Marble Falls gets sound audit, looks to south fire station, Gregg Ranch, re-zoning

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

The Marble Falls City Council got reassurance of the city's financial health in a report Tuesday, March 20, from the auditing company Pattillo, Brown and Hill.

“Marble Falls has receive an unqualified opinion,” said Angela Verduzco, C.P.A. in her report on the review of financial operations in the year that ended Sept. 30, 2017. “That is the highest pinion that can be rendered.”

Notably, she reminded the council the city had ended the fiscal year with an additional $146,000 in its fund balance. She praised finance director Margie Cardenas and city staff for superior accounting practices and efficient help with questions and expressed confidence that any minor adjustments would be easily done.

The audit will be submitted to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for

review to determine if the audit merits the award of “Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting” for the FY 2016/17.

“We have received the award since 2004 and strive each year so that we may continue to receive this recognized award,” city manager Mike Hodge said in a letter submitted to the council with the audit. “We believe that our current Comprehensive Annual Financial Report

continues to meet the... program’s requirements.”

Most of the council meeting was devoted to other reports, but action was taken to accept the petition for hearing dates for the Gregg Ranch Public Improvement District (PID). A hearing was set for 6 p.m. April 17, at city hall.

Gregg Ranch public improvements, estimated at $20 million for 240 acres of annexed land west of US 281 and south of Texas 71, are to be assessed to property owners, without cost to the city or to Burnet County.

Also approved, after a public hearing, was an ordinance rezoning from the Agricultural District (AG) to the Neighborhood Commercial District (C-1) and the Single-Family District (R-1) for approximately 427 acres of land annexed in the last meeting of the council. It, too, is located west of US 281, though further west than Gregg Ranch, and south of Texas 71, which fronts the C-1 property.

Safety for future homes in the city's southernmost areas was part of the concern that led to a recently completed Master Fire Station Location Study reported to the council by Marble Falls Fire Rescue Chief Russel Sander.

At the bottom line was a recommendation that the city begin planning for a second fire station south of the river by 2022. That is a project conservatively estimated at a $3.1 million construction cost, with a fire engine estimated at $740,000 and salaries for a crew of four of $820,536 annually.

That recommendation was based not only on response within three-four minutes to a call, but also to place residences within five miles of a station, both required to maintain the best Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating on which fire insurance rates are based.

Sander told the council ISO ratings range from the best, a 1, to the lowest, a 10, and he tackled an explanation of the many variables that would be involved in improving the city's rating from a 3 to a 2 or a 1 and the savings to citizens at those levels.

In addition to a second station (probably at about Rocky Road) and, eventually, a third station (possibly in the Innovation Loop/Resource Parkway area), a fourth station on the west side of town and a potential fifth station far in the future, a training facility is recommended.

“I have talked with Horseshoe Bay fire chief Joe Morris and it seems worth exploring sharing that cost with Horseshoe Bay and perhaps Granite Shoals,” said Sander. “Horseshoe Bay has some land that might be used for a training facility.”

It would require, Sander said, two acres of land within 10 miles of the departments training there with a drill tower at least three stories high, a fire resistive/non-combustible fire/smoke building, a flammable liquids burn pit.

With the proper financial planning and to meet goals before the next ISO inspection, Sander set a goal of 2025 for a training facility. Other requirements for the water system and the communications support he sees as within reach.

Part of that confidence rests with continued success in the communications operation at the Marble Falls Police Department. Related to that, the council authorized an application to the Office of the Governor – FY 2019 Criminal Justice Assistance Grant Program for funds to replace and upgrade the current VJF and 800 MHz mobile radios in the Marble Falls Emergency Services Mobile Command Center.

for the FY2019 Interoperable Communication Radio Upgrade Project in the amount of $29,589 with 0 percent match funding. The current mobile radios are at end of life and will no longer be supported by Motorola Solutions, Inc.