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BUDGET OVERVIEW

Future Issues

Population Growth and Its Impact on City Services

North Richland Hills’ population has increased by approximately 7% since the 2010 Census,
and with additional development occurring around the city there is no sign that this growth will
slow soon. North Richland Hills population is projected to reach 70,000 in just a few short years.
As a city’s population increases, so too does the strain on essential city services and
infrastructure. It is important as we move into the future, to plan and prepare for the impacts
growth will have on the services the city provides.

Looking forward, staffing levels will be important to monitor and plan for as the city’s population
grows. While it is possible to keep staffing the same in many departments of the city, growth
puts a strain on some of our most visible city departments, such as Police, Fire and Public
Works. Items for City Council consideration in the FY 2018/2019 Adopted Budget include an
increase in both police and fire staffing levels. The Police Department has not had a police
officer position added since 2001. If call load continues to grow at its current pace, then it
estimated that they will need an additional seven officers in the next 5 years. This is just one
example of how growth can affect staffing levels.

Also affected by growth is the city’s infrastructure. Increased population means more people on
our roads, using our water system and taking advantage of the numerous city amenities
available to both residents and visitors. Maintenance of these will be crucial moving into the
future. As Council has done with streets, evaluation will need to be made on maintenance levels
for our utility and drainage systems, the parks and trails and city facilities such as the NRH
Centre and Library.

While the city has experienced an influx of new residents to the community, it is important to
note that it also has a large group of citizens that have called NRH their home for decades. As
we move into the future, the priority is to continue the tradition of providing a high quality of life
community that residents have come to know and expect in North Richland Hills.

Future Infrastructure (Utilities, Streets, Drainage) Maintenance and Replacement

Staff has had various discussions with Council over the past few years about our aging public
infrastructure and it seems that recently we have brought large and expensive projects to
Council for approval that are related to the aging infrastructure. For example, the Walker
Calloway Sewer Main that TRA manages for NRH and Hurst. This is a project that will take
several years to complete. The regulating agencies of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have also been placing
more restrictions on cities as well. The city certainly meets current state and federal regulations,
but you never know what is on the regulatory agencies’ want lists. This could result in future
utility projects related to our aging infrastructure.

We have been addressing the condition of city streets and improving the public perception of the
general condition of the roadways for a few years now, but this is also a future issue to consider.
The 2017 Citizens Survey results showed that 68.6% of individuals ranked our major roadways
as excellent or good, while 59.1% ranked the condition of our residential streets as excellent or
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