WASHINGTON: It’s about midway through 2017, and city officials took the opportunity to evaluate Lewisville’s budget performance so far. During Monday’s Lewisville City Council workshop session, officials provided the council with a mid-year evaluation of the city’s budget. Overall, the city appears to have had a healthy first half of the year. “The general fund is showing a favorable financial outlook for this fiscal year,” said Gina Thompson, director of strategic services. “Operating revenues are performing well and the expenditures are estimated to increase less than 1 percent.”
Operating revenues are projected to be up 4.7 percent or $3.8 million over the original budget. Expenditures are showing an increase of just over $690,000. Sales tax revenue is projected to be about 11 percent higher than what was originally estimated. Thompson said it is now estimated at roughly $28 million. “That’s a very conservative projection,” Thompson said. “If we continue the trend so far, we may end up well over $29 million.” Officials said part of the reason for the increase is the revenue from Bed Bath and Beyond, which brought its e-commerce site to Lewisville. Now, the city receives the sales tax from all Internet sales in Texas and the sales tax from Internet sales across the United States where the items are shipped to Texas. “We’ve already seen almost $700,000 in revenue the past three months of activity,” Thompson said. Donna Barron, city manager, said as a whole, Vista Ridge Mall is bringing in less sales tax than Bed Bath and Beyond. The city has also seen an increase in commercial refuse and landfill host fees. “This is the first time we’ve budgeted for Farmers Branch revenue,” Thompson said. “We already received $350,000 and that’s a quarterly payment. It’s going well.”
Officials reported a few areas where revenue sources were down, but Thompson said those account for less than 1 percent of the total revenue. Some of the areas include revenue from Texas New Mexico Power, Verizon/Frontier Cable, fire occupancy and warrants. “We believe TNMP is a slowdown in growth rather than a decrease,” Thompson said. “We believe Frontier is a result of their business practices. All other franchises are up.” Operating expenditures are slightly up, but officials said that is primarily due to purchase orders from the prior fiscal year. However, salary and fuel savings have allowed many new items to be absorbed within existing budget totals, Thompson said. “The average fuel usage decreased from 1,367 gallons per vehicle to 905 gallons since 2011,” Barron said. “The city has taken intentional and transformative steps to be more sustainable.”
The fund balance is now expected to be $34.6 million at end of 2016-17. It was estimated at $28.6 million when it was originally budgeted. The utility fund operating revenues are also up 3.9 percent over the original budget, and expenditures are estimated to be virtually flat. Water sales are estimated to be up 2.6 percent and sewer service up 2.4 percent. “This is entirely due to weather on the water side, which could fluctuate,” Thompson said. Water sales stand at $17.565 million, sewer service is $10.881 million and capital recovery fees are $1.467 million. “These three revenue sources make up 96.6 percent of the overall utility fund revenue,” Thompson said. “If they’re doing good, we’re doing good.”
