"The can has run out of road;" MW council launches 2023-24 budget talks amid numerous needs

Weatherford Democrat
By Glenn Evans gevans@weatherforddemocrat.com
June 1, 2023

MINERAL WELLS -- Discussions of a spending plan for fiscal 2023-24 began on a low note Tuesday amid expensive choices facing a growing Mineral Wells.

"The can has run out of road," City Manager Dean Sullivan said near the end of a 90-minute budget-planning session he'd begun with a dour assessment rooted in past inaction: "We are living history right now, and it's not a lot of fun."

A comprehensive plan the council commissioned last year is due to be completed in weeks ahead. The 20-year map is expected to lay out city needs in a prioritized order that Sullivan called, "a path forward."

A 60-year-old water treatment plant under state sanction for lack of capacity, a city wage that frustrates staff stability and aspirations for a new reservoir all are in the council's collective lap as talks get underway toward a spending plan for the year beginning Oct. 1.

Good news started off the meeting, with Finance Director Jason Breisch announcing sales taxes arriving higher than budgeted. He also noted a healthy $1.1 million balance the city is on track to have on Sept. 30.

Meanwhile, drought.

"We don't know how long this drought is going to continue or how bad it's going to get," new Place 1 Councilman Kyle Kelley said, after agreeing with Ward 3 Councilwoman Beth Watson's reasoning to go forward with a replacement for the Hilltop Water Treatment Plant and the proposed Turkey Peak Reservoir.

"The cost of water is going to be more and more expensive," Watson said. "(And) I don't think we should entertain anything without storage."

Storage, being a lake.

Turkey Peak, right now, is an anticipated $170 million to $200 million expense. It will hold 22,000 acre feet of water, or almost 71.7 million gallons, immediately downstream from Lake Palo Pinto.

Watson, in turn, had been responding to options Sullivan had laid out to build the water plant and renovate a donated property into a public works headquarters, or take on both plus build the lake.

That's when Sullivan employed his can-out-of-road analogy.

"It's going to keep getting more expensive," the city manager said, estimating the cost of delaying all the city's major projects rises about $1 million annually. "But it doesn't diminish the need for water. ... We have growth in our area that we can't support. We have needs in our town we can't support."

Sullivan then directed the panel to the estimated effects building the lake will have on local water bills. 

Looking over the anticipated water rates, which were not released to the public, Mayor Regan Johnson noted the rate study by consultants did not take expected growth and development into its formula.

"That's good news," she said.

Sullivan said the economies of scale created by anticipated population growth will not be one-to-one. If the city's 13,000 water meters doubled to 26,000 connections, he said, the rates the council was looking at would be about 30 percent lower.

"If we lose people, it'll go up," he said. "If we add people, it'll go down."

He declined to share the rate projections with the Weatherford Democrat after the meeting.

"They are consultant/attorney/client product," he said, adding that is stamped on the rate study. "We'll get this out to you in a few weeks."

As with the lake proposal, the estimated $40 million cost of a new water treatment plant is only rising with time.

Last year, Sullivan and the council declared streets the most immediate budget need. Sullivan asked council members whether streets should continue to be a priority as budget talks continue.

He also noted another challenge that eclipses streets in the next fiscal year.

"You know, workforce is the biggest issue," Sullivan said, describing "unprecedented staffing problems. ... Our attrition rate and our service levels and ... benefits -- they have not kept pace with national levels."

The staffing challenge affects all departments and are typical of a smaller city trying to retain people to run water plants, repair and maintain streets, mow the parks, answer phones and accept bill payments at city hall.

The poster child of the staffing challenge might be the fire/EMS force. Chief Ryan Dunn said he typically has nine to 12 paramedics out of the 30 that would minimally staff the department.

Fire Station 1 downtown continues to be closed some shifts so crew members can fully staff Station 2.

"Even our contractors are having extreme difficulty in getting people to work for them," Watson said. "The generation that is retiring is just bigger, and there aren't replacements. We've got to look at what we're asking people to do for paying them how much?"

Typical starting pay is $16.11 an hour.

Addressing city staff, Mayor Pro Tem Doyle Light told them they are the No. 1 priority.

"About $20 an hour is probably the minimum livable wage in Palo Pinto County," Light said, noting this year's $38 million budget. "And over $14 million of that is salaries and benefits. I don't know how much progress we're going to make in one year, but I can tell you we're going to do our best."

Watson pointed out the council took a step to raising salaries in this year's spending plan. Staff below the department head level saw a 6 percent pay raise in two stages this fiscal year.

"We did make a big improvement last year," she said, advocating improved benefits -- and placing more focus on creating a pleasant "work culture. I think we need to make people think twice before driving to jobs in Dallas. We'll never compete on salary."

The city also aspires to convert the former Devon Gas Services complex on Southwest 26th Street into a home for its public works department.

The department responsible for streets, and the sewer and water infrastructure beneath them, is now housed in five offices scattered along Oak Avenue.

However, simply the cost of engineering studies to scope out that project took all council members aback during an engineering firm's presentation this spring.

As the meeting neared its end, Watson threw out a money-saving idea. Pointing out that the city, county and Palo Pinto General Hospital fund separate dispatching, ambulance and other departments including the county and city libraries, Watson suggested a task force probe where duplications can be eliminated.

"We need to look at that, because we're all in this together," she said. 

Sullivan suggested he and the mayor reach out to neighboring entities to check interest.

The council will hold a second budget discussion beginning at 4 p.m. on June 6. The meetings are open to the public and start with an open comment period.