Page 52 - Haltom City FY19 Annual Budget

GENERAL FUND DESCRIPTION

FUND SUMMARY
The General Fund is used to account for all revenues and expenditures not designated in other funds.
It receives a greater variety and amount of revenues as well as finances a wide range of governmental
activities than any other fund. The General Fund is supported by property taxes, sales & use taxes,
franchise fees, license and permit fees, charges and Municipal Court fines. General Fund
expenditures support the city's police, fire, streets, building maintenance, fleet, parks and recreation,
library and administration.

CONCLUDING FISCAL YEAR 2018 FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

Revenues in the General Fund are estimated to total $29.3 million, which is $1.5 million or 5.3% more
than FY2017. The City collected more property tax due to higher taxable property value. Sales Tax
increased by about 2% as budgeted. The City also collected more revenues from Licenses & Permits
due to new development north of State Highway 820. On the other hand, Charges for Services
declined by more than $0.39 million (18.9%) with lower Administrative Fees and Fleet Service Fees.
Franchise Fee are slightly lower due to lower utilities usage.

Expenditures in the General Fund are estimated to be $28.1 million, which is about $1.0 million or
3.8% higher than FY2017. This amount included a total of over $1 million transfer to the Capital
Replacement Fund for replacement of vehicles and equipment, debt services fund for Economic
Development debt and operating cost for Economic Development.

Fund Balance - The difference in revenues and expenditures, combined with a beginning fund
balance, contribute to an estimated ending fund balance for FY2018 of $8.3 million, which is $1.2
more than the beginning fund balance. The fund balance reserve is about 28.8% of the expenditures.

FISCAL YEAR 2019 BUDGET

Revenues for fiscal year 2019 are expected to total $29.8 million, which represents an increase of
$0.46 million (1.6%) over FY2018. Revenues for FY2019 are budgeted conservatively. Revenue
increases are expected from sales tax, franchise fees, licenses & permits, and transfers. Decrease
in revenue are anticipated from property tax, charges for services, fines and other revenues. The
estimated taxable value increased to $2.1 billion. The total tax rate for FY2019 decreased to $0.653
for every $100 taxable value.

Expenditures for fiscal year 2019 are projected to be $32 million, an increase of $4 million or 14%
over the FY2018 end‐of‐year estimate. The increase is primarily due to salary increase, added 6 new
positions, equipment purchases and increase in operating costs.

Fund Balance - After expenditures and transfers to other funds, the projected ending fund balance is
at $6 million, which is $2.26 million (27%) less than FY2018. This decrease is due to smaller increase
in revenues and a much larger increase in expenditures. This represents structural imbalance and
corrective actions should be taken to maintain financial sustainability. The ending fund balance
represents about 18% of expenditures and is below the 20% reserve requirement governed by the
City's financial policies. The City Council is well aware of the structural imbalance but still lowers the
property tax rate.

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