Page 13 - N. Richland Hills General Budget

Office of the City Manager
CITY OF NORTH RICHLAND HILLS

October 1, 2020

Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
City of North Richland Hills
North Richland Hills, Texas

Following several months of analysis and review, the City staff is pleased to present the Adopted Budget for
fiscal year 2020/21. The budget that is presented for the various City funds is balanced and actually reflects
lower expenditures than allocated for fiscal year 2019/20.

At this point it is hard to look past the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence on the current fiscal
year and future fiscal years, so we will start by addressing some of these impacts. The situation began to
surface in early March 2020 with reduced consumer activity that continued to decline up to the point where all
businesses except those designated as “essential services” were either closed or transitioned to alternative
service delivery methods. Fortunately for NRH, many of our businesses were considered essential services
and remained fully open during the shutdown while other businesses transitioned to curbside delivery, shipping
or other alternative delivery methods. Most businesses found a creative way to stay in business, and
some businesses, such as grocery, home goods and hardware stores, saw a sizable increase in traffic over
the prior year activity level.

City services were also affected with City facilities being closed from March 13 through May 11, 2020, during
which time staff found a way to accommodate most customer needs through electronic service delivery. This
included services like applying for a building permit and paying a traffic citation, as well as innovative library
programs and animal adoption services. By the middle of May all facilities except for the NRH Senior Center
and NRH2O had reopened at full or partial capacity.

Public meetings were significantly affected with several board meetings cancelled. Meetings that were held
ranged from being in-person with strict social distancing to videoconference meetings to hybrid meetings that
included in-person, videoconferencing and telephonic input. To say this stretched the creative and technical
capabilities of the City staff and our citizens would be an understatement, but all essential business was
conducted without compromising transparency or citizen input.

The COVID-19 crisis dominated a significant portion of City resources from the middle of March through the
end of May. This had a direct impact on both expenditures and revenues. For example, traffic fines dropped
significantly as Traffic Patrol staff were shifted to providing support for the Uniformed Patrol Division.
Ambulance revenue dropped as people were reluctant to go to a hospital for a number of weeks. Staff
resources from various departments were shifted from their regular duties to focusing on educating the public,
enforcing emergency order provisions and assisting businesses coping with the pandemic.
Fortunately, Congress approved and President Trump signed the CARES Act which provided funding to
Tarrant County who passed on a portion of the funds to Tarrant County cities. North Richland Hills received
$3,738,900 to use to cover additional and unanticipated expenditures related to the COVID-19 crisis.
Approximately $700,000 will be spent for additional equipment, resources and supplies. The remaining

P.O. Box 82069  North Richland Hills, Texas 76182-0609
4301 City Point Drive  (817) 427-6003  Fax (817) 427-6016

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