[0:01] You are watching Access

[0:03] LaPorte County Channel 97. Next up is the

[0:08] Long Beach Budget and Finance Committee meeting on

[0:09] September 1st. You can

[0:11] find more

[0:12] information about this

[0:14] meeting at

[0:16] www.accesslaportecounty.org.

[0:23] Okay, this is the

[0:25] budget and

[0:26] finance meeting on September 1st, and

[0:27] we are preparing for the

[0:28] first reading of

[0:29] the budget at the

[0:30] September

[0:31] Council meeting. I

[0:35] don't have my phone with me

[0:36] , but it

[0:37] seems to be...I don't know the

[0:38] date. Maybe the 14th?

[0:41] Yes. So, I made an

[0:43] agenda, but I

[0:44] didn't print it out.

[0:47] It's just...Regarding the

[0:48] monthly

[0:49] financial reports, the

[0:50] July projections

[0:51] have been completed, but

[0:52] I need to

[0:53] send them out, which I will

[0:54] do this

[0:55] afternoon to the

[0:56] department heads and the

[0:57] board. I'm almost

[1:00] done updating the

[1:01] overhaul plan

[1:02] that is

[1:03] part of the July one.

[1:04] So, I'll send them, and

[1:05] then, uh, the bank

[1:07] recommendations, you know,

[1:08] today is the 1st, so

[1:10] they're not ready yet, but

[1:11] hopefully they'll be

[1:12] ready

[1:13] today and tomorrow.

[1:15] We didn't get our

[1:16] Bank of New

[1:17] York statements from the person

[1:18] I requested them from

[1:20] last month, so

[1:21] we just had to

[1:22] wait for the mail, which

[1:24] arrives around the

[1:25] 21st of the month. So

[1:27] we really can't

[1:29] close the books until we

[1:30] get that

[1:31] bank interest

[1:32] from New York. So

[1:35] hopefully he

[1:36] will send them on time

[1:37] this month, but by

[1:38] next July this

[1:39] bank entry

[1:40] will be complete, so

[1:42] once the debt is

[1:43] paid off, that's the

[1:46] financial part. The

[1:48] overhaul plan

[1:49] looks

[1:50] good. We need to

[1:51] discuss, but

[1:52] Tristan, I'll

[1:53] discuss this in a little

[1:54] more detail first, but it's the

[1:55] paving of Marsh Court, and

[1:57] what we can

[1:58] afford over the course of the

[1:59] year. And it looks like we

[2:03] can, but I'd like to

[2:04] look at it

[2:05] now that I've updated

[2:07] this capital plan.

[2:11] And then I know that Paul

[2:13] Wolzak wants

[2:14] to meet with Trista

[2:15] and me again, or even

[2:16] just Trista, to

[2:17] find out about

[2:18] funding for the

[2:19] park project across the street.

[2:23] So, once we

[2:24] know the

[2:25] parks development plan,

[2:26] they have a major

[2:28] tennis court renovation in the

[2:29] overhaul plan

[2:30] . For 250,000. I

[2:36] think the first phase is

[2:38] actually

[2:38] going to take more

[2:40] money, but the parks

[2:41] are trying to come

[2:42] up with a plan for

[2:43] how they're going to

[2:44] handle this

[2:45] bigger project,

[2:46] you know, borrow

[2:48] money to do

[2:49] all of this instead of

[2:50] dragging it out for a

[2:51] few years. So it is

[2:57] being discussed. Uh, are there

[3:00] any other questions about the

[3:01] overhaul

[3:03] ? I know I didn't

[3:04] print the master plan

[3:06] , but think of what else

[3:08] I had to discuss. Hmm.

[3:11] Yes, well, well.

[3:14] So I just wanted to

[3:15] tell you, as far as the

[3:17] overhaul plan is concerned

[3:18] , the fire department will

[3:19] have a figure from

[3:20] the vendor along

[3:21] with a quote

[3:22] from at least

[3:23] one or two banks

[3:24] , so you have a

[3:25] rough idea

[3:26] of how much it

[3:27] might come out to at the

[3:28] September

[3:28] council meeting. We

[3:29] will try to provide

[3:31] this to you in advance so that

[3:32] you have it. But

[3:33] essentially, we'll have,

[3:34] you know, an idea of what it's like to

[3:36] specify,

[3:37] you know, an exact figure

[3:38] approximately, as well as, um

[3:40] , bank charges.

[3:41] You know, I know you

[3:42] guys are getting this

[3:43] from the Indiana

[3:44] Bond Bank,

[3:45] but it would just be

[3:46] something to

[3:47] present to the council.

[3:48] Perfectly.

[3:49] And as we've said

[3:49] before, either we'll

[3:50] introduce a

[3:51] user fee to

[3:52] help

[3:52] pay for that, or we'll

[3:53] leverage some of those

[3:54] purchase funds that

[3:55] you're talking about,

[3:56] or...

[3:57] Okay. Thank you. Good.

[4:08] Then we

[4:11] will move on to the budget.

[4:20] Trista reviewed with

[4:22] me and helped

[4:23] work on

[4:24] some more of our

[4:26] salary articles, which

[4:26] seem to be...you know, we're

[4:28] looking at it, and we're going

[4:29] to discuss today the

[4:30] overall

[4:32] cost of living increase that

[4:33] we would recommend to the

[4:34] council, and the city council

[4:44] held a closed

[4:44] session and

[4:45] discussed a few

[4:46] items. So, I think

[4:50] we'll

[4:51] discuss that a little bit today, and we'll

[4:52] touch on that.

[4:58] So, the first smaller

[4:59] package is the general

[5:01] fund. Tristo, do

[5:04] you have a preference for where to

[5:05] start? Good. So,

[5:09] general fund, first

[5:11] page is the

[5:12] clerk's office. And, um, if you

[5:18] look at the bottom, you'll

[5:19] see the adopted

[5:21] budget for 2026 for

[5:22] 222, and then the

[5:23] proposed

[5:24] budget for 238, you'll

[5:26] see that the

[5:27] biggest increase

[5:28] was in the line

[5:29] highlighted in

[5:31] purple, health

[5:33] insurance. So, hmm, the

[5:37] new employee has a

[5:39] family plan and that's an

[5:40] expense.

[5:43] Otherwise, hmm, most of it

[5:45] remained

[5:46] pretty flat. Hmm,

[5:49] any questions?

[5:55] Hmm, just, hmm, hmm,

[5:56] proportional to LC.

[5:59] Wait, Tristo,

[6:01] can you turn it on? That's

[6:03] it.

[6:04] I got used to them when we

[6:05] entered the room. I

[6:07] forgot they weren't there. Hmm,

[6:09] a few points very

[6:10] quickly about

[6:11] wages so there

[6:12] are no questions.

[6:16] The small

[6:18] budget cut for the

[6:19] clerk-treasurer line

[6:20] simply, ahem,

[6:20] confirms

[6:21] the proportion between the

[6:22] general fund and the

[6:23] other two funds.

[6:26] Uh, it's 80 divided by 10 divided by

[6:28] 10%. So, some of

[6:30] the responsibilities of the clerk-

[6:31] treasurer are to

[6:32] oversee some

[6:33] other municipal

[6:34] funds

[6:35] related to water,

[6:36] garbage, and storm

[6:37] sewers. Uh,

[6:39] the costs are then also

[6:40] distributed between

[6:41] these funds. And

[6:42] the salary remains

[6:43] the same for this

[6:45] particular line. There is

[6:46] no promotion

[6:47] foreseen or

[6:48] planned for this position

[6:49] .

[6:51] The reduction of the clerical assistant position

[6:54] is

[6:55] simply due to a change in

[6:56] personnel based on

[6:57] salary history,

[6:59] etc. So the current

[7:05] clerical assistant

[7:06] in the

[7:07] treasurer's office has a lower

[7:08] salary than

[7:09] previous

[7:09] employees. It's not that

[7:11] this

[7:12] particular person's

[7:13] salary was reduced. This

[7:15] , of course, reduces

[7:16] social

[7:17] security and everything

[7:18] related to it.

[7:20] So, this

[7:22] insurance position costs 20

[7:24] thousand, and this one costs 160. This is for

[7:25] one employee

[7:27] . And then we have to

[7:29] pay the other one, I'm

[7:30] looking at 26 of them

[7:32] within 20% of the polls

[7:33] . Uh, then

[7:34] insurance.

[7:36] Good.

[7:37] This is for one

[7:38] employee.

[7:40] , and I'm not sure

[7:42] last year's

[7:42] proportion was

[7:43] entirely accurate. She

[7:45] was close. But

[7:47] yes, it is expensive.

[7:51] Well, that's with a 15

[7:51] percent

[7:52] increase in

[7:53] health

[7:54] insurance. So I'll

[7:59] check if

[7:59] I've specified everything correctly

[8:00] for this. But

[8:02] maybe I'm trying to

[8:03] think...Yeah, I'll

[8:08] see where I

[8:10] got that number from. Well, I

[8:15] think if we

[8:16] look at...Yeah, I

[8:23] mean the

[8:24] total cost between

[8:26] the city and the

[8:26] employees this

[8:28] year is

[8:29] about 300,000. Hmm. So

[8:32] the city pays 80,

[8:33] the workers pay 20.

[8:35] Um, you know, for example,

[8:37] the police are 104,000. The High

[8:43] Street, uh, is

[8:44] betting for us. Yes. Well,

[8:46] we moved from

[8:47] Machiana just

[8:47] last year. So this

[8:49] was our first year with

[8:50] High Street. And they don't

[8:51] know what the

[8:52] increase will be, but they

[8:54] recommended a

[8:54] 15% budget increase,

[8:56] which they did

[8:57] last year, and I

[8:58] think it

[8:59] increased by

[9:00] 8.7.

[9:02] Yes, 8,7 or 8, I'm

[9:04] thinking about that too. So,

[9:06] fortunately, it wasn't that

[9:07] much, but, um...And I don't

[9:08] think

[9:10] we've had a lot of statements this year,

[9:11] but I think that's

[9:12] just what the market will do

[9:14] . We'll see. But

[9:16] yes, I will consider it because

[9:17] it seems

[9:18] high. Hmm...

[9:20] Any other questions about the

[9:21] clerk? Good. So,

[9:30] next we have, uh, the

[9:31] city council just

[9:33] remains

[9:34] stable, 12,000

[9:35] on top. And then we

[9:38] move on to the

[9:38] administrative

[9:39] part of the city. And

[9:44] we see that the budget

[9:48] has actually decreased,

[9:49] again, because of

[9:51] health insurance.

[9:54] So, we're making

[9:55] records, breaking

[9:56] them down by department,

[9:57] just not as much

[9:58] as we did

[9:59] last year's budget, I

[10:01] needed to

[10:01] figure out this breakthrough

[10:03] because we changed

[10:04] insurance. So you'll

[10:08] see that 35,800, uh,

[10:09] that's about

[10:10] half of what we

[10:13] budgeted last

[10:14] year. Based on the fact that

[10:17] you will see the

[10:17] actual costs that

[10:19] go here. So, I kind of

[10:22] broke down the expenses,

[10:23] but it was after the

[10:24] budget. Therefore.

[10:26] And this line

[10:27] of insurance is

[10:28] property

[10:28] liability,

[10:29] right?

[10:30] Oh, yes. You are right.

[10:32] Therefore.

[10:32] Yeah, it's not even

[10:34] for you all to

[10:34] do Civic,

[10:35] I think we should

[10:36] change the name of this,

[10:36] or at least I can

[10:37] change it in my

[10:38] spreadsheet

[10:38] so it's like this:

[10:39] Yes, I can, I can

[10:40] make this change. Yes.

[10:43] On property.

[10:44] That way, there will be no

[10:46] confusion that this

[10:46] corresponds to health

[10:48] insurance, because that's not the

[10:49] line.

[10:49] Good. Because I

[10:51] just made this

[10:52] mistake. Emm. Mhm. Well,

[11:10] it's just a difference in

[11:12] how it was

[11:13] provided to us by Mishawaka,

[11:14] how we made the records, and

[11:15] how High Street provides it to

[11:17] us. So, they

[11:19] send all this

[11:20] breakthrough that we have to

[11:21] pay

[11:22] quarterly. And then

[11:25] , uh,

[11:27] the police

[11:28] department's budget allocation was also

[11:29] completely out of order.

[11:30] Yes, I have changed a little.

[11:32] We have changed a little.

[11:35] Yes, you will see that there

[11:36] is actually

[11:37] insurance under the

[11:38] fire department and

[11:39] public

[11:40] safety building. We have a drone.

[11:44] We have all the new

[11:45] equipment that

[11:46] has increased it in some ways in

[11:47] some areas. So,

[11:49] yeah, we'll keep

[11:50] moving forward and you

[11:51] can see the

[11:52] rest. Um, I increased my

[11:55] electricity and

[11:57] gas costs by 15, 14% or 15, I

[11:58] think.

[11:59] 15?

[12:00] And then we'll

[12:04] keep this

[12:05] administrative

[12:08] emergency type of budget at

[12:09] 75,000. And then

[12:11] we have this capital

[12:12] budget of 20,000.

[12:16] So, again,

[12:17] that budget has actually

[12:19] decreased. Um, that's

[12:21] good.

[12:22] I see this line for the

[12:23] public

[12:24] safety building.

[12:25] Yes.

[12:25] It is now

[12:28] 233,000.

[12:29] No, these are old lines. You

[12:31] will see these red

[12:33] squares later.

[12:35] When the

[12:35] public safety building

[12:37] went live, we

[12:37] removed them so we

[12:39] could

[12:39] keep better track.

[12:43] Okay, the next

[12:44] page is the

[12:45] construction

[12:45] department. So,

[12:49] they are not currently

[12:50] hiring

[12:51] for a

[12:52] building

[12:53] inspector position. But we are

[12:55] budgeting in the

[12:56] hope that we will

[12:57] fill this position.

[13:00] So, uh, you'll see

[13:01] this line for

[13:02] hourly pay

[13:04] . And then the

[13:07] clerical

[13:08] worker is an

[13:09] employee of our

[13:10] construction department

[13:11] who works in this

[13:13] office, and that

[13:14] salary is split

[13:15] between the

[13:16] construction fund and the

[13:17] stormwater fund.

[13:21] I think I should

[13:22] start with this whole

[13:24] budget, uh, Tristan

[13:25] , I'm going to take

[13:26] it out of the general

[13:28] fund under the

[13:29] new requirement that

[13:30] goes into effect on

[13:31] January 1st. And we both

[13:36] agree that

[13:37] we want to remove it

[13:38] for the budget, rather than

[13:39] do it in January

[13:40] when we have to

[13:41] do it. So, we're

[13:44] going to

[13:45] prepare, and we

[13:46] might have to

[13:47] do a temporary

[13:48] loan from the general

[13:49] fund into the new

[13:50] construction fund to

[13:51] start paying the

[13:52] bills until we

[13:53] get

[13:54] some revenue there. So,

[13:55] we'll start

[13:56] getting

[13:57] registrations, but we're

[13:58] getting more

[13:59] permits, you know,

[14:00] seasonally. So, have

[14:03] you made adjustments

[14:05] to the fees or instead of

[14:06] last

[14:07] year,

[14:09] No, this is Tristan, and

[14:10] I have a note regarding the

[14:12] building permit fees. I

[14:14] need to talk

[14:15] to Larry and see

[14:16] if he has any

[14:17] desire to increase them.

[14:19] Chris will recommend that

[14:20] if we

[14:21] are going to

[14:22] scale up at all, we should

[14:23] do it. Yes. Yes. I

[14:27] think there

[14:31] was a

[14:32] discussion last year, even before this legislation was passed, that this

[14:33] process never

[14:34] went ahead. Um,

[14:36] the rates have never been

[14:38] increased, but I

[14:39] think it's

[14:40] worth looking at

[14:41] them now and assessing, and

[14:43] what the rates are for this

[14:44] next

[14:45] legislation.

[14:46] Well, the law

[14:48] says you

[14:48] can

[14:50] only increase them once every 5 years,

[14:51] and then based on the

[14:52] CPI increase. Um, but

[14:57] the option after that

[14:58] period, literally the

[14:59] grammatical

[15:00] construction period,

[15:01] says: "However,

[15:02] if costs have increased

[15:03] and the council has a public

[15:05] hearing, then they

[15:06] can increase

[15:07] rates." So, that's

[15:11] right.

[15:12] How about... It's a

[15:17] good idea to evaluate them

[15:19] and make sure

[15:20] we're looking at

[15:21] the revenues in relation to the

[15:22] actual expenses that are

[15:23] incurred.

[15:26] So, it's...

[15:33] Yeah, health

[15:34] insurance and other

[15:36] things. Um, where does this

[15:37] apply?

[15:39] Currently, two

[15:40] building employees who

[15:41] currently work for us do not

[15:42] receive health

[15:43] insurance.

[15:47] Part-

[15:48] time and contract

[15:49] situation. Yes. Yes.

[16:02] So, um...So, yeah, those are the

[16:03] two salaries

[16:05] on top. And then as

[16:08] you work your way down, there are

[16:09] some materials.

[16:11] We currently pay

[16:12] LaPorte County to

[16:13] perform our

[16:14] electrical

[16:15] inspections. So, this is a

[16:16] line for an

[16:17] electrical inspector.

[16:19] Uh, the building

[16:21] commissioner has increased

[16:24] the hours in the

[16:25] last few

[16:26] months due to the fact that

[16:27] we don't have a

[16:28] building

[16:29] inspector. So, uh,

[16:33] Tristan and I

[16:34] have looked at both of those

[16:35] lines and we think

[16:36] we have enough

[16:37] budget to cover

[16:38] any scenario

[16:39] where once we

[16:40] hire an inspector,

[16:42] you know, Larry will have

[16:43] fewer hours in that

[16:44] role. Uh, and so

[16:50] Larry also has some

[16:52] budget in the

[16:53] stormwater fund for the

[16:54] MS4 points that we're going to

[16:55] try to allocate

[17:00] this year so we

[17:01] can use

[17:02] that budget for some of

[17:04] his hourly

[17:04] costs. You know,

[17:08] he spent

[17:09] a lot of time

[17:10] moving sand this year, which

[17:12] I think

[17:13] qualifies as MS4.

[17:15] So I think we

[17:20] have enough

[17:21] budget for these lines

[17:22] now. Thank you. Good

[17:56] point. According to

[17:58] the directory, this role

[17:59] does not include

[18:00] health

[18:01] insurance, but that's a

[18:02] good thing. Yes, because it is

[18:04] general

[18:05] underemployment. Eh, but it's

[18:07] good to remember that

[18:08] . Depending on

[18:11] who they ultimately

[18:12] want to

[18:12] hire for it. Good. Uh, are there

[18:15] any more questions? I don't

[18:16] think there's anything

[18:17] more. We keep the

[18:19] legal information

[18:20] regarding BCA below.

[18:22] So you'll see that

[18:24] total is just

[18:26] under 220,000. The average

[18:27] income, um, for your

[18:29] planning and

[18:30] building permits, various

[18:32] fees, inspections, etc.

[18:34] Um, let me

[18:38] reveal something. Um, the

[18:44] actual average

[18:45] incomes have been hovering, um

[18:47] , um, around 200.

[18:48] One year we were

[18:50] just under 200. Another

[18:51] year we were just

[18:53] over 200. The year we

[18:54] were higher, it was

[18:56] because of a big

[18:57] project that was

[18:58] going on. And so, uh

[19:01] , going back to the

[19:02] original conversation.

[19:06] Now when you see

[19:07] that the expenses here

[19:08] are 220

[19:09] compared to our

[19:10] average income

[19:12] which is only

[19:13] 200, uh, there is, um, the question of

[19:14] further consideration of

[19:16] these fees.

[19:22] Good. The next

[19:25] area on the next

[19:26] page starts

[19:27] with the police station. And

[19:30] let's see.

[19:36] Again, this

[19:37] group insurance is

[19:39] growing thanks to this 15

[19:40] % for the budget.

[19:42] I hope this won't

[19:43] be our actual

[19:44] expenses, but we

[19:45] plan for it in the budget

[19:46] . And everything else

[19:47] remained

[19:48] stable. So, uh,

[19:50] besides that, I think, oh,

[19:52] no, this top line.

[19:57] You will see the

[19:58] salary increase, the

[19:59] top two lines.

[20:02] Overtime

[20:03] will remain

[20:04] unchanged. So, yeah,

[20:08] I think it's just

[20:10] insurance that has

[20:11] raised this issue a little bit. Are there

[20:16] any more questions?

[20:21] How much does the police

[20:22] pay for their

[20:23] insurance?

[20:26] They pay 20%.

[20:28] Mhm. Yes.

[20:33] But this year we've had

[20:34] some

[20:35] changes, I would say

[20:37] at least four

[20:38] changes

[20:42] or maybe even

[20:43] more people

[20:43] increasing their plan

[20:45] from employee to family.

[20:49] So we had a few of

[20:50] those changes, which also

[20:51] contributes to that

[20:52] increase. So, they have a few...

[20:58] They should

[20:59] get the full

[21:01] 20%. The city still

[21:04] pays 80%.

[21:05] Mhm.

[21:06] Yes, but the cost of

[21:07] this simply increases

[21:09] for the employee and

[21:10] the city. So.

[21:16] Okay, and then we

[21:17] mentioned earlier about the

[21:18] fire zone, which has

[21:19] certain funds for

[21:20] supplies and

[21:21] insurance. And then

[21:26] equipment maintenance. So it

[21:29] remains about the

[21:31] same as last

[21:33] year, and then

[21:34] similarly with the

[21:35] public

[21:36] safety building, you know, we

[21:38] had 25 and 26 to

[21:39] see what those

[21:40] actual costs are, and

[21:44] so...I think we're

[21:46] budgeting

[21:47] as best we can.

[21:49] Let's say it

[21:50] increased by 10,000.

[22:03] Generator, oh, for the

[22:04] building. Is that what you

[22:06] mean? I think

[22:08] I probably

[22:09] need to add this to the

[22:10] capital

[22:11] expenditure plan. Regarding the

[22:13] dual

[22:14] generator, yes. Yeah,

[22:18] I don't know what

[22:20] stage he's at with this. I

[22:21] know he got a

[22:23] price quote,

[22:24] maybe from...Okay.

[22:29] Yes, I'm making a note,

[22:30] and I don't think it's

[22:32] in the capital expenditure plan right now

[22:33] ,

[22:34] but it probably

[22:35] needs to be added. So

[22:37] ...I think the cost of

[22:38] this requires

[22:39] capital, not

[22:40] operating

[22:41] costs. Yes. Okay,

[22:44] thank you. Christo, do you have

[23:01] this file open?

[23:03] Can you

[23:04] check if the

[23:05] total budget

[23:06] has been increased by 10,000?

[23:07] Sorry. Good. Yeah,

[23:11] so I guess we

[23:12] don't have a total

[23:13] for...Oh, we do. 27,500.

[23:15] So, really, it's the

[23:16] same budget for

[23:17] fire and

[23:18] public safety.

[23:19] Excuse my eyes...And

[23:21] then you'll see our

[23:22] overall

[23:23] budget increase of about

[23:24] $10,000. And then,

[23:29] Tristo, do

[23:30] the numbers already show a 3%

[23:32] increase?

[23:33] Right. So, the

[23:36] salary increase is

[23:38] still at 3%,

[23:39] so you have a frame

[23:40] above. With respect to

[23:46] general

[23:48] fund revenues, you will recall

[23:53] that we previously

[24:00] discussed

[24:03] increasing the statutory levy

[24:05] by 6% instead of 4%.

[24:06] As I mentioned, this is

[24:08] an increase of

[24:10] $30,500 between them.

[24:12] So, $30,000

[24:13] more than you

[24:14] expected compared

[24:15] to last year.

[24:18] However, this figure has

[24:19] not yet decreased due to the

[24:20] shutdown effect,

[24:22] so we need

[24:23] to be careful

[24:24] not to just run away

[24:25] from here, praising ourselves

[24:26] for winning the

[24:28] entire $30,530.

[24:32] However, overall, as far as the

[24:34] general fund is concerned,

[24:35] our miscellaneous income, on a

[24:37] conservative

[24:38] estimate,

[24:39] will be

[24:40] around 760,000. This

[24:41] includes bank

[24:42] interest,

[24:43] various other

[24:44] things for which you

[24:48] collect various fees.

[24:51] This also now

[24:51] includes the 200,000 from the construction fund that

[24:54] we talked about, which

[24:55] will go towards the new

[24:56] construction and

[24:57] building fund. A

[24:59] new levy is expected

[25:00] for the general

[25:01] fund because that

[25:03] total increase

[25:04] I mentioned of 30,000 is

[25:06] prorated among

[25:07] your three

[25:08] funds that

[25:09] receive

[25:10] property taxes: the general

[25:11] fund, the MVH fund, and the

[25:13] parks fund.

[25:16] The general fund

[25:17] receives, hmm, almost

[25:18] not bad, a little

[25:19] over 50% of the

[25:20] total collection. But

[25:23] the bottom line is that

[25:24] overall, the new

[25:25] maximum levy to the

[25:26] general fund

[25:27] will be just

[25:28] over 900,000. Again, that's

[25:29] before

[25:30] deducting any

[25:31] circuit breakers

[25:32] . Without calculating

[25:36] circuit

[25:37] breakers, your income

[25:39] will be a little

[25:40] over 1,600,000. And

[25:41] looking at

[25:42] our total

[25:43] budget, which

[25:44] is a little

[25:45] under 1,600,000, I'm

[25:46] sure this

[25:48] budget will be quite

[25:49] balanced. Um,

[25:54] mathematically, uh, there's an

[25:56] 80% difference, sorry,

[25:57] $80,000 between

[25:59] the projected

[26:00] revenues before the

[26:01] circuit

[26:02] breakers and the budget

[26:04] that's listed here.

[26:07] So, circuit

[26:08] breakers

[26:09] could well add close

[26:11] to 80,000 to the general

[26:12] fund. We have 63,000 for

[26:14] this year. We expect

[26:16] them to increase slightly

[26:18] based on changes in

[26:19] deductions. So I

[26:22] believe this budget

[26:23] can be safely

[26:24] adopted. If we

[26:28] reduced the raise by

[26:30] maybe two or two

[26:31] and a half percent,

[26:32] that would save some

[26:33] money that could be

[26:34] kept in

[26:35] cash until

[26:36] next year. But

[26:41] I don't think the change in

[26:43] the fee next

[26:44] year will be as

[26:45] drastic as it was from

[26:46] last year before

[26:47] this, when we first

[26:48] started implementing

[26:49] the deduction. So I

[26:52] agree with the

[26:53] general fund budget. Uh,

[26:55] we'll have

[26:55] debt service

[26:56] , which will be collected from

[26:57] property taxes, but

[26:58] that's completely separate

[26:59] from the rest of your

[27:00] collection. The MVH Foundation, uh,

[27:03] receives a

[27:05] gasoline tax. Uh, you

[27:07] remember we had

[27:08] some conversation about the

[27:10] governor, uh,

[27:11] suspending it for us

[27:12] as consumers, but

[27:13] still using the

[27:15] state's remaining cash to then

[27:16] rebuild the local

[27:18] units. We expect

[27:19] this to continue, uh

[27:20] , even with his new

[27:22] declaration of a new state of emergency

[27:24] . Uh, overall, the

[27:28] MVH fund's revenues are expected

[27:29] to be just

[27:31] under 550,000, and we'll

[27:32] compare that to the

[27:33] MVH fund's budget

[27:34] when we

[27:35] exchange our

[27:37] worksheets in a moment.

[27:41] I have a

[27:42] revenue forecast for the parks, and

[27:43] we'll get to

[27:44] that as well when we move

[27:45] to our new sheet. I

[27:47] got a little ahead of myself,

[27:48] but overall, with

[27:52] some

[27:53] adjustments to

[27:54] planning and

[27:54] building with the

[27:56] construction fund, I think

[27:58] I'm in pretty good

[27:59] shape with this first sheet.

[28:07] Yes, it's in these, and we

[28:08] did it. Yes. Hmm. Yes,

[28:11] instead of five, we

[28:13] made 10. Instead of 5,000,

[28:15] we made 10,000 for the

[28:16] fire. Yes. Yes.

[28:18] Last year it was

[28:20] around 4,800, so.

[28:22] Based on the number of

[28:23] volunteers. Yes, we

[28:27] do. Okay, so

[28:30] let's move on to the

[28:31] next package,

[28:32] which starts with the

[28:34] riverboat

[28:35] at the top. The only change

[28:38] is the lobbyist, and then

[28:40] our planned

[28:41] capital increases

[28:43] from 16,500 to 30,000. Um,

[28:48] rainy day... Um,

[28:49] unallocated funds

[28:51] ... we'll incur another

[28:52] expense in this fund,

[28:53] but... uh, we'll just

[28:58] make an additional

[28:59] appropriation when those

[29:00] expenses occur.

[29:05] And this is under an agreement with

[29:06] Michigan City. So, uh,

[29:09] luckily we have

[29:10] enough to

[29:11] pay. We...That

[29:13] was...Uh, thank you. Yes.

[29:17] Um, okay. And then

[29:20] our GO bonds

[29:22] expire after

[29:23] this year. We'll

[29:25] make another

[29:26] payment, uh, in December.

[29:29] And then, when right under

[29:31] that is the

[29:31] debt service

[29:32] for the

[29:33] public safety building

[29:34] ...the levy will start to

[29:35] cover it. And Tristo,

[29:38] correct me if I'm

[29:39] wrong or you

[29:40] want to add something,

[29:41] but you'll see that we've

[29:43] zeroed out the

[29:44] GO bond fund, the principal

[29:45] amount of the debt, and the

[29:46] interest. And then we're

[29:48] actually going to

[29:50] rename...I

[29:51] think you named it

[29:52] here, but I

[29:53] need to create

[29:54] lines in Cassella...uh,

[29:55] for this lease

[29:57] bond. I think

[29:59] Tristo, we said

[30:00] it's not really

[30:01] principal and

[30:02] interest? This is

[30:04] rental debt service. It's just a

[30:06] rental payment. Yes.

[30:07] So, that's right.

[30:11] Construction

[30:12] corporation, yes.

[30:13] Yes, so I'll update

[30:17] those lines, but you'll

[30:18] see that 262 is the

[30:20] amount according to the

[30:21] debt schedule for

[30:23] 2027.

[30:25] So, initially, until

[30:26] the bond was

[30:27] repaid, we

[30:28] only paid

[30:29] interest for 2027. We

[30:31] start playing "

[30:32] pay it forward."

[30:33] Yes. The time has come. Okay

[30:38] . Right. It is what it is

[30:41] . Yes.

[30:43] Hmm. It's

[30:45] just...

[30:45] No, it's rent.

[30:47] So, this is the principal amount plus

[30:48] interest plus a

[30:50] small fee.

[30:53] Good. And then we

[30:55] move to the

[30:56] community center.

[30:58] And the only big one...Well,

[31:01] we had to

[31:02] increase our

[31:03] gas and

[31:04] electricity costs.

[31:05] Unfortunately, this is what eats up

[31:06] half of those funds,

[31:07] uh, any income

[31:08] they bring in.

[31:14] Uh, you'll see this

[31:14] very large number –

[31:15] almost 49,000. And the

[31:16] community center

[31:17] has taken great steps

[31:18] to try to

[31:19] control this

[31:20] number. Uh, which, to be honest

[31:21] , always goes on

[31:23] . Uh, but the tenants

[31:25] also tried

[31:26] to help. And we

[31:28] increased the

[31:29] rent, I think, by 5%

[31:31] at the beginning of 2026. And

[31:34] Mark could

[31:35] let us know if

[31:36] they plan to

[31:37] increase it again, this

[31:39] year, as you know,

[31:40] our costs

[31:41] continue to increase

[31:42] . And then the same

[31:46] expenses that always are,

[31:48] with one change: we

[31:49] will pay for

[31:50] building repairs. This 6000, the

[31:52] last line on this

[31:54] page, will be

[31:56] paid, it seems, from

[31:57] C or CCD. Again,

[32:00] because this fund

[32:01] simply doesn't generate

[32:02] enough revenue. And

[32:05] these are truly

[32:08] capital items

[32:09] for the community

[32:10] center. And in the

[32:11] capital plan

[32:12] this year, they are

[32:13] allowed to spend

[32:15] up to 100,000. I think we

[32:16] can look at

[32:17] our balances for

[32:18] next year and

[32:19] see if

[32:21] we can keep that at

[32:22] 100 for next

[32:23] year or if we need to

[32:24] reduce it a little bit.

[32:25] Depending on

[32:26] legislation and

[32:27] starting in 2029,

[32:28] it will likely

[32:29] have to be reduced.

[32:31] You know, we're going to have to

[32:33] restrict

[32:34] some of our spending a little more strictly,

[32:35] if that's the case. Therefore.

[32:37] You're still

[32:38] dealing with the H cases

[32:39] that you...

[32:39] Yeah, they're going to

[32:40] do...I think

[32:41] heat pumps one

[32:42] or two of them

[32:42] are being installed this

[32:43] week. So, that's

[32:44] about...I think

[32:45] they cost

[32:46] about 20,000 each. Um,

[32:49] I mean, it's going to be...I

[32:50] think they've already

[32:51] spent about 20

[32:52] this year, so...

[32:53] They usually

[32:54] install a lot

[32:56] less, and they've

[32:56] done some

[32:57] really good

[32:58] projects, like the

[33:00] walkway up there and...these

[33:01] planters. They did

[33:05] some roof work,

[33:06] painting. They

[33:07] got...We

[33:08] got the building

[33:09] commission from that

[33:10] room, which is three, and the

[33:11] actual tenant,

[33:12] so they renovated that

[33:14] room. Um, Sue

[33:17] Wissing and her friend

[33:18] regularly

[33:19] rent out another room at the sale, and

[33:21] she's a great

[33:21] tenant...um, so it's

[33:23] good there.

[33:25] It will be expensive, right

[33:26] ? Because I

[33:28] talk and talk.

[33:31] Speaking of

[33:32] technical stuff...

[33:34] Yes, they do

[33:35] track. This is a great

[33:37] team of volunteers.

[33:39] Um, what do they

[33:41] call themselves? Not a committee

[33:43] . This...Yeah, I can't

[33:46] remember. Anita would

[33:47] know if she were here,

[33:49] but they do a very

[33:50] good job. So, this is a

[33:52] community center.

[33:58] Next is LRS, and the same with

[33:59] salt, and then the

[34:01] construction and

[34:02] repair line. And then we

[34:07] move on to MVH.

[34:08] Let me mention a little bit

[34:09] about salt.

[34:11] So, Mark seems to

[34:12] have already mentioned to the council the

[34:13] exclusion of La

[34:15] Porte County from the statewide

[34:17] salt supply contract negotiations

[34:18] . He is

[34:20] working diligently to

[34:22] try to achieve

[34:23] some economies of

[34:24] scale with other

[34:25] La Porte communities

[34:26] that are also

[34:26] in the

[34:27] same position. We

[34:28] expect that costs will

[34:30] likely increase.

[34:33] Um, we're hesitant

[34:34] to allocate too

[34:35] much from LRS because

[34:37] that revenue is a very

[34:38] static amount. That's a

[34:41] good projection, but the

[34:43] state projects

[34:44] it will

[34:45] be

[34:47] $30,016 next year. Um, so you

[34:48] can see that we've

[34:49] budgeted 26,000. There

[34:51] 's also some cash in the fund

[34:52] if we

[34:53] need it, but the point is that

[34:55] there's a little bit of

[34:56] leeway in that fund that we

[34:58] intentionally leave

[34:59] as a backup

[35:00] in case of an

[35:01] emergency. When Mike

[35:04] goes to MVH in a minute

[35:05] , you'll see that the

[35:06] salt amount in this

[35:07] budget has been increased by

[35:09] 15,000 to offset

[35:10] what we believe

[35:11] is a major portion of the

[35:13] increase in our

[35:14] costs. Yes. Yes.

[35:23] This was written about yesterday in the Trib.

[35:36] Yes. And he was also

[35:38] looking at other

[35:39] alternatives, with

[35:40] beet juice and, you

[35:41] know, different things

[35:42] about how to combine

[35:44] and try to be

[35:45] prepared for the fact that you

[35:46] never know what's

[35:47] going to be the winner, so

[35:49] ...

[35:53] Okay, I think they were

[36:00] waiting for more letters on

[36:02] that, but it's

[36:03] ongoing. Yes, there is progress

[36:06] . I think some

[36:08] government...Yes, but...

[36:12] Yes, that's right. We

[36:16] made a payment to

[36:17] secure

[36:18] the contractor, I believe.

[36:21] Aha. And then, I think,

[36:23] it's just waiting for

[36:24] some requirements from the

[36:25] state for

[36:26] Mike's budget.

[36:27] Let them

[36:31] check

[36:32] the sorting or

[36:33] something.

[36:33] Yes. Yeah, so I think it's

[36:37] something with the concrete.

[36:42] Okay, so at MVH, as we

[36:43] go, you'll see

[36:44] all the salaries

[36:46] on top and the benefits. Um,

[36:51] actually group

[36:52] insurance here is

[36:53] less than I, I made

[36:54] it a little more accurate

[36:55] than our actual

[36:57] costs here. And then I'll

[37:02] just move on to the

[37:03] next line.

[37:04] You see,

[37:06] workers are also

[37:07] paid from the

[37:08] garbage fund based on a

[37:09] percentage of the work

[37:10] they do in

[37:11] the process, uh,

[37:12] too. So the values

[37:15] you see here

[37:16] are not their entire

[37:17] salary. That's most of it

[37:18] , 90%, but

[37:21] thank you. Um, you'll see

[37:25] that the salt line

[37:26] that we just talked about

[37:27] is just

[37:28] above that yellow

[37:29] highlighted

[37:31] Valparaiso MS4 district, right

[37:32] above it–this

[37:33] salt line with magnification.

[37:36] And then we also

[37:38] increased the street

[37:39] lighting by 6,000. And that's

[37:41] for NIPSCO. You know, we

[37:44] pay our

[37:45] street

[37:46] lighting bills every month. And this, like the

[37:49] rest of gas and

[37:50] electricity,

[37:51] continues to grow.

[37:58] Mmm. I bet

[38:02] Indiana Michigan Power

[38:03] does that. They are lowering

[38:05] their rates across the

[38:07] region. No, Indiana Michigan

[38:09] Northeast Indiana is lowering its

[38:11] rates. How much did I

[38:13] see? By 5% or something

[38:15] like that? By 6%? Whatever it

[38:17] is. Since they have

[38:20] increased

[38:20] production, why

[38:22] not extend this to

[38:23] their customers? That

[38:24] makes sense, doesn't it?

[38:25] Really? Really?

[38:35] Your

[38:36] cable

[38:37] TV bill. Yes,

[38:37] if you don't have

[38:39] cable for

[38:40] 2 days, you can

[38:41] get a credit.

[38:41] Mmm.

[38:44] Good. So, um, yeah, with

[38:49] a few of

[38:50] those

[38:51] insurance cuts and the

[38:52] increased

[38:53] salt costs, that fund is 10,000

[38:55] more than last

[38:56] year, which for the

[38:57] salt circumstances isn't as bad

[39:03] as it could be, I

[39:04] guess. The

[39:05] expected income

[39:07] would be

[39:08] about 545. Um,

[39:09] the bulk of

[39:10] that is your

[39:12] property tax.

[39:15] Miscellaneous receipts

[39:17] from the state are expected

[39:17] to be 50. This is a

[39:19] combination of 50,000

[39:21] combining MVH and

[39:22] limited spending. Uh,

[39:23] you see the budget, the

[39:24] dark green color is

[39:26] also the same. We have

[39:27] pooled 25,000 for

[39:28] limited MVHs that are

[39:30] reserved for

[39:31] your

[39:32] paving projects. This way,

[39:35] your income will be

[39:36] online along with your

[39:37] expenses, which is great.

[39:41] Uh, this will allow for the

[39:42] remaining cash to be

[39:43] available for

[39:44] any urgent

[39:45] capital projects

[39:46] that arise, as well as

[39:47] for

[39:48] capital plan revisions.

[39:56] Good. Then we have a

[39:58] continuation, uh,

[39:59] just, you know, we

[40:00] have the same budget in

[40:01] case the police

[40:03] want to spend

[40:04] from there. And then we

[40:06] move on to the

[40:07] park board fund. And, uh,

[40:12] Paul Wolzak sent

[40:13] me some

[40:14] information. Their

[40:18] budget, uh, again

[40:19] , I reduced their insurance a little bit

[40:21] based on

[40:23] what our actual

[40:24] expenses are for that fund. And

[40:27] then, let's say,

[40:28] if they get

[40:29] new tennis courts,

[40:30] maybe our spending

[40:32] on that fund will

[40:33] go up a little bit again. So

[40:34] maybe I'll

[40:35] rethink that

[40:36] insurance line and get

[40:37] some of

[40:38] that budget back, now that

[40:39] I think about it.

[40:41] Um, otherwise,

[40:43] it's pretty much the same,

[40:44] pretty consistently. So

[40:48] , 228 last year, 224

[40:50] this year. And then, I

[40:53] think, Tristo, what you

[40:55] were saying is, do you know what

[40:56] their expected

[40:57] revenue from the parks is?

[40:59] So, we show their

[41:00] miscellaneous income

[41:01] at

[41:02] 25, which is really

[41:03] just about

[41:04] paying for their

[41:04] summer

[41:05] camp program. This year

[41:06] they're a little less than

[41:07] that, but, you know,

[41:09] there's been some discussion

[41:10] about increasing those

[41:11] fees, so I'm

[41:12] sure 25 is a

[41:13] decent estimate for

[41:15] you. Uh, the bulk of the

[41:17] revenue is

[41:18] property tax,

[41:20] which should be

[41:21] about 215 before the

[41:24] circuit breaker, which is

[41:25] about 240,000.

[41:26] You see, that's a little higher

[41:28] than, uh, the actual

[41:29] budget, but again

[41:31] , that 240,000 is before the circuit

[41:34] breaker. Therefore,

[41:36] part of these revenues

[41:37] will be under-received.

[41:38] Therefore, I think the

[41:39] budget should be

[41:40] pretty close to the

[41:41] level. Um,

[41:43] balanced, as

[41:44] opposed to just

[41:45] funded.

[41:47] is

[41:48] if you had to

[41:49] dip into your

[41:50] own funds, but

[41:51] balanced is

[41:52] because

[41:53] one year's income and expenses

[41:54] match. And,

[41:55] following the same

[41:57] trend with everything

[41:58] else, I think that, um, the

[41:59] parks fund should also

[42:01] be balanced.

[42:03] You mentioned that they

[42:04] have $80,000 in the

[42:06] improvement expense line,

[42:07] which is pretty standard.

[42:08] So $80,000 of that

[42:11] property tax revenue that they

[42:12] receive

[42:13] is allocated in

[42:13] their budget every year for

[42:15] park improvements.

[42:18] If there are additional

[42:19] expenses they

[42:20] want to make beyond

[42:21] that, then your capital plan will come into play

[42:23] . And

[42:25] then the board will decide

[42:26] if there is other money from

[42:27] other funds to

[42:28] help

[42:29] contribute to their

[42:30] projects.

[42:50] Um, that's not true, they did

[42:51] n't talk about it anymore.

[42:54] Yes. I think the only thing

[42:58] that is being

[42:59] discussed again is

[43:00] their balance sheet and

[43:01] how much of it they

[43:02] would like to use

[43:04] for a big project.

[43:07] So, okay. Next we

[43:12] move on to the

[43:14] CCD fund. And there is a capital

[43:18] cost of

[43:19] $150 and paving.

[43:25] So, if our

[43:26] CCMG grant application

[43:27] is successful, we will

[43:28] use a significant

[43:30] portion of this

[43:31] paving from this fund

[43:32] , as well as seeding and MBH

[43:34] on the first phase of

[43:35] Lakeshore Drive. So if we do

[43:40] n't succeed,

[43:41] then, you know, we'll probably

[43:42] save a lot of

[43:43] this for when

[43:45] we do succeed,

[43:46] but hopefully we'll

[43:47] get it and we

[43:48] can start the

[43:49] first phase. I believe

[43:50] they apply

[43:51] in September,

[43:52] early September. Well,

[43:54] it's now, so...Yes,

[43:55] this week.

[43:58] Good. Good. So, I

[44:04] can't say that

[44:05] this particular fund

[44:06] has a balanced

[44:07] budget. I can

[44:10] say that this is a

[44:11] funded budget.

[44:16] And let me

[44:17] just take a

[44:18] recent

[44:18] financial statement to

[44:20] tell you what

[44:20] your funds were at the

[44:21] end of July. Um, you

[44:27] may remember,

[44:28] we discussed, I'm

[44:29] pretty sure,

[44:30] last month, that the

[44:31] assessed values in

[44:32] LaPorte County, a lot

[44:34] of them have gone down. And that,

[44:37] uh, the city specifically

[44:38] decreased by more than

[44:40] 5% of the assessed

[44:41] value. We've already

[44:45] discussed what this

[44:47] does, um, through

[44:48] deductions and how it

[44:49] affects your

[44:50] tax rate, which

[44:51] goes back to

[44:53] circuit breakers, but

[44:54] specifically for this

[44:55] fund, if you

[44:56] remember, the CCD fund is

[44:58] rate controlled, not fee controlled.

[44:59] So when we

[45:00] budget for

[45:01] this, we

[45:02] tell DLGF what

[45:03] rate we want, which

[45:04] is the maximum

[45:05] allowed, which is 5

[45:06] cents for every

[45:07] $100 of assessed

[45:08] value. Since

[45:15] your total

[45:16] assessed value

[45:17] for the city has decreased from

[45:19] just over 600

[45:20] million last

[45:22] year for taxes

[45:23] paid this year

[45:24] to 568 million 800,000,

[45:26] this 5% decrease means

[45:28] that your CCD revenue,

[45:29] since it is

[45:30] based on the rate,

[45:32] we multiply that 5 cents

[45:33] by the AV and you end up

[45:35] with $15,000 less.

[45:42] Which doesn't seem like a

[45:43] big amount, but

[45:44] for your budget it's

[45:45] no small thing. So, that

[45:48] means your

[45:49] expected income before the

[45:51] circuit breakers trip

[45:52] is

[45:53] only 285. Your assessed

[45:56] value 2 years ago

[45:58] was 609, so you

[45:59] lost $40 million in

[46:00] assessed

[46:02] value in 2 years. We

[46:10] heard that the

[46:12] county assessor found it

[46:17] beneficial to reduce

[46:18] the value a little

[46:19] differently than in some

[46:20] other places.

[46:27] Of course. No. So, the

[46:46] $350 budget is

[46:48] still fine with me

[46:49] , because I know Megan

[46:50] and the board

[46:51] will be watching

[46:52] you

[46:53] approve

[46:54] future capital

[46:55] plans and so on. We will be

[46:57] monitoring

[46:58] all of this very closely. The current

[47:00] amount of cash in the

[47:01] CCD fund is 216,000

[47:03] as of the end of

[47:04] July. So, you have

[47:06] some

[47:07] cash balance. We

[47:09] looked at this and

[47:10] forecasted it when

[47:11] we prepared the capital

[47:13] plan, and your

[47:14] fund projections reflect, uh

[47:15] , this process, and

[47:16] reflect

[47:17] your use of

[47:18] some of your

[47:19] cash balance on

[47:20] projects. So, this is a

[47:23] funded budget.

[47:25] We just need

[47:26] to be careful in

[47:27] the future so that

[47:28] we still have a goal of

[47:29] keeping some

[47:30] amount of cash in

[47:31] case of future

[47:32] emergencies. But again

[47:35] , be prepared

[47:36] for what you have in

[47:37] front of you.

[47:43] Good. Uh, the next

[47:47] fund is the

[47:49] CED economic development fund. And, uh,

[47:54] Tristan, I made

[47:55] a few changes here. Uh, we

[47:59] moved the help

[48:01] to the fire department. Uh

[48:04] , let's

[48:05] see. How

[48:06] best

[48:07] to explain all this? Uh, between the

[48:16] fire

[48:17] safety fund, we moved the

[48:18] fire

[48:19] aid contract to the

[48:20] fire aid fund

[48:21] because the interest on the

[48:23] public safety lease is

[48:24] now paid

[48:25] after this year.

[48:30] So, we have another

[48:31] payment in December, and

[48:32] then the tax

[48:33] levy will start

[48:34] to cover, uh, as we

[48:35] discussed earlier,

[48:37] not the geobonds, but the

[48:39] debt service lease payment

[48:40] – that's what

[48:43] the lease will now be paid from. So, that gave

[48:47] us a little bit of, uh,

[48:48] room to

[48:49] make changes to those

[48:50] changes. So you

[48:52] will see that there is no 69,000 in

[48:56] rental interest. And we

[48:58] brought the

[48:59] fire service contract back

[49:00] here. Or, excuse me, are we

[49:02] on the fire

[49:03] aid fund? Yes. Um, and

[49:07] then as you

[49:08] continue, you

[49:09] see that the

[49:10] chief marshal's salary, the

[49:11] benefits, that the

[49:12] capital

[49:14] equipment line

[49:15] remains

[49:15] unchanged. And so

[49:22] the budget was 274, and now it's

[49:25] 266. So, um, even with...

[49:32] Did I jump

[49:36] one by

[49:38] accident? Yes. Oh,

[49:39] sorry. I

[49:40] jumped to

[49:41] the lighting. Yes. So,

[49:43] between the lighting and

[49:44] this fund...again

[49:49] , the rent...

[49:50] the interest on the rent

[49:52] came out of both funds.

[49:53] 69,000 is no longer

[49:55] needed.

[49:56] Good. A

[49:59] police car is due for a major

[50:01] overhaul. The police

[50:02] car is due for a major

[50:03] overhaul

[50:04] .

[50:04] one.

[50:04] Pay in cash

[50:05] instead of

[50:06] receiving interest

[50:08] on the bill.

[50:11] Thank you, Tristo. Good.

[50:16] So, this...So the budget is

[50:17] a little bit smaller again

[50:18] because we're moving the

[50:19] fire

[50:21] safety contract to

[50:22] public safety lighting.

[50:25] And then we have a line of

[50:26] police

[50:27] equipment, um, in

[50:28] this second kind of

[50:29] grouping. We

[50:33] reduced it from 20 to 10,200

[50:35] , which I don't think is the

[50:36] case with the

[50:37] tasers, but

[50:38] it's, uh, do you remember

[50:40] what it was, Tristo?

[50:42] Which one exactly?

[50:44] 10,200 in terms of

[50:44] major repairs

[50:46] . Is this...

[50:46] Body cams?

[50:49] Thank you. And then we

[50:51] move on to...We

[50:52] increased

[50:53] tree maintenance costs

[50:54] by $10,000. Hmm, and

[50:56] this is especially

[50:57] relevant given

[50:58] these storms. Therefore. And

[51:02] then we have road

[51:03] coverage at 100. And so

[51:08] that fund has decreased a little bit

[51:10] from 298 to 255. And

[51:14] then we'll move on to

[51:15] public safety lighting,

[51:17] which I've already

[51:18] touched on a little bit. So, you

[51:19] see a

[51:20] fire safety agreement, and there is

[51:21] no more

[51:21] rent. We

[51:23] have a salary and benefits.

[51:27] And then, this $

[51:28] 60 hardware line is,

[51:29] again,

[51:31] a little under

[51:32] $14,000 for that

[51:33] budget, which is great.

[51:36] Tristo, what else did you

[51:37] want to talk about? The

[51:39] projected

[51:40] income for both

[51:41] is a little over

[51:43] 300,000. But then again,

[51:44] this is near the

[51:45] end of the

[51:47] income tax period

[51:48] as it is now, uh

[51:49] , structured.

[51:51] So the fact that

[51:53] you have a

[51:54] budget underfunding is great

[51:55] to preserve some of

[51:56] those funds to

[51:57] help get you through the

[51:58] transition period to what's

[52:00] next.

[52:06] The main reason for

[52:07] this is, uh, the timing of the

[52:08] rent payment

[52:09] , now you can

[52:10] get

[52:12] property tax financing when the

[52:13] GEO bonds

[52:14] mature. Uh, it

[52:17] was all part of the

[52:18] plan, and it was

[52:19] built into the

[52:19] capital plan

[52:20] that way. It just so

[52:23] happens that the timing of

[52:24] all this

[52:25] coincides well with this

[52:29] lack of an

[52:30] adjective

[52:31] income tax.

[52:34] Good. Uh, the

[52:36] police donation fund, we just

[52:37] stick to the same

[52:38] budget. This

[52:39] fund has a good

[52:40] balance. Uh, it's really

[52:42] nice when people

[52:43] write, you know,

[52:44] make donations,

[52:45] so it's really

[52:46] appreciated. And then

[52:50] some of that will be

[52:51] spent on a

[52:52] sea boat,

[52:53] because our portion...

[52:54] Actually, I don't know

[52:55] if it's even from that

[52:56] fund. I think so.

[53:01] Um, 50 or 50, between 50 and 60,000 – that's the

[53:02] city's share, and

[53:04] all of that money has been

[53:06] raised and will

[53:07] stay there as soon as

[53:08] we allocate it

[53:10] . We have made some

[53:13] progress with FEMA. So

[53:15] Mark and I actually

[53:16] filed some

[53:17] additional...All of that

[53:19] was provided to them, but

[53:20] apparently they didn't

[53:21] get

[53:21] the message. So we

[53:24] sent an

[53:24] email

[53:26] and did another...

[53:27] what's it called? Not

[53:31] an amendment, but

[53:32] it was actually a

[53:33] request for an amendment, and

[53:35] hopefully this

[53:36] will remove the delays that

[53:37] existed. And then

[53:40] we didn't actually

[53:41] pay for them.

[53:42] Right. So will

[53:43] it happen

[53:45] this year on the 26th?

[53:47] Maybe,

[53:48] we hope. So I

[53:50] think we'll just

[53:51] do an extra one.

[53:53] When the time comes. That

[53:54] 's right, because I don't

[53:55] really know. I mean, I

[53:57] think, to your

[53:58] point, we could

[53:59] add that to the budget

[54:00] for next year.

[54:02] If it doesn't get paid for this year

[54:03] ...We've been

[54:04] waiting. So

[54:07] we hope they

[54:08] will close these gaps

[54:09] and send us a check

[54:10] for the money. And then we,

[54:13] because the seller, have the

[54:14] boats ready. Sellers

[54:15] are waiting for us to

[54:16] buy it.

[54:17] Oh, let's

[54:18] leave it at that then. This should

[54:19] happen by December.

[54:20] We hope so.

[54:22] That's another four

[54:23] months.

[54:24] Mhm. Yes.

[54:25] We hope so. Good.

[54:31] Next, we have the

[54:32] water supply fund. And

[54:35] then, as with other

[54:36] funds, you can

[54:38] see a 3%

[54:39] salary increase. Hmm.

[54:46] And I think that the clerk, well

[54:48] , the clerk's salary. And

[54:51] then you'll see

[54:52] a portion of the

[54:53] clerk-treasurer's salary that

[54:54] comes from the

[54:55] water fund. And

[54:57] then the

[54:58] clerk's salary

[54:59] is also distributed among the

[55:00] waste

[55:01] leaf fund. Uh, here are the benefits.

[55:07] Actually,

[55:08] they reduced their

[55:09] health insurance a little bit,

[55:10] to be more precise,

[55:11] again, what are the

[55:12] expenses from this fund

[55:14] . Uh, and then we have

[55:17] HSA insurance. I

[55:21] think there is, let's

[55:22] see. So, as far as

[55:24] buying water, that's the

[55:25] biggest change, and it's

[55:29] just, do you have

[55:31] that open for that

[55:32] percentage that we've

[55:33] invested?

[55:35] I'll tell you now.

[55:37] Thank you. Michigan City

[55:40] 5%

[55:42] is 5%. So, we've already

[55:44] increased it through the

[55:45] rate research

[55:46] we've done. Austin

[55:49] heard it would be an even

[55:50] bigger increase,

[55:51] but until we

[55:52] know what it

[55:53] is, Trista and I

[55:54] have discussed it, and we will

[55:56] keep it at

[55:57] 5% for this year.

[55:59] So...Yes.

[56:21] Yes. The intention is to

[56:26] raise

[56:27] the rate here once

[56:28] Michigan City

[56:29] decides what

[56:30] they're doing, which

[56:32] we've communicated, uh, to

[56:33] the public during the

[56:35] rate increase talks,

[56:36] you know, initially in...

[56:37] Yeah, we're still waiting

[56:39] . Good.

[56:48] And then, if there's anything

[56:49] else worth

[56:50] mentioning, uh, I've

[56:51] increased their software maintenance a little bit

[56:54] because

[56:55] , uh, they

[56:56] use the

[56:57] program. I think

[56:58] this should lead

[57:00] to an increase. Uh, we

[57:02] reduced their

[57:03] booster station

[57:05] because it was

[57:06] increased in 2026

[57:08] to 15,000 for an

[57:09] electrical panel upgrade. The

[57:14] electrical panel upgrade is

[57:15] actually going to be

[57:16] closer to $90,000

[57:17] , and it's been added to the

[57:19] capital

[57:20] expenditure plan, and it's, uh, a

[57:21] major project that

[57:23] will be completed in

[57:24] 2027 with

[57:25] funds from the

[57:27] capital

[57:28] improvements cash balance. So,

[57:30] since this doesn't

[57:32] necessarily have to be

[57:33] in operating

[57:34] expenses anymore, because this is a

[57:34] capital

[57:35] expense, and it's

[57:36] much more expensive

[57:37] than we originally

[57:39] budgeted a year or two

[57:40] ago. And then the cost

[57:43] of maintaining

[57:44] the meters

[57:45] increased by 5,000. And

[57:49] then again

[57:50] the debt, the principal amount of

[57:51] the bonds, will be

[57:52] repaid by

[57:53] next year. So,

[57:56] as you can see, their

[57:57] budget has decreased.

[58:01] Probably because of this

[58:02] number. Anything to add or

[58:07] any questions?

[58:13] We have a

[58:15] certain salary for storm drains,

[58:16] including mine and our

[58:17] construction department. And

[58:24] then just some

[58:25] materials and, uh,

[58:26] ex-cost lines, and

[58:27] then we have the

[58:28] capital

[58:29] estimate, which

[58:30] remains

[58:31] unchanged at

[58:32] 70,000. We're hoping that

[58:34] some of our

[58:35] stormwater balance

[58:36] is going to be

[58:37] put toward the

[58:38] paving project. And then -

[58:53] yes. The projected

[58:56] income is

[58:57] about 225 per year.

[59:01] Well, and do we want to

[59:02] discuss, um, it

[59:03] was brought up, but not

[59:04] discussed, that

[59:06] the city is considering

[59:07] increasing

[59:08] stormwater fees.

[59:13] It's currently $15 a

[59:14] month because we

[59:16] could do

[59:17] so many

[59:18] drainage projects. So we

[59:22] probably get

[59:23] calls every month from residents

[59:27] complaining about

[59:29] some

[59:30] drainage problem they

[59:31] would like the city to

[59:32] fix. So, you know,

[59:33] we're doing our best

[59:34] to address some of

[59:36] them using

[59:37] paving projects. Um,

[59:39] I think Mark

[59:40] typed out a whole

[59:41] email to the

[59:42] board, and I think I

[59:43] can put together a better

[59:44] list of our

[59:45] capital needs.

[59:49] Um, so we can

[59:50] determine if

[59:51] we need to

[59:51] increase this fee.

[59:54] So, this has already been

[59:55] brought up for consideration,

[59:57] and the needs need to be

[59:58] addressed. Good. And

[1:00:06] the last thing is garbage and

[1:00:08] leaves. So, some of

[1:00:11] the salaries from

[1:00:12] the street department, the

[1:00:13] clerk's office, the

[1:00:14] water department - all of that

[1:00:15] comes here. There are

[1:00:18] small

[1:00:20] insurance costs that

[1:00:21] come in here for

[1:00:22] healthcare. And

[1:00:27] then there are the

[1:00:28] supply costs, and

[1:00:29] the amount of waste is

[1:00:30] increasing due to

[1:00:31] the increase from Republic

[1:00:33] Services, which was

[1:00:34] part of our 3-

[1:00:35] year contract with

[1:00:36] them. That's why this, uh,

[1:00:41] amount is increasing. And

[1:00:44] this is planned. It

[1:00:45] will be, you know, a smaller

[1:00:47] increase in the

[1:00:47] third year,

[1:00:49] fortunately for the residents,

[1:00:50] but it's still an

[1:00:51] increase. I think

[1:00:54] I should probably

[1:00:55] try to

[1:00:56] contact Republic, I

[1:00:57] think we know

[1:00:58] this year, so it will be

[1:00:59] next year.

[1:01:01] Um, whether they're going to increase

[1:01:03] our bill again

[1:01:04] on the eve of '28 or

[1:01:06] not, but we increased our

[1:01:08] leaf removal by

[1:01:10] 5,000. We haven't had

[1:01:14] an increase from this

[1:01:15] supplier in many

[1:01:16] years, so, uh, we'll

[1:01:17] see if we get one

[1:01:19] or not. And

[1:01:25] then the

[1:01:25] capital investment plan

[1:01:26] is a

[1:01:27] street sweeper. I think there is

[1:01:33] another capital. I

[1:01:35] think it's F

[1:01:37] The Indiana Bond Bank? Through

[1:01:42] Indiana Bond Bank in 5

[1:01:43] years. Yes, so

[1:01:45] this payment will be made from here

[1:01:46] . Mmm.

[1:01:51] Right. Yes.

[1:01:55] Approximately 4.2. Good.

[1:02:03] Tristo, was there another

[1:02:05] capital for the

[1:02:06] street sweeper

[1:02:07] ? I was just doing it or,

[1:02:08] sorry, for the

[1:02:10] garbage fund. Is it just

[1:02:12] this? Is there

[1:02:13] a truck? And I

[1:02:16] mean, we can

[1:02:17] add it later.

[1:02:18] It depends on whether

[1:02:19] we want to include it

[1:02:21] in the budget now. But you and

[1:02:23] I can also

[1:02:24] look at it.

[1:02:25] Yes, I haven't revealed the

[1:02:26] fund's forecasts for

[1:02:27] today, but I can

[1:02:27] reveal it for you.

[1:02:28] Yes, I will review the

[1:02:29] capital budget and

[1:02:30] see if there are any

[1:02:32] other areas where we

[1:02:32] want to include a

[1:02:33] capital budget

[1:02:34] in the budget.

[1:02:35] And I also want to double

[1:02:36] -check with you on the

[1:02:37] expected returns.

[1:02:39] I have 390 listed, but I'm

[1:02:40] not sure that

[1:02:41] reflects the current

[1:02:43] due rate. So,

[1:02:46] 394. What are the revenues?

[1:02:50] For the garbage fund. 390,000.

[1:02:54] Rate, hmm.

[1:02:55] So, I want to double

[1:02:56] -check the

[1:02:57] current rate with you and

[1:02:58] make sure it's a

[1:02:59] good forecast.

[1:02:59] Good. Good.

[1:03:07] Right. So, next,

[1:03:10] I will work to ensure that

[1:03:11] parts of our

[1:03:12] budget reach

[1:03:13] Gateway after the

[1:03:15] council meeting. And then the council has to

[1:03:19] agree on the overall

[1:03:20] increase. Any

[1:03:23] other comments?

[1:03:26] Question? Thank you for

[1:03:29] participating. I think we

[1:03:31] will close the meeting at

[1:03:33] 11:10 then. Thank you.

Long Beach Budget and Finance Committee September 1, 2026

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