Cardenas: City on right track for fiscal 2018
Lew K. Cohn/The Highlander
Marble Falls Mayor John Packer, center, proclaims May 6-12 Public Service Recognition Week in Marble Falls. Various city employees joined him for the reading of the proclamation, including City Manager Mike Hodge, Assistant City Manager Caleb Kraenzel, Finance Director Margie Cardenas, Director of Development Services Valerie Kreger, Police Chief Mark Whitacre, Fire Marshal Tommy Crane, Public Works Director James Kennedy, Assistant Public Works Director Jay Everett, Building Inspector Chris Pounds, Building Official Mike Ingalsbe, Permit Technician Amy Williams, Fire Engineer Randy Rankin, Firefighter Jonathon Morrison, Fire Capt. Sam Stacks, Patrol Officer Benjamin Master and Patrol Officer Colin Owen.
By Lew K. Cohn
Managing Editor
The Highlander
The city of Marble Falls is right on track financially with half of the fiscal year completed, Finance Director Margie Cardenas told City Council members Tuesday night.
Presenting her second quarter financial report, which ended with March 31, Cardenas said the city had taken in $5,339,260.66 in general fund revenue for the first six months of fiscal 2018, or about 51.28 percent of the $10,411,281 budgeted for the fiscal year.
The city has collected about 93.6 percent, or a little more than $1.7 million of the $1,859,400 it budgeted in general budget property tax revenues, which is expected as property taxes were due in January. Cardenas said she expects the city to be fairly close to a 100 percent collection rate by the end of the fiscal year.
Sales tax revenue collected was only at 40 percent overall of the budget, but Cardenas noted the city receives its share of sales tax revenue from the state a month late, so the amount represented only five months of payments from the state.
She also said the city collected more money in March 2017 due to an audit adjustment from the Texas Comptroller's office, which gave the city an additional $91,000 in back-paid revenue. This is the principal reason sales tax revenue was down by about $127,000 overall from last March, Cardenas said.
With the exception of March 2018, however, sales tax revenues have steadily climbed in Marble Falls as new retail businesses and restaurants have opened, Cardenas said.
On the expense side of the general fund, the city has spent about $4,877,707 of $10,376,380 budgeted, or about 47 percent, which is below the 50 percent mark for halfway through the year. This includes an increase in administrative expenditures due to the city's lawsuit against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Asphalt Inc. about the proposed rock crushing plant south of town. Finance Department expenses are above 50 percent because the city has conducted its financial audit for fiscal year 2017.
Water and wastewater expenditures are up above 50 percent, but that is due to the city making its principal debt service payment of $1,085,000 and increased expenses at the water plant. Revenue is at only 44 percent of the $5,306,612 budgeted by the city for fiscal year 2018 as water taps have been down slightly, but that typically picks up in the spring and summer months, so is not alarming, Cardenas said.
Assistant City Manager Caleb Krenzel told the council the city launched a request for qualifications (RFQ) for consultant services about possible changes to city impact fees. Only one company, Walker Partners, responded to the RFQ, but Krenzel said the company has had a lot of experience in this area and should do a good job.
“Impact fees impact both the city and the area in its extraterritorial jurisdiction,” Krenzel said. “We will go over any possible changes in the summer with the council. We are required to update our fee schedule every five years and we see impact fees as a crucial tool for handling growth in the city and in the ETJ.”
A citizen, Stephen Goad, addressed the council during Citizens Comments about traffic on 12thStreet and Avenue G in the neighborhood near Home Depot. Goad said increased traffic using the streets as thoroughfares to avoid lights on US 281 creates a “diminished quality of life” for residents due to cars speeding up and down the road, increased noise and litter.
“It feels like a daily assault (on residents)” Goad said. “It has gotten to the point everyone who lives in the area is hesitant to go outside due to the traffic.”
Mayor John Packer said the council could not take action on the issue, but he did ask Krenzel and City Manager Mike Hodge to place discussion of the traffic issue on the agenda for the next Traffic Committee meeting in late May.
City Council members later took part in a workshop regarding proposed changes to the City's Development Code and Zoning Map. More information about this will appear in Tuesday's edition of The Highlander.
