Page 22 - Hurst FY20 Approved Budget

cuts. Anti-Crime Fund officers and civilian employees will also receive a 2.5% COLA; however,
the increase will not impact the Anti-Crime Fund budget. Indirect overhead costs, payable to
the General Fund, will be reduced by the amount of the salary adjustment. The city’s policy
is to utilize General Fund dollars to cover the cost of pay increases in the Anti-Crime Fund.
This policy is appropriate given economic variations in sales tax revenues and staff’s desire to
maintain capacity in the Anti-Crime Fund for equipment purchases to support community-
based law enforcement activities. Anti-Crime programs benefiting the community are: gang
intervention, crime prevention community-based policing, domestic violence prevention
and assistance, and neighborhood and business crime watch.

Public safety continues to receive strong community support. The Anti-Crime Fund receives a
½% tax on retail sales within the city and voters authorized a 20-year continuation of the tax
in 2010. Sales tax revenues are project at $5.24 million in 2019-2020. If this revenue source
were unavailable, the property tax rate would need to increase approximately 15 cents to
fund the programs budgeted in 2019-2020. In addition to the programs listed above, the
entire police department receives support from the Anti-Crime Fund. The Police Department
operates out of out Justice Center and provides the primary facilities for our law enforcement
activities including a secure and effective Municipal Court room; improved locker rooms;
more private interview rooms; safer conditions for handling of prisoners; a much improved
investigative laboratory; a more functional dispatch center to receive and handle 911 calls;
secure and covered parking for patrol units; much needed parking for Hurst Town Center
guests; and other improvements to enhance the quality of Police and Municipal Court
services.

The Anti-Crime Fund has continued to support capital purchases for the Police Department.
The city recently made the final payment on our capital lease for the city’s first digital radio
system. The system is used by police officers, firefighters, and public works employees and
allows connectivity with surrounding communities in case of a regional emergency. The
digital radios also solve past issues with “dead spots” in certain buildings where radios were
inoperable. In 2019-2020 this fund will continue to support our community based programs
including regular investments in fleet and information technology as well as programs such
as National Night Out. Additional budget information on the Anti-Crime Tax Fund is in the
Other Funds section of this document.

Enterprise Fund

The Enterprise Fund is operated as a stand-alone utility business providing water and
sewer services to Hurst residents and commercial customers. This fund’s approved operating
budget is flat for 2019-2020. The city of Hurst does not own or operate its own wastewater
plant. As such, the city contracts with Fort Worth and the Trinity River Authority for wholesale
water and wastewater services. Unfortunately, the city of Hurst has limited ability to control
wholesale costs, which have increased by 31% over the past seven years. For fiscal year 2019-
2020, overall wholesale costs are projected to slightly decrease; however, future increases are
expected in FY 2020-2021 that will exceed the FY 2019-2020 costs. The city is participating
in a TRA project to replace the Walker Branch Sanitary Sewer Trunk line which will cost $7.9
million over the next twenty-six years. The city’s Public Works Department monitors water
usage and system capacity on a 24/7 basis. The city uses well water and other means to lower
maximum hour and daily demands of water, which helps control wholesale costs as much
as possible. Wholesale costs represent approximately 42.6% of the operating budget. With
such a significant portion of the fund’s budget being passed back to Ft. Worth, we actively

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