City of San Marcos, Texas Annual Budget • Fiscal Year 2014–2015 City of San Marcos Downtown At the heart of the city, Downtown San Marcos comprises pop-up park at 150 S. LBJ featuring free snow cones and yard of a charming town square anchored by the Historic Hays games; a pet adoption event; and an Art Bazaar was open for County Courthouse, and surrounded by restored, historic artists and retailers to set up shop. buildings dating back to the 1880’s. Dozens of events are held downtown annually, enticing visitors to enjoy festivities on the Summerfest lush courthouse and explore unique shops. Adjacent to the Summerfest is a free, community wide event for the whole San Marcos River, downtown is the city’s cultural and culinary family to enjoy held at San Marcos Plaza Park on July 4th. hub, with five museums and 50 restaurants. The event includes a children’s costume contest and patriotic parade, live music, local vendors, food, children’s activities Annual Trail Riders Visit and spectacular fireworks display. The Greater Randolph Area Trail Riders (GRA-Trails) visit downtown San Marcos every February for their annual stop Rio Vista Dam and Park as they travel on a weeklong ride to the San Antonio Stock Rio Vista Park is visited by thousands of residents and tourists Show & Rodeo. Their journey starts in Kyle and takes them annually. The Rio Vista Dam, which is the exit point for inner through Buda, back to San Marcos to the Jon Agee Ranch, tubers who float from the Lions Club tube rental at City Park then to New Braunfels and Schertz. The Downtown Associa- to the dam during the summer, is located in the Park. A center tion and the Main Street Program will host the riders for lunch spillway of the dam is popular with swimmers, canoeists and at restaurants around the Square. Jon and Val Agee will cook kayakers who ride the swift water over the dam to turbulent their “almost world famous” Dutch oven peach cobbler on the current below. Citizens and tourists swim and picnic at the Square for the trail riders before they head on down the road. dam and in the park during the busy summer season. The dam is located in the upper end of the 47-mile long San Marcos Rhythm of the Streets River, which begins a mile upstream from underground springs The City of San Marcos hosted an event to demonstrate at Spring Lake flowing from the Edwards Aquifer. The river possible downtown amenities and experiences which will play temperature is 72 degrees year round and provides the habitat a vital role in the upcoming rewrite of the Land Development for several endangered and threatened species of animals and Code and update to the City’s Transportation Master Plan. plants unique to the river. The San Marcos River flows south- The day’s activities included the activation of the currently east to Gonzales, Texas where it joins the Guadalupe River. vacant OST Liquor building at 179 S LBJ Drive with an interactive open house to kick-off the Transportation Master Plan Update and the Code SMTX land development code re-write projects. Additionally, a portion of South LBJ Drive was transformed into “two-way for a day” through the use of temporary street striping to designate distinct, bold lines for bike lanes and more prominent crosswalks. Street lights and crosswalks were synced to accommodate traffic and appropriate roadway signage was installed to facilitate the street conversion. Also included in the event was Foodstock, a live music and community event; the Farmer’s Market; bicycle tune-ups and activities; a temporary parklet was installed at the corner of San Antonio and LBJ streets; an “Urban Oasis” at a cool down City of San Marcos Downtown (Continued) Passport San Marcos Sights and Sounds of Christmas The City of San Marcos hosts an afternoon of festivities Sights & Sounds of Christmas is held annually in San Marcos welcoming Texas State University students downtown at the Plaza Park for four nights the first weekend in December. The interactive event “Passport to San Marcos” on the square in event features almost 1 million lights, musical entertainment, downtown San Marcos every August. The block-party style food booths, arts and crafts, carnival rides, a petting zoo, A event features a live DJ, inflatable games and interactive activi- Night in Old Bethlehem, ice skating and nightly visits from ties to give students a chance to relax before the semester be- Santa and Mrs. Claus. gins. Free samples from downtown eateries also are provided, giving students a “Taste of Downtown” in a food court on the Hays County Courthouse square. City department representatives welcome students and The Hays County Courthouse at the center of the downtown inform them of rules and ordinances to help make their stay in square in San Marcos was built in 1908, the fourth courthouse San Marcos enjoyable. Civic organizations also are there to on the site after the original pine structure was built in 1861. show students of ways to get involved in the community. The Courthouse today continues as the seat of Hays County Government, with the Hays County Commissioners Court, The event has an interactive scavenger hunt where participants County Judge’s Office, the Historical Commission Museum, “check-in” to downtown businesses by scanning a QR code Precinct 1 Commissioner’s office, Veterans Services, Justice with their smart phones. Each scan enters the player into a of the Peace, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and drawing to win prizes like an Apple iPad and gift certificates to the General Counsel. Other county offices are now located downtown businesses and gives students the opportunity to at Hays County Government Center on S. Stagecoach Trail discover downtown establishments. off Wonder World Drive. The courthouse also serves as the heart of the historic downtown commercial and cultural center Veteran’s Day Ceremony of San Marcos. The annual Veteran’s Day celebration begins with a free biscuit and gravy breakfast served on the County Courthouse lawn along with entertainment leading up to the parade. Veteran Photos: by Don Anderson groups, military organizations, civic clubs, bands, drill teams, Cover: Hayes Courthouse and Jack C. Hays statue public officials, equestrians, youth teams, classic vehicles and Inside Front and Back: Downtown San Marcos others participate in the Veterans Day Parade which goes by the Veterans Memorial on Hopkins Street. Wine and Wassail Walk The evening hosted in part by the San Marcos Main Street Program features wine-tasting and wassail sampling, along with paired hors d’oeuvres at participating downtown businesses. Businesses mix up homemade wassail, a German spiced cider, for bragging rights and a best wassail prize. Participants are also invited to kick off the holiday season with exclusive shopping specials at retailers. Guests also can enjoy the horse-drawn carriage around the Courthouse Square for a guided historic tour or listen to live music at the Hays County Court House. THIS BUDGET WILL RAISE MORE TOTAL PROPERTY TAXES THAN LAST YEAR’S BUDGET BY $1,848,158 OR 11.4%, AND OF THAT AMOUNT, $742,870 IS TAX REVENUE TO BE RAISED FROM NEW PROPERTY ADDED TO THE ROLL THIS YEAR. MUNICIPAL DEBT OBLIGATIONS AS OF OCTOBER 1, 2014 TOTALS $71,210,000. TAX RATE ADOPTED ADOPTED FY 2015 FY 2014 PROPERTY TAX RATE .5302 .5302 EFFECTIVE TAX RATE .5089 .5138 EFFECTIVE M&O RATE .5051 .5162 ROLLBACK RATE .5427 .5710 DEBT RATE .2369 .2660 COUNCIL MEMBER 9-2-14 VOTE DANIEL GUERRERO YES LISA PREWITT YES JUDE PRATHER YES JOHN THOMAIDES YES WAYNE BECAK YES RYAN THOMASON YES SHANE SCOTT YES CITY OF SAN MARCOS 2014-15 ANNUAL BUDGET CITY COUNCIL DANIEL GUERRERO..................................................................................................... MAYOR LISA PREWITT……....................................................................................................... PLACE 1 JUDE PRATHER.............................................................................................................. PLACE 2 JOHN THOMAIDES....................................................................................................... PLACE 3 WAYNE BECAK............................................................................................................. 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, 2013. In order to receive