Page 18 - Hurst FY20 Approved Budget

BUDGET OVERVIEW

The 2019-2020 budget continues to reflect the City Council’s conservative fiscal policy direction.
The major objectives of the budget process are to identify cost saving measures 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 $556,487 was
cut city wide from preliminary service enhancement submittals, and the cuts will not reduce
current service levels.

Unfunded Needs

Budget requests exceeding $357,450 were transferred to a prioritized list of unfunded needs.
The list includes various community events and future landscaping related to the proposed dog
park. The requests were reviewed and approved by City Council at the August 2019 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 operations. Volunteers have contributed over 630,000 hours of work valued at over $9.8
million since the program began in 1979. The 2019-2020 annual budget for the VIA program
is $14,600 which covers supplies and recognition materials. This remains a small investment
when compared to the program’s benefits. Numerous full-time or part-time employees would
be required to offset thousands of service hours provided through the VIA program. 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.

Alternative Funding Sources

The city considers alternative funding opportunities and applies for state and federal grant
funding each year. Grant funds received by the city generally average $300,000 per year. In
2018-2019, total grant revenue generated was approximately $670,000. Grant programs

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