25.1 - ACFR 9-30-2022 with Continuing Disclosure Tables

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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 2022-23 reflect an 8.77% increase over the 2021-22 values. Building permits for new residential and commercial construction were valued at $50,632,430 for fiscal year 2021-22. Most of this activity will be reflected in next year's taxable values. However, it should be noted that $25,000,000 of the permit value was school related and will not be taxable. Sales taxes for 2021-22 increased from the prior year by 4.94%. Current rebates on a cash basis are 10.74% above the 2021-22 cash rebates through September 2023. Hotel occupancy taxes were down 3.71% compared to 2020-21, but appear to have recouped that decrease in 2022-23. Franchise fees for 2021-22 were up 13.51% compared to the previous year. The biggest portion of the increase came from Atmos Energy. 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 $2,226,526 involving Huhtamaki, Metro Gate, Lions Head, Universal Fabricating, and Ametsa. Two new businesses joined the community in the 2021-22 fiscal year. They were Trison Tarps and Lions Head Tire & Wheel. General Fund receipts equaled 121.37% of budget. This surplus of revenues was caused primarily by Emergency Medical Service revenue (increased call volume), Federal funding related to COVID-19 & economic stimulus, and sales taxes. General Fund expenditures were 136.49% of budget. This variance is due in large part to COVID-19 related expenditures for various departments. However, by far the largest cause for exceeding budget was the over $12,000,000 payment of pension bond proceeds to fully fund the Paris Firefighters Retirement & Relief Fund. For the 2022-23 fiscal year, the City Council adopted a tax rate of .44278 cents per $100 of value. This rate is $0.01095 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 6.83%. 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 from 2016 through 2022. I-3