07 - Annual Comprehensive Financial Report

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three consecutive 2 year staggered terms. The Mayor and Council appoint the City Manager, the City Attorney, and the Municipal Judge. The City is a Home Rule City with all powers granted to home rule cities by the constitution and laws of the State of Texas. The Council enacts legislation, adopts budgets, and determines policies of the City of Paris. The City Manager executes the laws and administers the government of the City. Economic Condition and Outlook Taxable values, as originally certified by the Lamar County Appraisal District, for fiscal year 2021-22 reflect a 15,80% increase over the 2020-21 values. Building permits for new residential and commercial construction were valued at $9,903,938 for fiscal year 2020-21. This activity should be reflected in next year's taxable values. Sales taxes for 2020-21 increased from the prior year by 11.52%. Current rebates are 0.14% below the 2020-21 rebates through February 2022. Hotel occupancy taxes were up 36.97% compared to 2019-20 taxes as COVID-19 seemed to be in the rearview mirror of most travelers. First quarter 2021-22 collections were 1.24% above the same period in 2020-21. Franchise fees for 2020-21 were down 9.78% compared to the previous year. The City of Paris, Paris Economic Development Corporation, and the Lamar County Chamber of Commerce have been actively recruiting new business to the area as well as supporting already existing businesses. PEDC has several active incentive commitments in regard to its recruitment of new industry and support of existing industry. There are currently incentives totaling $1,222,000 involving American Spiral Weld, Huhtamaki, and Metro Gate. In addition, TxDOT announced that it would build a new district headquarters in the Gene Stallings Business Park, General Fund receipts equaled 115.01% of budget. This surplus of revenues was caused primarily by Emergency Medical Service revenue, Federal funding related to COVID-19 & economic stimulus, and sales taxes. General Fund expenditures were 106.47% of budget. This variance is mainly due to COVID-19 related expenditures for Public Safety and Public Health. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, the City Council adopted a tax rate of .45373 cents per $100 of value. This rate is $0.02705 cents lower than the previous year but does allow maintaining all services at their current levels and funds all required interest and sinking funds. Taxable property value increased 2.55°/x. Long-term Financial Planning and Relevant Financial Policies The City continues to exercise its long-range financial plan. The City formalized a key financial policy in 2010 that had been informally followed previously: a utility rate maintenance policy. The utility rate maintenance policy will help assure the financial integrity of the enterprise fund along with its related interest and sinking funds. Another policy was formalized in 2013 in the form of a reserve level guideline for both the general fund and utility fund. Adequate reserve levels provide the City with the ability to deal with extraordinary events and maintain its credit worthiness. This credit worthiness, as reflected in the current financial statements, allowed the City to obtain very favorable interest rates on debt issued in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021. 1-3