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The City of Tyler presented its fiscal year 2023 draft budget Wednesday with the theme of “Tyler transformed.”

The proposed $228.1 million budget focuses on Tyler’s commitment to offering quality services to the growing community and enacting meaningful change with the goal of bettering the city’s workforce and business practices.

From this budget, $26.3 million would be spent on capital projects paid for in cash through the half-cent sales tax fund. Funds from this tax play a large role in building new roads and facilities, improving parks, investing in drainage and rebuilding city streets.

The budget involving projects paid for by the half-cent sales tax funds, called the Capital Improvement Budget, will be adopted at a later date.

“This budget continues our tradition of responsible government spending while accounting for our residents’ needs: smooth roadways, improved traffic flow, expanded drainage systems, upgraded water and sewer systems and state-of-the-art facilities,” said Tyler Mayor Don Warren. “It also reflects our commitment to growth and change in how we do business.”

Some major focuses of the FY23 budget include a lower tax rate, public safety, transformation of blighted areas, street improvements, an increase in utility rates and employee retention.

Tyler continues to have the lowest tax rate of any other city within Smith County and the lowest among cities with populations of 15,000 or greater. In this budget, the City of Tyler proposes an even lower tax rate of about .261 cents.

Taxable values in Tyler for this coming fiscal year will bring in an anticipated $26.8 million in property taxes. This is a $2 million increase in funds from last year which will be used for public safety services from FY22.

“As Tyler grows, public safety services must grow,” Warren said.

Public safety

The largest portion of general fund spending in this proposed budget will be funding for police and fire departments. The Tyler Police Department is allocated $34 million and the Tyler Fire Department $23 million.

For the fire department, the city plans to fund two new firefighters and two new fire engines costing $1.6 million.

In 2021 the fire department improved to a Class 1 rating from the Insurance Services Office which led to a reduction in insurance premiums for businesses and residents in the city.

The ISO rating assesses the readiness of local fire departments through determining the ability to suppress a fire. With a Class 1 rating, the Tyler Fire Department is in the top 2% of rated fire departments in Texas and the top 1% of around 46,000 communities in the United States.

Putting funding into the fire department helps maintain this rating and lower insurance premiums.

For the police department $2.6 million will be provided over five years to equip police vehicles with in-car technology systems and provide police with new technology including body cameras and additional tasers.

“Our officers continue to set the standard for transparency in community policing,” said City Manager Edward Broussard. “TPD administration has developed a creative program to fund and replace this essential technology for our officers on the street.”

Utilities

With FY23, residents of the City of Tyler will see a change in the cost of their utility bill.

Tyler Water Utilities will be moving from a declining rate structure, where water and sewer services become cheaper the more you use, to a uniform volumetric rate structure over the next five years. With the uniform volumetric rate structure, the city will be able to promote water conservation.

TWU will also no longer subsidize the first 2,000 gallons of water usage on the bill, but rather customers will be charged for the full amount of water usage.

Even with these changes, the City of Tyler will continue to have one of the lowest utility rates for a city its size.

Tyler has invested over $34 million in water and sewer systems since 2016. Multiple improvements have been made to water treatment plants, water lines, sewer lines and manholes. Throughout the coming year, a total of $24.4 million in cash and bond funds is planned to be spent on wastewater and water projects.

A regulatory compliance fee increase of $5.08 will be seen in order to service the debt on the rehabilitation of Tyler’s sanitary sewer system. The city entered into a contract with the federal government mandating $250 million in wastewater system improvements be completed by April of 2027.

An increase of $1.28 in residential solid waste fees for twice-weekly collection will also be implemented. Trash pickup, like water utilities, is an enterprise fund that generates operating revenue through services provided. Included in this fee with trash pickup is also code enforcement on-demand and beautification programs such as graffiti removal, parks cleanup, roadside trash pickup and more.

Stormwater collection fees will also be increasing by 1% to reflect the cost of maintenance.

Improving city safety and property values

The FY23 budget is placing a focus on substandard structures within the city. This will be the first time money has been set aside in the budget for specifically commercial substandard structures.

A total of $200,000 has been set aside to remove substandard structures and $100,000 for tree removal related to recent storm damage.

“Derelict buildings bring down property values and create public health and safety issues,” Warren said. “This is the first step of a long-term commitment to battling blight in our community.

In addition, the city has budgeted $16.1 million out of the half-cent fund for upcoming street reconstruction projects and phase three of the Traffic Signalization Modernization Project.

Street improvements

The City of Tyler will continue putting focus on streets in this budget. Two cents of the tax rate, which would equate to $1.8 million, will be set aside to seal coat 25 miles of streets. Included in this is removing, chipping, chiseling and leveling the historic brick streets in Tyler.

An additional $16.1 million from the half-cent fund will be set aside for street reconstruction projects and phase three of the Traffic Signalization Modernization.

“Technology evolves rapidly,” Warren said. “Our plan is phased over many years so that as the technology changes, we can change without a high price tag to our residents.”

Employee retention

The city plans to invest an estimated total cost of $3.6 million on employee retention in FY23. Of that, around $1 million would be used to bring historically underpaid positions up to fair market.

All police officers and firefighters, which make up 43% of the city’s workforce, would receive a 5% pay increase. Non-civil service employees will be eligible for up to a 5% merit increase based on individual performance.

“We have the best team of public servants in the state,” Broussard said. “We must be mindful of market rates and the effect of 9% inflation to keep quality employees.”

The City of Tyler has kept about the same amount of employees since the mid-1980s while the size of the city and population has grown over the years and continues to grow.

Broussard said savings from previous budget years and a 13% increase in prior year sales tax makes it possible for the city to put this investment into its employees.

The public can voice their opinion on the FY23 budget at a public input meeting. These will occur during council meetings at 9 a.m. on Aug. 24 and Sept. 14.

Adopting final budget will be voted on 9 a.m. on Sept 14 during the regular city council meeting. The entire budget presentation and all of its details, and the proposed tax rate and property tax calendar can be found by visiting www.CityofTyler.org.