Page 21 - Hurst FY19 Approved Budget

fact, representatives from Simon Property Group recently visited with the City
to discuss possible future plans for North East Mall. This meeting was possible
through our continued partnership with Simon Property Group and our history of
partnering in redevelopment efforts at North East Mall. The City continues to be
committed to redevelopment and remains proactive in mitigating risks related to
sales tax including the Council’s conservative budget approach.

Property values increased again in 2018 providing additional ad valorem tax
revenue to offset stagnating sales taxes with potential losses from announced
store closures and declines in other General Fund revenues. The adopted General
Fund budget represents a 2.98%, or $1,070,611, increase. Most city operations
are financed within the General Fund, and the overall cost increase includes
market driven employee pay adjustments, increasing economic development
obligations, and an increase in street maintenance operations. Economic stability
and results of a regional salary survey support an approved 2.5% cost of living
increase in full-time salaries, and a small percentage of employees will also receive
an additional market driven adjustment. On an annual basis, Human Resources
surveys several neighboring cities to assess the competitiveness of pay and
benefits. Market adjustments for 2018-2019 were approved for approximately ten
full-time employees. Other than the 2.5% COLA and market driven adjustments,
the other significant personnel increase is the addition of $180,000 in overtime
costs for the Fire Department. The increase proves more cost effective that adding
positions and ensures adequate staffing for 24-hour coverage. The employee
value proposition for Hurst employees remains competitive in comparison to
similar cities. Hurst remains committed to employees by continuing to ensure
they receive competitive wages and opportunities for professional development.

The city continues to move forward with capital replacement programs
throughout the year as approved by the City Council. Approved 2018-2019
capital expenditures and infrastructure maintenance projects within the General
Fund total $3.7 million. Maintenance of streets, facilities, fleet, and technology
hardware will cost approximately $7.9 million citywide. Ongoing infrastructure
maintenance mitigates and delays more costly replacement of assets in the future.

During the outset of the budget process, the city’s executive team was instructed
to bring forward a budget that maintained the high quality services our
community has come to expect. Any increase was justified through the Hurst
Way and Strategic Plan (found on page __). The Hurst Way serves as a lens used
to evaluate requests based upon Public Service, Customers Service, and Financial
Sustainability. This process yielded very little increases beyond the personnel
costs outlined above. Non-Personnel increases include contractual price increases
for various contracted services, public safety training programs and equipment,
and continued workforce development. Perhaps most importantly, City Council

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