The Levelland City Council held a special meeting Monday that was focused toward ironing out the final details of the 20232024 Fiscal Budget before moving forward with a proposed budget and tax rate.
A memo was issued regarding budget calculations that would cover a handful of items. The budget presented was constructed and balanced upon the revenue the city would make if they adopted the De Minimis Tax Rate of $0.55745, where every cent would raise approximately $63,000.
Additionally, the budget already considered a 5% cost of living adjustment raise for all City of Levelland personnel, as well as a further 5% market rate adjustment for department heads making below current market value salaries. Raises have been a looming issue since last budget seasons deadlock within the council arrived at the time. The council as a whole has taken a shift toward pushing for city personnel raises including Mayor Pro-Tem Breann Buxkemper who has been vocal and dedicated implementing raises, making them a priority for the budget season.
Discussions regarding several department areas were held such as the Levelland Police Department, Chamber of Commerce and Main Street Program.
LPD Chief Albert Garcia provided more dialogue regarding two items still under consideration by the council. With the rapid focus geared to school security, additional school resource officers have been requested by LISD. Trying to maintain the current number of officers on staff, city staff have been trying to navigate the department’s budget to aid the school district without reducing numbers patrolling city streets. One item Garcia has proposed was a leasing option regarding the current rotation of fleet vehicles.
For the current state of SRO positions, LISD is requesting three more full-time officers with the recent legislature requiring an armed security officer at every campus. Currently, LISD has applied for a variance to the law, as they have a Guardian Program throughout the district. However, LISD administration has stated that the exemption was just to keep them in line with the legislature, as starting a new SRO by September 1st is unreasonable at this juncture, due to the city not beginning a new fiscal year until October.
The LPD intends to have three more SROs in the district, and Interim City Manager Joe Cavazos provided a few numbers on what that would look like. SROs are joint employees of the school district and the city police department. With LISD paying 80% of salary, and the city incurring the rest, plus benefits, One SRO would cost roughly $77,000, making three SRO’s costing about $231,000. According to city staff’s calculations, the city could get all three of those desired officers for roughly $46,000, with LISD incurring the remaining $184,000. However, with the discussed information provided, discussions are still ongoing.
In regard to fleet management, Chief Garcia stated in his presentation to the council that he was constantly looking for cost savings for his department, and the subject of a vehicle leasing program has been brought up on numerous occasions by the council. Two members of the American National Leasing Company were present to explain how their system would work, and answered any questions the council may have.
With their offer, the LPD would turn in five vehicles to the group to jump start the leasing process, allowing them to lease three new outfitted vehicles for anywhere from three to five years with 6.45% interest. After the contract finishes, the city could buy out the vehicles for as little as $1 and do what they want with them, including rolling them over to a new lease.
The council’s concerns were that the ANLC is not a vehicle leasing specific organization, as they are a financing solution, which required bids that would be needed. The council offered their thanks to the men for their time and decided a leasing program would be worth researching further.
Tania Moody with Levelland Main Street presented her budget, while giving out some statistics for the progress the department has made in downtown Levelland. To this point, 28 handrails have been added around the square, bringing the total up to 44. There have been 56 new mosaics installed, bringing the total up to 92 in the district, and the department has expanded their advertising to three lightboxes inside the local Walmart, driving attention downtown.
Several grants have also been secured by the department, including the T-Mobile Grant, putting $50,000 towards the next large-scale project downtown, the Farmer’s Market Park. Moody said that roughly $17,000 is used to put on Main Street events every year, but that amount covers more than 30 events, including the Christmas on the Square event. An increase in promotional funds was being asked by this department, bringing those funds up from $19,000 to $21,500.
Those funds go towards advertising for Main Street events, but also to advertise Levelland as a community to attract business. Moody added that should the council feel interested, more assistance on the Farmer’s Market Park would be appreciated as well. The council shared their interest with Moody promising to get preliminary plans in front of them to garner opinions and further input.
Mary Siders presented the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund information for the council. An increase in event marketing and coordination was requested to help promote events like the upcoming Cotton & Crude Festival, bringing that budget up to $75,530. Other expenditures include incentives given out to various events that come to Levelland and the costs it takes to make them come to fruition. These include the Clovis Horse Sale, ABC Pro Rodeo and the largest upcoming expenditure being the Little Dribblers National Tournament which had a line-item cost of $34,000. The price associated with the line item will be used to secure referees, security and other personnel for the tournament, as well as other event needs.