03-23-15 Fiscal Affairs Committee Meeting

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The city of La Porte is experiencing significant commercial and residential development. Over the past 18 months, multiple restaurants and retail establishments have opened in the City. A large, 30,000 square foot retail strip center opened and a new developer has begun another retail strip center development with an estimated value of $7 million. Additionally, the housing market in the Houston area, which included La Porte, has seen a 10% growth in the median price of homes. Residential development is underway at the City’s golf course, and a Senior Housing Project with 180 units is expected. Sens Road is another area of proposed residential development. The Panama Canal expansion is bringing about a significant growth in warehouse operations and hotels. The deepening and widening of the port is prompting expansion of the Barbour’s Cut terminal, which is located in La Porte, and the Bayport Terminal, which is located 1 mile outside the city limits, to allow receiving from super container ships. We are also anticipating the opening of the Bayport Cruise terminal, which is located only 1.5 miles from La Porte. The Princess cruises are starting in November, while Norwegian is scheduled to start in the spring of 2014. Due to new “fracking” technology of oil and gas from shale deposits, we anticipate increased growth within our industry corridors as result of exporting energy to overseas markets. Conservative revenue estimates and efforts to reduce expenditures have contributed to the City’s strong financial position and have allowed the City to weather the economic slump. We are especially pleased that there have been no property taxes rate increases for a number of years. Additional capital projects are being funded by utilizing excess fund balances and previously issued debt that had been stranded. With the associated fund draw downs, the remaining fund balances continue to meet operational objectives andcurrent fiscal policies. Awards and Acknowledgements The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to the City for its comprehensive annual financial report for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013.This was the thirty-third consecutive year that the City has received this prestigious award. In order to be awarded a Certificate of Achievement, the City published an easily readable and efficiently organized comprehensive annual financial report. This report satisfied both generally accepted accounting principles and applicable legal requirements. A Certificate of Achievement is valid for a period of one year only. We believe that our current comprehensive annual financial report continues to meet the Certificate of Achievement Program's requirements and we are submitting it to the GFOA to determine its eligibility for another certificate. In addition, the government also received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Award for its annual budget document. In order to qualify for the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, the government's budget document was judged to be proficient in several categories, including as a pol icy document, a financial plan, an operations guide and a communications device. Other financial awards to the City are the Popular Financial Report Award from GFOA, the Investment Policy Award from the Government Treasurer’s Organization of Texas, the Platinum level of the Financial Transparency Award from the State of Texas Organization of Texas, the Platinum level of the FiOrganization of Texas, the Platinum level of the Fi 3/5/2015 nancial Transparency Award from the State of Texas nancial Transparency Award from the State of Texas Organization of Texas, the Platinum level of the Fi Organization of Texas, the Platinum level of the Fi Draft Comptroller and the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award from the National Procurement Comptroller and the Achievement of Excellence inComptroller and the Achievement of Excellence inComptroller and the Achievement of Excellence inComptroller and the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement Award from the National Procurement Procurement Award from the National Procurement Institute. vi