Page 61 - Watauga FY21 Budget

BUDGET OVERVIEW

Personnel Services – This category makes up 24% of the operating budget and
consists of personnel salaries and benefits.

Salaries include overtime, step-up pay, certification pay, sick and vacation pay,
and holiday pay. Personnel positions have decreased since 2012 due to a shift
to shared services (jail/dispatch) with surrounding cities, and the implementation
of contract labor for mowing services, in addition to the continued focus on a
leaner government. In FY2020-21, further staffing decreases are attributable to a
change in Recreation Center operations, elimination of positions, and the
freezing/unfunding of positions in order to decrease spending in anticipation of
decreased revenues due to pandemic related restrictions.

Benefits include healthcare, retirement, accrued sick and vacation leave, partial
tuition reimbursement, longevity pay, and payout of leave accruals per policy
guidelines.

The City of Watauga offers three health care plans, of which one is a base plan
and the others are “buy up” plans. The City pays 100% of employee health care
for the base plan. Historically, the City has not covered a part of dependent care
premiums, however, beginning in FY2016-17 the City began to offer a partial
dependent care contribution to help offset the cost increases that were
experienced.

The City of Watauga participates in the Texas Municipal Retirement System
(TMRS) for eligible employees. The employee contribution for the TMRS is 7%
of employee wages and the City matches contributions 2:1. The breakdown of
the personnel budget for FY2020-2021 is shown on the following graph:

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