HomeMy WebLinkAboutEntrada Town expense impact Petty AssociatesPage 1 of 3
Mr. Tom Brymer, Town Manager
Town of Westlake
3 Village Circle, Suite 202
Westlake, TX 76262
April 5, 2013
Dear Mr. Brymer:
You have asked me to provide a high level analysis on the financial impact of the proposed Westlake
Entrada development on the annual cost of Town services. I have broken down the anticipated impact
by areas of service comprised of the major cost centers of the General Fund which are Fire, Police,
Development Services and Administration and addressed maintenance and operations costs to be
covered by the proposed Public Improvement District (PID).
Fire
According to the most recent quarterly report filed by Chief Whitten the average number of incidents
requiring a service call by the Westlake Fire/EMS Department in 2012 was approximately 1.22 per day.
The department currently is staffed with 9 FTEs. The Westlake staff prepared a 5 year staffing plan in
the fall of 2012 that projected the need to add one new fire fighter paramedic each year between FY
2013-14 and FY 2016-17 totaling 4 positions over the next 4 fiscal years bringing the department total to
13 FTEs. This level of staffing will provide for one additional firefighter/paramedic for each shift bringing
the department in line with most area cities and would allow the Chief to move out of the normal shift
rotation. Provided these planned additions take place, there is no reason to believe that the call load
from Westlake Entrada will require any additional staffing. At the staffing level proposed, the
department should be able to cover a community population of approximately 8,300. The current
Westlake population of around 1,000 when added to population estimates (on the high end) for
Granada and Westlake Entrada only result in a population of around 2,300 people. No additional fire
personnel or equipment should be required to adequately serve Granada and Westlake Entrada.
Police
Westlake currently contracts with the City of Keller for Police services in the amount of approximately
$786k/yr and as such is subject to annual proportionate increases every year based on the City of
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Keller’s approved budget for police services. The proportionate square footage and residential units
proposed by Westlake Entrada are still very small in comparison to the coverage requirements of the
City of Keller so little if any budgetary impact is anticipated beyond the normal proportionate costs
allocated to Westlake based on the City of Keller’s police department budget. According to Chief
Hafner’s report, “the current staffing level of police patrols and the support services provided under the
Westlake Police Services agreement exceeds best practices and standards taking into consideration
present housing densities, commercial development, daytime and evening population, roadway
conditions, traffic flow, and ten years of call for service and crime data. I believe the patrol staffing is
adequate and do not recommend additional patrol personnel at this time.” Because of the relatively
small increase in population and modest increase in total square footage presented by Westlake
Entrada, any increase in police costs will be a function of normal department growth to accommodate
Keller and Westlake and therefore would be far below the projected increases in advalorem and sales
tax revenues to the Town resulting from Westlake Entrada.
Development Services
By philosophy and policy, The Town of Westlake has always recovered at least 100% all of its
development costs from permit and inspection fees. Costs associated with these services are passed
directly through to the developer. As such, given the current free structure, the net financial impact of
Westlake Entrada on the Town will undoubtedly be positive. Depending on the buildout schedule of
Entrada as well as existing development demands, additional resources may be needed to maintain the
current level of service. If additional resources are needed, staff is committed to adding those resources
in conjunction with reviewing the development fee structure to see that all development costs are
recovered in developer fees.
Administration
No additional FTE’s will be added to meet the administrative demands placed on the Town by the
design, construction and completion of Westlake Entrada. Development fees will more than cover the
cost to review and inspect the project as well as any miscellaneous administrative expenses.
Maintenance and Operations
The Westlake Entrada development proposes the creation of a Pubic Improvement District or other
special taxing district which would assess improvements within the development for all ongoing
maintenance and operations of the development. This will relieve the Town of all maintenance and
operations costs typically associated with a development of this nature. The special taxing district would
be responsible for care of all open space, trail maintenance, ROW landscaping and maintenance,
mowing, road maintenance, utility maintenance, and all other M&O obligations typically provided by the
Town. These responsibilities will be enumerated in a Developer Agreement to be entered into between
the developer and the Town.
Conclusion
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In summary, while at first glance the development appears to be quite significant in terms of area and
square feet of development, the Westlake Entrada project will not require significant new expenditures
by the Town, and will if completed according to the requested uses, produce significant new General
Fund advalorem taxes and sales tax revenues for the community as well as hotel/motel taxes. The
overall financial impact should reflect positively on the advalorem tax rate and the available revenues to
spend on additional quality of life services for the community.
Sincerely,
Trent Petty