City Budget Out of Control?

Georgetown's budget has grown from $131.8M in FY 2006 to $284.7M in FY 2016, an increase of $152.9M or 116%. In the last four years, 2012 - 2016, this trend has accelerated with the budget increasing from $178.3M to $284.7M, or $106.4M. This four year rate of annual increase is 12.4%. This means it will double in six years at this rate!

The Census Bureau recently released the latest population estimates for Georgetown. The population in 2010 was 47,995 and in 2014, their latest estimate is 59,102. This equates to a 5.3% annual growth rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that annual inflation over this same time period has been 1.7%.

The City apparently does not have a policy or ordinance that limits the budget growth. The State of Texas has adopted a policy that the biennial budget growth is limited to population growth plus inflation. Applying that metric to Georgetown would limit the annual increase in the budget to 5.3% + 1.7% = 7.0%. Georgetown's budget growth is far above 7.0% and continued growth at levels above that is a recipe for financial disaster. Just look at cities like Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; and Stockton, CA.

This trend of budget increases is much greater than population growth and has been going on for more than 10 years and needs to be reined in to be in line with the State of Texas metric. The City needs to limit budget growth, NOW!