The Council:
Mayor Diaz-Present
Joann Courtland-Present
Fred Chavez-Present
Dan Yancey-Present
Jay Manning-Present
Kirby Lack-Present
Marc Payne-Present
Charlie Youngs-Present
Every year at this time the City Manager presents in detail his plan for the upcoming Copperas Cove city budget. This time it is for the Fiscal Year 2020. We will provide a summary of what was discussed and presented as much as possible. The briefing lasted two hours and was very detailed. Here is the link where you can read the entire presented budget: Copperas Cove Proposed Budget.
Here is the link for the detailed version of the budget: Copperas Cove Budget in DETAIL
Important Dates to Know!!!
July 30 Workshop (Proposed Tax Rate, Fee Schedule, Public Hearing on Budget)August 1 Special Council Meeting (RECORD vote on Tax Rate, General Fund and HOT Fund presentations)
August 13 for the 1st Public Hearing on Tax Increase
August 20 for the 2nd Public Hearing on Tax Increase
Here are some of the major take aways from the meeting:
1. We will be hiring a city engineer with a salary of $145,000.
2. Sales taxes have increased 5% over last year.
3. The city will start using MyGov online in the Building Department.
4. The Golf Course still has a deficit of $1,400,000.
5. There was a supported agenda request to move the golf course from an enterprise fund to the general fund.
6. Sales Tax is expected to go up, but the City Manager expects a recession in the next 12-18 months.
7. The City Manager stated in the near future we will start being charged for overflow calls to Fathom in excess of 1400 per month after all the issues with them are remedied. We are not being charged at this time.
8. The General Fund balance is well over the ideal balance, which is good. But, it's been on a decline in recent years.
9. The 100% disabled vet tax exemption is expected to have a rise in applicants, but the state funding to offset the cost will be rising as well.
10. The City Attorney cost will be rising due to a substantial increase in open records requests.
11. There is a proposed $1 garbage fee increase and a proposed $5 per ton increase for the landfill.
Fathom:
Fathom has not charged for increase in call volume due to contract/service issues. The city will almost always be over that 20% call volume due to the transient nature of this city. There is anticipation that waiver will come to an end. The city and Fathom have been working together to reduce the service issues, and the city has also been working internally to reduce call volume. Marc Payne recommended setting up a call center within Cove run by City employees, however Ryan wants Fathom to do the job their paid for and doesn't think the call center would be cost effective.
Golf Course:
Ryan Haverlah - "Up to around 2003 or 2004, there was a balance in the Golf Course fund caused by a transfer from the City General fund to the Golf Course fund. At that time, the City Council eliminated that transfer, because the idea was the Golf Course was an enterprise fund and needed to stand on it's own."
"In essence what that did was really just mess up the chart. All of those negative numbers that we're continuing to see - they don't mean that we owe somebody 1.4 Million dollars - that's not what that means. What it means is the General fund continues to cover that cost - there just wasn't a transfer from the General fund to the Golf Course fund."
"What that ends up doing from an accounting perspective is this still winds up having to be corrected at some point in time. The way it gets corrected is an expense has to be booked in the General fund to the Golf Course fund to pay for that deficit. That causes it to show on our Annual Consolidated Financial Report that we've spent 1.4 Million dollars from the General fund which is more than we budgeted and more than is actually in that fund. So it's all accounting-based, but it doesn't mean we have any outstanding obligations to outside entities. It just means the Golf Course itself has an outstanding obligation to the General fund of 1.4 Million dollars. It's all within the city but is different funds. Also, this didn't all just happen overnight - this has been building up with over a decade of activities.
Bradi Diaz - "The Golf Course is an asset to the City and I think it should be considered just like our parks are an asset to the city, our library is an asset to the city, and I don't think it's ever going to cash flow. It should be considered an asset and it should be supported as an asset. Whenever we tried to switch it to an enterprise fund is when this problem started. I think we're making ourselves look bad financially with this huge deficit on our books, when we should be supporting - in my opinion - our Golf Course financially. Our Golf Course absolutely should make money, and we should require it to make money, as we do with all the other assets that we have within the city - the members should pay dues appropriately... but to expect it to make some kind of huge profit for the city of Copperas Cove - we don't expect our other assets within the city to make to do that. I don't understand why we've always had this mindset that the Golf Course should be some miracle money maker for the city of Copperas Cove. I just don't understand it"
With that, the City Council will be moving forward with bringing a future agenda item to discuss the steps necessary to move the Golf Course back from an Enterprise fund to a General fund.
HERE WE GO FOR NEXT YEAR!
This is the snapshot of how the different General and Enterprise Funds stand inside the upcoming budget, for Copperas Cove.
The Ideal Fund Balance is what the city needs to cover three months of spending. The amount that Copperas Cove needs for FY20 will be $4,425,459. Compared to level required to operate, that amount will be at $1,066,299 over that limit. Unless something happens, Copperas Cove will be at the break even point next year before going into the Ideal Fund Balance, in which we can't do.
The view here actually shows how close Copperas Cove is with the Ideal Fund Balance and the Ending Balance.
Highlight is now Copperas Cove will include 4 more police positions in the Market Adjustment so that their pay is within 95% of that is regionally paid in other areas. They are also cleaning up the their budget lines for their personnel that were hired or promoted.
The Copperas Cove Library is required to have a certain spending level each year or it will lose it's state accreditation. The city manager did not go into what that amount would be for this year.
In order for the Building Department to perform their assigned jobs, they must have the appropriate licences, which must be renewed every year. That also cost money.
The black sections on the bar chart represent the Senior Citizen Discount.
Here is the breakdown of water and sewer charges for everyone.
The Golf Course will be discussed in the near future by the council. They are looking to move it back to the General Fund.
The I&S information will be updated after the council votes next week on the Certificates of Obligations.
July 11 and 16 workshops are cancelled. The next budget workshop will be July 30 where they will discuss the tax rate for next year. August 1 workshop will be used for HOT presentations. Then there will be a council meeting to vote on the proposed tax rate.
Thanks for this breakdown! Very thorough and informative. I guess the "answer" to every budget issue is to "raise taxes" and fees. I need to sit down with you at some point soon and pick your brain.
ReplyDeleteCall me anytime.
ReplyDeleteWhen does the city’s contract with Fathom end or does it?
ReplyDeleteMay 2031
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