Page 17 - City of Watauga FY22 Adopted Budget

BUDGET MESSAGE FOR FY2021-2022

operations, which include increased staffing in the Information Technology
Department, Recreation Department, and Public Works. Many of these positions
were unfunded last fiscal year to provide a balanced budget. A continued review
and revision to the recruitment and retention strategy will be included annually and
employee satisfaction surveys will be conducted every three years. A
compensation study is included in this year’s budget to evaluate

➢ Goal #8: Evaluate Technology and workplace solutions highlighted by COVID-19:
An evaluation of broadband access to the citizens and students of Watauga is
underway. Staff is currently researching costs and savings for implementing
telecommuting for certain positions and shifting to AMI technology.

Planning for the Future

With the challenges of this past year, the City’s financial condition remains strong, and
the City has proven flexible to adapt to changing conditions. The economy began a
recovery in Fiscal Year 2021 and is expected to continue through Fiscal Year 2022.
However, there are numerous variables that merit a cautious approach when developing
the current year budget with a long-term outlook. These include:

o The near build-out status of the City requires a strategic approach to attracting new
development and revitalization of existing businesses.

o Changes adopted by the Texas State Legislature have impacted this budget and
future budgets. Legislation impacts include decreases in revenues due to
franchise fee legislation and elimination of funding for our traffic safety program.
The traffic safety program expenses that were funded by the Traffic Safety Fund
prior to this year are funded by General Fund this year to cover continued
programming.

o The City must account for continued expense pressures such as the increasing
cost of salaries, benefits, health costs, and supplier increases.

Over the last few years, the City has experienced property valuation increases and Fiscal
Year 2022 (Tax Year 2021) shows valuation growth of 7% (including pending ARB
accounts). In the last few years, Fiscal Year 2021 (Tax Year 2020) reflected growth of
1.5% in net taxable property values and Fiscal Year 2020 (Tax Year 2019) provided for
an increase of 13.8% growth in the City’s net taxable property values. The growth is a
combination of an extremely active real estate market and the completion of Parkview
Estates, a 55-home development in the northern part of the City. The same builder is
planning for a 70-home single family residential development that will be located on
Hightower Drive. The development will add significant benefit to the City by adding new
quality housing with improved streetscapes, new sidewalks, and greenspace. The rezone
of property along Bursey Road was completed in early CY 2021 and will include 61 single

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