By Matt Goodman
Killeen Daily Herald

NOLANVILLE – After the town's struggle with broken finances developed into a learning experience, city officials seemed grateful for how close their seats were to the drama that unfolded. Confusion and misunderstandings slowly began to settle like dust, and the city council finally understood what Nolanville was missing – an experienced city manager.

"I'm doing as best I can with learning what I need to learn," Mayor Emma McCullough said. "But this is not what a mayor is supposed to be doing; a city administrator is supposed to be doing this."

Over the last two months, Nolanville city officials quickly scrambled to overcome irresponsible spending and a budget that was labeled "over-inflated" and "unrealistic" by city officials long after it was approved last summer.

In response, officials sliced city services, fired or furloughed city workers – including a number of police officers – and threatened to sever its contract with the fire department. Much of this, officials said, could have been avoided had a city manager been on the payroll.

"They just need some leadership and good fiscal management," said Interim City Manager Jeff Looney, who was hired for three months to help ease the pain of budget season. "You have to make the tough decisions and follow the recommendations I made for them. They did follow, so they should be able to make it by the end of the year."

Budget guidance

In a budget workshop Friday, it became clear just how important a city manager is to maintaining structure and financial credibility. Looney presented a tentative budget for the city at the workshop that knocked about $360,000 off the city's expected revenues. This, Looney said, is a more realistic number that will guide the council's decisions when it comes to spending and the city's expected cash flow.

"I didn't think we had the knowledge at the last budget meeting to work the budget, and it turns out I was right," Councilman Wayne Hamilton said, referring to a workshop last Tuesday in which Looney was not present. "(Looney) was finding $50,000 more here and $20,000 more there, while we went through and thought that we were bringing it down."

The council also failed to hold quarterly budget reviews, Hamilton said, something that could have predicted the coming storm.

"We need to review because that gives us guidance," he said. "That's just simple bookkeeping."

Confusion and missed opportunities

But the budget wasn't the city's only tripping point. Nolanville was marred by a number of misunderstandings. The first involved the widening of 10th Street. City officials believed that the initial $1.7 million bid included engineering fees, which it did not. Then, the city shuffled to add sidewalks to the project, as Richard E. Cavazos Elementary School sits at the end of the block. Killeen Independent School District helped front part of the almost $80,000 bill for that, but not all of it.

The council also failed to realize that it needed to apply to the state to get an extra quarter cent from sales tax revenue from businesses within its city limits. This could have meant more money for the city, giving Nolanville a little more room as it tightened its belt this summer.

Also, because Nolanville has no city manager, the council was stuck with turning to its city attorney for advice with municipal matters. A number of high-cost legal entanglements piled up this year after it was forced to renegotiate police and fire department contracts, settle a sexually oriented business ordinance pertaining to the gentleman's club Babes of Nolanville and respond to a possible suit from Harker Heights disputing Nolanville's population count.

Combined with the legal advice, Nolanville had exceeded its annual budgeted amount for legal matters by nearly $60,000 once August hit.

"It wasn't just Babes," Councilman Ken Miller said. "It was the fire department; it was police chief's contract; there was a lot of things that had run up big bills for no good reason."

Paying for expertise

After the city's financial meltdown, the council is adamant on hiring a city manager. Going by the tentative, minimal budget that Looney presented last week, Nolanville will set aside $58,535 for a city manager's salary and benefits in the next fiscal year.

McCullough also said she cut off city spending except on things that are necessary to maintaining Nolanville's infrastructure.

But the most powerful impact this budget crisis has a made on the council is its understanding that much of the city's issues are now beyond its control. They say hiring a city manager is the only way Nolanville will stabilize and offer its citizens the same services it once did.

"We've had people with good intentions, people who volunteer, people who work hard, but they don't have the on-the-ground training," Hamilton said. "I just do the best I can do and treat it as if it were my money and make it come out in the end. … I certainly think we need to budget for a city manager."

Contact Matt Goodman at mgoodman@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7550.

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