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San Marcos 2006 budgetPosted August 8, 2006, 1 a.m. San Marcos to spend $116 millionSAN MARCOS – The city council in San Marcos came out of last week’s budget presentation trying to figure out how to squeeze about two dozen of its unfunded wishes into a Fiscal Year 2007 budget totaling $116 million. But the task isn’t entirely hopeless. The budget presented by City Manager Dan O’Leary included about $200,000 of wiggle room on the $32.8 million general fund side, and a $10.4 million fund balance means the city could dip in for a couple million and still have enough left over for three months of rainy days. Furthermore, the budget is based on conservative projections of revenue growth – three percent each in sales tax revenue and property value increases. Most likely, the city’s true revenue growth will exceed those percentages. Indeed, O’Leary projects that sales tax will come in $1.8 million higher than the $13.9 million the budget estimated for FY 2006. And property values in the last year have increased 8.6 percent to $2.03 billion from $1.87 billion one year ago. The average home value has increased to $106,692 from $102,247 last year. However, those numbers are contingent on final valuations due from the Hays County Central Appraisal District. Because of growing property values and retail sales, the city will be able to fund itself on 47.02 cents per $100 of assessed value, the same rate as provided in the FY 2006 budget. One penny of property tax generates $202,546 on the pending budget. Sales tax revenue will fund 44.5 percent of the general fund budget, while property tax collections will bring in another 11.8 percent. General operations will account for less than one-third of the budget. Another $46.4 million is going to the general utility fund and $24 million is going to the water/wastewater fund. The total budget is up $15 million from $101 million last year. In advance of adoption, the council is holding three budget workshops, the last of which will be conducted on Aug. 15. The council has until Oct. 1 to adopt the budget, but has scheduled Sept. 11 for budget adoption. Among the budget’s goals is to head off a possible brain drain at city hall, where 36 percent of the employees are eligible for retirement and 57 percent of the non-civil service employees are paid less than market value based on a salary study conducted by the city. Civil service employees will receive four-percent increases, plus merit increases. Non-civil service employees will receive 3.5-percent increases and step increases on their anniversary dates. Among $2.7 million in unfunded capital improvement projects for the council to consider are road improvements on Yarrington Road, McCarty Lane and Aquarina Springs Drive, plus central fire station improvements. Voters approved $2.25 million of the improvements last November, so the city is free to issue debt for those purposes. The budget does include $6.2 in capital improvements, including a habitat conservation plan, handicap access at city buildings, parkland improvements and the Wonder World Drive extension.
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