Euless Feels the Pinch
As the economic downturn continues to unfold, it has affected everyone both locally and nationally. City revenues stem primarily from property tax and sales tax with other revenue sources including car rental tax, fines, fees, licenses and permits. Since the recession began in the fall of 2008, sales tax revenue has declined by over $2.2 million, which is a 15.5% decline. The Council chose to hold the tax rate for the current year despite declining property values.
As the recession began, the City took action quickly to reduce expenditures to maintain a balanced budget. These reductions included hiring freezes, early retirement incentives, reduction in workforce, reduction of capital expenditures, elimination of all nonmandatory travel and training as well as significant reductions by each department. The goal has been to absorb all of these reductions internally without impacting the service level to citizens. We hope these reductions have been transparent to you. We are very pleased that sufficient reductions were achieved during FY2009 to end the year in a positive position and we expect the same results for FY2010.
As we prepare the FY2011 budget, we are facing additional declines in sales tax revenue and are expecting further erosion in the property tax base. For the third year, the departments are once again making reductions in an effort to offset the expected shortfalls. All programs and services are being evaluated to determine what, if any, changes should be recommended. Like many of our citizens, we are looking for savings opportunities and spending wisely. We appreciate the input regarding the budget at the recent town hall meeting. As we continue through the budget process, the City Council and City staff remains committed to providing our citizens the most efficient services possible.
