Page 25 - Hurst Budget FY21

bonds have been issued for fire apparatus, road projects, and the voter approved animal services
center. The debt rate for 2020-2021 is $0.120973 and accounts for less than 20% of our total tax rate.

As mentioned above, refunding has provided significant savings in debt service over the past several
years through low interest rates and no extension of maturity. Potential refunding, or refinancing, of
existing debt is evaluated on an ongoing basis and opportunities to take advantage of lower interest
rates will be exercised; however recent changes in federal laws have limited the city’s flexibility in debt
refundings. All city debt is issued with fixed interest rates and provisions allowing for refinancing under
favorable market conditions at certain time intervals. Information concerning the Debt Service fund is
provided in the Other Funds section.

Long Term Strategic Plan Process

Each year, a formal review and revision of the Strategic Plan is performed by the City Council before
the budget process begins. In 2017, the City Council met in March for a strategic planning session
and took a new step in establishing the city’s first vision statement and community values along with
six strategic priorities. They met again in 2018 and 2019 to evaluate the strategic plan and reaffirmed
the city’s vision, mission, strategic priorities, and values. Typically, Council would have met again in
2020 to evaluate the plan and make any necessary adjustments; however, the strategic planning
retreat was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic. The Council has not experienced any turnover
since the 2019 retreat and the information contained in the strategic plan is intended to be guiding
policies and priorities which staff applies to their programs and services. The action plans and strategic
priorities for 2019-2020 are included in the budget. The strategic priorities of Redevelopment, Public
Safety, Leadership, Innovation, Economic Vitality, and Infrastructure guide the actions plans and goals
for each department. A few particular focus areas will be highlighted below. We appreciate Council’s
support as we carried forward the prior year’s plan into the development of the FY 2020-2021 budget.
We look forward to reengaging the Council for a strategic retreat in 2021.

Redevelopment and Economic Vitality: An extremely important part of the action plans for the city
of Hurst’s long-term success is the Economic Development and Transforming Hurst policies. Among
other strategies, the policies focus on the following:

 Continue aggressive business retention and development programs
 Strengthen relationship with North East Mall to remain vital and community friendly
 Target businesses that are underrepresented in the area but growing in Region
 Continue to utilize state-of-the-art technology for economic development
 Continue work with development partners to implement actions identified in the Sustainability Plan
 Work with the Hurst Conference Center to enhance its volume and take advantage of the newly
connected hotel

Under these priorities revenue sharing and other economic development tools will help the city be
successful in our efforts. Approximately 20 years ago, Simon Property Group, owners of North East
Mall, approached city officials and requested their participation in the expansion of the mall, a practice
that has become increasingly prevalent between developers and cities in a competitive retail
environment. Simon's plans evolved from the addition of one anchor tenant, and remodeling, to a
major expansion with three additional anchor tenants and expanded specialty shops, and the addition
of an adjacent retail center called The Shops at North East Mall. The Shops at North East Mall out
performed expectations and the city made its final revenue sharing payment sooner than expected.
The agreement for revenue sharing at North East Mall is still in effect and it is expected that the city
will continue sharing revenue on the Mall agreement until the end of the contract term in March 2023.

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