2023 08 10 WS Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR WORK SESSION OF THE
CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN
August 10, 2023
The City Council of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Regular Work Session on Thursday,
August 10, 2023, at 5:03 P.M. in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall at 2401 Market
Street, Baytown, Texas, with the following in attendance:
Laura Alvarado Council Member
Sarah Graham Council Member
Kenrick Griffith Council Member
Heather Betancourth Council Member
Jacob Powell Council Member
Mike Lester Mayor Pro Tem
Brandon Capetillo Mayor
Jason Reynolds City Manager
Scott Lemond City Attorney
Angela Jackson City Clerk
Mayor Capetillo convened the August 10, 2023, City Council Regular Work Session with a
quorum present at 5:03 P.M. All members were present with the exception of Council Member
Graham who later arrived at 5:06 P.M.
1. CITIZEN COMMENTS
There were no citizens signed up to speak.
2. DISCUSSIONS
a. Discussion regarding Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones (TIRZ) in the City of
Baytown.
City Manager Jason Reynolds informed Council this item would be considered on September 1st.
b. Discuss the City of Baytown Fiscal Year 2023-24 Proposed Budget.
City Manager Jason Reynolds opened the item explaining that he would first give a presentation
on the FY2023-24 Proposed Budget. After, Interim Assistant City Manager Carol Flynt would
facilitate questions on the budget.
The City Manager's Presentation
Mr. Reynolds explained their focus would be on policy and its impact to the budget. Staffs goal
was to provide Council with an overview of the elements that would create the budget.They would
highlight how Council's policy and philosophy could influence those elements and affect the over-
all budget. With that settled, Mr. Reynolds walked through each element as follows:
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
August 10,2023
Page2of5
FUND BALANCE: BEGINNING
Policy Impact
Council provide guidance • The City's ability to respond to disasters
on the amount of reserves to be held. • The City's ability to cover unanticipated or
emergency expenses
• The City's Bond Rating
REVENUE: PROPERTY
Policy Impact
Council make decisions regarding: • Determines largest revenue contribution
• Tax Rate • Establishes a growth rate
• Sales Tax Rate (Current rate: 2.3%)
• Industrial District Agreements(IDA)and
212 Agreements
REVENUE: ACUTE
Policy Impact
Council make decisions regarding: • Revenue that funds supplemental services
• Fee schedules and their renewal • Rate Growth
(Ongoing or as needed)
• Service charges
On acute revenue, Mr. Reynolds explained that the City provided a multitude of services. The
revenue collected from those services were meant to cover the costs of the specific services that
each fee related to. In theory, fees should be reviewed annually so that the costs of providing those
services would be covered. However, Mr. Reynolds informed Council that their rate schedules
were modified periodically. Thus, their rates were not keeping up with what those services cost.
Mr. Reynolds expressed that the fees were fairly static from Administration's point of view.
Mr. Reynolds also noted that if Council were to ask if fees were a source to address revenue in-
creases, it would not be a focal point. If every fee, fine, and service charge of the City were in-
creased by ten percent (10%), it would only increase revenue by nine hundred thousand dollars
($900,000). Thus, fees would not be something that would change the City's revenue front.
REVENUE: TRANSFERS
Policy Impact
Council consider: • How the transfers would be used
• Authorizing one-time transfers from other • Administration and Outside Entities
funds
• Approving the use of the fund balance to
offset non-recurring expenses
• Supporting Boards and other GOs
Mr.Reynolds relayed an important policy decision with those one-time revenue transfers was how
they would be used. He recommended for Council to set standards so that one-time revenues could
only be used to fund one-time costs and or contributions to capital projects.
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
August 10,2023
Page 3 of 5
EXPENSES: ONGOING
Policy Impact
Council create policies and be involved in: • Finances
• Creating departments and total expenses • Personnel Count
for each department (73%of operating expenditures)
• Programs/Services • Growth Rate
• Growth Rate (Proposed rate was at 7.9%)
EXPENSES: NON-RECURRING
Policy Impact
Council would: • Money for One-Time Costs
• Approve Capital Improvement Plan(CIP) • Operational Programming for CIP
and Funding(debt or cash) • Resources to address unforeseen
• Determine Contingent Level by Charter operational items
• Consider Enterprise Funds Support
On non-recurringexpenses, Mr. Reynolds recommended that the Cityadopt a five (5) year CIP
p Yn p
which would set in motion of chain of events for how Administration moved forward.
FUND BALANCE: ENDING
Policy Impact
Council would determine the reserve balance. • Equate to>$22 Million(70 days)
• Base for Following Year
• Additional Funding Source for One-Time
Expenses
Mr. Reynolds displayed the following charts below. He noted the orange line was for their operat-
ing expenses and blue was their revenue.
Rev v Exp Rev v Exp: Draft Model
Talking Point ONLY
130 160
120 150
110 140
130
100
120
90 110
80 100
FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26 FY27 FY28
Revenue —Expense Ops Revenue —Expense-Ops
Mr. Reynolds provided a few talking points for Council's next Special Budget Work Session. In
the middle of FY2025 to FY2026,he highlighted that their expenses would outweigh their revenue.
However, Council had a chance to realign and avoid that intersection.
The policies up for Council's consideration were listed as follows:
• Annual Budget
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
August 10,2023
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- CIP 5-Year Plan
- Revenue>Operating Expenses
• Tax Rate
• Fees (scheduled increases or as needed)
• Debt Issuance
• Enterprise Fund(additional allocations)
• Days of Reserve
• Programs/Services
Staffs Budget Questions
Ms.Flynt facilitated questions based on the presentation that was given to Council over the budget.
The Council Members answered each question.
Mr. Reynolds took a moment to address the questions raised around personnel and departments.
He first asserted that Council did not determine the employees that were added to the budget. He
stated that was his job. Council had zero say, but it was done out of respect to get them involved
in the process. For ongoing expenses, Council allocated the funds to each department. All Council
should care about was that he spent that amount of money and that he got the job done to their
expectation. Mr. Reynolds explained he only said this to start discussions on the policies Council
needed to collectively feel more comfortable with how things were spent within the budget.
Mayor Pro Tem Lester commented that Mr. Reynolds was technically correct. However, he clari-
fied his comments were over the fact that the City was growing,so the Police and Fire Departments
increased personnel by seven to nine percent (7%-9%) every year, for example. Mayor Pro Tern
Lester expressed that they needed to talk about that budget increase. Mr. Reynolds further spoke
on that point in terms of a policy and conversationally made note of what would be unfeasible.
Council Member Alvarado similarly clarified that her comments were in terms of understanding
of the staffing for public safety. As they took the highest budget, she wished to understand the
levels of where they needed to be and how to support the growth needed. The Council Members
proceeded to discuss and inquire over matters concerning the staffing of Police and Fire. Council
Member Graham mentioned she would rather allow public safety take priority over anything else.
Upon further discussion, Mr. Reynolds addressed matters concerning the Police and Fire associa-
tions. He emphasized the data that was presented to Council was on behalf of the Chiefs and every
other Department Director. While he did not convey anything negative towards the associations,
he affirmed that it was their job to look at the data presented from the City and not outside entities.
Further discussion ensued over matters concerning public safety and other department personnel.
Mr. Reynolds thanked the Council Members for their time and input. He closed the item by noting
that their proposed tax rate at that time was around seventy-four cents (740). The number would
later be fully vetted and discussed with Council next week on August 15th and 16th
City Council Regular Work Session Minutes
August 10,2023
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3. ADJOURN
Mayor Capetillo adjourned the August 10, 2023, City Council Regular Work Session at 6:16 P.M.
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