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Mayor is elected by the Council itself to serve as moderator of the group. The Council members can serve a maximum of 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 2023-24 reflect an 8.21% increase over the 2022-23 values. Building permits for new residential and commercial construction were valued at $15,332,245 for fiscal year 2022-23. This activity will be reflected in next year's taxable values. Sales taxes for 2022-23 increased from the prior year by 8.76%. Sales taxes for 2023-24 on a cash basis were 3.77% above the 2022-23 level. Hotel occupancy taxes were up 11.95% compared to 2021-22. Franchise fees for 2022-23 were down 2.11% compared to the previous year. The biggest portion of the decrease came from Solid Waste Street Use Fees. 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 $2,151,720 involving Metro Gate, Lions Head, Universal Fabricating, Rodgers Wade, and Ametsa. General Fund receipts equaled 124.24% of the budget. General Fund expenditures were 111.03% of the budget. For the 2023- 24 fiscal year, the City Council adopted a tax rate of .47782 cents per $100 of value. This rate is $0.03504 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 8.21%. 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 2024. Major Initiatives The City continues to work on its long-range plan to maintain its infrastructure. The City called for a general obligation bond election in May 2013 in the amount of $45,000,000 which passed overwhelmingly. Proceeds from these bonds were used for water and sewer infrastructure improvements. At the same time a small low interest $2,900,000 Certificates of Obligation I-3