Highland Village Assistant City Manager Ken Heerman said he expects to have firmer estimates of where the budget stands in May, when the state informs the city how much sales tax has been collected since the pandemic emerged locally. However, since it is unclear how long the economic effects related to the coronavirus might last, the future remains fluid.
“It's hard to know the full impact,” Heerman said. “We certainly have some early projections, but at this point, they’re just educated guesses. There’s just so many unknowns.”
Heerman said Highland Village is not as reliant on sales tax as some other municipalities are, but it will still experience some strain due to the coronavirus. About 13% of the city’s revenue comes from sales tax revenue.
“It’s a good news-bad news type of situation,” he said. “We don't have as much reliance on sales tax. That’s the good news. But it’s also the bad news because it means we don't have as much revenue to work with from that.”
Similarly to neighboring cities, such as Lewisville and Flower Mound, Highland Village is canceling all non-required training and travel for employees, he said.
The city can tap into its reserves and does not intend to lay off or furlough any employees, Heerman said.
“Laying off employees would be more toward our last resort,” he said. “We want to keep all of our people. We need them, we have high service expectations, and anytime you lay off people, that's going to be challenged.”
First, the city will consider things like postponing preventative infrastructure maintenance on various street projects, he said.
“Certainly, we will have to make some cuts, but we are still looking at what those will be,” Heerman said. “Before this happened, we were in a very solid financial position. So we're very fortunate in that respect. We don't have any immediate need for panic or worry about anything. We're just going to be prudent and make sure we take the necessary steps to keep us in good standing and to be well-positioned going forward.”
Editor's note: This article has been corrected to accurately spell Ken Heerman's name.
