HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-03-07-H05 FY2017 Budget PH MEMO
To: The Honorable Mayor and City Council
From: Tim Moerman, City Administrator
Date: February 8, 2016
Re: Budget Transmittal for Fiscal Year 2016-2017
It is my pleasure to give you the recommended operating and capital budget
for Fiscal Year 2016-17. The proposed budget is a reflection of the Waukee
Mayor and City Council’s Vision and Priorities and serves as the major
policymaking tool of the City organization. City staff has worked diligently to use
the City’s resources wisely and align each aspect of the budget with the
direction received from the Mayor and City Council.
The Mayor and City Council adopted their vision for Waukee in May of 2015. The
vision serves as a guide to prepare the annual budget, but more importantly, it
serves as a reference throughout the year to make decisions on planning,
delivering services and the use of resources.
Mayor and City Council Vision
Waukee in 2030:
Great Choice for Families – A Community for a Lifetime
Safe and Beautiful with Leisure Amenities for all to Enjoy
“Small Town Feeling”
Quality Housing Options
Access to Quality Shopping
Businesses and Job Destination
Easy Mobility
Mayor and City Council Five-Year Goals
Financially Sound City providing excellent service value
Managed and planned growth and development
Business and job opportunities
Expanded community and leisure opportunities
2
Positioning for the Future
The annual budget is one of the City Council’s two primary policymaking tools.
The Mayor and City Council’s annual strategic planning session provides City
staff with the overall goals of the City and the priorities that need to be met to
accomplish the goals. They put the community in the position for success in the
future. The annual budget’s role in positioning the community is to direct the
funding necessary to complete the priorities.
The proposed budget positions the community in several ways, with a few
coming to the forefront. Public safety is valued by the community members,
elected officials and City staff. The proposed budget supports the addition of
two police officers and one firefighter to respective departments, funds the
City’s share of the Westcom Communications system and ensures that the
departments have the equipment they need to protect the community.
Transportation priorities are addressed in 2016 with three major street projects
that connect east-west corridors. They include paving the east and west ends of
Westown Parkway and Douglas Parkway from Alice’s Road to Grant Ragan
School. Capacity is being preserved to fund the $15 million widening of Alice’s
Road in 2018 and 2019.
Waukee needs an adequate supply of developable land if it is to
accommodate the demand for residential construction by people who want to
make Waukee their home. The extension of sanitary sewer trunklines into
undeveloped areas is the foundation for making land developable. The
proposed budget includes a three-year plan to extend sewer lines in the
southeast, northwest and western portions of Waukee.
The current comprehensive plan of the City was adopted in 2008 and has been
instrumental in directing Waukee’s growth. As changes occur, there is a need to
update the plan and ensure that growth is properly managed and that Waukee
gets better as it gets bigger. The proposed budget includes funding for an
update of the comprehensive plan. The addition of a third planner in the
previous year will give staff the resources to devote enough time to the planning
process to make it successful.
The completion of these priorities and many others position Waukee for success
in the future.
3
Finance
Budget Directives
The Mayor and City Council give staff their expectations of the next fiscal year’s
budget through their approval of the Budget Directives. Staff members use them
as a guide when formulating the budget. The directives are:
1. No change to the City’s current $13.50 Tax Levy
2. Promote growth of commercial taxable valuation
3. Minimize the levels of enterprise funds’ future rate increases and fee
structures
4. Find optimal level to determine the timing of equipment replacement
5. Review operating line items to determine value added to operations
6. Allocate existing staff resource capacity toward increased service levels
7. Maximize the amount of outside funding for capital projects and
operating costs
8. Provide transparency in budget documents and public meetings
9. Continue two-year budget proposals
10. Maintain financially sound enterprise funds to meet bond coverage ratios
Tax Levy Rate
This is the seventeenth consecutive year that the property tax levy rate is set for
$13.50/1,000. The Mayor and City Council set the continuation of the levy rate at
$13.50/1,000 as their number one item in the Budget Directives. The City of
Waukee’s levy rate is competitive with other Dallas County communities, and
the consolidated levy rate is competitive with metro area communities.
General Fund Revenues
The City’s actual property valuation increased by ten percent in 2015. This
resulted in an increase in estimated property tax revenues from $5,211,987 to
$5,854,340. Other revenues increased by a smaller amount leading to an
increase from $8.8 million to $9.5 million, or an eight percent increase.
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6
Bond Credit Rating
Elected officials have made wise decisions that have given the City of Waukee
a strong financial position. Under their guidance, the City has been able to
balance the needs of a growing community within its financial resources. There
is long-term stability in the property tax levy rates and the General Fund reserve
levels. The result is that the City has been able to maintain its Aa3 bond credit
rating. The City benefits from the rating by having a lower cost of borrowing on
the bonds sold to finance infrastructure improvements.
Debt Capacity
The total valuation of the City increased by $100 million for FY16-17 and the total
General Obligation Debt decreased by nearly $2 million. The two changes
resulted in a decrease in the percentage of the debt capacity from 84% to 75%.
This level will reflect well on the City in future bond credit ratings and will assist
the City in getting competitive interest rates in future borrowings.
Organization Staffing
The population and development growth in Waukee creates a demand for
more services to the community. There are more calls for public safety services,
more miles of infrastructure to maintain, more patrons of library and leisure
services, more utility customers to serve, and more development reviews and
construction inspections. Each of these services has a tipping point where more
staff resources are required to meet the demand.
Several changes have been made to the organizational structure in the past
two years that have provided new capacity within departments. This
reallocation of resources enabled these departments to increase service levels
without increasing the number of employees. A part-time employee was added
in both the Human Resource Department and the Parks and Recreation
Department in Fiscal Year 2015-16 to offer administrative support to their
operations. The Senior Accountant position was added to the Finance
Department by converting a part-time position to a full-time postion.
Public Safety
The most evident need for more staff resources is in the public safety area. The
increase in calls for service requires more resources for patrol and investigations
in the Police Department and more resources for full-time Firefighters/EMS staff.
The short-term staffing plan for public safety includes continual increases in
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public safety services. Below is a summary of the increases in full-time staffing in
the Police and Fire Departments.
Department FY2017 FY2018 FY2019 FY2020
Police 2 1 1 1
Fire 1 2 1 1
Development Services
The Development Services Department facilitates the aspects of development
such as plan review, zoning changes, community planning, building inspections
and code enforcement. The increase in Waukee’s population beyond 15,000
requires the addition of rental housing inspection services. There is also a
consistently high level of development in Waukee which requires additional
inspection resources.
There is a need for an additional employee in the Development Services
Department to provide resources for rental housing inspections and building
inspections. A portion of the cost of an additional employee will be recovered
through inspection fees.
The needs for additional employees beyond the public safety area will be
determined in the future. However, there are no obvious shortfalls at this point in
time. The chart below shows how the number of employees per resident has
decreased over a six-year period.
Staffing Trends FY2011 FY2017
Population 14,000 18,000
Full-time/Permanent Part-time FTE’s 76 96.6
Employees per 1,000 Residents 5.42 5.30
Programming
Economic Development
One of the consistent overall goals of the Mayor and City Council has been to
increase the amount of commercial development in the community. The new
businesses add to the number of personal, professional and retail services that
are available to Waukee residents. Other businesses provide career
opportunities to Waukee residents. The tax revenues derived from commercial
valuation enhance the City’s ability to finance the construction of streets, parks
and trails, and public safety and leisure services.
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The City’s Community and Economic Development Department and the
Marketing and Communications Department have a comprehensive marketing
plan that is designed to attract new businesses to Waukee, among other things.
The City’s new brand will be leveraged in the plan to inform business owners,
commercial brokers, developers and commercial builders of development
options and opportunities in Waukee.
Marketing and Communications
The Marketing and Communications Department spends a significant amount
of time keeping Waukee residents informed of what is happening in Waukee.
Through social media, newsletters, videos and other means, residents learn
about activities that make Waukee a great place to live and about important
public safety information.
Family Activities
As the community grows, the Parks and Recreation Department and the
Waukee Public Library continue to provide services to more Waukee residents.
Participation in youth and adult sports programs reaches new levels each year.
The Library responded to the growing demand in its youth programs by creating
a new position that focuses on youth services. The public safety departments
offer the community Public Safety Day, Safety City, fire prevention programs in
schools, Citizen Police Academy and other programs that make Waukee a safer
place to live.
Community Festivals
Waukee keeps its “Small Town Feel” through its festivals and family events.
Celebrate Waukee, BACooN Ride and the 4th of July celebration bring residents
together and strengthen community relationships. The Easter Egg Hunt, Haunted
House and Winterfest give kids lifelong memories of growing up in Waukee.
City/School Partnership
City staff members work closely with Waukee Community School District staff
members on common interests. They leverage the resources of each party to
save money, deliver better services and to promote the safety of students, staff
members and residents. Partnerships are ongoing on a new transportation
facility/joint fuel facility, a high school and sports complex, School Resource
Officers, public safety response coordination, Centennial Park area parking and
other areas.
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Utility Rates
City staff conducted an analysis of the utility funds and created a master plan
for the utilities. The plan includes several policy decisions that impact the short-
term and long-term finances and operations of the utilities. This includes
projected revenues, operating expenses, capital improvements, future debt
obligations and bond coverage levels.
The master plan includes rate increases in three of the utilities. The monthly
charge for solid waste services would increase $0.61 from $17.40 to $18.01. This
increase pays the cost of offering weekly recycling collection rather than the
current biweekly collection. The monthly storm water fee would increase $1.50
from $4.25 to $5.75. The increase in the fees helps to pay for improvements to
the storm water system. The monthly sewer fees for the average customer would
increase $3.65 from $60.81 to $64.46. The total monthly increase for these three
utilities would be $5.76 per month.
Infrastructure
Existing Infrastructure
The proposed budget continues to invest in the existing water, sewer and streets
systems. The budget directs more than $500,000 to a sewer lining project in
Original Waukee. The purpose of the project is to eliminate infiltration of
groundwater into the sanitary sewer system. The result will be that there should
be fewer sewer back-ups in residences as well as a reduction in the amount of
waste that is treated at the treatment plant and in the future by the WRA.
The water system is maintained through a $200,000 water main replacement
project. City staff identified a number of water mains that are at the end of their
useful life and need to be replaced. The City is investing $175,000 in the
replacement of deteriorated concrete streets. The Street Department leverages
these funds with their staff resources to replace a significant amount of failing
pavement in the street system.
Traffic Improvements
In addition to the street paving projects previously described, the CIP includes
the installation of traffic signals to two intersections – University Avenue/Waco
Place and Hickman Road/Westgate Drive. These projects will improve the safety
levels at these intersections.
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Park Investment
The first phase of the development of Fox Creek Park is in this year’s CIP. The
improvements will provide walking trails and pedestrian access to the new Grant
Ragan Elementary School for the residential neighborhoods.
The Centennial Park Creek Mitigation will reshape the streambanks to reduce
the levels of erosion and to make them safer for park users.
Conclusion
City staff members are grateful to the Mayor and City Council for giving
guidance that will make Waukee an even better place to live and work. The
budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17 manages the City’s resources on several fronts to
make this happen.
As stated earlier, the proposed budget provides additional funds for public
safety services, invests in key transportation areas, continues support for
Waukee’s leisure services and festivals, and promotes thoughtful planning and
responsible growth.
I respectfully recommend City Council adoption of the Fiscal Year 2016-17
Budget, and I look forward to Mayor and City Council input on the
recommendation throughout the budget approval process.
CC: Linda Burkhart, Finance Director
CIP projects