Kyle Visioning Forum Part II Lays Out Community Priorities and Funding Sources

     The Kyle Visioning process that started in March with citizens working with city staff to identify and prioritize projects completed its next step with a second meeting that put price tags on the projects and asked citizens to identify what projects could be afforded.

     The group of about 50 Kyle residents considered 16 projects ranging from a host of new roads, a new police station, and additional staffing, to park improvements and a bookmobile for the library.

      “This was a very enlightening process with some very interesting outcomes,” said Mayor Pro Tem David Wilson who welcomed participants at the beginning of the meeting. “I think we have a very good idea of what is important to our residents and what they might be willing to afford. We are going to have to consider the outcomes of these meetings very diligently as we move forward with our budget deliberations for next year.”

      The group considered a total of 16 projects that totaled over $125 million. The projects were also separated by their respective funding sources of property taxes, bond sales or utility billings. If all the projects were to be implemented simultaniously, the average residence in Kyle would see an increase $1.0760 per $100 of evaluation on their property tax and an additional $204.06 per year on their utility bill. The monthly impact would amount to approximately $129.69 per month for the average residence in Kyle.

      The job of the Visioning forum was to whittle down that amount by prioritizing the projects and making a recommendation on what should be funded first and what the residents could afford in the short term.

      The results indicated that the group felt that public safety and roads needed the most attention with economic develop funding following closely behind.

      “The outcome of the visioning process clearing shows that our residents have concerns about our transportation and our public safety,” said Kyle Mayor Lucy Johnson. “Our job as a council will be to develop a plan to implement these projects in a manner that is both timely and fiscally responsible.”

      The projects that were recommended by the group included selling bonds to pay for reconstruction and expansion of five roads, construction of a new police station, hiring up to 25 new police officers and associated staff and equipment, engineering for new roads, reallocation of sales tax currently going towards property tax reduction, and expansion of the city’s water and wastewater system to spur additional economic development, and various other staffing and program enhancements.

 The total impact of the recommended projects, if implemented at the same time, would increase the average resident’s tax bill by $89 per month and their utility bill by $4.50 per month.

      “We realize that it would be very difficult to implement all of the recommendations in the next budget cycle,” said city manager Lanny Lambert. “City staff will be working with the city council through the budget process to turn this into a viable capital improvements plan that will turn these projects into reality within a reasonable time frame.”  

These are the Projects that were recommended for funding:

  AV Tax Rate Increase  Monthly Cost Annual Cost
Utility Funded Projects      
Water Issues    $1.56  $18.72
Wwater Issues     $2.94  $35.28
Total    $4.50  $54.00
       
O&M Funded Projects       
Police Staffing    0.2149 $22.51 $270.12
Sales Tax Reallocation  0.0823  $8.62     $103.44
Road Engineering  0.1913   $20.03

$240.36

Community Policing 0.0008 $0.08 $0.96
Mid-level Librarian  

0.0049

$0.52 $6.24
Library Clerk 0.0103 $1.07 $12.84

Total

0.5045 $52.83 $663.96
Bond Funded Projects       
Reconstruct Roads   0.2022 $21.18 $254.16
New Police Station   0.0874  $9.16 $109.92
Fire Department Ladder Truck     0.0139 $1.46 $17.52
Total   0.3035 $31.80  $381.60

Grand Totals  

0.808

$89.13

$1,069.56

          

Priorities that were developed at the first Visioning Session:

Economic Development
• Reallocate tax dollars to support Economic Development
• Purchase of Monacrh's system
• Development of a Research & Development Park

Public Safety
• New Police Headquarters Building
• Additional Personnel, uniformed and non-uniformed
• Implementation of Neighborhood Watch Programs
• Purchase of a new ladder truck for the fire department
Infrastructure
• Reconstruction of Burleson, Lehman, Goforth, and Bunton Roads
• Extension of Kyle Parkway to Goforth
• Engineer new roads so they are ready when funding becomes available
• Extend Market Place Road north of the HEB shopping center
• Improvement and extension of city wastewater service.
Quality of Life
• Improvement and extension of city parks system
• Development of Community Building
• Additional staffing for new library
• Development of Bookmobile Program