City of San Marcos, Texas Annual Budget • Fiscal Year 2015–2016 THIS BUDGET WILL RAISE MORE TOTAL PROPERTY TAXES THAN LAST YEAR’S BUDGET BY $1,450,000 OR 8%. AND OF THAT AMOUNT, $521,300 IS TAX REVENUE TO BE RAISED FROM NEW PROPERTY ADDED TO THE ROLL THIS YEAR. TAX RATE ADOPTED ADOPTED FY 2016 FY 2015 PROPERTY TAX RATE .5302 .5302 EFFECTIVE TAX RATE .5099 .5089 EFFECTIVE M&O RATE .5314 .5051 ROLLBACK RATE .5491 .5427 DEBT RATE .2155 .2369 COUNCIL MEMBER 9-15-15 VOTE DANIEL GUERRERO YES LISA PREWITT YES JUDE PRATHER YES JOHN THOMAIDES YES JANE HUGHSON YES RYAN THOMASON YES SHANE SCOTT YES CITY OF SAN MARCOS 2015-16 ANNUAL BUDGET CITY COUNCIL DANIEL GUERRERO..................................................................................................... MAYOR LISA PREWITT……....................................................................................................... PLACE 1 JUDE PRATHER.............................................................................................................. PLACE 2 JOHN THOMAIDES........................................................................................................ PLACE 3 JANE HUGHSON............................................................................................................ PLACE 4 RYAN THOMASON........................................................................................................ PLACE 5 SHANE SCOTT…….………........................................................................................... PLACE 6 APPOINTED OFFICIALS JARED MILLER……........................................................................................CITY MANAGER MICHAEL COSENTINO..................................................................................CITY ATTORNEY JAMIE PETTIJOHN…..………................................................................................CITY CLERK JOHN P. BURKE, JR..................................................................... MUNICIPAL COURT JUDGE CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE COLLETTE JAMISON...............................................................ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER BUDGET DOCUMENT PREPARATION STEVE PARKER................................ASST CITY MANAGER/CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER HEATHER HURLBERT, CPA, CGFO................................................DIRECTOR OF FINANCE The Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) presented an award for Distinguished Budget Presentation to the City of San Marcos, Texas for its annual budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2014. In order to receive this award, a governmental unit must publish a budget document that meets program criteria as a policy document, as an operations guide, as a financial plan and as a communications device. The award is valid for a period of one year only. We believe our current budget continues to conform to program requirements, and we are submitting it to GFOA to determine its eligibility for another award. CITY OF SAN MARCOS 2015-16 ANNUAL BUDGET TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Mission Statement 1 Transmittal Letter 3 Executive Summary 5 Budget Policy Statement 44 City of San Marcos Financial Policy 47 Reader’s Guide 65 Organization Chart 75 BUDGET SUMMARY Consolidated Fund Balance Statement 83 Consolidated Summary of Major Revenues and Expenditures 84 Consolidated Revenue Comparison 86 Consolidated Expense Comparison 87 Consolidated Fund Balance Comparison 88 Property Tax Valuation and Revenue 89 GENERAL FUND General Fund 91 DEBT SERVICE FUND Debt Service Fund 187 SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund 195 Municipal Court Technology Fund 200 Municipal Court Security Fee Fund 201 Municipal Court Juvenile Fee Fund 202 Municipal Court Efficiency Fee Fund 203 SPECIAL REVENUE FUNDS CONT’D Seized Assets Fund 204 Community Development Block Grant Program Fund 205 Women, Infant And Children Program Fund 206 Cemetery Operations Fund 214 Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ,TIZ,TRZ) 218 Public Education Governmental Fund (PEG) 221 CIP CIP Fund 223 ENTERPRISE FUNDS Water/Wastewater Utility Fund 229 Drainage Utility Fund 246 Electric Utility Fund 252 Municipal Airport Fund 271 Solid Waste Collection Utility Fund 275 Transit Fund 277 PERMANENT FUNDS Cemetery Perpetual Care Trust Fund 279 10-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM Executive Summary 281 MISCELLANEOUS AND STATISTICAL Miscellaneous and Statistical 291 GLOSSARY List of Acronyms 317 Glossary of Terms 318 Introduction Introduction Annual Budget • Fiscal Year 2015–2016 The City Population Growth The Mission of the City of San Marcos The goals of the City Government are to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the City’s residents, provide for a high quality of life, foster intergovernmental liaison and communication, encourage responsible citizenship, promote sound community and economic development, conserve and protect the City’s natural resources and environment. – San Marcos City Charter 1 2 TO: Honorable Daniel Guerrero & Members of the City Council FROM: Jared Miller, City Manager SUBJECT: 2015-2016 Adopted Budget DATE: September 15, 2015 I am honored to present the adopted Fiscal Year 2015-2016 City of San Marcos Operating Budget and Capital Improvements Plan. This budget is structurally balanced, with operating revenues meeting operating expenditures, and maintains the current property tax rate for the ninth consecutive year. The annual budget is the outline of the programs and services to be provided to our citizens during the upcoming year and will stand as the foundation for enhancing the City’s vision as adopted by the City Council in June 2015. It also lays the groundwork for future growth and development through the planning of capital improvements and new service levels expansions. A structurally balanced budget will set the foundation for prudent fiscal management of City operations in the coming years and ensure the City will have the tools to achieve the City Council goals. The development of the adopted budget focused on the capitalization of the local and regional economic projections which have continued to remain extremely strong over the past three years. San Marcos was once again recognized as the fastest growing city in the Unites States for the third year in a row. Property tax appraisals are up 8 percent for Fiscal Year 2016 and the City is seeing indications of continued new growth for the future. General Fund revenue has increased $15.6 million over the past 5 years due to strong retail and commercial growth in the City. The increases in permit and development activity, generated by new construction combined with sound financial policies, have put San Marcos in a strong financial position. In June 2015, the City adopted a key set of visioning goals as mentioned previously provided the needed direction to create the Fiscal Year 2016 Adopted Budget. City staff will use the following vision to make the City of San Marcos fully sustainable long into the future: Assess, present a plan for, and begin the update of City facilities Beautify and Enhance the Quality of Place for San Marcos Continue Downtown redevelopment Recruit employers that will provide job opportunities for knowledge and skilled manufacturing workers Maintain and improve the City’s infrastructure Continue to build on positive working relationships between Council and staff to enhance communication, decision making, and execution 3 Sound Finances City staff also used a recently completed citizen survey by the ETC Institute to help in the creation of this proposal. This survey once again noted that the City of San Marcos was setting the standard both regionally and nationally in the areas associated with customer service. It also noted that the citizens felt a strong sense of community safety, quality utility services and a high level of available parks and recreation activities which helps make San Marcos such a unique and vibrant sense of place. Areas for improvement within the survey included neighborhood code enforcement, storm water runoff and flood prevention along with a lack of potential mobility throughout the City. The budget provides for additional positions to support the City’s growth and City Council goals including two new detectives, a police records specialist, three additional part-time park rangers, an arborist, as well as key administrative support in fleet, animal services and parks and recreation. To address issues such as City mobility, city staff is proposing the addition of a GIS transit analyst and a traffic signal technician along with an additional $100,000 in street maintenance funding within the adopted budget. Needed personnel in the water and electric utility have also been recommended in order to address service level increases due to system utility growth. Additional expenditures related to the newly created Communications Department including an increase in videographer hours and website enhancements will further increase governmental transparency. The budget also appropriates additional funding for the Police and Fire meet and confer agreements that were brought to council in August for adoption. Many of the additions to the San Marcos budget over the past three years will help transform into one of the most beautiful, clean and well-maintained cities in the central Texas corridor. The San Marcos City Council adopted the Clean Community Fee which will provide opportunities to enhance existing beautification programs and projects. We believe the adopted budget reflects a fiscally responsible approach that allows