The Jersey Village 2012–2013 fiscal year municipal budget was approved by City Council Sept. 17. The budget includes a projected revenue of more than $23 million and more than $27 million in total expenditures for the general fund, utility fund and several others compared to last year's $24.7 million in revenue and $29.6 million in expenditures.
This year, the amount of revenue received from property taxes will rise by 2.2 percent—or $131,189—over last year because of an increase in property value, said Mike Castro, city manager.
"The residential value [in Jersey Village] stayed relatively flat," he said. "We saw an increase in multifamily [units] so it was these apartments owing to the nature of the current housing market. This really is what drove any increase we have."
The property tax rate for residents will remain the same as previous years at 0.74 cents per $100 of taxable property value—about 0.26 cents for the debt service and 0.48 cents for operations and maintenance. The debt service rate provides money for accrued interests and principal on bonds and debt secured by property tax, while the operations and maintenance tax funds salaries, supplies and day-to-day operations.
Expenditures from the general fund for the fiscal year include $2 million for the general government, more than $4.5 million for public safety, about $2 million for public works, and more than $500,000 toward parks.
"A lot of our expenses in our budget are mandated from the federal or the state government," Castro said. "There are a lot of items where simply inflation prices causes increases to these items. We are maintaining a level of service to moderate our recovery expectations. We continue to monitor for a moderate baseline budget."
Supplemental items in the budget include an increase of standard contractual inflationary measures—increases in gas and utility prices—and about $1 million spent over the next three years to implement digital radios for city officials following a federal mandate.
"With [this approval], the Motorola radio system will be replacing the fire, police and communications division," said Mark Bitz, fire chief. "We'd like to get ahead of the game with other agencies that will be doing the same thing. One thing [this process] allows is the first year payment—which is due at the end of the year—to be completed by the end of this fiscal budget."
The total property value in Jersey Village for 2012 is estimated at more than $795 million, up from about $781 million last year. Property value has remained relatively level since 2008, Castro said. At the close of the 2011–12 fiscal year, the City of Jersey Village had a surplus of about $3.6 million in its general fund and nearly $500,000 in the debt service fund.
"If you look at the reporting on other cities—not just in Texas but throughout the nation—you'll see where employees had to deal with pay cuts, and cities have cut back the size of their police department and municipal workforce," Castro said. "We are not doing that here. We had a series of rather fortunate circumstances over the last several years that enabled us to build a reserve. We are now using that reserve to pay off [street work] and projects. Normally, we would issue debt—meaning principal and interest. Since we have the ability to pay [costs] out of the general fund, we're doing so."
The Crime Control and Prevention District's 2012–13 budget was also adopted, which was built on a $1.02 million balance from last year. The total revenue for the fiscal year ending September 2013 is nearly $1.89 million with an estimated $1.09 million in expenditures. About $400,000 is allocated for computer software, election expenses and public safety radios.