19 - Budget Presentation FY 2020-2021

Home Browse Search

Line Item 15/16 16/17 17/18 18/19 19/20 20/21 Original 20/21 Adjusted XX-XXXX-XX $llk $12k $11.5k $13k $12k $26k $13k YY-YYYY-YY $llk $12k $11.5k $13k $12k $9k $13k In both examples above, you can identify a relative trend for Actual Expenditure from FY15/16 to current. In the XX example, "FY20/21 Original' is a sudden increase up to $26k. In the YY example, "FY20/21 Original" is a sudden decrease down to $9k. In both cases, the true operational cost of this line item calls for $13k, which is what the line item is adjusted to under "FY20/21 Adjusted". This however is not the final step. Following this adjustment, I met with each Department and re-examined all line items, one by one, discussing these proposed adjustments. If there was a known reason for the increase/decrease prior to the adjustment, then I took this in to consideration and adjusted the line item further accordingly. The purpose was to make sure every line item budget meant something. Through this process, the Department Heads and I adjusted over 400 individual line items. Some of these were an increase in the line item budget which better reflected the true cost of service we provide the citizens, but the significant majority of the lines, including the overall impact to the net balance, was a decrease in line item budgets, thus freeing up a significant amount of funding for much needed services, equipment, and cost -of -living adjustments. While doing this, it became very clear to me that for the past five or more years, the City has routinely budgeted to fill vacant Full -Time positions in many of its departments. Yet, as you examined the trend line, it also became clear that we historically never fill those positions, but rather have to rely heavily upon temporary help to get the job done. I equate this issue to the inadequate pay scale and being unable to keep employees due in large part to low wages compared to their peers in other communities. Therefore, we have two options — either we keep budgeting for these vacant slots hoping we will get lucky and fill them, or, given five or more years of history showing us this is not happening, we capture this excess and apply it towards the COLA to start combatting the true problem. I did not extract all vacant positions because we do hope to hire a few new Full Time employees in FY20/21, but rather in many departments that had this problem, we extracted several which contributed to the overall savings that has now helped with items 41-3 above. Maintaining Operational Services — By performing the Realignment Process in 44 above, it gave me a good image of what it takes to provide the services we do. Predominately throughout the entire budget, it is clear to me that the City Staff have done a great job of being frugal, consistent, and conscientious of the tax payer dollar. You do not see the dramatic swings that might come with wasteful spending, but rather the Departments are steadily providing the services under the same budgets year after year, only with minimal increases to account for increases in prices. Through the realignment process in 44 above, we have set each individual line item such that it matches the true cost to provide the service as seen over the past five years. Any adjustments up or down are for known reasons (a new piece of equipment, dropping the need for a particular subscription, better pricing through new bids, increases in service costs, etc.). Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 This Act was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019. This represents a fairly comprehensive amendment to how Municipalities in Texas prepare their budgets. This Act takes affect this year, thus the FY20/21 is the first Budget impacted. A large amount of the Act changes how the Texas Comptroller operates, but there is a fair amount of edits to how the City of Paris must handle the procedure of passing a budget (notices, deadlines, public hearings, content of material produced, etc.), but the primary and long lasting impact that the City of Paris will feel for years to come is the restriction in Property Tax Growth. The Texas Municipal League Page 7 of 15