UP City Council Approves Budget of Just Under $70 Million
The University Park City Council approved a $69,621,957 budget for fiscal year 2025 at its Sept. 17 meeting.
To fund the budget, the council approved a tax rate decrease from 23.6226 to 22.9964 cents per $100 valuation. Despite the rate decrease, an increase in property valuations means the average single-family homeowner with a homestead exemption will pay about $44 more per month in property taxes, according to the city’s Budget Memo.
Fiscal year 2025’s budget is $3.8 million higher than 2024’s. About 30% of the city’s expenditures are for public safety, 26% for public works, 12% for capital projects funding, 17% for water treatment costs, 8% for general governmental operations, and 7% for parks, director of finance Tom Tvardzik told the council during a Sept. 3 public hearing.
The city’s single largest expenditure is salaries and benefits, which account for just under half of the budget. In fiscal year 2025, the city plans to implement a 1% cost of living increase, make market-based adjustments for certain positions, and continue merit-based increases, among other adjustments.
The council also approved service fee increases of:
- Water service – 5%
- Wastewater service – 10%
- Stormwater (drainage) fees – 18%
The water and wastewater increases “reflect pass-through cost increases from the Dallas County/Park Cities Municipal Utility District and Dallas Water Utilities.” The stormwater increase will help fund ongoing activities while “responsibly managing the retirement of debt,” according to an agenda memo.
Tvardzik told the council on Sept. 17 that he “absolutely” foresaw a budget scenario in the next five years where the city would need to approach voters to ask for additional funds.
He explained that the amount the city can raise property taxes without voter approval is insufficient to support salaries in an inflationary environment. Public safety personnel have also requested to increase their staff for a number of years, he continued, a change that will likely trigger a need for more equipment and vehicles.
In other business, the city council approved a contract with Parking Company of America – DBA Parking Systems of America to discuss solutions to Snider Plaza’s parking crunch. The council has not committed to spending any funds or to use the services of a parking management company in Snider Plaza.
But the council has committed to working with Parking Systems of America should it use a parking management company in Snider Plaza unless the project is bid out again, purchasing manager Elizabeth Anderson explained after the meeting.
Mayor Tommy Stewart and council members Mark Aldredge and Melissa Rieman voted in favor of the contract. Council member Phillip Philbin was opposed, and council member Bob Myers abstained from the vote.
