Page 25 - Bedford-FY23-24 Budget

After evaluating options for Health Insurance and Dental Insurance plans, the budget includes funding to
improve the plan offerings to employees, as well as adding a short-term disability bene t for employees.

Staf{ng Level Changes
Each year, Departments evaluate their operations and evaluate staf ng needs. Three new positions were
requested by Departments and included in the Adopted Budget for FY 2023-2024. In Facilities Maintenance,
the request for a Maintenance Technician was approved to handle the increased workload that comes with
aging facilities. In Public Works, two Utility Maintenance Workers were approved to primarily support Utility
Billing for meter operations.

The Development Department completed a restructuring of operations during FY 2022-2023. As a result of this
restructuring, all divisions were combined into one operational unit. Due to turnover, several positions were left
vacant. With the community reaching build out, the decision was made to provide needed review and
inspection services through a contract and four positions were eliminated.

Additionally, currently frozen positions were evaluated and those found to no longer be necessary were
eliminated. These include one full-time Assistant City Manager, one full-time Customer Service Representative
in Utility Billing, and a 0.75 Maintenance Worker position in Public Works.

General Fund
Revenue - The budget provides funding for continuation of all current programs and services.
General Fund
Revenue for FY 2023-2024 is budgeted at $45,423,467 compared to $43,142,700 in the FY 2022-2023 amended
budget. An increase is budgeted for property tax, sales tax, franchise tax and interest income. Additionally,
decreases are budgeted for building and related permits.
Property taxes — Property taxes make up the largest single revenue source for General Fund operations.
The property tax rate is made up of two segments. The rst is the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) rate.
This amount is dedicated to daily operations of the City that fall within the General Fund. Services such as
Police, Fire, Parks and Recreation, Library, Senior Center, Neighborhood Services, Inspections, Finance, and
General Governmental functions are included in the General Fund. The second segment of the tax rate is
the Debt Service rate. This is the tax rate that is pledged to repay long term debt obligations of the City.
The property tax rate is calculated annually based on property values as submitted to the City by the
Tarrant Appraisal District. The property tax rate is approved by the City Council after state and charter
mandated public hearings.
The adopted tax rate to fund the 2023-2024 budget is $0.495726, which is the same as the adopted tax rate for
2022-2023. The number of properties eligible for over 65 tax ceilings decreased from 4,569 in 2022 to 4,544 in
2023.

Since 1995, the City of Bedford has collected an additional one-half of one percent in sales tax for the reduction
of property taxes. Sales tax collections vary from year to year, which can have either a positive or negative
impact on the operations and maintenance tax rate. The sales tax adjustment rate decreased from the 2022
rate of $0.080764 to the 2023 rate of $0.077625.
Sales tax — Monthly collections have increased when compared to the prior year. Staff estimates remain
conservative, due to current in ation and the resulting volatility in sales tax collections. The revenue
amount budgeted has been increased for the coming year following the strong collections over the past
year.
Franchise Fees — This revenue source is sometimes referred to as “street rental fees” or “right-of-way
rental fees” paid by utility companies that install their service lines within city right-of-way. These fees are
calculated in several ways, either on a gross receipts basis, per access line, per kilowatt-hour of power
consumed, etc. The methodology for each utility franchise is somewhat different. Revenue was decreased

City of Bedford, TX | Proposed Budget FY 2023-2024 Page 25