By David Jenkins

Staff Writer

[email protected]

Discussions surrounding the fiscal year 2016 budget was the focus of the Murphy city council during a May 26 special called meeting.

A tentative budget for next year and current year-end projections were presented to the council.

This city’s fiscal year is Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

City Manager James Fisher explained how their budget process works.

“We sent out the budgets and now we are going through those and meeting with each one of the departments.

“Hopefully by the time we have our June 4 meeting we will have them out for you guys to start looking at,” Fisher said.

“We are basically trying to keep this very similar to what we have this year, as far as expenditures go.

“Traditionally year in and year out the expenditures are pretty much the same. The greatest challenge is capital. I know some of the departments have requested additional personnel to help them address the challenges that they have.”

General fund revenue for FY 2015-’16 is estimated at $12,751,400, compared to expected year end revenue $12,266,000 for FY 2014-’15.

This is a gain of $485,400 or 3.96 percent.

Property taxes projected at $6,329,000 FY 2015-’16 and the estimate for this year is $5,924,300.

This represents a gain of $404,700 or 6.83 percent.

Sales and use tax for FY 2015-’16 is expected to be $1,818,600 and year end projections for the current year is $1,774,000, for a difference of $44,600 or 2.51 percent.

Franchise taxes are projected at for $1,023,600 for next year and $1,022,900 for the current year end, a difference is $700 or 0.13 percent.

Permits and licenses are projected to be $530,000 and are estimated to end the year at $520,00. A difference of $10,000 or 0.19 percent.

Requests by departments were also presented to council.

IT Department

Information technology is asking for $154,600 for the replacement of rugged laptops/printer program ($40,000), Phase II city wide wireless mesh development ($15,000), replace enterprise wireless access points-phase one ($25,000), virtual workspace project-remote employee access ($15,000), replace DNS infrastructure ($15,000), wireless management utility software-public safety vehicle fleet ($8,000), disaster recover colocation site ($24,000) and Laserfiche Quickfield Server Agent ($12,600).

City Secretary

The City Secretary’s office is requesting $8,600 for a records management module for Laserfiche at $8,600.

Fire

The fire department is asking for $131,500 for four AED replacements ($8,000), oxygen bottle lift-portable system for large cylinders ($2,500), four emergency phone towers ($19,000), Lucas device-mechanical CPR device to replace AutoPulse ($18,000), a Fire Marshall vehicle ($80,000) and equipment for new employees ($4,000).

Police

The police department is asking for $180,500 for a treadmill for PD workout room ($5,500), two pole mounted speed indicators ($10,000), Smart 900 that allows cell phone info to travel with user ($14,000), two Crown Victoria staff cars ($26,500), two patrol vehicles ($115,000) and a Crime Eye System ($9,500).

Recreation

The recreation department is requesting $165,000 for 200 replacement chairs for rentals and reservations ($6,500), special events recreation storage facility unit ($50,000), floor covering system for tile floor ($8,500) and construction of more outdoor athletic fields ($100,000).

Parks

Parks is requesting $114,500 for a Kubota Zero Turn mower with Toro ZTR mower ($13,000), Toro 5800 spray rig ($56,000), ProCore 864 Core Aerator hydraulic attachment ($27,500), and a replacement fountain at City Hall pond ($12,000).

The total for the six departments is $754,700.

Preliminary figures from the Collin County Central Appraisal District were also presented to council.

The report showed an increase of 8.04 percent from the 2014 certified taxable value of $1,798,447,145 to the estimate of $1,943,000,000 for 2015.

“Some of the challenges that we talk about are the appraised values,” Fisher said. “As you know our appraised values came in about 8 percent higher. What that does is it gives us the ability to generate where our additional revenue will come in and at the same time allows us to drop the property tax rate.

“We are currently at 55 and we can go down to 52, but I’m recommending we go down 53. As we go through the budget we will see if we can make any adjustments. The good thing is our appraised values are going up and our home values are rising, which is a good thing. I think there are a couple of people that think they have gone up a little too high.”

The estimated cost for new construction was $35,834,000 with an average home market value of $314,972.

Surrounding communities

Wylie showed an increase of 9.19 percent from the 2014 certified taxable value of $2,710,761,717 to this years estimated $2,960,000,000.

New construction is estimated at $80,916,000 and the average home market value is $189,040.

Plano showed an increase of 7.31 percent from last years certified taxable value of $27,899,624,378 to the estimated $29,940,000,000 for this year.

The total cost for estimated new construction is $590,043,000 with an average home market value of $292,165.

Sachse property in Collin County showed an increase of 20.13 percent from last year’s certified taxable value of $536,254,598, compared to $643,000,000 estimate for this year.

The estimated cost of new construction is $68,160,000 with an average home market value of $248,870.

City of Murphy sales taxes for Oct. 14 through Sept. 15 of this year were $1,152,422.

Development as it pertains to open lots was also discussed.

Lots open are at The Ranch (eight), Gables (three), Maxwell Creek (53) and the proposed subdivision Murphy Manors (20) for a total of 84 lots.