Reply To: Budget Blueprint

[Johnny Hill]

Dear Council and Mayor Pro-Tem,

It is my opinion that our budget to retain the level of services that we have for EMS, Fire protection and police dept. will require an approximately 11% tax increase which will cause property taxes to go up by about $94.00 per $100,000.00 of property evaluation. This increase is below the approximately 13% increase that would require voter approval. I tend to agree with most of the following assessment that I received from Mr. Barry Plante and I wanted to share this with you here.

Fy2025-26 Shoreacres Budget Feedback
Barry Plante
9/22/2025

COMMENTS
•Shoreacres is 1/231 Type A General Law cities in Texas
•Mostly small rural cities with limited public services
•Most of these rely on county or volunteer FD and EMS
•3 cites in Harris County with population between 1000-2000
•Morgan’s Point, Shoreacres , Southside Place
•SA budget is 1/3 to 1/5 of those two cities
•Budget limited by lack of commercial tax base
•As expected, Shoreacres residents want similar services offered by big
cites; however, the budget is not there.

CURRENT BUDGET
•Current budget as is unsustainable…requires major change
• ~56% ($1.3M) of total budget ($2.3M) spent on PD, EMS, and FD
•1/3 EMS and FD (~$440k)
•2/3 Police Dept ($860k)
•~24% on Administration and Other ($.55M)
•~20% on Public Works and Parks ($.45M)
•Appears that recent EMS cost growth is bulk of recent fiscal strain
• Current Public Works budget is inadequate; further cuts are
unacceptable for minimal quality of life in the city

RECOMMENDATIONS
Short term (FY25-26) Recommendations

•Either raise taxes or eliminate a major service (aka EMS)
•Keep existing City Manager Police Chief if possible for transitioning
purposes
•Do not hire a full time City Manager AND Police Chief ever!