[0:00] your back. Put your hands on your hips.
[0:06] You're going to tighten up your core.
[0:08] Squeeze everything.
[0:11] And you're going to tilt your bottom
[0:12] forward. Your knees are going to be
[0:14] slightly bent, looking up at the
[0:16] ceiling. Keep everything tight. And I'm
[0:19] going to [music] count 10 9 8 7 6 5 4
[0:26] [music] 3 2 one and release your body.
[0:30] Stretch it out. [music] Relax. Take a
[0:33] breath.
[0:36] Blow it out as your hands come back to
[0:37] [music] the hip area. Hands on the hip.
[0:41] Tighten it up and tilt.
[0:45] 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 one [music] and
[0:54] release your body. Stretch it out again.
[0:56] Take a breath.
[0:58] Blow it out as your hands [music] come
[1:00] back
[1:03] tight and tilt. Five 4 3 2 one and
[1:10] relax. Stretch it out. Take a breath.
[1:15] and blow it out
[1:18] tight and tilt.
[1:22] 10 9 [music] 8 7 6 5 4 3 [music] 2 1 and
[1:31] release it. Stretch it out.
[1:34] Breathing. [music]
[1:36] And blow it out.
[1:38] Last one. Tight [music] and tilt.
[1:42] 10. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 and coming out of
[1:51] that. Stretch it out. Take a breath
[1:56] and blow it out. Bring your hands back.
[1:58] We're going to open our feet no wider
[2:00] than the chair legs.
[2:03] Bend your knees slightly.
[2:05] Reach across your body. Stretching it
[2:08] out. Starting with 10. Alternating to
[2:10] the other side.
[2:13] Nine.
[2:14] Stretch it out.
[2:17] Eight.
[2:20] Seven. Using your whole body. [music]
[2:23] Six.
[2:27] 5
[2:30] 4
[2:33] 3
[2:36] 2
[2:39] and one.
[2:42] Coming back in. Make sure [music] you
[2:44] can touch the chair with the backs of
[2:45] your legs. We're going to sit down 10
[2:48] times.
[2:51] This is a fun one.
[2:54] Put your hands out to the front. [music]
[2:56] Going to take a breath and blow it out
[2:58] as we sit down. Going down.
[3:04] Take your hands all the way to the back
[3:07] like you're going to scoop up air.
[3:08] Coming back up. Take a breath.
[3:13] Blow it out as you go down.
[3:22] And breathing up.
[6:01] Welcome to the city of Periland City
[6:03] Council uh special meeting. I'll call
[6:05] this meeting to order at 4 p.m. on
[6:07] August 24th, 2026.
[6:10] At this particular time, we'll have roll
[6:12] call certification of quorum. Madam
[6:13] Secretary, I attest that all members of
[6:16] council are present.
[6:20] Moving on to citizens comments. I do not
[6:22] believe that any citizens comments uh
[6:24] were submitted at this time. Uh so next
[6:27] order of business is the new business uh
[6:30] presenting presentation regarding the
[6:32] fiscal year 2027 proposed budget for all
[6:34] funds. And I'll turn it this time to Mr.
[6:38] >> Thank you, mayor, and good afternoon
[6:40] council. So, as we normally work through
[6:43] our budget workshops, a lot of what we
[6:45] talk about is what we're not able to get
[6:47] done within a budget um or our unressed
[6:50] needs. Um but today, as I get this
[6:53] kicked off, I want to talk about what
[6:56] this budget does accomplish and the
[6:58] goals that it meets um as we head into
[7:01] this fourth uh workshop. Um so, uh first
[7:04] off, uh there was a goal to be at the no
[7:07] new revenue rate. We are actually 1 cent
[7:09] below the no new revenue rate. Um
[7:12] streets, we've identified in streets uh
[7:15] that we have additional needs. Uh but
[7:17] again this year we added an additional
[7:19] $500,000 to the street rehab and
[7:22] maintenance budget.
[7:24] Cost recovery. We completed a
[7:26] significant review of our revenues and
[7:29] our fees for better cost recovery to
[7:31] ensure that they track along with our
[7:34] increased cost to provide those
[7:35] services. uh that's been completed and
[7:38] is actually the bulk of tonight's uh a
[7:41] lot of tonight's presentation. Uh we
[7:43] went through a fund balance review and
[7:45] optimization process and analysis that's
[7:49] been completed and is baked into this
[7:50] budget where we had fund balances uh for
[7:54] the general fund uh that that backed up
[7:57] where we had fund balances and other
[7:59] funds and we've been able to utilize
[8:00] those dollars instead of having them
[8:02] sitting there on the sidelines. um
[8:04] compensation. We've been on basically a
[8:07] kind of a three-year journey to review
[8:09] each major segment of our compensation
[8:11] plans in order to remain competitive in
[8:14] the market for retention and
[8:16] recruitment. Uh the goals established
[8:18] were uh to be above market versus our
[8:21] peer cities in the public safety arena
[8:24] and those pay plans and at the market
[8:26] for our non-public safety pay plans. So
[8:29] that three-year journey where we've
[8:31] gotten to today is we've addressed the
[8:32] PD pay plan with our meet and confer
[8:34] agreement. The second year of that is
[8:37] included in this budget. Last year we
[8:39] made a big move on the fire pay plan
[8:41] based on where we are were versus the
[8:44] market. And then this year we're making
[8:46] some structural changes in that fire pay
[8:48] plan to set us up better for the future.
[8:50] Um and then we also this year completed
[8:53] our compensation study for the rest of
[8:55] our employees. Um the analysis from that
[8:58] study identified two main things. Uh the
[9:02] areas where we were below the market and
[9:05] basically what adjustment would be
[9:07] needed to keep us at the market average
[9:09] uh for for those pay plans. And this
[9:11] budget addresses both of those as well.
[9:14] Health care. Uh we had to go out to the
[9:17] market for health care this year. That's
[9:19] always uh concerning because you always
[9:21] see the the cost increases in the
[9:23] healthcare arena. Uh but we did go to
[9:25] the market. we were able to limit our
[9:26] cost increases there to 6.8% while the
[9:29] industry is typically seeing over 11%
[9:32] increases. And then uh lastly, our water
[9:35] and sewer rate increase. Uh while last
[9:38] year's modeling estimated it to be over
[9:40] 16% uh this year uh we were able to get
[9:44] that down to a recommended of 12 and
[9:45] then squeeze it even a little further
[9:47] down to just south of 10%. Um, I'll I'll
[9:50] bet with another significant incre sign
[9:53] significant increase projected for next
[9:55] year. Uh, but we're near the end of
[9:57] those large rate increases. Um, and as
[10:01] you've seen in the headlines recently,
[10:02] we're not the only ones dealing with
[10:03] those kind of increases. Um, but we get
[10:06] through next year and depending on what
[10:07] we do there, it could extend another
[10:09] year, but we we see that drop off
[10:11] significantly um in in the two to
[10:14] threeyear time frame. Um, so it's a very
[10:17] tight budget, but does accomplish much.
[10:19] And at this point, I want to hand it off
[10:21] to Rachel to walk through our
[10:22] presentation tonight. Thank you.
[10:25] >> Thank you. Good afternoon, Mayor and
[10:27] Council. For today's discussion, we'll
[10:29] be reviewing some of the general fund
[10:31] revenue and then discussing the fee
[10:33] changes that are applicable to this
[10:35] budget process.
[10:38] So, similar to how we've shown expenses
[10:40] in the past, this slide shows both our
[10:42] revenue and expenses for general fund by
[10:45] the strategic priorities set by council.
[10:48] So, strong economy includes sales and
[10:50] use taxes as well as community
[10:52] development. Trusted government includes
[10:55] charges for services and the tours admin
[10:57] fee. Safe community includes EMS, fire,
[11:00] and PD. and parks's connected community
[11:04] and our sustainable infrastructure
[11:06] includes franchise fees as well as
[11:08] transfers in another way of looking at
[11:11] revenue is revenue by department. So
[11:14] fiscal year 26 projections shows the
[11:17] best estimate of revenue through the
[11:19] fiscal year while projections for fiscal
[11:22] year 27 proposed budget are usually
[11:24] conservative and take out any one-time
[11:26] funds that may be accounted for in
[11:28] fiscal year 26. Most revenue is
[11:32] considered non-dep departmental
[11:34] including property taxes, sales taxes,
[11:36] tur admin fee as well as transfers in
[11:40] departments reflect revenue for services
[11:42] they directly provide. And as you can
[11:45] see, not all departments are listed as
[11:47] some may not generate any revenue. Those
[11:50] that do are encouraged to do so on a
[11:52] cost recovery basis when possible or to
[11:54] the legislative maximum if below the
[11:56] cost recovery threshold. Fees are
[11:59] reviewed annually as part of the budget
[12:01] process.
[12:03] During the budget process, departments
[12:05] followed the council direction to review
[12:07] fees and account for cost recovery.
[12:10] Updated fees throughout this
[12:12] presentation are built into the FY27
[12:14] proposed budget and reflect legislative
[12:17] and/or cost recovery updates. Most
[12:20] proposed fee updates were included in
[12:22] the budget highlights section of the
[12:24] fiscal year 27 proposed budget book with
[12:27] a few cost recovery fees for the fire
[12:30] department added for the purposes of
[12:32] this presentation.
[12:34] When fees are being updated, the old fee
[12:36] shows alongside the proposed new fees.
[12:38] And when new fees are shown, uh they
[12:40] will be added to the fee schedule for
[12:43] approval on September 14th. This slide
[12:46] shows six animal control fees that are
[12:48] proposed to be updated for fiscal year
[12:51] 27. And the next slide shows a fee that
[12:54] is currently being charged and needs to
[12:56] be added to the fee schedule based off
[12:58] of services provided by the shelter.
[13:02] This next permit fee slide uh reflects
[13:05] things that have been listed on separate
[13:07] ordinances and may or may not have been
[13:09] charged and will now be included on the
[13:11] non-development fee ordinance and
[13:13] charged consistently as written. And
[13:15] this brings both ordinances into
[13:17] alignment and the police department will
[13:19] begin collecting fees as indicated.
[13:23] The fire department is updating EMS fees
[13:26] to increase in line with legislative
[13:28] maximums. These changes do not allow for
[13:31] full cost recovery, but do bring them
[13:33] more into alignment with that.
[13:36] Beginning in fiscal year SE 27, we're
[13:38] proposing to begin collecting additional
[13:42] fire cost recovery fees. And those fees
[13:45] are shown here, and they're applied
[13:46] based off of the services rendered at
[13:49] the time.
[13:52] The fire marshall is proposing to update
[13:54] three fees to be more in line with uh
[13:57] their addition the other fees in the
[14:00] schedule so that they're charging
[14:01] consistently.
[14:03] Parks has two updates to their parks and
[14:07] recreation niatorum fees as well as
[14:10] additional new fees proposed for the
[14:12] west perand community center. This would
[14:15] bring in new revenue as well as an
[14:17] update to the timings or new timing
[14:20] system daily use fee.
[14:23] Community development will be per
[14:25] updating their development fees for the
[14:27] first time in over five years. These are
[14:30] done on a cost recovery basis as well as
[14:33] in line with legislative changes. So
[14:35] [snorts] there are a significant amount
[14:37] of these. So if you click on those
[14:39] links, you're able to see them in more
[14:41] detail.
[14:44] There are some additional new fees that
[14:46] will be included in the update to the
[14:48] development fees and this will also come
[14:50] before council on September 14th. And
[14:53] then there are solid waste fees uh in
[14:57] alignment with our contra contract with
[15:00] Frontier. In addition to the solid waste
[15:02] fees shown here, which will be included
[15:05] on the non-development fee schedule, the
[15:08] water wastewater fees will also be
[15:09] updated as discussed during budget
[15:12] discussion number two with that 9.9%
[15:15] increase and included on that
[15:16] non-development fee schedule.
[15:20] So, as we start to wrap up the budget
[15:22] process, we'll come on September 14th
[15:25] with the budget public hearing, the
[15:27] first reading of our budget ordinance,
[15:29] tax rate ordinance, non-development fee
[15:32] ordinance, and the development fee
[15:33] ordinance, as well as the adoption of
[15:35] the 5-year capital improvement plan. And
[15:38] then on September 28th, we'll have the
[15:40] second reading of the budget ordinance,
[15:42] tax rate ordinance, non-development fee,
[15:45] and development fee ordinances. And with
[15:47] that, I'll turn it back over to Mr.
[15:48] Epson for questions.
[15:56] » Thank you, Rachel. Um, I just, you know,
[15:58] once again want to thank our budget
[16:00] team, all of our departments that are
[16:01] here and all the hard work that's gone
[16:03] into the budget up to this point. And at
[16:06] this point, ready to hand it back to
[16:07] you, mayor and council for any uh
[16:09] questions um as we wrap up the uh final
[16:12] budget workshop and head into budget
[16:14] adoption adoption next month. Thank you.
[16:18] Mr. and thank you uh Mitchell
[16:20] for that information.
[16:23] I'll look to council for any questions
[16:27] or comments.
[16:29] Oh, sorry. Uh member Kosa. Thank you,
[16:33] Mayor. Uh on the uh memo that was sent
[16:36] out page three of 27.
[16:40] Just had a question here on the 26
[16:43] estimated and then the 27. Uh it shows
[16:46] the recovery was 78 uh and 26 and then
[16:50] 84 and 27. Um is that what we're uh one
[16:57] is 26
[16:59] uh since we're almost through it. I
[17:00] assume that that's pretty accurate at
[17:02] 78% recovery.
[17:06] » Oh, there's Carrie. I didn't see Carrie.
[17:09] >> Yes. Uh those are those numbers were
[17:11] based off of our midyear projections
[17:12] that were approved in the in June. Um,
[17:15] but that's what we've been adhering to
[17:17] and we anticipate our expenses to be
[17:19] 100% of what was adopted in June.
[17:21] >> Okay. All right. And then, uh, showing
[17:23] for for the next year, albeit it's a
[17:26] forecast, we're looking at 84%. Um, the
[17:30] revenue is roughly flat to me. It's
[17:32] about,000
[17:35] difference. Um, [clears throat] the, uh,
[17:38] expenses dropped quite a bit um,
[17:41] compared to the year before. Uh so
[17:44] that's where the the percentage
[17:46] difference came in. Um as far as you
[17:48] know moving forward I know uh like we
[17:51] said before the
[17:53] uh co hit is hard and it was uh we went
[17:57] from about 105 to 55%. Um what do we
[18:01] have what are we looking at to try and
[18:03] get back up to the if you want to call
[18:05] it break even or you know 100% cost
[18:07] recovery.
[18:08] >> So we are um we're looking at a lot of
[18:10] different things. Um, one, always
[18:13] looking at our expenses and our staff
[18:14] cost, monitoring that as we go through.
[18:16] One of the reasons for the decreases in
[18:18] expenses in FY27 versus FY26 and 26, we
[18:22] had several um, HVAC units that we had
[18:25] to replace that were unexpected repairs.
[18:27] And so, that was driving up those
[18:28] expenses. So, in FY27, we expect that to
[18:30] get back down to where that average
[18:32] should should stay. And then we are
[18:35] looking at a lot of new revenue
[18:37] generating opportunities. Um we're
[18:38] looking at improving our group fitness
[18:40] classes which will drive additional
[18:42] membership revenue. Um so membership
[18:44] revenue is one of our largest um
[18:47] revenues for the facility. And then also
[18:49] in the natiatorum um our team has been
[18:52] working very strategically to start um
[18:55] I'll say playing Tetris with the with
[18:56] the use of the pool to where we can
[18:58] still offer swimming lessons and we can
[19:00] still offer members swim but we're also
[19:02] offering a lot um opening up a lot of
[19:04] opportunities for larger meets which are
[19:07] a huge revenue driving um opportunity
[19:09] for us. their decrease in revenue or the
[19:12] revenue staying about flat um was tied
[19:15] to two large swimming meets that move
[19:17] across the state throughout the year. So
[19:19] those aren't showing up in our revenue
[19:21] estimates, but those also open up prime
[19:23] weekends for new business and we're
[19:25] working to fill those spots. So when we
[19:27] budget for revenue, we base off of
[19:29] what's already on the books or what we
[19:31] feel very confident will be on the
[19:32] books. So, I anticipate those the
[19:34] revenue numbers to be even higher than
[19:36] what we've budgeted and we'll adjust
[19:37] that at uh midyear projections.
[19:40] >> Okay, fair enough. And uh I assume the uh there for a while we had seniors
[19:45] coming in here on a regular basis saying
[19:47] that they were shut out of the
[19:49] nanitorium. I assume that was all
[19:51] related to our uh rework of the HVAC,
[19:54] the deck, all that stuff that we were
[19:56] doing because we haven't seen uh seniors
[19:59] in here complain about it. Would that be
[20:01] a fair assessment? That's part of it. Um
[20:03] I will say some of our group fitness
[20:04] classes that are attractive to our
[20:07] senior members um with us trying to find
[20:10] space in the pool with that's very
[20:11] limited and so we could offer more group
[20:14] fitness classes for that demographic but
[20:16] we're just so limited on space that we
[20:18] have to be strategic about what we
[20:19] offer. So there still is an additional
[20:21] demand but as far as the facility
[20:23] remaining open and available to our
[20:24] members that has been happening.
[20:26] >> Okay. All right. Thank you very much.
[20:28] And then uh on
[20:35] slide 427
[20:37] uh in our packet. It's got uh it's yeah,
[20:42] right there it shows uh the assess value
[20:45] for Brazor County, Fort Ben, Harris
[20:48] County. Um I don't know if this is
[20:49] Victor or Trent. Um but it shows Brazor
[20:53] and Fort Ben uh with basic drops and
[20:57] Harris County with increases. Uh, is
[21:01] that due to uh our our industrial stuff
[21:05] going out or going up on uh our lower
[21:08] curvy stuff? Is that a safe assessment
[21:11] in that? Because we got two counties
[21:14] going down and and one going up.
[21:20] » Your assessment is correct.
[21:22] >> Okay. And then uh as far as the the
[21:25] assess value going down, I assume is
[21:27] that the advalorum tax for the
[21:29] 2500 to 125,000.
[21:31] >> That's absolutely right. That's what it
[21:32] is. Yeah, that's about that's over 170
[21:34] million in itself.
[21:36] >> Okay, that's what that's what I was
[21:37] assuming and I just want clarification.
[21:39] Thank you,
[21:42] >> council members.
[21:44] Member K. No, member Kate.
[21:47] >> Hey, just on slide four is revenue by
[21:50] department. Oh, sorry. Thank you.
[21:54] This FY26, that column doesn't add up
[21:56] for me.
[21:59] I think it's missing.
[22:27] I missed something.
[22:30] >> Uh, I don't know. We can look into it.
[22:31] >> You can tell me I'm wrong. It's fine. I
[22:33] just
[22:34] I did. You
[22:37] member Fernandez is adding in saying I'm
[22:39] wrong.
[23:12] While we participate in this exercise,
[23:14] I'll pass it to member Byron.
[23:17] >> Council member Fernandez got it. It's
[23:19] right. Thank you. Sorry. Sorry I broke
[23:22] the meeting for a minute.
[23:23] >> No, all questions are valid. Thank you.
[23:26] >> Thanks, Levity. It's great.
[23:28] >> Thank you, Mr. U.
[23:30] back on page three of the packet that
[23:32] member Koser was talking about just just
[23:35] as kind of a note if we can that cost
[23:38] recovery goal 75% for FY26 FY27
[23:43] like to make sure we talk about that
[23:45] when we get to strategic planning next
[23:46] year to to look at what that cost
[23:48] recovery goal is moving forward because
[23:51] I think through different conversations
[23:53] we've had we want to get that cost
[23:54] recovery goal back to 100 and I think
[23:56] that's where you're headed anyway. Um I
[23:58] just want to make sure we we have that
[23:59] as a target to discuss.
[24:01] >> Sure. And just I think to clarify the
[24:03] goal never had been set at 100. I think
[24:05] at one point we
[24:08] >> got over that with the way we were
[24:10] calculating it. We did come back and
[24:12] revamp making sure we were capturing
[24:14] some of the cost to operate it that
[24:17] maybe weren't captured in the early
[24:18] years. So I'm not sure we ever got as
[24:20] high as it was stated at one point. But
[24:23] um if if the if the ask is to revisit
[24:26] what the cost recovery goal is then yeah
[24:28] we definitely get that on the
[24:30] >> on the radar. Yes.
[24:32] >> Certainly not putting forth a direction
[24:34] other than just say I want to make sure
[24:35] we talk about that when we get to
[24:38] strategic planning. Um, also just you
[24:41] guys have kind of answered this offline,
[24:43] but just for uh public record in our
[24:47] memo, it talked about under our IT
[24:49] strategic plan that there were 49
[24:52] initiatives. Um, 11 of those have been
[24:55] completed, which is great. Seven of
[24:57] those were moved to day-to-day
[24:59] operational budget functions. one was
[25:02] removed altogether,
[25:04] which leaves about 30 initiatives from
[25:06] the original IT strategic plan that
[25:10] weren't listed in the memo. As I
[25:12] understand it, there's another memo
[25:13] coming out in a couple of months that
[25:16] will more detail that. Um, and I'm
[25:19] hoping when that memo comes out, it
[25:22] details
[25:23] how much we have left because that
[25:25] original strategic plan called for about
[25:26] $26 million worth of investment over
[25:29] some period of time with
[25:33] 18 of those being taken care of. I
[25:35] assume that number would be slightly
[25:36] different, but we make sure when we get
[25:38] that memo, it kind of has that cost
[25:40] projection in it as well. Um,
[25:45] I think I had
[25:48] one other question that I had
[25:51] for Rachel. The TUR, remind me again,
[25:54] the TUR administrative fee is roughly
[25:56] about 60% of the taxable value. Is that
[25:59] right?
[26:07] It's about Yeah, it's about 60% of the
[26:09] property taxes collected in the tours.
[26:11] >> Okay.
[26:11] >> Roughly.
[26:12] >> Okay. [clears throat] Other than that, I
[26:15] just want to say thank you guys for your
[26:16] work on this budget and for coming in
[26:19] below no new revenue. That's always
[26:22] great. I know y'all put a lot of effort
[26:23] in this year at revamping the way you
[26:26] approach the budget, looking at your
[26:27] departments, making cuts where you need
[26:29] it, and so I know the taxpayers
[26:31] appreciate it, and I appreciate it as
[26:32] well. So, thank you guys.
[26:36] >> Fernandez, thank you, mayor. Uh, I
[26:38] believe slide 20 out of 27.
[26:42] Trent, can you uh maybe give a little
[26:45] bit more um how do you
[26:49] 20 out of 27 the fire department's
[26:52] proposed new fees?
[27:00] Okay. Um just a little bit more context
[27:03] on how are these fees gathered? Um, I
[27:06] see that it says similar to the existing
[27:08] emergency medical services cost recovery
[27:11] fees, but h how are we how do we gather
[27:14] that? Do we compare it to other cities
[27:16] or how do we get to these numbers?
[27:18] >> So, how do we come up with the actual
[27:19] fee amounts?
[27:23] And then off the fire, you got that
[27:25] Chad?
[27:25] >> Yeah, so uh these fees are kind of set
[27:30] based on what other cities are doing.
[27:33] Correct, Chief? Um, and they would be
[27:35] build through Emergon, which is the
[27:38] company that we currently use to bill
[27:39] for EMS services.
[27:44] » Okay. Um, I also want to echo um,
[27:47] Councilman Byum's uh, comments. Great
[27:49] job to the staff, everyone that put in
[27:53] um, to make this possible. we um came
[27:56] together in February or at the end of
[27:57] January at our retreat to give a um
[28:01] request for a no new revenue rate and
[28:04] y'all exceeded that. So I just want to
[28:05] say thank thank you to all those that
[28:08] made that possible. Thank you.
[28:11] >> Mayor Pim Shri,
[28:12] >> thank you mayor. Um I have a quick
[28:14] question on page three. How often do we
[28:17] look at our membership fees and increase
[28:19] those fees for RCN? Is it done every
[28:22] other year, once a year? Um when was the
[28:25] last time we increased membership fees?
[28:28] >> So we increased our membership fees last
[28:30] year and then we are following the um
[28:34] consumer price index for in regular
[28:36] increases and so as soon as our
[28:37] membership rates hit an even number then
[28:40] we'll increase we'll come back to you
[28:41] all with a proposed increase.
[28:43] >> Okay. Thank you. And then Trent, can we
[28:45] have a breakdown of what percentage of
[28:48] salaries would be allocated to fire and
[28:50] police and then what's for everything
[28:52] else in general fund? That makes sense.
[28:56] >> So the percentage of salaries dedicated
[28:58] to fire and police, I think it's around
[29:00] 679.
[29:02] >> We actually have a slide if you want us
[29:05] to display that which will show that for
[29:07] you.
[29:07] >> Yes, please.
[29:16] So you will see police at 40.8 and fire
[29:19] at 26 and a half.
[29:23] >> Okay. And then so that would leave what?
[29:24] 32 32% would just be general fund for
[29:27] all the other salaries. Correct.
[29:28] >> Excellently.
[29:29] >> Okay. Thank you. It's a good slide.
[29:31] Thanks,
[29:37] » Council Eckles.
[29:40] » [clears throat]
[29:40] >> Yes, I too would like to say thank you
[29:43] much to the staff for your hard work on
[29:45] this budget.
[29:48] When we asked for no new revenue, I knew
[29:50] that was going to be a challenge and
[29:52] then when the state went from 2500 to
[29:56] 225 on Abduren deduction, uh that put a big strain as well. So it's much
[30:05] appreciated. Uh two questions. One
[30:08] question would be on the fees for the
[30:12] fire. Uh what percentage of these fees
[30:17] do we feel like will be attainable on on
[30:20] receiving through insuranceances and and
[30:22] other needs where whereby we usually
[30:26] write off the [snorts] the unpaid
[30:28] balance of insurance. So, of the
[30:31] practicality of these fees, what
[30:34] percentage should we look look at being
[30:38] able to collect and what percentage
[30:40] would we need to write off?
[30:43] >> Um, so Emergon says that statewide
[30:46] they're able to collect about 30%.
[30:49] >> Okay,
[30:50] that's that's reasonable. And second
[30:54] question is on animal services.
[30:58] Be being a uh pet owner and some of
[31:01] these services that we we have here is
[31:06] uh far far less than services provided
[31:11] by any local veterinarian clinic. Um, is
[31:15] there any way we could look at these
[31:17] fees and not saying be exactly that of
[31:22] the private veterinarian, but we're
[31:25] staffing a veterinarian, we're paying
[31:27] their salary, paying the medication. Is
[31:30] there a way that we could look at a more
[31:35] structured fee that would correlate with
[31:38] the uh commercial entities that are the
[31:42] veterinarians in the area?
[31:44] >> So, generally speaking, um where our
[31:47] fees are coming from is through our
[31:49] contracts with the animal animal
[31:51] disposal service that we have. Uh so,
[31:54] this is this gives us a cost recovery on
[31:56] that plus a little bit of profit. I'm
[31:58] not sure. Chief, do you know the exact
[32:00] percent?
[32:02] >> I don't know the exact percent. Um, we
[32:04] can we can get you that data. I know we
[32:07] have we can get you that information.
[32:09] Generally speaking, we don't do a whole
[32:11] lot of these. Uh, Council Member Eckles,
[32:13] this is kind of more um sometimes people
[32:16] that don't have their own vet services
[32:18] and they're just they're not sure what
[32:19] to do with a deceased animal uh that
[32:22] they own. And so a lot of times we get
[32:23] them that route.
[32:25] um we have very few pets actually
[32:28] surrendered to us uh in part because we
[32:30] don't generally have the capacity to
[32:32] take that on. And then as far as the
[32:34] microchip implant, while you see that
[32:36] going down actually uh that's because a
[32:39] few years back we changed our city
[32:41] ordinance to um get rid of uh pet
[32:44] registrations as in like tags and
[32:46] there's instead a requirement for
[32:48] microchipping. And so that's kind of our
[32:50] part to help encourage our public to get
[32:52] the animals microchipped. But we
[32:54] actually do that inhouse. Uh so we our
[32:57] expense there is basically what's there
[32:59] is the fee.
[33:01] >> Okay. Thank you so much.
[33:06] » Patel.
[33:08] >> Thank you mayor. Um
[33:11] trying I'm going to take the road that's
[33:14] not popular but
[33:16] um I had asked you to provide the gross
[33:20] employee salaries or payment. And what I
[33:23] would like to do is on the budget to
[33:25] include that full um I guess for the
[33:30] past 12 months and include that. You can
[33:33] take names out but keep the positions. I
[33:36] think it's important for transparency
[33:38] that we share with our constituents what
[33:42] salaries we're paying when we're talking
[33:43] about 70% of their taxes going towards
[33:46] uh payments.
[33:48] Also, I would like to have this council
[33:51] consider including all vendor payments
[33:54] included in our budget for the past 12
[33:56] months. I think it's important for again
[34:00] constituents to see um who our vendors
[34:03] are and where our dollars are going
[34:05] towards either consultants, engineers,
[34:08] and whatnot.
[34:11] Um is Dan here in it? Hey Dan. Um, how
[34:16] many softwares do you guys support?
[34:24] » Uh, paid or not paid or all together?
[34:29] >> Probably upwards of 200.
[34:33] >> We have 700 employees and we have over
[34:35] 200 softwares we're supporting
[34:38] >> roughly. Yes. But
[34:41] I mean, you're talking like Adobe Reader
[34:43] and all of that.
[34:44] >> Sure.
[34:45] >> And
[34:46] >> so I guess the exercise would be Dan um
[34:49] and and maybe this is the next next
[34:51] year's budget. What are we really what
[34:55] areas can we really cut back, right?
[34:57] Especially on the ones that are costing
[34:58] us. Is there an opportunity there to
[35:01] consolidate uh some of this? or if if
[35:04] the group is really small that's using
[35:06] it, is there a way we can get them off
[35:08] if if there's cost association
[35:10] associated with it? And I guess how much
[35:12] time are you guys spending on
[35:13] maintaining it? Right. If my
[35:15] understanding is correctly, you have 14
[35:17] people in your department.
[35:19] >> Uh 20 25,
[35:21] >> sorry. Okay. Uh 25 people. So I mean I
[35:25] think it's kind of it's worth looking
[35:28] at, right? the IT software supporting
[35:30] that many software among people and what
[35:33] the usage is. So just a suggestion but I
[35:36] think it's worth looking at and maybe we
[35:38] can send that money somewhere else if if
[35:40] that's possible at all suggestion.
[35:45] Um Trent, how many I guess open
[35:48] positions do we still have that we don't
[35:50] fill on an average that we have funded?
[35:55] I don't know if someone from HR can
[35:58] speak to kind of what that rolling
[36:01] number looks like. If not, we can get it
[36:04] to you.
[36:05] >> Okay. And I guess what's the dollar
[36:06] amount attached to it and what's the
[36:08] average if it's 6 months, 12 months that
[36:10] we're rolling these positions? because
[36:12] if there are open positions that are not
[36:14] being filled, um either we need to
[36:17] eliminate those positions, um maybe we
[36:20] can take that fund and percentage- wise
[36:23] increase it for somebody else who's
[36:24] already doing that work, but maybe we
[36:26] don't need that position. So, I think
[36:28] >> I don't think we've got any positions
[36:29] that we don't fill on a regular basis
[36:31] when they become open that we move
[36:33] forward and fill those.
[36:35] >> Well, I mean, again, if it's if it's
[36:36] long enough, is it really needed? And
[36:40] again, if you don't know how long those
[36:41] positions have been open, I don't I
[36:43] don't know the answers. I'm just asking.
[36:44] >> Sure. I mean, we have those statistics.
[36:46] But the one of the things we do, um, you
[36:48] know, there's areas where we we know we
[36:50] have, uh, we need the capacity. We fill
[36:53] those positions. Um, but we do look at
[36:56] positions as they come open and and look
[36:58] at them from a standpoint of, uh, do we
[37:00] h still have that need? Um, is there a
[37:03] greater need elsewhere? Can we better
[37:06] employ that somewhere else or in a
[37:08] different way? um when we have positions
[37:10] come up. So, we don't just automatically
[37:12] say yes every time. We're just going to
[37:13] fill these positions without thinking
[37:15] about um what we're doing and and how
[37:18] our business is changing and what our
[37:19] current u most pressing needs are.
[37:22] >> Okay. And and again, I guess the
[37:25] question that goes back to that position
[37:26] being open or or uh exposed or unfilled
[37:30] for however many is two months or six
[37:32] months. Um I guess the salary on that
[37:35] position would go to your fund balance.
[37:38] Correct.
[37:39] >> If it's unutilized.
[37:40] >> That's correct.
[37:41] >> Okay. So, I guess what's that balance
[37:44] for last fiscal year that we have
[37:46] position these positions or the
[37:48] departments able to use that money for
[37:49] some other line item?
[37:51] >> So, we do not allow that to be used for
[37:53] some other line item by the departments.
[37:55] Uh usually um that's accounted for as we
[37:58] go through the budget amendments dealing
[37:59] with uh like this year. You know, a lot
[38:01] of years we've had where we have salary
[38:03] savings that is um if we have any
[38:06] overtime expenditures that are necessary
[38:07] somewhere, they help cover those. Um or
[38:10] they fall to the fund balance and and we
[38:11] utilize them through a budget amendment
[38:13] process or with this year um with some
[38:17] uh very tenured employees uh retiring,
[38:20] there are the the acrrual payouts, which
[38:22] we haven't traditionally budgeted the
[38:24] full amount of those and we've always
[38:26] used salary savings to pay those out. So
[38:29] this year, I believe we pretty much used
[38:31] all that for those uh those u long
[38:35] tenure employees that left the city. Um
[38:38] and I think and so looking at that how
[38:40] that worked this year, we're actually
[38:42] building some more of that into the
[38:44] budget to make sure where we have known
[38:45] retirements and things like that. We're
[38:47] budgeting for that, not relying upon
[38:49] salary savings to do those things. Okay?
[38:51] >> But we do not, you know, we just don't
[38:53] allow those to be used in any way. they
[38:55] go towards those sort of things or they
[38:57] come back through the budget process.
[38:59] >> Yeah. And that's fine. Um and and I know
[39:02] we're buying I think what is it 43
[39:04] vehicles I read. Right. Um and I'm going
[39:08] to last year or year before I had
[39:10] mentioned considering doing EVs for
[39:12] certain departments, right? Uh we have
[39:15] this new um maintenance uh I guess
[39:19] building we built out there. Um, and
[39:23] again, I know in Houston they do use a
[39:25] lot of hybrid uh vehicles for
[39:27] inspections and co code enforcements.
[39:30] Um, and I know we end up always buying
[39:32] trucks. It seems like for most of our
[39:34] um, so if there's an opportunity, uh, I
[39:38] think it'll be worth it. I think it'll
[39:39] be, again, I know there will be some
[39:41] cost incurred for charging stations and
[39:43] stuff to put those in there. Uh but
[39:45] since we have a new facility, I hope
[39:47] that we have the uh power and and again
[39:50] it's a long-term plan, but I think it's
[39:51] worth looking at it. [snorts] Um
[39:53] >> I think we can look at that, but we we
[39:54] have vehicles that sit at multiple
[39:57] locations every evening. We have
[39:58] vehicles that go home. So I think that
[40:01] we've got to consider that as far as,
[40:03] you know, going to that type of vehicle
[40:05] [snorts] and and it wouldn't be just
[40:07] putting the infrastructure in at the new
[40:08] fleet services facility. It' be every
[40:10] building we have.
[40:11] >> And I guess that that's a fair point. We
[40:13] can we can ask.
[40:14] >> Yeah, I mean it's uh I think it's 10
[40:16] grand per charger to put it in overnight
[40:18] charger. So um I guess that's my take on
[40:22] this. I think it's uh worth looking at
[40:24] it. But the other other thing I'll tell
[40:26] you, Carrie, I know we a couple of
[40:28] council members mentioned cost recovery.
[40:30] Uh the goal is 100, but I guess you're
[40:32] not including capex on that. that's just
[40:35] breaking even to operate that buildings
[40:38] down there in Nitorium and the uh
[40:42] >> it doesn't include any of the capital
[40:43] cost and it also doesn't include any of
[40:45] the cost of some of the programs that
[40:46] happen in the facility such as our
[40:48] summer camps um basketball leagues uh
[40:51] pickle ball leagues. Once you add in
[40:52] those you're adding if they if we were
[40:54] to have to pay to rent space for those
[40:56] you're looking at about $460,000
[40:59] in additional cost.
[41:00] >> Yeah. And I think and I think I want
[41:02] council to kind of understand that um
[41:05] you know Carrie mentioned HVAC is I
[41:08] guess you just had it repaired right?
[41:11] >> Yes.
[41:12] >> Uh but that that cost is going to
[41:14] probably come due and remember Byron you
[41:17] can probably tell us better but I feel
[41:19] like HR every 7 to 10 years you got to
[41:21] rip them out and and start it over. Uh
[41:24] and I think we should make it a point
[41:26] with all departments to say you need to
[41:28] budget just like we do with the motor
[41:30] pool funds and stuff like that. Same
[41:32] thing with the niatorum to say hey you guys need to put the capex
[41:36] consideration into your budget and start
[41:39] budgeting this right we got lucky with
[41:42] the Periland ISD paying for to exit the
[41:45] contract. That's why we were able to
[41:47] correct me if I'm wrong $3.5 million.
[41:49] >> That's correct. So, we were able to use
[41:51] that, but otherwise that would have been
[41:53] a hit on our P&L, right? Um, and so, and
[41:57] I think, you know, one of the big costs
[41:59] when I look at this, it's it's kind of
[42:02] one thing I would ask you, Trent, again,
[42:04] I know we got the meet and confer for
[42:06] the police and we're going to do with
[42:07] the fire. Um, what is that five-year I
[42:11] guess what I would ask you to do and
[42:14] what this council should understand is
[42:15] what a stress test looks like, right? Um
[42:19] what does it look like if if let's say
[42:22] we do have another recession and the
[42:24] values plummet and we have all these
[42:26] agreements out there and the percentage
[42:29] are guaranteed what does that stress
[42:31] test look like for us right and and I
[42:34] think it's very it would be uh
[42:36] irresponsible of council to just look at
[42:39] one year today and not consider what it
[42:41] does it look like in three and five
[42:43] years and so what I would ask you is to
[42:45] do a stress test on this like what's the
[42:47] worst case scenar scenario and what does
[42:49] that worst case scenario looks like,
[42:51] right? Um, if we're going to consider
[42:53] dropping the 90-day uh funds um to let's
[42:58] say 75 days, right, fund balance, well,
[43:02] does a stress test hold up? And that
[43:04] that's really important to kind of
[43:05] consider that. Um, and and I know we're kind of celebrating that we went
[43:10] below no new revenue tax uh rate and
[43:13] that's great and I appreciate that. Um,
[43:17] but I don't think any of us really
[43:18] realized there was going to be 120. At
[43:20] least I did not. And I'll take
[43:21] responsibility that this new $125,000
[43:25] um uh exemption businesses were going to
[43:28] get were going to be that impactful for
[43:30] our community. So, you know, we can we
[43:33] can go around and say, "Hey, we reduced
[43:35] your tax from last year, but just keep
[43:37] in mind your tax bill is going to go up.
[43:40] The tax bill is going to go up on
[43:41] everybody." So, um, a couple of other
[43:44] things. Trent, um, you know, I do
[43:48] appreciate, um, the staff getting market
[43:52] salary and that's I don't have a problem
[43:54] with that, but does that mean that they
[43:56] are above 50 percentile? I guess are
[43:59] they above 50 or they below 50?
[44:03] The the goal on our compensation plan
[44:05] outside of public safety was to set our
[44:08] plan basically at the market. So our our
[44:11] midpoints are at the market. Our our
[44:14] starting point is generally at the
[44:17] market and our top end is generally at
[44:18] the market. So at any point during
[44:20] anyone's career based on their
[44:22] experience where they fall in that they
[44:24] should be basically um at or near the
[44:28] market. Okay. Well, and I guess for me,
[44:31] um, what I would also ask in most
[44:34] businesses, and I know we're not in a
[44:36] business here, but if we don't consider
[44:39] it, uh, there should be a cap on
[44:41] everybody's salary. There should be a
[44:43] certain point, you got to put a cap on
[44:44] the salary. Um, and I think it it's it's
[44:49] important if you're going to look at
[44:50] this long term, um, that we're very
[44:53] clear on you can't have
[44:57] certain people, and this is why I want
[44:59] that, uh, the pay that we have paid. We
[45:02] I think our city does well. I think we
[45:05] pay fair. Uh, and I think it's important
[45:07] for constituents to be able to see what
[45:08] we have paid. Um, and the reason I say
[45:12] that is, um, we cannot continue to
[45:15] always go up 3 or 4%. Because a
[45:18] compounding will kill us in the future.
[45:20] It won't be our problem, but it will be
[45:22] the next council or maybe the third term
[45:24] council's problem to deal with. Uh,
[45:27] especially with this uh, meet and
[45:28] confer. So I think I know this is a
[45:32] maybe too late of a game but I think it
[45:34] is very important that we have this
[45:36] discussion and I would like to kind of
[45:38] get a feedback on council on uh to be
[45:40] able to approve including vendors
[45:44] payment and um salary payments that we
[45:46] paid to our employees. Thank you.
[45:50] >> Thank you for those couple things there.
[45:53] Um so um we do include the pay plans in
[45:57] the budget. So that does show the range
[45:59] by position
[46:02] and I while if we want to share the
[46:04] information on vendor pay I think we can
[46:06] find the appropriate way to do that. I'm
[46:08] not sure it's a something to attach to
[46:10] the budget. So yeah. Yeah. I think look
[46:13] again my point is we talk about
[46:16] transparency all the time. And you know
[46:19] I think even I was shocked when I saw
[46:21] last last year year before when you
[46:24] first gave me the um the payment right
[46:27] for what we have paid our our our team
[46:30] and which is fine but I think it's
[46:32] important to understand that that what
[46:34] people do make with the city. I think
[46:36] it's important. I think it's important
[46:38] for our constituents to be able to see,
[46:39] hey, people are getting paid pretty
[46:41] well. Um, so I have and again, there's
[46:44] nothing to hide in the city. Show it,
[46:47] right?
[46:48] >> Member Patel, I understood. I think your
[46:50] points are well received. I know I trust
[46:53] that Mr. Eper will find an appropriate
[46:56] way to deliver the information as
[46:59] requested based on uh the concerns. Um,
[47:03] I know we're talking about budget, so
[47:05] we're concerning uh our taxpayers and
[47:09] residents. Um, and I think the
[47:11] conversations that we're having are um a
[47:15] result of the situation that we find
[47:18] ourselves in and that uh as mentioned in
[47:21] an earlier budget discussion that the no
[47:24] new revenue rate is not sustainable
[47:27] because there are other factors
[47:28] impacting uh our city services. And I
[47:32] think your points are wellreceived,
[47:34] member Patel, as well as every other
[47:35] member up here. So, as we move forward
[47:38] in uh potentially the next adoption or
[47:41] the adoption, um I think going into the
[47:44] next next year in the strategic planning
[47:47] session, uh we're going to have to make
[47:50] some really really important and
[47:52] difficult decisions on behalf of the
[47:54] residents here uh for us to continue to
[47:56] deliver the quality of life and quality
[47:58] of services that we expect.
[48:01] um all points said and um really well
[48:06] taken and I hope and we acknowledge the
[48:08] work the staff has put in. So at this
[48:11] particular time I don't think there are
[48:13] any other comments or suggestions. Um so
[48:17] with that being said um we can move on
[48:20] to the next item um on the agenda which
[48:25] is uh believe
[48:28] executive session
[48:37] happy to do that. that leaves us 15
[48:39] minutes and if we're not able to finish
[48:40] then then we may um recess that meeting
[48:44] and come back if there's time after the
[48:46] joint public workshop
[48:48] >> or uh we'll do that at the end. Um but I think that's a question for city
[48:54] council um if if we think I think y'all
[48:56] know what I'm intending to talk about uh
[48:59] whether 15 minutes is sufficient time to
[49:01] do that. I'm seeing two or three head
[49:03] nose head and shakes not nods which is
[49:08] why I'm asking the question.
[49:09] >> Okay. I'm looking at I'm trying to count
[49:12] as well. It looks like there's some
[49:14] consensus. Member Kade
[49:18] got three
[49:20] executive session.
[49:21] >> Do you want to do the exec session now
[49:24] uh and then come back?
[49:26] >> Three nos.
[49:27] >> Okay.
[49:29] Are we gonna
[49:30] >> Well, I didn't answer.
[49:31] >> We're not gonna we're not going to have
[49:33] time. So, I think the right
[49:35] >> one remember because of that's only one
[49:38] next.
[49:40] >> Our next meeting starts at five. So,
[49:42] >> I would just wait.
[49:43] >> I would wait until
[49:44] >> I would go ahead and wait.
[49:45] >> Okay. So, that we don't have a consensus
[49:47] to move into executive session. And so
[49:50] uh at this particular time
[49:51] >> so uh I would recommend that we recess
[49:53] instead of adjourn so that we preserve
[49:55] the possibility
[49:57] if the JPH doesn't take as long as we
[50:00] want we can come back to that item
[50:02] before the 6:30.
[50:04] So recess this meeting
[50:08] instead of adjourning it and then that
[50:10] preserves that possibility.
[50:12] >> Okay.
[50:13] >> I appreciate your recommendation Mr.
[50:16] province. And at this particular time,
[50:18] uh, we will recess the special meeting
[50:21] for the city of Periland at 4:44