Page 18 - HurstFY23AnnualBudget

APPROVED BUDGET FISCAL YEAR 2022-2023

which requires a significant investment in personnel. For the proposed budget, personnel costs
represent almost 74% of the total budget and includes an across the board 3.5% wage increase
and various targeted market-based adjustments to help the city attract and retain top talent and
remain competitive in the NE Tarrant County local government market. The General Fund budget
also includes a traffic and pedestrian safety project and the new body camera system in the Police
Department discussed above.

General Fund operations are primarily funded through property and sales tax revenues which
account for almost 70 percent of the total budget. Both property and sales tax revenues are

budgeted to increase by approximately $1.9 million. The proposed property tax rate represents
a reduction of just over one-cent in the tax rate. The lower rate will generate an increase in
revenue resulting from an overall increase in property values throughout the city. The increase
in budgeted sales tax revenue remains conservative based upon a budget contingency of
approximately 10-percent of general fund sales tax revenue. Actual revenue in prior years has
exceeded budget expectations as Federal stimulus and recovery efforts offset the significant
losses that were anticipated. Current trends support the increase in sales tax revenue while
maintaining our sales tax revenue contingency. The sales tax contingency has served to mitigate
the negative impact of economic cycles while providing excess revenues during times of

economic growth. Additionally, any excess sales tax revenue is transferred to a special projects
fund used to support cash funded infrastructure and other capital investments. The special
projects fund also maintains an $8 million emergency reserve. The General Fund reserve balance
represents 90-days of operations.

Enterprise Fund
This fund operates as a stand-alone business enterprise providing water and sanitary sewer
services to Hurst residents and commercial customers. The City of Hurst does not own or operate
its own water or wastewater plant. As such, the city contracts with Fort Worth and the Trinity
River Authority (TRA) for wholesale water and wastewater services. Unfortunately, the City of

Hurst has limited ability to control wholesale costs, which have increased by more than 30% over
the past 10 years while consumption has been relatively flat over that same period. Wholesale
costs, which represent over 40% of this fund’s budget, continue to be a challenge; however,
securing our own water rights and building treatment plants is not an economically feasible
strategy. Budgeted wholesale costs have increased by approximately 6% for FY 2022-2023. We
continue to actively manage the costs that we can control and work to ensure we provide
reasonable utility rates consistent with our neighboring cities.

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