Page 19 - Hurst FY19 Approved Budget

BUDGET OVERVIEW

The 2018-2019 budget continues to reflect the City Council’s conservative fiscal
policy direction. The major objectives of the budget process are to achieve financial
sustainability and to provide funding to implement the City Council’s strategic plans.

Design

The city utilizes a hybrid zero-base/program/line item budget approach in which all
budget requests are tied to the City Council’s Strategic Priorities and programs, and
are justified every year. The resulting outcome of this process is the implementation
of a very conservative budget. Once again, each Department has taken a zero-based
approach to creating their budgets with justification of all expenditures items through
the Hurst Way and the Council’s Strategic Priorities. A number of cuts were necessary in
order for staff to balance the budget. Over $375,000 was cut citywide from preliminary
service enhancement submittals, and the cuts will not reduce service levels.

Unfunded Needs

Budget requests exceeding $2,000,000 were transferred to a prioritized list of unfunded
needs. The list includes various community events, building repairs and renovations,
and replacement of a legacy software system for the City’s Planning and Community
Development department. The requests were reviewed and approved by City Council
at the August 2018 Budget Workshop. Funding for such items comes from the Special
Projects Fund. It is the city’s policy to transfer a portion of excess revenues over
expenditures from the General Fund to the Special Projects Fund at the end of each
fiscal year. It continues to be the city’s policy to maintain a reserve of $8 million within
the Special Projects Fund for emergency needs. The remaining funds are available for
other “one-time” expenditures. The Special Projects Fund continues to provide for the
completion of major infrastructure projects on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, which minimizes
debt obligations.

Volunteers in Action (VIA) Savings

Another cost saving measure included in the budget is the extensive use of volunteers.
It has been the objective of each city department to use volunteers to maintain or
enhance their department’s operations. Volunteers have contributed over 605,000
hours of work valued at over $9 million since the program’s implementation in 1979.
The 2018-2019 annual budget for volunteer operations is $14,600 which covers basic
supplies and recognition materials. This remains a small investment when compared
to the program’s benefits. Numerous full-time or part-time employees would need to
be hired to offset the thousands of hours of service provided by the city’s volunteers.
To learn more about the city’s VIA program please visit the following website: www.
hursttx.gov and use the website’s search engine by typing Volunteers in Action.

2