A Fort Worth suburb is seeing a significant budget shortfall, meaning salary cuts
North Richland Hills officials announced that the city is facing a significant budget shortfall and said pay cuts are coming because of the coronavirus pandemic.
City manager Mark Hindman said they expect an estimated shortfall of almost $1.5 million.
“We estimate a drop of around $800,000 or roughly 8% in our sales taxes versus our budget. We were running ahead of budget estimates before March or this number would be even higher. The total estimated shortfall in revenue is approximately $1,450,000,” Hindman said in an email.
The city, in a news release, said it is anticipating a “significant budget shortfall because of losses in sales tax and other revenue due to the Coronavirus crisis”.
“Just like so many families and businesses across the community, we must make difficult decisions and adjust our spending,” Hindman said in the news release. “This is not where any of us expected to be when we developed our 2020 budget plans, but we are facing a challenge unlike any other we have experienced.” .
Starting next month, city operations, except for emergency services, will be closed May 1, May 8 and May 15, and employees will not be paid on those days, according to the city’s statement. Sales tax revenue makes up around 20 percent of the annual budget, and revenue from permits and fees is also down over what was anticipated in March and April.
When city facilities closed on March 13, Hindman stopped all travel and training, and hours for part-time employees were cut or eliminated.
North Richland Hills is also working with county and state officials to safely open businesses in stages during the next several weeks.
“Our joint efforts to flatten the curve of this pandemic appear to be working. We are not out of the woods yet, but at the same time, it is important that we strategically start planning to get our residents and business owners back to work,” Mayor Oscar Trevino said in the news release.
Other cities also struggle with budgets
In Bedford, city officials furloughed part-time employees until further notice. Employees who were sent home are receiving 80 percent of their pay. Interim city manager Cliff Blackwell said the situation will be evaluated every pay period.
In Euless, there are also concerns about the city’s budget.
Betsy Deck, a spokeswoman for the city, wrote in an email that “our situation is definitely one of concern. We are absolutely concerned about how this will affect our budget. We are evaluating our budget and looking for reductions in things like travel, training, special events and anything not critical to operations. We are also holding vacant positions. Right now we’re just taking it week by week to evaluate the impact to our Euless businesses and our residents.”
In Southlake, there is a hiring freeze, and the 150 part-time employees were furloughed, according to information on the city’s web site. Officials also stopped some capital improvement projects and discussed waiting on plans for a bond project for more open space like walking trails and benches.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 1:15 PM.