Page 11 - Haltom City FY19 Annual Budget

transportation. Overall, the North Texas region has fared better than the nation in
economic growth and expansion.

Priorities for the FY2019 focus on improving fund reserve levels, continuing a
compensation plan for City employees, infrastructure maintenance, continuing capital
improvements, providing quality municipal facilities and parks, proactive economic
development, and the continuance of public-private partnership agreements.

Reserves – In FY2002, the City Council adopted a Fund Balance Policy calling for Haltom
City to achieve and maintain a 20% minimum fund balance. This fund balance is based
on 20% of current year expenditures. For FY2019, the fund balance reserves for General
Fund, Water and Sewer Fund, and Drainage Funds were set at 18%, 21% and 20%
respectively. The challenge moving forward is to protect these balances while
developing plans to replenish the General Fund reserve balance to a minimum of 20%.
The temporary draw down on General Fund balance is partially due to two consecutive
years of reducing the property tax rate.

Compensation – The Council’s first Long-term strategic goal is to “continue to build and
maintain an empowered and loyal workforce.” The City’s investment in personnel is
important—and beyond the cost of salaries and benefits, is the value of experience and
knowledge inherent in a tenured workforce. The value of continued investment in the
employees through training and continuing education cannot be minimized. There are no
merit-based adjustments proposed for FY2019. However, there is a planned salary
adjustment for all employees, as follows:

• For sworn employees, a 3% increase along with any scheduled step increases
• For non-sworn (general) employees, there will be a 3% increase for those in their
current position over a year—or for those in their current position less than a year
who are making less than $50,000 annually

For the outlying years, the challenge will be to provide a competitive compensation
package of salaries and benefits in order to attract and retain employees. Complicating
this challenge is the evolving issues of unfunded pension costs, health insurance industry
changes from Federal legislation, and other post-employment benefits.

Property Tax – One of the largest revenue sources for the City is the property tax. The
estimated net certified tax rolls amount to over $2.1 billion. Property tax revenue is
expected to be approximately $14 million—with $9 million for General Fund, and $5
million for Debt Service Fund. The proposed total property tax rate is $0.653—with
$0.423 for General Fund (M&O), and $0.23 for Debt Service Fund (I&S). This represents
a reduction of $0.01518 from the FY2018 rate of $0.66818.

In November 2010, the voters approved $21.208 million in capital projects with the clear
understanding that it was possible an increase of as much as $0.06 per $100 of net

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