Page 66 - Azle City Budget 2019

trends. The two biggest single sources of revenue in the General Fund are property taxes and
sales taxes and the trends and assumptions on these two sources were discussed above.

EXPENDITURES

The General Fund expenditure budget for FY 2018-19, as amended and approved by the City
Council, is $10,792,470. This is an increase of $831,289 (8.35%) over the original FY 2017-18
budget and will maintain or improve current service and staffing levels. The driving factor in this
increase is the expanded School Resource Officer program discussed in the transmittal letter
which is partially funded by the Azle Independent School District. Included in personnel costs
are increases for step raises, a 3% cost of living adjustment to all salaries effective in January
2018, and funds to cover anticipated increases in health insurance and the City’s retirement
plan. Four new positions are included in this budget: three additional Firefighter/EMT positions
and a part-time Kennel Technician. In addition, a part-time Lube Technician position has been
upgraded to a full-time position. Expenditures are expected to exceed revenue and transfers
from other funds by $16,113. This is attributable to expenditures related to capital purchases
such as replacement vehicles and various equipment throughout the various departments.

In addition to funding for regularly occurring operating expenditures, one-time transfers to the
Capital Projects Fund in the amount of $3,600,000 for the construction of the new City Hall and
Police Station facilities is included in this budget. However, the construction of these facilities
are still in the very early stages and a portion of the transfers may be postponed until FY 2019-
20. The new building facilities will also be funded by royalties from gas wells drilled on various
City properties and the proceeds of certificates of obligation issued in September 2016. This
draw down on General Fund reserves will result in a reduction in the unreserved fund balance of
the General Fund of approximately 49.65%. However, the reduction is not expected to have a
significant impact on General Fund operations as the unreserved fund balance will remain
above the City’s stated goal of an unreserved fund balance equal to four months of operating
expenditures. After all expenditures and transfers, the FY 2018-19 General Fund ending
unreserved fund balance is projected to be $3,567,220 or 33.98% of annual General Fund
expenditures.

City of Azle 2018-2019 Budget 54