Page 42 - N. Richland Hills General Budget

BUDGET OVERVIEW

from what was projected in the adopted budget. Due to a change in State law that went into effect
during the current fiscal year, communication companies that provide both telephone and cable
services are now only required to pay franchise fees on the service that generates the most
revenue. Staff had estimated that both AT&T and Spectrum would continue to pay a cable
franchise and not the telecommunication franchise because in our City the cable franchise is
larger. However, statewide AT&T generates more revenue from their telecommunication services
meaning they would continue paying the telecommunication franchise and not the cable franchise.
This resulted in a net decrease of approximately $94,000.

The revised budget reflects $1,725,604 in revenue will be collected in Municipal Court Fines,
Library Fees and Warrant & Arrest Fees in FY 2019/2020, which is $384,763 or 18.23% less
than projected in the FY 2019/2020 Adopted Budget. All of the revenue categories in this area
are expected to decline from the adopted budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Police,
Municipal Court, and Library staff had greatly altered work duties during this time and the
projected figures on collection were impacted.

Overall, the revised budget projects a 5.97% increase in revenues for Licenses & Permits. As a
result of increases in both commercial and residential development over the year, building
permits are projected to bring in additional $191,979 in revenue this year. This is a 15.12%
increase in building permit revenue over the adopted budget.

Revenue accumulated from Charges for Service is expected to decrease by $260,125 or 9.15%.
There were several small changes in several line items but the largest change was a decrease
of $276,000 in Ambulance Supplemental Program Revenue. This program allows for a
supplemental payment for governmental ambulance service for Texas Medicaid when the
provider’s allowable costs exceed the revenue received from the ambulance services. Our
projected collection was based on funds available in previous years, however this year the funds
available from the State were reduced significantly.

Miscellaneous Revenues are projected to increase over the FY 2019/2020 Adopted Budget by
$46,765 or 2.18%. The bulk of this increase is from an HHS grant for ambulance services for
$58,399 and an insurance recovery payment for damaged traffic equipment at $25,450. This
increase was offset by a decrease of $20,379 in radio reimbursement funds.

Appropriation of Fund Balance is projected to increase by $2,134,334. This increase will be for
a transfer for loss of revenue to NRH2O for $1,912,334, an encumbrance roll of $173,005, and
a PEG fee purchase of $44,075.

Expenditure Overview

Total expenditures were up $1,624,025 for FY 2019/2020 Revised Budget. This was in large
part due to the $2,309,693 loan to NRH2O to offset their operational loses directly related to
the pandemic and closing of the park for the remainder of the season. This increase in
expenditures was partially offset by a city-wide salary reduction of 2.5% for all employees that
totaled $302,413. Adjustments were also made to operations and training across the city to
account for $286,217. Salary savings of $295,854 were also realized by freezing open
positions.

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