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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinancial Impact proposed Entrada Development - Town services � �� ��� � ��.� e j��,::,,,��,��t�.�- ,. ; � Mr.Tom Brymer,Town Manager Town of Westlake 3 Village Circle,Suite 202 Westlake,TX 76252 April 5,2Q13 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(PIDj. 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 far one additional firefighterJparamedic 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 endj 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 $786kjyr and as such is subject to annual proportionate increases every year based on the City of Page 1 of 3 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 requirernents of the City of Keller so little if any budgetary impact is anticipated beyond the normal proportionate costs allacated 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. 1 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 Tawn 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 rnaintenance 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&0 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 Page 2 of 3 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 accarding 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 Page 3 of 3