[0:04] uh to order and if I can get a motion to
approve the order of the agenda. So
[0:11] moved by Mr. Tisdale. Do I have a
second?
[0:15] Second. I got to get used to all these
names now. Second by Mr. Curly.
[0:20] Mr. Tisdale.
Uh nothing. I just say we call for the
[0:25] question. All right. If there's no other
discussion, we'll go ahead and call for
[0:28] the question. Call for it. Those
opposed.
[0:33] Motion carries.
[0:44] All
[0:58] right. Presentation agenda.
[1:03] Should we start? Yeah. No report.
Welcome to the new council members and
[1:07] this is I'll start every meeting but
this meeting no report. All right. uh
[1:12] generally would go into council report
but uh I would suggest that we hold our
[1:17] council reports uh you know till the
following meeting but we'll go ahead and
[1:22] call for council reports
[1:29] no report
[1:32] no report
okay great
[1:38] all right and our topic is budget. We'll
go into the revenue part of it.
[1:46] [Music]
Good public agenda.
[1:51] All right. Uh we do have uh at this
special meeting, we also have uh our our
[1:58] public comments. Uh if there's anyone
that would like to be recognized, raise
[2:02] your hand.
[2:06] All right. No one wants to be recognized
as part of the agenda is closed.
[2:15] All right.
Policy agenda.
[2:21] Clerk would read the policy agenda.
Subject matters to discuss the fiscal
[2:27] year 2526 municipal budget. All right.
I'll entertain the floor. Anybody want
[2:33] wants to make comments?
Well, I think you have the spreadsheet.
[2:39] I know it's kind of small to to read,
but I think you have it on your screen,
[2:43] too. Uh for Diana will for our new
council members to come is is the the
[2:49] guru when it comes to categories and and
uh uh projections which you have is is
[2:55] what we're looking at for 26. That's the
right hand column. I think that was
[3:00] project based on
last year's and the performance of this
[3:04] year. what we project at the end of uh
September and u also what we think uh in
[3:12] in in a few is pretty flat and uh we're
going to have you know we'll go over any
[3:17] questions that uh that you would have
but about 75 million is what the bottom
[3:24] line is
and there have been some increases in
[3:27] some categories and some things that uh
u
[3:32] you know we did I think one big hit item
was is the diversion. We estimated that
[3:37] you know the uh the insurance uh revenue
didn't didn't pan out because of a lot
[3:43] of things. So that was a pretty
significant uh
[3:48] decrease in at least the budget of of
the uh revenue and uh we're open to
[3:54] question Dian probably be the one who
deliver answers to anything you might
[3:59] see on that spreadsheet.
It's it's we started this spreadsheet is
[4:05] from the high hitters to the ones that
generate the most revenue of course the
[4:09] gaming you see 23 million and that was a
record year that we we budgeted in the
[4:15] past and we're probably going to be at
that same uh guess as far as that
[4:21] category of revenue then taxes and then
some of the sales tax and use taxes but
[4:26] they get up at the top part of your
spreadsheet. All right. Uh I'm going to
[4:31] start with uh Mr. Tisdale. You want to
open some remarks, Mr. I do. I have some
[4:37] uh some preliminary comments if you
would.
[4:41] Um I I I would hope that we would use a
consistent revenue format
[4:47] um that we've used in past years. I'll
explain that a little more. I mean for
[4:54] example this list of revenues from
greatest contributors or the least
[4:58] contributors
that doesn't help me much. Okay I think
[5:04] sheare
be bear with me bear with me. Um so I'd
[5:09] like a slightly different format and
I'll I'll make the copy available
[5:14] uh of which we've done in past years. I
think it would be a detailed revenue
[5:19] report similar to what we get in the
monthly financial reports.
[5:24] Um that's the first thing. Also the the
next thing is any handouts or documents
[5:30] we're going to receive at budget
workshops that we would receive them by
[5:34] Friday at noon so we have time to look
over them, check on some things, several
[5:39] days to check on some things and enjoy
our weekend. Uh but that didn't always
[5:44] happen in past years.
Um, I would like for those documents
[5:50] that we receive to be mailed to us in a
PDF format. Typically, they are, but
[5:56] also if they're spreadsheet or a word, I
would love that document in an Excel
[6:02] format or a word format as well, not
just a PDF. And that hard copies, well,
[6:07] the clerks could prepare hard copies for
us. Um during workshops I would like for
[6:14] the documents that are being discussed
be displayed on the screen up there. The
[6:18] panel up there the digital panel folks
can follow at home and folks out here in
[6:23] the audience can follow as well. I I'll
give give you a copy of all these Mr. P.
[6:28] Um
the documents like the combined fund
[6:32] statement should be enlarged so that the
numbers can be read comfortably.
[6:38] uh you put them on an 11 and a I think
it'll what it's 11 by 17 and it's still
[6:44] it's just difficult to read it. We got
to spread it over two or four of those
[6:47] sheets. That's fine. Uh just so we can
read them. Um
[6:54] and for the the public budget hearing,
we're a ways from that yet, but I would
[6:58] like for these documents to be available
for comment. The statement of revenue is
[7:03] all funds which we typically do. I think
the combined fund statement which we
[7:07] typically do a summary of department
budgets which we typically do uh non-EP
[7:14] departmental appropriations sometimes
it's referred to as discretionary
[7:18] spending which we typically do and a
list of the capital projects
[7:23] uh that show the funding sources and the
amount for each project. And I would
[7:28] suggest we include the CDBG
projects and just on a single line,
[7:33] maybe the FEMA infrastructure project. I
know a lot of that is done, but there's
[7:38] there's still a balance there.
Um,
[7:43] and a question dealing with non-EP
departmental requests.
[7:48] So, if we're going to we're we're going
to discuss that at some point on the
[7:52] calendar that we received I think in
June. And I'm thinking h how do the
[7:58] folks who might want to request
something or the folks who typically
[8:01] request something how do they know that
it's time to make a request? Does your
[8:07] does your office do that? Okay.
You know again as we go through
[8:13] departmental
departmental
[8:17] usually the last
capital request within department detail
[8:23] things that might be abused to say in
this department I need $2 million in
[8:28] capitaliz
[8:36] usually do two or three departments in a
session Right. Great. And I I I noticed
[8:44] looking at the topics on the calendar
that capital projects was not in there
[8:49] anywhere. I don't know.
Could be with engineering for that
[8:54] matter when we the capital projects that
we that you might be looking to create
[8:59] in fiscal year 26. I'd like to know if
we have capital projects that are going
[9:04] to be launched in fiscal year 26.
like to know what they are and where
[9:09] where the funding sources are, the cost
broken out, things like that. Um,
[9:16] also this uh just in looking first time
we've seen on the handout that you gave
[9:23] us on the big sheet. Thank you very
much. We have uh for fiscal year 26
[9:28] we're looking at a total general fund
figure of 75,350,000.
[9:34] And then there's um
transfers of 10 million almost $10.5
[9:42] million.
What? Yeah, Diane, if you would explain,
[9:46] and I've never fully understood
transfers, so go slowly for me. There is
[9:51] ARPA money and infrastructure money in
the general fund that is funding capital
[9:55] projects and that is part of the total
value. There's more than just that in
[10:00] there, but that is the majority of it.
So if those projects all finished within
[10:05] 26, that would be the amount needed. We
carry it all because we don't know how
[10:10] quick the work is going to go and when
it's going to be used. So we recognize
[10:15] every bit of it. Okay.
Next question is so basically I
[10:20] understand the transfers for the most
part are going to ARPA projects and
[10:25] infrastructure infrastructure projects.
Might that be FEMA related?
[10:30] No, it it's yeah the infrastructure
money is a little different. It it's
[10:35] could be used for pops fairy. It could
be used for patch and replace.
[10:40] It could it can be assigned to various
items.
[10:44] Okay. Thank you.
But the general fund also funds other
[10:49] projects like the baseball maintenance
fund. Correct. And and that's all in
[10:53] that number as well. Okay. Do we do we
have a projected carryover or ending
[10:58] balance of the general fund at this
point in time for from fiscal year 25 to
[11:04] 26?
Okay. Uh and the revenue figure
[11:10] um total general fund would be 75
million. That's is that number going to
[11:16] change in the future or is this the
market we want to use to set our our
[11:21] revenue? It could possibly be tweaked a
little bit, but it's pretty close to
[11:25] where it's going to be. Okay. And and
that 75 million again includes
[11:31] almost 10.5 million for AR and
infrastructure issues. Um
[11:37] Okay. The proceeds of note for 2
million. Explain that. We ordered a fire
[11:42] truck this year that takes three years
to build and when it comes in the note
[11:47] will offset it because the expenses on
the other side we carry the revenue on
[11:51] this side. Okay. Fire truck. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Um that's all I
[11:57] have at this time. Uh Mr. President,
thank you. All right. Uh the chair uh
[12:03] will recognize anyone else that would
like to make comments. We realize that
[12:07] we have four new members. This is a a
new process, but uh any questions, any
[12:13] comments, if you got something, throw it
out there. Okay, that's the only way
[12:17] we're going to learn. Let me say we just
pass this is that's
[12:22] not data in in categories,
which is the same numbers. This is by
[12:29] Thank you. Thank you. And and yeah, this
is great. I'd like something a little
[12:34] more detailed. Again, I'll get you a
copy of what I'm talking about. Let's
[12:37] see what Thank you.
All right. Anybody have any questions on
[12:42] revenues as you look down this list?
[12:47] And this does not any council members.
Yeah, this this does not pertain to
[12:53] proprietary funds, ports and and water
and sewer. This is just general fun.
[12:58] Thank I I do have uh some questions if
my colleagues are still reviewing this
[13:03] at this time. Uh as it uh relates to the
sales tax rebate. That's our portion
[13:11] that we get from sales taxes from the
state. Is that what that is? Sales tax
[13:16] rebate. So they're they're changing
they're changing our sales tax
[13:20] structure. Correct. Yes. On what we get.
So of whatever the sales tax charge we
[13:26] now get
whatever they're charging whether they
[13:29] charge for sales tax 6% or or whatever
7% 7% but 5% on groceries but we were
[13:36] told we will be made whole for that
difference in that right so the
[13:41] groceries are are not I think all SNAP
related items that are sold at grocery
[13:45] stores will have a 5% charge and then
you know the the
[13:53] 1.29 will be made whole which is not
percentage of that 7%. So we still
[14:02] Yeah. So here's my question. Uh when
this was when it was originally being
[14:08] proposed to revamp our sales tax and
they said all things being equal,
[14:14] our our actual uh take would be more.
In other words, our share would be even
[14:22] more. All things being equal the way
they were restructuring it. And I know
[14:25] we got it flat in this budget. Um,
should we consider that or do we need to
[14:31] look at a model? Because I thought it
was going to be an increase. But they're
[14:34] going to be collecting less and when
they collect less, we're getting a
[14:38] higher percentage because it equals out.
I did the math and it comes out the same
[14:41] numbers. Okay. Looked at a prior year
and then I converted it to the new
[14:46] formula and it was exactly the same. And
and that's mainly because of the
[14:51] reduction in the grocery tax. It's
reduction. Yeah. The overall tax from 7%
[14:56] to 5%. Okay. So then they raised our
share so that we got in essentially the
[15:02] same amount. One one model I saw early
actually saw that we would show a little
[15:07] bit of an increase. So but I'm trusting
you on that and I appreciate the
[15:12] explanation. Um let's see
going down to the diversion fees. Can
[15:19] you kind of bring me up to speed because
that's a big swing. So why is that a big
[15:23] swing? We enter in into the year with
Secure X. We had some uh some experience
[15:29] for a few months in the prior year and
we projected 600,000 over the year and
[15:35] we you know we wind up with 6,000
because of some lawsuits and some things
[15:39] that we suspended that that's uh that
component. So that's not in the budget.
[15:45] Okay. We have received no money all year
except for one month. No worries. And
[15:50] then uh this is a minimal amount and I
still want to question it because it may
[15:54] relate uh to another part of the budget
when we get to it later on. Um when we
[16:00] get deep into the process rent on the
old uh Lexi Library second floor, we're
[16:05] just not renting that anymore. It is not
rented at the moment. I believe it needs
[16:09] renovations to be rented. Okay. So
that's why we struck that out of the the
[16:15] equation. Thank you. Thank you for that.
um county bond or county road tax
[16:21] sharing that's changed
125,000
[16:27] in I think it was fiscal year 24 let me
see we had a huge increase one year I
[16:34] think it was 24 so we planned for 25 to
be similar to 24 because we get no
[16:40] support for backup on this and 25 is not
following 24's format so we've taken 26
[16:47] 26 similar to 25 which is similar to 23
in years prior.
[16:52] Okay,
makes sense. Recoveries
[16:56] big swing in there.
Recoveries had some extra money in it
[17:03] for fees that we were going to charge to
third parties that did stuff within the
[17:08] city and that has not come to fruition.
So, I did not include that in 26 budget.
[17:15] Uh and then there was some interest in
uh investments.
[17:22] I thought investments I thought we did
all high today. Well, stock market
[17:26] interest changes and has gone down a
little bit over time. So, I was planning
[17:30] for it to continue next year. I mean, I
magic eightball doesn't always work
[17:34] right. Um but we also are going to have
some decrease in cash if the funds go
[17:40] out for the Popsberry. It's not working
as hard. So I'm Yeah. And I'm planning
[17:46] for less cash, so less interest.
[17:52] All good. All very logical explanations.
Appreciate it. Um that's all I have at
[17:58] this point, Mr. Ker.
Does this include grants? Yes, it does.
[18:05] Tyl
grants from the capital projects fund.
[18:09] This is only the general fund. Thank
you.
[18:13] If you if you look at your schedule,
everything that shows in the white tile
[18:16] that looks like 20 number, those are
grants. GR signal about midway you
[18:21] through CGR one such as a grand revenue.
Let me explain something to you Jamie.
[18:27] We have multiple funds, but you can only
have one general fund, and that's what
[18:32] this is. The general fund is our primary
fund where the majority of the city
[18:36] operates out of. It is a governmental
fund. And um it it is our main fund.
[18:44] Every single thing from employees for
cleaning and admin it's all in here.
[18:51] Then we have two proprietary funds which
is the port and water and sewer. Those
[18:56] both act like an actual business. They
are considered enterprise funds and go
[19:01] on full acral basis. And then we also
have other funds that are like special
[19:07] project funds or special revenue funds.
Um, when the police department gets
[19:12] seized money, that goes into a special
revenue fund and it stays separate. The
[19:17] fire department gets fire rebate money,
it goes into a separate fund and things
[19:21] flow in and out of that fund and it may
fund the general fund, but it's reported
[19:25] in a separate fund. They have to get
permission to use it or they have
[19:29] guidelines to follow.
And then there's a capital projects fund
[19:33] where we do all the major things like
the copsberry road extension or
[19:37] tidelands money restore mea those are
all in a separate fund and then we have
[19:43] some agency funds and some internal
funds our insurance or self-insured
[19:49] those are in self um internal funds and
those funds will actually build back the
[19:54] general fund and the proprietary funds
for their cost and their portion of the
[19:59] daily bills.
[20:03] Okay. Um on gaming tax and you know it's
relative you know I believe to how the
[20:10] hotels are performing. Uh year to date
hotels are slightly up. They're slightly
[20:16] up and and I know we're trying to be
conservative here to for forecast
[20:21] something relatively flat. Um, and if
I'm reading this correct correct year to
[20:27] date or fiscal year collected 66%,
right? And we're into how many months of
[20:35] the fiscal year? This was except period
8. So we're through 9 months. So we got
[20:40] three more months to go, right? All
right. So we we're we're kind of on
[20:44] track if you all things considered
equal. However, the the next three
[20:49] months are our biggest banner months as
far as tourism, gaming, you know, etc.
[20:55] So, I'm just wondering that that could
be a slightly conservative a little bit
[20:59] more conservative figure. And I ask this
question every year. I'm always wanting
[21:03] to push the envelope, push it a little
bit higher, make sure we get that and
[21:08] and we don't want to be irresponsible
and push it too high. And we got to come
[21:11] back and do budget amendments when when
we fall short. But when I did the
[21:16] budget, I looked at where we were year
two and we're at4% increase for the
[21:21] prior year for the first 9 months and
then I forecasted what I thought the
[21:26] next 3 months were going to be to arrive
at the figure and it pretty much comes
[21:29] with the 23 million give or take a few
dollars. So I just picked 23 million.
[21:34] Okay. But but we've collected 66% right
of of what we projected. Is that what it
[21:41] is? Well, it might be a little more now
from when this was done cuz I I can't
[21:45] keep updating where we were and then use
it to May and then I forecast what I
[21:51] think June, July, August, and September
are going to be. Okay. Which are our
[21:55] banner months and that's that's what I'm
just saying. I mean, those are that's
[21:59] our 100 days when we make the majority
of our money in the tourism industry.
[22:03] I'm just wondering if that may be a
little conservative.
[22:07] I'll look at it again. Okay.
No disrespect, but you know, I certainly
[22:12] appreciate the they do. I think the
number of weekends impact those three or
[22:16] four months too, you know, as far as
GR
[22:22] anyway. No, sure been very last year 23
million was a record and and I think as
[22:28] far as GR we were at a million 90 a
billion 91 million and I think this last
[22:34] year was a billion 69 million. So we're
right at where we were recordwise
[22:40] across all 8%.
[22:44] I I would just ask consideration to take
a look at it being that this next 100
[22:48] days is our biggest revenue producing
months. Just take another look at it if
[22:52] you will. I know you I know you got
professional care that's beyond
[22:57] reproach. I'm just asking from from a
tourism lens if you take a look at it.
[23:02] Okay, that's all I have gentlemen. Any
any other comments? Just
[23:08] M just M just M just M just M just M
just M just M just M just M just
[23:09] question I don't know if you guys know
but any word on last year's audit when
[23:13] we may receive that? Yes, it'll be
presented at next week's budget meeting.
[23:18] Okay, great. It's done and we'll file
the reports that we're in compliance for
[23:22] George Martin.
[23:26] We don't have a council meeting next
week, but we will have a budget workshop
[23:30] next week. presented at the budget
workshop and what I'm assuming that'll
[23:33] be at 1:30.
Does that work for everybody? Okay,
[23:38] thank you. Just want to be clear on it.
Thank you. All right. Uh generally this
[23:43] process will will certainly change. This
is a a starting point on the revenues.
[23:48] Um it certainly can go up or down a
little bit. It's pretty fluid. Uh but
[23:52] this is the beginning of getting into
the nuts and bolts of of our budget for
[23:56] this year. If there's no other comments.
If there's no
[24:04] Yes. I need a motion.
So move. Do I have a second?
[24:10] Second by Mr. Shoemaker. 1:30. Next
week? Y'all got the date? Okay.
[24:17] Everybody good with that? On what's
that?
[24:21] July. Tuesday, July 8th. Tuesday, July
8th. Call for the question. All in
[24:27] favor?
Those opposed? Motion carries.
[24:33] Any other comments? Entertain a motion
to adjourn. So move.
[24:39] I need a second. All right. Seconded by
Mr. Gray. Any other discussion? All in
[24:45] favor? Those opposed? Special meeting is
closed.
[24:51] [Music]
Oh,
[25:01] [Music]
[25:16] welcome.