[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] We have a special call meeting for our military adoption.
[0:03] Madam Clerk, can you please, I would like to officially call this meeting to order. May I please have the roll call?
[0:09] Mayor Barnard.
[0:10] Here.
[0:11] Mayor Pro Tem Burt.
[0:13] Council Member Blue.
[0:17] Council Member Johnson.
[0:20] Council Member Payton.
[0:22] Council Member Reeves.
[0:24] Present.
[0:25] Council Member Thomas.
[0:26] Here.
[0:27] Mayor, we do have a quorum.
[0:28] Thank you, ma'am.
[0:29] I will ask that our Councilman Reeves lead us in invocation while Councilman Payton lead
[0:36] us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
[0:38] May we all stand at this time.
[0:45] Father, we thank you for this privilege and honor that you've given us to be here and
[0:50] to represent you and your people.
[0:53] So we thank you for that opportunity.
[0:55] We pray that you will have us be discerning in our thoughts and that we will yield
[1:02] to your will and the will that's in the best interest of your people in all decisions that
[1:07] we would make today. And we'll let things things up in the precious name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1:15] Pleasure, ladies and gentlemen.
[1:17] To the fight of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
[1:23] one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[1:30] Thank you so much. Next, I will ask for an approval of the agenda.
[1:37] So moved. I have a motion on the floor. Can I get a second?
[1:41] Second. We have a motion and a second. May we vote?
[1:47] Five in favor. Thank you. I'll now turn the meeting over to our city
[1:53] administrator so he can give us a rundown on our
[1:57] millage rate for this fiscal year. Thank you mayor. I'm gonna let him
[2:01] Pull up a PowerPoint real quick
[2:06] So what this is this is what we publish only this has six years
[2:11] We usually only publish five years and to start off with I wanted to point out that
[2:17] When you go back to 23 or 21
[2:21] The net digest was one billion two hundred and two million
[2:26] And then it went to one billion four hundred and seventy six million and then it went to one billion
[2:32] $829 million in 2023, $1,915 million in 2024, $1,998 million almost $99 million in 2025.
[2:47] And then we've now backslid a little bit to $1,992 million.
[2:54] And part of that is lack of growth, part of that is both the county and the city
[3:00] have bought buildings, probably some reassessments, probably some appeals in there, but what that
[3:07] means for us is in 2025 the net digest was 1,998 million, 26 it came down 6,660,684.
[3:24] So based off of that information, we're recommending the millage rate be 3.033 and that is actually
[3:32] the rollback, 3.033.
[3:35] So you are doing a full rollback and it's basically because the net digest has declined.
[3:44] Are there any questions?
[3:46] Do we have any questions from the diaries?
[3:48] Yes, sir.
[3:49] It's just clarification because when I first got here, I had to really work on getting
[3:53] this straight, and that is, when we use the word rollback, and it is a rollback, so it
[4:02] doesn't confuse folks, it's been at 3.033, it's going to stay at 3.033, and somebody
[4:09] would say, oh, well, that's not a rollback, but there's a good explanation as to why we
[4:14] call it a rollback.
[4:15] Correct.
[4:16] It meets the legal definition of rollback, yes.
[4:19] it does seem weird this is you know you have to go back to when the housing
[4:23] market fell out to see these types of numbers but I think a lot of this was
[4:28] there wasn't any growth for a year really and then you had several properties
[4:34] that were purchased by the county and the city and you take those off the
[4:37] digest and you when you don't have any growth to fill those I can tell
[4:42] you that next year there's probably between 40 and 60 homes that'll be on
[4:48] a digest so it is going to go back.
[4:52] Thank you. Yes.
[4:56] Okay. Any additional questions?
[5:01] Okay.
[5:04] There's no additional questions from the diets. I now open up our for our public hearing. I
[5:11] would like to invite our constituents up to the podium. If you are in favor of the
[5:20] 3.033 um digest rollback I'm sorry the roll the millage rate rollback I will
[5:30] invite you to the podium at this time all individuals who would like to speak on
[5:34] behalf of the millage rate adoption and the millage rate rollback and are in
[5:40] favor you're welcome to the podium at this time
[6:09] Yeah, they'll actually be on
[6:11] the digest for next year.
[6:16] Yes,
[6:18] it may be more than that,
[6:20] but those are the ones I
[6:21] physically go out and count.
[6:24] Mayor, could I add to that?
[6:27] And additionally, it might be good to clarify, in other words, there may be 10 homes built
[6:34] that were approved 20 years ago.
[6:38] You see, they've already been approved.
[6:41] It's not what's necessarily coming before this as a new rezoning or subdivision.
[6:47] Would that be correct?
[6:48] That's correct.
[6:48] Most of this is in Arcadius, Infinity Park.
[6:50] Okay.
[6:56] Any additional questions? All right. Now I open it up for those not in favor of the rollback.
[7:03] You're also invited to the podium. I invite you up to the podium to speak at this time.
[7:13] Any
[7:14] constituents that are not in favor of the millage rate, you're welcome to the podium.
[7:23] Okay.
[7:24] And I would like to officially close the public hearing next
[7:34] I would ask for a motion to adopt
[7:37] the fiscal year 2026 2027 millage rate at this time there
[7:47] I'd make a motion to approve the
[7:51] rate as proposed at 3.3 3.033 of the adoption of the fiscal year 2026 to 2027 millage
[8:01] right okay I have a motion on the floor do I have a second second okay we have a
[8:09] motion to second second all right we have a motion to second may we vote five
[8:21] in
[8:21] favor all right so we have ourselves a military mayor can I can I make one
[8:29] quick comment just to just to educate for next year yes but if floss does
[8:34] pass, we won't even be having this meeting because there won't be a millage rate.
[8:39] Okay. So just to just to educate. Yes, absolutely. So that's true. And just for
[8:50] educational purposes, floss is for does not necessarily mean that property
[8:56] taxes, property tax individuals will be taxed, property owners will be taxed
[9:01] for their prior for mill for the millage right fast it means individuals who
[9:06] come on 75 shop at South Point individuals who come and shop in in the
[9:13] area that it comes to the city and then you then would that will be
[9:20] contributed to the floss floss tax and from the floss tax you could have a
[9:25] possibility to decrease or not have a millage right here at all because we
[9:30] We would not have a military rate.
[9:33] So for educational purposes,
[9:35] floss does not come from property tax,
[9:40] property owners, it comes from those
[9:42] who are shopping in our city.
[9:45] All right.
[9:46] Mayor, if I may add one thing, one other thing to it.
[9:50] This coming November, it will be on the ballot.
[9:54] So if you are in favor of what the mayor just said,
[9:57] then we're talking about floss
[10:00] And that is going to prevent us hopefully it's going to lower our property taxes if if not
[10:08] Eliminate them if you vote in favor of flossed on this coming November
[10:13] All right, and those are for educational purpose. I would now call this meeting adjourned. Thank you