[0:46] Twenty eighth twenty twenty
six session to order.
[0:50] Tonight, we got several topics,
[0:51] and the first is the children's
services act fund briefing,
[0:55] and we'll hear from
Kristen Gallic,
[0:57] our social services director.
[0:58] Hi. Good evening.
Good evening. Hi.
[1:01] Good evening, mayor,
members of city council.
[1:03] My name is Kristen Gallowicz,
[1:05] I'm the director of social
services for the city of
[1:07] Fredericksburg.
[1:08] And I'm actually gonna
introduce Kristen Shores,
[1:10] who is our CSA coordinator,
[1:12] to give you a brief
update on where the
[1:15] program stands today.
[1:18] Thank you so much.
[1:21] All right.
[1:22] So we our plan today is just to
kind of give a quick overview
[1:25] of the Children's
Services Act CSA program,
[1:29] walk walk through some
trends of our population and
[1:32] expenditures, and then
talk about next steps.
[1:35] So for for those of
you who are not aware,
[1:40] the CSA program is a city program
that serves youth and their families.
[1:45] We're housed in DSS, but we
are a city program available to
[1:49] any of our child
serving agencies.
[1:52] We have funding services
available for children who
[1:57] meet our mandated population
that for us is children in
[2:01] foster care or with in
home services through
[2:04] DSS,
[2:06] youth with IEP
designations for private
[2:09] day placements, and youth at
risk for out of home placements.
[2:14] Those services to those
children are some sufficient.
[2:19] We are required to provide
services that are child
[2:23] centered, family focused,
and community based.
[2:27] We use CSA as the
funding of last resort,
[2:30] so we try to use services
available through insurance or
[2:34] community resources
before we come to CSA.
[2:38] We also look at to provide
least restrictive services for
[2:42] these families.
[2:44] Our our services
are matched by the
[2:48] state at an average rate
of sixty six percent.
[2:51] So then the city share ends up being
on average thirty four percent.
[2:56] We have two teams that kind
of oversee the program,
[3:00] our community
management policy team.
[3:03] CPMT is meant to provide
[3:07] policy and program oversight,
[3:08] and then our family assessment
planning team provides case
[3:12] and service oversight.
[3:15] So we are looking at
a service population.
[3:19] I will kind of frame a
framework to this is that our
[3:23] service population is
very unpredictable,
[3:27] very volatile.
[3:29] It can change the
drop of the hat.
[3:31] So we have, to the
best of our ability,
[3:34] projected projected
for FY twenty six,
[3:38] but that can all
change tomorrow.
[3:40] So we have provided
numbers based on our
[3:44] current population.
[3:46] Just as an example,
the last two weeks,
[3:49] ten children have
entered foster care,
[3:51] we've had three private day school
placements through the schools.
[3:55] So that has this
is all subject to
[3:58] change tomorrow.
[4:00] So you can see increases
across the board.
[4:04] The total youth served has
increased in the past five
[4:07] years from sixty nine to a projected
one hundred five for this year.
[4:13] Children in foster care
similarly has had almost a
[4:16] twofold increase.
[4:18] In children.
[4:19] That number represents kids who
were served in foster care at
[4:22] any point through
that fiscal year.
[4:25] In f y twenty twenty
two, that was forty four,
[4:28] and we are at eighty
for this fiscal year.
[4:31] Private day school placements
similarly have increased from
[4:35] twenty to twenty eight.
[4:37] Those private day school
placements are costly services,
[4:41] about four hundred
dollars a day for those,
[4:45] and those tend to be longer
term because they are
[4:49] school placements for children.
[4:50] They're it's driven
by their IEP.
[4:53] So they are there sometimes
for several years.
[4:57] And then out of home
placements are used
[5:00] as a last resort for kids
who are not able to remain safely
[5:04] in the community or
with their families.
[5:06] This is kids who need residential
placements, group home.
[5:10] It is the, I would say,
[5:12] most vulnerable
population that we serve.
[5:16] So those have increased
almost or more than triple
[5:20] from six in FY twenty twenty
two to nineteen this year.
[5:26] So we are seeing kind of
across the board increases.
[5:29] The expenditures have
nearly doubled for our
[5:33] projections this
year from this time
[5:37] in f y twenty twenty two.
[5:38] So we are projecting a little
over five million in expenditures.
[5:44] The majority of those are
private day school and out of
[5:47] home expenditures.
[5:49] We are also seeing an
increase in cost per child.
[5:54] A lot of these children have
what we call wraparound services.
[5:58] So we are providing
multiple services to address
[6:02] a number of needs that they
[6:05] have in different settings.
[6:06] So we are seeing not only the
the increase in the population,
[6:10] but it also an increase
in the cost per youth.
[6:14] So that brings us to our
current financial situation.
[6:18] You we have approved
allocation of four point one
[6:22] million with one point five for
the city chair or city share.
[6:27] Our projected budget
is five million.
[6:31] So you can see that we are
in need of some more money.
[6:35] So we are as we have spent a lot
[6:39] of time kind of combing
through our cases,
[6:43] our what we have kind
of in front of us,
[6:45] this is reflective of the
current population that we are
[6:48] serving and the current services
that they are receiving.
[6:52] We're also aware that there are
two more months in the fiscal
[6:55] year, so we
[6:58] we anything could happen.
[7:00] So we have brought this to CPMT
for the past several months,
[7:04] been talking about what that
[7:07] what this should look like,
[7:08] what we should we've been
working very closely with Mr.
[7:11] Whitley to come up
with projections,
[7:13] and this is the best available
data that we have for you.
[7:18] So, happy to answer
any questions.
[7:24] And I will say just, you know,
[7:26] just to piggyback on what
Kristen said is that Janon
[7:30] Holmes, counselor Holmes, serves
on CPMT as the counsel appointee.
[7:35] So we've been keeping, as a
member of CPMT, as well as Mr.
[7:39] Whitley.
[7:40] So just working with
them to make sure that,
[7:44] as Kristen said, this can change
tomorrow if we get more kids.
[7:49] You know, we had
[7:51] finalized adoptions,
consents for eight kids.
[7:54] And then a week later, got to
ten kids in care in two weeks.
[7:59] So it is a very
volatile population.
[8:01] We are mandated to
serve this population,
[8:03] but happy to answer, any
questions at this time.
[8:07] What's the average
age of a child?
[8:09] Is there an average age, or
is it just changed daily?
[8:12] So the it's simply older.
[8:15] And the older
[8:17] generally, the more costly given
the service needs that they have.
[8:22] I don't know if I could
give you a specific age,
[8:26] probably around
thirteen to fifteen.
[8:30] Yeah.
[8:31] Let me look at
those those lists.
[8:33] And I have not followed
the state budget on
[8:36] this, but and I know we don't
really have all the answers yet.
[8:40] But what does that look
like this year for The OCS,
[8:43] our office of
children's services,
[8:45] they had to go back and ask
general assembly formal money
[8:48] for FY twenty six,
[8:50] and then they have increased
for FY twenty seven as well.
[8:53] So across the board, expenditures
are are up for every everybody.
[8:59] Thanks, madam mayor.
[9:01] Do you have a sense of how
these numbers compare to other
[9:05] jurisdictions in our region?
[9:06] I mean, proportional to
population, obviously.
[9:08] Yeah.
[9:09] We are so everybody is
experiencing significant growth.
[9:13] I will say our schools our
schools do a great job of
[9:17] keeping kids out of
private day placements.
[9:19] Most of the growth in the
surrounding areas are related
[9:23] to the school expenses.
[9:24] Ours are related to
foster care expenses.
[9:27] Okay.
[9:28] So that makes us
different from you know?
[9:30] Are they seeing a
proportionally similar rate of
[9:33] growth in the population
served and the cost per
[9:37] per client?
[9:40] Our low our surrounding
localities, their budgets,
[9:43] I would say, are about
eighty percent school
[9:46] school related costs.
[9:48] So those are kind of set costs.
[9:50] And this and the general
assembly last year put a cap on
[9:54] those services for their
reimbursement rates.
[9:57] So that was a little
bit tamed by that.
[10:00] But in terms of
foster care placement,
[10:03] that can be a little bit
more unpredictable because,
[10:07] once the kid's in foster care,
[10:08] you kind of have to
come up with a plan
[10:10] To meet their needs.
[10:11] So that can that can
be less predictable.
[10:16] And typically, we're working
also with the families. Yes.
[10:19] So it's not Kristen talked a little
bit about the wraparound services.
[10:22] So not only are we
serving the child,
[10:25] but we're providing family
reunification support for the
[10:27] family and other supports to
either bring the child back
[10:31] home or
[10:35] support the family in other
ways, material supports.
[10:40] Thank you.
[10:41] This a trajectory,
[10:42] this increase that's happened
over the past five years,
[10:45] one that we expect to continue?
[10:48] That's a great question.
[10:49] Is it is it reflective
of is that, like, normal?
[10:52] In other words, is it always
if you took any five year grab,
[10:55] would you would you see that
sort of increase steadily?
[10:58] Yeah.
[10:59] And can you point to
anything that is it just
[11:02] is it mostly connected to just the
growing population in in Fredericksburg,
[11:06] or is there do do you know if
there's any other these are
[11:09] very easy questions.
[11:11] Yeah. Yes. Right. Exactly.
[11:12] There
[11:14] definitely if you look on the
foster care and out of home
[11:17] placements in FY24 was a significant
jump in both of those areas.
[11:23] I don't think that there's any one
reason that that has that jumped up.
[11:30] But I will, I mean, just
as a general statement,
[11:33] the children that
we are serving is
[11:36] they're way more complex than
we than they were ten years
[11:39] ago, five years ago in terms
of the traumas that they've
[11:45] experienced, the
needs that they have.
[11:47] So the services
available haven't
[11:51] quite caught up to
the service needs.
[11:53] Okay.
[11:53] So that's when we start looking
at wrapping around services.
[11:56] That's when kids are at risk
for out of home placements.
[12:00] So that that is
[12:03] across the board.
[12:04] I think our foster care
numbers definitely spiked more than our
[12:07] surrounding localities.
[12:08] But as a general, foster
care numbers are up.
[12:12] The
[12:13] the out of home placements are up
for for everybody across the state.
[12:17] And that's when we can't put them when
we can't put them in a local home.
[12:22] Because when when children
come into care older,
[12:25] the trauma, the the the mental
[12:30] health issues, the behavioral
issues are just much more severe.
[12:34] So it requires a
higher level of care.
[12:37] Typically, it's an
out of home placement,
[12:38] a residential placement,
which, I mean, most I mean,
[12:42] gratefully, we're able
to place them in state.
[12:45] But there are some instances
where we have to place them out
[12:47] of state because their
behaviors are so significant
[12:50] that there are no Virginia residential
facilities that will take them.
[12:56] So but coupled I
mean, when I started,
[12:58] our kids in care were eighteen,
nineteen kids in foster care.
[13:02] We're now seeing we just
hit the sixty mark. Right.
[13:05] So that's gonna drive so that
along with cost per child,
[13:11] just is a combination of things.
[13:12] But you can't really we can't
put our finger on one thing.
[13:15] No.
[13:15] That all makes sense.
[13:16] Thank you. Thank
you. Miss Owens?
[13:19] I was just gonna
add that, you know,
[13:21] when you talk to people
who work in the schools,
[13:24] that they're also seeing, like,
[13:26] a higher level of
behavioral issues.
[13:30] So, like, we would say,
like, the acuity is higher.
[13:33] Whereas and where, like, some
of the kids who now are served
[13:37] within the schools
[13:40] probably fifteen years ago
might have been in the out of
[13:43] school placement.
[13:44] Okay.
[13:44] So I think that that and I don't
know how that all works together.
[13:48] But when you all were talking,
it occurs to me that, like,
[13:50] we hear the same
things in the schools.
[13:52] Got it. Yeah.
[13:54] Yeah. Yeah.
[13:57] Could you also just
talk about, like,
[14:01] when do you feel like because
we talked about this a little
[14:04] at CPMT that
[14:08] some of our services
for unhoused families
[14:11] or families of domestic
violence and those kinds of
[14:15] things are within the city Then how
that affects these numbers as well.
[14:21] Yeah.
[14:21] So so particularly for social
services in the schools,
[14:26] if a family is just passing
through Fredericksburg and an
[14:29] incident happens or if they're
utilizing one of the shelters,
[14:33] that is our family.
[14:34] So a lot of the families that
are transient that end up at
[14:37] Hope House or end up at Mary
Shelter and then something
[14:41] happens that requires the
child to come into foster care,
[14:44] we are now going to,
that is our child.
[14:46] We're going to serve that child
and family no matter whether
[14:49] they're passing through or
this is their first night here.
[14:52] So we have several
families that were literally driving
[14:57] through Fredericksburg that
then something happened,
[14:59] and we have there and we
have to navigate that.
[15:03] And if they if they come to
one of those places and they
[15:07] already have an IEP Yes.
[15:09] For an out of school placement,
[15:11] then we have to
honor that right.
[15:13] Automatic. That's correct.
[15:15] Yep.
[15:20] Any other questions
for you and Ms.
[15:23] Shores or Ms. Gallen?
[15:25] No.
[15:25] But since they rarely come here,
[15:27] I think we should mention
that miss Shores is an award
[15:30] winning CSA coordinator,
and we like to
[15:34] we like to bring out her trophy.
[15:36] Like, let me.
[15:37] So I just wanna You're welcome.
[15:38] Thank you.
[15:39] Well, thank you for
all of your support.
[15:40] Thank you.
[15:41] Thank you. Okay.
[15:45] Mr. Whitley, yeah, sure.
[15:46] I'll just follow-up
for counsel that
[15:48] this discussion will tee up and
we'll bring forth for y'all's
[15:52] consideration a fiscal
twenty six budget amendment.
[15:57] It's a significant
amount of funds.
[15:59] So, we're still working on a plan to
we ought to consider to fund that.
[16:05] Fiscal twenty seven
[16:08] does have an increase in
funding both in local transfer
[16:11] and overall.
[16:13] We hope it's enough.
[16:15] The trend lines are obviously
spiking at the moment.
[16:18] Hopefully, they'll level
off but hard to say.
[16:22] But that is one of the things
you'll see in the budget is
[16:27] between twenty six and twenty
seven is an increase to CSA.
[16:32] So we'll be back to see
you in a couple weeks,
[16:35] but wanted to make sure
y'all had a heads up.
[16:38] Okay.
[16:39] Thank you, mister Kelly.
[16:40] Thank you all.
[16:40] Thank you. Thank Thank
you. Good to see you.
[16:44] You.
[16:47] Mister Whitley, that sort
of segues into your budget
[16:50] presentation or discussion.
[16:52] That's why twenty twenty seven.
[16:55] And, yes, you did give us a
heads up on that number going up
[16:59] in twenty twenty seven,
unfortunately, sadly, I guess.
[17:02] But thank you. Yeah.
[17:05] Hopefully, the the
services work well,
[17:07] and the kids will be.
[17:11] So tonight, we just
wanted to have full year
[17:16] kind of a work session topic.
[17:18] There are several
budget notes done.
[17:22] So I'm sure y'all are all aware.
[17:25] Go through them really quick.
[17:27] And I'm gonna reverse out
because we have the first read
[17:31] on ENT fees, first read on
board and tour availability
[17:35] fees, first read on
board and tour rates.
[17:40] First read on real estate tax
rate at eighty four cents.
[17:44] And first read on the budget.
[17:47] And just wanted to take a moment
[17:50] to thank counsel for all the
[17:53] hard work and review.
[17:54] And there's a lot of staff
that kind of pulls the budget
[17:57] together for the finance
and the city manager's team.
[18:00] It gets to y'all and y'all
really go through it.
[18:03] And we appreciate that.
[18:06] There's a few things on for
tonight in terms of the budget
[18:10] for first reading does
have a school number,
[18:12] and the school
number is you know,
[18:14] the city manager's recommended
increase in transfer plus the
[18:17] three hundred thousand in state.
[18:20] When they came a
couple weeks ago,
[18:21] they said that they felt
very comfortable that was a
[18:23] conservative number.
[18:25] We obviously don't have a state
number yet because the state
[18:28] budget is,
[18:30] I know, over time,
double over time.
[18:32] I'm not sure what what
the right analogy is.
[18:36] Box.
[18:36] Yeah. It it could go.
[18:38] But we felt
comfortable giving the
[18:41] first read request for
y'all's consideration.
[18:45] They they obviously would
appreciate clarity as they work
[18:48] on the contracts and things.
[18:50] So that's the number.
[18:51] And we are gonna meet with them
at a staff level and a and a
[18:56] mayor and chair level to
discuss the fund balance and
[18:59] possible uses of fund balance.
[19:00] So second read may not
look like for sure we have
[19:04] identified a plan
that we're working on.
[19:06] Hopefully, can all
come to agreement.
[19:09] In terms of the other
things that are on,
[19:11] we've been working very
**** ** some specific ideas.
[19:16] A lot of those
propositions are in.
[19:18] There may be a couple that
we still have to catch up to.
[19:21] So there may be some
changes on second read.
[19:23] But we just want to remind you
that that that y'all have a
[19:27] budget that's pretty
momentous in front of you.
[19:31] We're gonna build
a fire station.
[19:33] That's part of this
budget capital funds.
[19:37] Gonna adopt a public
safety pay plan.
[19:39] That's a great step plan that'll
put us on the same basis.
[19:42] And we really appreciate
your support for that.
[19:46] Additional employee
compensation for some career
[19:49] letters and then, you know,
four percent for the employees.
[19:51] I think we're up to ten
new positions now with the
[19:56] additional from including a
lot of help with fire service,
[20:01] and we we do
appreciate all of that.
[20:04] There's obviously more
money for schools,
[20:06] more money for DSS,
more money for CSA,
[20:09] and we just are very grateful
for all your support and
[20:12] consideration of those items.
[20:14] I wanted to kind of back up
away from some of the specific
[20:18] things, and we're happy
to get back into those.
[20:20] But there's a lot in here
and a lot of big things,
[20:25] a lot of big changes
for our community.
[20:26] So I just wanna
remind you of all
[20:29] that and and appreciate your
consideration and support.
[20:33] With that, I'll stop,
and we're happy.
[20:39] We're here, and we're happy to
answer any questions you might have,
[20:42] any topics, any thoughts,
[20:44] or considerations that you
might wanna bring back on.
[20:48] Before we talk about any issues,
[20:50] I'm gonna hear disclosures
from council members.
[20:56] Thank you. I'd like
to read my disclosure.
[20:59] My wife is employed by the Federal
University Public School System,
[21:02] and I can participate in this
conversation or any transaction
[21:05] fairly objectively and
in the public interest.
[21:08] And I provide contract mental
health services for the city
[21:12] schools, and I can participate
fairly objectively and
[21:16] within the public interest.
[21:19] You. Okay.
[21:21] Are there any questions?
[21:22] Thanks very much.
[21:24] Yeah. Mayor Frank.
[21:25] I just just wanna I'll
just make a comment
[21:28] on on kinda what you
touched base on earlier.
[21:31] I hope that I hope
that the schools can
[21:35] figure out a solution.
[21:36] I just wanna say that.
[21:37] We had our
presentation last week.
[21:40] Well, we had another
presentation.
[21:41] We had a conversation last
week at our own work session.
[21:44] So hope that something can be
worked out that it makes sense.
[21:49] You know?
[21:52] We we now know that they
are, you know, in a sense,
[21:55] a surplus of funds that
can be used or redirected,
[21:59] and I I hope that
that works out.
[22:02] I we talked about it last week,
[22:04] but I just want to
say it again today.
[22:05] I hope that, you know,
[22:07] I hope we come to a to
a point that that makes sense where we
[22:10] don't have to raise taxes anymore
than we're doing this year.
[22:15] And, you know, for the
public's sake, you know,
[22:17] we do realize what the
increase was last year
[22:20] in this tax rate, and we
know what it looks like this year.
[22:23] And we're trying to stay away
from maxing that out this year
[22:27] from what we proposed.
[22:29] So I hope that we can
stay away from that.
[22:32] And totally understanding that
folks are getting priced out of
[22:35] the city of Fredericksburg.
[22:37] It's just just the way the
world is and what's happening.
[22:39] So instead of, you know,
[22:42] kinda pointing a finger at us and saying
that we're the ones that's doing it,
[22:45] I wanna say that we're working as hard
as we can not to not to be the reason.
[22:51] Things had to be done. We
had to pay for services.
[22:53] We need a fire station.
You gotta pay for that.
[22:56] There was a cry from the
public for for a new school.
[22:59] We did that. It's
gotta be paid for.
[23:01] So it's just the reality
of how things go. So yeah.
[23:04] But it's not easy in
in this budget season.
[23:08] Any budget season is is really
is really not easy when we look
[23:11] at, you know, what
what we have to do.
[23:13] And then also we look at
what we totally can't do,
[23:17] you know, based on
what I just said.
[23:19] We could do
everything, actually,
[23:21] if we we just keep
raising the taxes,
[23:23] but it's it's not beneficial.
[23:25] So that's all. I just want
that was my comment, really.
[23:29] Advice mayor Fry and I will be
meeting the staff and school
[23:33] staff tomorrow just to
have another discussion.
[23:38] So Okay. Thank you. Are there
any other questions for Mr.
[23:43] Whitley about the budget?
[23:46] I I do wanna kinda echo what vice
mayor Freiberg said about, you know,
[23:49] it's always a challenge
with wants and needs and the
[23:53] direction, you know,
we we're going in and
[23:57] taking on projects that
we've put off for a long time
[24:00] that simply can be put off,
you know, fire station,
[24:05] wastewater treatment.
[24:06] I mean, there's there's absolute
needs that have to happen.
[24:10] But I also just wanna commend
staff again to for bringing us
[24:14] a budget that,
[24:16] you know, meets those needs
in as realistic and economical
[24:21] way as possible.
[24:23] So thank you for that.
[24:25] And I I don't wanna thank
all the budget staff team.
[24:30] But I also wanna
thank our, you know,
[24:32] my fellow council members for the
discussions we've had and the,
[24:36] you know, things we've pointed
out to each other and the concerns
[24:40] we've all had for our community
and the attempts we make to
[24:45] meet those needs.
[24:46] So thank you all for the
discussions we've we've had.
[24:51] Miss Holmes?
[24:52] I I called Tim earlier
today because I wanted
[24:56] clarification,
[24:58] and I was just having with
the the water increases.
[25:01] So we have the the eight
percent for everyone.
[25:05] Fifteen point four
percent if they have a
[25:10] the bigger, like, pipe
going in and people are
[25:14] taking or, like, it's, like,
[25:16] one inch versus you were
talking about, like,
[25:19] the is it the meter size?
[25:20] It's not the height.
[25:21] It's the It's the use it's the
[25:25] usage, but it's like
but it's but it's also
[25:29] if there is something about the
You did pay more than a meter.
[25:33] Yes. Yeah.
[25:34] For for the different
meter. Okay. That's right.
[25:36] So That has always
been turned over.
[25:37] Right.
[25:38] So but they people are
not paying more until they
[25:42] go over that twenty
five thousand gallon
[25:46] threshold for two months.
[25:50] Yes.
[25:51] With the caveat well, all
[25:54] of the rates are going
up eight percent.
[25:57] Right?
[25:57] So so I wanna be careful about
not So the so the fifteen the
[26:00] fifteen point four
percent doesn't kick in,
[26:02] is what I'm saying,
until That's right.
[26:04] And so I went back through,
[26:06] and we've had multiple
discussions on this.
[26:09] And I just wanted to kind
of clarify that piece.
[26:13] And then the other thing that
I and so we talked a lot about,
[26:16] like, you know, is this gonna be
[26:19] passed on to people who are
living in apartments and those
[26:23] kinds of dwellings.
[26:25] And and we we've been
encouraging density.
[26:30] And we have to pay for
the water treatment plant,
[26:32] and we have to pay
for the the water.
[26:34] So I was what my
question was was could we
[26:39] kind of re you know, like,
[26:40] evaluate this six months and
a year with the new rates
[26:45] and see, like, how that's
going just to kind of monitor?
[26:50] I would say, absolutely. Right.
[26:53] I mean, we probably
would anyway,
[26:54] but I just want to put
it out there that, like,
[26:57] let's just see what
how it shakes out.
[26:59] And, you know, maybe people
are using less water.
[27:03] Maybe but but I don't
I do want to keep an
[27:07] eye on the burden that might
be passed on to people who are
[27:11] living in apartment buildings.
[27:13] I would say that to
[27:17] it won't be a year because
it'll be more like six to nine
[27:21] months when we're back
in the budget process.
[27:23] You said Minimum.
[27:24] Thank you. Yeah. Great.
[27:26] And then if it's if we
need to before that,
[27:29] we'll definitely
come and see you.
[27:30] Okay.
[27:31] And to remind people with
the new bathroom meters that they
[27:35] can kinda keep an
eye on water usage in
[27:40] Okay. You know, just Yeah.
[27:42] If if they're seeing a spike
or something, you know,
[27:44] there are ways that people can
take a look at it and address
[27:48] it maybe more quickly.
[27:49] Absolutely.
[27:50] So,
[27:51] Mr. Rowe?
[27:52] Thank you, madam mayor.
[27:53] Just for one clarification,
[27:55] it was we can go back and take
a look at how everything's been
[27:59] charged and what consumption that
we have on tier one and
[28:02] tier two a few months from now.
[28:04] But if we want to look at maybe
doing something different,
[28:07] just to clarify from
something from last week,
[28:10] we would deem like a
fuller study for that.
[28:12] Right?
[28:13] Yes. Yes.
[28:15] If we're talking about what we
were talking about last week,
[28:17] we're basis of our
rate structure.
[28:20] Right.
[28:21] Yes. That would take
more time. Okay.
[28:23] If we're talking about,
[28:26] you know, the impact of
a tier two or, you know,
[28:30] changing a base rate or
changing the initial,
[28:33] you know, volumetric
rate or consumption rate,
[28:37] taking a look at that, I mean,
[28:38] those are things that
we would do every year.
[28:41] Right.
[28:41] So so there there's things we
do within our rate structure.
[28:46] We're absolutely gonna
bring consideration for
[28:49] next spring minimum.
[28:52] And if it's really something's
going bump in the night,
[28:55] we'll see you before that.
[28:57] Changing the
[29:01] the structure of
our rates radically,
[29:05] not by, oh, let's do tier three.
[29:07] That's not what I mean.
I mean, like, radically.
[29:09] Like, the basis changes.
[29:10] That probably would
take a lot more work.
[29:13] So that's the
distinction I'm making.
[29:16] Thank you for the
question. Yeah.
[29:19] Really make that distinction.
[29:20] The only reason I brought that
up is to miss Holmes's point
[29:23] that, you know,
[29:24] if if we are talking about
multifamily residential likely
[29:28] hitting that tier two level
fairly quickly into my
[29:31] monthly billing period,
then it would be tough.
[29:35] Like, we could we could go back
and look at the consumption and
[29:38] what's what everybody's
being charged.
[29:40] But to do anything about that
based just on consumption would
[29:43] be really hard unless we
were to have a more holistic
[29:46] look at how we do,
how we charge people.
[29:53] You don't have to answer that.
[29:54] That's Yeah.
[29:57] On what you to do.
[29:57] Yeah. Right.
[29:58] If you change the threshold,
for example, then why Right.
[30:00] Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Not
as difficult. Okay. Gotcha.
[30:04] Back to my question.
[30:05] Yeah. Just to follow-up. Right?
[30:06] I mean, I think for because
that's the question.
[30:08] I just when we go back and look,
[30:10] I I'd love to know what
percentage of tier two users
[30:13] are residential users as
opposed to other kinds of
[30:16] commercial or
institutional users.
[30:18] I mean, I don't want identifying
data for any individual client,
[30:21] but I'd love to know what
percentage of tier two is is
[30:25] residential.
[30:26] And I'd love to see
if we could figure out
[30:29] sort of sort of what the impact
is in that in those cases,
[30:33] right, in terms of for those
residential users that are in
[30:36] tier two for the amount
extra that they're paying
[30:39] as a result of
being in tier two,
[30:41] what does that
look like per unit?
[30:43] Right?
[30:43] You know, are we talking about are
we talking about a couple dollars
[30:46] a month, right, when
it's distributed across units,
[30:49] or are we talking about
something bigger than that?
[30:50] I would love to know
[30:51] Like, what the actual
impact is per unit of of
[30:55] being bumped into tier
two as a residential.
[30:58] Right?
[30:58] Because, you know,
[30:59] I I I think that the rates are
close enough that we may end
[31:03] up seeing per unit.
[31:04] It's not actually a
huge difference. Right.
[31:07] But I would love to know
that number once once we have some
[31:10] experience under our belt.
[31:11] Yeah. Awesome.
[31:12] Thank you.
[31:12] I'm gonna put my plug in
once again that we look at monthly
[31:16] billing as well for next year.
[31:18] I yeah. Yeah.
[31:19] Now that we have the
technology to support it.
[31:21] Great.
[31:23] Yeah. Yep.
[31:27] Yes, ma'am.
[31:29] I think she's bringing it up.
[31:34] Are there any other budget
questions for mister Whitley?
[31:40] We're all here.
[31:41] If
[31:46] there are not any other
questions or issues to discuss
[31:49] at this point, we actually could
move up our Closed session.
[31:54] Closed session.
[31:54] And
[31:57] we would recess and go into
the other conference room.
[32:03] So it looks like there's
probably time for that.
[32:05] If so, is there a motion
to go into closed session?
[32:11] I
[32:13] would like to move
that we go into closed
[32:16] meeting for consultation
with legal counsel and staff
[32:18] pertaining to actual litigation,
[32:20] specifically pending class
actions to which the city may
[32:22] be a claimant where such
consultation in open session
[32:24] would adversely affect the
negotiation or litigating
[32:27] process to be counsel pursuant
to Virginia Code section two
[32:30] dash three seven
one one point seven.
[32:33] So thank you.
[32:37] Alright.
[32:38] All
[32:41] those in favor?
[32:43] Aye. Aye.
[32:44] Alright.
[32:46] We will move into room four
hundred points meeting with.