Page 480 - Hurst FY19 Approved Budget

ANTI-CRIME HALF CENT SALES TAX FUND

The Anti-Crime Half Cent Sales Tax Fund is a special revenue fund established to record
receipts collected by the State for a one-half percent sales tax on taxable items sold
within Hurst for crime control and prevention programs. The Hurst Crime Control
District was authorized to collect the sales tax by voter referendum on September 9,
1995.

In 1989, legislation had been passed which authorized a Crime Control and Prevention
District (Article 2370c-4, Section 3.01, Vernon Civil Statutes) to allow cities and counties
to establish a district and impose a local sales tax of 3 or 2 percent to fund its programs;
however, only one county qualified. In 1993, legislative changes extended eligibility for
creating and funding a district to include several other counties, more areas within the
counties and a few cities in large counties. The legislation allowed a city’s governing
body to propose its own crime control and prevention district if the municipality was
located (wholly or partially) within a county with a population of more than 1 million
and the combined local tax rate would not exceed 2 percent. Therefore, cities in Bexar,
Dallas, Harris and Tarrant counties were eligible. Early in 1995, the City of Fort Worth
was the first city to enact the tax. Hurst was the second city in the state to enact the
tax. The Hurst Crime Control District has the same boundaries as the City of Hurst
with sales tax collected from all businesses located within the City. A crime control
plan and a two-year financial plan were created by the Board. The Crime Control Plan
outlined the prevention strategies for the district and included a method for evaluating
the effectiveness of the strategies. The Two-Year Financial Plan included a budget for
each strategy, revenue projections, and project-ending balances. After overwhelming
voter approval of the tax on September 9th, the anti-crime budget was included in
the 1995-1996 Operating Budget and was approved on September 12, 1995. In the
2014-2015 budget process, due to the continued economic downfall, the City Manager
implemented a $5 million reserve to ensure continued financial stability of this fund.

The revenue source allows the City to provide funding for Police personnel and capital
equipment which would not be available through the normal budget process. Some of
the benefits that Hurst citizens receive from the Anti-Crime tax are programs targeted
to strengthen gang intervention activities, enhance neighborhood and business crime
watch programs, and enforce domestic violence programs. Also, additional patrol
officers reduce response times for emergency calls.

Revenues generated by the Crime Control District provide relief to the General Fund
for expanded crime prevention and enforcement activities. The new tax created an
opportunity for the City Council to provide tax relief to Hurst citizens in the form of
an Ad Valorem tax rate reduction of 1/2 of one cent and to maintain senior citizen and

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