[6:20] involved the entire time

[6:23] Hello. Good evening, everybody.

[6:27] Thank you so much for coming

[6:30] out to our 2027 budget meeting.

[6:31] >> I appreciate you being here.

[6:33] It's more important this year

[6:34] than any year that I've been on

[6:36] city council to have public

[6:36] engagement in our budget

[6:39] process because it is such a

[6:40] tough budget year and councils

[6:44] really wrestling with what we

[6:45] cut and what we keep too to bad

[6:46] thread that needle of providing

[6:47] you the level of service you

[6:50] deserve while also minimizing

[6:55] any potential ad rate increases

[6:56] to their tax bill. So know that

[6:57] we are still wrestling with

[6:59] this budget. So if there's

[6:59] something in it, you see the

[7:00] night that you have concerns

[7:02] about our questions now is your

[7:03] opportunity to voice that to us

[7:05] because we are still in the

[7:07] process of mold in this budget.

[7:08] Again, thank you all so much

[7:09] for coming out. We really are

[7:10] depending on the feedback we

[7:11] get this year more so than ever

[7:15] to make sure we're providing

[7:16] that adequate budget for the

[7:16] city. And we give you what you

[7:18] want in this tough year.

[7:20] And so with that, the man who's

[7:23] made it all happen, MR. Jay

[7:29] Chapa, thank you.

[7:30] Thank you. Council woman.

[7:31] >> Good evening. Thank you all

[7:31] for being here. Really

[7:34] appreciate you all taking the

[7:35] time out of your day.

[7:36] To come to this meeting.

[7:38] And we've had years in the past

[7:39] where we have these meetings,

[7:40] we have like 25 staffers and

[7:41] like 2 people show up. So it's

[7:44] really good to a good crowd

[7:46] I'm gonna turn it over here in

[7:49] a minute to Kristin Simmons.

[7:51] Our street chief's trip

[7:53] strategy. Officer she's over

[7:55] are what we call a forward lab.

[7:56] It's a lot of data and numbers

[7:57] the cut. They had no budget and

[8:00] data analytics. All those type

[8:00] of things and children through

[8:02] a presentation. But I want to

[8:03] start off by just a little

[8:06] protection as was mentioned.

[8:07] This is a tough this year.

[8:08] And from a budget perspective

[8:13] for the city and and probably

[8:15] about. 13 or 14 years. I was

[8:15] here when we had to deal with

[8:19] the downturn of the economy

[8:19] did too 2008 and the whole

[8:21] mortgage issues and those kind

[8:22] of things and those are pretty

[8:25] pretty tough budget years as

[8:25] well.

[8:29] This year's not as drastic.

[8:29] And I think we've come up with

[8:31] a hopefully you'll see with a

[8:32] happy medium. What's being

[8:35] proposed, what you're going to

[8:35] see tonight is the proposed

[8:36] budget to the city council from

[8:36] the city manager. And of

[8:40] course, my staff that's

[8:41] involved.

[8:43] It is. We have to balance the

[8:45] budget in Texas. We can't do

[8:46] the deficit budgets that they

[8:46] do at the federal level rights

[8:47] and local government. We have

[8:49] to come up with a balanced

[8:51] budget. So you'll see that all

[8:52] of the budget to balance the

[8:54] city is basically a

[8:57] conglomerate. A whole lot of

[8:58] different businesses.

[8:59] And one of the things that

[9:01] happens, people especially

[9:02] talking about the general fund.

[9:05] People. Look at the issue with

[9:06] the general Fund and

[9:06] they see that and they say will

[9:10] like like you to take some of

[9:10] that other money. And move it

[9:13] and pay for police or pay for

[9:15] fire pay for.

[9:16] Community centers. And it's

[9:19] because you can't it's it's

[9:20] legal issues. So the aviation,

[9:22] for instance, their revenues

[9:24] have to stay with aviation

[9:26] golf, their revenue. Stay with

[9:27] golf. The water Department

[9:29] utility water stays that

[9:29] revenue stays with the the

[9:31] utilities. We don't have any

[9:33] issues really in those areas.

[9:34] The general fund where we have

[9:36] the issues and it's really tied

[9:39] to a property tax values, our

[9:41] property values overall.

[9:41] With that in mind, I'm gonna

[9:44] turn it over to Christine and

[9:44] she does a great job of of kind

[9:48] of breaking it down going

[9:48] through the whole process.

[9:49] The majority, the discussions

[9:49] on the general fund because

[9:52] that's usually what folks want

[9:53] to talk about. But as you go

[9:54] along, if you have a question

[9:54] that she's going to slide to

[9:56] raise your hand, we'll bring

[9:57] you a bike. So you can ask your

[9:58] question. This is being live

[10:00] streamed and it's also being

[10:02] recorded so that anybody can

[10:06] go back and look at it. This

[10:06] is the 4th. 4th of our 10

[10:08] public meetings. We're having

[10:12] one in each district. And so

[10:12] if you if you

[10:15] MISS It and come back, you can

[10:15] tell folks that, you know, that

[10:17] could make when they can look

[10:17] online and looking at any of

[10:19] those as well. So I'm gonna

[10:22] turn over to Kristen and thank

[10:25] you again for being a.

[10:32] >> I don't need that. I used to

[10:33] going her own because I'm so

[10:34] short and that's why I can

[10:35] stand behind the podium either.

[10:35] I can be back there. You can

[10:38] even see me. I'll be like this

[10:40] talking to you.

[10:43] I know. Yeah, like hello.

[10:45] I'm from

[10:45] the government. Okay. So I but

[10:49] I do have to like sort of refer

[10:51] to my my thing here.

[10:51] All right. So I'm like I said,

[10:52] my name is Christine Simmons

[10:55] and the director of the Fort

[10:58] Worth Lab Data, Budget

[10:59] performance for the city.

[11:00] And it's my pleasure to present

[11:01] the budget to yutan. I'll try

[11:02] to keep it interesting week

[11:05] night budget. Thank you so much

[11:06] for coming.

[11:07] >> Like the council member and

[11:08] Jay both mentioned your

[11:08] engagement in this process is

[11:12] really valued and important in

[11:12] the budget is not totally

[11:14] fully, you know, done. We've

[11:14] proposed it. And now it's in

[11:17] kind of council deliberations

[11:18] stage. So your feedback is very

[11:21] welcome. And if any of you

[11:23] participated in our earlier a

[11:24] budget priority survey or any

[11:26] of the bond stuff. We always

[11:26] appreciate your engagement

[11:28] through the city's engagement

[11:29] processes. So thank you for

[11:30] being here in week night and

[11:33] for listening to our

[11:35] presentation.

[11:36] So we've kind of start with

[11:38] like high-level themes and

[11:39] every budget years, a little

[11:41] different. This year's kind of

[11:43] theme that emerges really about

[11:44] the fact that the city's growth

[11:46] in population and all the

[11:47] businesses that are coming

[11:50] here, people moving here is not

[11:51] necessarily translating to

[11:55] growth in property values in

[11:55] property tax revenue. And

[11:56] that's primarily because of

[11:57] the tear an appraisal district

[12:01] in the activities that that are

[12:02] under way there. So the city

[12:04] sits in 4 different appraisal

[12:04] districts. But by and large,

[12:06] you know, most of our revenue

[12:08] comes from Tehran about 92%.

[12:10] And some of you MAY know that

[12:12] they adopted a reappraisal plan

[12:13] a couple of years ago where

[12:15] they're only appraising

[12:17] residential property every

[12:17] other year. And we knew that

[12:20] and we're kind of planning for

[12:20] that in our expenses. Don't

[12:22] follow like in every other year

[12:22] cycle that way. But, you know,

[12:26] we can sort of project how that

[12:28] will go. But the situation was

[12:29] worse than we anticipated this

[12:31] year. We're in our second year

[12:32] of frozen values. And we're

[12:35] just seeing historic levels

[12:36] of mid-year value. Lawson

[12:39] protests being granted at that

[12:41] had level. And so we've

[12:42] projected for a 49 million

[12:43] dollar gap. And then when we

[12:44] got our certified values from

[12:47] Tad, which happened at the end

[12:48] of JULY, we're up to like a

[12:50] 78 million dollar Israeli were

[12:51] sent or worse case scenario.

[12:56] Historic value lost between

[12:57] APRIL and JULY and really all

[12:58] the taxing entities in Tarrant

[13:00] County are looking at are

[13:01] similar patterns. And so we

[13:02] kind of had to we had the

[13:03] budget pretty well balanced and

[13:07] had to go back to the drawing

[13:09] board a bit. So really looking

[13:10] at reductions that we feel are

[13:12] equitable and prioritize the

[13:14] things that are important to us

[13:15] residents and to city council.

[13:17] And you'll see a lot of focus

[13:19] on public safety in this budget

[13:21] because, you know, every time

[13:22] we do a priority Surveyor

[13:22] community survey, public

[13:25] safety, police and fire is

[13:27] always at the top. And so this

[13:28] budget does prioritize those

[13:29] services and other key city

[13:31] services. So we'll walk through

[13:32] a little bit of what we're

[13:33] adding and what we had to

[13:35] reduce to balance the revenue

[13:37] and expenditures.

[13:39] One graph that we added that

[13:40] MAY help you see kind of what

[13:42] Terrence doing compared to

[13:43] Dallas and Collin County.

[13:45] This is average taxable home

[13:48] value over the last few years.

[13:50] So you can see Terrence on the

[13:51] bottom and then you'll see

[13:51] Dallas and Collin. Let's see.

[13:54] Dallas is the light blue line

[13:56] Collins,

[13:57] the yellow. So he'll see that

[13:58] we're just kind of in a

[13:58] different situation here in

[14:03] Tarrant County. Has the value

[14:05] falls from this clear? 26 to

[14:06] 27. And so that's what you'll

[14:07] see later in the presentation

[14:09] that even with the proposed tax

[14:11] rate increase, actually the tax

[14:12] bill for the average home goes

[14:13] down because as the value

[14:15] falls, even when you apply a

[14:18] tax rate increase, you're still

[14:19] coming out slightly on top.

[14:20] So just a unique situation.

[14:21] But you can see Dallas and

[14:21] Collin County, they're growing

[14:22] just like parent, but their

[14:25] values are reflecting the hours

[14:25] are not necessarily reflecting

[14:28] that on the residential side.

[14:32] All right. We'll get into some

[14:33] numbers. So the total operating

[14:34] budget for the city of Fort

[14:38] Worth is 3.3, 2 billion dollars

[14:40] for fiscal year. 27. That

[14:41] includes all operating not just

[14:42] the general fund. We will focus

[14:45] a bit on the general fund here

[14:46] in a moment.

[14:49] But here's kind of a car like a

[14:50] nerdy finance table of the

[14:53] budget. So current year fiscal

[14:55] year, 26, you'll see 3.1

[14:58] billion dollars growing by

[15:00] about 7.5% to fiscal year.

[15:02] 20 Seven's 3.3, 2 billion

[15:02] dollars. And you see the kind

[15:04] of different, you know,

[15:04] grossing a little bit of

[15:05] reductions here and there.

[15:09] But general Fund is the biggest

[15:10] of the operating funds, a

[15:11] growing its are taking up about

[15:13] a 3rd of the operating budget.

[15:14] The next category. That's the

[15:16] biggest operating as is

[15:17] enterprise funds. And we'll

[15:20] talk about in a little bit.

[15:21] But enterprise funds are fun to

[15:21] operate more like a business.

[15:23] So they're not funded by

[15:24] property taxes. They're funded

[15:28] by rates and fees of those who

[15:30] use the Think of like water,

[15:32] solid waste, those kinds of

[15:34] things. And then the 3rd

[15:35] biggest operating category, a

[15:36] special revenue funds so that

[15:39] when you might be most familiar

[15:40] with is ccpd so special revenue

[15:43] funds are funds that have like

[15:45] a dedicated revenue sources

[15:46] restricted for a specific

[15:49] purpose. So ccpd funded by a

[15:52] half-cent sales tax restricted

[15:53] to crime control and prevention

[15:54] activities. And we'll get some

[15:55] more examples later. But those

[15:58] are kind of the big 3 of the

[16:01] operating funds.

[16:03] So when we walked through

[16:05] counsel, well, that the

[16:06] recommended budget with council

[16:06] on the 11th and you're more

[16:09] than welcome to go and watch

[16:11] that. If you'd like, we talked

[16:11] about sort of the whole budget

[16:14] process and we looked like

[16:15] thing by thing by thing.

[16:17] So this is a summary of that

[16:18] story. But I wanted to share it

[16:19] just because I think it can be

[16:22] helpful knowing what the city

[16:23] did to get to what you're

[16:25] seeing today. So we knew like

[16:27] I mentioned because of a

[16:28] property tax issues that we

[16:31] were facing a gap between our

[16:31] revenues and expenditures.

[16:34] And so from the beginning, when

[16:36] we start the budget process in

[16:37] MARCH and APRIL, we asked

[16:40] departments to reduce their

[16:40] budgets by one percent.

[16:41] So we actually deliver them a

[16:42] target budget. That was already

[16:44] one percent reduced from the

[16:47] current year. That got us about

[16:49] 7.8 million dollars in savings.

[16:52] So just some initial belt

[16:52] tightening there. And then that

[16:54] continued because we asked them

[16:57] also to submit an additional

[16:59] 3% reduction for their

[17:01] department. That came in a

[17:02] number of packages and ideas.

[17:03] Unlike program reductions in

[17:04] all kinds of things,

[17:05] departments do a lot of

[17:07] different things to get there.

[17:10] And so we did take a lot of

[17:11] those 3% reductions in that

[17:13] garnered us about 14 and a half

[17:15] million more dollars in

[17:15] savings. So those things

[17:20] happened early in the APRIL MAY

[17:21] and JUNE and then we're getting

[17:23] pretty close to balancing the

[17:23] budget with some other

[17:24] strategies along the way.

[17:25] But then, like I mentioned at

[17:27] the end of JULY, we got those

[17:27] tad values and we had to go

[17:31] back to the drawing board for

[17:33] some even deeper cuts. So some

[17:34] of the 3% reductions that we

[17:34] didn't, you know, feel like

[17:38] we're the best idea. We then

[17:39] did take those ideas and and

[17:40] continue to look at other

[17:42] strategies like reducing

[17:43] employee pay for performance

[17:44] and looking at revenue

[17:46] increases that we had maybe

[17:47] looked at yet. And then at the

[17:48] end of the day, we were still

[17:52] facing nearly a 40 million

[17:53] dollar gap. 36.9 million.

[17:53] And that's when the city

[17:55] manager made the decision to

[17:57] propose a tax rate increase

[17:58] to sort of better reflect the

[17:58] need with all these kind of

[18:04] tad issues that we're having.

[18:06] The tax rate increases. 3.2

[18:07] cents, not percent to keep

[18:12] saying percent a sense. So

[18:12] current year, 67 dot us nc per

[18:16] $100 valuation. And then next

[18:16] year, be 70.0, $0.02 And we'll

[18:17] show you in a bit kind of how

[18:20] that stacks up on the the bill.

[18:23] And for those of you who MAY

[18:24] have been at budget

[18:25] presentations before you might

[18:25] be familiar with kind of how

[18:29] the property tax rate breaks

[18:30] down deluxe plane. So this

[18:31] 70.0, $0.02 kind of splits into

[18:34] 2. The first is operating on

[18:36] the top. There. And then in

[18:37] Fort Worth, we further split

[18:39] that amount into just

[18:41] operations on the top. $0.48

[18:42] That is what funds the general

[18:43] fund so think about like the

[18:48] city's main operating fund for

[18:49] police and fire parks and

[18:50] libraries. Transportation.

[18:51] And then that part that says

[18:55] Capital is 7 and a quarter cent

[18:56] for capital maintenance.

[18:57] We use cash or pay go pay as

[18:58] you go capital to fund some

[19:01] of that capital maintenance

[19:02] rather than doing in debt.

[19:02] And in the bottom portion of

[19:04] the tax rate to 14, 75 is the

[19:08] actual debt, a portion of the

[19:10] tax rate. And so like if you

[19:10] came to any of the bond

[19:11] meetings, that was the right

[19:13] guy. We said we're not going to

[19:14] increase that. That rate with

[19:17] the 2026 bonds. You can see

[19:17] it remains the same. But we do

[19:20] have to keep it because we have

[19:21] to support her. Our current

[19:24] debt to that includes the end

[19:25] of the 2018 2022 bond programs.

[19:28] And then the 2026 bond payment

[19:31] go program going forward.

[19:31] So City Council has 5 strategic

[19:33] priority. So we kind of like to

[19:37] talk about the budget in terms

[19:38] of those. So first being

[19:40] community safety. Again, this

[19:42] is where a lot of the budget

[19:43] focuses because this is the

[19:44] number one priority of most

[19:45] residents when we when we

[19:49] survey and certainly councils

[19:50] a priority as well. And so

[19:51] police and fire get the lion's

[19:51] share of the growth in this

[19:55] budget. You'll see that in a

[19:55] moment as well. The one kind

[19:56] of out calling an elimination.

[20:00] But it's really like a pivot

[20:02] of services. There's a 4 person

[20:03] team right now in the fire

[20:04] department that does homeless

[20:06] outreach and prevention and

[20:07] education. Those our those are

[20:10] dual role, firefighters.

[20:11] So they're actually

[20:11] firefighters who are trained in

[20:12] fire suppression, but they're

[20:14] not doing those duties. They're

[20:16] doing the hope duties full

[20:17] time. So this budget proposes

[20:21] moving those people back to

[20:23] fire suppression and then

[20:23] continuing the hope activities

[20:24] through a mobile integrated

[20:28] health team that the city

[20:28] acquired when we started and

[20:30] working with MedStar when we

[20:33] acquired ems. And so it doesn't

[20:35] stop the services. But it

[20:37] returns the firefighters to

[20:38] firefighting and therefore

[20:39] saves the overtime. That's cars

[20:40] when they're not doing that and

[20:41] still have to like staff a fire

[20:42] truck. So that's one thing

[20:45] that's a little different in

[20:47] the fire budget. We also added

[20:48] funding for fire overtime in

[20:49] fleet to better reflect their

[20:52] actual spending in their

[20:53] contractual obligations.

[20:56] On the police side, we added

[20:58] 76 patrol officers. So we

[20:59] continually look at police

[21:00] staffing to make sure that

[21:00] they're keeping up with a

[21:02] growing, you know, growing need

[21:03] growing city. And so when we

[21:06] revamped their staffing study

[21:08] this year, we determined that

[21:08] in order to continue the

[21:10] meeting response, time goals

[21:10] and pro activity goals that

[21:13] they did need some additional

[21:15] support in patrol. This budget

[21:17] also changes 30 patrol officers

[21:19] to corporals, which is like the

[21:21] next rank up out in the

[21:21] community. That's because in

[21:24] the city of Fort Worth right

[21:24] now, if you're a patrol officer

[21:27] and you want to be promoted,

[21:28] you actually have to leave

[21:30] patrol and go be a detective

[21:31] or like a corporal in a

[21:32] specialized unit. And so a lot

[21:33] of times people don't like

[21:33] really go back to patroller

[21:36] takes a long time for them to

[21:37] go back and do this. Allows for

[21:39] a good promotional path in

[21:40] patrol and allows us corporate

[21:42] also to train new officers in a

[21:43] more consistent way. So we're

[21:46] excited about that opportunity

[21:49] and police.

[21:51] And then emergency management

[21:51] and communications. This budget

[21:54] fully funds the Axon 9-1-1,

[21:56] program which we piloted this

[21:58] year. That is assistive called

[22:00] taking technology for

[22:01] non-emergency calls. So if you

[22:01] call with a non-emergency, your

[22:04] call gets triage short of with

[22:05] the help of technology. And

[22:09] so it saves some workload on

[22:10] the like human called takers to

[22:11] deal with some of the more

[22:12] complex 9-1-1, emergency calls.

[22:14] So they've been really happy

[22:15] with that program. And so this

[22:18] budget, fully funds that one.

[22:22] All right. Moving right along

[22:23] here on the infrastructure

[22:24] side. I mentioned that pago

[22:27] portion of the tax rate being

[22:28] 7 in a quarter cents. So we

[22:30] did maintain that investment.

[22:30] We certainly don't want to

[22:33] decrease our investment in

[22:34] capital and maintenance.

[22:36] However, remember that as our

[22:37] values full 7 and a quarter

[22:39] since doesn't produce the same

[22:41] revenue that it produced this

[22:42] year. So we see a corresponding

[22:46] reduction in the pay go budget.

[22:47] 2.8 million dollars is what we

[22:48] see. And so that's a little

[22:51] bit of a decrease. But keeping

[22:53] the tax rate static.

[22:53] Reduction spread across a lot

[22:56] of the different peco bucket.

[22:57] So it's not necessarily in in

[22:58] one spot, but there is there is

[23:01] one program that it's sort of

[23:01] like you can you'll be able

[23:03] to see it. It's a neighborhood

[23:03] services, but I'm going to

[23:06] explain kind of why that's not

[23:08] a reduction in service, but it

[23:09] it really maintains the

[23:09] investment in transportation

[23:11] and public works there pretty

[23:12] much flat actually growing a

[23:13] tad and same with parks are

[23:16] kind of pretty much flat.

[23:16] So when you think about capital

[23:17] maintenance for transportation

[23:18] and parks, those aren't really

[23:20] affected by that reduction.

[23:23] This budget also authorizes

[23:23] the pavement management fee.

[23:25] You might have heard this

[23:26] called the street maintenance

[23:27] fee. We're sort of updating

[23:29] that nomenclature as we go

[23:31] forward to better reflect that.

[23:31] The point of the program, is it

[23:34] really just to maintain streets

[23:35] and go fix things? Reactive

[23:36] Lee, but who managed the full

[23:38] life cycle of pavement like

[23:40] from start to finish and sold

[23:42] more proactive naming there.

[23:44] You won't start to see that

[23:45] fee in fiscal year 27, but it

[23:45] just enables us to continue to

[23:48] work toward that

[23:51] implementation.

[23:51] And then this budget also

[23:54] continues water significant

[23:54] capital program. So with water

[23:55] being a regional utility, they

[23:58] have tons of capital investment

[24:00] going on a cast iron

[24:00] replacement in the Marias Creek

[24:03] facility. And so this budget

[24:07] also continues that work.

[24:08] Community investment. So here's

[24:10] where some of our addictions

[24:12] come in that have been

[24:12] particularly sort of painful to

[24:15] talk about. And the council has

[24:15] certainly have questions on.

[24:16] Remember that a lot of our

[24:17] general fund budget is tied to

[24:19] public safety. And so when you

[24:21] talk about community

[24:22] investment, you still see

[24:23] public-facing activities like

[24:25] code and libraries and parks.

[24:26] But those are also the areas

[24:29] that have sustained some

[24:30] reductions in this budget

[24:31] because of that prioritization

[24:32] of public safety. And so our

[24:34] attempts here really to

[24:37] minimize service level impacts

[24:40] but still have to balance the

[24:40] budget. So our original

[24:41] recommended budget recommended

[24:43] closing the Alliance PetSmart

[24:45] Adoption Center, which son the

[24:47] northern part of Fort Worth.

[24:49] It's a off-site adoption center

[24:50] and council. I'll tell you on

[24:51] Tuesday if you didn't tune in,

[24:52] they they most of them said

[24:53] like We don't we don't love

[24:55] that. And so we're looking at

[24:57] some other options so that we

[24:58] don't lose associate grant

[24:58] funding or affect our live

[25:01] release rate, which was really

[25:02] high this year. And so that one

[25:05] is being kind a reworked now.

[25:08] Neighborhood services has a

[25:09] priority repair program.

[25:10] It's a 2 and a half million

[25:10] dollar program. And then as

[25:12] another 2 million dollars in

[25:15] grant funding. So this is a

[25:17] 75,000 read Dollar Reduction,

[25:18] which is a 3% reduction in the

[25:20] in the peco portion of that

[25:22] program. It's not great to

[25:23] reduce that program. It's

[25:23] highly used for repairs.

[25:25] People kind of apply and then

[25:27] they can have home repairs done

[25:29] to keep them in their home.

[25:32] But it's not an elimination by

[25:33] any means either.

[25:36] The mobile tool shed program

[25:36] comes out of code compliance

[25:37] in. We actually piloted that

[25:40] last year and invested more in

[25:41] it this year. So therefore,

[25:43] people working that program

[25:44] right now they deliver tools

[25:46] like lawn mowers and weed

[25:47] eaters and those kinds of

[25:48] things out to neighborhoods in

[25:53] order to help people comply

[25:53] with the code issues. And so

[25:54] again, we don't want to

[25:55] eliminate that program, but we

[25:56] are reducing it by one person

[25:59] in order to balance the budget.

[26:03] Let's see the neighborhood

[26:03] improvement program. This is a

[26:04] program. I mention that it's

[26:05] going to look like we're

[26:08] reducing, but it's a little

[26:10] tricky. So in a neighborhood

[26:11] improvement program costs about

[26:12] 4 million dollars to do one

[26:13] neighborhood. And it takes 3

[26:16] years to sort of implement the

[26:17] whole program. So the first

[26:17] year is usually planning with

[26:20] the neighborhood, all the

[26:22] activities

[26:23] that will be underway over the

[26:25] delivery of the program.

[26:25] So the neighborhood comes

[26:26] together and with the city

[26:28] staff and they say, you know,

[26:30] we need sidewalks here. We need

[26:31] cameras here and a light MAY be

[26:34] a signal or like a street light

[26:36] or something. And and then

[26:38] here's 2, 3 are like doing the

[26:40] plan. And so what we've done

[26:41] in in help helping to balance

[26:42] the budget and also to kind

[26:45] of phase the delivery of those

[26:46] programs. Better and is instead

[26:47] of funding the whole 4 million

[26:48] right up front. We're funding

[26:50] that 1 million dollars of

[26:52] planning activities in year.

[26:53] One knowing that in years, 2,

[26:55] 3 will then match the budget to

[26:58] the activities for those years.

[26:59] And so it's more right-sizing.

[26:59] What's really It also help

[27:05] happens to help balance peco

[27:08] this year, too. What c?

[27:09] Economic development is the

[27:11] other read a second to last

[27:13] year to chick priority. So

[27:14] right now, the general fund

[27:17] trance for years about

[27:20] 5 million dollars a year to an

[27:21] economic development

[27:22] initiatives fund. And so that

[27:24] fund does have a balance in it.

[27:25] The strategy behind that fund

[27:26] is to be able to it, you know,

[27:28] attract business and we don't

[27:28] have a 4 year for be sales tax

[27:30] and Fort Worth like some of our

[27:32] competitor cities, our

[27:34] dedicated sales tax goes to

[27:35] ccpd. So this is sort of the

[27:37] cities like hybrid solution

[27:40] for having cash on hand and

[27:43] that way. But that fund does

[27:43] have a balance in it. So we

[27:44] thought will reduce that

[27:47] transfer from the General fund

[27:48] this year. It helps to balance

[27:49] the budget. Keep a little bit

[27:50] of a transfer going out to its

[27:54] going from 5 million to just

[27:55] 500,000. We didn't want to

[27:55] reduce it all together. So

[27:58] hopefully that can grow again

[27:59] in the future.

[28:02] But in economic development, we

[28:02] do continue our partnership

[28:04] with the local chambers and

[28:05] continued to implement the

[28:07] small business program that's

[28:09] really under way this year.

[28:10] It also transitions management

[28:11] of the Will Rogers Memorial

[28:13] complex system of you MAY know

[28:17] that's moving to a 3rd party

[28:17] management agreement and then

[28:19] an economic development we do

[28:20] at a position to support

[28:21] neighborhood revitalization in

[28:24] our targeted areas for those

[28:26] those efforts.

[28:27] And then responsible growth.

[28:28] This is one of those categories

[28:29] like a lot of things can fall

[28:32] under responsible Grosso tried

[28:33] to highlight a couple of things

[28:36] here. And so we will continue

[28:36] to replace vehicles and

[28:37] equipment that will just using

[28:38] a bit of a different funding

[28:40] strategy for those rather than

[28:41] doing them in the general fund.

[28:44] We'll do them in available debt

[28:45] capacity through tax notes.

[28:47] Also, we've experienced as a

[28:48] city rising cost of health

[28:49] claims. As I mean, I think

[28:52] that's happening all over the

[28:54] place. And so we did not want

[28:55] to pass that cost on to our

[28:57] employees. So the employer

[28:59] contributions to the group

[29:00] Health Fund for the city have

[29:01] grown. So when you see

[29:01] departments budgets growing a

[29:03] bit, it's because we're having

[29:05] to right-size some of that

[29:08] fund. We continue to provide

[29:09] support for public information

[29:10] process is that are state

[29:12] required. We see our open

[29:13] records request growing and so

[29:16] this budget continues to

[29:17] provide support for that

[29:21] function. We talked a little

[29:22] bit about the inflationary

[29:22] increases, including vehicles

[29:23] and maintenance and fuel.

[29:26] So the city experiences that

[29:29] just like Holmes do. And so I

[29:29] think I mentioned we added some

[29:30] funds to fire fleet for those,

[29:30] but that's kind of a theme

[29:33] across a lot of departments.

[29:36] We'll talk a bit more about

[29:38] fee structures and then for

[29:39] this building in the attached

[29:40] parking lot and garage, we

[29:43] reduced our maintenance budgets

[29:45] for for that.

[29:47] All right. So those are the

[29:48] highlights. And the general

[29:49] fund is where will focus for

[29:53] just a few more sides. 1.1,

[29:53] 5 billion dollars here is

[29:55] revenue and expenditures you

[29:56] can see on the bottom were

[29:59] presenting a balanced budget

[30:00] and the general fund as

[30:01] required revenue. We've talked

[30:02] a little bit about the property

[30:05] tax issues that we're having.

[30:06] Sales tax is the other big

[30:07] revenue source. So property and

[30:09] sales tax together about 80%

[30:10] of the general fund. So we are

[30:14] seeing good growth in sales

[30:15] tax. About 5% growth projected

[30:15] for next year, which helps a

[30:17] little bit with the property

[30:18] tax issues. And so we'll

[30:21] continue to watch in forecast

[30:23] that carefully. And then on

[30:23] the expenditure side about 70%

[30:26] of the general fund to salary

[30:27] and benefits. And a lot of

[30:30] that, of course, is police and

[30:33] fire. But about 4.6% growth

[30:35] there in the general fund.

[30:35] And here's a view of the

[30:37] departments that are in the

[30:39] general fund. And so these are

[30:42] in alphabetical order and you

[30:43] can see the growth like not

[30:44] growth. The increases and

[30:46] decreases are kind of all over

[30:47] the place across the general

[30:48] fund. And so I'm going to show

[30:52] you a different graphic here in

[30:54] a moment. But again, we're

[30:55] growing about 4.6%, very

[30:56] similar growth to last year.

[30:57] Actually, I was surprised when

[30:58] I saw that because it feels

[31:00] like such a different budget

[31:01] year. It's just that the growth

[31:01] in revenue you're like very,

[31:04] very differently spread than

[31:06] last year. I think so. We have

[31:06] some modest growth in many

[31:10] departments and some pretty

[31:13] big reductions and others.

[31:14] This is a I think, a helpful

[31:15] graphic for some that

[31:18] communications created. And

[31:18] this just sort of re emphasizes

[31:19] what Jay was talking about.

[31:22] And what I mentioned a couple

[31:23] times about our total budget

[31:24] and then how we kind of narrow

[31:27] it to where the reductions can

[31:28] really come from. So on the

[31:30] left-hand side is the total

[31:31] operating budget. 3.3 billion

[31:34] dollars. The general fund being

[31:35] about a 3rd of that and most of

[31:36] those other funds on the left

[31:38] are restricted to certain

[31:40] purposes. So like Jay

[31:42] mentioned, you know, water, you

[31:43] can use water for like a police

[31:44] short fall in the general fund.

[31:44] And you can't, you know, use

[31:46] aviation for anything that's on

[31:48] aviation or faa. You know,

[31:50] approved in that kind of thing.

[31:52] So in the middle, you have the

[31:56] actual general fund and that's

[31:58] 57% public safety. So police

[31:59] fire emergency management and

[32:00] communications. So when you

[32:04] talk about budget reductions

[32:06] and you are prioritizing public

[32:06] safety and you can't reduce

[32:07] their budgets because of their

[32:09] contractual, you know, labor

[32:09] agreements and obligations.

[32:11] Then where can your reductions

[32:14] come from? And that's what's on

[32:16] the right hand side. So every

[32:17] other general fund department.

[32:20] And so that's why you see some

[32:20] of those reductions in

[32:23] community investment, right

[32:27] when we saw that priority.

[32:28] Here's another view of

[32:29] department increases and

[32:32] decreases in next year's

[32:33] budget.

[32:33] Cc Fire, a gun fire police kind

[32:36] of taking the lion's share of

[32:38] where where we are growing and

[32:39] most of these are contractual

[32:41] obligations again, with fire in

[32:43] police's labor agreements.

[32:45] And they're scheduled pay

[32:48] raises on the fireside. This

[32:48] also includes the subsidy to

[32:50] ems. So some of you remember,

[32:54] we took over ems services,

[32:54] JULY, first of 2025, that fund

[32:56] and and function is not fully

[32:58] self supporting at this time.

[32:59] We would love for it to be.

[32:59] I think we have staff working

[33:03] on that and trying to close the

[33:04] gap. But right now General Fund

[33:05] is still supporting the ems

[33:08] function by about 30 million

[33:09] dollars. So that growth was,

[33:12] but in a fire department's

[33:13] budget this year.

[33:14] And we have a place holder for

[33:17] their new labor agreement which

[33:18] is under negotiation. And

[33:18] again, we added some funding

[33:21] to for fleet and over time.

[33:24] Police is almost all growth

[33:26] from just their scheduled pay

[33:28] raises. They they have a big

[33:29] budget. And so those pay raises

[33:30] out up year over year, they're

[33:33] in active labor contract right

[33:34] now.

[33:36] And then the 3rd kind of

[33:36] growing department is the other

[33:38] public safety department, which

[33:40] is emergency management and

[33:41] communications and part of

[33:41] their growth is that acts on

[33:44] pilot that I mentioned. That's

[33:45] assistive called taking.

[33:49] Go through the bottom 3, 2, So

[33:50] very bottom is property

[33:52] management and that reduction

[33:54] is really just the movement of

[33:55] vehicles and equipment

[33:57] replacement out of the general

[33:58] fund into tax notes. So it

[33:58] looks like a big reduction, but

[34:01] it's just a different funding

[34:03] strategy. There.

[34:04] Economic development, that

[34:05] reduction is pretty much all

[34:07] tied to the reduction in that

[34:08] transfer out to the

[34:09] initiatives. Fund kind were

[34:11] mentioned. We're taking a pause

[34:12] on that transfer this year.

[34:14] And and then the other one is

[34:17] neighborhood services and

[34:18] that's tied to that phased

[34:19] delivery of the neighborhood

[34:20] improvement program where we're

[34:21] doing, you know, just the

[34:24] million dollars in year one for

[34:25] all the planning and then bump

[34:26] up in your 2. So this reflects

[34:29] that sort of phasing of that

[34:32] program.

[34:34] So almost kind of done. We're

[34:36] going to go to enterprise funds

[34:40] that we have a question.

[34:42] Yes, no, yes. You know,

[34:43] grandfathers are pretty

[34:43] special.

[34:44] >> Well, I have a friend who's

[34:48] passed away. Retired Fort Worth

[34:51] police officer. He told his

[34:51] grandson who want to be a Fort

[34:52] Worth go away because they

[34:57] don't pay us anything. Okay.

[34:58] Right here in this. Well,

[34:59] there's people that read to

[35:02] kindergarteners. We used to,

[35:05] but who's responsible for the

[35:08] lousy school system? Tuchman.

[35:17] >> That's not the city.

[35:18] Defense. What school system we

[35:19] have 14 different school

[35:22] systems within the city of Fort

[35:23] Worth.

[35:27] Its schools. The school system

[35:27] has its own board right?

[35:28] The state provides the funding

[35:31] most of the funding schools.

[35:42] >> Good questions and e-mails

[35:45] for now. Thank you.

[35:48] Should be too.

[36:00] Where most of our money goes

[36:03] to it. We need that. We need

[36:04] the police and

[36:07] >> fire and our safety. But

[36:12] I just don't understand why we

[36:15] have a reduction and the parks

[36:18] budget.

[36:26] >> We talked about the

[36:29] appraisal, the values going

[36:32] down. Balance the budget and

[36:32] one of the press and the

[36:33] priorities been public safety

[36:36] and not impacting public

[36:37] safety. Also to make sure that

[36:38] we're keeping up with our

[36:41] growth and public safety.

[36:42] Needs to keep up with that.

[36:43] So it's the rest of those.

[36:45] He put it back on that slide.

[36:49] It's all the other departments.

[36:52] The only place you can go to

[36:55] reduce costs and

[36:56] you know, basically all the

[36:56] costs associated with those

[36:59] departments, our personnel.

[36:59] And so if you're going to

[37:02] reduce costs, that's really.

[37:04] Whenever we do. Our surveys

[37:07] parks is always high, but it's

[37:08] always. Public safety. First

[37:11] responders, police fire MS.

[37:14] And then transportation streets

[37:15] is always next. And then you

[37:17] have the rest of the usually at

[37:17] parks and libraries next.

[37:20] And so the reductions really

[37:21] come out. Where we had the area

[37:25] where you could cut really come

[37:25] out of there. When you go, that

[37:28] next slide that shows the

[37:29] reductions.

[37:32] You see, it's mostly the

[37:32] administrative.

[37:33] Departments there at the bottom

[37:37] that took the biggest cuts.

[37:40] They're going negative.

[37:41] That are the go up every to

[37:42] put. We also had a big bump

[37:47] and health care costs. We just

[37:48] had a lot of. Large claims our

[37:49] health care some of those

[37:49] departments that are actually

[37:52] positive like Environmental

[37:54] Services, human.

[37:55] Resources. I really pushed over

[37:56] that line by the health care

[37:59] costs that we had to include

[38:01] for employees. But that's

[38:02] you know, we have 2 choices.

[38:04] We only have one lever to pull

[38:06] and that's increased the tax

[38:07] rate. And so we're trying to

[38:07] balance how much we increase

[38:11] the tax rate to not impact

[38:12] taxpayers as much.

[38:12] That's one of the questions

[38:15] that came from the city Council

[38:16] is.

[38:17] You know, the reductions and

[38:19] library reductions in the end

[38:21] of the Alliance, Animal Control

[38:23] Peas Productions in code

[38:25] compliance and reductions in

[38:26] parks. And so tomorrow we

[38:26] actually have a workshop where

[38:29] we're coming back to the city

[38:31] Council with. With options on

[38:31] on what they'd like to see if

[38:32] you want to put back into it

[38:36] and what we can or can't do.

[38:40] Thanks for the feedback.

[38:43] Hello, everybody. My question

[38:46] is about senior living.

[38:47] >> There's no cap for all the

[38:49] people that are coming into

[38:49] Fort Worth building apartment

[38:51] is no cap on the rent. We had

[38:52] to seniors. There's a cap on

[38:55] our income. So how can we keep

[38:58] up with living in different

[38:59] diss in neighborhoods when they

[39:02] can get there's no cap on the

[39:04] rent for up with the city.

[39:05] Unfortunately in Texas, we

[39:06] can't. And New York City and

[39:08] other places where they put

[39:09] caps on rents. It's not allowed

[39:11] in Texas. So it's just that.

[39:12] Something that the city can

[39:15] do at the local level. To do

[39:17] rent caps. There are the city

[39:19] does participate through our

[39:19] neighborhood Services

[39:24] department with developers to.

[39:25] To develop senior affordable

[39:28] housing apartments. Those kind

[39:30] of things.

[39:32] You know, most of the rents are

[39:33] set by market. And so the

[39:35] developers or Senate. To the

[39:40] market. To make their returns

[39:41] like most places and Texas and

[39:42] North Texas, especially with

[39:46] all the growth. We do need more

[39:47] affordable.

[39:49] Units and not necessarily real

[39:52] deep units. It's more on that

[39:54] 80 to 120%.

[39:55] Income levels that were trying

[39:57] to target. And so the city that

[40:00] the voters did pass for for the

[40:01] first time.

[40:03] A bond with some affordable

[40:05] housing dollars. And and what

[40:06] we're targeting is that 8220%

[40:09] with those dollars to try to

[40:10] develop more of that type of

[40:11] housing because it's at missing

[40:12] what they call the missing

[40:14] middle. And the market. There's

[40:17] a lot of higher-end and then

[40:18] there's a

[40:18] probably not enough. But

[40:19] there's more of the lower end

[40:22] and not necessarily in the

[40:22] middle there.

[40:33] >> I noticed you said no

[40:35] widespread cuts and libraries.

[40:36] And to the gentleman's point,

[40:37] I'm concerned about the

[40:40] literacy of our children in

[40:44] Fort Worth. Also our library

[40:45] system provides wonderful

[40:46] programs for toddlers to

[40:48] prepare kids to start

[40:50] kindergarten, full speed.

[40:52] And so I urge you not to cut

[40:56] their budget, their staffing

[40:57] or their hours because kids

[40:58] need those places to go study.

[41:02] They need the Internet, the new

[41:02] computers to do homework.

[41:05] I take my granddaughter down to

[41:05] Vivian Lincoln for toddler

[41:09] reading our were participating

[41:11] in 1000 books before

[41:12] kindergarten. And I think so,

[41:13] please. I urge you not to cut

[41:13] libraries and you're when

[41:16] you're considering things.

[41:20] You know.

[41:24] That program out and fired the

[41:26] lady. We had some respect.

[41:29] They fired lady that was

[41:29] responsible for an imminent,

[41:32] I think part of the school

[41:38] system.

[41:40] >> When will the Terra

[41:40] Appraisal District price

[41:44] property values? And will that

[41:44] make a difference?

[41:45] >> This coming JANUARY, there

[41:49] is the year they're supposed

[41:50] to reappraisal JANUARY. Yes,

[41:50] next year. If you own a home

[41:53] and you have a homestead

[41:54] exemption or if you don't.

[41:55] They're going to re appraise.

[41:55] And so it's going to go way up.

[41:56] So everybody is going to

[41:59] protest to think again, it just

[42:00] thought. A big issue is is how

[42:03] much do they what what ends up

[42:03] happening is once we have a

[42:05] 10% capsule can't go more than

[42:09] 10%. On the year for the tax

[42:10] rules. But the question is, how

[42:11] much will they accept the

[42:13] protests? Because that's what

[42:15] actually surprised this this

[42:17] year. That didn't happen last

[42:21] year as they received a lot

[42:22] protests and you would think if

[42:23] they hadn't appraised in 2

[42:24] years and most of the market's

[42:26] going up that they would left

[42:27] alone. But people people

[42:28] protested and they dropped the

[42:29] values. And so that's what

[42:35] caught us off guard this year.

[42:39] I saw the Exxon assist of fund

[42:43] that's being directed for the

[42:44] ems services. Yes, is it

[42:47] projected to possibly save on

[42:47] labor? That would be yes.

[42:50] So basically what it does, a

[42:53] triage is non 9-1-1, calls to

[42:53] the non-emergency side before

[42:54] it even gets. So we're we're

[42:57] projecting that we're not going

[42:58] to have to continue that call

[43:00] takers as the city continues to

[43:04] grow and get more phone calls.

[43:06] So it's initially like a

[43:09] something will have to take on

[43:10] initially. And then eventually

[43:10] it'll kind of pay for it.

[43:12] It's an it's an investment so

[43:14] that we save dollars going

[43:16] forward every every call taker

[43:16] with benefits and everything.

[43:19] Probably 80, 90,000 a year.

[43:22] I mean, a person. So once you

[43:24] you continue that folks.

[43:25] And that's a really tough job

[43:27] to. We always have vacancies in

[43:28] that area because people get

[43:30] burned out so quickly. And so

[43:31] that's allowed us to and a deal

[43:34] with some of that turnover.

[43:39] You mentioned that the average

[43:43] home price was about $250,000.

[43:45] Is that correct to 50?

[43:45] >> And the average the praise

[43:48] value with the Homestead and

[43:49] all the exemptions on okay.

[43:53] >> So the proposed increases

[43:54] $0.70 per 100.

[43:55] >> It's the proposed increases.

[43:58] 3.2 cents on top of the

[44:01] current. Rate, which is $0.67

[44:03] So the new rate is 70 point.

[44:05] >> So for a $250,000 a tree

[44:07] priced home. What does that

[44:08] look like?

[44:10] >> She's going to show that we

[44:11] actually it's a reduction when

[44:13] you when he sits in at about

[44:13] $21 too much. Yeah, we're going

[44:16] to she's going to get that in

[44:16] a minute.

[44:17] >> There it is right. There it

[44:21] is. If you want a sneak peek.

[44:23] Yeah, we'll go over it. But

[44:26] on the top section there you'll

[44:26] see because the value that

[44:27] average home taxable values

[44:31] dropping from current year to

[44:34] next year, the annual variances

[44:37] a savings of 16. 69.

[44:38] Okay. I'll get through the rest

[44:41] of these and then we can keep

[44:42] going. Is that sound good?

[44:44] So enterprise funds are the

[44:46] group of funds that I mentioned

[44:46] that operate more like a

[44:49] business. So again, not tax

[44:52] funded, but funded by rates and

[44:54] fees that the users pay.

[44:55] And so the biggest of these

[44:58] is water and wastewater coc

[45:00] their growth there. And just

[45:01] as a general note, when you

[45:02] see percentage growth in in

[45:03] these funds, that doesn't mean

[45:04] that's what translates to like

[45:07] a radar fee increase. That's

[45:08] just there. Overall budget

[45:10] growth. So water and wastewater

[45:14] continuing to invest in capital

[45:17] as well contractual costs,

[45:18] solid waste. Same thing.

[45:20] 14.8 5%, not necessarily

[45:21] translating directly to a rate

[45:22] increase, but they do show some

[45:22] fee increases which I'll show

[45:26] you in a minute, kind of how

[45:29] those stock up, but solid waste

[45:29] continues to fund their

[45:31] relationship with waste

[45:32] management, which is our

[45:33] collection vendor as well as

[45:33] more long-term planning.

[45:36] So think about like replacement

[45:37] of the landfill eventually in

[45:40] some other capital needs that

[45:41] are more short term than that.

[45:43] The storm water utility is also

[45:44] an enterprise fund. And so

[45:47] they're continuing on with

[45:49] their capital plan for flood

[45:51] mitigation projects, midsize

[45:53] flood mitigation projects also

[45:54] participating in some

[45:54] partnership projects and

[45:55] increasing the amount of

[45:57] channel inspections they're

[45:58] doing. That's all life safety

[46:00] work. When it comes the risk

[46:02] for flooding. And then we have

[46:04] 2 others municipal airport.

[46:07] So that's the 3 city airports

[46:08] that are self-sustaining and

[46:09] their budget kind of looks like

[46:12] it's growing a lot. And that's

[46:14] actually because they're

[46:14] helping the general fund by

[46:17] reimbursing us in the General

[46:17] Fund Fire Department for the

[46:20] 2 different fire stations and

[46:22] actually like coincide with

[46:24] the airport, which is allowable

[46:25] and that was a great balancing

[46:26] strategy that we use there at

[46:29] the end because aviation was

[46:31] able to pick up that cost and

[46:31] then parking at city owned

[46:35] parking garages, parking lots

[46:37] and meters and they are also

[46:37] a self-sustaining sort of

[46:38] enterprise and they're just

[46:39] investing in some additional

[46:42] parking technology and

[46:43] maintenance.

[46:45] The other kind of of the of the

[46:46] big 3 that we talked about, a

[46:48] special revenue funds. And so

[46:50] these are funds again with a

[46:53] restricted purpose and a

[46:55] dedicated revenue source.

[46:57] So ccpd, it's primarily police

[46:58] in ccpd and they're funded by

[46:59] the half-cent sales tax that

[47:03] voters authorized last in 2020

[47:04] for a 10 year period. And so

[47:06] the the main source of their

[47:07] revenue is that sales tax.

[47:09] So they're growing by about

[47:09] that much 5%, which is it?

[47:11] What are sales tax is projected

[47:13] to grow? They have some other

[47:14] revenue in there to like they

[47:15] get reimbursed from the school

[47:16] districts for school resource

[47:18] officers. They are adding 2 of

[47:20] those in this year's budget

[47:21] and they're also taking on a

[47:22] couple of officers that used to

[47:23] be in the general fund in a

[47:27] relief to in a relief to the

[47:27] general Fund for eligible

[47:28] costin ccpd. There's some bike

[47:32] officers that I think are

[47:33] moving over.

[47:35] Public events is kind of a

[47:36] grouping of funds or the

[47:37] culture and tourism fund.

[47:38] So they're dedicated revenue

[47:41] source is the hotel occupancy

[47:42] tax and the likes of those are

[47:43] restricted to tourism related

[47:46] activities. So think about the

[47:48] convention center and the Will

[47:49] Rogers Centre, which I

[47:49] mentioned is kind of moving

[47:50] out of the city's management

[47:55] this year. The budget reflects

[47:56] that. Ems is our newest, I

[47:57] think, of the Special Revenue

[47:57] Fund. So this is like going to

[48:01] be their second full year of

[48:03] being budgeted and they are

[48:04] also growing by projected

[48:04] contractual increases in

[48:07] overtime and fleet. This does

[48:08] include that 30 million dollars

[48:08] subsidy that comes from the

[48:11] General Fund Fire Department's

[48:12] budget.

[48:13] Environmental protection.

[48:14] This is a fee that you see on

[48:18] your water bill. I believe it's

[48:21] raising from 2.25 To 2.50, this

[48:21] fun citywide litter abatement

[48:22] to think about street sweepers.

[48:25] If you ever see this street

[48:26] sweepers around illegal camp,

[48:30] cleanup nuisance abatement,

[48:31] some of those

[48:32] services and see what am I

[48:34] missing? Gulf municipal golf.

[48:35] So again, this came up more

[48:37] last year than this year, but

[48:37] municipal golf, not funded by

[48:40] taxes. It's not subsidized by

[48:43] the general fund funded by the

[48:44] people who play golf

[48:45] and so we continue to see

[48:48] growth in the number of

[48:49] golfers, which is great.

[48:50] So they're adding a couple of

[48:51] food and beverage positions and

[48:52] maintenance position to

[48:54] continue to keep up with demand

[48:57] at the city's golf courses.

[48:58] And finally, a community tree

[49:01] planting is a small but mighty

[49:03] Special

[49:03] Revenue fund and their somebody

[49:04] asked last night, why are we

[49:05] why do we have a street in the

[49:08] budget that's out. It is.

[49:09] It's just that in this year

[49:10] they bought some equipment next

[49:11] year. They won't need to buy

[49:12] that equipment until it looks

[49:13] like a budget reduction.

[49:16] But it's actually was just like

[49:19] a a onetime bump there.

[49:22] Fee increases as part of the

[49:24] budget development process

[49:26] departments always look at

[49:26] fees. And so there are 9

[49:27] departments that are

[49:30] recommending fee changes for

[49:31] fiscal year. 27. I keep telling

[49:33] people if you really want to

[49:34] read all about these, we did a

[49:36] long budget response for

[49:38] council earlier this week.

[49:40] That's online. It's quite long

[49:41] I think 170 pages or something

[49:44] because it's just a big, long

[49:45] table full of fees. But that's

[49:46] not to say that all those fees

[49:47] affect every resident. In fact,

[49:49] very few of them will affect

[49:50] you will look at the ones that

[49:53] do. But just think about, like,

[49:54] if you, you know, I don't know

[49:56] like used to pay for a city

[49:58] program or your participate in

[50:01] maybe an athletic league or you

[50:01] pay a fine or you can pull a

[50:02] permit like just all those

[50:03] different kinds of scenarios in

[50:04] which a person or a business

[50:06] might interact with the city.

[50:08] It kind of details all of that

[50:10] but will go over kind of the

[50:11] ones that your most used to

[50:14] seeing. I'll remind you about

[50:16] the 3.2 cents here for the

[50:17] property tax rate and then

[50:19] we'll get back to this, which

[50:21] we spoiler alert it earlier.

[50:24] But this is kind of the impact

[50:25] on the average taxpayer of the

[50:27] different fee increases and the

[50:29] property tax rate increase.

[50:31] So at the top, you'll because

[50:31] the average home taxable value

[50:35] is falling from this year to

[50:36] next year. The property tax

[50:40] bill, even with the 3.2 cent

[50:40] increase also falls by 16.

[50:41] 69 a year again for this like

[50:45] average hypothetical resident.

[50:46] And then you'll see the

[50:47] different charges that appear

[50:49] on the water bill sort of

[50:50] stacked up beneath those with

[50:53] this year's and next year's

[50:55] rate. So total of those for

[50:55] this average person with

[50:59] typical usage is about $7 and

[51:00] $0.09 a month in different.

[51:02] And so, you know, I know that

[51:03] you pay your tax bill

[51:03] differently than your water

[51:05] bill. But if it was sort of

[51:07] offsetting against each other,

[51:09] then you'd be paying about $5

[51:10] more a month next year. Then

[51:11] you're paying this year for

[51:11] the summary of all of the

[51:14] things we've talked about

[51:17] today.

[51:19] This is a graph to kind of show

[51:20] that we're counter intuitive

[51:22] thing about how values are

[51:23] dropping in the tax rates,

[51:24] increasing. And so you see on

[51:26] the left side of the scale,

[51:27] this year's values times, this

[51:27] year's tax rate in the bill.

[51:30] That's the city's portion of

[51:31] the tax bill. Because remember

[51:32] on your tax bill, you pay it up

[51:33] a bunch of different taxing

[51:35] entities, the school district

[51:36] and maybe a hospital district

[51:39] in the county. And so this is

[51:40] just the city's portion.

[51:42] And then next year with your

[51:44] taxable value decreasing and

[51:46] then the rate increase, you'll

[51:47] see you're you're coming out

[51:48] a little ahead there as a as

[51:51] the average person here does.

[51:56] C okay, I'm I'm landing the

[52:00] plane here. So in the eu summit

[52:04] in with him in the front.

[52:06] I know. So we update the ci

[52:09] peer the capital plan every

[52:10] year when

[52:10] we did the budgets, a rolling

[52:12] five-year plan. So everybody,

[52:13] every department that has

[52:14] capital needs to some, it's

[52:15] those 2. So that's kind of

[52:17] going into the overall budget

[52:20] picture. So for fiscal year

[52:21] 27, the total plan is 1.0, 0

[52:23] 3 billion dollars. The large

[52:25] majority of that Waters capital

[52:27] plan. And you can kind of see

[52:28] like the protected capital that

[52:30] will happen over the next 5

[52:31] years. A big growing city, 3.8

[52:34] billion dollars over the next 5

[52:35] years.

[52:36] And then a little against a

[52:39] small but mighty portion of the

[52:40] the capital is pay go, which I

[52:43] think for the 3rd or 4th time

[52:45] is that 7.2 $0.05 of the tax

[52:46] rate. Remember, there's a

[52:48] little bit of a decrease

[52:49] because we've left that rate

[52:51] flat. And since Soyuz fall, the

[52:54] rates flat not creating as much

[52:55] revenue the revenue we are

[52:57] creating, which is 85.7 million

[52:59] dollars. This is how it breaks

[53:00] out. So you see about 82% of

[53:01] that goes to transportation and

[53:05] public works for things like

[53:06] streets and sidewalks and

[53:06] bridges in all of those kinds

[53:10] of things. And then parks has

[53:10] a portion neighborhood services

[53:12] has a portion. It looks like

[53:13] it's getting reduced. But

[53:14] again, that's because of that

[53:15] kind of phase delivery of the

[53:16] neighborhood improvement

[53:19] program where the year one

[53:20] spends a little less see

[53:21] property management which

[53:23] manages the city's facilities

[53:24] has a small bucket there for

[53:24] managing all the different

[53:26] facilities across the city and

[53:29] maintaining those. And I guess

[53:31] those are the the Maine people.

[53:33] So tp w still growing a bit

[53:36] parks very flat and some others

[53:36] are sustaining some flatness

[53:40] in small reductions as we

[53:41] decrease.

[53:43] So total budget year-over-year

[53:45] operating plus capital front.

[53:49] Share 4.3, 5 billion dollars

[53:51] for fiscal year. 27.

[53:55] This is the budget engagement

[53:56] schedule, which you

[53:58] clearly saw somewhere because

[54:00] you're here and we're glad.

[54:03] So I'm glad that you're here.

[54:04] I hope that you have the

[54:04] ability that you do have the

[54:07] ability to go in and watch it

[54:08] back. If you just really want

[54:09] to alright, joked last night,

[54:11] like I think I've done a better

[54:12] job in some of these others.

[54:14] You can like go and see me

[54:15] doing it in a different way and

[54:16] maybe learn something new since

[54:18] I just like don't say the same

[54:19] thing. Every dime. But all of

[54:21] them are livestreamed. They're

[54:22] all on the city's YouTube page.

[54:25] We have a budget public hearing

[54:26] on SEPTEMBER first. So that's

[54:29] here at City Hall in front of

[54:30] council. Just another way to

[54:31] sign up and speak and let the

[54:32] whole council here. You have

[54:33] a council member here tonight,

[54:36] of course. But then the whole

[54:38] council can hear your comments.

[54:39] And then council is projected

[54:40] to adopt a budget and the tax

[54:41] rate on SEPTEMBER. 15th, sort

[54:45] of like the legal state

[54:46] required timeline. There.

[54:47] And and then our next budget

[54:48] public hearing just getting

[54:51] community engagement meeting

[54:52] is Saturday. If you looked at

[54:52] an earlier version of the

[54:54] schedule, just want to point

[54:54] out that the Saturday meeting,

[54:58] which is districts Eleven's was

[54:59] at 10, it's been moved to the

[54:59] afternoon. So it at 01:00pm now

[55:05] which I think this does

[55:05] accurately say that. And this

[55:06] is my last slide and I'll just

[55:08] leave it here unless we need to

[55:09] pull up any of our other

[55:10] detail. But on the left-hand

[55:13] side is. Connect Fort Worth,

[55:16] which is all things city

[55:19] engagement and Ty. Yeah, I just

[55:21] wanted to advocate for our

[55:22] libraries. So I'm concerned

[55:22] that.

[55:26] >> That they might be reduced

[55:29] in some way.

[55:30] Ice travel

[55:30] 7 miles, too. The video Lincoln

[55:35] Library with my granddaughter.

[55:37] And on a

[55:37] weekly basis. And now it's

[55:42] becoming cost prohibitive

[55:43] because of the cost. The

[55:45] Fortunately it sometime in the

[55:46] future, hopefully in the near

[55:48] future are some of the South

[55:49] Branch Library will be

[55:52] reopening and that'll cut my

[55:53] travel time and my travel

[55:55] distance to less than 2 miles.

[55:58] So I'm really excited about

[56:00] that. But I just want to and

[56:01] the size how important it is

[56:04] that the library system is

[56:07] still one of the last places

[56:09] that a family can go to for

[56:09] free and take your whole

[56:11] family. And and every every

[56:13] age group, you can find

[56:14] something at our libraries.

[56:18] And so I really think that in

[56:19] the east difficult times budget

[56:22] times because all families are

[56:25] strained right now that the

[56:25] libraries are not are not cut

[56:28] in any way. And in fact, they

[56:30] need to be enhanced. I have

[56:33] visited most of the inner city

[56:35] libraries and they were their

[56:38] aging and they all need some

[56:38] kind of improvement in their

[56:41] facilities. So I hope in your

[56:41] preventive maintenance budget

[56:45] that you consider that as well.

[56:46] Thank you. Thank you so much.

[56:47] Thank you for your calm.

[56:50] I see library staff nodding

[56:51] your your comment.

[56:54] >> We're getting a new downtown

[56:57] library.

[56:58] >> Yes, we can talk about that

[56:59] downtown library timing.

[57:00] You won't see it as part of

[57:01] you won't see the impacts

[57:04] really in this budget. But go

[57:05] ahead.

[57:06] >> We should be we should be

[57:07] closing on the land for the

[57:10] downtown library. Fairly soon.

[57:14] We'd be moving forward with.

[57:17] To put out for design in the

[57:18] spring.

[57:23] >> Okay. She's gonna bring in

[57:23] Mike, but I interrupted my I

[57:25] interrupted myself on this last

[57:26] night. Time literally. Just

[57:29] going to tell you the last part

[57:32] on the right hand side is the

[57:33] 4 budget page and it has every

[57:34] video that we've like every

[57:36] council meeting where we talked

[57:37] about budget since APRIL and

[57:38] below that every written

[57:40] response that we've given to

[57:40] counsel about their various

[57:43] questions. So don't hesitate

[57:43] to use that as a resource to

[57:47] and actually in my

[57:49] presentation. Okay.

[57:51] >> We still have a few

[57:55] questions. Hello, friends on

[58:00] >> Up could you tell me that

[58:01] the it's a street fee, but it's

[58:02] not street beat the pavement

[58:05] management fee. Got it. How

[58:06] much money with that generate

[58:07] and how what impact will it

[58:10] have on the backlog of streets

[58:13] to be read?

[58:16] >> Last year lands here is lane

[58:18] here. Yeah. So I'll mention as

[58:20] she comes up that I think the

[58:23] maintenance gap, that funding

[58:24] gap that we were facing with

[58:25] 6 66 million dollars a year

[58:25] between what we have budgeted

[58:29] for streets and what we needed

[58:29] for streets and by the fee is

[58:33] not intended to close that hole

[58:35] gap and you won't see that fee

[58:36] in the fiscal year, 27 budget

[58:40] just as a reminder about that.

[58:43] Okay. Can. Has a good question.

[58:45] So our gap to 66 Million.

[58:48] Fee is we're proposing it which

[58:49] would start in 2028. Would

[58:50] generate about 27.4 million.

[58:53] That's our estimate right now.

[58:57] >> The impact of that, the

[59:00] benefits of that will be

[59:01] widespread.

[59:04] It continues to be a very high

[59:04] priority for all of our

[59:07] residents. And we've grown a

[59:09] lot in our sophistication.

[59:10] So how we are planning now to

[59:15] use that 27.0 4 million dollars

[59:16] is too

[59:17] proactive 5 year preservation

[59:20] cycle on all of our good

[59:22] streets. Okay. You have to keep

[59:25] those good streets. Good while

[59:26] you repair the bat.

[59:27] The other thing we're going to

[59:30] do is increase our contracted

[59:34] heavy maintenance by 50%.

[59:35] And so. These are the projects

[59:38] that we really want to keep.

[59:44] Maintain a bull before they go

[59:45] to the bonds and they get.

[59:48] Exceedingly more expensive.

[59:52] And the last thing that we

[59:54] really want to do is

[59:55] increase our in-house at

[59:58] Milling and overlaying. All

[1:00:01] right. So will be able to like

[1:00:05] triple that. So through all

[1:00:06] of these things, the

[1:00:07] impact us that we will slow

[1:00:13] the deterioration of our

[1:00:14] network. And we will also so

[1:00:14] it'll it'll be for all the good

[1:00:16] streets, all the fair streets

[1:00:19] and all the poor streets

[1:00:21] because as we maintain the good

[1:00:22] and fair streets. What's

[1:00:25] happening is that the backlog

[1:00:27] for the bonds? There's less

[1:00:30] demand for the bot, right.

[1:00:31] And so the un amount of time

[1:00:35] that the streets have to wait

[1:00:38] for their bond project to be

[1:00:39] delivered, gets reduced by

[1:00:41] about 34% is what we

[1:00:45] calculated.

[1:00:50] If you want to do at the

[1:00:54] follow-up.

[1:00:55] >> Is there a way to me

[1:00:58] generate more revenue for

[1:00:59] preserving or are building

[1:00:59] new roads.

[1:01:00] >> Through transportation

[1:01:04] impact, fee increases so that.

[1:01:05] Developers of people, the

[1:01:09] benefit from the new Roads.

[1:01:13] I contribute more. So that we

[1:01:18] do it have to do this. You're

[1:01:18] probably more of an expert on

[1:01:18] transportation.

[1:01:19] >> Currently the city does

[1:01:20] collect transportation impact

[1:01:22] fees that can only be that can

[1:01:25] only be collected on you.

[1:01:27] New developments in use streets

[1:01:27] and I think we can occur and

[1:01:33] collect 68% of the potential.

[1:01:34] Fyi. So they're very few street

[1:01:37] cities or do 100% because it

[1:01:38] end up costing so much that

[1:01:41] project to move forward.

[1:01:42] But we do collect.

[1:01:42] But yet the one thing about

[1:01:45] the impact, these it's you have

[1:01:49] to use them. In the area where

[1:01:49] the impact is happening.

[1:01:50] So around the new development

[1:01:50] and it's for Arterials only for

[1:01:53] major streets, Arterials and

[1:01:54] collectors now for the streets

[1:01:59] within the neighborhoods.

[1:02:00] So we do collect on the

[1:02:00] transportation, impact the side

[1:02:04] and then also on the water

[1:02:05] wastewater to try to get.

[1:02:06] To have new development pay for

[1:02:08] the cost of that

[1:02:11] infrastructure.

[1:02:15] >> All right. I would like to

[1:02:19] advocate. You increase the tax

[1:02:20] rate. Not just the 3.2 cents.

[1:02:21] You have the ability to go up

[1:02:22] to what is known as the voter

[1:02:26] approved tax rate. Plus, the

[1:02:28] unused increment. The

[1:02:29] legislature makes us calculate

[1:02:30] and no new tax rate, which

[1:02:31] means that you collect the same

[1:02:34] amount of tax on the same

[1:02:36] properties year-over-year.

[1:02:36] So we're looking at it, which

[1:02:40] currently we're below the no

[1:02:41] new tax rate. You've asked for

[1:02:44] an increase above the no new

[1:02:45] tax rate.

[1:02:47] The no new tax rate basically

[1:02:47] says you can keep the same

[1:02:50] services if those services

[1:02:51] don't cost any more. We know

[1:02:54] costs for everything are going

[1:02:55] up. If you want to give raises,

[1:02:58] that has to be from you.

[1:02:58] Increasing your tax rate during

[1:03:01] a time when property values are

[1:03:03] going down. The voter approved

[1:03:07] tax rate is put in place by

[1:03:08] the Legislature to say.

[1:03:09] You can take the no new tax

[1:03:12] rate, increase it by 3 and a

[1:03:13] half percent. You're looking

[1:03:15] at raises for fire at 8 and a

[1:03:20] half percent. You're looking

[1:03:20] at raises for police a 6%.

[1:03:21] You're looking at your staff at

[1:03:24] only one and a half percent

[1:03:25] this year. And it's and it's

[1:03:26] because you're asking for

[1:03:27] you've done a tremendous job,

[1:03:30] putting this budget together.

[1:03:31] But as I've gone to both the

[1:03:33] first meeting and listen to

[1:03:36] the other meetings. Everybody

[1:03:39] here has said, please don't

[1:03:42] cut this service.

[1:03:42] The vast majority of phone

[1:03:44] calls that you're councilmen

[1:03:46] the received and your staff

[1:03:49] receives is never you know what

[1:03:50] could you cut the library

[1:03:54] hours? No one is ever asking

[1:03:56] for services to decline.

[1:03:58] We all want to live in a city

[1:03:59] that is doing well for itself

[1:04:00] doing well for its employees

[1:04:04] doing well for its citizens.

[1:04:06] We have that ability to go up.

[1:04:09] The fact that you're going up

[1:04:10] at all is all the pressure that

[1:04:11] anyone on council in anyone

[1:04:13] on staff is going to see

[1:04:16] whether you go up. You know,

[1:04:17] the tiniest bit.

[1:04:18] Or whether you go up the entire

[1:04:21] amount, you're legally allowed

[1:04:24] to go up. They're gonna say the

[1:04:25] same thing. So you'll always

[1:04:29] have your people that say you

[1:04:32] need to cut my tax rate.

[1:04:34] Cutting tax rates is not just

[1:04:36] about financial cutting tax

[1:04:41] rates means cutting services.

[1:04:42] I'm advocating that we in this

[1:04:43] city one to our services and we

[1:04:47] want to expand our services.

[1:04:51] We protect our seniors already.

[1:04:51] Our seniors have had a cap on

[1:04:57] their property tax since 2004.

[1:04:58] They pay no matter what maximum

[1:05:01] amount of their taxes that does

[1:05:03] not go up. It can go down if

[1:05:04] their property value goes down.

[1:05:10] But their value was capped.

[1:05:11] The rest of us are here and

[1:05:14] want to see the improvements

[1:05:16] made in this city.

[1:05:26] Yes, I want to also thank

[1:05:27] everybody about the nuisance

[1:05:27] abatement programs that we've

[1:05:30] been having. We need to keep

[1:05:31] that up to keep that funded.

[1:05:34] >> Because in district 9, it's

[1:05:38] helped out in Carter Park and

[1:05:38] over there, Rockies. Those

[1:05:40] businesses that were affecting

[1:05:44] the neighborhood. Those will

[1:05:44] also help. But I want to tie or

[1:05:48] buy. So I actually had to hike

[1:05:48] Mount Area. And then I notice

[1:05:52] differences. And I said the

[1:05:52] reason is education. So on the

[1:05:53] thing with the libraries, with

[1:05:56] education going on, probably we

[1:05:57] had 4 dies d we need to help

[1:05:58] out with the library's we stem.

[1:06:01] We need a stem lab there.

[1:06:02] We also need to do we actually

[1:06:05] increase the funding because we

[1:06:06] also have problem with the

[1:06:07] after school programs that the

[1:06:08] kids are not being able to go

[1:06:11] somewhere where they can be

[1:06:11] safe.

[1:06:16] And also have a 2 two's being

[1:06:17] there. Also to meet their needs

[1:06:17] because the difference in the

[1:06:18] West side and other

[1:06:20] neighborhoods that any side

[1:06:23] is education. So we need to

[1:06:25] focus on education as and when

[1:06:27] you put those are dollars

[1:06:31] toward that. So I don't want

[1:06:32] I want we're going to look for

[1:06:33] other ways, despite not just a

[1:06:36] raise in taxes and it's going

[1:06:38] to be the

[1:06:39] tough things such as data

[1:06:40] centers and other things there

[1:06:43] that and bring it.

[1:06:43] >> Taxes to it because outing I

[1:06:45] think we still have a

[1:06:48] shortfall. Even if we raise

[1:06:52] taxes. That's thank you.

[1:06:54] >> All right. I just wanted

[1:06:57] to compliment City staff and

[1:06:59] your judicious effort to reduce

[1:07:00] the budget without trimmings,

[1:07:01] significant city services.

[1:07:01] It's clear that you've looked

[1:07:03] for every opportunity. I do

[1:07:04] want to echo your sentiments.

[1:07:08] Many of the property owners I

[1:07:08] talked to expect a high

[1:07:09] standard. We talk a lot about a

[1:07:12] world class city and a high

[1:07:13] standard of service and all

[1:07:14] of the services that are listed

[1:07:16] are ones that are regularly.

[1:07:18] There's a hopeful wait list of

[1:07:19] >> projects and efforts that

[1:07:20] they expect services from the

[1:07:22] city related to those. So I do

[1:07:25] think that there is support.

[1:07:26] I would ask just so that we

[1:07:30] understand as a community what

[1:07:30] action can be taken if we're

[1:07:31] concerned about reductions to

[1:07:34] libraries, parks and kind of

[1:07:36] the core public spaces, what

[1:07:38] actions could the business

[1:07:39] community lead or get involved

[1:07:41] with to help reduce some of

[1:07:42] the burden. If there are going

[1:07:44] to be impacts is are there

[1:07:45] adopt a park programs or

[1:07:46] anything that would maybe

[1:07:49] preserve those services through

[1:07:51] partnership from citizens

[1:07:52] adopting Parks or business

[1:07:53] community advocating or

[1:07:55] supporting some of the core

[1:07:56] services you're concerned

[1:07:57] about.

[1:07:57] >> So, yes, there's those

[1:07:58] programs exist. Dave Lewis

[1:08:01] Reserve, and really there is

[1:08:04] parks directors here. We have

[1:08:06] adopted part programs. We have

[1:08:07] opportunities to partner, you

[1:08:10] know, but business wants to

[1:08:11] take over in the median in

[1:08:13] front of their, you know,

[1:08:15] reducing the causes city mo

[1:08:17] in median system of the parks

[1:08:19] Department. The library side of

[1:08:20] the library foundation that

[1:08:22] provides raises dollars and

[1:08:22] so businesses can partner with

[1:08:25] them. So there's a lot of those

[1:08:28] opportunities.

[1:08:36] I agree with you.

[1:08:37] >> He said this is the best,

[1:08:38] the best city in the work you

[1:08:43] lived here, you'd live to the

[1:08:46] heaven. And I mean, that.

[1:08:54] >> Side a quick like what kind

[1:08:57] of maybe macro level question.

[1:08:57] But I know that some people

[1:08:59] have mentioned that police and

[1:09:01] fire. We're seeing a huge

[1:09:03] increase relative in the

[1:09:04] general fund, maybe like

[1:09:05] 79 million dollars. I think

[1:09:08] roughly is what's on the

[1:09:12] screen.

[1:09:12] So can you expand a little bit

[1:09:13] on the relationship between the

[1:09:16] contractual obligation that we

[1:09:17] have with police and fire?

[1:09:19] To raise to give them salary

[1:09:22] increases. Things like that

[1:09:25] and how that relates to the

[1:09:25] survey that we take with

[1:09:26] citizens. The indicator that

[1:09:29] public safety is a big

[1:09:32] priority. And what kind of like

[1:09:33] the way there actually is in

[1:09:38] like is that I think a 6 in

[1:09:38] 8.5% are those fully

[1:09:40] contractually obligated?

[1:09:45] Are those above something

[1:09:45] that's been previously

[1:09:46] negotiated its its contractual

[1:09:47] >> Both of them, both police

[1:09:47] and fire. Have it have

[1:09:49] associations basic like a

[1:09:52] union? And so we do for your

[1:09:53] contracts.

[1:09:54] And so the four-year contract

[1:09:57] spells out each year. What

[1:09:58] there are across the board

[1:10:01] increase will be and you have a

[1:10:03] negotiation to go on.

[1:10:04] Within that parameter just

[1:10:05] based on their tenure. They

[1:10:09] also have step increases.

[1:10:11] So like.

[1:10:11] The percent. That's a

[1:10:13] combination of the across the

[1:10:15] board. Plus, the step increases

[1:10:15] that certain firefighters will

[1:10:16] get based on what the year that

[1:10:19] they're hitting. So that's the

[1:10:22] average across. But those are

[1:10:24] our contractual.

[1:10:24] And, you know, the the fire and

[1:10:27] the fire contract we're

[1:10:28] negotiating right now. But

[1:10:28] police was done 2 years ago.

[1:10:30] And so those are contractual

[1:10:33] straight across. A big increase

[1:10:35] in what you saw there are not

[1:10:37] just tied to the wages. They're

[1:10:37] also, you know, we the city

[1:10:40] council made the decision the

[1:10:41] city made the decision based on

[1:10:42] feedback from the citizens of

[1:10:43] that. We didn't have our

[1:10:46] ambulance service wasn't

[1:10:47] meeting. What we need to

[1:10:49] happen. Right? Response times

[1:10:50] were 12, 13, 14 minutes.

[1:10:54] And so the city brought that

[1:10:55] system n and basically in order

[1:10:55] to improve that the system

[1:10:57] wasn't working is because that

[1:10:59] a lot of deferred maintenance,

[1:11:00] that a lot of turnover, they

[1:11:01] were paying their folks enough,

[1:11:02] their lives in the market.

[1:11:05] So in order to get that up and

[1:11:06] going and get it down.

[1:11:07] And the weave, the city's had

[1:11:10] it for about a year. So as of

[1:11:10] this past JUNE, those response

[1:11:12] times are down to like 8 and

[1:11:13] half minutes. And it's because

[1:11:16] but the city had invest a lot

[1:11:18] of money in.

[1:11:20] Ambulances in personnel

[1:11:22] increases those kind of things.

[1:11:24] The new fire contract, by the

[1:11:25] way, part of that is that the

[1:11:27] ambulance service folks, the

[1:11:27] ems folks became part of the

[1:11:31] fired department and became

[1:11:32] firefighters. So she mentioned

[1:11:33] dual role. Firefighters are the

[1:11:35] ones that are trained to fight

[1:11:36] fires and everything else.

[1:11:37] Then we have single role

[1:11:41] firefighters, which is the ems

[1:11:43] side. So part of that contract,

[1:11:44] the reason it goes up is

[1:11:44] because we have added about

[1:11:45] 500 people to that area.

[1:11:50] So that's one of the big costs

[1:11:51] that's tied to that. And then

[1:11:55] really one of the things when

[1:11:57] I came as city manager is.

[1:11:58] You know, says we need as a

[1:11:58] city manager, his assistant

[1:11:59] city manager over department.

[1:12:01] You need to hold the

[1:12:05] department. Accountable for

[1:12:05] meeting their budget.

[1:12:07] That means you need to make

[1:12:10] sure that their budget is is

[1:12:11] right. You write it if you

[1:12:12] don't provide enough dollars to

[1:12:14] actually provide the service

[1:12:15] that's expected and they go

[1:12:18] over budget. It's kind of hard

[1:12:19] called somebody accountable

[1:12:19] because you never given the

[1:12:20] amount of money. And so one

[1:12:21] of the things that we're doing

[1:12:25] with the fire budget this year

[1:12:27] and and Kristan mentioned is

[1:12:28] right-sizing the overtime

[1:12:29] because in the last few years

[1:12:33] have gone over budget. But it's

[1:12:34] really because they needed over

[1:12:34] time is needed in order to have

[1:12:35] the firefighters are available

[1:12:36] to fight, fire, invite, you

[1:12:39] know, get the response times

[1:12:40] and then on the fleet services

[1:12:40] side, just the cost of

[1:12:43] everything has gone up big time

[1:12:47] and their vehicles are more

[1:12:48] expensive than the most.

[1:12:51] And so, you know, they their

[1:12:52] vehicles get and what?

[1:12:54] Chief Orton of a mile a gallon

[1:12:55] or something like 2 miles a

[1:12:58] gallon. So fuel costs are way

[1:12:59] up. Yeah, you know, just since

[1:13:01] covid in order to get parts

[1:13:03] and all those things along

[1:13:03] order times. So a lot of the

[1:13:06] costs are just up over on.

[1:13:06] So one of the things that we

[1:13:08] needed to do and I wanted to do

[1:13:11] as city manager is right-sized

[1:13:12] the budget so we can. Have a

[1:13:13] real conversation during the

[1:13:15] year with the fire department

[1:13:15] is why are you going over on

[1:13:17] this line item? What's you

[1:13:18] know, causing those things that

[1:13:19] happen as we go forward.

[1:13:21] So those some of the cost of

[1:13:23] kind of drove that. Above just

[1:13:27] the contractual. Wage side of

[1:13:30] things.

[1:13:34] >> My name is Liz Padilla with

[1:13:34] the Town Forest Neighborhood

[1:13:35] Association. So I'm here to

[1:13:39] advocate for Uptown Rock

[1:13:40] Island, Samuels Avenue. These

[1:13:41] are more specific questions

[1:13:42] tonight. Jay, I spoke to you a

[1:13:42] little bit off microphone.

[1:13:43] Sure, but I'm gonna ask again

[1:13:47] to make sure that I'm clear.

[1:13:47] So one of the things that's

[1:13:48] costly brought up at the

[1:13:51] monthly meetings is our street

[1:13:52] lighting.

[1:13:56] And there are multiple streets

[1:13:57] that have been approved for

[1:14:00] lighting because it does not

[1:14:01] meet city coat.

[1:14:01] In addition, also a pedestrian

[1:14:05] walkway, et cetera, which has

[1:14:06] been approved. So how do we

[1:14:07] advocate as a neighborhood

[1:14:10] association for those items?

[1:14:11] Well,

[1:14:12] >> I'm gonna ask you to raise

[1:14:14] your hand so you can see that's

[1:14:14] Lauren Prayer right there.

[1:14:15] Director Transportation public

[1:14:18] works. They probably have a

[1:14:19] list that has your streets and

[1:14:21] sidewalks and they maybe have a

[1:14:22] schedule when that potentially

[1:14:23] happens and it's not funded.

[1:14:27] Then how can we get it on the

[1:14:27] schedule? So I think the the

[1:14:28] that's the first step, right.

[1:14:31] And then ultimately when staff

[1:14:33] tells you. Where we or you're

[1:14:35] on the list and how we can.

[1:14:37] Then that advocate advocacy

[1:14:37] becomes talking to your elected

[1:14:38] officials about how we can move

[1:14:40] up the list potentially.

[1:14:41] But but first, I and have you

[1:14:44] work with staff to see where

[1:14:44] that he's okay?

[1:14:49] >> What what Laura also be a

[1:14:53] person of 4. There is about

[1:14:56] 2 acres north of Part that is

[1:14:56] not part of the park and it's

[1:14:57] not particularly meat

[1:14:57] maintained because the park

[1:15:01] doesn't have what, because it's

[1:15:02] not part of park.

[1:15:05] >> So what more would be coach

[1:15:08] Brian? Brian?

[1:15:10] So, yeah, so but if you like

[1:15:11] I said, he sent me an e-mail

[1:15:12] with those issues because it's

[1:15:15] 2 acres of open space that's

[1:15:16] just north of the park. We

[1:15:19] might be interested in making

[1:15:19] that part of

[1:15:21] the park. It's for self.

[1:15:23] So if you can send us and you

[1:15:24] can send me an email and and

[1:15:25] Dave Lewis and our open spaces

[1:15:29] can look at that. Thank you.

[1:15:30] I'd like to.

[1:15:34] >> I'm Allan Cejka. I live on

[1:15:36] Samuels Avenue and

[1:15:40] I moved here in 1979 and some

[1:15:43] of the street.

[1:15:46] We're not having anything done

[1:15:50] with since 1985. This year are

[1:15:51] getting done. Show your whole

[1:15:54] process of working with.

[1:15:58] >> Old.

[1:16:00] >> To finally getting something

[1:16:03] done. I thank you for finding

[1:16:04] making.

[1:16:05] >> The old the new and the

[1:16:10] already as part of a process.

[1:16:11] Thank you. And that's what lane

[1:16:11] mention.

[1:16:14] >> You know, the pavement

[1:16:17] management. It nearly doubles

[1:16:20] what we have in Pago.

[1:16:21] And so what they're going to

[1:16:22] put into place is to keep your

[1:16:23] streets and fair streets from

[1:16:24] falling into that condition

[1:16:27] is one of the things so that

[1:16:27] you stop. We stopped digging

[1:16:30] the hole, right? At least stop

[1:16:32] digging the hole.

[1:16:32] By having more streets, find

[1:16:34] fall into that so that

[1:16:35] ultimately we can get to those

[1:16:36] streets and fill in the hole

[1:16:37] with bond because the last

[1:16:38] thing you want to do it, I

[1:16:40] mean, think about it. You don't

[1:16:44] want to use your 30 year

[1:16:46] mortgage. To buy.

[1:16:48] We walker that's going to last

[1:16:49] for years, right? Because

[1:16:51] you're paying interest for 30

[1:16:54] years. So we do want to use

[1:16:56] that.

[1:16:56] Do maintenance on the street

[1:16:58] the last 4 years. We want to

[1:17:00] ease cash if we can. And that's

[1:17:02] what that fee will help us to.

[1:17:07] >> Because it took from 19 93.

[1:17:10] Until.

[1:17:13] Hampton Road to not be

[1:17:13] washboard way.

[1:17:15] And it's the only 4 blocks at

[1:17:19] that street that have never

[1:17:20] been touched.

[1:17:21] It hasn't been done yet, but

[1:17:22] it's part of the program.

[1:17:26] They're working on it. That's

[1:17:29] where I'm happy. Again. Going

[1:17:32] back to Creech of traders.

[1:17:35] So part that nobody seems to

[1:17:38] know who owns it.

[1:17:43] The the issue about that is

[1:17:44] in 18. 49, when Traders Oak

[1:17:48] Park had a trading building

[1:17:50] on it, the military, the

[1:17:53] Indians and the settlers went

[1:17:54] there to get water.

[1:17:58] That water system that they

[1:17:59] used is in that create that

[1:18:00] right now. We apparently don't

[1:18:02] know who owns and the city is

[1:18:05] taking care of. We can find out

[1:18:07] who owns it. You can just see

[1:18:09] me as we can do. That thing is

[1:18:11] when the railroad put the spur

[1:18:13] line in on the side of traders

[1:18:16] show park to go to Cargill or

[1:18:17] whatever it is. Well, that is

[1:18:20] all been removed to Snell, void

[1:18:22] land.

[1:18:25] Does the railroad maintain the

[1:18:26] ownership of that land? Does it

[1:18:28] go back to who owned it prior

[1:18:32] to the railroad taking it or

[1:18:32] does it belong to the people

[1:18:35] that use the railroad track to

[1:18:37] move their product out of

[1:18:39] there, commercial building,

[1:18:43] either one set on it. So that's

[1:18:46] my question. Is because that's

[1:18:48] a road of unused.

[1:18:51] Property that MAY or MAY not be

[1:18:54] a part of your original

[1:18:55] traders. Oak property.

[1:18:55] >> All good questions. I've

[1:18:58] never known a railroad to give

[1:18:59] anything away. So.

[1:19:00] Line. Yeah, I know what by the

[1:19:02] road. I've never known the

[1:19:06] beginning. I had one question

[1:19:07] back there.

[1:19:11] >> So I know this is a bit of a

[1:19:12] hot topic recently, that's

[1:19:14] first of my knowledge and I

[1:19:14] wish him more informed as I try

[1:19:16] to be informed when I come to

[1:19:19] meetings like this. But I know

[1:19:20] the police department has

[1:19:23] recently signed a new or

[1:19:25] contract with Flock. With the

[1:19:26] drones that have been. That

[1:19:32] have been developed recently.

[1:19:33] And I was just curious as snow

[1:19:34] when that contract and if you

[1:19:36] would have to turn around and

[1:19:38] has to if it's possible to look

[1:19:39] at that contract been cut

[1:19:45] because I know a lot of people.

[1:19:46] And Fort Worth have concerns

[1:19:46] suffer. Who is accessing those

[1:19:48] cameras and for what purpose

[1:19:51] they have. For accessing.

[1:19:53] And it's just very

[1:19:55] I just I feel very distrustful

[1:19:56] as many others, too.

[1:20:01] >> So I would suggest that you

[1:20:01] maybe have a meeting with with

[1:20:02] the folks in the police

[1:20:04] department. They use them so

[1:20:05] you can get clarity on how

[1:20:06] those those are used and and

[1:20:08] wider use and the policies

[1:20:11] around their use. I don't know

[1:20:12] the dates how long the contract

[1:20:16] isn't anything off the top.

[1:20:19] My head. Is there a p d anybody

[1:20:21] from?

[1:20:21] Maybe we can have. Have you

[1:20:26] have a ham have a meeting with

[1:20:27] g for it? 2 car ball.

[1:20:27] Then you can answer your

[1:20:30] questions and provide details.

[1:20:32] I think there's a lot of stuff

[1:20:35] on the Internet that. That's

[1:20:38] not necessarily.

[1:20:41] Not necessarily.

[1:20:41] People say, well, you face

[1:20:42] facial recognition flock

[1:20:46] cameras in the city don't have.

[1:20:47] You know, facial recognition.

[1:20:48] So there's a lot of stuff out

[1:20:49] there that's out there. That's

[1:20:51] misinformation. The people get

[1:20:54] excited about. I can tell you

[1:20:57] this. It. Those cameras have

[1:20:59] been highly effective in

[1:21:00] solving crime and catching bad

[1:21:01] guys. Like really bad, bad

[1:21:04] guys. A lot quicker than

[1:21:07] otherwise would happen.

[1:21:07] >> j I got so caught up in my

[1:21:09] compliments to your staff that

[1:21:10] I forgot my actual question to

[1:21:13] you. But I did mean those

[1:21:14] compliments and sincerely.

[1:21:14] So, Christiane, earlier you had

[1:21:19] that kind of barbell scale.

[1:21:19] Slide, which showed that there

[1:21:21] were was an improvement.

[1:21:24] There is still sort of money

[1:21:26] on the table.

[1:21:27] Between our current tax

[1:21:30] estimated tax value for an

[1:21:36] average. Taxpayer. Here it was

[1:21:41] over. The scale. One.

[1:21:44] It's near the end.

[1:21:45] This witness.

[1:21:47] >> The scandal got Gates and I

[1:21:48] understanding it's quite

[1:21:50] nominal. We're not talking

[1:21:54] about $1000, but there seems to

[1:21:55] be some money for Fy 2027 still

[1:21:58] on the table. And I just wonder

[1:21:59] what was the decision that led

[1:22:02] to leaving that small gap for

[1:22:02] each taxpayer on average.

[1:22:04] >> We then I'd in was an

[1:22:07] attempt to actually it was how

[1:22:09] much we thought.

[1:22:10] Reduce the budget without

[1:22:11] having huge impacts of the

[1:22:15] citizens on the services right.

[1:22:16] And then the difference was

[1:22:19] what I decided to increase the

[1:22:21] tax rate by okay.

[1:22:21] We hadn't even checked to see

[1:22:22] what the actual impact was

[1:22:26] until after the fact. And so as

[1:22:29] more of where we feel

[1:22:29] comfortable reductions that

[1:22:31] and there were still wearing a

[1:22:34] of y'all don't want some of the

[1:22:35] reductions right? But if we let

[1:22:35] we went further would've been a

[1:22:38] lot more people, right? So

[1:22:39] that's that's really. How we

[1:22:41] got to this number was a

[1:22:42] purposeful, pretty close.

[1:22:45] Yeah, it is pretty clear it

[1:22:46] wasn't possible.

[1:22:47] >> And the tax rate change that

[1:22:50] would bring these 2 things in

[1:22:53] perfect alignment is fairly

[1:22:53] nominal, but really the every

[1:22:56] every 100 of the penny. So you

[1:22:57] know that.

[1:22:59] >> The right to 0, you make it

[1:23:00] to one. It's at $110,000.

[1:23:02] Got it. So to the budget.

[1:23:02] So every 100 is about 110 is

[1:23:05] 110,000. Okay. Thank you, Jay.

[1:23:13] We got one back here. First.

[1:23:14] Okay. As a two-part question

[1:23:15] I know is on the boards back

[1:23:17] there. Some of the information

[1:23:18] is general.

[1:23:19] >> It's kind of like I don't

[1:23:19] want to put the sticker on

[1:23:22] there because I don't later on.

[1:23:23] I don't know. Specifics.

[1:23:23] So like I say, oh, I want the

[1:23:28] neighborhood to be transformed

[1:23:29] to me for partnership with the

[1:23:31] a private company that set out

[1:23:33] there on the border on the comp

[1:23:34] plan. Yes, so I was thinking as

[1:23:34] they I say might be a

[1:23:36] partnership with something I

[1:23:39] don't like. But I was which

[1:23:41] leads me to the next part.

[1:23:44] Well, is there something on

[1:23:44] this on the city website are

[1:23:45] some that we can look to the

[1:23:48] What gets cut that way? We know

[1:23:50] what the fight for. I was on

[1:23:52] the year. The city's priority

[1:23:54] to cut on the paygo money.

[1:23:54] So the this presentation and

[1:23:55] also the presentation to

[1:23:59] provide the city council is on.

[1:23:59] >> On our website, the

[1:24:00] itemized, if they're all

[1:24:02] listed, all the cuts are listed

[1:24:07] on there. Okay, ok, thank you.

[1:24:09] So question.

[1:24:10] i'm just a simple resident

[1:24:10] here. So

[1:24:13] >> I you know, this MAY be.

[1:24:16] Really simple how much of this?

[1:24:20] Revenue is from residential

[1:24:21] property taxes and how much the

[1:24:24] companies and corporations.

[1:24:24] Hey, how much of that is is

[1:24:27] that they're contributing and

[1:24:29] I'd like to know that.

[1:24:32] >> On the property tax about

[1:24:32] 60% of our revenue. Is

[1:24:35] residential, but that includes

[1:24:36] apartments as well. Right?

[1:24:39] Multi-family is part of the

[1:24:42] residential. Yes. So I would

[1:24:46] say about 53 to 54%.

[1:24:46] The city's tax base, it's

[1:24:49] probably less now. We have to

[1:24:49] recalculate it. It was 53.

[1:24:53] 54 from just single-family

[1:24:53] residential.

[1:24:55] But that was before the values

[1:24:58] have gone down some so it might

[1:24:59] be close to 50, 50. Then you

[1:25:00] have the apartment with row

[1:25:00] apartments because the

[1:25:03] residential but into the

[1:25:04] residential calculation.

[1:25:07] It's we've the city for the

[1:25:10] last 10 years has been trying

[1:25:13] to more right-size that we were

[1:25:14] at sick almost 65% about.

[1:25:18] Together about 15 years ago.

[1:25:18] And so we brought it down 5%.

[1:25:21] But as as I mentioned last

[1:25:23] night, we had it.

[1:25:24] 2 billion dollars and net

[1:25:28] growth last year and the on the

[1:25:28] commercial side and the

[1:25:29] residential reduction kind of

[1:25:32] took that off the books because

[1:25:33] it's we're a large city.

[1:25:35] So it takes a look. Takes a

[1:25:35] while to get enough values on

[1:25:38] the business side to start

[1:25:40] balancing that out.

[1:25:42] From a long-term perspective

[1:25:42] for us as a citizen as a

[1:25:45] taxpayer, you just thought of

[1:25:47] yourself as a taxpayer.

[1:25:47] You want to have more

[1:25:49] commercial and business paying

[1:25:51] taxes to keep our. Taxes low.

[1:25:54] And so that's the Ying and Yang

[1:25:56] of.

[1:25:57] Everybody wants their taxes

[1:25:57] lower. But lots of times they

[1:25:58] don't want a business located

[1:26:01] in close to where they live.

[1:26:04] So it's that back and forth.

[1:26:09] >> And everyone said earlier, I

[1:26:10] heard you say that hope is get

[1:26:12] hopes team is getting cut.

[1:26:14] And I was asking. If you can

[1:26:15] provide some more information,

[1:26:17] but worth of services are going

[1:26:21] to go and what the city

[1:26:22] apartment will be for our ice

[1:26:24] caps this population. Sure.

[1:26:25] So the.

[1:26:26] >> The actual services not

[1:26:27] being eliminated just can be

[1:26:27] done by a different group that

[1:26:30] can be done by folks on the ems

[1:26:30] side.

[1:26:33] >> Versus the dual role.

[1:26:34] Firefighters who are. We'll go

[1:26:36] back to the stations and can

[1:26:36] fight fires. Because currently

[1:26:38] there doing that work and we

[1:26:42] have to pay somebody else over

[1:26:43] time to be in the in the

[1:26:44] firehouse. So we get him back

[1:26:45] in the firehouse will reduce

[1:26:46] the cost of the overtime.

[1:26:48] That's what the savings is and

[1:26:51] ems folks will continue to

[1:26:54] deliver that service.

[1:26:59] >> I just want

[1:27:01] to support the man over there

[1:27:03] said we need to go for hire

[1:27:06] tax rate.

[1:27:07] >> Just one where you

[1:27:10] can vote.

[1:27:12] >> I mean, I think we can do

[1:27:14] that. And Ed, I must say, as

[1:27:16] we've advocated for libraries,

[1:27:20] but I'm going to advocate for

[1:27:21] the front-facing Parks and

[1:27:23] Rec Department, the co

[1:27:23] compliance folks, developmental

[1:27:26] Services.

[1:27:26] >> I deal with them as a

[1:27:30] neighborhood later every day,

[1:27:32] every day. So I really think

[1:27:36] that if we can. This is not a

[1:27:37] final product under. It's not a

[1:27:39] final product, but if that is

[1:27:41] on possible, an incremental

[1:27:42] increase that could help.

[1:27:44] Those departments would be

[1:27:45] beneficial.

[1:27:46] >> You sound like are council

[1:27:49] members yesterday and the day

[1:27:50] before yesterday.

[1:27:53] I would suggest you tune in

[1:27:56] tomorrow's budget meeting.

[1:28:05] Calming myself.

[1:28:08] >> I get excited very easily

[1:28:14] I'm now thinking about parks

[1:28:18] and recreation. There was a

[1:28:19] bond issue. We voted for.

[1:28:20] We supposedly increase some of

[1:28:24] those dollar amounts. But yet.

[1:28:25] In reference to our

[1:28:28] neighborhood, we're not seeing

[1:28:30] any benefits from it.

[1:28:33] Again, I'm dealing with Park.

[1:28:41] And the other question I have

[1:28:42] is. The coordination of

[1:28:44] the people that read black top

[1:28:50] our streets and when they re

[1:28:51] blacktop them because I waited

[1:28:54] 20 years for Samuels Avenue to

[1:28:56] get a new blacktop.

[1:28:57] One week after it was

[1:29:00] completely done. They started

[1:29:01] digging up for a

[1:29:03] water line that ruined

[1:29:06] everything that they did.

[1:29:09] >> So now you go.

[1:29:09] In front of my house because

[1:29:13] they transfer the water line

[1:29:14] from the odd side of the street

[1:29:16] to the even side of the street

[1:29:20] at my property. And when they

[1:29:23] filled in the black top, they

[1:29:25] didn't They created the ditch

[1:29:26] and it took 2 years before the

[1:29:30] ditch became a only a little

[1:29:30] from come help. So a

[1:29:35] coordination of where the city

[1:29:38] works on road repair and road

[1:29:39] construction and road

[1:29:41] resurfacing. Nice to have a

[1:29:43] little more coordination show.

[1:29:45] We don't pay to have a brand

[1:29:48] new road and a week later get

[1:29:49] something worse than what we

[1:29:49] had.

[1:29:50] >> I agree with you that we try

[1:29:52] to coordinate our

[1:29:54] transportation public works and

[1:29:55] the water to the water

[1:29:55] Department tries to coordinate

[1:29:56] one of the things that you

[1:29:59] can't coordinate or you can't.

[1:30:03] Can't time is one of the water

[1:30:04] line breaks.

[1:30:06] So the water line break, Sarah

[1:30:07] and bright. This was a new

[1:30:10] water line that was larger

[1:30:11] because of the Kelly apartment

[1:30:11] com.

[1:30:14] >> So those development and

[1:30:14] it was for the development that

[1:30:15] was put in a billion. That's

[1:30:17] that's what is more tied to

[1:30:20] the development. Any other

[1:30:22] questions?

[1:30:24] Well, thank you all. Thank you

[1:30:25] for coming out this Council

[1:30:27] Mbeki want to close the show.

[1:30:27] Are you good? Okay.

[1:30:28] >> Well, thank you all. Thanks

[1:30:31] for being here. Appreciate it.

District 9 FY2027 Budget Meeting

Agenda

Transcript