The Sundown City Council held their monthly regular meeting Tuesday evening which consisted of a proposed budget runthrough.
City Administrator Billy Hernandez explained to the council that the proposed budget did not contain hard numbers as the city is waiting on the county for their final tax rate. However, Hernandez utilized a calculator that gets the numbers relatively close which also used the current year tax rate.
The city will not receive the hard tax rate number until July 25. Once that is received the budget will change and make some adjustments. Hernandez hopes the adjustment will be within a $25,000 adjustment which could be made a little more easily.
Talking with TML Health, Hernandez explained they were able to come up with a 1.54% increase compared to what was believed to be a mandatory 7% increase.
For TMRS, the proposed amount was a .21% increase. Hernandez added there was an an option through TMRS that gave retirees a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) that was going to raise that rate about 4.5% but would require everyone to pay. With three retirees, that benefit would be roughly $15.
With that percentage increase, Hernandez explained he could not justify doing that COLA right now but could be something to look into next year.
A main reason for various adjustments has been the large decrease in sales tax revenues that would be later discussed during the meeting.
In the TML Risk Pool Property and Liability Report, Hernandez explained that the city went with 2.9% as it is the average of the entire pool.
Republic Services will be going up with a 3% increase in year five of seven which passes on the customer.
The fire department is seeing a 7.85% increase in payroll taxes that is being checked with the CPA because the city does not set the volunteer hours, but they do use the equipment owned by the city.
Hernandez did advise the council that the funds to cover the 7.85% percent is already in the fund because of the limited number of fire runs made by the department in recent years. When he used the amount for this proposed budget and the amount paid last year, the fund was able to cover the cost.
Another adjustment made was license incentive pay for public works personnel. Hernandez explained that while there are other additional licensing opportunities to have in other areas, they are not as necessary or required. In public works, licensing is required.
For golf course employment, the budget is implementing supplement pay. The goal is to provide the funds for employment of the golf course while management of the golf course does the hiring. This would avoid the golf course having to account for benefits, vacation, sick leave and personal time to adjust to city requirements.
A water rate increase was placed within the budget which emphasizes a higher bill for the more water used. The $25.55 used to include 2,000 gallons minimum. With this adjustment the rate will go to zero. If a resident has an active water bill, it will still cost them $25.55. Then they will start paying for water from zero to whatever is used.
Aside from paying $25.55 for having a water bill, the first 2,000 gallons will be $ 4.50. For 4,000 gallons the cost would be $9.
Hernandez explained that the purpose of this adjustment is because the organizations offering grants are wanting to see what the city is doing to help itself replenish the lines.
“Adjusting these rates in this manner shows we are doing something,” said Hernandez. “This is just a step. It is not a lot, but it is there. Even at this proposed adjustment rate, we are still considerably low compared to other cities.”
Hernandez also considered senior citizens into the equation by giving them a different rate adjustment with $21.15 and the billing per thousand would change as well.
A sewer service rate adjustment was also added which was $1.
Hernandez also mentioned there were increases in police salaries as well as the library by request of the council.
Looking at a balanced budget, Hernandez explained all the adjustments are subject to change if the council chooses so. Multiple council members suggested they would like more discussion before settling on numbers once the city receives all the required numbers for a concrete budget.
Moving forward, the council approved an Interlocal Agreement with TML Cyber Liability and Data Breach Response Coverage.
A brief public comment forum was held regarding the 2022 Consumer Confidence Report. The report was approved as well.
The group also approved the quarterly financials and investment report before approving the payables for the month of June.
Notable dates for community members of Sundown include the City-Wide Cleanup set for July 27 and Oil Patch Days slated for August 10.