City of Early State of The City Presentation 2023

CITY OF TEXAS

THANK YOU

To Our Sponsors

TMCNLEADERSHIP PROGRAM

There are several projects around town that you see daily that are a direct result of the TMCN Leadership program between the City of Early and Early ISD. The more visible ones are:

Sound Garden at McDonald Park

Mural at McDonald Park

Longhorn in front of High School

This year, the TMCN program is once again adding an amenity that will bring the community together.

GROWTH EXCEPTIONAL

MAKES EARLY'S TIME TO SHINE

Two Reasons For The Growth

Growth within the city creates momentum that creates more growth. New business development creates consumer traffic and tourism of various degrees. This adds revenue to the local economy that the cycle repeats. The trend of urban to rural migration is bringing more people into rural communities like Early, Texas. Our “micro-plex” area provides amenities that are often seen in urban areas.

New Property Development

Sales Tax Hotel Tax

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PROPERTY TAX

The City Council of Early works to balance the property tax rate with the property tax revenue it generates. We currently have the lowest tax rate of all taxing entities and have lowered the rate by 27% in this last taxing year.

As new construction happens in the city, new property is brought into our taxable value. This additional revenue provides us the ability to grow our tax revenue at the same time we are able to lower the rate to the individual tax payers. Our existing citizens, see a lower bill, while the new develop adds the value.

Property Tax Revenue History

SALESTAX

As our sales tax revenue grows, we are able to continue to suppress our property tax. Over the last three years our sales tax revenue collections have more than doubled our property tax revenue. We are proud to have a sales tax focused budget.

Over the last five years our sales tax has grown by 215% and our 2021/2022 collections were $1.51 million over our projects. For this year our sales tax collections year to date are $1.69 million and we are on pace to outperform on collections again.

HOTELTAX

Hotel Occupancy Tax collections have grown by 304% over the last five years!!

When you think of tourism you often think of traveling to other countries, the mountains, or the beach. Tourism in our area is alive and well. Business travel, medical travel, youth sports, hunting and fishing, as well as other hobby related travel are just some of the reasons for our growth in tourism. Our Convention and Visitors Bureau department focuses on targeting these travelers to spend their dollars locally.

THECITIZENSOFEARLYBENEFITFROMASTRONGECONOMY BYBEINGSERVEDTHROUGHSTRONGCITYSERVICES.

FIRE FIRE

POLICE DEPARTMENT

ShinesThroughProfessionalism

Budget Management Efforts

Leadership Community Outreach

David Mercer

Hired in 2008, Chief Mercer has helped train and lead his team of 6 officers, 1 investigator and 2 clerical staff to a high level of professionalism.

In 2022, the Early Police Department conducted 624 traffic stops, investigated over 1300 calls by citizens, and protected our community from various forms of criminal activity.

Our Police Dept. is involved in events such as National Night Out and the DREAM program.

Keeping our public safe is only part of the job. Our Police Department manages its budget, by using the best equipment and technology at the lowest possible cost. They maintain their patrol fleet, but cycling through older vehicles that become a maintenance risk. This past year they replaced two patrol vehicles.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

ShinesThroughService

Community Outreach Budget Management

Leadership

Fire Chief Chad Hill leads 5 full time fire fighters, 15 part time fire fighters, and 12 volunteers who diligently serve the community.

Our Fire Marshal educates our students in middle school about fire safety; They conduct programs such as free smoke detectors and installation; and businesses are inspected annually to address issues before they happen.

Efforts

The Fire Department responded to over 700 calls; 170 of which were fires, 380 medical and the rest were various other calls.

By seeking out and applying for grants. We are able to leverage state and federal dollars to provide equipment and vehicles for fire protection. We recently applied for a federal grant to purchase a new tanker. If received this could save Early residence close to half a million dollars.

PARKS DEPARTMENT

ShinesThroughCommitment

Budget Management

Leadership

Parks and Rec director David Gist has been with the City since 2016 and leads a team of 5, committed to keeping our parks beautiful.

Community Outreach

Early was honored to host the TTAB 8U baseball tournament at our beautiful ball parks where we saw well over 500 people visiting our wonderful city.

Efforts

Debra Tyson Shields Memorial Pavilion: This last year this amenity was added to McDonald Park through a donation of time and labor valued at over $75K dollars. What a wonderful way to honor this special lady.

By using in house labor, our Parks Department has saved us 10s if not 100s of thousands of dollars by construction efforts to improve our parks. As an example, they are working constantly at our Town Center Project to save citizens’ dollars.

ShinesThroughDedication

Efforts

Leadership

Nathan Land leads a dedicated team of individuals that provides water, sewer, and sanitation services daily with limited interruption.

By using social our website, a SeeClickFix app, the public works keeps our citizens inform and educated about our services, repairs, and changes to schedules.

Efforts

Several recycling days and events are held throughout the year to ensure that Early is doing its part to protect our environment and keep the city beautiful.

Budget Management

With the increase of cost, managing our equipment and vehicles becomes a high priority. Routine maintenance can prevent breakdowns that cost time and money to repair. By managing our assets closer we can control the overall cost to keep things operational.

ShinesThroughPassion

Visit Early hosts several events annually and the Events Center is rented nearly 100 times per year. The addition of that building has been an asset to so many in and out of our county. Director

Denise Hudson-Brian leads through passion and her passion ignites those around her. Through her leadership she is putting Early on the map!

Efforts

“Visit Early Visit Often rings in your ear and is known statewide. Early is represented at several trade shows and events across the state. It is not uncommon for visitors to repeat this phrase. This is when you know your marketing is working!

Oddly as it may sound, the CVB doesn’t save money. They spend hotel tax dollars in order to generate sales tax and revenue for our businesses and hotels. It works! Just look around Early!

Community Outreach

Budget Management

ShinesThroughRecruitment

Projects

Leadership

Larry McConn leads the efforts to recruit private investments in our community and maintain a strong local economy.

The MDD is responsible for recruiting several businesses such as Starbucks, CEFCO Hobby Lobby, HTeaO, Petco and many others.

Outreach Efforts

The MDD is represented at several retail shows across the nation including ICSC, Retail Live and others.

Budget Management

The MDD doesn't only welcome new businesses, but they also bolster the city's existing businesses with grants for upgrades to those businesses' properties.

TOWN CENTER ShinesThroughTeamWork

Previous and Ongoing Work

Council Leadership

Since 2018, teamwork between the City Council and MDD Board has helped the City move forward with this project while simultaneously making the best decisions that will positively impact our current and future residents.

eady completed is Kelcy Way, the outdoor classroom and the welcome signs. Currently ongoing is the lake, batting cages, multi-use side build-up, and several projects in engineering.

Outreach

The City of Early attends ICSC every year and has become sought after by several developers who share how excited they are for the town, all the while expressing their interest in developing.

Budget Management

The City is able to rely on increased sales tax numbers to fund the construction efforts but in addition, many grants have been given to the city and many more are currently being applied for.

MAIN STRUGGLE

Biggest Challenge has been Inflation: We have to Shine through sound decision making! Over the last few years, as many of our citizens are aware, fuel, food, good, materials, and labor have greatly increased and these things create challenges to living within a budget. Those same increases make the cost of operations for the city increase significantly. When a project is budgeted for a specific amount and the construction bids come in at 30 to 50% higher, it requires developing a different strategy to operate.

i n f l a t i o n

In House Labor

We utilize in house labor to conduct work that would often be outsourced. This provides us a fixed labor cost on projects.

Saying "No."

ADDRESSING INFLATION

Sometimes we just have to say NO! Much like our citizens, when costs are high, and the expenditure can be deferred, we have to focus on things that are a necessity. This can result in us putting off larger expenditures until the cost and timing are best.

How we approach cost-saving measures.

Reapproaching the Project Labor only bids: By purchasing material independently for bid contracts, we benefit from source pricing and avoid contractor handling and markup cost.

Grants

We leverage grant funding opportunities to draw in state, federal, and private dollars for infrastructure and equipment expenditures.

WEAREALLMOVING FORWARDTOGETHER!!

When we say its time for Early to Shine it truly means it is YOUR time to Shine! We are proud of our council, administration, our department heads, and employees. They are all making Early Shine. We are doing our part to represent you all. Our Citizens, our Businesses, and our great Neighbors have set a standard that they expect from their local government. You are bringing the light, your resilience and strong determination provides us motivation to be better! Together it is our Community’s time to SHINE!

THANKYOU!

Mayor Robert Mangrum

Mayor of Early since 2005