Page 14 - Haltom City Budget FY21

Reserves - In FY 2001-2002, the City Council adopted a Fund Balance Policy like
many other cities, calling for Haltom City to achieve and maintain a 20% minimum
fund balance.

The FY 2020-2021, the fund balance reserves for General Fund is projected to
be 29%, Water and Sewer Fund 27%, and Drainage Fund is projected to be 18%.
Capital Projects are directly tied to fund balances since money is transferred from the
core funds to cover the costs of maintaining and updating the City’s infrastructure.

Compensation - The City’s investment in attracting, recruiting, and retaining
personnel is critical to achieving the Council’s Mission and Vision. Beyond the
cost of salaries and benefits are the value of experience and the knowledge of
institutional history inherent in a tenured workforce. For the FY 2020-2021 budget,
there is a proposed salary adjustment for all employees as follows:

• All compensation increases will be delayed until January 2021
• For sworn employees, in addition to a 3% increase, the scheduled step increases
will be funded.

• For non-sworn (general) employees, there will be a 3% increase

Property Tax – One of the largest revenue sources for the City is the collection of
property tax. The estimated net taxable values are over $2.5 billion. Total property
tax revenue is expected to be approximately $16.5 million—with $10 million for
General Fund and $6.5 million for Debt Service Fund. The proposed total property
tax rate is the current tax rate of $0.6657—with $0.403750 for General Fund
(Maintenance & Operations) and $0.262010 for Debt Service Fund (Interest &
Sinking).

Sales Tax - Sales tax is another large revenue source for the City, with over $14.6
million in collections predicted for FY 2020-2021. The City receives 2% sales tax
and the allocation is 1.375% for General Fund, 0.375% for Streets, and 0.25% for
the Crime Control Prevention District.

Infrastructure Maintenance – One long-term concern has been providing enough
funding each year to maintain the City’s existing infrastructure – primarily streets.
Our community continues to face challenges with aging infrastructure and will be
forced to absorb large reconstruction costs in the future if annual maintenance
is not sufficiently funded. The City Council currently allocates 3/8 of a cent of
sales tax for street maintenance and repairs and approved a $6m Certificate of
Obligation debt issue to utilize $4.5m for additional street projects in the 2020-2021
budget year to help with the street infrastructure projects.

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