The General Fund is the general operating fund for the City. It is used to account for all financial resources except those legally required to be accounted for in other funds, such as the Water and Sewer Fund or Special Revenue Funds. All general tax revenues and other receipts that are not allocated by law or contractual agreement to other funds are accounted for in this fund.
The General Fund is the largest fund for the City, with budgeted expenditures of approximately $66 million. The General Fund accounts for the majority of City services, including public safety, public works, general government and cultural and recreation. Budgeted expenditures include salaries and benefits, supplies, maintenance, services and capital outlays.
General Fund Revenues
Property taxes comprise approximately 50% of General Fund revenues. In Coppell, approximately 41% of property taxes are collected from businesses.
In addition to property taxes, the City receives revenue from sales taxes. The Texas State legislature recently proposed new rules that would substantially change how the City of Coppell collects sales and use taxes. The proposed rule would disrupt decades of established local sales tax sourcing rules, and the City would lose substantial sales tax revenue. Coppell and other cities are asking the Comptroller of Public Accounts to reconsider the current proposed rules and, if necessary, may be forced to take legal action if these issues cannot be resolved.
The City of Coppell does not know the severity of the sales tax reduction in revenue or the timing. If the new rule goes into effect in mid-2020, the city would lose approximately $6 million in sales tax revenue. Annually it could lose as much as $12 million in the General Fund, which is 17 % of the city's overall General Fund budget, or $24 million over all sales tax-supplied funds.
The General Fund also receives reimbursements from various funds, revenues from franchise taxes and fees for services and court fines.
General Fund Expenditures
Over the past 10 years, the General Fund expenditures have increased by an average of 3% each year.
General Fund expenditures are grouped into four categories: Public Safety, General Government, Cultural and Recreational and Public Works. As most quality of life projects are funded out of Special Revenue Funds, such as the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation, and other sources, the majority of expenditures from the General Fund are associated with hiring and retaining quality personnel that provide essential – and exceptional – services to Coppell residents and businesses.
Public Safety initiatives make up the largest portion of General Fund expenditures, approximately 38%. This category includes costs associated with the Municipal Court, Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Emergency Management, Police, Environmental Health and Building Inspections. In the past, the City of Coppell has used General Fund monies to replace cardiac monitors in the ambulance fleet and add Firefighters to support the addition of Fire Station 4.
General Government makes up 21% of the General Fund expenditures, and this category includes costs associated with City administrative personnel. Expenditures for the Mayor and City Council, Human Resources, Community Development, the Finance Department and Information and Enterprise Solutions, among others, are paid for from the General Fund.
Cultural and Recreational expenditures comprise 21% of the General Fund. These expenditures include costs associated with Library Services and Parks and Recreation. For example, in the past, the City used funds to update outdated exercise equipment at the Senior and Community Center and increase staff accessibility at some facilities in order to help the City be more responsive to customer requests and needs.
Finally, Public Works makes up 19% of the General Fund expenditures. These expenditures include costs associated with Engineering, Traffic Control, Streets and Planning. In the past, the City used revenues from the General Fund to conduct video analysis of the storm water system and a study on the municipal drainage district. City staff used the results of these studies to plan for preventative maintenance projects to ensure that the City's infrastructure will continue to be viable into the future. Likewise, this fund was also used to add pedestrian safety crosswalks and conduct routine maintenance projects that help ensure that the community remains safe, walkable and clean. In recent fiscal years, General Fund expenditures have increased slightly, as the City shifts its focus to redevelopment of infrastructure.
Shift from General Fund to Capital Fleet Replacement Fund
In previous years, large purchases for equipment and vehicles, such as fire trucks and police cruisers, were made out of the General Fund. Because these purchases are not routine, they cause a spike in General Fund expenditures. In order to avoid these large fluctuations to the Fund, the City Council supported the creation of a Capital Fleet Replacement Fund in Fiscal Year 2014-2015.
The Capital Fleet Replacement Fund is used strictly for the purchase of replacements for previously funded fleet and equipment items. With this fund, whenever the City purchases a vehicle or piece of equipment, in addition to the purchase cost, a portion of each payment is set aside in the Capital Fleet Replacement Fund. Once it is fully funded, the Capital Fleet Replacement Fund will be used to make all fleet and equipment purchases. This sound, conservative approach will help level out the large future expenditure fluctuations in the General Fund.