[0:08] Good evening. Welcome to the
[0:11] Ant-Man Finance Committee
[0:12] meeting. Start the meeting
[0:12] with their introductions to my
[0:15] left. Thank you, MR. CHAIRMAN
[0:19] Mike Deal District 20 forward.
[0:20] Thank you, MR. Chaired Brian
[0:22] Maori district. 25 thank you
[0:23] to write. Thank you, MR. Allen
[0:26] District, 15 party set. Thank
[0:28] you, MR. Chaired Nic Robertson
[0:30] strict for good evening.
[0:30] CHAIRMAN Miscarry Crystal
[0:32] Wells District 11, far West
[0:36] Side. Good evening. Maggie
[0:38] Frank miscarriages streak 19
[0:41] MR. Cahill, you so thank you.
[0:43] MR. Chaired their Cayo
[0:45] District. 23. All right. Thank
[0:46] you. We have 3 proposals for
[0:51] budget hearings. Up first is
[0:53] propose a proposal to 44, I
[0:54] understand all these proposals
[0:55] are you gonna bring together
[0:58] all at once? Yes, need to vote
[1:04] for one the time or Proposal
[1:08] to 44 45 46. Going all Mizzou
[1:13] break in between them. Too
[1:14] fat. This is a little
[1:18] confusing, but going resent to
[1:22] 44 into 46 because required
[1:24] public and then several a
[1:26] scarily, there's amendment to
[1:29] 45 45? So after that, we get
[1:29] in the that became so we have
[1:34] the floor, sir. Thank you,
[1:34] CHAIRMAN. Scary. And that was
[1:35] the committee. My name is Joe
[1:36] Bast and the executive
[1:37] director and general counsel
[1:41] of the Indianapolis 5 And we
[1:45] have 3 proposals for you to
[1:47] property tax general
[1:48] obligations, Bonds and the
[1:49] other is facility revenues by
[1:53] a proposal to 44, will be an
[1:55] issue metric wasn't there
[1:57] district. And as for a maximum
[2:00] out of 50 million dollars for
[2:01] construction of a operations
[2:03] graduating bw their current
[2:04] site. And as JUNE, 35, South
[2:08] West Street. And then moving
[2:09] proposal to 46 that will be a
[2:11] general obligation, bond
[2:13] issuance of the consolidated
[2:16] city taxing x amount of 12.5
[2:17] million dollars with the
[2:17] construction of a new impd
[2:20] North District station and
[2:24] then finally present to 45. I
[2:25] would approve the issuance of
[2:27] up to 35 million dollars of
[2:29] facility, revenue bonds to
[2:32] financing for and 2 parking
[2:32] garages as well as a
[2:33] pedestrian bridge at the
[2:39] community. Justice campus.
[2:41] Proposal to 44, like I said,
[2:43] is for a operations garage the
[2:47] current to w campus south of
[2:48] downtown just east of the
[2:52] river this would be maxed out
[2:55] of 50 million dollars. Max
[2:57] interest rate of 6.5% and a
[3:02] term not to exceed 20 years.
[3:03] This would allow dpw
[3:04] consolidate a lot of disparate
[3:04] facilities they have currently
[3:09] on that campus streamline
[3:13] operations and allow for
[3:13] improved storage maintenance
[3:19] of street. So here you see
[3:23] their current garages many are
[3:25] day there gathered campus. And
[3:27] so this would allow. And this
[3:31] new graduate streamlined lot
[3:38] of operations operations. Have
[3:43] issuers required to do by the
[3:45] deals you have, which is to
[3:47] the projected changes in levy
[3:50] and a tax rate for the taxing
[3:51] district here. The taxing
[3:51] district that's there for
[3:55] district. These are very
[3:59] conservative projections and
[4:01] increase in tax rate would be
[4:07] offset because decreases other
[4:15] taxing districts of the city.
[4:17] Goes to 46, other general
[4:17] obligation bond. This would
[4:19] the single city taxing
[4:23] district maximum out of 12.5
[4:25] million dollars, as you to see
[4:26] 6.5%, maximum term of 20
[4:30] years, this would be it for
[4:31] North District police station
[4:32] at this would be located at
[4:36] 38th and Sherman Avenue. It
[4:38] would create need to be in the
[4:42] space that improved space for
[4:42] visitors and employees of the
[4:48] game. North District. Here
[4:54] again are we checked? Id have
[4:55] next changes to Levy and tax
[4:56] rate of the civil city back to
[5:05] district. So we will be these
[5:09] 2 together. With one that
[5:12] fight as a team and usually
[5:12] the binding of the have the
[5:14] city Minneapolis, our
[5:18] financial advisors more
[5:19] advisors, words and numbers
[5:19] are about council we have yet
[5:20] to reach data and ready for
[5:30] this transaction. So obviously
[5:31] tonight where beforehand and
[5:32] finance, we have 2 additional
[5:32] hearings before the Board of
[5:36] Public Works in AUGUST and
[5:37] SEPTEMBER. Plan to go before
[5:41] the full council in SEPTEMBER,
[5:42] but make approval OCTOBER and
[5:43] pressing closing by the end of
[5:48] the year. And answer, any
[5:51] questions about rules? To 44
[5:56] into 4.46, thank I'm curious
[5:57] to what kind of bond are we in
[6:00] right now? The whole city. Was
[6:03] a number. You have it. Don't
[6:07] have it up and I I any other
[6:08] quick, any questions council
[6:10] moves. Thank you, MISTER
[6:14] CHAIRMAN. Apologize for
[6:17] following CHAIRMAN Kerry's
[6:19] question. What aside from the
[6:20] number was a capacity that's
[6:27] left a bond for 26. So So will
[6:28] be different each test. Taxing
[6:33] district. The city. We We just
[6:34] recently for the there there
[6:38] registered PRESIDENT You know,
[6:39] part of we reasoned that we
[6:41] maintain our credit ratings.
[6:43] Is that we do next or capacity
[6:49] that we hear him. It alleges
[6:50] that so I can find out
[6:50] specifically what you know,
[6:55] how much lead we and that's
[6:55] what But we're we're not
[6:58] approaches that. You're to be
[6:59] helpful how many texting used
[7:04] to get across the county?
[7:07] Thanks. Thank you. Any other
[7:10] questions or counselors? You
[7:12] know, this is a public
[7:13] hearings as anyone from
[7:13] audience would like to speak
[7:18] on this. Seeing entertain a
[7:23] motion. Moved. All those in
[7:30] favor say Aye. The question.
[7:33] We're going to that separately
[7:35] to 44, sorry, to 45
[7:39] separately. It's so good. So
[7:40] For a clear need to do. Just
[7:48] go down. 44 46. We did 44 46.
[7:50] All MR. Improved now. Class
[7:58] going to 45. All right. Listen
[8:00] to 45 would just a little
[8:01] revenue bond issuance accident
[8:02] out 35 million dollars to
[8:06] refund interim financing,
[8:06] construction of 2 parking
[8:07] garages. I'm thinking, this
[8:14] campus. And history with that
[8:15] 6.5 that actually bending the
[8:18] amendment and come before the
[8:20] council the source and is all
[8:23] the revenue the city.
[8:30] So it's a part of that. The
[8:31] cdc projects at the city
[8:34] worked Garmin bmo to Design
[8:35] and Finance the construction
[8:36] of these 2 parking garages and
[8:40] a pedestrian bridge. There is
[8:41] one that is just for staff of
[8:43] Erie County courts then a
[8:46] special office building
[8:48] garage, is a part the for the
[8:49] public Defender, probation
[8:50] staff and also offers a
[8:54] painful with parking. So bill
[8:55] that for a transfer agreement
[8:57] was approved by public health
[9:04] and safety back in Issued
[9:04] competitive bidding process.
[9:07] And Carmen was ultimately
[9:09] selected and we're coming
[9:09] towards the end of five-year
[9:10] buildup for a transfer
[9:17] agreement term. As the
[9:18] financing team. Here is divine
[9:19] day. Have to sit in app lists
[9:20] as again seeing more advisors
[9:22] is our financial advisor and
[9:25] of those became Evans as Bond
[9:26] Council. And we get to and
[9:32] right after this transaction.
[9:33] Fewer steps for this one will
[9:36] go before the full council 2
[9:37] and SEPTEMBER the final
[9:39] approval for the van board in
[9:40] OCTOBER and then pressing
[9:44] closing end of the year. Thank
[9:45] you. I think we have an
[9:46] amendment to this. MR.
[9:48] CHAIRMAN.
[9:54] MR. CHAIRMAN, I move to amend
[9:56] Section one, paragraph c a
[9:59] proposal. Number 2, 45 2026?
[10:00] By deleting the language that
[10:00] is stricken through and adding
[10:02] the underline language change
[10:05] in the not to exceed initial
[10:06] interest rate from 5.5% to
[10:10] 6.5% To read has fallen. And
[10:11] you can see strict corrected
[10:17] and section one, infection. I
[10:19] vote on the amendment only
[10:20] follows favor of the the
[10:23] moment an amendment say aye.
[10:26] Oppose none. All right. Any
[10:29] questions on proposal itself.
[10:33] Cancer k a we thank Mister
[10:35] Chair this this question sort
[10:38] of applies to both sets of
[10:42] proposals here. But we have a
[10:46] discussion last week about the
[10:49] building authority and in
[10:50] particular, the cjc and I and
[10:51] I don't know that you're the
[10:52] right person, but I don't know
[10:53] if you know the answer. So
[10:57] there's 2 questions here. My
[10:58] my presumption is we is the
[11:02] counselor dealing with this
[11:04] where if this garage was
[11:05] building authority building,
[11:06] they would just they still
[11:11] have access to. But think but
[11:12] they would do without our vote
[11:12] that it would just pass
[11:13] through is that is that your
[11:15] understanding? Don't vote on
[11:24] their bones. Cause of that.
[11:25] I've been firmly within. 75
[11:27] bank have no revenue bonds,
[11:31] which that. The buildings part
[11:36] that and all those also gone
[11:36] through the lessee, which
[11:38] would be that the the other
[11:43] question to you. Why is why is
[11:46] the garage to the cjc? Is
[11:49] under the bill a 40 foot, the
[11:49] parking garages or not. You
[11:52] have any understanding of why
[11:53] that is the previous thing
[11:55] mention that we heard there
[11:56] was some agreement with Dennis
[11:58] and operate. But I guess that
[12:00] doesn't make any sense to me
[12:01] because that was an operate,
[12:05] the garage and the city County
[12:05] goalie edits ability
[12:08] rebuilding And why we have
[12:09] retained ownership of the
[12:14] garage has been part of. The
[12:15] cjc itself. I can't speak to
[12:20] that. I was around when they
[12:22] were deciding, you exactly
[12:25] this works, that the cdc was
[12:33] lance We're going tax bonds.
[12:35] Structure payment had to be
[12:36] structured lease payments from
[12:38] the city to to the building
[12:38] authority. This is being
[12:42] financed through. You know,
[12:43] different a different
[12:46] mechanism. I don't know. So
[12:52] just just in terms you know,
[12:53] and how they with the finance.
[12:54] And that's, you but not sure
[12:56] exactly. Why that was decided
[12:58] at that time. Okay. There's
[12:59] nothing here. That's for
[13:03] That's as we could
[13:03] theoretically move garages
[13:05] under the building authority.
[13:07] So the cjc was one. A
[13:09] comprehensive campus cause. A
[13:11] much behind and nothing not
[13:15] that I could envision Doing
[13:16] anything about But like, don't
[13:17] know how you release break
[13:22] apart. The parking right. Like
[13:23] it's it's for whatever reason
[13:24] we decided to divest of the
[13:25] cjc. It wouldn't have the
[13:28] value. Without the parking
[13:33] vice versa. Read that the big
[13:36] the bigger parking garage it's
[13:38] connected to the rest of
[13:41] building, which don't think is
[13:42] owned by by the building
[13:45] That's like privately owned
[13:51] building. So really the only.
[13:54] City-owned portion would be
[13:55] it's relatively small garage
[13:59] for the judges and All right.
[14:00] Thank Any other question,
[14:03] counselors? I have a question.
[14:05] My question is a you on just
[14:11] 300. And the other. 1000 and
[14:12] these for the general public
[14:12] losing to use these parking
[14:20] spots. So the public out he's
[14:20] going right and has bases
[14:21] space is available to general
[14:26] public. Other spaces reserved
[14:28] information public defender.
[14:31] Staff and then the smaller
[14:32] garage is is just for judicial
[14:36] staff. I mean, right now
[14:37] there's most of the there's
[14:39] free this month, small area
[14:43] for, but you can pay its
[14:45] probably only 300 parking
[14:47] spots. Now and brunt of the
[14:48] parking is free. So is will be
[14:49] charge of this is going to be
[14:57] free for the public. I don't
[14:59] that I know that the money
[14:59] that we're making on private
[15:02] office building is that in
[15:04] word is going top of that. And
[15:07] so I don't know. Would have to
[15:09] leave it to the controller's
[15:10] office. You need to speak to
[15:10] training is an answer on pre.
[15:13] She ate it. Any other
[15:17] questions. Any one of general
[15:23] public speak on to 45? Seeing
[15:25] entertain a motion. So moved
[15:28] if moving second. All those in
[15:34] favor say Aye. Opposed last
[15:36] You're off off the hot seat If
[15:37] you would try to get some
[15:38] answers on some of So let's go
[15:39] to the full council. Thank
[15:44] you. Up next is a Marion
[15:48] County treasurer's office.
[16:21] You have a form. It takes to
[16:22] MR. CHAIRMAN committee, my
[16:25] name this spiral and I am to
[16:27] serve Marion County,
[16:30] Treasurer. I'm joined here.
[16:31] That's thing. But wish I the
[16:34] fire deputy and I'm going to
[16:38] begin with an I'm having a
[16:39] really had today. So if you to
[16:41] clarify or slow whatever, just
[16:47] let me just give me side. We
[16:50] going to present at 2027
[16:50] budget. And I have just going
[16:55] to jump right into The first
[16:58] flight you will see is in for
[16:59] a town of the 40 patients with
[17:02] The Perry County Treasurer's
[17:03] Office. It's the
[17:03] administrative decision.
[17:07] County finance division
[17:07] division and the customer
[17:11] service to Michigan. We are
[17:14] very proud of some of our
[17:15] agency staffing numbers today.
[17:19] We have 25 fill positions with
[17:20] 2 vacancies. 4 of the 8
[17:24] managers are female one point
[17:27] that we are really proud of is
[17:29] that the average tenure for
[17:31] the office for our employees.
[17:35] It's 7.2 years with 76% of the
[17:39] folks there think more and
[17:43] that ever happening at least 3
[17:49] years. It is a where education
[17:50] experience is very So we're
[17:51] especially proud of that. You
[17:55] want to keep. He said a We
[17:56] also have focus on changing
[17:57] with Association of India.
[17:59] They can't make these and the
[18:02] National Association of
[18:06] counties, Indiana County
[18:08] Treasurer's Association and
[18:10] and I won't go down that every
[18:12] minute in the U.S. Senate to
[18:17] give feel of what chart like.
[18:17] The pink decisions or managers
[18:21] stay consistent yeah, happy to
[18:24] take any questions on anything
[18:32] I'm going throw it over Gary
[18:35] ca internal breakdown gender
[18:36] staffing. Also know is that
[18:36] the employee level of the
[18:39] management levels a little
[18:40] different this report. We
[18:43] we've had additional higher
[18:46] and the bucket that hr uses.
[18:46] They include our financial
[18:49] analysts part of staff. So
[18:49] when it comes to gender, we
[18:55] have 67% female. 33% male. And
[18:56] when it comes to management on
[18:58] on their internal breakdowns.
[19:01] 55 45. I also like to
[19:03] highlight our racial breakdown
[19:04] when when it comes to
[19:06] especially Hispanic the
[19:07] nation. We're higher than the
[19:09] all city county average. And
[19:12] you can see the next column
[19:12] where says manager by
[19:13] ethnicity, what we're really
[19:16] proud of is. All the 5
[19:17] categories. We have at least
[19:18] one manager when it comes
[19:19] multi racial, Hispanic, Asian,
[19:24] white black. A few numbers to
[19:28] help you understand treasures.
[19:34] Tough We 356,000 parcels for
[19:37] 2025. We collected in 2025.
[19:40] About 1.8 billion dollars
[19:45] pretty taxes and all revenues
[19:46] we invest and the average
[19:49] monthly balance of 466 million
[19:52] dollars. And we distribute to
[19:53] a 2.7 billion to about 48
[20:00] units of When talk a little
[20:02] bit about some and
[20:03] improvements that we've made
[20:07] in the treasurer's I have to
[20:08] announce that we had to
[20:13] performance metrics for 2020
[20:16] set. So we're on our to been
[20:22] for 2025. Another point that
[20:23] very proud of this said in the
[20:27] recently completed culture is
[20:28] a The Marion County
[20:29] Treasurer's Office had a score
[20:34] of 95%, which tells me that
[20:35] hopefully the team doing
[20:35] something right. People are
[20:39] enjoying working there. They
[20:39] feel were aboard they feel
[20:42] like they're appreciated. And
[20:48] we're very proud After 20
[20:49] years with the same vendor, we
[20:52] have branched out and we are
[20:54] going through. We have
[20:55] completed the process we're
[20:59] going through conversion to a
[21:02] tax software and on stuff
[21:04] which is with backs off. That
[21:05] was probably that year in the
[21:09] making. And something new and
[21:11] different way this year. We
[21:14] set out about 7500 courtesy
[21:16] letters and that is for
[21:18] letters that went out to
[21:20] people complain cuenta their
[21:21] fall taxes. We sent the
[21:24] letters found in JANUARY and
[21:26] what we were hoping we would
[21:30] is get people to bring my so
[21:32] it gives us more of a chance
[21:33] to invest that they didn't get
[21:38] the money and center. Cost
[21:39] about 7500 use a dollar. A
[21:44] letter as a ballpark and of
[21:48] MARCH 31st, it received can.
[21:49] Now some people will say,
[21:51] well, that's money. We can't
[21:52] any way. Yes, that's true. But
[21:56] we got it done which is which
[22:01] is the key point here. We
[22:02] established as part of the new
[22:03] fund system, a new call center
[22:07] solution, which is made our
[22:08] life so much easier in terms
[22:11] of the phone providing
[22:12] customer service and also it
[22:15] enables us to look at metrics
[22:17] about the calls are being
[22:18] answered. How long it's
[22:22] taking. Calls are dropped. The
[22:23] important stuff to provide
[22:26] customer service. And the
[22:33] final I like it we still have
[22:35] a barge that underbanked
[22:36] population and it ring cam,
[22:39] which means that people
[22:42] frequently literally and I'm
[22:43] not exaggerating acts of cash.
[22:46] 8 tax bills. It's not optimum
[22:50] for safety. Yeah. You know,
[22:53] this not the cat homes. So
[22:54] what it started doing this
[22:58] happening, a bank out in the
[22:59] hall way to talk to these
[23:00] people are as they are
[23:05] standing in line for to pay
[23:06] their property tax bill to
[23:08] talk to them that the virtues
[23:10] establishing a banking
[23:12] relationship. It's just a
[23:12] small thing. But we've seen
[23:15] some real benefits from it.
[23:18] When it comes to progress
[23:18] improvement. When one thing
[23:19] that like to highlight is and
[23:23] a lot of time it spent in the
[23:24] office doing this processing
[23:29] payments. Very, very manual
[23:30] process. But we try to process
[23:33] as much internally as possible
[23:35] for 2 reason. It's it's more
[23:37] accurate and we get the money
[23:38] deposited in our in our bank
[23:40] quicker. So you can see 2016
[23:42] when this when all started, we
[23:44] had 206,000 payments that were
[23:46] processed by a 3rd party. And
[23:49] that's and that's down to
[23:51] 6269,000 as of as of last
[23:53] year. They say that about
[23:57] 34,000 lot bought fees and I
[23:59] really take my hats off to our
[24:01] to our 3 managers are revenue
[24:03] to cover manager customer
[24:04] service manager and really our
[24:07] executive assistant who we're
[24:08] all cross train and answering
[24:11] the phones and processing mail
[24:12] answering email and that's
[24:15] what what can get it done. The
[24:18] other thing is we have new
[24:19] cash, cow nurse. Going to be
[24:21] new bills which cask ales.
[24:22] Would be unable to read. So we
[24:26] invested in new cash counters,
[24:27] $10 bills post to roll out
[24:29] later this year and every 2
[24:31] years going to be new bills.
[24:32] So that should help us
[24:36] identify counterfeit funk's.
[24:38] One thing that we will
[24:39] continue to worrisome goals
[24:42] list. Is increasing the number
[24:46] of APRIL as part of It
[24:49] provides convenient funds for
[24:52] paid security efficiency. Of
[24:54] course, we always consider the
[24:56] environmental impact and let's
[24:58] not kid anybody the more we
[25:00] can save postage by using
[25:04] paperless, it saves us money.
[25:06] So currently we have just
[25:08] under 35,000 and our goal for
[25:09] 2027, it's another 10%
[25:16] increase for Another Purdy and
[25:18] gold is to continue safe with
[25:19] investment public funds and
[25:21] the chart you're looking at,
[25:22] it's really the investment
[25:25] income that was generated last
[25:26] year from JANUARY to DECEMBER.
[25:27] And you'll be you'll notice
[25:28] there's a big increase during
[25:32] a time where property tax
[25:33] payments or a do so they MAY
[25:37] JUNE NOVEMBER, DECEMBER. Also
[25:39] have the liquid rate. So the
[25:41] majority of our funds are
[25:42] money market account.
[25:44] Investments accounts, liquid
[25:46] accounts. And we have a
[25:47] short-term portfolio between
[25:49] 60 to 65 Million. Where we
[25:54] invest your leanne CDs,
[25:56] agencies stretched treasuries.
[25:56] And there's a last year there
[25:59] was a 38 basis point
[25:59] difference this year. That MAY
[26:00] be a little higher. We have
[26:04] ceded this outstanding. We
[26:04] have the financial U.S.
[26:06] Institutions that bid on it
[26:09] agencies, Treasury CDs, it
[26:10] will probably be something
[26:13] around. 4.2 to 4.4 will be the
[26:15] yield Arco current money
[26:17] market yields about 3.6 osos
[26:20] about it. 68 a basis point
[26:22] difference when it comes to
[26:25] and the difference. What? One
[26:26] of the reasons why I brought
[26:30] that up is having a
[26:31] comprehensive short-term
[26:32] investment strategy where we
[26:35] invest 2 to 3 years, 2 to 3
[26:37] years, securities. We're able
[26:38] to get additional interest
[26:40] income so that additional 5
[26:41] basis points, which we're
[26:43] probably going to have next
[26:44] year generates 250,000
[26:49] additional interest income. I
[26:51] want talk a little bit of
[26:52] something that they focused on
[26:53] increasingly over the past
[26:56] couple of years. And that
[27:02] community engagement, Beach
[27:04] positions into the community
[27:07] outreach coordinator and we do
[27:09] special where we are we go out
[27:10] into the public, whether it's
[27:14] with a partner a community
[27:15] development corporation and
[27:17] the county fair, you know,
[27:19] we've worked with Martin to
[27:23] upright into planner at We get
[27:28] a really neat segment with e a
[27:31] r p and what we can to its
[27:33] target, zip codes in the areas
[27:36] with the highest incidence of
[27:38] tax sale. Tech sell
[27:43] properties. And you can see on
[27:46] this slide. Those are the top
[27:49] 5 performing as a JULY 2026.
[27:51] This is where we would spend
[27:55] the bulk our activity and what
[27:57] we to us have people there
[27:59] that can speak both English
[28:01] and Spanish and we will do
[28:03] what we call operate that
[28:06] check ups. Make sure that they
[28:07] have all of the deductions and
[28:10] credits to which they are
[28:12] eyeful walk through the bill
[28:19] with Tell them about value and
[28:20] just in general provided all
[28:24] the information that we have.
[28:25] The next slide gives. Our guys
[28:27] are budget breakdown of were
[28:31] opposing and increase of
[28:32] 318,004 for all characters. 9
[28:35] point one percent increase. We
[28:37] look at the character
[28:38] breakdown for a character one.
[28:43] It's a 10.6% increase 209,000.
[28:46] Our staffing levels for 2027
[28:47] opposed to be the same as in
[28:50] 2026, the increases is with
[28:50] the 3% cost of living
[28:51] adjustment. The stepping
[28:56] great. Attrition, increase and
[28:58] attrition rate and health
[29:00] insurance increases when it
[29:02] comes to character to do with
[29:04] supplies, operating supplies,
[29:07] which which used send out tax
[29:11] bill. $575 increase. And $46
[29:11] increase overall in character,
[29:16] too. For a character 3. We
[29:17] have close $108,000 increase.
[29:22] 7.3, 3%. With with
[29:23] professional services. I say
[29:27] there's a $61,000 increase
[29:28] about $9,000 increase with the
[29:32] new last a phone system and
[29:33] 10,000 in each of the
[29:34] categories when it when it
[29:36] comes to post its mail service
[29:39] and thinking we continue to
[29:41] get to post increases every
[29:42] year. So that's the appears to
[29:43] be something that also happen
[29:45] in 2027 in character. For no
[29:52] change. When it comes to
[29:53] There's a 1.4 billion dollar
[29:57] increase proposed. And in
[29:58] investment income. We have 1.1
[30:04] billion dollar increase. And
[30:04] just the next light really
[30:09] just shows a investment income
[30:10] relative to the budget over
[30:14] last 3 years and will for a
[30:14] 2027. So we've had a
[30:18] consistent. Good, good, good
[30:20] performances when it when it
[30:21] comes to deals this investment
[30:29] of art. And that's it. In a
[30:29] nutshell, you have all of the
[30:30] report said the fact that you
[30:33] will also included copies of
[30:34] the documents that we hand our
[30:41] public This is before and
[30:43] Thanksgiving in the Bush
[30:45] Spanish and make sure that we
[30:49] have any of those and We go to
[30:51] public. Thank you for the
[30:54] opportunity to be here the
[30:54] seat I appreciate your
[30:57] listening and consideration.
[30:58] It's always an honor to come
[31:01] before the committee I'm happy
[31:03] to take questions. Thank you
[31:05] your presentation. Counter
[31:12] Cahill. Thank you, MR. Chair
[31:14] the $7500 on letters and
[31:18] corrected. Sooner than
[31:19] expected. 8.7 million dollars.
[31:23] How that? The driver on the
[31:26] 1.1 million? Investment. What
[31:27] how much of that when we look
[31:33] at this? Investment income,
[31:33] what what was the net effect
[31:36] what you somebody by moving
[31:42] that forward? Well, I think
[31:43] going take a swipe at answer
[31:46] and then let by cutting the
[31:49] body. And earlier, it's less
[31:50] that the taxpayer is going
[31:54] first of all, but also that
[31:55] enables us to invest the money
[31:59] for a longer period I do. I
[32:02] think that was part of the 1.1
[32:07] million Incre soar. I I can
[32:08] tell you led to an increase in
[32:09] our interest, our names, I
[32:10] think it would be hard to
[32:14] quantify it. Yeah, we get a
[32:16] break down early. It's it's
[32:17] it's more. I would I would say
[32:17] that some of that with wooden
[32:22] table probably. We we both
[32:23] receive the payments earlier
[32:23] and we probably receive 40% of
[32:28] it. Before the bills went out
[32:30] in APRIL that we would have
[32:32] gotten in JANUARY, FEBRUARY or
[32:36] MARCH. So it was it was it was
[32:37] well worthy. Well, worth the
[32:38] investment. The other thing is
[32:40] and the calls that were coming
[32:43] in 4th front to the office. We
[32:46] were able to identify people
[32:50] that that have problems, maybe
[32:50] maybe move MAY have been
[32:51] unaware that that day that he
[32:52] didn't pay their property tax
[32:56] bill. So we were able to. Deal
[32:57] with those customers getting
[32:58] customer service. Part of the
[33:01] really busy period when they
[33:01] were, they would do it had a
[33:03] tougher time getting to the
[33:05] office. It also helped out
[33:06] with a payment. So the people
[33:07] that are struggling to make
[33:08] their payments, they were able
[33:11] to. Contact our office and
[33:16] that MAY have. Unable to start
[33:17] process with the starting
[33:19] making payments online, but we
[33:20] so that it was easier for to
[33:24] become I mean, just my quick
[33:26] and dirty showed it was should
[33:27] have this just by moving it
[33:30] forward like a month. One
[33:34] generated about 30,000 extra.
[33:36] As far as items that some of
[33:38] 500 generating 30,000 doesn't
[33:43] come that through great do so.
[33:47] And looking you. Okay? Yeah.
[33:49] The what? Given that what is
[33:51] MAY be on this that what is
[33:53] driving the 1.1 that isn't new
[33:55] increased rates that you're
[33:58] forecasting. The biggest thing
[34:00] is is our our average monthly
[34:02] balance continues to increase.
[34:02] So as a property levy
[34:04] increases as as late
[34:07] increases, our average balance
[34:08] it is as long as interest
[34:08] rates stay stay. Precept
[34:11] steady. I think if we get a
[34:15] 3.0, 3, 5%, interest will be
[34:17] able to make the make. The
[34:17] budgeted numbers running
[34:19] higher than that right think.
[34:21] Thank you any other questions
[34:25] or comments, counter boots.
[34:27] Thank you both for the
[34:28] presentation. If you could go
[34:29] just back one slide, please to
[34:33] 20. And looking at the
[34:35] difference 2 questions, one.
[34:38] The amount of interest,
[34:40] investment earnings is
[34:41] increasing rapidly. So why do
[34:42] you keep the budget amount
[34:46] fixed? And 15, one, 50? It
[34:51] went up in. There's been when
[34:53] when you when we look at the
[34:58] interest rate environment. The
[34:59] environment has changed
[35:01] dramatically beginning of the
[35:01] year. Our money market rates
[35:06] were. Substantially higher and
[35:07] they can they continue to go
[35:10] down. So so as as the money
[35:11] market rates have gone down,
[35:12] which is which is the bulk of
[35:13] rain come the short-term
[35:17] investments have. Going you
[35:21] know looking at our budget and
[35:22] understanding that there's
[35:23] there's kind of this does next
[35:25] between short-term
[35:27] investments, liquid
[35:28] investments and the increase
[35:31] in the average balance for a
[35:32] month. So using that that that
[35:37] kind of factored into. The
[35:38] budget number. I say, too,
[35:40] there's a little bit of it
[35:44] surveyed, but you go in It's
[35:46] difficult to what some of the
[35:47] stuff that's going on and
[35:49] said, what can I be? What
[35:52] might be coming down pike? So
[35:53] I think we have a tendency to
[35:57] be fairly conservative. Women.
[35:59] When making assessment
[36:03] historically has the amount of
[36:06] the earnings exceeding the
[36:06] budget has steadily grown
[36:08] historically over the years.
[36:10] More than just this 2 year
[36:12] history. And I I would say
[36:14] some of these factors 2020. 25
[36:18] 1 of the big factors was the
[36:19] timing of the book. You know,
[36:22] the interest in the So we we
[36:24] had a 21. We had one being
[36:25] that that was 20 Million. That
[36:28] was over 5%. So we're able to
[36:29] put 2025, which really made a
[36:31] difference interest. That's
[36:34] it's a time where short term
[36:37] sure. And finally due to sup
[36:39] 8, the 26 number 2 Frederick.
[36:41] See the budget member again, I
[36:44] I and it's it's it's it's
[36:48] really hard to dissipate with
[36:49] with the Fed and tariffs then
[36:51] the and the and the inflation
[36:53] environment. So we have to be
[36:53] somewhat conservative and try
[36:59] to have have a figure they are
[36:59] able to make but not have
[37:01] something that is
[37:05] substantially all. Thank you.
[37:08] Thank you. Any other questions
[37:09] from council, anyone from the
[37:11] audience only speak on this,
[37:14] seeing Thank As long she is
[37:15] very much next and counting
[37:18] on. Are there.
[38:01] We have the floor. Good
[38:02] evening, MISTER Chair and
[38:05] members of the for the record
[38:07] I am Island and I and the
[38:09] privilege of serving as the
[38:13] Marion County Auditor present
[38:16] with me tonight as my chief
[38:17] financial Officer, Tiffany
[38:20] Matthews and I will in that
[38:25] they're supporting me. Here
[38:27] tonight to present at the 2027
[38:34] budget presentation. We often
[38:35] see on the screen. And you
[38:41] also to say printed copy of
[38:45] budget presentation packet.
[38:46] Just think we go over the for
[38:50] you. A Marion County Auditor's
[38:53] Office is comprised 3 areas
[38:54] which include the accounting
[38:57] payroll real estate tax
[38:58] provisions. The mission of the
[39:02] office. Marion County
[39:05] Auditor's Office is to deliver
[39:05] exceptional customer service
[39:08] while providing the most
[39:09] efficient and effective
[39:12] support to our Mary County
[39:14] residents, city county
[39:20] employees and then there's.
[39:21] Our accounting Department
[39:23] division provides accounts
[39:23] payable and receivable
[39:27] functions for all agencies.
[39:29] And ensures payment for all
[39:30] city and county bills. The
[39:31] division reconciles cash
[39:33] balances and funds and also
[39:35] issues 10. 99 ce our payroll
[39:40] department. Is responsible for
[39:42] processing payroll and
[39:42] ensuring adherence to a
[39:43] clickable legal requirements,
[39:47] including new hiring reporting
[39:49] obligations and we also train
[39:50] and provide support to all
[39:55] agencies. Agency. Time keepers
[39:57] and those are responsible for
[39:58] a time. Keeper is responsible
[39:59] for just what it says. Time
[40:01] people in every agency in
[40:03] imax. I really I'm proud of
[40:03] that because we did not have
[40:11] that Our real estate and tax
[40:12] Department, that division
[40:13] provides customer service for
[40:14] Marion County. Residents
[40:16] processes all tax deductions,
[40:17] abatements tax bill
[40:21] corrections and refunds that
[40:22] division and ministers all
[40:23] noticing requirements,
[40:24] redemptions and refunds for
[40:27] the annual tax sale as well as
[40:29] investigates homestead
[40:29] deduction, fraud throughout
[40:33] the county. The next slide you
[40:38] see for flex. The positions
[40:39] that we have in the auditor's
[40:44] office. Totaling 30 33
[40:46] positions. We have 5
[40:47] administration positions, 7
[40:50] payroll positions. 10 and a
[40:52] real estate division. 11
[40:57] physicians and accounting. We
[41:00] have 2 openings, real estate
[41:01] and one in accounting. So if
[41:03] you all know someone that is
[41:03] interesting in them and send
[41:08] them our way. Our agency
[41:12] staffing demographics. 27
[41:16] women. And for me, 10 women in
[41:19] leadership to land as well.
[41:23] All of our employees that I've
[41:26] mentioned. We have one
[41:29] biracial, Ali, one of Army's
[41:32] Hispanic, African-American, 3
[41:34] Hispanic, 12 African-American,
[41:36] 14 Caucasian and in
[41:37] leadership. We have one
[41:38] Hispanic, one 4
[41:39] African-American and 7
[41:43] Caucasian. Far as community
[41:46] engagement. We are in the
[41:49] process of mailing letters.
[41:51] And new application forms to
[41:52] veterans currently receiving
[41:56] deductions to inform them. Of
[41:58] changes to disabled Bennett
[41:59] veterans, deductions and
[42:01] credits. The letters for
[42:02] Veterans of going out this
[42:09] week. Recently I had an
[42:10] interview with the local news
[42:12] to educate homeowners about
[42:16] Homestead. Deduction. I don't
[42:18] have the time. I don't know
[42:18] when interview will be aired
[42:21] just because the everybody's
[42:25] been been about the in recent
[42:26] floods that we have had. But
[42:28] we are trying our best to
[42:33] educate. Now, residents The
[42:34] what we offer and Islanders
[42:37] office. Let's talk about 2026
[42:42] progress and improvements. So
[42:42] the auditors office introduced
[42:46] a new automated clearing House
[42:46] reimbursement option for
[42:50] employees. The initiative aims
[42:51] to streamline the
[42:53] reimbursement process and
[42:55] reduce the reliance on paper
[42:58] checks. We're transitioning
[42:58] from paper. We the goal is to
[43:03] become a paperless county. Our
[43:04] a c 8 reimbursement option for
[43:05] employees began JUNE. The 8th
[43:09] of this year. This this is for
[43:11] the city and county employees
[43:11] who normally receive
[43:13] reimbursements for like
[43:16] conferences, meals, supplies,
[43:17] mileage, cell phones or any,
[43:21] you know, reimbursable items
[43:22] and employee has been approved
[43:23] to purchase by their agency.
[43:26] And we're happy to report that
[43:27] that is going well. And
[43:29] basically what that means is
[43:30] instead of getting a paper
[43:30] check, they have the option to
[43:32] have it automatically
[43:34] deposited into they're
[43:34] checking account or savings
[43:40] account what have you? We're
[43:43] using you are using budgeted
[43:46] funds to review current Wt w 2
[43:48] 10 99 processes to ensure
[43:50] compliance with recent changes
[43:50] in the applicable laws and
[43:52] regulations. So excited
[43:53] basically to be working with
[43:58] our contract. That legal. Tax
[43:59] professionals on our w 2 10 99
[44:07] process us. Goals for 2027.
[44:10] Expand automated clearing
[44:11] house participation by adding
[44:13] more vendors. What does that
[44:16] mean? Liz Ellis left. It
[44:20] reduces check printing costs.
[44:21] So we MAY allocate those
[44:22] resources to other future
[44:27] initiatives. I mentioned
[44:31] earlier the host it. The House
[44:32] to credit, but beginning in
[44:34] 2026, the state mandates that.
[44:40] County auditor shall. And that
[44:41] Homestead investigations and
[44:43] Beal for in eligible that
[44:45] deduction is in prior years
[44:48] before the language said it
[44:52] was discretionary and that I
[44:58] want to talk about. Before the
[45:00] next light that like the home
[45:03] state sweet. Now that so New
[45:10] York so in regard to ach. So
[45:12] in the beginning of my term.
[45:16] We were receiving complaints.
[45:16] The vendors were not being
[45:20] paid fast enough and then
[45:20] there's didn't want to do
[45:21] business with the city or the
[45:24] county. We implemented a new
[45:26] payment request platform that
[45:30] allowed us to be paperless
[45:30] also MAY paying invoices much
[45:35] quicker. Our initial start of
[45:36] a ch was the introduction of
[45:37] employee reimbursement, which
[45:41] I just mentioned. Councilor
[45:44] Cahill. Reached out with
[45:47] concerns. Regarding met terms
[45:49] on payments and provided which
[45:57] i have. A copy of of you guys
[45:58] is so the city County Council
[45:58] calling can that was invoiced
[46:02] on JULY 31st. And this year
[46:06] with a due date of AUGUST,
[46:07] 30th with net terms with
[46:07] terms. But it was paid on
[46:13] AUGUST. 12th. People soften
[46:19] just before Top of largest one
[46:20] like tell you about people,
[46:21] Southside, what people's out
[46:22] some people south as the
[46:22] capabilities of setting that
[46:28] terms. Acm and our purchasing
[46:28] department met with their
[46:31] legal counsel over concerns
[46:32] that payments could not or
[46:36] could be late. That or not
[46:40] contracted purchase orders. We
[46:44] must consider. All payments
[46:47] that a 30 terms such as
[46:54] utilities. Such as utilities
[46:55] are not contracted purchases.
[46:59] Rent, for example, rent
[47:00] Invoiced at 7.15, on JULY.
[47:03] 15th is due on AUGUST. 1st. So
[47:04] it doesn't mean that 30 days.
[47:08] All right. So what are we
[47:10] doing? What is the result? Be
[47:11] honest with you. We don't have
[47:12] the resolve, but we do have a
[47:16] plan. So the next steps. Are
[47:17] partnering acm and the
[47:20] Treasurer's office to do an
[47:24] analysis of cash flow Nick
[47:26] terms and the frequency of a
[47:28] ch transactions. Also, I
[47:31] talked to staff on today.
[47:33] Councilor Cahill about too,
[47:35] just looking at every invoice
[47:39] that we receive and then
[47:44] figuring out how do we manage
[47:45] particular invoices? And so I
[47:52] also learned today that we can
[47:55] also set whatever the number
[47:56] of the default rather that 0
[47:58] right, 20 days, right, 30
[48:02] days. The goal of, though, for
[48:04] offices to again, by me
[48:07] receiving those complains from
[48:09] vendors. It is to make sure
[48:13] that. Vendors are paid on time
[48:14] because also what happens is
[48:18] sometimes. CHAIRMAN Lusk
[48:21] Arias. We will get invoices
[48:22] from agencies and they're
[48:28] already. The 30 day deadline,
[48:28] right? So it's up to my
[48:32] office. I feel at that time.
[48:33] To like make sure that the
[48:35] vendors are getting as soon as
[48:40] possible. So we don't have it
[48:42] all figured out yet, but we
[48:43] will definitely look into what
[48:43] we're going to do. The
[48:48] research to find out how we
[48:52] can process invoices in 30 day
[48:54] next period, right? Because I
[48:55] understand I do understand
[48:58] where you're coming from
[49:00] because if a bill is the
[49:02] statement date is JULY, the
[49:03] 31st right? But the due date
[49:07] is AUGUST. The 30th, we
[49:10] probably set a default. Our
[49:10] look wages make sure that the
[49:14] bill is not late and have it
[49:16] pay like 5 days prior to
[49:16] write. So guess I do
[49:18] understand and I'm hoping that
[49:21] I'm answering some of your
[49:25] questions that had your email.
[49:26] So with that being said, I'm
[49:29] going to go ahead and continue
[49:30] to go through the presentation
[49:33] and then I will take any
[49:33] questions or any comments
[49:37] from. The council members.
[49:39] Okay. So let's talk about 2027
[49:44] priorities and goals. The
[49:45] homes week. We are currently
[49:46] conducting coasted
[49:47] investigations. However, we
[49:48] are limited due to our current
[49:50] property taxing system and
[49:53] ability to gather information.
[49:53] Our treasure actually talked
[49:54] about the new tech scene.
[49:58] System that we all bought into
[50:02] myself. The assessor and the
[50:03] treasurer, which she talked
[50:07] about tax off and exiled is I
[50:08] think going to do less a world
[50:14] of good in regard how we are,
[50:15] you know, tracking their
[50:16] taxes. Our taxes on multiple
[50:19] part parcel is at once the
[50:20] current property tax. System
[50:21] does not have that capability.
[50:24] So we're excited About ix off
[50:24] using it. And even that just
[50:25] the features that it brings
[50:28] with it. I think it'll be good
[50:33] for the county engaging in the
[50:35] go. Ineligible homestay it
[50:37] data and software providers in
[50:39] early spring that can provide
[50:39] data. So we're working
[50:43] organizations that actually I
[50:45] have Don, like Homestead,
[50:47] sweeps before. So our goal is
[50:50] for any monitoring software to
[50:53] continually research current
[50:53] deduction recipients in our
[50:55] tax base and alert U.S. Went
[50:58] public record data suggest the
[51:00] property is no longer serving
[51:01] as the principal place of
[51:03] residence. So for the homes
[51:04] that pretty you are supposed
[51:08] to be living at the residence
[51:10] and it is your responsibility
[51:11] as homeowner's responsibility
[51:14] to report that if they are no
[51:15] longer residing at that
[51:19] residence at that address.
[51:21] Let's talk about revenue,
[51:22] comprehensive homestead
[51:23] deduction and the ala says the
[51:25] net result is that we collect
[51:27] up to 3 years of additional
[51:29] taxes and associated
[51:30] penalties. These collections
[51:31] go to the auditors and
[51:35] eligible deductions, fun, the
[51:36] greater impact to the Texan
[51:38] units. The net revenue crease
[51:39] after removing the fraudulent
[51:42] erroneous Homestead deduction
[51:46] from the specific parcel.
[51:51] Budget breakdown. Increase
[51:52] just a little bit account. Our
[51:55] county, our county general,
[51:59] for 2026. Was 14 million,
[52:02] 346,550 were $4. It is
[52:07] increased too 15 million,
[52:07] 107,764 dollars. Our in
[52:13] eligible deductions. For this
[52:20] year was $655,000. $903. This
[52:24] year, solo wars, $662,128
[52:31] endorsement. See one up. From
[52:33] $155,509 to $182,096. Our
[52:37] elected officials training
[52:38] remain the same. Looks like I
[52:40] probably do some traveling
[52:42] nurse. I'm educating myself,
[52:45] but local emergency planning
[52:46] is in my budget. I'm not
[52:47] really surely sure why. But
[52:49] it's $110,000 and it remained
[52:53] the same for next year. But a
[52:54] breakdown for personnel
[53:01] character. One. 2027 to a
[53:06] about 145 $1461. But the
[53:10] difference of $562,705 in
[53:13] eligible deductions went down
[53:22] this year from $572,759 to 268
[53:26] $1985, which with the
[53:30] difference of $303,774.
[53:35] Totaling on for this year,
[53:37] 2 billion 814 million,
[53:43] $814,446 with the $258,931 in
[53:44] my notes say here, the
[53:45] character, one budget
[53:52] increased by. I 258,931 about
[53:56] $31 due to increasing cola
[53:59] union and non-union and
[53:59] changes in health insurance.
[54:01] So this budget funds, 33
[54:03] full-time employees with 3%
[54:04] cola health insurance
[54:08] increases. And step and grade
[54:12] increases. Character to
[54:16] supplies. County General Fund
[54:23] for this year. $537 and went
[54:27] down the difference of $1113.
[54:30] Eligible deductions and 2026
[54:31] was 23,000 stay the same. So
[54:36] that's the euro with the if
[54:38] you could say a total of
[54:40] $23,537 with a difference of
[54:43] 1000, $113. And the for that
[54:49] difference. Is reduced
[54:49] gasoline funding based off of
[54:50] usage. So I'm not driving my
[54:59] city car lot Budget breakdown
[55:03] character, 3 I'm just going
[55:04] share with you. I'm not going
[55:06] to go through all the the
[55:09] figures here, but our charge
[55:12] facts increased by $14,112.
[55:15] You'll see the The slide and
[55:19] then mental health costs sunny
[55:23] and we saw an increase to
[55:26] $524,447 to a total of
[55:32] 9 Million. And capital for
[55:33] last, but not least there are
[55:36] no changes. Our in eligible
[55:39] deductions. 23,000 for this
[55:43] year and $23,000 for next
[55:46] year. That is conclusion of my
[55:54] 2027. It brings me and I.
[55:59] Available to answer ultimately
[56:01] any questions think PRESIDENT
[56:02] Luiz. Thank you. Thank you for
[56:05] your presentation to sit
[56:07] question regarding the
[56:09] Homestead Review. Any day that
[56:12] speaks to how often folks are
[56:13] utilized as the ducks and that
[56:15] should not be using
[56:24] I think we don't have exactly
[56:28] because. We don't have the
[56:32] means to gather all the data
[56:35] itself. By engaging with a
[56:36] company that can provide the
[56:37] software utilizes obviously
[56:43] like dmv records. We thank
[56:47] your dmv be in the records.
[56:50] Any public data essentially it
[56:51] will pull that would be can
[56:55] determine now on a day-to-day
[56:57] basis, we usually are able to
[56:57] catch that as far as like
[57:01] somebody coming. Nguyen, maybe
[57:03] someone could say some of that
[57:04] report. They come in and
[57:09] they'll say we I move the year
[57:10] ago and now I'm Alicia knows
[57:11] me see my my home. So I need
[57:15] to, you know, Ed or whatever
[57:16] so than that, and that might
[57:20] trigger an investigation are
[57:22] So how how often if you don't
[57:23] mind is something like that
[57:24] happened again? Do you have
[57:27] figure that speaks to that? So
[57:28] let me say If you know just So
[57:30] let me say this I can't
[57:33] remember what year so Mary
[57:35] County is on this week before.
[57:37] Okay. Okay. What year was that
[57:41] 10 years ago? So with
[57:41] purchasing the new software
[57:44] that we have mix off. Well,
[57:46] hopefully to help us be able
[57:48] to catch right individuals
[57:51] that have more than one most
[57:52] it deduction, right? So that's
[57:52] why in the presentation,
[57:53] though, that I said we're
[57:57] meeting with. Companies that
[58:02] have done this before and that
[58:03] an initiative. Our is our goal
[58:07] of ours is next year to do.
[58:10] The sweet and also have in
[58:11] place whatever that looks
[58:14] like. We don't know yet
[58:15] something in place to catch
[58:19] individuals that are that have
[58:22] more than state deduction is
[58:23] that makes us so we don't have
[58:24] an answer yet, but it is on
[58:26] our things to do list to get
[58:28] done and the great thank you
[58:29] so much that the nra says see
[58:30] that data when you do have a
[58:32] thank you that run. Thank you.
[58:35] Counselor. Km. I think MISTER
[58:38] Chair. Thank you addressing
[58:39] those concerns because I you
[58:41] know, we've talked more in the
[58:42] past week about liquidity that
[58:44] think we talked to my time on
[58:47] the council and is important
[58:48] and that cash flow and paying.
[58:52] And I agree we should not. And
[58:53] I'm not saying it's your fault
[58:54] when somebody he's an invoice
[58:55] after it was already do, we
[58:58] shouldn't be paying invoices.
[58:59] Late, but I also don't think
[59:00] we should be paying early
[59:04] because it has great cash And
[59:05] I think this goes back to last
[59:06] year's discussion because you
[59:07] were talking about moving more
[59:11] jc age and inherently that and
[59:12] addressed. We could cut, you
[59:15] know, another week. Plus, when
[59:15] you don't mail a check, but
[59:17] now you see agent. Well, if
[59:19] you're not issuing that ac age
[59:20] on the day that it's too well,
[59:24] actually, they too. It's like
[59:24] if there's a weekend or
[59:25] whatever. But if you if you're
[59:27] not issuing that at that time
[59:29] and you do kind of like this,
[59:31] then because at least in this
[59:35] case, calling it example,
[59:36] there was checkpoint, the mail
[59:37] and then And then it went in
[59:40] the mail that got cash.
[59:41] Probably was only off by a
[59:42] couple days. But when we see
[59:43] age that still gets bigger.
[59:46] And although we picked a
[59:48] colleague example not of
[59:50] dollar amount. My concern is
[59:54] more like and we have a major
[59:55] contractor looking milestone
[59:56] or something that with check
[59:56] as Labour's pch as a lot zeros
[59:58] at the end and the math of
[1:00:03] that. So my my question my
[1:00:04] follow-up question is last
[1:00:05] year's presentation talked
[1:00:07] about a ch converting more to
[1:00:07] that. You've got that is to do
[1:00:09] this year. And you said you've
[1:00:13] got employee reimbursement
[1:00:15] payments that's that's great
[1:00:16] for great things from the
[1:00:18] employees about that process.
[1:00:20] Better. Are there other than
[1:00:21] that? We have anybody on a
[1:00:22] stage today or is that still
[1:00:26] working properly? Yeah,
[1:00:28] absolutely. Of like a you
[1:00:29] have. We're working to expand
[1:00:32] the pilot, but we do have a
[1:00:33] couple of outside of our
[1:00:35] normal because we do a ch
[1:00:36] outside of that. I think last
[1:00:40] year we added, for example,
[1:00:41] state board of accounts we
[1:00:41] need to pay. And with this
[1:00:46] like. Taxing unit audits, when
[1:00:47] see those invoices, we added
[1:00:52] those 2 ach, but this year, I
[1:00:53] say talking with them about
[1:00:58] the ach process. And in
[1:00:59] talking about a pilot asked if
[1:01:00] we would include one of their
[1:01:05] vendors. So we did
[1:01:07] technologies. Second one was
[1:01:08] just added a couple of months
[1:01:11] ago and that score pay. So
[1:01:14] that's utilized by the the
[1:01:19] fuel payments up They
[1:01:20] situations where we're running
[1:01:24] into where payments for being
[1:01:25] and feels important for
[1:01:30] Obviously impd I d to be able
[1:01:30] to conduct We didn't convert
[1:01:38] those to ach so next step
[1:01:39] because we now have mandate.
[1:01:39] The wearing We talked about is
[1:01:42] next. Expanding that, but also
[1:01:46] doing it carefully, taking
[1:01:48] into consideration that terms
[1:01:49] consider e considering
[1:01:55] liquidity cash flow. We have
[1:01:59] talked of the treasurer's
[1:02:01] about what that might look
[1:02:02] like. So it might not be
[1:02:04] obviously ach every day. It
[1:02:06] might be picky. Some certain
[1:02:11] vendors to begin with
[1:02:13] discussing figuring out the
[1:02:15] frequently what that would
[1:02:16] look like. So and then I think
[1:02:19] with a ch 2, is that. It's an
[1:02:23] instant are Payment. So it we
[1:02:27] make the with the exception of
[1:02:29] mail. I that 30. We can set
[1:02:33] that date on on 30 right. And
[1:02:37] we know it's not going to be
[1:02:38] late that they received that
[1:02:42] day so we can maximize
[1:02:43] maximizing that 30 terms and
[1:02:44] also make sure not paying
[1:02:46] late. Yeah, no, that's that's
[1:02:48] good to hear. I I hope that
[1:02:48] and I'm glad to hear not
[1:02:49] surprised that I'm glad to
[1:02:53] hear the Laker fuel supplier
[1:02:54] for that makes perfect sense.
[1:02:55] I guess I would hope that we
[1:02:59] would kind of the big dollars
[1:02:59] because I realize that the
[1:03:04] goal is to eliminate the papal
[1:03:05] charity. But in my experience,
[1:03:10] bang for the buck is actually
[1:03:12] The individual payments, even
[1:03:14] though so we MAY still be
[1:03:18] sending of a projected to
[1:03:19] college Buffalo, Yorkers. And
[1:03:22] yes, a ch 2. You know,
[1:03:25] electric company esta citizens
[1:03:26] milestone, too. So are you
[1:03:28] anybody gets in my opinion,
[1:03:31] anybody 7 figures a year and
[1:03:32] that peak hour, I look at
[1:03:35] that. So that's that's free.
[1:03:36] And I guess my final thing I'm
[1:03:37] glad I want him and you are
[1:03:39] conversations now. I think
[1:03:42] there MAY be an opportunity
[1:03:43] for some training with regard
[1:03:46] to people saw and it might
[1:03:47] address some of what you're
[1:03:50] talking about. Where rent
[1:03:50] doesn't but that it might be
[1:03:54] as simple as saying for rent
[1:03:55] put the day, the rent is due
[1:03:56] with net 0 and then the
[1:03:59] payment will at the So I think
[1:04:03] I think our understanding at
[1:04:04] the moment and that's talking
[1:04:08] with the Rp team and my xyz,
[1:04:11] Europe. He handles, you know,
[1:04:12] peoples problems or issues
[1:04:16] river. Have that we might be
[1:04:17] able to do that on a Hope.
[1:04:18] We're hoping we can do that on
[1:04:18] a b#
[1:04:18] #
[1:04:18] #
[1:04:18] #
[1:04:18] #
[1:04:19] level which which
[1:04:22] would be helpful that way. We
[1:04:23] know that specific specific
[1:04:27] vendor possibly. Kind of nutty
[1:04:31] some of those out that we can.
[1:04:32] You know, if that is, you
[1:04:34] know, 15 days are only giving
[1:04:35] 15 days for that. We can set
[1:04:35] it for that specific vendor
[1:04:37] rather than having it as of
[1:04:38] the fall across. People saw
[1:04:42] it. Yes, I would certainly
[1:04:43] help at center I believe
[1:04:45] that's how it's supposed want
[1:04:46] to hear that. But yeah, I just
[1:04:49] I want conclude with thanks
[1:04:50] again for this is major
[1:04:53] progress past year. Fishy with
[1:04:55] thank you. Thank Council
[1:04:56] council I just would like to
[1:04:57] say to you that I do think
[1:05:00] that we can get it done. I do.
[1:05:02] And I think it's having the
[1:05:03] conversations on like we live
[1:05:06] in a hyper right. So I but I
[1:05:08] do. I think that is something
[1:05:09] that having conversations and
[1:05:10] again, because I'd learn
[1:05:11] myself today in regard to the
[1:05:17] Deval, but the system and
[1:05:18] actually, if it's a rule right
[1:05:21] versus a law and what the
[1:05:24] auditor has the authority, if
[1:05:25] you will, to decide on what
[1:05:27] that number looks like. So we
[1:05:29] would definitely my staff and
[1:05:31] we taking a look into it and
[1:05:32] figure out what's best for
[1:05:34] good government for yeah, for
[1:05:41] the Thank Council rose. Thank
[1:05:42] you, MR. CHAIRMAN and I agree
[1:05:43] with you, counselor Cahill.
[1:05:44] This is very tedious work. So
[1:05:46] thank you. MADAM Auditor, you
[1:05:50] have done great work. I think
[1:05:52] the ach peace is not only
[1:05:54] reducing fraud, thought, but
[1:05:55] it's good for business. We
[1:05:55] don't want to drive those
[1:05:58] dinners. The waste we've had,
[1:05:58] you know, the course of
[1:06:01] several years and decades,
[1:06:05] even as so many vendors and
[1:06:06] other agencies and governments
[1:06:08] go to some of these things
[1:06:09] were losing out on great
[1:06:10] getting work done in a timely
[1:06:11] fashion. So I commend you for
[1:06:15] that. And again, prioritizing
[1:06:19] internally was huge. And it's
[1:06:20] it is so tedious and it's a
[1:06:21] case-by-case piece. I just
[1:06:22] want to shout out the team. I
[1:06:24] know it's a long day for you.
[1:06:25] Thank you for showing up and
[1:06:26] thank you for all the work
[1:06:26] that you all to thank. Thank
[1:06:30] you, MR. CHAIRMAN. Thank you.
[1:06:31] Any other questions on the
[1:06:32] ach? Is there a fee for the
[1:06:36] vendor? 0? It like $2 less
[1:06:40] than a and is less than a
[1:06:41] dollar? Yeah, it's It's like
[1:06:43] pennies compared to look at
[1:06:46] absolutely a check time. Thank
[1:06:47] you. Any other questions
[1:06:49] counselors, anyone from the
[1:06:51] audience seeing none. We'll
[1:06:52] move on to the item. Thank you
[1:06:59] very Thank you. And bringing
[1:07:06] rules for commute. It.
[1:07:37] Welcome. And good evening.
[1:07:38] Okay. Operation Officers
[1:07:39] Correction Council. So a
[1:07:45] pretty young 25th floor. 23rd
[1:07:46] you have all the attorneys you
[1:07:50] don't know where we are all
[1:07:52] right. You have the Thank you.
[1:07:53] Times kids with their thank
[1:07:56] your time tonight friend. If
[1:07:59] you are in that position
[1:08:00] council here tonight present
[1:08:01] the proposed 2027 budget for
[1:08:02] the Office Corporation
[1:08:05] counsel. To increase snapshot
[1:08:09] of our agency. We are the in
[1:08:13] law firm of the city county
[1:08:14] provide full comprehensive
[1:08:15] legal services to all of our
[1:08:15] city county agencies and
[1:08:20] employees. There are 3 fritzl
[1:08:21] divisions in our office. The
[1:08:22] litigation Division, the
[1:08:23] Counseling Division and the
[1:08:26] office. It's a prosecutor our
[1:08:26] office also administers the
[1:08:30] office of Equal Opportunity.
[1:08:32] Here's a snapshot of the occ
[1:08:33] organizational chart, as
[1:08:34] you'll see there, the 3
[1:08:38] divisions are listed in led
[1:08:38] Katie Campbell, our city
[1:08:42] prosecutor who's here tonight
[1:08:43] Ellen Gavitt, our chief
[1:08:43] counsel and Kylie Keys there,
[1:08:46] our chief litigation counsel,
[1:08:47] our senior staff is comprised
[1:08:50] of the first 3 rows. So it be
[1:08:51] the Corporation Council, the
[1:08:54] deputy corporation counsel,
[1:08:54] the 3 section chiefs, as well
[1:08:57] as our office administrator.
[1:08:58] Our leadership is 80% women
[1:09:05] and we are very proud of
[1:09:06] Here's a bit a look at she
[1:09:07] sees role is to look at the
[1:09:08] divisions and what used to
[1:09:09] vision does and what they do
[1:09:11] to provide support to city
[1:09:14] county. The litigation
[1:09:15] Division manages the docket of
[1:09:16] cases all the times. And each
[1:09:17] time the city of Indianapolis
[1:09:18] is listed as a defendant. That
[1:09:23] is the case. We take up last
[1:09:24] year, enforces on to the trend
[1:09:26] the past several years. Seen
[1:09:27] an uptick of cases filed
[1:09:28] against the city county and
[1:09:30] its employees last year, a
[1:09:33] total of 118 cases were filed
[1:09:37] with 114 resolve to be clear
[1:09:37] 114 leads back to cases. His
[1:09:38] office, obviously especially
[1:09:39] federal litigation last
[1:09:42] several years or can several
[1:09:43] years this year. So far, we're
[1:09:45] at 65 cases filed against the
[1:09:49] city with 76 resolved. This.
[1:09:50] That is a higher number than
[1:09:50] we were last at last year's
[1:09:54] budget presentation, which is
[1:09:54] potentially indicative that we
[1:09:55] are going to have more cases
[1:09:57] again filed against the city
[1:09:58] county just showing the amount
[1:10:00] work in the litigation
[1:10:02] section. The county section
[1:10:02] that's kind of you to view is
[1:10:05] the in-house counsel. Each
[1:10:06] agency is assigned their own
[1:10:07] counseling attorney. And
[1:10:08] that's usually the first
[1:10:09] attorney those agencies go to
[1:10:10] and they have a legal question
[1:10:13] the legal advice. The council
[1:10:13] section provides those told
[1:10:15] city County agencies as well
[1:10:17] as the 30 boards and
[1:10:20] commissions. Finally the
[1:10:21] office of see prosecutors, the
[1:10:22] office that's responsible for
[1:10:22] enforcing the code violations
[1:10:25] and ordinance violations. Last
[1:10:28] year, they filed 1128 cases
[1:10:32] and close 1002 this year, they
[1:10:36] filed 713 cases and close so
[1:10:41] far close 667. Without past 6,
[1:10:47] 6, 6, o that's good as far as
[1:10:48] agents to staffing and that's
[1:10:48] going to be a portion and
[1:10:52] future slides. Tonight we have
[1:10:53] 46, tough fte positions with
[1:10:56] 31 filled with 15 vacancies.
[1:10:58] Our focus of our senior staff
[1:11:00] since I've taken this role has
[1:11:02] been on finding ways to
[1:11:03] support our staff, continue to
[1:11:04] give the attorneys and the
[1:11:05] staff in our office a good
[1:11:08] opportunity, good experiences.
[1:11:10] What we retention we want and
[1:11:11] also have resource to help
[1:11:13] build their careers as well.
[1:11:15] So things we do and things
[1:11:17] that we use the budget for her
[1:11:17] character threes to pay for
[1:11:20] attorneys annual licenses. We
[1:11:23] reimburse support staff are
[1:11:24] maintaining credentials.
[1:11:25] That's probably was obviously
[1:11:26] seen with our paralegals. Many
[1:11:28] of them are notary publics. We
[1:11:28] find that very beneficial to
[1:11:29] have in our office will pay
[1:11:31] for them to get those
[1:11:32] commission's every few years.
[1:11:35] They need those something we
[1:11:36] introduced last year and we're
[1:11:40] going continue into 27 was
[1:11:41] reached a tourney, a $500 bank
[1:11:42] that they can use for their
[1:11:45] own professional development.
[1:11:46] As most probably know, in
[1:11:47] order to maintain your
[1:11:47] attorney license, you have to
[1:11:48] do a certain amount of
[1:11:49] continuing legal education
[1:11:51] every year. So this helps
[1:11:52] because most firms and other
[1:11:54] places will pay for that
[1:11:55] entirely. But this gives an
[1:11:56] opportunity to find not only
[1:11:58] programs and they have the in
[1:11:59] their individual job bankers,
[1:12:00] things that they will utilize
[1:12:03] to help them professionally.
[1:12:04] We provide each attorney with
[1:12:04] a membership to the and well
[1:12:06] wishes the in International
[1:12:09] Municipal Lawyers Association.
[1:12:10] There's also the Indiana
[1:12:11] Municipal Lawyers Association.
[1:12:13] They're members of that has an
[1:12:14] annual conference that all of
[1:12:15] our attorneys to tend to work
[1:12:17] in network and meet with all
[1:12:18] this will trays across
[1:12:20] Indiana. It's a very fun
[1:12:22] conference, they learned and
[1:12:23] kind of learn different
[1:12:24] strategies of all the things
[1:12:27] that we all MAY be facing.
[1:12:29] Finally, make sure we we've
[1:12:30] really developed some internal
[1:12:32] training education programs.
[1:12:34] So the attorneys don't need to
[1:12:34] dip into their bank. They can
[1:12:36] just here in the office. Get
[1:12:37] an hour Cle on a subject
[1:12:37] matter that's relevant to
[1:12:41] them. Looking to programmatic
[1:12:44] and fiscal successes of 26. I
[1:12:45] kind of put these into 3
[1:12:47] different buckets. The first
[1:12:48] and foremost, which is I think
[1:12:50] the primary responsibility of
[1:12:51] our offices, the reduction of
[1:12:52] liability of potential
[1:12:54] exposure of the city county.
[1:12:56] So that is advising monitoring
[1:12:57] compliance with state and
[1:12:59] federal laws and regulations
[1:12:59] past year and a half,
[1:13:02] particularly there's been a
[1:13:03] slew of new rules and regs and
[1:13:06] things coming out. So we have
[1:13:07] a symbol, a little team within
[1:13:07] our office to kind of keep an
[1:13:08] eye on that. What's happening
[1:13:11] at the federal level and
[1:13:12] what's happening in different
[1:13:13] states, especially cities that
[1:13:13] are similarly situated,
[1:13:17] Indianapolis to see what's
[1:13:18] happening in so we can quickly
[1:13:18] advise our clients get
[1:13:20] guidance and kind of interpret
[1:13:22] if there's pivots, we should
[1:13:23] suggest or recommend that also
[1:13:25] just having were never caught
[1:13:26] surprised by thing coming down
[1:13:28] from the state or federal
[1:13:30] level. We also resolve law try
[1:13:31] to work to resolve lawsuits.
[1:13:32] Earlier, as I mentioned, those
[1:13:35] numbers keep going up. So
[1:13:35] we're starting to implement a
[1:13:38] system this past year that
[1:13:39] helps identify what the issues
[1:13:41] are in that lawsuit. What the
[1:13:41] plaintiff truly is complaining
[1:13:45] about to see if we can offer
[1:13:45] what we can do and try to
[1:13:47] gather that evidence quickly
[1:13:50] and see if we can assess
[1:13:51] liability and make informed
[1:13:52] decision as far as settlement
[1:13:53] goes or to go forward with the
[1:13:56] litigation. And finally
[1:13:57] utilizing on economic impact
[1:14:00] options with a mindfulness of
[1:14:01] the very tight budget for
[1:14:04] these agencies. We started
[1:14:05] identify again what MAY be a
[1:14:06] plaintiff's complaint about
[1:14:07] him other than offering money.
[1:14:09] If it's a policy change
[1:14:09] looking into that and working
[1:14:10] with our agencies to see if
[1:14:12] that solve the problem. At
[1:14:13] that point, it was bringing
[1:14:15] and trying to find non-medical
[1:14:19] economic ways to solve law, to
[1:14:19] resolve lawsuits, internal
[1:14:21] legal education, which I've
[1:14:23] mentioned, we really try to
[1:14:24] milk the most out of our
[1:14:27] character, 3 In addition to
[1:14:27] outside lawyers taking the
[1:14:28] cases we do that don't have
[1:14:30] capacity to take or we're
[1:14:34] conflicted from taking. We've
[1:14:34] had a few of those counselors
[1:14:35] come in and provide very
[1:14:38] specific Cle trainings. We now
[1:14:39] have an annual section 1983
[1:14:41] training, which is a really
[1:14:41] specialized area of his full
[1:14:43] government law in federal
[1:14:44] court. We've also done a legal
[1:14:47] writing training to help.
[1:14:48] Encourage and advocate for
[1:14:51] lawyers to improve their
[1:14:52] advocacy skills. In addition,
[1:14:54] we have with our contracts
[1:14:56] comes expectations that those
[1:14:57] outside counsels well mentor
[1:14:59] our attorneys. So well, maybe
[1:15:02] with the outside. Those
[1:15:03] attorneys are expected in
[1:15:04] Turley who are monitoring them
[1:15:06] to engage the attorneys. 10
[1:15:07] depositions they're able to
[1:15:08] attend attend court hearings
[1:15:09] when they're able to attend
[1:15:11] and even take the first stab
[1:15:12] at writing the briefs and
[1:15:13] things like that stink. It
[1:15:13] feedback from attorneys who
[1:15:15] practice in this area and it's
[1:15:19] a mentor in that way. Finally
[1:15:19] responding to legal needs of
[1:15:23] city county agencies. These
[1:15:23] are necessarily subject matter
[1:15:24] legal, but this is how we can
[1:15:26] better serve the city county
[1:15:26] and how issues of questions
[1:15:29] brought to us or help agencies
[1:15:30] have tools they can use to
[1:15:33] kind of saw their problems.
[1:15:34] We're currently engaged with.
[1:15:37] I sa to help improve our a
[1:15:38] discovery of public records
[1:15:39] law, our public records
[1:15:41] processees. That's probably
[1:15:42] question we get the public
[1:15:43] records could comes in. How do
[1:15:46] we get this? What we do so I
[1:15:47] say has been incredibly
[1:15:50] helpful on developing an
[1:15:50] intranet where we can start
[1:15:51] printed materials, search
[1:15:54] terms. So in those the ios
[1:15:55] Reverend Agencies are charged
[1:15:57] with getting those public
[1:15:58] records request. They got
[1:15:59] confidence. These records are
[1:16:00] streamlined their narrow, but
[1:16:01] they're also comprehensive.
[1:16:02] What the of what the request
[1:16:06] is part problem solving urgent
[1:16:07] legal issues. Again, that's
[1:16:08] kind of goes back to following
[1:16:11] the state local different
[1:16:14] regulations and then also
[1:16:16] piggybacking on the first sub
[1:16:18] here during the work of the
[1:16:20] agencies and kind of engaging.
[1:16:21] I've been spending time with
[1:16:21] each agency to learn what they
[1:16:22] do. What are their legal needs
[1:16:23] know what their legal needs
[1:16:25] are and trying to help Bill
[1:16:28] that Internet. That's not out
[1:16:29] yet. But information on there
[1:16:29] that helps the agency's kind
[1:16:33] of. Self-help themselves
[1:16:33] before coming to us are
[1:16:34] helping to streamline that
[1:16:38] question. Katie impacts always
[1:16:39] challenging one to talk is
[1:16:41] where the internal agency. But
[1:16:42] and these are a few that I can
[1:16:45] highlight are happening this
[1:16:46] year. The opiate litigation,
[1:16:47] which is also been which has
[1:16:49] been going on for several
[1:16:50] years. We have received more
[1:16:53] of that distribution this year
[1:16:53] wrecked a 17 million we've
[1:16:56] received so far. We still
[1:16:57] project 70 million coming in
[1:17:01] from the opioid litigation.
[1:17:02] The Kia Hyundai lawsuit that
[1:17:04] dealt with alleged effect and
[1:17:06] the heat days and led to break
[1:17:08] ends and cause a lot of time
[1:17:09] and effort be spent by the
[1:17:11] impd on investigating those in
[1:17:13] solving those. I'm happy to
[1:17:15] say we are in preliminary
[1:17:17] final settlement, but that is
[1:17:18] truly all I can say about it
[1:17:18] right now because the court of
[1:17:20] the parties have agreed not to
[1:17:21] speak further on it until we
[1:17:21] hope reach that. But I will
[1:17:24] say I do. Hope that his
[1:17:25] resolve by this year by the
[1:17:28] end of this year. We also
[1:17:30] reviewing other class action
[1:17:31] opportunities, things where
[1:17:32] we've either purchase products
[1:17:34] are had issues that again,
[1:17:35] that we should be part of to
[1:17:35] make sure we get in on those
[1:17:37] early so we can maximize any
[1:17:41] settlement funds from that.
[1:17:42] Mitigating liability and
[1:17:46] finally get Hammer home 100.
[1:17:47] And the changes that that
[1:17:47] really is something has
[1:17:48] changed past years to develop
[1:17:49] a team to just keep an eye on
[1:17:51] everything going on out there.
[1:17:56] Looking his 2027. So the
[1:17:57] number one bullet point here,
[1:17:59] the pride, the thing for
[1:17:59] interim and that I care a lot
[1:18:01] about this office. I've had a
[1:18:02] phenomenal experience this
[1:18:03] office and gain experience as
[1:18:05] a litigator. That's my trade.
[1:18:06] We are currently going through
[1:18:08] a drought of litigation
[1:18:10] attorneys so if you look at
[1:18:11] the chart, we are going down.
[1:18:12] So we've had to do a lot of
[1:18:13] outside counsel because we
[1:18:14] have an obligation to
[1:18:17] represent the city county. But
[1:18:19] so immediate things we've
[1:18:19] taken. 26, I will say thank
[1:18:21] you to hr with them for
[1:18:24] working with me quickly. We
[1:18:25] knew we had to get the
[1:18:27] litigation specific salaries
[1:18:28] up to competitive. We weren't
[1:18:29] even close to even with you
[1:18:31] know, whatever. And we the
[1:18:33] state look at surrounding
[1:18:34] counties and what similar
[1:18:37] situated cities are. So we
[1:18:38] found a good able to up those
[1:18:39] salaries. We've got those
[1:18:42] listed last month finally
[1:18:43] getting bites again. So we're
[1:18:44] optimistic that that's going
[1:18:47] to be a helpful thing. Hr has
[1:18:49] been really helpful, would
[1:18:49] never lie to post our jobs
[1:18:50] before. It's just kind on the
[1:18:53] city county website. They've
[1:18:54] been really proactive in
[1:18:55] getting us into the all school
[1:18:56] job the U.S. And to divulge a
[1:18:59] job bank and kind of helping
[1:18:59] spread the word that we have
[1:19:02] these positions available.
[1:19:03] Looking to 2027 if we're still
[1:19:07] having this issue I've had
[1:19:08] people in various
[1:19:09] conversations. Guess it's
[1:19:10] saved by conversation of start
[1:19:11] with my personal network of
[1:19:11] attorneys that are very
[1:19:14] throughout different areas of
[1:19:17] law. But working see if it
[1:19:18] makes sense to change occ to
[1:19:19] what I'll call it a bigger for
[1:19:22] model. We create different
[1:19:22] positions like convert, I
[1:19:25] should positions to more like
[1:19:26] Doc review based to come in
[1:19:28] because at this point for
[1:19:28] litigation, attorney, you have
[1:19:30] to have 2 years of experience
[1:19:32] before women hire you because
[1:19:33] we are complex litigation. You
[1:19:36] are expected to be fun when
[1:19:37] you start on day one. So going
[1:19:39] to federal court and do any
[1:19:40] hearing so seen maybe that can
[1:19:44] get and that way again, some
[1:19:45] of straight of local school be
[1:19:47] eligible to start for those
[1:19:48] jobs. Start shadowing start
[1:19:49] going to those hearings. And
[1:19:50] they also have internal
[1:19:51] quickly within the office
[1:19:53] going for maybe a doctor
[1:19:55] attorney, too. And assistant
[1:19:57] us assistant corporation
[1:19:59] counsel. So everything's on
[1:20:01] the table. Continue take
[1:20:02] advice on that. Any boyer's
[1:20:02] out there. I've I'm always
[1:20:03] willing to try to figure out
[1:20:06] how we can make to to get that
[1:20:08] staffing that back up in
[1:20:09] litigation. The second is our
[1:20:13] sauce. A partnership. We again
[1:20:15] thank the council in 23
[1:20:16] appropriate funds to have
[1:20:18] partnership with the U.S.
[1:20:20] Attorney's office with an
[1:20:20] attorney that says 6 solely
[1:20:23] focused on Marion County,
[1:20:24] violent crime. That attorney
[1:20:26] was such a success that the
[1:20:26] U.S. Attorney's office
[1:20:27] snatched him up and to come
[1:20:29] out as assistant U.S.
[1:20:31] Attorney. But we successes
[1:20:32] hired a new attorney who is I
[1:20:33] think starting in 2 weeks for
[1:20:36] that's also position. So this
[1:20:37] has been a very mutually
[1:20:38] beneficial partnership with
[1:20:39] the U.S. Attorney's Office and
[1:20:44] plan to continue that 27
[1:20:45] shouldn't you be one of the
[1:20:46] things other than salary that
[1:20:47] the attorneys who talking
[1:20:48] about is again, all they do
[1:20:49] like having these internal
[1:20:50] trains. That's again,
[1:20:52] something common to all firms
[1:20:54] offer and of course, that Ray
[1:20:57] General's office offers those
[1:20:58] so should we have enough here
[1:20:59] 3 thinking about what other
[1:21:01] arteries but trainings we can
[1:21:02] offer them free of cost to
[1:21:04] them to benefit their careers
[1:21:04] and their service here. The
[1:21:09] city County. And finally
[1:21:10] always trying to make sure we
[1:21:10] live work with all our small
[1:21:14] locally owned firms here.
[1:21:16] Strangely being this
[1:21:17] litigation shortage. We have
[1:21:18] certainly well white in that
[1:21:21] on who we work with this year.
[1:21:22] I can even a model for work
[1:21:22] with this year after list that
[1:21:26] this has been. Kind of a dire
[1:21:26] situation of positive, aspect
[1:21:28] of being able to work with the
[1:21:30] smaller, especially women
[1:21:31] owned or minority owned firms
[1:21:32] who can do this work and help
[1:21:33] us out with that. So it has
[1:21:34] been opportunity to reach
[1:21:37] those smaller for Now to the
[1:21:42] numbers so overall, the
[1:21:43] variance skipped just where we
[1:21:45] are because most to character
[1:21:49] stay straight year. Stay flat.
[1:21:51] It's variance increase of
[1:21:52] 38,600. And $22. And I'll show
[1:21:56] you where that goes. Character
[1:21:59] Wian does increase by the
[1:22:01] 294,021. But that's all we do.
[1:22:01] The 3% cola and the increase
[1:22:02] of one percent for health
[1:22:05] insurance. Character to stays
[1:22:11] the same. Character 3, the
[1:22:13] $38,000. $38,576. Variance is
[1:22:16] again, specifically for we've
[1:22:17] had to increase our character
[1:22:19] 3 for outside law firms this
[1:22:20] year. And that covers that so
[1:22:22] we can pay off those bills. I
[1:22:24] should also just comment that
[1:22:26] view every attorney is taking
[1:22:27] the case during our litigation
[1:22:29] shortage has been made aware
[1:22:31] that our intent is to hire
[1:22:32] people and bring this case is
[1:22:33] back. And so this is something
[1:22:34] that we do hoping 27. We start
[1:22:37] getting more folks, bring it
[1:22:38] back. And so then we don't
[1:22:38] have that outside counsel
[1:22:42] anymore. Care to 4 cup. Stay
[1:22:45] flat. And then since we are,
[1:22:46] in fact, a chargeback agency
[1:22:48] that shows its pride different
[1:22:49] many other agencies are
[1:22:51] variants of the offset. What
[1:22:51] other regions of other
[1:22:53] agencies. That? I'll take any
[1:22:59] questions. Thank for your
[1:23:00] presentation. Looking over a
[1:23:02] little bit. You're you're down
[1:23:06] about 8 full-time employees
[1:23:07] without a total of 15. There's
[1:23:09] a few that we don't need to
[1:23:11] fill. The divisions
[1:23:11] functioning without those
[1:23:12] physicians who want to keep in
[1:23:15] case. We good candidates ease.
[1:23:16] Particularly that every
[1:23:17] division could use the help.
[1:23:19] They're still part of our item
[1:23:22] that in litigation 8 was the
[1:23:23] starting pay for an attorney.
[1:23:28] The higher. So varies now a
[1:23:29] litigation attorney we have
[1:23:32] now got up to 92. If it's a
[1:23:33] senior attorney with although
[1:23:36] that comes experience that we
[1:23:37] don't generally higher from
[1:23:39] the outside when that option
[1:23:41] case they come super qualify
[1:23:42] me that their career and what
[1:23:43] it does public service that
[1:23:47] starts at 101, that's health
[1:23:47] care and everything. That's
[1:23:50] right. Ok? Any questions from
[1:23:58] the counselors? My And we're
[1:24:02] boots. I is an attorney.
[1:24:03] Council routes. Thank you.
[1:24:10] Think I'm sure you've done the
[1:24:11] math, the expense of
[1:24:11] character, 3 expense of hiring
[1:24:16] out. Versus. Kerry can one
[1:24:17] expensive staffing those
[1:24:20] positions so you don't have to
[1:24:21] la suggest that you're going
[1:24:23] to be saving money. Increasing
[1:24:27] your staff. That's correct.
[1:24:30] That's correct. I mean, we
[1:24:31] obviously negotiate races from
[1:24:32] here on pain with private
[1:24:35] citizens generally pay for
[1:24:38] items, but again, increasing
[1:24:39] smaller for the better with
[1:24:41] with with lower rates.
[1:24:41] Sometimes we used to big firms
[1:24:42] that are specialized cases
[1:24:43] like you know, generally about
[1:24:45] police cases and things like
[1:24:47] that that have specialized
[1:24:48] areas of law or constitutional
[1:24:52] questions but overall, I mean,
[1:24:53] you're kind of going to what
[1:24:54] I'm hoping is the nuclear
[1:24:57] option ever pushes the
[1:24:58] consideration we just can't
[1:24:58] get people. What does it look
[1:25:00] like to convert to housing
[1:25:03] council? Had. Social
[1:25:04] conversation about that. I
[1:25:05] understand that sometimes law
[1:25:08] firms are law firms would
[1:25:09] offer a flat rate solar much
[1:25:11] that is have a guarantee.
[1:25:13] Budget numbers open the and
[1:25:15] now of we do know having This
[1:25:17] how much discovery. So we have
[1:25:18] recovered that model. I want
[1:25:19] to be comfortable knowing we
[1:25:21] had a solid rate and that's
[1:25:23] what the person that would pay
[1:25:25] that for that every year. And
[1:25:26] even if they did more work,
[1:25:27] that's what the number is. So
[1:25:27] we have a guaranteed
[1:25:33] budgeting. And you feel
[1:25:34] comfortable you're going make
[1:25:36] a dent in the vacancy rate in
[1:25:38] the litigation attorney ranks.
[1:25:40] We have not had bites and
[1:25:43] months and months that we've
[1:25:45] got 2 bytes who this week so
[1:25:46] I'm hoping that's a sign of a
[1:25:47] changing Tide. Great. Thank
[1:25:49] you. Thank you. Thank you. Any
[1:25:50] other questions councilors
[1:25:54] seeing none. Anyone the
[1:25:55] audience now. Thank Thank you.
[1:25:58] See you budget review. A place
[1:26:02] in the last was the best.
[1:26:07] Marion County City Council. 35
[1:26:08] minute presentation. And I
[1:26:10] want to ask can just keep
[1:26:11] everything go right to the
[1:26:14] numbers that Monroe graded. Is
[1:26:20] we make right. I think we
[1:26:20] could I wanted that to you we
[1:26:28] thank you. And 3 sides. A
[1:26:32] CHAIRMAN. Scary, numbers Those
[1:26:32] friends in the audience and
[1:26:34] citizens feeling at home when
[1:26:35] a storm Moreland. I'm the
[1:26:37] chief staff and chief policy
[1:26:40] officer for the Indy City kind
[1:26:41] accounts. I'm here with our
[1:26:41] chief Financial Officer,
[1:26:46] Candice Harris. We're here to
[1:26:48] present 2027 budget. But
[1:26:49] before we get into the
[1:26:53] numbers. Still a little
[1:26:55] overview of the council
[1:26:56] landscape as we when we refer
[1:26:58] to the council this evening,
[1:26:59] we're talking about 2
[1:27:00] different aspects with
[1:27:03] council. There of course, the
[1:27:04] 25 member body of which you
[1:27:10] are all part of you are charge
[1:27:10] of making local laws, of
[1:27:15] course, adopting a budget by
[1:27:18] zing in providing consent to
[1:27:19] the administration their
[1:27:21] functions. But then there's
[1:27:22] also a second aspect of the
[1:27:23] council and that's the office
[1:27:23] of the council that supports
[1:27:27] that work. We are a 12 member
[1:27:32] staff. Who advises on policy
[1:27:34] last week, right reads public
[1:27:34] public policy research and
[1:27:39] support your efforts. We
[1:27:40] perform administrative duties,
[1:27:42] making sure that minutes are
[1:27:42] posted in a timely manner,
[1:27:43] making sure that the
[1:27:44] information is accessible to
[1:27:48] the public. And we also work
[1:27:48] to connect the work of the
[1:27:50] council with constituents. We
[1:27:54] communicate your work. And we
[1:27:57] are here to answer questions
[1:27:58] on a daily basis when the
[1:27:59] public wants to know more
[1:27:59] about what the council's up
[1:28:05] to. So on side with this this
[1:28:10] is a slide that that kind of
[1:28:10] gives visual layout of the
[1:28:12] landscape. The council's on
[1:28:17] the far left there. And these
[1:28:19] are all the legislative
[1:28:19] executive and judicial are all
[1:28:21] coequal branches of local
[1:28:24] government. I think one main
[1:28:26] thing I'd like take away from
[1:28:28] the slide is the role the
[1:28:31] voters we work for the public
[1:28:31] and we are ultimately
[1:28:32] accountable to to the voting
[1:28:37] public. So these priorities
[1:28:41] for Twenty-twenty 7. This is a
[1:28:43] theme that I've been hearing
[1:28:43] from other of departments and
[1:28:45] happy to hear it and
[1:28:46] investment people. We're
[1:28:48] looking to provide more. A
[1:28:51] professional development
[1:28:52] experiences within this. All,
[1:28:54] both for the council itself
[1:28:56] and the that that might look
[1:28:58] like media training,
[1:28:59] communications training,
[1:28:59] technology, training for the
[1:29:04] counselors and for staff. Also
[1:29:05] focus on technology to support
[1:29:12] our work. We have lots of data
[1:29:12] flowing through all
[1:29:14] departments in in the city
[1:29:15] government. We're looking at
[1:29:17] ways to harness those data
[1:29:18] points in ways that can better
[1:29:21] inform your work so that you
[1:29:23] are making crafting policy.
[1:29:28] That's backed by data. Also we
[1:29:28] believe the data can provide a
[1:29:32] very good side. Real-time
[1:29:34] snapshot, what's happening in
[1:29:37] your districts? This looks you
[1:29:38] how many police runs are
[1:29:40] happening in your districts?
[1:29:41] How many dog bites are
[1:29:45] occurring in your Where are
[1:29:46] their broken water mains are
[1:29:48] abandoned houses your
[1:29:50] districts. We think that it's
[1:29:53] a very smart to try to to use
[1:29:55] more the data that's flowing
[1:29:56] through this, that enterprise
[1:29:59] on a day-to-day basis to help
[1:30:00] you get better connected with
[1:30:04] your constituents. And then
[1:30:06] finally, working to strengthen
[1:30:09] our relationships state else.
[1:30:10] We see city of Indianapolis a
[1:30:13] major driver of growth for the
[1:30:15] whole state of Indiana. And so
[1:30:17] it's important that we are
[1:30:18] staying in close alignment
[1:30:19] with with the Indiana General
[1:30:20] Assembly, making sure that
[1:30:24] they all are aware of what
[1:30:25] you're up to and that
[1:30:28] communicating we need in order
[1:30:29] to to serve our community
[1:30:31] because we believe that
[1:30:32] Indianapolis is vital for the
[1:30:37] Overall, the state. Okay. So
[1:30:42] this is the team. This one
[1:30:43] went field. Winfield, Leanne
[1:30:45] at Piers came as hear us and
[1:30:46] you can solace. Leslie
[1:30:51] Williams, Kim Nance, Angela he
[1:30:51] and Sears and Fernando
[1:30:55] Ramirez. Strickland. We have
[1:30:57] to they can't rolls right now.
[1:30:58] The chief communications
[1:31:00] officer and the legislative
[1:31:03] and policy manager. Those are
[1:31:05] 2 really important roles.
[1:31:06] We're in the process right
[1:31:08] now. Feeling both of those
[1:31:13] roles and we're need to get
[1:31:16] those positions filled as soon
[1:31:19] as possible. And I open.
[1:31:22] Welcome, teeny input that you
[1:31:22] have if you know of people who
[1:31:23] are qualified and talented,
[1:31:28] who MAY want to join our team.
[1:31:30] Okay, give it to campus. So
[1:31:31] hunger could be over or is he
[1:31:31] demographic? So as you know,
[1:31:34] we're a small office and so
[1:31:35] being that we are a small
[1:31:37] office, we do have less than
[1:31:38] 10 years. So about 50% of
[1:31:39] staff has been with the city
[1:31:44] for over 10 years. And what
[1:31:44] the other part of other have
[1:31:45] over staffing little be less
[1:31:47] than 10 years 0 to 10. So
[1:31:48] pretty proud of that, as you
[1:31:49] know, not cover here is our
[1:31:54] office is majority female. And
[1:31:55] we also have about a 70% of
[1:32:01] our staff is a minority.
[1:32:03] Moving on to our 2027 budget.
[1:32:04] So the council office budget
[1:32:06] is road to be smart. You guys
[1:32:08] all know this year. We're
[1:32:12] rounding out about 3.4 million
[1:32:14] dollars, not uncommon with
[1:32:15] 80's with our agencies, that
[1:32:18] 82% of our budget does go to
[1:32:20] people. So that is majority of
[1:32:24] our budget. So just over to
[1:32:25] the right, you see a
[1:32:25] side-by-side based on previous
[1:32:29] years from 26 to 27. Well, are
[1:32:34] despite $86,000 it's something
[1:32:36] that I just kind of want to
[1:32:36] highlight, though. We are up
[1:32:40] 2.6% for 2027 over our budget
[1:32:43] is down 3.3% to 2025, as many
[1:32:47] of you guys remember last year
[1:32:47] we are, but it was reduced as
[1:32:52] a result of. We'll call it
[1:32:55] reserves. And so the council
[1:32:56] this following year, did not
[1:32:57] grow by the amount that we
[1:32:59] lost last year. So it just
[1:33:00] might increase to cover care
[1:33:03] to one expenses. Again, some
[1:33:03] of the other ones in the next
[1:33:11] slide. Moving on to just a
[1:33:14] quick overview of each
[1:33:15] characters care to Lanikai
[1:33:16] said that previous slide for
[1:33:17] about 2.8 million dollars. And
[1:33:22] compensation for all. 25
[1:33:24] counselors and our office,
[1:33:27] will be office of 12 so that
[1:33:28] this budget does pressed to
[1:33:29] fill vacancies that door and
[1:33:31] just mentioned. That's kind of
[1:33:34] where we're landau for the
[1:33:37] 2027 for counselor counselors
[1:33:39] and a council staff does get a
[1:33:42] cola this year is at 3%.
[1:33:43] Counselors are not eligible
[1:33:47] for stepping As for Stephen
[1:33:48] Grey, as you guys have heard
[1:33:50] amendment presentations, I do
[1:33:51] not know what that looks like
[1:33:54] for the council at this time
[1:33:55] as it is still very much its
[1:33:56] infancy as hr agoa fame or
[1:33:57] navigating what that might
[1:34:02] look like. Moving on to
[1:34:03] character 3 hurt or 3 budget
[1:34:07] is about $600,000 again with
[1:34:10] majority of a two-thirds of it
[1:34:10] going to internal backs that
[1:34:15] is par I it's a that is
[1:34:17] building authority. We and as
[1:34:18] well as a few other charges
[1:34:19] that we have the kind of go
[1:34:23] along with that. Rest of our
[1:34:26] budget goes exciting things
[1:34:26] such as does the operations
[1:34:27] are running as city county
[1:34:30] offices. So that's our we have
[1:34:32] some slurred legal support
[1:34:34] contracts for We have
[1:34:36] advertising because all
[1:34:36] businesses and have to get
[1:34:40] posted software for running
[1:34:42] out those meetings and other
[1:34:46] essential items that we have.
[1:34:49] For characters to 45. Again,
[1:34:50] not not really much happening
[1:34:54] 3,000 $1 to cover day-to-day.
[1:34:55] The to that you see for
[1:34:56] internal charge back here
[1:34:59] fight. What we pay because we
[1:35:01] have an in-house attorney.
[1:35:05] Don't utilize ccs. Heavy as
[1:35:07] some of the other But we do
[1:35:09] have to utilize them in time
[1:35:10] for they do So I think we're
[1:35:14] getting them for a that $2500
[1:35:16] and the other $2500 for
[1:35:18] equipment. And that's we use
[1:35:20] for various purposes for
[1:35:22] computers. If chairs break
[1:35:22] various items within the
[1:35:29] office. In essence, go ahead,
[1:35:29] will it? I would characterize
[1:35:32] our budget is pretty lean, but
[1:35:34] I would say that our staff
[1:35:39] very We will lie largely on
[1:35:40] I-10 or a in our relationships
[1:35:41] throughout the enterprise to
[1:35:44] get her work done. And with
[1:35:45] thank you taking questions.
[1:35:46] Think presentation, as for
[1:35:51] Mary. Share a quick question
[1:35:53] for them. Well, these
[1:35:55] computers in the car were a
[1:35:57] great idea. And we were all
[1:35:58] news and we is in best thing.
[1:35:59] We can invest your money in.
[1:36:04] And I think 3 people view some
[1:36:05] sense I've heard. Other
[1:36:06] counselor counselor Cahill
[1:36:08] said when he opens it, he has
[1:36:09] to wait. 45 minutes for us to
[1:36:11] an update to be able to use
[1:36:13] it. So what can we do with
[1:36:14] those and get mean, at this
[1:36:17] point, I thought was year him.
[1:36:19] So thank you for So I have
[1:36:20] heard that a So we we do pay
[1:36:22] for those. So we are currently
[1:36:23] going to have to rebid our
[1:36:27] staff or contract. But my
[1:36:30] understanding it was used as a
[1:36:30] secondary noting that the
[1:36:31] findings with down, I believe
[1:36:32] we can do voice vote even we
[1:36:35] do another meeting rooms. But
[1:36:35] that was the from my
[1:36:36] understanding the primary
[1:36:37] reason why we have a lot of
[1:36:39] times as we look at
[1:36:41] potentially having to shift to
[1:36:42] a different voting platform.
[1:36:43] I'm hoping that will be able
[1:36:43] to come a little bit more and
[1:36:47] from modernized system that
[1:36:48] maybe were able to use app on
[1:36:49] your or you something else to
[1:36:52] do it voting. But let's go
[1:36:54] down to that would be able to
[1:36:56] let those that have You are
[1:36:59] right. They are only for full
[1:37:02] council meetings. That was
[1:37:04] what we had intended use those
[1:37:06] forward to get away from the
[1:37:09] buttons. The time I had the
[1:37:09] concern that some people have
[1:37:11] enough trouble with the red
[1:37:12] and green button. So I don't
[1:37:14] think we need to implementing
[1:37:16] technology. So I still have
[1:37:17] that concern. I don't think we
[1:37:20] need to go to this computer
[1:37:21] system buttons. I've never
[1:37:21] seen them not work. And I've
[1:37:25] been here for going 10 years.
[1:37:27] So I would go school whole
[1:37:28] technology push. And if bugs
[1:37:29] don't work, we've got a voice.
[1:37:31] We know roll call, vote. I
[1:37:32] don't want raise more money on
[1:37:37] technology. We don't use.
[1:37:46] This. With just a quick one.
[1:37:46] Thank you. Why do we have a
[1:37:49] charge back from? I s a, you
[1:37:52] know, budget. We do have a
[1:37:53] charge brings That's under
[1:37:57] that under care to 3. So r I s
[1:38:02] a charge backs. It wasn't part
[1:38:03] of the 3.81 Yeah. That's a
[1:38:08] part creating. So part of
[1:38:09] that, too, that as well as
[1:38:10] like we have to pay for dark
[1:38:17] copiers. For the exact number
[1:38:18] for I say, I can tell you so
[1:38:21] far are controlled is the 3.81
[1:38:22] I did not break it down, but
[1:38:24] the exact amount that we pay,
[1:38:27] I say the 3.81, but I can let
[1:38:29] you know what that say did
[1:38:31] switched to a billing model
[1:38:31] that you can go online. Be
[1:38:33] more than happy to share that
[1:38:35] Lee and every month I review
[1:38:38] it is about a quarter lack
[1:38:40] period to make sure that's
[1:38:40] accurate. Since we went to
[1:38:41] actual face charges I say,
[1:38:49] thanks. And you know what?
[1:38:50] Thank you, MR. CHAIRMAN, thank
[1:38:53] you both for your
[1:38:55] presentation. I was chatting
[1:38:56] with the assistant and mail
[1:38:58] and I just wanted to publicly
[1:38:59] publicly say thank you for
[1:39:01] creating priorities that are
[1:39:04] tangible that we all can work
[1:39:05] towards. And then again, thank
[1:39:06] you for all your efforts thus
[1:39:07] far this year because I know
[1:39:10] we throw a lot at you for a
[1:39:11] small team. There's 25 of us.
[1:39:12] And so just want to publicly
[1:39:13] say thank you for all your
[1:39:17] efforts. Instrument. Thanking.
[1:39:18] Yeah. Thank you all. So you do
[1:39:22] a great job. Anything else to
[1:39:27] see any? We are adjourned 7