The big picture
The city's general fund budget is balanced with roughly $26.2 million in revenues and expenses. General fund revenues increased by around $1.7 million from FY 2023-24, including a $200,000 increase in sales tax revenue, which Finance Director Marie Kalka said indicates the city has recovered from any lingering effects from the coronavirus pandemic on sales tax revenue.
At the Sept. 23 meeting, Kalka said the city is projected to end FY 2024-25 with a general fund reserve of around $7.8 million, roughly the same as how it will start the year. City statute requires officials to keep a reserve equal to roughly 20% of expenditures, Kalka said, or $5.2 million in FY 2024-25.
The details
The budget also funds:
- A $1.7 million increase in personnel costs, including $228,100 for 3% merit increases for employees on their anniversary dates
- The mid-year hiring of a police support services manager for $58,000
- The hiring of a public planning and zoning administrator for $143,200
- $480,000 to replace the city's enterprise resource planning software
- $12.1 million for Phase 2 of the city's Facilities Master Plan, which involves building a new library/community center/senior center and recreation building
- $3 million for urban planning around the new master plan facilities
- $2.9 million for cast iron waterline replacements
- $7.3 million for distribution lines at the Wakeforest Water Plant
- $1.2 million for interior rehabilitation at the Wakeforest Water Plant
- $207,000 for improvements at the Milton Water Plant
The budget includes a 7% increase in water rates, a 3% increase in sewer rates and a 3% increase in solid waste rates, according to the Sept. 23 presentation. City officials plan to embark on a fee study during the upcoming year to look at water and sewer service rates before later coming back to council to determine if new rates should be set ahead of the 2025-26 fiscal year, Beach said.
What they're saying
During the Sept. 23 discussion, several council members raised a desire to put more funding into hiring law enforcement and for the city's permitting department.
Council member John Montgomery was the lone vote against the budget and tax rates, a decision he said was because he wanted to see more of a plan for how the city will invest in law enforcement. Montgomery said the council has been trying for three years to increase staffing to fill vacancies within is police department and to take on more investigations that have come from the city's Virtual Gate system.
At the same time, council member Clay Brett said turnover within the city's permitting department has created challenges for residents.
"Residents comments increased dramatically with turnover," Brett said at the Sept. 23 meeting. "Permits are also issued without adequate notice or resident input. So there are clearly errors in this system that must be fixed. Whether that is throwing bodies at the problem or better technology, we need to fund it ASAP."
Moving forward
Beach said the city conducted a compensation study for law enforcement around one year ago and determined it was paying officers at a higher rate than competing agencies. He also pointed out plans in the 2024-25 budget to hire a police support services manager, which he said would remove administrative duties from other officers.
The city's police department currently has staffing for 25 full-time employees, not including command staff, who cover two 12-hour night shifts and two 12-hour day shifts over the course of a week. With current staffing, Beach said officers respond to calls in around four minutes on average, which he said was "excellent." Officers respond to severe priority calls in between 3-3.5 minutes on average, he said.
Heading into budget talks next year, Beach said council can start the review process earlier—around April—to discuss public safety priorities with enough time to call for a tax rate election if needed.
Brett said he would like to get more resident feedback on funding law enforcement, especially on the question of where the money would come from, whether it be an increased tax rate or cutting from elsewhere in the budget.
"When you apply a dollar value to it ... that’s where you really learn what residents' views on the subject can be," he said.
Addressing the council, West U's Police Chief Ken Walker said he thought the budget provided the funding needed for the department to do its job, but asked the council to pay close attention to staying competitive as the fiscal year progresses, warning that competition for officers was only going to get higher.
"I think the budget as proposed will get us there," he said. "The problem is, we’re going to enter into a real bidding war that is already happening in the Dallas-Fort Worth area."
One more thing
By a 4-1 vote, council members also approved the city's tax rate for FY 2024-25. Council members approved the voter-approval rate, which is the highest tax rate that can be set before needing approval from city voters.
The adopted tax rate is $0.24193 per $100 of valuation, down from $0.26084 in FY 2023-24. The average homeowner in FY 2023-24 had a house valued at $1.5 million and paid $321.15 in monthly property taxes to the city. In FY 2024-25, the average home value rose to around $1.6 million, with that homeowner expected to pay around $317.51 in monthly taxes.
