1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,460 Good evening. We're going to call to order this special city council meeting. This is our final public budget hearing at this time. 2 00:00:13,540 --> 00:00:17,520 If you're able, please rise for the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance led by the vice mayor. 3 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:32,340 Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you right now with hearts that are mourning the loss of patriots and local heroes and local children in our community. 4 00:00:32,340 --> 00:00:37,220 Lord just please be close to us you say in Psalms you stay close to the broken 5 00:00:37,220 --> 00:00:40,560 hearted Lord just please be with us right now and specifically be for this 6 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:45,460 meeting Lord just please help us honor you and everything we do please help us 7 00:00:45,460 --> 00:00:49,820 to come together cordially and come with the best decision that honors you 8 00:00:49,820 --> 00:00:53,420 and looks out for the city in its best interest or please be with those 9 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:58,560 overseas keeping us safe please be with our first responders Lord and just be 10 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:02,560 with everyone who works to keep this whole ship a sail and just thank you for 11 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,480 the volunteers you put in our lives in this community to help keep things afloat 12 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,640 Lord and have your grace and your son Jesus die on the cross for our sins or 13 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:15,580 we're so grateful for that thank you for that eternal hope and that and comfort 14 00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:17,480 in that and Jesus name I pray amen 15 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,560 with liberty and justice for all. 16 00:01:40,840 --> 00:01:42,940 At this time, we'll move into item C, 17 00:01:43,300 --> 00:01:45,260 Approval and Modifications of the agenda. 18 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:46,220 Do I have a motion? 19 00:01:47,020 --> 00:01:48,260 Move to approve the agenda. 20 00:01:48,540 --> 00:01:49,180 I have a motion. 21 00:01:49,340 --> 00:01:49,980 Do I have a second? 22 00:01:50,180 --> 00:01:50,500 Second. 23 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:51,940 I have a motion and a second. 24 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:52,920 Any further discussion? 25 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,640 Hearing none, all in favor say aye. 26 00:01:55,780 --> 00:01:56,100 Aye. 27 00:01:56,500 --> 00:01:57,060 Any opposed? 28 00:01:57,360 --> 00:01:59,800 Hearing none, the agenda is approved five to zero. 29 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:02,440 At this time, we'll move into item D, 30 00:02:02,500 --> 00:02:06,300 which is the public hearing of the fiscal year 2026 budget, 31 00:02:06,300 --> 00:02:13,460 The first item being the presentation of the budget for fiscal year 2026 starting October 1, the public announcement 32 00:02:13,460 --> 00:02:16,300 Advalorum tax rate term notice Madam clerk 33 00:02:16,300 --> 00:02:19,240 The proposed Advalorum rate for the fiscal year 34 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,360 2026 was advertised to be a maximum of 6.500 mils 35 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:31,560 This millage rate would be a 13.23 increase over the current year's rollback rate of 5.7407 mils 36 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:37,300 After reviewing revenue projections and proposed expenditure levels for the 2026 fiscal year, 37 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:45,380 the general fund budget is balanced at a tentative rate of 6.500 mils, which is 13.23 percent 38 00:02:45,380 --> 00:02:47,100 more than the current year's rollback rate. 39 00:02:47,820 --> 00:02:53,200 This millage rate would be a 13.23 percent increase over the current year's rollback 40 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,900 rate of 5.7407. 41 00:02:55,900 --> 00:02:59,640 and this means a 6.500 mills is being levied 42 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:01,920 to fund the fiscal year 2026 budget. 43 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:05,300 Because the 2026 fiscal year budget has been balanced 44 00:03:05,300 --> 00:03:09,060 utilizing the Advalorim tax millage of 6.500, 45 00:03:09,700 --> 00:03:14,700 there is an increase in Advalorim tax revenue of 13.23%. 46 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:19,780 Thank you, Madam Clerk. 47 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:22,060 We will now move into item two, 48 00:03:22,500 --> 00:03:25,820 consideration of the fiscal year 2026 budget 49 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:28,940 to review the budget in points of discussion. 50 00:03:29,860 --> 00:03:30,840 Madam City Manager. 51 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:31,960 Thank you, Mayor. 52 00:03:32,300 --> 00:03:36,060 The City Manager's Budget Memo of September 3rd remains the same. 53 00:03:36,620 --> 00:03:38,100 The budget before you is balanced, 54 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:40,760 utilizing a tentative millage of 6.5. 55 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:45,820 This 6.5 millage allows for an estimated reserves of 2.6 million 56 00:03:45,820 --> 00:03:50,480 and roughly 480,000 allocated to a CIP 57 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:53,800 while a 6.2 millage would allow for 58 00:03:53,800 --> 00:04:01,140 estimated $2.4 million in reserves and roughly $290,000 towards CIP. To achieve this, we 59 00:04:01,140 --> 00:04:07,700 implemented $1.5 million in budget cuts across all departments, increased the tentative 60 00:04:07,700 --> 00:04:15,380 millage from $5.9 to $6.5, approved fire assessment estimated at $2.2 million, reduced the Sheriff's 61 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:23,300 Office contract for fiscal year 2526 by an estimated $299,000 as well as other operational 62 00:04:23,300 --> 00:04:29,020 cost control measures. In addition, our finance director is here with us tonight if she has 63 00:04:29,020 --> 00:04:30,120 any additional input. 64 00:04:35,500 --> 00:04:42,720 Any discussions or questions from council regarding 65 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:48,440 the fiscal year 26 budget? I have a question made. Well, it's not really 66 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:55,100 a question. Okay, so this budget was based on 6.5 and last meeting we all unanimously 67 00:04:55,100 --> 00:05:02,220 obviously agreed to a tentative 6.5, so this evening we're going to cast the vote on whether 68 00:05:02,220 --> 00:05:09,720 or not we want to keep it 6.5. So do we have a budget based on a 6.2 in 69 00:05:12,860 --> 00:05:13,540 the event that, 70 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:19,120 you know, because I did make a motion, but then I amended it for the tentative 6.5? 71 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:29,920 are you I mean I think I come out autumn answer that before I give I guess I mean 72 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,500 my quick answer would be yes it would just be the difference in what right the 73 00:05:33,500 --> 00:05:39,800 IP dollars right would be correct is right it's my understanding so so the 74 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,800 balances just want to confirm the budget is balanced even at 6.2 it's just the 75 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,120 CIP is going to be less, correct? 76 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:52,260 Correct, and the reserves, yes, will be less. 77 00:05:52,580 --> 00:05:55,500 But we also have a big decision to make this evening as well. 78 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:56,640 Correct. 79 00:05:58,740 --> 00:06:01,160 What, when it comes to the budget, 80 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:05,240 I would actually like to make one change. 81 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,860 I would like to cut some more funding for some things. 82 00:06:11,860 --> 00:06:14,420 So I'm going to make it quick. 83 00:06:15,900 --> 00:06:23,260 In every wine item of the budget, there, and before I say this, this is, well, I'll just, 84 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:30,280 I'll just say what I have to say and then if anyone has questions, we can, we can get to that. 85 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:36,840 So in every subject category of our budget, there are wines for travel and per diem, 86 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:45,080 books, publications, and training and education. 87 00:06:47,260 --> 00:06:50,500 I believe training and education of our staff 88 00:06:50,500 --> 00:06:57,160 is important. I believe that we need certain books, publications, materials to run the 89 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:04,940 city. It is necessary for staff to travel and have per diems. However, when I examine 90 00:07:04,940 --> 00:07:11,800 in the budget compared to where we were in the past three years, a lot of those line 91 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:18,540 items have increased in our budget, but the actual expenditures, when I'm looking at what 92 00:07:18,540 --> 00:07:27,200 staff is actually spending year after year, never even touches close to what we are budgeting 93 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:27,660 for. 94 00:07:27,800 --> 00:07:34,180 Therefore, I say that in terms of I don't think we need to budget what we're budgeting 95 00:07:34,180 --> 00:07:41,000 for, if you add up all three of those items over the course of our budget, it's $128,000, 96 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:49,120 $128,000 and $438,000, so it's roughly $130,000. 97 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:57,200 So I would like to get a better handle on what departments need, what we need to send 98 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:59,540 staff to, what we don't need to send staff to. 99 00:07:59,540 --> 00:08:08,340 And so I would like to move that Travel Per Diem books, publications, and training in education 100 00:08:08,340 --> 00:08:16,240 actually all get moved under the tab in our budget that is general government. 101 00:08:16,580 --> 00:08:20,300 At the very beginning of our budget, I believe it's tab nine. 102 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,980 In this book you have, there's a general government tab. 103 00:08:24,420 --> 00:08:27,160 Under that tab, we could list these three items. 104 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:30,380 And some of them are actually already listed there anyways. 105 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,120 And we could set an exact amount for each of these three. 106 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:41,080 And then let the city manager work with our department heads over this next fiscal year. 107 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:46,420 There would be an approval process with the city manager for staff needing to access 108 00:08:46,420 --> 00:08:50,260 these funds for certain things in these line items. 109 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,760 And I think that would give us a better overall picture moving forward of what we 110 00:08:55,760 --> 00:09:02,900 need to be spending money on in these things. I know this might seem trivial or not important, 111 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:10,140 but I would argue that every dollar in municipality spends is important because it's a taxpayer 112 00:09:10,140 --> 00:09:16,880 dollar, and I just feel that this is a way that I don't really believe we're taking 113 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:23,100 anything away from our staff. I believe we're just accurately shrinking these budgets 114 00:09:23,100 --> 00:09:26,400 it's to kind of what we're already spending anyway. 115 00:09:26,740 --> 00:09:33,720 So my proposal would be that if you look at travel per DM 116 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,380 right now, I would recommend we kind of cut all these 117 00:09:37,380 --> 00:09:39,720 in half and see where we're at. 118 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,960 We are gonna have a CIP, we're gonna have excess funds. 119 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,660 Should there be something we get halfway through the year 120 00:09:45,660 --> 00:09:48,140 and we need to allocate funding, 121 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:50,880 we likely will also have that flexibility. 122 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:55,840 So, like I said, I mean, to a degree, I do want to keep this short. 123 00:09:55,940 --> 00:09:58,200 I would recommend that we set travel per geom. 124 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:01,460 If you add up all those costs right now, it's roughly $21,000. 125 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,540 I'd recommend we set it at 10, training and education. 126 00:10:06,980 --> 00:10:09,080 And there's some important things in there right now. 127 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,280 Obviously, we have a big discussion tonight that affects two of these, 128 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,080 but we do have reimbursement in there for paramedic training 129 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:17,720 and certain fire training. 130 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:24,840 but we also have some dollars in there for CDL drivers which is essential to our public 131 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:30,360 works department and making sure that we can run as a city and folks can use our equipment 132 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:38,700 properly. So right now that training and education across the city is roughly $91,000. 133 00:10:38,900 --> 00:10:46,340 I would recommend we put it at $55,000. And then the last one is the books and 134 00:10:46,340 --> 00:10:54,440 publications, et cetera, right now. That's roughly at 15,000. I'd recommend we set that 135 00:10:54,440 --> 00:11:07,050 at 7,000. So if someone else can do some quick – I mean, it saves roughly about $50,000 136 00:11:07,590 --> 00:11:15,870 or so. And I think more importantly, continues to establish our budget in future years 137 00:11:15,870 --> 00:11:19,990 and make accountable what we're truly spending dollars on. 138 00:11:20,490 --> 00:11:22,810 So I've talked a lot. 139 00:11:23,270 --> 00:11:27,290 I know that was maybe a little bit hard to follow. 140 00:11:28,010 --> 00:11:29,310 Welcome your comments, feedback. 141 00:11:29,550 --> 00:11:34,370 If that's not something you all want to do at this time, that's fine as well. 142 00:11:34,410 --> 00:11:35,750 I'm not going to make a big fuss about it. 143 00:11:35,770 --> 00:11:40,910 It was just a way where I saw we could save some. 144 00:11:41,450 --> 00:11:41,510 Mayor. 145 00:11:42,970 --> 00:11:44,370 I'm going to concur with you. 146 00:11:44,570 --> 00:11:44,750 Okay. 147 00:11:44,750 --> 00:11:50,150 And thank you for doing that because it came to my attention, you know, about travel. 148 00:11:50,490 --> 00:11:52,630 And so I thought, you know what, we need to address that. 149 00:11:52,750 --> 00:11:54,550 So, yeah, I concur with you. 150 00:11:55,470 --> 00:11:59,730 Yeah, we have so much access to stuff at our fingertips nowadays with technology. 151 00:12:00,050 --> 00:12:02,190 These are definitely outdated systems. 152 00:12:02,370 --> 00:12:03,530 Like, yes, they're great for networking. 153 00:12:03,730 --> 00:12:06,490 If you're going to go take a job somewhere else or something like that. 154 00:12:06,610 --> 00:12:08,410 But there's plenty of information. 155 00:12:09,170 --> 00:12:12,890 And we can get people here to come speak to the, without sending them on the road. 156 00:12:12,890 --> 00:12:16,950 and just going around the country on the taxpayer's dollars. 157 00:12:17,310 --> 00:12:17,670 I agree. 158 00:12:22,770 --> 00:12:23,290 Great. 159 00:12:30,340 --> 00:12:36,260 Any further discussion or we will open it to public input? 160 00:12:36,940 --> 00:12:40,000 Are we ready for public input on the budget? 161 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:40,700 Okay, great. 162 00:12:40,900 --> 00:12:43,000 Item three on this agenda is public input. 163 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:45,620 The public's opportunity to speak or ask questions 164 00:12:45,620 --> 00:12:48,700 regarding the fiscal year 2026 Mollage Rate 165 00:12:48,700 --> 00:12:50,440 and our proposed budget. 166 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,060 At this time, we'll open it up to public input. 167 00:12:53,820 --> 00:12:55,060 Anyone wishing to speak? 168 00:12:55,060 --> 00:12:56,700 We'll just start right here on my right-hand side. 169 00:12:56,780 --> 00:12:57,100 Yes, sir. 170 00:13:12,950 --> 00:13:13,390 Hello. 171 00:13:13,670 --> 00:13:14,590 My name is Chris Kingsley. 172 00:13:15,250 --> 00:13:16,850 Our state is operating at a surplus, 173 00:13:17,150 --> 00:13:20,590 and yet you as leaders of a town of about 10,000 174 00:13:20,590 --> 00:13:22,150 want to bleed your constituents. 175 00:13:22,690 --> 00:13:25,950 Constituents who already are the most highly taxed people 176 00:13:25,950 --> 00:13:26,950 in Hernando County. 177 00:13:27,350 --> 00:13:29,790 If you live in the city, you pay the tax. 178 00:13:31,190 --> 00:13:33,210 The most highly taxed. 179 00:13:34,210 --> 00:13:35,890 Growth is supposed to pay for itself, 180 00:13:35,990 --> 00:13:38,530 and I believe most of us believe there is growing, 181 00:13:38,530 --> 00:13:40,950 even if it's just by default, it's growing. 182 00:13:41,350 --> 00:13:45,710 Yet the majority of you council people want to have current residents pay for the growth. 183 00:13:46,330 --> 00:13:47,190 That makes no sense. 184 00:13:47,470 --> 00:13:48,370 We have done our part. 185 00:13:48,470 --> 00:13:52,430 We've paid our taxes, supported efforts that have apparently failed by the council 186 00:13:52,430 --> 00:13:55,570 to provide some sort of fiscal responsibility as flight. 187 00:13:56,030 --> 00:13:56,990 13% increase. 188 00:13:57,290 --> 00:14:01,130 I mean, I don't ever remember getting a pay raise of 13% in my lifetime, 189 00:14:01,130 --> 00:14:03,150 whether when I was a union guy or not. 190 00:14:04,170 --> 00:14:06,670 And you want to try to spend your way out of the business. 191 00:14:06,670 --> 00:14:08,910 It's like the old saying, you're spending good money 192 00:14:08,910 --> 00:14:11,830 to chase bad money, bad spending, bad decisions. 193 00:14:12,210 --> 00:14:13,770 This growth that you seem to anticipate 194 00:14:13,770 --> 00:14:16,050 and want to taxes for should pay for itself. 195 00:14:16,170 --> 00:14:18,050 What about low income residents 196 00:14:18,050 --> 00:14:19,650 for these taxes you're proposing? 197 00:14:20,070 --> 00:14:21,230 They're gonna be hit the hardest 198 00:14:21,230 --> 00:14:23,150 and possibly with the worst consequences. 199 00:14:23,650 --> 00:14:26,130 You'll be making them decide between food, 200 00:14:26,550 --> 00:14:27,730 medicine, taxes. 201 00:14:28,570 --> 00:14:29,870 One of you is quoted as saying, 202 00:14:29,950 --> 00:14:32,310 I just believe that we need to keep the rate 203 00:14:32,310 --> 00:14:33,450 at 6.5 mils. 204 00:14:33,450 --> 00:14:35,850 Well, I believe it should be four or less. 205 00:14:35,850 --> 00:14:40,270 but that's not going to happen. I believe as a young blood song suggests everybody get 206 00:14:40,270 --> 00:14:43,970 together and try to love one another right now, I don't think that's going to happen 207 00:14:43,970 --> 00:14:49,830 either. A belief or a feeling in my heart is not the criteria you should be using to 208 00:14:49,830 --> 00:14:55,230 decide how much tax you want to charge us. TAP is about 6.2, Clearwater is about 5.9, 209 00:14:55,230 --> 00:14:59,990 and St. Pete is about 6.4, all less than 6.5, more to 210 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,800 You offer less growth and anticipated. Pinellas is built out. They offer everything a municipality 211 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:11,700 should offer, yet realize that you all, that property tax rates should decline, not be raised, 212 00:15:12,100 --> 00:15:18,500 when housing and taxable values are soaring like ours are. Also, you should consider consolidating 213 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:22,680 the fire department with the county fire department and save not just hundreds of thousands but 214 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,120 millions. I know this is premature. You have taken two million out of the general 215 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:31,300 budget. And as far as I know, I'm not sure. That used to be used for the Fire Department 216 00:15:31,300 --> 00:15:37,600 and transferred that particular cost to a fee. Did you reduce the general fund by 2 million? 217 00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:41,940 Not that I'm aware of. You just found a new way to spend it, plus raise our taxes. 218 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:46,720 So that means our actual millage rate is actually higher than what you're trying 219 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:52,640 to tell us. Again, this tax hits the elderly and low-income people the worst. ALS calls 220 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:56,680 back to the fire department or the predominant calls for service by fire departments. The 221 00:15:56,680 --> 00:16:02,340 county already provides that. It would provide personnel who if they were consolidated with 222 00:16:02,340 --> 00:16:07,060 greater opportunities for advancement and responsibility wise as well as financially. 223 00:16:07,340 --> 00:16:12,100 If I were a Brooksville firefighter I'd be sort of upset too that I have the same certifications, 224 00:16:12,260 --> 00:16:16,740 do the same work, get paid less and have less opportunity. I believe the attrition 225 00:16:16,740 --> 00:16:21,160 about 13 more seconds. I said that once before. We already pay for the county so 226 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:28,020 but why pay twice? Why pay more for less service? Personally, I want full service. It makes 227 00:16:28,020 --> 00:16:28,440 no sense. 228 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,380 If you can't think of a better way of paying the bills and providing better service than 229 00:16:32,380 --> 00:16:40,260 you currently are, i.e., you're raising the taxes by 13%, do something that's considered 230 00:16:40,260 --> 00:16:44,200 by the Florida statute and consider the rollback rate. It's required that you consider. 231 00:16:44,460 --> 00:16:48,740 It was mentioned early on, and I'm assuming, and I know what happens when you assume 232 00:16:48,740 --> 00:16:56,740 crap is that that was your first step is throwing looking at the rollback right and saying well 233 00:16:56,740 --> 00:17:02,880 this doesn't pay for the bills but I never heard that anybody did that before the effort 234 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,380 to bring it up to 6.5. Thank you for your time. 235 00:17:07,220 --> 00:17:09,200 Anyone else on this side wishing to speak? 236 00:17:11,470 --> 00:17:13,590 Seeing none, we'll move to this side. 237 00:17:13,790 --> 00:17:19,390 Anyone wishing to speak on the left hand side of the room? Yes, sir. 238 00:17:19,390 --> 00:17:20,290 Good 239 00:17:27,590 --> 00:17:34,550 evening, Bob Morgan. I am an unincorporated Hernando County, full disclosure, not a Brooksville resident. 240 00:17:35,050 --> 00:17:41,970 But it seems like I spend most of my weeks in town at different events or different businesses. 241 00:17:43,590 --> 00:17:48,910 I have a couple of comments just to throw out. One was during the last budget meeting, 242 00:17:49,150 --> 00:17:53,130 or maybe it was a prior one, there was discussion about sanitation department 243 00:17:53,130 --> 00:17:58,830 and potentially looking at a Hernando County option 244 00:17:58,830 --> 00:18:01,970 versus driving all the way out to Sumter County. 245 00:18:02,470 --> 00:18:05,230 And I was just curious how that discussion, 246 00:18:05,690 --> 00:18:07,770 if there was any final decision on that, 247 00:18:07,830 --> 00:18:10,950 because I think that was saving potentially $50,000 248 00:18:10,950 --> 00:18:12,190 if I remember right. 249 00:18:13,390 --> 00:18:18,650 Also, I would be supportive of defunding 250 00:18:18,650 --> 00:18:20,510 Brooksville Main Street. 251 00:18:20,510 --> 00:18:27,250 That's a mature organization that has survived off of county dollars. 252 00:18:27,530 --> 00:18:29,530 And I will have the same recommendation to the county. 253 00:18:30,250 --> 00:18:32,770 And it's also survived off city dollars. 254 00:18:33,110 --> 00:18:39,190 And as a mature organization, they should be able to work with local companies, 255 00:18:39,870 --> 00:18:43,590 local supporters to self-fund themselves in that respect. 256 00:18:45,150 --> 00:18:49,010 And I am a supporter of consolidation of the Bureau of Fire Department. 257 00:18:49,010 --> 00:18:56,450 and financially it makes good sense from a opportunistic perspective I think the 258 00:18:56,450 --> 00:19:01,790 firefighters while today it may look a little doom and gloom for them I think 259 00:19:01,790 --> 00:19:05,750 they will have enhanced opportunities career opportunities enhanced training 260 00:19:06,530 --> 00:19:10,450 specialties that they can take advantage of at that time when with the 261 00:19:10,450 --> 00:19:14,730 county they all are been guaranteed jobs if I understand the chief 262 00:19:14,730 --> 00:19:20,910 correctly from the county so hopefully if that is the direction that they all 263 00:19:20,910 --> 00:19:26,210 land on their feet. Thank you. Thank you. Yes ma'am. 264 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,640 My name is Lee Johnson. I'm a 265 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:38,940 city resident. I own three properties in Brooksville and a business in 266 00:19:38,940 --> 00:19:44,900 Brooksville, city of Brooksville. In regards to the millage rate you know I 267 00:19:44,900 --> 00:19:49,860 did a little research over the decades what our millage rate had been and you 268 00:19:49,860 --> 00:19:53,420 you know, back in 1979, our millage rate was over nine. 269 00:19:54,380 --> 00:19:57,100 Then it was in the 80s, in the eights. 270 00:19:58,120 --> 00:19:59,840 Politically, we did some rollbacks 271 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:04,480 when we got to like 2017, 2018 to like 5.9. 272 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:08,180 And we've been struggling since. 273 00:20:08,500 --> 00:20:11,920 Now we look at other cities like Inverness and Dade City 274 00:20:12,260 --> 00:20:14,840 and we say, wow, they've got so many things going on. 275 00:20:15,260 --> 00:20:18,740 Well, their millage rates are seven, eight and nine. 276 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:26,040 And we're fighting, you know, we've been at 5.9 for years now, which is absurdly low. 277 00:20:26,380 --> 00:20:29,120 And I'm not talking about something that doesn't impact me personally. 278 00:20:29,900 --> 00:20:31,360 It personally impacts me. 279 00:20:31,580 --> 00:20:36,740 But I also care about the city and the city doing well, and us being able to take care 280 00:20:36,740 --> 00:20:38,380 of things like potholes. 281 00:20:39,180 --> 00:20:44,060 In regard to that gentleman's comment about the fire department, you know, I live through 282 00:20:44,060 --> 00:20:48,820 the defunding and consolidation of the police department with the sheriff's department. 283 00:20:49,180 --> 00:20:54,040 And I'm not going to fault the sheriffs themselves because they're good fellows, but that has 284 00:20:54,040 --> 00:20:57,560 been an abysmal failure in my eyes. 285 00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:04,480 Our police department needed some work, and what we should have done was focused on doing 286 00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:08,860 the work that it needed and bringing it in line so that we could control our police 287 00:21:08,860 --> 00:21:09,320 department. 288 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:13,500 And back then, we had six to eight police officers patrolling at all times. 289 00:21:14,100 --> 00:21:19,440 Now I think we have two sheriffs, and they try and tell us to feel good about the fact 290 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:23,220 that sheriffs come in and out as they're going other places. 291 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,340 Yeah, they come in and they go out. 292 00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:26,360 They don't stop. 293 00:21:27,500 --> 00:21:29,140 They come in and they go out. 294 00:21:29,560 --> 00:21:32,480 And I'm not interested in doing the same thing with the fire department. 295 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:38,840 I think we need to learn how to fix our problems, stop, you know, pandering to 296 00:21:38,840 --> 00:21:44,560 the public with these absurdly low millage rates to get elected and then turn around 297 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:49,400 and then blame everybody else for the things that are going wrong in the city that we can't 298 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:49,600 fix. 299 00:21:50,060 --> 00:21:53,980 If we would just be realistic about what was going on, balance the budget. 300 00:21:54,260 --> 00:21:56,400 The budget is balanced at 6.5. 301 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:57,460 I'm all for it. 302 00:21:58,000 --> 00:21:58,900 Let's move ahead. 303 00:21:59,060 --> 00:22:03,220 We probably needed to be 7.5, but 6.5 is certainly a good start. 304 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,840 Let's fix our Brooksville Fire Department. 305 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:11,300 And as for that other gentleman who is in a city residence comment about Brooksville Main Street, 306 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:21,260 what I will say about Brooksville Main Street as a volunteer board member who spends many, many, many hours every month volunteering for Brooksville Main Street, 307 00:22:22,020 --> 00:22:27,000 the whole nature of Brooksville Main Street is not that it be independent. 308 00:22:27,260 --> 00:22:30,500 It is a private, public partnership. 309 00:22:30,500 --> 00:22:35,600 It is the city and the nonprofit working together. 310 00:22:36,440 --> 00:22:37,800 That is how it's structured. 311 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:43,820 It isn't a scenario of, oh, it's grown up now and it shouldn't need anything. 312 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,200 The whole idea of the program, the Main Street program nationally, 313 00:22:48,660 --> 00:22:53,260 is that it is a public-private partnership and it benefits the citizens. 314 00:22:53,820 --> 00:22:58,180 You know, maybe we should start talking about what goes away if Brooksville Main Street goes away. 315 00:22:58,180 --> 00:23:01,320 Maybe everybody should think about that for a second because I don't think they 316 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:05,100 realize what exactly Brooksville Main Street does. Thank you. 317 00:23:07,540 --> 00:23:08,660 Yes ma'am. 318 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:11,900 Donna 319 00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:17,020 Moran, city resident. About Brooksville Main Street, if I could get some 320 00:23:17,020 --> 00:23:20,480 clarification maybe from Lee if we can get an honest answer and all about this. 321 00:23:21,780 --> 00:23:27,560 Volunteers, I remember the past director stating that the Brooksville 322 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:35,580 Main Street gets funding of $25 an hour for every one of the volunteers when they have 323 00:23:35,580 --> 00:23:40,640 a function. I remember her clearly saying that. And they get their money from, they 324 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:45,820 turn it in, their volunteer list every month, and then they get reimbursed from Tallahassee. 325 00:23:46,100 --> 00:23:52,000 There was a lady that came here from Tallahassee, and she also said that they get $25 an hour 326 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:56,580 toward Brooksville Main Street, so maybe I can get some clarification, you know, 327 00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,180 because that is, you know, money coming in as well for them and how do they spend it. 328 00:24:01,420 --> 00:24:05,340 I'm just curious, it may not be happening anymore, but I just want some clarification, 329 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,300 that's all, because I, she came here, the lady from Tallahassee, and gave a 330 00:24:09,300 --> 00:24:14,780 wonderful presentation for Main Street programs. It was fantastic, and maybe 331 00:24:14,780 --> 00:24:18,780 they don't anymore, but if they do, I think people need to know. Thank you. 332 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:23,640 anyone else wishing to speak yes sir 333 00:24:34,070 --> 00:24:37,590 Richard Ross I am a resident of Brooksville 334 00:24:38,750 --> 00:24:45,710 two quick things one is people keep bringing up the police department that was 335 00:24:45,710 --> 00:24:52,730 disbanded emerged into the county I would suspect if you go back look at what the 336 00:24:52,730 --> 00:24:58,430 police department was costing I think it's 2018 when it was disband what it 337 00:24:58,430 --> 00:25:05,530 cost the city to have that police department and then just stretch those numbers into today's 338 00:25:05,530 --> 00:25:11,130 numbers our budget would probably be at a millage rate of around nine and a half to 339 00:25:11,130 --> 00:25:19,430 ten to pay for that and the fire department has just flat said that they need two more 340 00:25:19,430 --> 00:25:25,610 fire stations, more engines, more personnel to man those fire stations. 341 00:25:25,610 --> 00:25:32,030 So their $2 million budget ain't going to stay $2 million. 342 00:25:33,350 --> 00:25:35,610 It's going to grow and grow and grow. 343 00:25:35,770 --> 00:25:41,930 And right now the county has two new fire stations on their CIP, 344 00:25:43,010 --> 00:25:50,950 and they're $12 million each by the time you equip them and put people in them. 345 00:25:50,950 --> 00:25:58,750 So, you know, got to spend $31,000 right now to fix a truck that was allowed to fall into 346 00:25:58,750 --> 00:26:00,070 the ground, evidently. 347 00:26:00,810 --> 00:26:07,050 While we spend $31,000 in a chunk when there's a gazillion things wrong with it, why weren't 348 00:26:07,050 --> 00:26:09,390 things fixed when they went wrong to begin with? 349 00:26:09,710 --> 00:26:14,510 When there would have been $50 or $100 or $200 and now we got to send it to a fire 350 00:26:14,510 --> 00:26:19,750 truck specialist's place because not only is there mechanical problems, there's problems 351 00:26:19,750 --> 00:26:26,230 with the fire equipment. That makes sense. So, that's it. I'm not going to run close 352 00:26:26,230 --> 00:26:28,570 to the two minutes, but those are my comments. Thank you. 353 00:26:30,350 --> 00:26:34,410 Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Either side of the room? 354 00:26:36,270 --> 00:26:36,710 Okay. 355 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:47,920 Dr. Coney, Executive Director for Brooksville Main Street. I guess I'm going to respond 356 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:53,020 back if that's okay, about the $25. In the past, I can't answer for what I have. 357 00:26:53,020 --> 00:26:57,960 I do know that going through the books and the financials since I've been on board as executive director 358 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:05,180 We were never given $25 an hour per volunteer volunteers are volunteers. They are unpaid 359 00:27:05,180 --> 00:27:12,780 As you all know several of you participated in beautify Brooksville on this path or a lot weekend before and our volunteers 360 00:27:12,780 --> 00:27:18,760 They had over 60 volunteers. They were unpaid now. There are corporate programs 361 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:27,440 coals, Walmart, that they entice their volunteers, their staff to volunteer and they do donate 362 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:32,980 as the corporation, as Walmart Corporation on behalf of each hour of each volunteer. 363 00:27:33,580 --> 00:27:40,340 Now if there was a state program giving each employee or each volunteer $25 an hour, we 364 00:27:40,340 --> 00:27:41,300 did not receive that. 365 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,540 And I can tell you by going through the books from the last five years since Brooksville 366 00:27:45,540 --> 00:27:50,740 Main Street became an independent entity of the Brookville Vision Foundation, that is 367 00:27:50,740 --> 00:27:51,220 not true. 368 00:27:51,680 --> 00:27:58,360 And again, I just will reiterate that we are a public-private partnership and that is 369 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:02,980 part of our Main Street accreditation and our Florida Main Street accreditation. 370 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:04,600 So I do thank you. 371 00:28:07,510 --> 00:28:09,070 Anyone else wishing to speak? 372 00:28:12,100 --> 00:28:12,400 Okay. 373 00:28:12,980 --> 00:28:21,540 Seeing none, we will now move into item four, which is the consideration of Resolution 2523. 374 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:22,480 Madam Clerk. 375 00:28:25,380 --> 00:28:30,080 Resolution 2523, a resolution of the City Council and the City of Brooksville, Florida, setting a 376 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:37,100 millage rate for the budget for the fiscal year 26 taxing year pursuant to section 200.065, 377 00:28:37,220 --> 00:28:39,280 Florida statutes and providing an effective date. 378 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:46,180 Mayor, may I ask a question for clarification? 379 00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:46,860 Sure. 380 00:28:46,860 --> 00:28:51,740 We were speaking about the travel impredient and the three line items. 381 00:28:52,080 --> 00:28:54,440 You weren't including enterprise funds, were you? 382 00:28:56,980 --> 00:28:59,180 I do not believe so, no. 383 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,400 But if you have different numbers than I do, no. 384 00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,880 I was only looking at the general fund. 385 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:05,600 Yes, ma'am. 386 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:06,460 Just wanted to clarify. 387 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:06,920 Yeah. 388 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,120 And those would only relate to the general fund. 389 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,240 Enterprise obviously is separate. 390 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,380 It is separate, but I wanted to make sure when you added up your numbers you didn't add up all departments 391 00:29:17,380 --> 00:29:23,760 You only added up general. I only added a general fund. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Yes. Thank you for that clarification as well 392 00:29:25,980 --> 00:29:30,200 Okay counsel it is time for us to set our 393 00:29:31,460 --> 00:29:31,900 Militrate 394 00:29:34,620 --> 00:29:35,280 Can I 395 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:39,880 Can't read something first. Is that possible? Yeah, the four is 396 00:29:41,260 --> 00:29:42,160 Thank you. 397 00:29:45,580 --> 00:29:52,300 I put a lot of thought and energy into the numbers that we came up with for this 398 00:29:52,300 --> 00:29:59,260 millage rate. And honestly, after hearing Mr. Kingsley speak, 399 00:30:00,500 --> 00:30:09,140 You're right, 13.23%. But you've got to remember this. The city for the last four years has been 400 00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:14,320 underpaying. They have been taking out of their reserves. That number should have been higher. 401 00:30:14,780 --> 00:30:21,760 It never got bumped back up after I think it was the 2018-2019 year. So, therefore, 402 00:30:21,900 --> 00:30:27,620 the city's been running at not a deficit, but it's been pulling out of reserves to balance 403 00:30:27,620 --> 00:30:36,390 that budget. So what seems like an enormous jump is not. It's previous councils were not 404 00:30:36,390 --> 00:30:44,690 doing, I believe, their due diligence in balancing the budget year to year. If I came up with 405 00:30:44,690 --> 00:30:50,830 a number, I would wait till the next year and go, okay, well, that didn't work out 406 00:30:50,830 --> 00:30:55,530 real well for us. We had to take out of reserves. Let's bump it back up a little 407 00:30:55,530 --> 00:30:55,770 a little bit. 408 00:30:56,050 --> 00:30:59,310 Doesn't have to go all the way back, and let's see where that number rides out at. 409 00:30:59,710 --> 00:31:04,070 But it didn't happen, and it continued on to the point where we are at right now. 410 00:31:05,090 --> 00:31:08,450 And you're right, I don't know who it was, it was Lee. 411 00:31:10,330 --> 00:31:15,990 Other cities have been running at seven and a half or higher, and it was commented 412 00:31:15,990 --> 00:31:22,230 just last meeting that the reason they are is they have, they have done it properly 413 00:31:22,230 --> 00:31:24,070 over the years at a slow process. 414 00:31:24,070 --> 00:31:31,190 We have, and it sounds like I'm just a layman, my first term on this board, but I've dealt 415 00:31:31,190 --> 00:31:32,570 with numbers all my life. 416 00:31:33,250 --> 00:31:41,870 And I can tell you this, you're not going to, our reserve fund is at $2.5 million, which 417 00:31:41,870 --> 00:31:43,770 sounds like an enormous amount of money. 418 00:31:44,150 --> 00:31:45,850 It's not for a city. 419 00:31:46,430 --> 00:31:53,110 The city of Inverness has $30 million in their reserve fund. 420 00:31:53,110 --> 00:31:58,770 They didn't get it overnight, but they surely have been working on it year after year. 421 00:31:59,090 --> 00:32:03,370 And that is why their situation is a lot different than ours. 422 00:32:04,450 --> 00:32:15,670 And responding to the, again, the 13.23, if they had been charging the correct amount 423 00:32:15,670 --> 00:32:21,950 of money for the fire assessment fees for the last four years, which they hadn't been. 424 00:32:21,950 --> 00:32:26,390 They were at almost 50% of what they should have been charging. 425 00:32:27,390 --> 00:32:34,770 Take that money over four years and we wouldn't even be talking about our fire department 426 00:32:34,770 --> 00:32:35,350 right now. 427 00:32:35,890 --> 00:32:40,150 But that's in the past and there's nothing I can do to change it. 428 00:32:40,830 --> 00:32:46,210 But moving forward, I sat down today and I wrote this and I apologize. 429 00:32:46,210 --> 00:32:52,030 as I usually like to speak eye to eye, but I didn't want to leave anything out, so please 430 00:32:52,030 --> 00:32:58,150 forgive me for that. The City Council is committed to ensuring the long-term financial stability 431 00:32:58,150 --> 00:33:03,710 and sustainability of our community. After careful review of the city's financial position, 432 00:33:04,050 --> 00:33:11,250 we're proposing an adjustment to the millage rate from 5.9 to 6.5. This increase is necessary 433 00:33:11,250 --> 00:33:17,910 for two critical reasons. One, rebuilding our reserves. In recent years, the city has had to draw 434 00:33:17,910 --> 00:33:24,190 from its reserves multiple times in order to balance the budget. This was due in part to 435 00:33:24,190 --> 00:33:30,670 decisions by past councils that did not adequately prepare for long-term financial challenges, 436 00:33:31,170 --> 00:33:37,530 as well as a false sense of security created by the temporary COVID-19 relief funds. 437 00:33:37,530 --> 00:33:43,170 funds. And personally, I think that's where most of all of this started. While those funds 438 00:33:43,170 --> 00:33:48,950 provided short-term relief, they did not address the city's underlying financial needs to protect 439 00:33:48,950 --> 00:33:55,350 against future economic downturns or unexpected costs. It is essential that we restore our 440 00:33:55,350 --> 00:34:01,770 reserves to a healthy and responsible level. And number two, something this city does 441 00:34:01,770 --> 00:34:08,070 not have at this time, and when I got on this board I was appalled, we do not have a capital 442 00:34:08,070 --> 00:34:15,150 improvement fund. I have never in my life seen a city that did not have that. We have zero 443 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:21,390 in the bank for capital improvement funds. You cannot operate like that. 444 00:34:21,710 --> 00:34:27,950 It's because we had $800,000 a year from ARPA funds. That goes to my point. 445 00:34:27,950 --> 00:34:33,810 We did what we had to do at the time, we can correct it now, but don't act like we were 446 00:34:33,810 --> 00:34:35,050 just being frivolous. 447 00:34:35,130 --> 00:34:37,670 First off, Thomas, I'm speaking, okay? 448 00:34:38,390 --> 00:34:44,870 And second of all, I address that, that I do believe it was short-term relief funds 449 00:34:44,870 --> 00:34:45,790 right there, okay? 450 00:34:47,010 --> 00:34:53,750 Now if I can finish, our city's infrastructure, roads, facilities, utilities, our essential 451 00:34:53,750 --> 00:34:59,930 services requiring ongoing investment. Without a structured and adequately funded 452 00:34:59,930 --> 00:35:05,190 capital improvement plan, the city risks falling behind on critical projects that 453 00:35:05,190 --> 00:35:10,350 affect the quality of life, public safety and economic growth. By modestly increasing 454 00:35:10,350 --> 00:35:16,430 the millage rate, we can establish a dedicated and sustainable path forward to invest in 455 00:35:16,430 --> 00:35:21,870 these necessary improvements. We recognize that any increase in taxes must be carefully 456 00:35:21,870 --> 00:35:27,550 considered and this decision has not been taken lightly. However, if Brooksville is to 457 00:35:27,550 --> 00:35:33,590 learn from its past and properly plan for the future, we must take steps today to protect 458 00:35:33,590 --> 00:35:39,630 our financial health and avoid future depletion of our reserves and ensure that the city 459 00:35:39,630 --> 00:35:43,430 is positioned to meet the needs of both the current and future residents. 460 00:35:44,210 --> 00:35:51,510 And let me just finish with this. It's easy to give you guys the popular and possibly 461 00:35:51,510 --> 00:35:56,870 lead the politically correct answer that you want to hear, that I want to lower taxes. 462 00:35:57,090 --> 00:36:01,490 And I'd love to stand up here and tell you, Chris, that we want to lower it to 4 percent. 463 00:36:01,790 --> 00:36:03,370 But it can't happen. 464 00:36:04,010 --> 00:36:07,750 You've got to run a city as a business, and this is the way it has to be. 465 00:36:09,310 --> 00:36:14,710 We have to make hard choices, and that hard choice is doing the right thing for this 466 00:36:14,710 --> 00:36:20,430 city, and nothing less than I believe 6.5 is going to reach that goal. 467 00:36:20,430 --> 00:36:29,730 Not to say that it has to stay there forever, but it has to be a starting point to be reevaluated year-to-year. Thank you. 468 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:35,160 Any further? 469 00:36:35,460 --> 00:36:38,920 Oh, I'm going to. I got something to say as well, but I didn't prepare a speech. 470 00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:46,660 First of all, I want to address everyone that spoke. Thank you, Chris, for coming up to the podium speaking. I agree with you. 471 00:36:48,380 --> 00:36:51,700 Lee? No, I don't support the fire department. And as far as the police 472 00:36:51,700 --> 00:36:56,920 department, we had to do what we had to do back then, because Richard is correct. 473 00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:00,920 If the police department still existed, we'd be looking at a five, six million 474 00:37:00,920 --> 00:37:04,100 dollar fire, or police department, which we can't afford. Now we're looking 475 00:37:04,100 --> 00:37:07,710 at a three million dollar fire department. We cannot afford. So we're 476 00:37:08,540 --> 00:37:12,680 looking at the same thing we were looking at in 2018. So the city 477 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:20,240 saved money. And as far as the past counsel, I was part of that past counsel. I was proud 478 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:25,180 of what I accomplished on that counsel. We had tough decisions to make. But let me remind 479 00:37:25,180 --> 00:37:29,940 you, when it came to fire fees, the same gentleman that comes before us and gave us 480 00:37:29,940 --> 00:37:34,820 the presentation of the fire fees was the same gentleman that was coming in the past 481 00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:40,920 making recommendations. And what does the counsel usually do? We listen to staff, 482 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:47,380 We listen to recommendations and what do we do? We do what the staff recommends and that's what this council 483 00:37:47,380 --> 00:37:50,240 I'm speaking. Let me please finish. I didn't 484 00:37:50,240 --> 00:37:52,420 Okay, so 485 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:57,920 As far as mr. Morgan, I wholeheartedly agree with what he said, you know what? 486 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:04,460 We have been funding Brooksville Main Street since 2016 and they have received a lot of money over the years 487 00:38:04,460 --> 00:38:06,180 They get grants they get sponsors 488 00:38:06,180 --> 00:38:14,400 They get volunteers and all the events they put on the city put on and we've did great events way back then and we can go back to that 489 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:18,540 But I feel like you know what more cuts need to be made 490 00:38:19,400 --> 00:38:27,200 More I mean we need to revisit the organizational chart and we are top management heavy than we ever been 491 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:33,160 If you look at 2022 and compare it to the current budget a lot of spending going on 492 00:38:33,160 --> 00:38:37,780 So, there needs to be more cuts, I don't think we did enough cuts. 493 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,520 I also agree, like I said with Mr. Morgan, we need to defund Brooksville Main Street, 494 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:44,240 which we had no discussion over. 495 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:52,540 And I do believe tough times, 6.2, is fair. 496 00:38:54,480 --> 00:38:57,700 We can look at all the other cities and what they're doing, that's great. 497 00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:58,900 But this is Brooksville. 498 00:38:58,900 --> 00:39:03,160 We need to focus on what's for our residents that are struggling. 499 00:39:03,700 --> 00:39:08,780 And if you think it's bad now, the governor is looking at eliminating property taxes. 500 00:39:08,900 --> 00:39:11,940 How do you think we're going to manage without property taxes? 501 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:18,620 So there are a lot of things that the state's working on that's going to affect our city 502 00:39:18,620 --> 00:39:19,360 as well. 503 00:39:19,980 --> 00:39:25,040 So I'm looking at today, the present moment, 6.2 is realistic, especially when we have 504 00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:26,840 to make a big decision this evening. 505 00:39:27,700 --> 00:39:32,240 I just feel like we need more cuts, and I don't feel there has been enough cuts. 506 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:35,620 So that's just where I support 6.2. 507 00:39:37,690 --> 00:39:42,950 So if I may add my input into this, I think I made it pretty apparent in the last meeting 508 00:39:42,950 --> 00:39:47,390 after looking at the numbers of surrounding cities. 509 00:39:47,710 --> 00:39:50,190 That is what people, again, compare us to. 510 00:39:50,470 --> 00:39:53,090 They compare Brooksville to the surrounding cities. 511 00:39:53,090 --> 00:40:01,370 And I'll first start off with what the gentleman said about 13% increase into that. 512 00:40:02,750 --> 00:40:08,690 If I was at my employer and for the last four years I got no increase to my pay for the 513 00:40:08,690 --> 00:40:10,990 last four years, I would be pretty upset. 514 00:40:12,090 --> 00:40:16,990 You know, there are things that, yes, you can put it in terms of if my employer were 515 00:40:16,990 --> 00:40:22,910 to raise that or if there was an issue about that 13%, all of a sudden, it's not all 516 00:40:22,910 --> 00:40:27,250 of a sudden we've been looking at this over the last four years. And again, we had the 517 00:40:27,250 --> 00:40:33,550 ARPA funds. We had the funds to be able to invest into capital improvement through those 518 00:40:33,550 --> 00:40:37,830 funds. But those funds are no longer here for us. We no longer have the ability to 519 00:40:37,830 --> 00:40:43,770 access funds like that. We have to set ourselves down the right direction for the future. 520 00:40:44,070 --> 00:40:48,370 And not just looking at today. Yes, today we are making a big decision. Yes, today 521 00:40:48,370 --> 00:40:53,050 day is a hard thing that we have to look at. But at the same time, we need to be looking 522 00:40:53,050 --> 00:40:59,430 at the future as to not setting up future councils for the same issue that we're running into 523 00:40:59,430 --> 00:41:05,910 right now. The same issue is going to happen in five years from now if we keep being behind 524 00:41:05,910 --> 00:41:10,630 the ball on making decisions, if we keep letting other people make decisions for us, 525 00:41:10,670 --> 00:41:15,370 if we keep letting other people come in and bail us out of previous decisions that were 526 00:41:15,370 --> 00:41:19,030 made because that's what's happening. We're now in dire straits and we're thinking about 527 00:41:19,030 --> 00:41:24,590 getting rid of one of the most crucial pieces to a municipality, which is your fire department. 528 00:41:24,930 --> 00:41:28,030 We're thinking about getting rid of that because we've already had to be in the situation 529 00:41:28,030 --> 00:41:33,630 where we've had to get rid of our police department. And yes, every year, yes, the budget might 530 00:41:33,630 --> 00:41:38,130 go up for the fire department, but so does the budget in general. Our budget in general 531 00:41:38,130 --> 00:41:43,530 goes up just because of cost of everything going up. It's not just an isolated incident. 532 00:41:43,530 --> 00:41:46,230 And at Brooksville is not an isolated situation. 533 00:41:46,650 --> 00:41:50,570 We are not an entity that is having these struggles. 534 00:41:50,850 --> 00:41:53,150 There are other municipalities, other cities, 535 00:41:53,310 --> 00:41:55,590 and I'm sure even other counties around the U.S. 536 00:41:55,630 --> 00:41:58,530 that are having these issues where, yes, there were good times, 537 00:41:58,670 --> 00:42:00,250 things were coming in, things were happening, 538 00:42:00,250 --> 00:42:03,490 but they weren't looking at what happens in the future. 539 00:42:03,870 --> 00:42:06,570 And that is what I think we really need to be doing. 540 00:42:06,770 --> 00:42:07,370 And I understand. 541 00:42:07,590 --> 00:42:09,230 And again, we sit up here, 542 00:42:09,510 --> 00:42:12,310 and as Council Member Halau mentioned, 543 00:42:12,310 --> 00:42:13,730 I'm in my first year. 544 00:42:14,310 --> 00:42:20,430 I'm, what, seven, eight months into sitting up on this council, and boy, what a hard decision 545 00:42:20,430 --> 00:42:24,970 that it's had to be for me, looking every day at what's going on and what's happening, 546 00:42:25,110 --> 00:42:29,950 seeing what people are posting about, and I think it's become absolutely crazy that 547 00:42:29,950 --> 00:42:35,630 there's been all of this infighting that it doesn't need to happen where if we 548 00:42:35,630 --> 00:42:39,630 can actually make a decision as a city instead of letting other people make decisions 549 00:42:39,630 --> 00:42:43,730 for us because that's what's happening right now. We look at this and we're like, oh, we're 550 00:42:43,730 --> 00:42:47,490 in such a dire strait with our fire department. We look at the fire department and we say, 551 00:42:47,970 --> 00:42:53,710 well, why don't we just cut the fire department to save us some cash? That's a crucial, crucial 552 00:42:53,710 --> 00:42:58,550 important piece of what the city represents is our fire department and having control 553 00:42:58,550 --> 00:43:02,650 over what happens with that. So at the end of the day, if we get rid of our fire 554 00:43:02,650 --> 00:43:08,390 department, we're getting rid of a very crucial part that our city functions with 555 00:43:08,390 --> 00:43:12,950 just because of dollars at the end of the day where we have now balanced our budget. 556 00:43:13,330 --> 00:43:17,190 We are now adding to it with either the 6.2 or the 6.5. 557 00:43:17,430 --> 00:43:21,530 But it's going to happen in next year's budget where we're going to say, okay, things 558 00:43:21,530 --> 00:43:22,050 have increased. 559 00:43:22,270 --> 00:43:25,450 Now, not just the ladder truck has gone out to where we have to buy it. 560 00:43:25,450 --> 00:43:30,190 We can't plan for what the future is going to look like if we're not making decisions. 561 00:43:30,690 --> 00:43:32,330 And sometimes there are aggressive decisions. 562 00:43:32,450 --> 00:43:35,730 And I hate to be the guy that sits up here and say, we need to make an aggressive 563 00:43:35,730 --> 00:43:41,230 of decision to raising it to 6.5%. But honestly, at the end of the day, we should have been 564 00:43:41,230 --> 00:43:48,550 raising it a point. Even just a point every single year to keep up with rising costs of 565 00:43:48,550 --> 00:43:56,110 not only crucial infrastructure like asphalt costs or repaving a road. I don't know the 566 00:43:56,110 --> 00:43:59,610 number off the top of my head, but I'm guessing if you looked at what it cost to repave 567 00:43:59,610 --> 00:44:04,830 a road in 2019 compared to 2025, it's a pretty significant increase in that cost. 568 00:44:04,830 --> 00:44:10,410 So if we're not moving with that cost, then we're just going to, at the end of the day, 569 00:44:10,430 --> 00:44:13,550 we're just going to end up bankrupting the city and then we're going to have to get rid 570 00:44:13,550 --> 00:44:15,330 of everything at the end of the day. 571 00:44:15,430 --> 00:44:21,410 So in my opinion, I think having it at the 6.5% is very crucial for the city's future 572 00:44:21,410 --> 00:44:21,710 health. 573 00:44:23,130 --> 00:44:29,050 I don't want to stifle conversation here, but I just want to clarify, and I don't, 574 00:44:29,210 --> 00:44:31,550 no one has made a motion at this point. 575 00:44:32,650 --> 00:44:38,350 I don't want to if you were about to say something by all means vice mayor. I will you know, I'll give you 576 00:44:38,350 --> 00:44:40,190 the opportunity but 577 00:44:42,270 --> 00:44:47,290 We have a whole nother meeting after this so I'll just I 578 00:44:52,020 --> 00:44:53,300 I get it and 579 00:44:53,650 --> 00:44:59,980 In the past we're we're operating with an extra eight hundred thousand dollars a year and should we have read? 580 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,320 We're trying to raise the millage and say some of that. Maybe, maybe not, but we're trying 581 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:08,420 to do right by the people. We're telling our citizens to figure it out with inflation, but 582 00:45:08,420 --> 00:45:12,260 we're not telling our city council to figure it out. That's what we were doing. We were 583 00:45:12,260 --> 00:45:16,680 figuring it out. Now that those funds are gone, I do agree we need to raise this millage 584 00:45:16,680 --> 00:45:23,500 up to get an extra $700,000 because last year, Richard, we could say we have $700,000 585 00:45:23,500 --> 00:45:28,500 in ARPA dollars. Use that for roads and infrastructure. And we don't have that anymore. 586 00:45:28,500 --> 00:45:33,260 So I think with either one of these millage rates, whatever we come up to, having that 587 00:45:33,260 --> 00:45:37,040 money for capital improvement will just get us to where we were with those ARPA dollars. 588 00:45:39,400 --> 00:45:45,960 And I'm not saying we need to, I'm not necessarily for $30 million in reserves, that's kind of 589 00:45:45,960 --> 00:45:50,920 a crime in my opinion, but I mean, I'm also having to take that for a rainy day. 590 00:45:52,580 --> 00:45:56,460 And we're a business, but we're not a business here to make a profit, we're a business 591 00:45:56,460 --> 00:46:00,560 is here to figure it out and sacrifice for the sake of the taxpayers. 592 00:46:01,220 --> 00:46:03,840 So that's kind of where my mind's at with things. 593 00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:10,700 If 6-5 is what the majority of the council is wanting, but we dang sure about figuring 594 00:46:10,700 --> 00:46:14,300 out a way to lower it in the future and a way to create revenue through the city, 595 00:46:14,620 --> 00:46:22,160 because we can't go up to 6-5 and expect the taxpayers to just be okay with that 596 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:25,240 without us working hard, working extra hard 597 00:46:25,240 --> 00:46:27,120 to make sure that we can lower it in the future 598 00:46:27,580 --> 00:46:28,580 or at least keep the same, 599 00:46:28,660 --> 00:46:30,720 so we don't have to go up 0.1 every year. 600 00:46:30,900 --> 00:46:32,700 I mean, that's a cheap way out, 601 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:36,260 just raising the millage rate every time we need more money. 602 00:46:36,720 --> 00:46:37,600 We gotta get creative. 603 00:46:38,220 --> 00:46:40,000 And we got some plans, once we get through this, 604 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:40,800 we'll figure it out. 605 00:46:44,720 --> 00:46:45,120 Okay. 606 00:46:46,720 --> 00:46:50,780 Well, seems like everyone has said their piece, 607 00:46:50,780 --> 00:47:00,420 So, I might as well join the, the last meeting I, what's before us is the millage. 608 00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:07,720 At 5.9, at keeping the millage rate at 5.9, that puts our reserves at exactly where they 609 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:09,820 need to be to meet the state standard. 610 00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:17,320 It gives us approximately only $15,000 to put towards anything else that is not 611 00:47:17,320 --> 00:47:18,780 already outlined in our budget. 612 00:47:18,780 --> 00:47:20,800 That's called a capital improvement plan. 613 00:47:21,860 --> 00:47:28,640 So at 6.5, we could put more money in our reserves. 614 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:35,900 Right now, it's around where we would have 2.6 million versus almost a 2.2 at a 5.9. 615 00:47:36,360 --> 00:47:43,860 And it would roughly give us $480,000 in capital improvement plans to invest into 616 00:47:43,860 --> 00:47:46,840 things, believe it or not, that the city does need. 617 00:47:46,840 --> 00:47:51,780 because this budget, unfortunately, at what it is doesn't cover it. 618 00:47:53,660 --> 00:47:58,420 Sure, that's a sad statement. I think we could all agree things cost money. 619 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:04,740 If the last budget workshop are first, we always have two of these. 620 00:48:04,900 --> 00:48:07,100 State mandated, that's how every municipality works. 621 00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:15,740 I tasked council with figuring out what they thought the city needed in our CIPs. 622 00:48:15,740 --> 00:48:20,280 What do you think we need to spend money on? 623 00:48:20,480 --> 00:48:22,080 What do we need? 624 00:48:22,280 --> 00:48:24,260 What are you hearing from Department Heads 625 00:48:24,260 --> 00:48:26,140 or the city manager who you're talking to? 626 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:29,780 I took it upon myself to ask the city manager 627 00:48:29,780 --> 00:48:32,680 to call a meeting with every single department head 628 00:48:32,680 --> 00:48:33,440 here at the city. 629 00:48:33,820 --> 00:48:35,340 That meeting took place last week. 630 00:48:35,720 --> 00:48:38,320 I was here for two and a half hours meeting 631 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,320 with the department heads and the city managers 632 00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:43,040 for them to tell me, folks, 633 00:48:43,040 --> 00:48:47,400 books. I don't have time to sit here every day. That's not the role of this government. 634 00:48:47,980 --> 00:48:53,640 Just, you know, we rely on our staff. That is how this city is chartered. That is, but 635 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:59,780 so I rely on our department heads. I rely on our city manager. And we have some really 636 00:48:59,780 --> 00:49:03,520 good people in place for the first time in a long time. And I'm very proud of that. 637 00:49:03,720 --> 00:49:08,320 And that's a testament to this Council sitting up here. And I applaud this Council 638 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:15,740 for that. But I had that meeting and that meeting ended up with a sheet, multiple sheets 639 00:49:16,240 --> 00:49:22,660 like this of every department. Some of these things you could say certainly are wants. 640 00:49:23,060 --> 00:49:30,400 Some of these are absolute needs in the future, absolute. Things like if we choose to keep 641 00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:33,840 the fire department, we absolutely have to invest there. Everyone knows that I am 642 00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:35,020 I'm not saying anything new. 643 00:49:36,160 --> 00:49:39,260 Things in DPW, we have to invest there. 644 00:49:39,460 --> 00:49:43,420 Cleaning of certain drain fields in our city 645 00:49:43,420 --> 00:49:44,720 and of those degrees. 646 00:49:44,940 --> 00:49:48,060 I mean, those things are things we need to identify. 647 00:49:48,540 --> 00:49:50,400 Making sure our parks are safe for kids, 648 00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:52,120 continuing to invest in our parks. 649 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:53,780 If you look at this, I mean, 650 00:49:53,880 --> 00:49:56,740 we are looking at millions of dollars in the future 651 00:49:57,180 --> 00:49:58,180 that is not funded. 652 00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:01,120 Now every city, most cities have one of these. 653 00:50:01,300 --> 00:50:02,620 We haven't had one in a while. 654 00:50:02,620 --> 00:50:09,260 Apparently, we had one years ago, we're bringing it back. 655 00:50:09,520 --> 00:50:12,360 I don't really care about what happened back then. 656 00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:16,300 That's a real negative place to get into. 657 00:50:16,640 --> 00:50:20,800 I've sat on this council for two years, 658 00:50:21,000 --> 00:50:22,620 and I am not a perfect person. 659 00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:23,320 I am sure. 660 00:50:24,380 --> 00:50:26,260 I always ask God to bring me the wisdom 661 00:50:26,260 --> 00:50:28,960 and to bring me the courage to make the right decisions. 662 00:50:28,960 --> 00:50:35,040 But, look, sometimes that doesn't happen, you know, we're not perfect people. 663 00:50:36,580 --> 00:50:42,800 And so with that, we have to invest in our city. 664 00:50:42,980 --> 00:50:48,140 I don't think, from what I'm hearing, that's necessarily the argument that's taking place 665 00:50:48,140 --> 00:50:48,460 here. 666 00:50:48,740 --> 00:50:54,520 I think that everybody believes at a certain point we have to make an investment because 667 00:50:54,520 --> 00:50:57,240 nobody is saying that we need to keep the mill enjoyed at what it's at. 668 00:50:57,240 --> 00:50:59,940 but I think the question is, is where do we put it? 669 00:51:02,600 --> 00:51:04,920 And based on what I see here, 670 00:51:05,820 --> 00:51:08,680 I unfortunately think that the millage has to be 6.5. 671 00:51:09,700 --> 00:51:10,180 But... 672 00:51:13,510 --> 00:51:17,850 Mayor, I'm going to make a motion to levy the general fund 673 00:51:17,850 --> 00:51:20,430 ad valorem millage rate of 6.5%. 674 00:51:20,430 --> 00:51:23,270 I have a motion. Do I have a second? 675 00:51:23,670 --> 00:51:24,070 Second. 676 00:51:24,650 --> 00:51:27,070 I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? 677 00:51:29,210 --> 00:51:30,630 Any public input? 678 00:51:33,800 --> 00:51:38,540 Any public input on this motion? Yes, sir. 679 00:51:53,800 --> 00:51:58,660 My name is Chris Kingsley, and I was listening to the discussions, and it started to surprise 680 00:51:58,660 --> 00:52:04,380 me at some of the things that were said. Brooksville is not some other city. It is 681 00:52:04,380 --> 00:52:10,220 Brooksville. People don't expect us to run a city like Inverness or Dade City or something 682 00:52:10,220 --> 00:52:16,240 like that. And everybody seems to be intent on saying, well, we figure it out how much 683 00:52:16,240 --> 00:52:22,020 money we can spend at 16.5, and dang it, we're going to spend it, or 6.5. I'm sorry, 16 would 684 00:52:22,020 --> 00:52:29,840 be, but so instead, I didn't hear anything about other than Krista, Mrs. Tanner, Mayor 685 00:52:29,840 --> 00:52:35,600 or whatever, was talking about the travel, which is kind of refreshing to hear, but 686 00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:42,520 But at the same time, it's like, well, and Mr. Halal talked about people in the past. 687 00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:49,040 So what I said earlier, you're throwing good money after bad instead of just throwing money 688 00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:54,480 at everything and saying, it's okay, our stuff goes up in value. 689 00:52:54,720 --> 00:53:03,260 So just because you want to raise our millage rate, as each year's go, the value of my 690 00:53:03,260 --> 00:53:10,040 house goes up and whatever the rate is goes up. I pay more every year without having my 691 00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:17,480 millage rate increased. That money comes here. It would be in my opinion responsible to figure 692 00:53:17,480 --> 00:53:22,140 out what that is and then spend it instead of saying, well, let's make it as high as 693 00:53:22,140 --> 00:53:26,680 we can to make it for bad things in the past if there were bad things in the past 694 00:53:26,680 --> 00:53:30,240 and figure out how to spend it. I don't think that's your job to figure out how 695 00:53:30,240 --> 00:53:36,780 How to spend is how not to spend and as Mr. Bronson said also you're not a bank, you're 696 00:53:36,780 --> 00:53:40,460 not here to see how much money you can put in your savings account, you're here to have 697 00:53:40,460 --> 00:53:47,600 and I think Mrs. Tanner said it correctly when she said what the state requires is what 698 00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:50,300 probably is the right amount to have in reserve. 699 00:53:50,820 --> 00:53:55,580 So I mean you had a good discussion but I think most people who are having to pay 700 00:53:55,580 --> 00:53:57,020 the taxes would disagree with it. 701 00:53:59,260 --> 00:54:03,380 any further public input on this motion okay 702 00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:12,940 we will bring it back to council 703 00:54:12,940 --> 00:54:14,140 real 704 00:54:16,190 --> 00:54:21,230 call customer hallow hi customer mckayton hi customer erhard nay 705 00:54:21,230 --> 00:54:25,350 vice mayor bronson no mayor tanner I oh 706 00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:34,620 it does not pass past it's it's 3 2 707 00:54:41,090 --> 00:54:42,890 you 708 00:54:42,890 --> 00:54:48,230 tell me what I rely on legal counsel for autumn 709 00:54:52,420 --> 00:54:54,420 do we need a supermajority or do 710 00:54:54,420 --> 00:55:01,700 we need a majority do we need four or three we just need a majority vote isn't 711 00:55:01,700 --> 00:55:07,700 three to two majority three two is a majority but you're saying we need a 712 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:15,260 supermajority I'd have to go get my trim information to see I'm not I don't 713 00:55:15,260 --> 00:55:19,100 think it says supermajority but I can have to go get it to find out and 714 00:55:27,610 --> 00:55:27,690 you 715 00:55:27,690 --> 00:55:30,050 you want to go on to the next item and then circle back or? 716 00:55:30,790 --> 00:55:31,550 Yes, is that? 717 00:55:31,870 --> 00:55:32,890 Becky's OK with that. 718 00:55:33,970 --> 00:55:35,310 Can I ask what the question is? 719 00:55:35,490 --> 00:55:36,690 I'm not like, we didn't hear you down there. 720 00:55:36,970 --> 00:55:40,330 So she's, do we need a majority or a supermajority? 721 00:55:40,470 --> 00:55:44,030 A supermajority would be one, would be four or five. 722 00:55:44,470 --> 00:55:46,370 The majority is three, two, 723 00:55:49,140 --> 00:55:50,040 based on a five. 724 00:55:57,280 --> 00:56:00,420 And should it be the supermajority then? 725 00:56:01,740 --> 00:56:02,840 Then it would take six. 726 00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:05,040 I mean it would take, I'm sorry. 727 00:56:05,760 --> 00:56:12,060 it would take four out of the five correct but I'm saying okay so say we 728 00:56:12,060 --> 00:56:18,600 don't get the four out of the five then what's the next step here the next 729 00:56:18,600 --> 00:56:23,420 sales that would be another motion as a council we still would not have a set 730 00:56:23,420 --> 00:56:28,640 millage yeah the millage is set right now or it's not set is what you're 731 00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:33,160 saying yes we just need to figure out if we need we need to set it tonight 732 00:56:33,160 --> 00:56:43,990 right and I mean so good I I believe if it goes over the rollback but be under a 733 00:56:43,990 --> 00:56:48,810 hundred ten percent it's the rollback plus the percentage from the state and 734 00:56:48,810 --> 00:56:55,950 she would have that and that sets a level at which you need to have for and then 735 00:56:55,950 --> 00:57:01,520 if you're a hundred and ten percent over that which I know we're not then you 736 00:57:01,520 --> 00:57:03,620 need to have it be unanimous. 737 00:57:06,370 --> 00:57:06,670 OK. 738 00:57:07,090 --> 00:57:08,530 Look, we've got a lot to cover tonight. 739 00:57:08,950 --> 00:57:09,710 Well, hold on. 740 00:57:09,990 --> 00:57:10,230 We do. 741 00:57:10,450 --> 00:57:11,930 But we have to set this tonight legally. 742 00:57:12,230 --> 00:57:13,570 So I'm trying to help with that. 743 00:57:13,690 --> 00:57:15,230 So I'll change my opinion. 744 00:57:15,630 --> 00:57:18,270 If we are going to work hard to lower it next year, 745 00:57:19,290 --> 00:57:20,630 we need to get through this. 746 00:57:20,850 --> 00:57:21,050 Hold on. 747 00:57:21,150 --> 00:57:22,270 We are out of order here. 748 00:57:22,470 --> 00:57:22,670 Hold on. 749 00:57:22,870 --> 00:57:23,050 Hold on. 750 00:57:23,610 --> 00:57:24,790 Vice Mayor, I appreciate you. 751 00:57:24,890 --> 00:57:25,250 I hear you. 752 00:57:25,350 --> 00:57:25,890 Thank you for that. 753 00:57:26,030 --> 00:57:26,510 One second. 754 00:57:27,530 --> 00:57:27,650 What? 755 00:57:29,190 --> 00:57:30,910 This says majority vote of governing body. 756 00:57:30,910 --> 00:57:34,250 majority vote of governing body so 757 00:57:36,620 --> 00:57:39,280 we're good so it is it is I know it's 758 00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:41,760 under the hundred and ten percent maximum 759 00:57:46,210 --> 00:57:47,810 military is equal to the majority 760 00:57:48,930 --> 00:57:53,310 vote maximum rate what it says right 761 00:57:55,610 --> 00:57:58,590 what is the majority vote maximum what 762 00:58:00,550 --> 00:58:01,250 is that percent 763 00:58:05,600 --> 00:58:13,240 okay we're gonna we're gonna take a five minute recess and 764 00:58:13,240 --> 00:58:15,280 and let staff and legal counsel figure this out 765 00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:16,940 and we will come back. 766 00:58:26,010 --> 00:58:26,690 Good evening. 767 00:58:27,290 --> 00:58:31,950 We're going to re-adjourn our special meeting 768 00:58:33,350 --> 00:58:35,430 which is the final public budget hearing. 769 00:58:35,630 --> 00:58:37,570 I know some people came in from outside 770 00:58:37,970 --> 00:58:41,990 just so you're aware we are still in our special meeting. 771 00:58:42,410 --> 00:58:45,690 We do have a scheduled city council meeting 772 00:58:45,690 --> 00:58:48,070 after this that will start promptly 773 00:58:48,770 --> 00:58:50,770 when we have wrapped up this meeting 774 00:58:50,770 --> 00:58:57,570 but there was a question about the vote needed in terms of a majority or a supermajority 775 00:58:57,570 --> 00:59:00,730 to set the millage rate, depending on what it's set at. 776 00:59:00,810 --> 00:59:04,690 And I'm going to turn over to the attorney to give counsel her legal opinion on how we 777 00:59:04,690 --> 00:59:05,410 should move forward. 778 00:59:05,630 --> 00:59:05,910 Okay. 779 00:59:06,510 --> 00:59:06,990 All right. 780 00:59:07,170 --> 00:59:15,110 Well, when I spoke with Autumn, who is a very good finance administrator, we had 781 00:59:15,110 --> 00:59:18,470 a little bit of a difference of opinion. 782 00:59:18,470 --> 00:59:28,030 It would be much safer to take another vote on this, and I suggest that we have a vote 783 00:59:28,030 --> 00:59:34,950 to see if there are four out of the five, which would be the safest thing to do. 784 00:59:36,950 --> 00:59:37,630 Okay. 785 00:59:37,850 --> 00:59:43,550 So in terms of Robert's rule of orders, then aren't we saying that the first vote 786 00:59:44,130 --> 00:59:46,550 does not set the millage rate? 787 00:59:46,550 --> 00:59:56,670 Someone who is on the essentially walk us through how we do this properly. 788 00:59:57,070 --> 00:59:59,970 Someone who voted in favor of. 789 01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:10,780 This would need to ask for a re-vote and then there would be a second and to withdraw that 790 01:00:10,780 --> 01:00:15,800 that vote. So it would have to be someone who voted in favor of it to do that. 791 01:00:17,120 --> 01:00:20,660 So I'll request a re-vote on my previous motion. 792 01:00:21,380 --> 01:00:22,840 Okay. Is there a second for that? 793 01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:23,480 Second. 794 01:00:24,320 --> 01:00:28,840 Okay. I have a motion and a second for a re-vote. 795 01:00:30,080 --> 01:00:31,460 public comment again? 796 01:00:32,040 --> 01:00:32,600 Sure. 797 01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:34,320 A brother. 798 01:00:34,840 --> 01:00:35,640 Public comment. 799 01:00:41,490 --> 01:00:41,790 Okay. 800 01:00:45,300 --> 01:00:48,820 On a mourn city, uh, city resident, you all took a vote. 801 01:00:49,200 --> 01:00:49,980 It's 3-2. 802 01:00:50,500 --> 01:00:51,300 That passes it. 803 01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:54,060 I've been coming to these meetings for 15 years. 804 01:00:54,500 --> 01:00:57,020 I'm either watching them for the last three years, 805 01:00:57,240 --> 01:01:00,260 and now I'm here back here because I'm healthy. 806 01:01:01,200 --> 01:01:05,780 So you all voted 3-2 for no 6.5. 807 01:01:06,900 --> 01:01:09,800 That's a majority of vote. That's how you vote. 808 01:01:10,340 --> 01:01:11,760 Now you're going to take another vote, 809 01:01:11,980 --> 01:01:16,160 and you're hoping somebody's going to change their mind to vote for 6.5, 810 01:01:16,240 --> 01:01:19,320 and that's not okay. We've never had a super vote. 811 01:01:20,240 --> 01:01:23,180 I mean, that's everybody has to vote the same way, 812 01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:25,880 and that's not going to happen. 813 01:01:26,880 --> 01:01:30,540 So to take another vote, this is not okay. 814 01:01:30,760 --> 01:01:32,120 You're cheating the taxpayers out. 815 01:01:33,200 --> 01:01:42,700 You vote. It failed. 3-2. Thank you, too. Mr. Bronson, thank you. Thank you. It's wonderful. 816 01:01:43,880 --> 01:01:46,800 And Ms. Krista, wonderful. Ms. Erhardt, wonderful. 817 01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:49,120 It was three in favor and two against. 818 01:01:49,120 --> 01:01:49,860 Of the 6-5? 819 01:01:50,160 --> 01:01:50,380 Yes. 820 01:01:50,820 --> 01:01:51,100 Oh. 821 01:01:51,580 --> 01:01:55,160 It was three in favor. It was three in favor and two against. 822 01:01:55,460 --> 01:01:58,000 So three were in favor because I didn't hear Krista vote. 823 01:01:58,580 --> 01:02:00,000 So it passed a 6.5. 824 01:02:00,000 --> 01:02:01,760 So then why are we taking another vote? 825 01:02:03,020 --> 01:02:06,240 Because it is honestly belt and suspenders. 826 01:02:06,460 --> 01:02:11,180 We just want to make sure that there is not a trim issue. 827 01:02:11,480 --> 01:02:13,800 Well, we've never had a super vote before ever. 828 01:02:14,460 --> 01:02:15,540 We've never had that. 829 01:02:16,540 --> 01:02:19,820 And I don't understand why we need to do another vote. 830 01:02:19,960 --> 01:02:22,000 If it passed 6.5, then that's it, it passed. 831 01:02:23,680 --> 01:02:27,860 Just saying, it's really weird how this meeting is being 832 01:02:27,860 --> 01:02:33,120 run, because it's not fair. Because now you're going to take another vote, hoping somebody 833 01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:38,680 changes their vote. Well, they voted the way they voted. They don't take another vote. 834 01:02:39,420 --> 01:02:46,220 Well, they changed their mind and it's hung up again. The past, the past. Yay. I've just 835 01:02:46,220 --> 01:02:54,460 never seen this before, ever. You all voted. And a super vote, never heard of it. So 836 01:02:54,460 --> 01:02:55,080 thank you. 837 01:02:55,080 --> 01:02:57,190 Thank you. 838 01:02:57,230 --> 01:02:57,730 Thank you. 839 01:02:57,910 --> 01:03:04,670 I'm not too prideful to change my opinion and not agree with what the consensus is. 840 01:03:04,750 --> 01:03:06,710 Obviously 3-2, it's going to pass. 841 01:03:06,910 --> 01:03:09,070 I'm going to make sure we cross our T's and dot our I's right now. 842 01:03:09,690 --> 01:03:15,010 I want to, I just want to make sure that we work hard to lower it in the future. 843 01:03:15,390 --> 01:03:15,530 Okay. 844 01:03:16,090 --> 01:03:19,390 We're in the middle of public input, Mr. Morgan. 845 01:03:21,130 --> 01:03:21,930 Bob Morgan. 846 01:03:21,930 --> 01:03:26,310 Again, I don't think the question of a re-vote is necessary. 847 01:03:26,650 --> 01:03:34,610 It's a matter of what statute and the city ordinances and regulations state. 848 01:03:35,150 --> 01:03:39,350 And honestly, our attorney should know that, and it shouldn't be forced to a new vote. 849 01:03:39,470 --> 01:03:43,630 I honestly think it's an invalid vote to do it again a second time. 850 01:03:43,630 --> 01:03:55,070 And by the way, 6.5 divided by 5.9 is 1.1016 percent, so it exceeds 110 percent. 851 01:03:55,490 --> 01:03:55,830 Thank you. 852 01:03:56,710 --> 01:03:59,150 I probably should address that. 853 01:03:59,290 --> 01:04:12,130 The 110 percent relates to the rollback rate raised by the CPI, which is determined by the state. 854 01:04:12,130 --> 01:04:16,530 You add those two together and then in order to require a 855 01:04:17,450 --> 01:04:22,230 unanimous vote it has to be a hundred and ten percent over that and I know that that's not the case 856 01:04:26,320 --> 01:04:28,000 Any further public input? 857 01:04:32,000 --> 01:04:32,960 seeing none 858 01:04:34,020 --> 01:04:37,340 We have a motion in a second for a revoked 859 01:04:37,880 --> 01:04:38,800 Madame clerk 860 01:04:40,880 --> 01:04:44,880 customer mckayton hi, that's my hello. Hi customer erhard 861 01:04:45,800 --> 01:04:46,820 Vice Mayor Bronson. 862 01:04:46,940 --> 01:04:47,120 Aye. 863 01:04:47,360 --> 01:04:47,540 Mayor Tanner. 864 01:04:47,900 --> 01:04:48,260 Aye. 865 01:04:49,300 --> 01:04:51,600 The millage is adopted at 6.5. 866 01:04:51,820 --> 01:04:56,940 No, no, we need to have a motion for a, a re-vote. 867 01:04:57,240 --> 01:04:59,420 Oh, there has been a motion for a re-vote. 868 01:04:59,560 --> 01:05:00,520 We need to take the vote. 869 01:05:00,780 --> 01:05:00,960 Correct. 870 01:05:01,600 --> 01:05:01,840 Okay. 871 01:05:01,980 --> 01:05:05,640 So somebody else needs to make a motion for 6.5. 872 01:05:05,960 --> 01:05:07,040 We need a second. 873 01:05:07,200 --> 01:05:07,700 What in the motion? 874 01:05:07,700 --> 01:05:10,020 And then we take, we take a vote. 875 01:05:10,340 --> 01:05:10,720 Okay. 876 01:05:12,140 --> 01:05:21,700 Okay, I take back what I said. It has not been said. I have a motion that we up the 877 01:05:21,700 --> 01:05:29,640 village rate to 6.5. Second. I have a motion and a second. 878 01:05:32,300 --> 01:05:33,620 Any further discussion from 879 01:05:33,620 --> 01:05:34,200 this council? 880 01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:42,900 Any public input on this motion? I think don't I have to call for public input 881 01:05:42,900 --> 01:05:47,420 every time I don't want to legally be told I didn't call for it they can they 882 01:05:47,420 --> 01:05:52,720 can under the statute it says that at some point in the process the public 883 01:05:52,720 --> 01:05:59,590 opinion okay great I'm rescinding public input madam clerk 884 01:05:59,590 --> 01:06:00,990 Council Member Earhart. 885 01:06:02,270 --> 01:06:02,830 Nay. 886 01:06:03,530 --> 01:06:04,530 Council Member Hallow. 887 01:06:04,890 --> 01:06:05,150 Aye. 888 01:06:05,370 --> 01:06:06,090 Council Member McKeithen. 889 01:06:06,230 --> 01:06:06,430 Aye. 890 01:06:06,610 --> 01:06:07,250 Council Member Bronson. 891 01:06:07,370 --> 01:06:07,510 Aye. 892 01:06:07,610 --> 01:06:07,930 Mayor Tanner. 893 01:06:08,470 --> 01:06:09,030 Aye. 894 01:06:10,670 --> 01:06:11,590 The millage is set. 895 01:06:11,770 --> 01:06:12,010 Correct. 896 01:06:14,900 --> 01:06:15,200 Okay. 897 01:06:15,440 --> 01:06:17,080 We will now move into Item 5. 898 01:06:17,500 --> 01:06:20,260 Consideration of Second and Final Reading of the Budget. 899 01:06:20,860 --> 01:06:22,600 Ordinance number 1003. 900 01:06:22,780 --> 01:06:23,180 Madam Clerk. 901 01:06:23,800 --> 01:06:24,540 Ordinance 1003. 902 01:06:25,200 --> 01:06:31,520 Inordinance appropriating certain monies for the general operations of the City of 903 01:06:31,520 --> 01:06:38,900 period beginning October 1st, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026. This was advertised in 904 01:06:38,900 --> 01:06:41,060 the Hernandez Sun and the Tampa Bay Times. 905 01:06:43,660 --> 01:06:44,740 Thank you, Madam Court. 906 01:06:47,140 --> 01:06:49,060 I have a motion from 907 01:06:49,060 --> 01:06:56,720 council. So if we approve this, would we have to make a motion with your added suggestion 908 01:06:56,720 --> 01:07:01,540 if we agreed with your added suggestion? Yes, she would. Okay. Then I make a motion 909 01:07:01,540 --> 01:07:12,820 to approve the budget with the added adjustments to bringing the travel and 910 01:07:12,820 --> 01:07:20,220 per diem to 10,000, the training and education to 55,000, and the books and 911 01:07:20,220 --> 01:07:25,500 publication etc. to 7,000 and move that into the general but or the general 912 01:07:25,500 --> 01:07:30,880 government part of the budget. I have a motion. Do I have a second? 913 01:07:30,880 --> 01:07:37,340 I have a motion and a second any further discussion from Council any public input 914 01:07:39,850 --> 01:07:40,830 Seeing none 915 01:07:41,850 --> 01:07:43,830 Madam clerk roll call vote 916 01:07:44,650 --> 01:07:46,930 Councilor McKee-thin I that's my air hard 917 01:07:46,930 --> 01:07:47,910 nay 918 01:07:47,910 --> 01:07:49,030 customer. Hello 919 01:07:49,710 --> 01:07:52,370 Hi, that's my Bronson mayor Tanner 920 01:07:52,370 --> 01:07:56,370 The budget is adopted 921 01:07:56,370 --> 01:08:03,070 At this time we are going to adjourn as the City Council and convene as the CRA. 922 01:08:16,150 --> 01:08:19,050 This is called to order to the CRA. 923 01:08:21,870 --> 01:08:23,970 Approval modification of the agenda. 924 01:08:25,050 --> 01:08:25,930 Motion to approve. 925 01:08:26,630 --> 01:08:26,870 Second. 926 01:08:27,990 --> 01:08:29,150 Motion passes. 927 01:08:29,970 --> 01:08:30,910 No, you have to say on favor. 928 01:08:31,190 --> 01:08:31,710 On favor. 929 01:08:32,070 --> 01:08:32,410 Aye. 930 01:08:35,140 --> 01:08:37,060 Item C, CRA agendas. 931 01:08:37,060 --> 01:08:41,940 of one approval of February 3rd, 2025 CRA meeting minutes. 932 01:08:42,720 --> 01:08:43,600 Move to approve. 933 01:08:44,200 --> 01:08:44,440 Second. 934 01:08:45,100 --> 01:08:45,760 All in favor? 935 01:08:46,180 --> 01:08:46,440 Aye. 936 01:08:48,760 --> 01:08:53,840 C2, CRA budget resolution number 2025-01 937 01:08:54,800 --> 01:08:58,220 for CRA established in 1999 presented by the clerk. 938 01:08:58,480 --> 01:08:59,520 I'll go ahead and read it by head note. 939 01:08:59,880 --> 01:09:02,360 Resolution 2025-01, a resolution adopting 940 01:09:02,360 --> 01:09:04,140 the annual budget for the City of Brooksville 941 01:09:04,140 --> 01:09:05,580 Community Redevelopment Agency 942 01:09:05,580 --> 01:09:11,840 for fiscal year 2025 beginning October 1st 2025 and ending September 30th 2026 943 01:09:11,840 --> 01:09:15,660 for the original CRA area providing for severability and providing an effective 944 01:09:15,660 --> 01:09:16,000 date. 945 01:09:21,170 --> 01:09:23,370 Do we have a motion or 946 01:09:25,540 --> 01:09:27,680 do I need public comment on this or can we just get 947 01:09:27,680 --> 01:09:35,260 a motion to approve and then you'll need public second motion second all 948 01:09:35,260 --> 01:09:35,480 All in favor? 949 01:09:36,140 --> 01:09:36,440 Aye. 950 01:09:36,740 --> 01:09:37,140 All right. 951 01:09:37,200 --> 01:09:37,580 Public input. 952 01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:38,300 Oh, public input. 953 01:09:38,620 --> 01:09:39,520 Sorry about that, guys. 954 01:09:40,080 --> 01:09:40,840 Public input. 955 01:09:41,160 --> 01:09:41,740 Anyone on my right? 956 01:09:42,300 --> 01:09:43,160 Anyone on my left? 957 01:09:43,880 --> 01:09:44,080 Good. 958 01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:46,600 It's a roll call vote. 959 01:09:46,600 --> 01:09:47,220 Roll call vote. 960 01:09:47,380 --> 01:09:47,520 Thank you. 961 01:09:47,560 --> 01:09:47,720 All right. 962 01:09:48,100 --> 01:09:49,280 So your voting is Board Members. 963 01:09:49,400 --> 01:09:50,100 Board Member Earhart? 964 01:09:50,620 --> 01:09:50,940 Aye. 965 01:09:51,240 --> 01:09:51,680 McKethan? 966 01:09:51,940 --> 01:09:52,180 Aye. 967 01:09:52,380 --> 01:09:52,660 Hallell? 968 01:09:52,960 --> 01:09:53,240 Aye. 969 01:09:54,380 --> 01:09:54,860 Tanner? 970 01:09:55,020 --> 01:09:55,240 Aye. 971 01:09:55,740 --> 01:09:56,360 Chair Bronson? 972 01:09:56,600 --> 01:09:56,760 Aye. 973 01:09:59,360 --> 01:10:00,200 Motion passes. 974 01:10:01,460 --> 01:10:06,900 C3, CRA Budget Resolution 2025-02 for Sierra Expanded 975 01:10:06,900 --> 01:10:12,320 boundaries established in 2023. Presentation. I'll go ahead and read it by head in the twenty 976 01:10:12,320 --> 01:10:16,600 five oh two resolution adopting the annual budget for the city of Brooksville Community 977 01:10:16,600 --> 01:10:21,340 Redevelopment Agency for fiscal year twenty twenty five beginning for beginning October 978 01:10:21,340 --> 01:10:25,660 first twenty twenty five and ending September thirtieth twenty twenty six for the expanded 979 01:10:25,660 --> 01:10:32,420 Sierra area providing for severability and providing an effective date to approve 980 01:10:32,420 --> 01:10:42,460 second all in favor public input oh public input sorry seeing none roll call 981 01:10:42,460 --> 01:10:46,200 the so you're putting it again as board members board member McKeith and I 982 01:10:46,200 --> 01:10:50,940 you're hard I howl I Tanner and Bronson I 983 01:10:53,920 --> 01:10:59,120 motion passes citizens input limited to 984 01:10:59,120 --> 01:11:01,320 three minutes per speaker seeing 985 01:11:03,460 --> 01:11:05,220 none response by city manager staff and 986 01:11:05,220 --> 01:11:06,920 CRA members seeing 987 01:11:09,160 --> 01:11:13,700 none items by attorney nothing thank you items by the 988 01:11:13,700 --> 01:11:15,100 city manager nothing thank you 989 01:11:19,870 --> 01:11:22,530 we already said items by CRA board members 990 01:11:22,530 --> 01:11:30,880 but it's there in age items by the CRA board members again motion adjourn all 991 01:11:30,880 --> 01:11:32,440 in favor okay 992 01:11:38,320 --> 01:11:41,860 we're now reconvening as the city council we are still in our 993 01:11:41,860 --> 01:11:48,300 special budget hearing we're now moving into citizens input of that special 994 01:11:48,300 --> 01:11:51,680 budget hearing anyone on my right hand side wishing to speak 995 01:11:52,820 --> 01:11:55,880 Seeing none anyone on my left hand side wishing to speak 996 01:11:57,130 --> 01:12:00,930 Seeing none response by city manager staffer council 997 01:12:02,910 --> 01:12:05,070 Hearing none items by city attorney 998 01:12:06,510 --> 01:12:07,970 Items by city manager 999 01:12:09,590 --> 01:12:11,910 Items by council we 1000 01:12:14,820 --> 01:12:17,740 are going to adjourn our special meeting at 1001 01:12:19,020 --> 01:12:23,440 730 we will reconvene for our regular scheduled city council meeting 1002 01:12:23,440 --> 01:12:24,140 Thank you.