peer organizations are expected to provide a 3.5% to 5% salary
increase for their employees during 2014. This decision added about $221,000 to
our 2014 salary cost. We also budgeted for 10 additional employees to keep pace
with growth and included a funding placeholder for 5 dispatch positions pending
the result of a study for The Township to create our own capability for dispatching
District #6 law enforcement personnel. Our current staffing is 420 personnel, over
70% of which work for the Fire Department and Parks/Recreation.
o
The Board also requested that Don Norrell
bring the question of our 401K Pension structure and 2014 matching rate back to
them for discussion within the next couple of months. The only issue I have
with this request is that I oppose any “revisiting” based on looking at only
one part of our compensation structure. If we are to make any change, I
strongly believe it should be in the context of understanding how such a change
will impact our entire compensation structure (salaries, retirement benefits
and other benefits). The last comprehensive review was done in 2009. In
2012, we took an informal look at this area and concluded our total compensation
package was about 3% below the private sector and in the middle of the pack of
similar public entities. It would be unfair to our employees to consider reducing
the 401K match with looking at all of their compensation. Government entities
are well known for paying lower wages but providing higher retirement benefits.
I agree it is now time to conduct a more
comprehensive evaluation of this entire area in order make sure our compensation
policies, structures and guidelines are still in line with both the private and
public sectors. But let’s not do it in a
“piecemeal fashion.”
All in all, I hope you will agree that the 2014 Budget is an outstanding plan. If you wish, you can find a copy of the Proposed Budget at
The 2014 Budget well positions The Township for the future as we cope with growth, maintain a positive atmosphere for economic development, and provide flexibility to respond to our service and financial needs. Through the approval of the 2014 Budget, I believe The Township has demonstrated it can continue to balance revenues and expenditures, maintain or enhance services our taxpayer expect, maintain an excellent credit rating, keep our debt per capita low, and maintain the right level of contingency, capital replacement and other reserves.
