[0:00] [Music]

[0:13] at six o'clock

[0:27] [Laughter]

[0:33] yes sir i got my fair phone i'm gonna

[0:36] put on me

[0:36] okay okay all right

[1:10] core

[1:24] you

[1:37] i'm excited

[1:41] i was there

[2:04] [Applause]

[2:06] well

[2:10] so i gave it a number

[2:47] spend all my time

[2:51] [Music]

[3:02] we're actually going to have one at the

[3:04] farmers market this year

[3:25] school stuff

[3:59] usually

[4:26] is

[4:29] all right

[4:54] shirt

[5:07] anthony says tell everyone i said hello

[5:09] and they look good on camera

[5:11] thank you anthony that's your big smile

[5:36] okay

[5:46] [Music]

[5:50] um

[6:05] uh this is the city council budget

[6:06] workshop thursday may 6

[6:08] 2021. y'all please buy red and join me

[6:11] in our invitation

[6:12] my dear heavenly father we thank you for

[6:14] this beautiful day and this beautiful

[6:16] weekend this beautiful city

[6:18] please bless us as we look at the city's

[6:21] finances and do what's best for

[6:23] our employees our residents uh and our

[6:26] businesses

[6:27] and uh please use us to

[6:30] service your will uh

[6:39] the united states of america as to the

[6:42] republic for which it stands

[6:44] one nation under god indivisible

[7:00] budget workshop our first one was a few

[7:02] weeks back when we had our

[7:05] annual presentation from our financial

[7:07] advisors first tryon

[7:10] tonight we're going to get a little bit

[7:12] deeper into what

[7:14] staff is presenting to you all for our

[7:17] fiscal year 2021

[7:19] 2022 annual budget

[7:22] including all of our funds um

[7:26] yes naomi reid our assistant city

[7:29] administrator and finance director is

[7:30] going to

[7:31] provide you a presentation it's going to

[7:33] be pretty high level

[7:34] um but she is happy to go into

[7:37] details and answer questions and without

[7:40] further ado

[7:42] you have it

[7:45] thank you sean thank you mayor and

[7:47] council and our department heads

[7:49] sandra our city clerk um

[7:52] i do want to start off by apologizing

[7:54] for not getting this information sooner

[7:57] you will have the budget in full the

[8:00] budget transmittal letter

[8:01] the fee schedule the budget ordinance

[8:04] and

[8:05] all the detail for every line item

[8:06] before you well before our first reading

[8:09] so hope to get that to you by monday

[8:10] just in case you have questions

[8:12] um sean and i'll be happy to answer them

[8:14] get what the apartment heads and get any

[8:16] clarifying items before we head the

[8:18] first reading

[8:21] i also did notice that i stapled two of

[8:24] the same pages to your packet so we'll

[8:26] just skip right through that when i get

[8:27] there

[8:28] like sean said this is our second budget

[8:30] workshop um the first one we discussed

[8:33] are capital items for every fund

[8:35] left that workshop with some some

[8:39] lingering questions

[8:40] and i got together and we developed the

[8:42] budget

[8:43] as presented for your consideration our

[8:46] first reading

[9:04] this workshop i would like to get

[9:06] feedback and direction

[9:08] from city council um to finalize the fy

[9:11] 22 budget

[9:12] um i would like you all to review and go with us through the assumptions

[9:16] that sean and i made while developing

[9:18] the budget

[9:19] and then understand our methodology for

[9:23] priorities we place on service

[9:25] enhancements and our capital improvement

[9:26] projects

[9:27] in the presentation

[9:33] so a couple months ago city council got

[9:37] together

[9:37] and met at a budget retreat where

[9:40] you all discussed in length your budget

[9:43] priorities and goals

[9:45] and i left from that workshop and i

[9:48] remember mayor mcglier making

[9:50] a statement and it was um after a long

[9:52] discussion of

[9:53] what city council's goals and and for

[9:56] fountain in and what his founding means

[9:58] to city council

[9:59] it got a little quiet and then the mayor

[10:01] said to providing to preserve a sense of

[10:03] community through shared experiences

[10:05] and so i took that that quote and um

[10:09] framed it around how we were going to

[10:10] present the budget to you all

[10:12] and have the department heads keep that

[10:14] in mind while they were developing their

[10:15] budgets

[10:17] so we pulled from the strategic plan

[10:19] document that kevin bronson prepared for

[10:21] us

[10:22] um a few key items and it's delivering

[10:24] on city council's

[10:26] strategic planning goals we want to make

[10:28] sure that that's at the top of our for our brains while we're

[10:32] developing the budget

[10:33] um you all discussed in length

[10:36] addressing the aging infrastructure

[10:38] throughout the departments

[10:39] um specifically in our sewer department

[10:43] and our public works

[10:44] facilities you know we have needs there

[10:45] and we are presenting to you a plan to fund the public works facility

[10:49] in the natural gas facility you all

[10:52] discuss

[10:53] wanting to continue equitable and

[10:55] inclusive events to enhance community

[10:56] relations

[10:58] uh provide quality service to our

[11:00] community um and that's going to be

[11:02] through

[11:02] some customer service initiatives that

[11:04] we partner with our hr director on to

[11:07] train our our employees on

[11:08] good customer service um our

[11:11] while the citizens are coming in to to get those city services from us

[11:16] um we also want to adapt to the growth

[11:19] sean does not like the word

[11:20] um uh managed growth because it

[11:24] what does that mean and so he he came up

[11:27] with the word adapting to the growth

[11:29] by balancing economic development and

[11:30] preservation of fountain in his

[11:32] traditional hometown field

[11:35] we also have funding to improve our city

[11:38] facilities and parks

[11:40] and to increase personnel and

[11:42] professional development

[11:43] um and you'll see that reflected here if

[11:46] you have any questions

[11:47] i'm going to put that and grab some

[11:49] water

[11:53] i guess for the record

[12:04] people ask questions

[12:11] begin to reiterate our budget priorities

[12:14] was to address the critical

[12:15] infrastructure

[12:16] um have a heavy emphasis on our

[12:18] commitment to beautification

[12:20] employee benefits um as well as employee

[12:23] morale

[12:24] streamline our development review

[12:25] process and our new business processes

[12:29] focus on parts and economic development

[12:30] initiatives

[12:36] how we did that um we

[12:40] framed our our budget around the the

[12:42] term provide and preserve and so as we

[12:44] go through this you'll see that we are either providing

[12:46] new services or preserving the services

[12:49] we have

[12:50] by improving the maintenance on some of

[12:52] the facilities or

[12:54] um even in putting dollars into our

[12:56] employees

[12:57] um so the fountain and sewer system

[13:00] improvements will be reflected in the

[13:01] budget

[13:02] found in natural gas system improvements

[13:04] and road improvement

[13:08] a commitment to beautification um our

[13:10] new public works director russell

[13:12] slatten

[13:13] um he came in at the tail end of our of

[13:15] our budget development process

[13:17] and took a look at what laurie and roger

[13:19] put together and had some

[13:21] new ideas uh with the focus on grounds

[13:23] maintenance and so we split out a

[13:24] division of grounds maintenance

[13:26] in the public works department in this

[13:28] budget you'll also see

[13:29] uh funding for um

[13:32] a code enforcement officer and also

[13:35] funding to

[13:36] start the process on our jones to 14

[13:38] streetscape project

[13:40] should we hold our questions feel free

[13:42] um

[13:43] russell what does that look like from

[13:45] the perspective of ground maintenance

[13:47] people-wise

[13:50] i didn't we didn't add any personnel we

[13:52] shipped it we were already

[13:54] doing a ground maintenance through

[13:55] sanitation and

[13:57] all we did was it was basically make

[13:59] sanitation dedicated

[14:00] only sanitation and pull uh three people

[14:03] over

[14:04] because we didn't have a supervisor and

[14:06] a crew lead

[14:08] in sanitation so those crew lead came

[14:10] over as the

[14:11] supervisor for streets and grounds and i

[14:13] took two workers

[14:14] and we modified the way we were running

[14:15] our routes and we pulled those over to

[14:17] streets

[14:18] around so really we only have three

[14:20] people there now uh

[14:21] focusing on just uh just a couple hours

[14:25] to begin with and then

[14:26] we'll grow as needed or as

[14:30] we would have dictated by sean or city

[14:32] council

[14:33] so which is going to require additional

[14:34] equipment

[14:36] initially no uh it will be very minor if

[14:39] we

[14:39] consume a lot of them such as blowers

[14:41] and weed eaters there will be some

[14:42] eventually some

[14:43] lawn mowers uh possibly tractors but

[14:46] they're not on the high end they won't

[14:50] be

[14:50] anything like sanitation trucks or

[14:52] anything like that well with under six

[14:54] figures that's all

[14:55] like

[15:10] you thank you um public works department

[15:14] has already started that process

[15:16] with the funding that we did have in the

[15:18] budget for city hall grounds maintenance

[15:20] um you'll notice that the sidewalks were

[15:23] finally pressure washed and the building

[15:25] pressure washed as well some new

[15:27] planters

[15:28] the light poles painted and our hanging

[15:30] baskets are up now

[15:32] and so i think forming that division of

[15:34] the public works department you'll see

[15:35] that

[15:37] really beneficial to the city residents

[15:39] and just beautifying our grounds and standing out like the great city of

[15:43] mountain we are

[15:44] i saw as you walked in the entrance way

[15:48] uh just you know what having some

[15:50] dedicated

[15:51] employees just to that type of thing

[15:53] what that little bit of difference can

[15:55] make

[15:56] on a regular basis exactly

[16:00] i was curious about the planters and

[16:03] when their

[16:04] water because when i was downtown a few

[16:07] weeks

[16:08] ago a couple of them looked really bad

[16:11] they were water today

[16:15] i mean they looked bad they're supposed

[16:17] to be water daily

[16:18] we have a dedicated individual that goes

[16:20] around in the morning and hits every

[16:21] platter it's supposed to hit every

[16:22] plattered hanging basket to keep them uh

[16:25] fresh and rejuvenated okay because when

[16:27] actually it was eaten at

[16:28] jay peters um for my birthday so late

[16:33] when you were doing that that may not

[16:35] have been the schedule but it is the

[16:36] schedule

[16:37] okay i was just curious and i meant to

[16:39] ask about it but i just when i saw the

[16:41] picture i went

[16:42] oh i think they've been replanted yes

[16:43] they've been rescuing the flowers

[16:46] just a couple days ago they were

[16:48] replaced with

[17:00] and we do have the replenishment um by

[17:02] season in our budget as well

[17:07] next up is investing in our employees

[17:11] and i may spend a good bit of time here

[17:13] on this slide as well as sean

[17:15] um over the past few fiscal years

[17:18] we have put a lot of dollars into our

[17:21] employees

[17:21] whether it be salary increases even just

[17:25] paying for the common class survey

[17:27] um increasing our employer portion to

[17:29] our family coverage

[17:31] but it has been uh very nice sitting

[17:34] down to the table

[17:35] with rebecca going through our state

[17:37] health plan options and seeing how those

[17:39] dollars

[17:40] are going to come right back into

[17:41] families in the city of fountain inn so

[17:44] the cost of the city um it's 288 000

[17:47] and that's an estimate we're still

[17:48] getting those numbers coming in as open

[17:50] enrollment

[17:51] um it's going on um an estimated

[17:53] increase of 30

[17:54] to our health insurance costs and some

[17:56] years we've we've done this dollar

[17:58] amount and salary increases so to be

[18:00] able to do this

[18:01] um in this fiscal year it it does come

[18:04] in great time for our city employees but

[18:06] we did rip the band-aid off this year

[18:08] and then you'll see those personnel

[18:10] expenditures increasing overall about 15

[18:13] plus or minus in some lines so it comes

[18:15] in about 15.94

[18:18] um increase in those lines and that's a 50 dollar amount i've never

[18:22] seen it since i've been here but um

[18:24] yeah i think i just want to reiterate

[18:26] that

[18:28] and uh i think in the first year that i

[18:31] got here

[18:31] i i think we just arcola

[18:42] councilmember can you meet councilmember

[18:44] can you meet your vote

[18:46] thank you um that i believe

[18:50] um around 300 000 yeah

[18:54] it is what we had increased for salary raises colas and things so to

[19:00] do

[19:01] we are still having a two percent cost

[19:03] of living increase

[19:04] plus almost 300 000 increase just for

[19:08] the state health plan plus all the other

[19:11] things that we're going to

[19:12] be able to tackle this budget here so it

[19:15] is

[19:15] it's a it's a very healthy budget

[19:19] um but you know obviously our finances

[19:21] are in good shape but

[19:23] uh but that is like naomi said that is a

[19:26] huge band-aid to rip off in one year

[19:27] gotta take care of you

[19:29] that's right um

[19:34] so yes the cost of living increase um in

[19:37] our personnel

[19:38] budget and also rebecca

[19:41] coming in as an in-house hr we did split

[19:44] her out of department

[19:45] and so you'll see it in your budget

[19:47] transmittal letter i'll explain it more

[19:49] in depth

[19:50] but she is apartment 417 now split from

[19:52] department 411 where sean

[19:54] and sandra and myself are um and that

[19:57] way we can really see the dollars that

[19:59] we're committing to

[20:00] congressional development employee

[20:02] screenings

[20:04] all the hr expenditures that that come

[20:07] with an in-house hr department

[20:08] and so some of those items um in her

[20:11] special projects and retention budget

[20:13] um 50 of that she's allocated to

[20:16] sensitivity and diversity

[20:18] training customer service leadership and

[20:20] some health and wellness initiatives

[20:25] and this is just a chart um showing the

[20:28] percentages

[20:29] of our total personnel budget that fy 22

[20:33] personnel budget

[20:34] including all benefits and salaries um

[20:37] eight million six hundred fifty two

[20:38] thousand

[20:39] six hundred ninety two dollars um and

[20:42] then that's

[20:43] across our governmental funds

[20:46] make sure i'm telling you right and our

[20:49] natural gas and our sewer i mean i had

[20:50] three different slides before i decided

[20:52] on this one

[20:53] um and so you'll see the the 40

[20:56] just under 50 percent of the public

[20:58] safety budget which it's always like

[21:00] that for us

[21:01] and for most municipalities

[21:04] anyone have any questions to try one

[21:11] this is the right slide until um the

[21:13] next of our budget priorities is our

[21:15] fountain in parks

[21:16] and channel chime in on this one as well

[21:19] um

[21:20] the master plan for our pd terry city

[21:23] park

[21:24] we're estimating that at about twenty

[21:25] three twenty thousand dollars but we do

[21:27] eventually want to get a citywide master

[21:29] plan

[21:30] um study done and it will exceed twenty

[21:32] thousand dollars

[21:33] um our next item is our sanctify hill

[21:35] park and that's our priority for fy22

[21:39] we want to partner with lawrence county

[21:42] as they just recently passed the

[21:44] lawrence county capital project sales

[21:46] tax and earmarked 53 approximately 53

[21:48] 000

[21:49] of that to sanctify hill uh park

[21:52] improvements

[21:52] so we know just from renovating emanuel

[21:55] sullivan

[21:55] park that that's just really scratching

[21:58] the surface so

[21:59] after some community meetings and the

[22:01] master plan that we will have at the end

[22:03] of

[22:03] this fiscal year we'll be able to put a

[22:06] plan together for council's consideration and see how

[22:09] we can partner

[22:10] and get the park renovated that'll be

[22:12] more of a budget amendment for that one

[22:15] possibly we do have security partners um

[22:18] there's some grant funding available

[22:20] part grant cdbg funding

[22:22] um and we may come in

[22:26] that's right to kind of give council

[22:28] background on that so we did have funds

[22:30] available this budget year

[22:32] uh to do the sanctified hill park

[22:36] thanks did you stream that now

[22:51] yes i have sir question yes sir

[22:56] okay now because 55 year part

[22:59] is part of lawrence county okay and it's

[23:02] 53 000

[23:04] so because we're in greenville county is

[23:07] it our responsibility to give to that

[23:09] part or to reuse our foreign for the

[23:12] uh the business part

[23:16] here let me let me get back to that here

[23:18] in just a second okay so okay all right so we did have we

[23:23] had money available this year in our

[23:25] budget

[23:25] to uh to do a sanctified hill

[23:28] uh park master plan we hired a

[23:31] consultant to do that

[23:32] real good price uh very reputable

[23:34] consultants

[23:35] we've had our steering committee

[23:39] meeting already uh councilman dearberry

[23:41] is part of that

[23:42] and we have set a date uh for later in

[23:46] may

[23:46] we're actually going to have a kind of a

[23:48] block party

[23:49] out there and the consultant is going to

[23:52] have three

[23:53] renderings of uh of what the park could

[23:56] be

[23:56] and we're gonna invite the community out

[23:58] there and they're gonna all kind of vote

[24:00] on which

[24:01] uh which of those three they like best

[24:03] uh lead the week leading up to that date

[24:06] uh they're gonna be he's the

[24:07] consultant's gonna be holding a series

[24:09] of stakeholder meetings with uh people

[24:13] like uh representative mark willis for

[24:16] funding possibilities

[24:18] uh other stakeholders in the community

[24:21] to get their feedback and talk about

[24:23] what they want

[24:24] for the park but we're not going to have

[24:27] a real good idea

[24:28] about what that part is going to cost

[24:32] until we get that so it'd be it would be

[24:34] really a shot in the dark for us to

[24:35] budget for it at this at this time

[24:38] but once we get that master plan back

[24:41] and it's cost estimates we can start

[24:42] moving forward

[24:43] already talked to mark willis about you

[24:46] know we've never received any lawrence

[24:48] county part money

[24:50] um so that that's an avenue this would

[24:52] be eligible for cdbg funds

[24:55] third there could be a host of other

[24:57] opportunities of funding

[24:59] plus city funding as well so that could

[25:02] be a budget amendment or what happened

[25:05] we just won't see the final number in

[25:07] this budget that's

[25:12] correct

[25:16] that's right it's not going to fall on

[25:18] lawrence county to do it um fortunately they were able

[25:22] to include it in their lawrence county

[25:24] uh penny sales tax so that so we did

[25:26] have some funds towards that part there

[25:29] but we want to leverage those dollars

[25:33] just because that is the only uh

[25:36] improvements that are made to that park

[25:38] uh but to say that those funds are you

[25:41] know if we could do a three or four or

[25:44] five to one

[25:45] matching of that i think would be

[25:47] wonderful

[25:49] i was very excited about the our first

[25:52] steering committee

[25:54] it was a hard experience and wonderful

[25:56] ideas

[25:57] i'm looking forward in the next couple

[25:59] weeks with him

[26:01] um simply but meeting with the

[26:04] stakeholders and then

[26:06] presenting some plans i mean just in the

[26:08] few minutes

[26:09] that we were here once an hour i mean he

[26:12] had some

[26:13] fabulous ideas so and so the plan

[26:16] would be uh what we are budgeting though

[26:19] is to do a similar process

[26:20] but for pd terry city park and that's

[26:23] what that twenty thousand dollars is for

[26:24] okay during the first workshop you may

[26:28] have seen a number

[26:29] um listed in fy23 but after sean and i

[26:33] talked that

[26:33] you know to hold that kind of money up

[26:36] not knowing

[26:37] when it's going to be uh sufficient just

[26:39] didn't seem like the the best use at

[26:41] this time

[26:41] um and not being able to leverage or

[26:44] know what type of leverages we can have

[26:46] for additional grant funding

[26:47] that's the decision but that is

[26:50] definitely still a huge priority

[26:52] yes

[26:56] okay so we did touch on a few of these

[26:59] things

[27:00] um already but the overall budget

[27:02] highlights that that um

[27:04] affect all the funds is that there is no

[27:06] operating millage increase or debt

[27:08] service knowledge increase

[27:10] um there is a two percent cost of living

[27:12] adjustment

[27:13] the 30 increase in employer health

[27:15] insurance costs

[27:16] and an addition of eight positions and i

[27:19] don't have those listed but

[27:21] the physicians are in the finance

[27:23] department for

[27:24] an accounting manager and the police

[27:26] department two sro

[27:28] officers one patrol officer and one code

[27:30] enforcement officer

[27:32] in our planning and development

[27:33] department um an additional planning and

[27:35] development specialist

[27:37] and in department 424 which is our

[27:40] public works department

[27:41] two cdl drivers so code enforcement's

[27:45] going to report to

[27:46] police versus public works yes

[27:51] and kind of your question earlier public

[27:53] works is getting a head count

[27:55] edition of two with this budget

[28:08] conversation for later but i know we've

[28:10] had issues recruiting cell

[28:14] drivers

[28:28] so what we've had success with right now

[28:30] as a matter of fact

[28:31] um officially uh we had

[28:35] a couple of cdl drivers that were

[28:36] working attempt to from capacity

[28:39] and they just were hired on as of what

[28:41] day was

[28:42] last monday

[28:52] the agencies that we're working with are

[28:55] specifically targeting

[28:56] the type of folks that are looking for

[28:58] this kind of shift because again

[29:00] yes it's difficult with so much industry

[29:03] around us and some of the different

[29:05] um types of situations that we have

[29:08] um it makes it challenging but so far

[29:11] we've done

[29:12] well um and they're continuing to work

[29:15] with us that's been the better

[29:16] um avenue for us as opposed to direct

[29:19] tire just simply because again

[29:21] um it's it's the nature of the beast

[29:23] some folks just don't like it after

[29:24] they're

[29:25] there so they get to try it out and we

[29:26] get to try them out so that's been

[29:28] successful for

[29:29] us also too in the budget um

[29:32] is some concessions made for staying

[29:35] competitive

[29:37] so the hourly rate is also has a small

[29:40] increase but it

[29:41] allows us to maintain a certain level of

[29:43] competitive support

[29:45] but when we advertise for direct hires

[29:48] for cdl positions

[29:49] i think it oftentimes gets lumped in

[29:52] with those people that have cdls

[29:54] that are looking for jobs that are

[29:56] driving semi trucks

[29:58] and i think they're all we're often

[29:59] overlooked because we can't

[30:01] uh pay those kind of hourly wages

[30:05] so this uh working with these staffing

[30:07] agencies on this attempt to perms

[30:08] is working out great for that

[30:18] the next slide you have here i thought

[30:20] it would be very important for our

[30:22] council to know that staff has been watching and

[30:26] monitoring the impacts of

[30:28] the pandemic on our finances and

[30:30] specifically our hospitality tax revenue

[30:33] and our business license tax revenue

[30:35] um when i put this slide together and i

[30:37] know i'm a super nerd but

[30:39] um the the april line here this dip

[30:42] this is when the pandemic started and so

[30:45] we knew that we solved it but just

[30:46] seeing it on this this graph here

[30:48] um it it it just makes me excited i

[30:52] don't know i like lion grass

[30:53] um but you see this this is steady going

[30:57] along and we really didn't see that big

[30:59] of a

[30:59] dip even um i've seen some other

[31:02] municipalities the line

[31:03] dropped all the way down and some of our

[31:05] restaurants were able to stay open

[31:07] and continue to to maintain their

[31:09] employment levels but also keep the

[31:11] hospitality tax dollars coming in

[31:14] another item here is december 20.

[31:17] this is our christmas festival time and

[31:20] we see a huge jump in our

[31:22] hospitality tax revenue in december

[31:26] even higher than in our normal years

[31:27] december 18 is pretty flat

[31:29] compared to our december 19 a little

[31:32] bump but that's impressive um and so i think that

[31:35] speaks to several departments

[31:37] it speaks for our restaurants staying

[31:38] open um and maintaining a fun place for our

[31:43] residents to be and

[31:44] eat and keep those dollars in town and

[31:46] keeping our christmas festivities

[31:48] oh yeah i think if we were to really

[31:52] want to nerd out maybe naomi could look

[31:55] at that

[31:55] i think if you were to draw a line um

[31:58] from point a to point b there you you could see

[32:03] you can see the how it's gradually

[32:05] increasing and then you could even

[32:07] project

[32:07] out um and i think what really excites

[32:10] me here is that i mean you look at

[32:12] this april 21 here i mean that is much higher than july of 18.

[32:19] i mean our rh tax is gradually

[32:22] uh increasing so i mean substantially

[32:26] exactly um and so we are on pace in the

[32:29] next couple years to just

[32:30] continue to continue absolutely

[32:33] but but i mean if you look even the

[32:36] restaurants

[32:37] their gross income same restaurants that

[32:40] were here in july 18

[32:41] their gross revenue is increasing as

[32:44] well

[32:45] so the volume is of the restaurants is

[32:48] doing great yes we are getting more and

[32:50] that helps

[32:51] but uh just seeing those restaurants do

[32:53] better themselves is also encouraging

[32:58] and i'll detail a little bit more of the

[33:00] dollar amounts and how

[33:03] it increases your beer and i'll add that

[33:05] trendline

[33:07] our next chart is our business license

[33:09] tax revenue by month

[33:11] um also started this one in 2018 um all

[33:15] the way forward to 2021.

[33:17] um this is when sean came on board he

[33:20] moved the business license and

[33:21] permitting function

[33:22] from public works over to finance um and

[33:25] we were able to

[33:27] do some auditing and and clean up that

[33:29] process just a little bit

[33:30] and we had the staff to to commit to

[33:32] that and you can see the the result

[33:35] of making that switch and so our

[33:37] business license tax revenue has

[33:39] been consistently um maintaining high

[33:42] levels which you will see

[33:44] um in the latter part of 20 that there

[33:47] is a dip compared to some of the other

[33:49] years we did have passed an emergency

[33:51] ordinance that deferred our tax revenues

[33:53] coming in so it's a little skewed um but

[33:55] overall

[33:56] what's what keeps us um on track

[33:59] there's it goes all the way out um

[34:02] projecting some more

[34:03] but you'll see our licensed collections

[34:06] that we've collected to date

[34:08] have come in and we've already exceeded

[34:09] our budget like we budgeted just over

[34:12] 700

[34:13] 2 000 in our current budget we are we

[34:15] collected

[34:16] 723 000 and so we've exceeded budget and

[34:19] we

[34:20] anticipate more receipts to be posted in

[34:22] the next few weeks of the

[34:23] those ones that post date their business

[34:25] licenses on april 30th and so

[34:27] they'll be an updated number and their

[34:28] budget transmitter looked better

[34:30] so we did not uh feel the decline that

[34:32] some of our

[34:34] other municipalities felt in business

[34:36] license revenue

[34:39] and that's why we're able to continue um

[34:42] with some of our personnel increases and

[34:46] may increase our infrastructure improve

[34:49] our infrastructure excuse me

[34:51] next slide chart

[34:54] um this is just a graphic of our

[34:58] uh total revenue um in our general fund

[35:01] and you'll see

[35:02] that um sean pointed out a little bit

[35:04] earlier that we do have a healthy mix of

[35:07] revenue sources in our general fund

[35:09] um you'll see 18 of our revenues and

[35:12] general funds made up of our licensing

[35:14] permitting

[35:15] um and as sean was saying some other

[35:17] municipalities rely

[35:19] uh close to 50 on license fees and so

[35:22] we are very healthy by

[35:25] our taxes supporting our services and

[35:28] then our fees and licenses

[35:30] um supporting our other services

[35:33] very healthy i mean it's just straight

[35:35] down the center there

[35:36] um taxes revenues we can keep those

[35:39] taxes um

[35:40] our millage rates low um if we can

[35:42] continue to keep a healthy healthy

[35:44] revenues coming in

[35:46] the general assembly um fixed the

[35:48] business license issue

[35:50] for for the time being um but i i don't

[35:53] think that's gonna ever be off the

[35:54] chopping block uh north carolina did

[35:57] away with their business license

[35:59] tax altogether um actually

[36:03] south carolina is one of the few states

[36:04] that actually still has the business

[36:06] license tax

[36:07] um and but the fact that ours

[36:11] is only making up 18 i think is is good

[36:14] for us

[36:15] um if that ever um came to be

[36:18] while it would be a huge hit um

[36:22] there are some cities where it would

[36:23] absolutely be devastating i mean

[36:25] they would have to lay off half their

[36:28] employees

[36:29] right off the bat where i think we would

[36:31] be able to to manage

[36:33] for a little while and that 18

[36:36] includes our permit fees as well and so

[36:39] the total

[36:40] amount of that is 1800 1

[36:43] 322 and so 800

[36:47] 000 of that is our business license

[36:49] revenue um

[36:50] local tax

[37:04] we recently went to greenville county

[37:06] submitted our application in greenville

[37:08] county and we

[37:08] will be having our presentation

[37:10] scheduled for monday at

[37:12] 4 o'clock um and so i had a really good

[37:14] call with

[37:16] mr john hanson administrator

[37:19] and he's looking forward to our

[37:20] presentation and so i

[37:22] we went ahead and put those village

[37:26] dollars in this budget and that's the

[37:28] increase

[37:34] again another another chart um it's our

[37:37] general fund

[37:38] expenditures um and you'll see our

[37:41] police and fire public safety making up

[37:43] about 50

[37:45] of that 9 million 186 dollar

[37:49] expenditures across our general fund

[37:54] i don't really have all my charts here i

[37:56] just didn't have time to give you all

[37:58] more information

[37:59] um on that to break it down but you will

[38:01] have it in your budget transmittal

[38:03] um with how the increase in our

[38:06] departments were operating you kind of

[38:07] kept them

[38:08] flat because even personnel was going to jump up there so our normal operating

[38:12] we kept them

[38:14] flat as much as we could

[38:19] so next we'll talk about um our capital

[38:22] and um

[38:22] if you recall when i can't remember his

[38:25] name right off now

[38:27] first trying representative came and did

[38:28] his presentation um there were a few

[38:30] items that um staff had to to make a

[38:33] decision on based on council's feedback

[38:35] and um it was how to fund some of these

[38:38] larger

[38:39] debt funded items through the iprb um

[38:42] and that was to increase our debt

[38:44] service millage of the

[38:46] we was presented at that time five meals

[38:49] four point six meals um so sean and i

[38:52] went back to the drawing board and

[38:54] uh looked at our our new

[38:57] models and and we saw that we had an

[38:59] opportunity

[39:00] to to decrease that and actually just

[39:02] wipe it out completely by using

[39:03] hospitality tax

[39:05] um dollars and using that fund to pay a

[39:08] million dollars towards the jones 418

[39:11] streetscape project

[39:13] and so some of the other assumptions for

[39:15] our capital um

[39:16] is that all transfers except for the

[39:18] reduction and certain transfers made in

[39:20] the previous iterations of the model

[39:22] were tied to the issues of our current

[39:23] 2019

[39:24] installment purchase revenue bond um

[39:27] they are projected to remain flat

[39:29] some of our transfers and so you won't

[39:30] see many fluctuations in our transfers

[39:32] from our natural gas onto our general

[39:34] fund

[39:35] we just moved the lines that they were

[39:37] going to transfer into

[39:38] um it's wordy

[39:42] i don't want to read it all um but i do

[39:44] anticipate

[39:45] in the future a millage increase um if

[39:48] we want to continue funding our capital

[39:49] projects at this level

[39:51] or we will diminish our fund balance to

[39:53] a detrimental

[39:55] level we do not or our revenues will

[39:58] have to continue to go up so there's

[40:00] lots of balance and things to go on but

[40:02] i think um

[40:04] we do have a village bank and we can use

[40:08] it and it does help with some operating

[40:09] and i'll include that as well

[40:11] um just for your consideration but this

[40:13] month this budget does not include a

[40:15] village experience

[40:16] how many years since there's been a

[40:17] village increase forever a long time long time ago and while our

[40:22] revenues are great and they're doing

[40:24] well and and

[40:25] naomi can attest founded finances have

[40:28] never been in its greatest shape

[40:31] but we found ends also probably never

[40:34] tackled

[40:35] the level of projects that were

[40:36] attempting to tackle right now

[40:38] with the emanuel sullivan sports complex

[40:42] a new

[40:42] public works facility a streetscape

[40:47] you know we we're going to need a new

[40:49] city hall

[40:51] we've got some big ticket items plus we

[40:53] have to continue adding personnel

[40:56] um we are we're going to have to

[41:00] raise raise millage um at some point

[41:04] and naomi and i agree that it's best to

[41:07] do it incrementally

[41:08] um rather than you know a few years back

[41:11] when we when we raised that

[41:13] public works fee it was a shock to the

[41:15] system there

[41:16] because it hadn't been done in forever i

[41:19] think if we were

[41:20] to gradually do it it's not such a shock

[41:22] to the system

[41:31] next slide just break down our financing

[41:33] plan our funding plan for some of the

[41:36] debt funded projects in our general fund

[41:40] we identified 11.7 million dollars of

[41:43] near-term capital projects

[41:44] that can be funded with debt they break

[41:46] down it's five million dollars for our

[41:48] public works and natural gas facilities

[41:50] with one million dollars of that being

[41:52] funded by the general fund a million

[41:54] dollars being funded by the sewer fund

[41:56] and two and a half million dollars

[41:57] funded by the natural gas fund

[41:59] uh the next project is a 2 million

[42:01] dollar 418 street skate improvement

[42:03] project

[42:04] again with a million dollars being

[42:05] funded by hospitality and a million

[42:07] dollars funded out of general fund

[42:09] where will the other half a million come

[42:11] from from the public

[42:16] that's 4.5 i think it was supposed to be

[42:33] um again in our sewer department super

[42:36] funds excuse me rehab replacement of our

[42:38] sewer line

[42:39] um of two million dollars and our fire

[42:42] related expenses which is the

[42:45] substation three it's not reflected in

[42:48] our

[42:48] operating budget because it's contingent

[42:50] on the fire service village

[42:52] increase being collected by greenville

[42:53] county and those funds uh

[42:56] do not touch our i want to highlight

[42:59] just a couple of things

[43:00] um one i don't want to underscore the

[43:03] importance

[43:03] of the streetscape improvement if you've

[43:05] been looking at greenville news in the

[43:07] post and career greenville lately

[43:10] while we cannot always be

[43:13] looking at our peer communities to see

[43:15] what they're doing

[43:16] but if you'll read cities cities of

[43:18] simpsonville and malden

[43:20] are about to undergo two huge

[43:22] streetscape improvement projects

[43:24] um and i think in order for us to stay

[43:26] competitive

[43:27] in the golden strip um i think this is

[43:30] something that that we really need to do

[43:32] i think they're trying to emulate

[43:33] what we've already done in our downtown

[43:36] um

[43:37] and and i really think that the the

[43:39] amount of private investment

[43:41] that will flow into that south main

[43:43] street there once that streetscape is

[43:45] done

[43:46] uh we'll more than pay back that two

[43:48] million dollars over time

[43:50] and then as far as the the sewer line

[43:53] improvement

[43:55] our our sewer engineers have estimated

[43:58] approximately four million dollars

[44:00] left to rehab our entire

[44:04] uh sewer system all of our remaining

[44:07] clay pipe

[44:08] all of our remaining uh manholes

[44:11] we have a current ria project right now

[44:15] that is undergoing

[44:17] and what we've done is applied for a

[44:19] state revolving

[44:20] loan uh fund for that two million

[44:22] dollars which is

[44:23] virtually interest-free it is like one

[44:26] percent interest

[44:27] uh we've not been approved for that yet

[44:29] but if we if we are

[44:31] um that is a wonderful wonderful way

[44:34] to uh to pay for that um

[44:38] if we can get that 2 million plus that

[44:40] raa done

[44:42] we will be have one of probably the best

[44:45] sewer systems in the whole upstate we

[44:48] will have almost a virtually

[44:50] uh rehab sewer system

[44:53] we could have the whole sewer system

[44:55] rehabbed within the next five years

[44:58] which is pretty incredible

[45:03] we're watching this will be another

[45:06] conversation for another day

[45:08] but um the eligible uses of the arp

[45:12] money we're getting

[45:13] for silver infrastructure that could

[45:16] lessen

[45:17] this burden yep um

[45:21] so what let's say srf

[45:24] decides we they don't want to fund us

[45:26] that or

[45:27] if we want to uh to add

[45:31] to just finish out the rehab or

[45:34] use that money to pay the debt uh

[45:37] payments on it

[45:38] but yes the arp funds specifically said

[45:42] water sewer and broadband infrastructure

[45:45] so those stimulus dollars can definitely

[45:47] be used for sewer rehab

[45:52] we do commit could continue to monitor

[45:54] um

[45:55] every outlet we can to get as much

[45:57] guidance as we can

[45:59] to make sure we are being as creative as

[46:01] we can with those dollars

[46:03] for development we also have two hundred

[46:06] thousand dollars in our solid waste fund

[46:09] and that is two vehicles and a piece of

[46:12] equipment

[46:13] um initial budget was 562 thousand

[46:15] dollars before

[46:16] uh russ took a look at it and um removed

[46:21] one arm bandit um and so he

[46:25] the system that you're going to use you

[46:27] might explain in the back the pickup

[46:28] truck and that

[46:29] additional piece that will go into that

[46:32] truck to pick up

[46:33] um be able to cull the stacks we talked

[46:35] about

[46:36] oh yes it's called a uh and basically

[46:39] it's very

[46:40] a smaller unit it's an f1 they have 250

[46:43] with basically a dump body on it

[46:45] and what it does is it's got multiple

[46:47] uses one

[46:49] usually if somebody calls and uh says

[46:51] that you didn't pick up my garbage we

[46:52] sent a garbage truck out to pick this up

[46:54] which is how

[46:55] incredibly inefficient now we have an

[46:56] f-250 we can send out

[46:58] it doesn't we don't have to have a cdl

[47:00] driver to pick them up

[47:01] also allows us to get into the uh narrow

[47:04] streets

[47:04] and service them we can actually use it

[47:06] as another garbage truck because it does

[47:08] dump

[47:08] in the back of our current garbage

[47:10] trucks and uh it also can be used in

[47:12] special events and with parks direct on

[47:14] uh they have big events

[47:16] anybody can use it because anybody can

[47:17] drive it so it's a multi-faceted machine

[47:23] so that will replace our 2017 master

[47:25] lease that paid off

[47:26] this april as well as well as our geo

[47:29] bond debt 2015

[47:30] issues paid off in april 2021 as well

[47:37] some of the cash funded items um that

[47:39] we've included in this budget

[47:42] and our police department is our watch

[47:44] card

[47:45] camera system um

[47:48] that's eight cameras i believe yes eight

[47:51] cameras

[47:52] um a lighting and equipment package for

[47:54] four vehicles a striping package for

[47:56] four vehicles

[47:57] and ndt scanner printers as well

[48:00] we are funding using our same mechanism

[48:03] of the enterprise

[48:04] fleet management program and and that's

[48:07] why it's not shown

[48:08] on our capital so it's actually a

[48:10] monthly lease payment and we're going to

[48:12] be replacing

[48:13] um four police vehicles

[48:18] we're replacing four and adding four

[48:21] we're adding four okay just add it

[48:27] in our special events department um they

[48:30] continue to improve our christmas

[48:31] festival

[48:32] um and we're going to um

[48:36] add to our in-circle entryway there

[48:38] needs to be a lighted feature because

[48:40] it's kind of dark it's going down that

[48:41] way

[48:42] and that's at six and a half six

[48:44] thousand five hundred dollars

[48:46] and then eighty thousand dollars uh for

[48:48] our commerce park stage pavilion we're

[48:50] still

[48:51] uh getting some quotes but they're

[48:52] coming in either with sixty thousand

[48:55] or a hundred thousand for a cover over

[48:57] the stage a billion each year we rent

[48:59] from professional party rentals and

[49:02] the the amount of events that we have

[49:05] for our

[49:05] sounds of summer we're spending about

[49:07] twenty thousand dollars a year in ten

[49:09] rentals

[49:10] um yeah

[49:13] they give it a much more professional

[49:28] this time in addition to the fireworks

[49:39] it was awesome

[49:42] it is included in the budget um

[49:46] in our natural gas fund the

[49:49] cash funded project um it's a mix

[49:52] between his cip

[49:53] um this is eduardo's plan

[49:56] for a new meter replacement a vacuum

[49:59] machine you know the clayton newberry

[50:00] interconnect um install high pressure

[50:04] steel

[50:06] that's a that's a high dollar project

[50:08] and he

[50:09] we've just met recently and they come in

[50:11] a little bit higher

[50:12] um but he said he'll give me a number as

[50:14] soon as he can

[50:16] lots of subdivisions

[50:20] the total cost is 2 million 763 000

[50:24] dollars in cash funded capital projects

[50:26] for the natural gas fund

[50:28] um we do maintain our days on hand we do

[50:31] maintain our

[50:33] debt service debt ratio coverage

[50:36] um and so the fund is still healthy and

[50:39] should there be an emergency would be

[50:40] able to maintain 212 days

[50:44] of service to include these projects and

[50:48] all the other allocations to the fund

[50:50] it was not many years ago that we would

[50:53] have not been able to cash funds

[50:56] all of these projects

[51:00] and still have that kind of cash on hand

[51:02] and may i say that i can really confess

[51:05] is one word

[51:20] um

[51:28] budgeting 2.7 million dollars in our

[51:30] current fiscal year we budgeted

[51:32] around the same dollar amount

[51:34] year-to-date

[51:35] um for our subdivisions just because it

[51:37] depends on

[51:38] when construction is gonna start um

[51:40] we've only not only

[51:42] but we've spent seven hundred and ninety

[51:44] three thousand dollars of the two lane

[51:46] that we created so

[51:47] the fund um can handle this but it also

[51:50] can still handle if the projects were to

[51:52] somehow miraculously come online

[51:55] the push line would still be able to

[51:56] handle it these are estimates that we

[51:58] requested for each subdivision

[52:00] so that we have them and this assumes

[52:01] these subdivisions going

[52:05] and so what we do if we phase them um

[52:08] and then they'll push out many some

[52:10] three to five years for some projects

[52:12] um in some projects for nearing the last

[52:14] four

[52:15] to fourth or fifth days

[52:19] our sewer fund um there's there's one

[52:23] item that was

[52:24] previously budgeted for in our current

[52:26] fy 21 budget

[52:27] but we deferred it to f122

[52:31] just to give time for um for us to get

[52:35] in and

[52:36] use the the funds um already available

[52:39] on some other smaller cash funded items

[52:41] and so we met and just gonna defer right

[52:43] to the next fiscal year in a couple

[52:45] months

[52:46] but that is an item that's still needed

[52:52] a lot of words you have any questions

[53:06] this is just more about the methodology

[53:08] that we that we used

[53:10] to fund these projects and just wanted

[53:12] to make sure council was aware of what

[53:14] um the plan we select the scenario to to

[53:16] leave the

[53:17] debt service village at its current

[53:18] level 11.6

[53:20] and have the general fund operating

[53:22] revenues fund balance cover the difference um and so this is

[53:26] what it does to our general fund

[53:28] um you see our net earnings drop in 2022

[53:32] in 2023 and start to pick back up in

[53:34] 2024

[53:35] um but we felt that we were okay uh the

[53:38] fund can handle this

[53:40] still because our unassigned fund

[53:41] balance continues to stay

[53:43] um at appropriate levels this

[53:46] goes back to our conversation about the

[53:48] village increase

[53:51] if there's a huge expense our veterans

[53:54] can

[53:54] continue to drop and our unassigned

[53:56] undecided fund balance will continue to lower as well but we do feel that

[54:00] this is the best way to go for this

[54:02] fiscal year

[54:03] by not letting the additional debt

[54:05] service village

[54:08] i anticipate you know in the next year

[54:11] to

[54:11] some some even higher revenues as as

[54:14] fox hill business park comes online some

[54:17] additional

[54:17] subdivisions come online some additional

[54:20] commercial comes online

[54:21] some of those business license taxes and

[54:23] things but

[54:25] we also know that we've also got a lot

[54:28] of big ticket uh projects that we need

[54:30] to start tackling as well

[54:35] which is again there's a very high level

[54:36] overview of our

[54:38] proposed budget that you will get um and

[54:41] consider for first reading on next

[54:42] thursday

[54:43] um this is the end of my presentation

[54:45] but if you have any questions

[54:47] for me i'll be happy to answer any if i

[54:49] don't want to answer it off i'll get

[55:04] um

[55:12] [Music]

[55:17] it was quite laid out very um supports

[55:20] away with childhood understanding

[55:22] so i i've communicated all along that

[55:24] there was a lot of work put into that

[55:26] um their layout plan so i've been

[55:29] appreciated

[55:31] and by y'all taking the time to it step

[55:34] by step

[55:34] i'm able now the questions i did have

[55:37] you can answer them to the point where

[55:39] i'm very well pleased thank you

[55:43] sir um before you ask on it one of the kind of the

[55:49] hot button issue that it seems comes up

[55:51] every year although it's not

[55:54] um the grand scheme of our over 20

[55:56] million dollar budget every year

[55:58] is is the amount of funds that

[56:01] our three organizations apply for with

[56:04] hospitality tax

[56:07] what staff is proposing this year is

[56:10] uh is to not fund any of those out of

[56:13] our hospitality tax

[56:16] this year and instead use our federal

[56:19] stimulus dollars

[56:21] to fund those at whatever level council

[56:23] wishes

[56:25] one of the the

[56:29] one of the items of guidance from the

[56:32] federal government on the on the 3.9

[56:35] million that we are to receive and we're

[56:36] supposed to receive half of that

[56:38] here in some kind of may or june

[56:41] is that you can

[56:44] give those funds to two non-profits in

[56:48] your community

[56:49] especially ones that were affected by

[56:51] coded

[56:52] and we know that beyond center was

[56:54] tremendously affected by koben

[56:56] the museum and the chamber were as well

[56:59] and so we felt like this was a good

[57:02] opportunity for us to use

[57:04] those precious hospitality tax dollars

[57:06] in our budget this year

[57:08] for projects personnel and other things

[57:10] and use those dollars

[57:11] that are coming to us from the federal

[57:12] stimulus money

[57:14] um um that we you know this could be a

[57:17] once-in-a-lifetime thing use those

[57:19] for for that um without

[57:23] got those partners requested yet they

[57:26] did

[57:26] they made their requests um i we

[57:29] told uh the chamber and in the art

[57:33] center that that was our plan

[57:35] and the museum and they were good with

[57:37] that but they are going to be kind of

[57:39] waiting for that next conversation on uh

[57:42] at what level does this council want to

[57:44] fund them with that 3.9 billion that's coming that they asked for an

[57:48] increase

[57:50] we got we've got 300.

[57:58] that we would have been able to find

[58:00] those three organizations

[58:01] at the level that they requested i'm

[58:03] sure no way

[58:05] i think

[58:09] i'd like to see us so one of this money

[58:12] is for

[58:13] intended uses um and if we don't use it

[58:17] we send it back and it gets

[58:18] somewhere else and uh

[58:21] one of them is for businesses and

[58:23] non-profits affected by the pandemic to

[58:25] the lesson of the burden

[58:27] so in my view this is a conversation for

[58:30] another day because i think it might be

[58:31] best practice for us to actually adopt a

[58:32] resolution on how we plan to spend so

[58:34] with

[58:39] but the idea is it will also be

[58:41] opportunities for businesses

[58:43] and non-profits

[58:48] to be able to kind of lessen the

[58:51] really about recovering and you know

[58:54] relaunching or what have you

[58:55] um what we are waiting on the u.s

[58:58] treasury department will issue guidance

[59:00] we think

[59:00] next week give or take and that will

[59:03] give us really

[59:04] exactly how and what we can do well i

[59:06] know we've talked about this before but

[59:08] i would actually want to see some kind

[59:09] of plan

[59:10] as to how they begin to use it because

[59:13] there's been no good solid checker

[59:15] balance over the past few

[59:31] i don't include their packets um

[59:39] what's

[59:45] i would like to up i would like to say

[59:47] that

[59:49] wait a minute let me get straight okay i

[59:52] would like to say that now

[59:54] i don't agree with it i was going to be

[59:56] uh revealing

[59:59] this is what affected also by copenhagen

[1:00:03] now um and with the reveal

[1:00:07] it keep going up one year down one year

[1:00:10] so they were not the only one that was

[1:00:13] affected by

[1:00:14] the coca-19 so if it's not gonna be used

[1:00:17] for the grand purpose that the

[1:00:19] government is giving the kill

[1:00:20] i'll say send it back because i don't

[1:00:22] think we should give it to one

[1:00:24] particular business that's my thoughts

[1:00:28] and i won't speak with that one all

[1:00:30] right no dude

[1:00:31] thank you sir um what i would say in the

[1:00:34] grand scheme

[1:00:34] so let's say council was to to

[1:00:37] out of that 3.9 million to fund those

[1:00:40] three entities at the request that they asked for this

[1:00:44] year i think that that totaled around

[1:00:47] 500 000. that's in the grand scheme of

[1:00:50] things

[1:00:51] 500 thousand out of 3.9 million

[1:00:54] is still relatively low um

[1:00:57] and that 500 000 um

[1:01:00] would have been a lot more than we could

[1:01:03] have funded

[1:01:04] in one fiscal year out of our

[1:01:06] hospitality tax funds

[1:01:08] um so i just i say that so

[1:01:11] that it's possible you guys could even

[1:01:13] be more generous

[1:01:15] with the chamber the museum and the

[1:01:18] yacht center with these

[1:01:19] stimulus dollars than we could have been

[1:01:21] in our annual

[1:01:22] appropriation of our hospitality tax

[1:01:24] dollars

[1:01:25] that's right i just want the employment

[1:01:30] for just giving money you know

[1:01:33] years because this is you know that's

[1:01:36] like the stimulus

[1:01:37] it's just one time thing how are they

[1:01:41] going to maintain

[1:01:42] their operations um what is their plan

[1:01:46] because they're

[1:01:47] all you know if they all have boards

[1:01:49] they

[1:01:50] need working on their own fundraising

[1:01:52] their own funding streams

[1:01:54] and not solely rely on the city

[1:01:57] or all of that i mean i want i'm for

[1:02:00] helping them but there needs to be a

[1:02:04] more

[1:02:17] this particular use of funds arp in

[1:02:19] particular

[1:02:20] we've also got food banks that have had

[1:02:22] increased we've had

[1:02:24] uh education entities so this is not

[1:02:28] think about i'm thinking about it as how

[1:02:31] do you

[1:02:31] get everyone to re-emerge and then

[1:02:34] using it again this is all dependent on

[1:02:37] what world

[1:02:38] the treasury department the fine print

[1:02:40] on all this is

[1:02:41] but we had talked in recent months about

[1:02:44] reinvestment incentives for local

[1:02:45] businesses

[1:02:46] and a lot of it potentially having this

[1:02:49] be a way to contest that out as a pilot um so anyway

[1:02:54] there we'll see what we can do but yeah

[1:02:55] i do have to be

[1:03:00] yes

[1:03:14] um i'm kidding i feel i'm with you 100

[1:03:22] thanks anthony you're welcome hey thank

[1:03:24] you

[1:03:25] he said that we're nodding and smiling

[1:03:29] um um if you don't mind we'll go

[1:03:33] to uh any other questions number six

[1:03:37] and i just wanted to thank um naomi for

[1:03:40] her

[1:03:40] hard work on this um

[1:03:44] another interesting budget here last

[1:03:46] year was interesting with kovid

[1:03:48] this was also a copic year i don't want

[1:03:51] to get too far

[1:03:52] into the hipaa stuff on that but we've

[1:03:55] had a lot of staff issues health issues

[1:03:58] and things like that so it's been it's

[1:03:59] been tough i i do think we would like a

[1:04:02] little bit of guidance

[1:04:03] on uh process going forward

[1:04:06] do you guys feel like you have enough

[1:04:08] going forward to

[1:04:10] have first reading on our budget for

[1:04:12] next week next thursday

[1:04:16] okay yeah i'd like to see it you know

[1:04:18] that'd be good

[1:04:19] um just to make sure and i would

[1:04:22] recommend

[1:04:22] folks ask questions

[1:04:36] especially there's two readings of the

[1:04:37] budget so if there's time to

[1:04:48] do you want a minute or do you want me

[1:04:49] to go with mine first do you want a

[1:04:51] minute

[1:04:52] please okay

[1:05:06] all right back in

[1:05:14] december of 2018 you all uh

[1:05:18] passed on second reading an ordinance to

[1:05:20] grant a sanitary sewer easement to

[1:05:22] valley the adventures incorporated

[1:05:24] over real property owned by the city it

[1:05:26] found in

[1:05:27] what we're talking about here is this uh

[1:05:30] piece of property

[1:05:31] right here on valley view road um it's

[1:05:34] for a townhome subdivision

[1:05:37] at the time of the developer i believe

[1:05:39] was randy brewer

[1:05:41] um he is uh

[1:05:44] my what i've heard kind of overextended

[1:05:47] himself he got

[1:05:47] involved in too many subdivisions all at

[1:05:49] once

[1:05:50] he is he is since he's out of the

[1:05:53] project he's sold that property another

[1:05:55] developer has come in

[1:05:57] um for this project

[1:06:01] to work they needed two sewer easements

[1:06:05] from the city of fountain inn

[1:06:09] and they are exhibited um

[1:06:12] here these were the two sewer easements

[1:06:15] that the city gave this developer for this project to happen anytime the

[1:06:21] city gives

[1:06:22] uh sewer easements where we

[1:06:26] normally get something in exchange in

[1:06:28] contract terms that's called

[1:06:29] consideration what uh what the deal that

[1:06:33] i worked out with the developer at that

[1:06:35] time

[1:06:36] was instead of paying money for for

[1:06:38] those two reasons

[1:06:40] what we did was if

[1:06:43] you recall this is city-owned property

[1:06:47] right here and

[1:06:50] this goes back to the

[1:06:54] uh the whole woodside village

[1:06:57] thing that happened before i got here

[1:07:00] where we started to develop the the

[1:07:03] property along diamond tip and fairview

[1:07:05] streets

[1:07:06] found out we couldn't because it was

[1:07:07] encumbered by the federal government

[1:07:10] and so they had to do a land swap we

[1:07:13] and i i took that over the finish line

[1:07:15] but what we did is we had to take some

[1:07:17] other city-owned property

[1:07:19] in the city that we had and they

[1:07:22] identified this portion here

[1:07:24] and uh said this is going to be used for

[1:07:27] recreational purposes

[1:07:28] and instead that's not going to be

[1:07:30] recreational so you can develop that

[1:07:33] so we had this property here

[1:07:36] and it has a humongous duke power line

[1:07:39] easement through it

[1:07:41] um it's got wetlands it's it's kind of a

[1:07:44] hot mess of a piece of property

[1:07:45] can't do a whole lot with it um former mayor sam lee we were talking

[1:07:52] about

[1:07:52] what can we do with it he said well

[1:07:55] since you can't really

[1:07:56] build on it build any structures why

[1:07:58] don't we try to make it into a dog park

[1:08:01] and so when they needed the two sewer

[1:08:03] easements

[1:08:04] from the city um i said well that's fine

[1:08:07] why don't in the ordinance

[1:08:12] [Music]

[1:08:14] um it's not important uh we'll give

[1:08:17] we'll have the

[1:08:18] ordinance says that

[1:08:22] in exchange for the grantees

[1:08:26] agreement to perform grading and

[1:08:27] clearing on the site

[1:08:29] of the uh proposed dog park and that was it that was the vague language

[1:08:34] that we gave them that

[1:08:35] said instead of payment for the sewer

[1:08:38] easements

[1:08:39] is that you they would clear and grade

[1:08:42] um

[1:08:43] for for the dog park well obviously

[1:08:46] things got kind of weird when

[1:08:48] that developer that agreed to it is not

[1:08:50] out of the picture new people come in

[1:08:53] and we had this

[1:08:57] preliminary uh site plan developed

[1:09:00] for for this dog park one of the big

[1:09:03] problems with this dog park is access issues

[1:09:07] um we tried to get access here uh

[1:09:10] bilo would not let us have um

[1:09:14] uh parking through there um

[1:09:17] it's county own road you got the duke

[1:09:19] there

[1:09:20] couldn't get curb cuts so the only way

[1:09:23] to get

[1:09:23] access to it was actually going to be

[1:09:26] through the development

[1:09:28] so the parking had to be here

[1:09:32] and so if we were going to have a dog

[1:09:34] park we had to get

[1:09:36] we have to get an easement an access

[1:09:38] easement from the developer

[1:09:42] so this is what we proposed to the

[1:09:44] developer so this is their their

[1:09:46] townhome subdivision here and so we said

[1:09:48] well

[1:09:48] will you grant us uh an access easement

[1:09:52] so we can get

[1:09:53] to the dog park and they said well

[1:09:57] they didn't really like that idea

[1:10:01] given they didn't really want public

[1:10:03] traffic

[1:10:04] going through their subdivision to get to the dog park they like the

[1:10:08] idea of having a publicly owned amenity

[1:10:11] right there that their their residents

[1:10:14] can use

[1:10:14] but they didn't love the idea of having

[1:10:18] just anybody going through their

[1:10:19] subdivision but they said you know what

[1:10:21] so this was a private town home uh this

[1:10:23] is a town-home subdivision

[1:10:25] which can have private roads private

[1:10:28] roads means that this hla is going to

[1:10:30] have to pay for the maintenance

[1:10:31] of those roads so they said well we will

[1:10:34] give you

[1:10:35] that access easement if you

[1:10:38] allow us to have public roads

[1:10:41] and so we we said well maybe

[1:10:44] okay well now we're back to the point

[1:10:47] where you know they've cleared

[1:10:49] and graded and all that kind of stuff

[1:10:52] well they

[1:10:52] budgeted when they bought this this

[1:10:54] property ten thousand dollars

[1:10:57] to do the clearing and grading and all

[1:11:00] we have ever provided them

[1:11:02] was this site plan

[1:11:05] we have we city has never invested

[1:11:09] in getting uh grading

[1:11:12] plans or any civil site work

[1:11:15] done anything like that all we said is

[1:11:17] while you guys are out there clearing

[1:11:19] grading

[1:11:20] go ahead and clear and grade for us too

[1:11:22] and

[1:11:24] the developer needs a little bit more

[1:11:25] than that for for uh

[1:11:27] to go out there and and grade uh

[1:11:30] appropriately

[1:11:31] there's permitting there's wetlands

[1:11:33] there's there's quite a bit that's

[1:11:34] necessary

[1:11:36] developers come back and said do you

[1:11:38] mind

[1:11:39] we budgeted the ten thousand do you mind

[1:11:41] just uh we'll just stroke the city a

[1:11:43] check for the ten thousand dollars so

[1:11:45] basically five thousand for each eastman

[1:11:48] so that's the first question tonight

[1:11:51] is whether or not you guys are willing

[1:11:53] to accept ten thousand dollars for those

[1:11:56] easements

[1:11:56] rather than them clearing and grading

[1:12:00] and if that's if that's the case

[1:12:04] then we also need to make a decision

[1:12:07] about what is the future do we want a

[1:12:10] dog park there or not

[1:12:12] um because if

[1:12:15] um if we just take the 10 000

[1:12:18] that means they won't clear and grade it

[1:12:21] that means that we're going to

[1:12:24] have to budget funds at some point to

[1:12:26] actually get this project to completion

[1:12:29] um i had an opinion a probable cost

[1:12:33] that took out clearing and grubbing

[1:12:37] erosion control rough grading all those

[1:12:40] kind of things because we

[1:12:41] told them that they were going to do all

[1:12:43] of that

[1:12:44] and the total uh that the engineers gave

[1:12:48] me

[1:12:48] this was a couple years eight 2018 was

[1:12:51] 93

[1:12:52] 000. more than that now and then if you

[1:12:55] add

[1:12:56] all of that on there you're probably

[1:12:57] looking at 200 grand to get this dog

[1:12:59] park there

[1:13:02] if we are not going to do the dog park

[1:13:07] yes sir

[1:13:14] yes councilmember why not give

[1:13:31] it is appraised but it also it now has

[1:13:33] to be for recreational purposes

[1:13:36] the city has to own the property and it

[1:13:38] has to be for recreational purposes

[1:13:40] according to our land swap deal we

[1:13:42] cannot develop it

[1:13:43] we can't do anything other than

[1:13:45] recreation

[1:13:48] so

[1:13:51] the question then is if we do not want a

[1:13:54] dog park there if we don't feel like we

[1:13:56] want to invest 200 000

[1:13:57] at some point then that means we don't

[1:14:00] need

[1:14:01] this access easement

[1:14:04] which means we don't have to own those

[1:14:08] roads

[1:14:09] so that's kind of that's kind of the

[1:14:11] decision we need to make and they're

[1:14:12] okay with either one they of course

[1:14:14] would love to have

[1:14:15] public roads but that's the trade-off

[1:14:19] here is

[1:14:20] do we want access to that because if we

[1:14:23] don't get this access easement

[1:14:25] that property is probably deadlocked

[1:14:27] forever it probably

[1:14:29] i mean it's possible something in the

[1:14:31] future can happen by the food lion

[1:14:33] it's possible we can work out something

[1:14:35] with duke but those are long shots

[1:14:38] right um but then

[1:14:42] the these are going to be private roads

[1:14:44] and then we'll never have to own and

[1:14:45] maintain them which is a good thing

[1:14:48] um so those those are kind of the two the main two decisions is do we

[1:14:53] want to take the 10 grand

[1:14:56] and that is just going to require a

[1:14:58] resolution of counsel

[1:15:00] to change that that original ordinance

[1:15:02] um and then the other can just be a

[1:15:04] staff decision

[1:15:05] because we have not accepted the plaid

[1:15:06] or anything like that is

[1:15:08] do do we want to

[1:15:11] say we don't want the access easement we

[1:15:14] want these to continue to be private

[1:15:15] roads like we was initially

[1:15:17] done or do we want to keep this axis

[1:15:20] easement and have it be public roads and

[1:15:23] that's kind of that's kind of a question

[1:15:25] for you guys

[1:15:25] tonight doesn't necessarily have to be a

[1:15:27] vote but we kind of need some feedback

[1:15:29] here

[1:15:30] well i kind of get his point

[1:15:35] i wouldn't want cars coming through

[1:15:38] my street uh that's

[1:15:42] people that don't you know we still get

[1:15:44] some cut through but

[1:15:45] i don't know how much traffic that would

[1:15:47] actually get but

[1:15:48] i don't particularly care for the fact

[1:15:50] that we'd on

[1:16:04] may not

[1:16:09] you could still use this for

[1:16:10] recreational purposes we lack passive

[1:16:12] parks

[1:16:13] in the city really where you can just

[1:16:15] meander around we've got

[1:16:16] pretty much one side of the trail it's

[1:16:19] about probably about

[1:16:20] it so there's a i think a good use

[1:16:23] at some point for that but i think and

[1:16:26] maybe you know they were against having

[1:16:30] a road

[1:16:31] access here but maybe pedestrian access

[1:16:35] to it at some point they would be open

[1:16:38] to but

[1:16:39] i would agree with you that russell and

[1:16:41] i

[1:16:42] kind of feel the same way that maybe

[1:16:43] we're kind of sticking a square peg in a

[1:16:45] round hole here

[1:16:46] they were kind of forcing a dog park

[1:16:49] where we all like the idea of dog park

[1:16:51] but maybe this is not

[1:16:52] the appropriate parcel for us we would

[1:16:54] essentially be committing to it

[1:16:56] and we got a lot of other needs in the

[1:16:59] other parks

[1:17:00] so i mean i know that the intention was

[1:17:02] that we would be able to do this at some

[1:17:04] point with the original developers it

[1:17:05] was okay to kind of park it a little bit

[1:17:07] yeah but i think given the new developer

[1:17:11] and they're moving on quick they're

[1:17:13] we're actually to hold up

[1:17:15] at the moment they don't want to move

[1:17:17] everything if they still

[1:17:19] they well they still need to try to

[1:17:21] clear and grade

[1:17:23] yeah that's all right

[1:17:27] okay give you some feedback i think so

[1:17:30] i guess it would be i'd rather have the

[1:17:32] money too so

[1:17:36] for the resolution right that's what

[1:17:38] we'd have to do that's actually the vote

[1:17:39] you guys you would have to change the

[1:17:41] order so we would instead of clearing it

[1:17:43] gray and we would say

[1:17:44] it's five thousand parties that's

[1:17:48] correct

[1:17:50] all right naomi's back to you

[1:17:59] uh sean was approached by a company

[1:18:02] and we often are approached by companies

[1:18:04] that want to come in and do

[1:18:06] revenue recovery um we

[1:18:09] partnered with new strat at analytics a

[1:18:12] couple of years ago

[1:18:14] where we asked the company to come in

[1:18:15] and identify businesses who

[1:18:17] are operating in our city limits without

[1:18:19] a business license

[1:18:20] a couple years have passed we have grown

[1:18:22] and we feel

[1:18:24] we do not have sufficient staff

[1:18:25] currently to take on that undertaking

[1:18:28] strat was able to um be able to get

[1:18:31] to earn 80 000 from that partnership um

[1:18:34] and that was

[1:18:35] after the cost that we paid to new strat

[1:18:38] at 30 percent

[1:18:40] data max is another company just just

[1:18:42] like new strat

[1:18:44] um we would have went back to new strat

[1:18:46] but

[1:18:47] they were not operating at the same

[1:18:49] level that they did in the past when

[1:18:50] they helped us before

[1:18:52] uh data max's terms are a little bit

[1:18:54] different than new stress they request

[1:18:55] 50

[1:18:56] of the revenue that they find um for a

[1:18:58] certain

[1:18:59] term but we feel that we would not see

[1:19:02] the revenue

[1:19:03] anyway so i would like for you all to

[1:19:06] read through the agreement

[1:19:07] um and on thursday consider it for

[1:19:10] approval um so that we can go ahead and

[1:19:13] engage their services

[1:19:15] and then start seeing that revenue if we

[1:19:17] sign the contract within

[1:19:18] the next few days they can they

[1:19:21] guarantee

[1:19:22] funds to come in by july by june

[1:19:26] so a lot of cities in south carolina are using them

[1:19:30] and kind of what they they have a magic

[1:19:33] formula kind of like new strat did

[1:19:35] and what they'll do is they'll provide

[1:19:37] our city staff

[1:19:38] with about 20 to 30 businesses

[1:19:41] every month that they've identified and

[1:19:44] they let us know first

[1:19:46] who those businesses are and we can tell

[1:19:49] no they're not actually operating in the

[1:19:51] city or

[1:19:53] you know let's not let's not tackle that

[1:19:55] one um

[1:19:56] and then then we circle the ones that we

[1:20:00] say yep no they are operating in the

[1:20:02] city they don't have a business

[1:20:04] license and then they they almost act as

[1:20:07] a collection agent and there's a 60

[1:20:11] day out on this if we're not satisfied

[1:20:15] and it's just for the 12 months or not

[1:20:17] right correct

[1:20:18] see what we can get

[1:20:21] and these are not typically your mom and

[1:20:24] top

[1:20:25] mom and pop type of businesses the you

[1:20:28] know

[1:20:28] we know those those are the ones that we

[1:20:30] find anyway the ones that

[1:20:32] have a brick and mortar here but a lot

[1:20:35] of times people don't realize that

[1:20:37] the business license tax is

[1:20:40] on for it's for anybody that's doing

[1:20:42] commerce

[1:20:43] in your community and so the business

[1:20:45] license

[1:20:47] actually applies to a lot more than what

[1:20:49] people realize

[1:20:50] so what they're finding are vending

[1:20:53] machines and

[1:20:54] people that are doing deliveries and

[1:20:57] things a lot of

[1:20:58] big corporations that are doing

[1:21:00] businesses doing business in

[1:21:02] municipalities all over the state and so

[1:21:05] they've got a good

[1:21:06] list of who those those corporations are

[1:21:09] that are doing business in other cities

[1:21:11] that don't have a business license

[1:21:13] and so they'll check and see if well are

[1:21:15] they doing business and found in

[1:21:16] yep and so then they can get are they

[1:21:19] all familiar with them

[1:21:21] other cities are using them successfully

[1:21:24] we found a lot of revenue with them in

[1:21:26] lake city

[1:21:31] thank you

[1:21:48] very nice very helpful is there a motion

[1:21:51] to adjourn absolutely thank you mr

[1:21:53] clemente

[1:21:54] thank you

[1:22:12] no

May 6, 2021 Budget Work Session

Agenda

Transcript