Agenda Packet TC 06/11/2019 - Supplemental Items
Town Council Meeting
June 11, 2019
Supplemental Item
Agenda Item No. 5
Receive the Mayor's State of the Town Address; discussion of same (Mayor Sanders).
2019 State of the Town Address
The last 12 months since my last Mayor’s Report it’s been a year
of constant improvements in many ways in Trophy Club. We have been
in our new Town Hall and Police building for over 2 years and it has
proven to be a functional building for not only Staff but for our
residents who use the various public spaces from time to time.
Our Town has grown and we all are working to engage our new
residents to interface with the Town and become involved in various
ways in the town and to learn what it really means that Trophy Club is
“A Great Place to Call Home” and it’s not just a slogan We all want the
quality of life here to be exemplary. One characteristic of Community is
diversity and that attribute is certainly evident here and we reap the
synergistic effort of the different people, ages, thoughts, education,
religions, ideas, and so on. We are the beneficiaries of this diversity
and life-blood. Building Community is not the sole job of elected
officials; it is shared by all of us. I appreciate your phone calls, your e-
mails and your input.
This past 12 months has at times seemed tumultuous with Council
Resignations, a Special Election, the General Election and departure of
our Town Manager. And we will be holding another Special Election in
September to replace the council Place 4 seat vacated by Tim Kurtz.
2019 State of the Town Address
The Council has started receiving applications to fill the Town Manager
position. And just recently we have received the resignation of our
Director of Administrative Services, Jonathan Phillips who is leaving to
work for another City along with the resignation of our Finance
Manager, John Zagurski who is also joining the staff at another Town.
We will miss both of these excellent employees and wish them well in
their new carriers.
Residential growth has been a driving aspect for much of what we
have been focused on for the past 10 years. We currently have a total
of 12 vacant residential lots available compared to 43 at this time last
year with 24 single family houses under construction. Our average
Home appraised value in FYE 2018-19 was $ 444,630 compared to $
447,353 for 2019-20 FYE year with a total taxable value of all property
of 1,807,659,035 Billion. We had an increase of 7.24% in 2018 that was
over 2017, with almost $26.4 million of this from new properties.
Our preliminary appraisal data for the 2019 fiscal year has a
taxable value of ($1.94B) $1,942,578,992 which represents a little over
a 12% increase at week 8 of the appraisal process. Recognizing that the
appraisal process changes every week what those values are, they go
up and down. – We do expect by the end of this cycle we will come
out somewhere between 6 & 7% increase over the previous year.
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2019 State of the Town Address
Much of the news this year has been related to Home Appraisals
and has focused on the fact that North Texas is experiencing
phenomenal growth and therefore home appraisals are increasing and
when municipalities set their tax rates, citizens feel the financial strain.
Over the past 7 years the Council has strived to keep spending under
control and we have also lowered the Tax Rate each year with our
current rate being 0.446442 for 2019. The council just approved at our
th
May 28 council meeting a 1% residential property Homestead
Exemption to be responsive to our citizens and the effect of raising
property values. For Council and Staff, this Exemption will result in a
reduction of Property Tax Revenue of about ½ cent in tax rate
We received our FY 2018 Audit Report and in FY 2018 and we
once again received what is called an unmodified opinion with no
significant deficiencies. The 2018 unassigned fund balance for the
general fund ended at $4.9 million compared to $4.4 back in 2017,
which is 47 % of the total general fund expenditures. That puts us in a
very comfortable position to have cash in the bank to operate, even in
maybe lean times. A significant action by Council last budget cycle was
to create a Equipment Replacement Fund and allocate money to fund
this action.
Over the past 4 years council has focused on bringing new
restaurants and shopping to Town. Last year we did celebrate the
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2019 State of the Town Address
opening of Holiday Inn with its Restaurant and Bar adding to our tax
base and amenities for our residents and guest. And in the next few
months we will be enjoying HG Sply’s new concept. There have been
additional retail businesses including Marco’s Pizza and The Ship Shop
next to 7-11 on Hwy 114.
In 2018 fiscal year, we did receive payment for many of the
required building permits for the Trophy Club Town Center
Development (PD30) and as most of you have seen, many of the roads
for the development are completed along with the parking garage for
the apartments which will surround the garage. In addition, many of
the Retail / Commercial buildings are under construction. Neither the
planed Hotel or Town Homes have submitted final plans for their
construction.
Capital Improvements for Street Reconstruction and Drainage
projects required us to issue 4.6 Million Certificate of Occupation bond
for these Projects, and because of our AA+ Bond Rating we received an
outstanding interest rate. These funds will be used for projects going
through 2021 and include Phoenix Drive, Meadowbrook Lane,
Sundance Court and parts of Indian Creek Drive and Trophy Club.
In the way of Grants, the Parks and Recreation Department
received over $347,000 for repair and improvements in Trophy Club
Park and the Fire Department received over $200,000 for various
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2019 State of the Town Address
projects including reimbursements for our assistance with Hurricane
Harvey.
The Town continues to receive recognition for the services we
provide along with our choice of lifestyle. Through the efforts of our
th
Police Department we recently received the Safe Wise Award as 5
safest town in Texas. Officers Krum and Hernandez were recognized
with lifesaving awards as a result of their efforts with a traumatic injury
call at Trophy Club Park. And our SRO program with NISD received and
outstanding service award. The Fire Department was awarded the
American Medical Association Mission Lifeline Award. Mrs. Jill Lind
recently received an Excellence Award from the Texas Association
Municipal Information Officers for her work on the promotion and
th
of July event; and Mr. James Edwards
communication of our Annual 4
was named Municipal Human Resources Association chairperson for
st
place in the Boy Scouts of
2019. The TC Police Explorer Team won 1
America Police Competition and the explorers have a Byron Nelson
Student living in South Hampton England representing our PD Explorer
program. And Chief Carroll was awarded the position of VP of the
NEFDA Board.
It is our long and deep history of volunteerism that we as a Town
find a community where we experience quality of life and appreciation
of those aspects. This past year we have enjoyed having a person out
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2019 State of the Town Address
in our lobby to greet those coming to Town Hall. Thanks to all those
who have volunteered their time to sit out front and make people feel
welcome.
I would be amiss if I did not express the appreciation of the
Council and myself toward our Town Staff and emplyees.
Now looking to the future.
Many of you already know that in May of 2020, the office of
Mayor will be up for election and I will be term limited out. So after 13
years of public service on the Town Council and MUD Board, I am
planning on retiring from being an elected official in Trophy Club.
The Town Charter calls for the Mayor to annually set out Needs
and Goals for the Town. So after giving this much thought I have
narrowed it to 8 Goals like last year.
1.As with last year, continuing to maintain the highest standards
of Safety in Town for our residents, businesses and students is
at the top of the list. That’s surely a challenge and I am glad to
see the addition of more experienced senior leadership within
the Fire and Police Departments.
2. Strive to set our 2019-20 tax rate equal to our Effective Rate or
below. This rate is the Rate it would take to collect the equal
amount of revenue it did the prior year from the same
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2019 State of the Town Address
proprieties. If property values increase, the tax rate should go
st
time in our history where we
down. Two years ago, was the 1
set our rate at or below the Effective Rate. I see it as a good
challenge and something to strive for. There are very few
towns or cities in Texas that accomplished this fact.
3.It goes without saying that we need to hire a qualified Town
Manager to continue to lead the Town and focus on priorities
set by the Council.
4. With the opening of HG Sply Co in a few months, we need to
begin planning on how we might use the land between Town
Hall and Breadwinners. With over ¾ of a million dollars in our
Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, we should explore the possibility of
constructing a Civic Center on this land while preserving
enough parking to assist Breadwinners with their peak parking
needs. If it is not a Civic Center, it surly could be Public Space
which facilitates building community and enjoyment of open
space and maybe the arts.
5.As with last year, we should Develop with the MUD Elected
Officials a detail plan for how the MUD and Town can optimize
its assets, services and operations. Surely, we can become
more efficient and working together find a long-term plan
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2019 State of the Town Address
related to this complicated matter. But let’s work together and
develop a plan we can execute.
6.Work with the Developers of Trophy Club Town Center (PD30)
to recruit high end businesses and services. Now that
construction has started, it is time to step up our efforts to see
how we can make the development even better.
7.Work with our neighboring Cities & Towns on joint projects to
benefit our broader communities. As we look at our
neighboring communities, sometimes it might be a
competition. One person gets an office building, one person
gets a restaurant, I look at it as if something happens that is
good for one of us in this area, we all benefit. We all like to go
to new restaurants and shops, we benefit from the fact that
new businesses move to the area and those people buy homes
in Trophy Club. Everyone benefits and we need to continue to
work together on various joint projects. One of those projects
that I have been working on this past year is with the County,
Westlake and Southlake in a way to potentially use
autonomous vehicles to transport people between our
communities and their shopping areas. From my side of it, if I
can get people to come to our restaurants then it’s a win for
Trophy Club.
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2019 State of the Town Address
8.Explore the opportunities for more civic focused services which
might include a Senior Center and/or Meeting facilities. I think
this coincides and maybe parallels to what we want to do with
our Annex building. I think we need to look at where we need
to provide services to our citizens and where are we lacking.
We probably won’t all agree in some of that, but nevertheless
we should have those discussions.
Our Mission as Council is: TO MAINTAIN TROPHY CLUB’S STANDING AS
A PREMIER RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY AND A “GREAT PLACE TO CALL
HOME” BY PROTECTING AND PROMOTING THE INTERESTS OF ITS
RESIDENTS, BUSINESSES, AND PROPERTY OWNERS.
Each council member has their unique gifts and talents and bring
their view points to our meetings to help us make the best decision as
a Council. Even though we may disagree at times on a subject, we
need to treat each other and staff with the utmost respect and
professionalism. To each member of Council, I say thank you for your
dedication of time and willingness to serve the Citizens of Trophy
Club.
As I close, I hope to begin quarterly citizens meetings open to all.
Look for more information about this in the coming weeks ahead. It is
an Honor for me to have served you as Mayor for the past 5 years. I
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2019 State of the Town Address
sincerely appreciate your confidence and support. I believe I speak
for the entire council when I express my gratitude to Council Member
Shoffner who served as Mayor Pro Tem this past year. I want to
thank all of the staff, thank the Citizens for trusting this Council and
myself in helping to lead the Town into the future. May we be
blessed as we work together. Let us strive to go through our next
election for Place 4 and the General Election in May of 2020 with a
new commitment to celebrate our freedoms of choice and do so with
Respect and Courtesy.
Sincerely,
Mayor Nick Sanders
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