By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City administrators fielded a barrage of questions on topics like the city’s debt, park improvements and funding for various projects during a town hall meeting on the city’s proposed budget Tuesday.
The entire handout can be seen at the above link.
City Manager Shawna Burkhart hosted the meeting, held at the Joe Ramos Center. Four members of the Del Rio City Council, including Mayor Pro-tem Jim DeReus, Councilman Jesus Lopez Jr., Councilman Randy Quiñones and Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez, also attended the meeting.
A total of 26 citizens came to the meeting. A second town hall meeting on the city budget was held in the Red Oak Ballroom at the Del Rio Civic Center on Wednesday.
Burkhart opened the Tuesday meeting, which lasted about an hour-and-a-half, by welcoming those attending and saying she would speak for a time about the city’s proposed budget. Afterward, she said, she would listen to, and try to answer, attendees’ questions.
Burkhart said, “But . . . I’ll (also) be listening, and I’ll be taking notes and hopefully answering the questions that I might have answers to.”
The city manager also said she might call on other city staff present at the meeting to help answer some of the questions. City staff who attended the meeting included City Secretary Mari Acosta, City Attorney Ana Markowski Smith, Interim Finance Director Linda Coones, City Communications and Marketing Director Peter Ojeda, City Purchasing Agent Luis Menchaca, Flavio Aguilar, budget analyst; and Scot Carcasi, operations and compliance manager.
Burkhart then went over a 15-page handout on the proposed city budget for next year, which also included a variety of information about the city’s current financial situation.
Burkhart began the presentation with a review of the city’s tax history.
She explained the city’s tax rate is made up of two parts: the M&O, or maintenance and operation, portion, which helps the city pay its employees and offer general services; and the I&S, or interest and sinking, which helps the city pay its debts.
Burkhart said the city’s proposed tax rate for the 2025-2026 budget is $0.7070 cents per $100 of property value. She also presented a chart that showed the city’s tax rate for the past 22 years.
Burkhart said the city estimates it will collect $5,487,800 from the M&O portion of its tax rate this year, and an anticipated $6,665,800 from the M&O portion of the tax rate in the coming year, an increase of $1,178,000.
Burkhart said the city’s fund balance has been “steadily declining” over the past decade.
“The general fund fund balance is the amount left over from the prior year, so we have a general fund fund balance, and then we start to add revenues, subtract expenditures, and that brings us to the ending fund balance at the end of the year,” she said.
Burkhart reviewed the general fund revenues the city receives from grants, fines, permits and licenses, fees and service charges, tax collections and transfers from other funds.
She then went over the transfers into the general fund from city enterprise funds like the international bridge, water, wastewater, gas, refuse and the Del Rio Economic Development Corporation.
Burkhart then presented the general fund expenditures and how much of those expenditures are paid from various city revenue sources.
She likened the city’s financial situation to a household that dips into its savings account to pay its bills every year.
The last portion of Burkhart’s presentation was a detailed look at how the city has budgeted its debt. She went over 10 pages laying out allocations in the city’s certificates of obligation over the years, back to those obtained nearly 10 years ago.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
