[0:00] With that, I'd like to call the meeting to order, uh, live webcasts. The

[0:04] meeting may be viewed on the city's website, and if you're

[0:08] watching, uh, live via zoom, interpreter instructions will appear in the chat

[0:12] box at the bottom of your screen if you prefer to sit in the chamber. And

[0:16] for translation head, uh, sets are available to provide live spanish

[0:20] translation. Please see the clerk's desk, uh, to check

[0:24] out a, uh, headset. Alright, a, uh, a notice

[0:28] agenda and information on the city of nashville city's website informs members of the public

[0:33] that they may submit a general public comment or a public comment on a specific agenda

[0:37] item in a number of ways. In person, uh, at the, by submitting

[0:41] one of these salmon colored speaker slips or at the back of the chamber. And you'd wanna get that over

[0:45] right away over to our clerk's desk via zoom by pre-registering on the

[0:50] city's website, no later than two hours before the meeting. Um, and I don't believe

[0:54] we had any comments on that, uh, or emailing

[0:58] no later than four hours before the meeting. I don't think we had anything on that either. Nope. Alright. Just

[1:02] want to clarify for all that, for everyone. Uh, all written comments, which we did not

[1:06] receive in, but if they had received ones, they would be distributed to the council prior to the meeting and

[1:10] published on the city's website if received by the deadline. With that, we

[1:14] have roll call, please. Thank you. Council member

[1:18] iani here. Council member rodriguez, present,

[1:22] vice mayor molina. Present, mayor

[1:26] morrison, uh, present. And we'll, uh, note that council member bush

[1:31] is absent and we have a quorum. Alright, if we could please stand for the pledge

[1:35] of allegiance. Uh, I'll ask, uh, member rodriguez, if you would

[1:39] leave this, please, please, your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin.

[1:44] I question the five, the states, united states of america

[1:48] and the republic one nation

[1:52] under god with liberty and justice for all.

[2:02] alright, so at this point we'll have, uh, public comments.

[2:06] I only have one slip, so we'll allow you to three minutes. And, uh, mr.

[2:11] nieto,

[2:22] this is a much anticipated meeting year end, you

[2:26] know, this is where you square up and everything. Now, I'm just really

[2:30] not sure how you're gonna handle this. You know, we haven't given ex explanation of how this gonna handle. I

[2:34] hope it's gonna be multiple meetings. Um, one of the things I notice

[2:39] is I still don't have a handle on how much of a deficit we really

[2:43] have. I know you have this presentation, it talks about previous year.

[2:47] it talks about this year, but it doesn't talk about things that haven't been

[2:51] identified. For instance, the standard, uh, the audit report. We still haven't

[2:55] got the audit report. There could be surprises in there. I hope you checked to make sure there's no, no

[2:59] surprises, but there could be what that effects might be. The other thing

[3:03] is, I'm thinking here, is that, um, you haven't addressed what the unassigned

[3:07] fund balance should be, which, in my opinion would be $20 million

[3:12] more than what you have on top of the deficit. So if you wanna come up to

[3:16] standards, that's what you wanna have to, that's what you have to do. Okay? Let me get into what I want to say here.

[3:20] uh, I I, I just encourage you to all step back. I, you're gonna get into

[3:24] the details, but I want you to identify the underlying causes of what

[3:28] caused the de defense defense. Because if you don't identify that

[3:33] and correcting them, you're having these proposals for

[3:37] increase in taxes, cuts, dipping into the reserves. But if

[3:41] you don't identify those underlying causes, what's to stop the public from

[3:46] thinking you're just gonna do it again, and next year we're gonna have the same problems.

[3:50] so you go into these details, find out what, what,

[3:54] ask why is it that you have these problems from

[3:58] the get go or from the top level here? I think a lot of the problems you've had is

[4:02] because you don't have enough information. You don't have enough information from the accounting system.

[4:07] it's, uh, it's not due to the accounting staff. Make sure,

[4:11] I wanna make sure that they're, they're not playing for this, but you have a, a cost accounting

[4:16] system that's not fully implemented. And I

[4:20] think if you had that information, you would have the performance

[4:24] information for financial to make some of the decisions you're gonna have to make right now

[4:29] a lot easier. You know? And I just don't think you have that.

[4:33] so I think you're walking into this with somewhat of a blind

[4:37] eye and not having all the information you should make to make good, informative decisions.

[4:42] um, you know, I have a lot to say here, but I hope you've given me more opportunity

[4:46] to, uh, say these as you go along with these meetings. Thank you.

[4:55] e um, next we go into

[4:59] our staff report, which is our fiscal year, 26, 27. Budget

[5:04] workshop. Number one, uh, let me just say before we jump

[5:08] into this. This was originally scheduled for an evening meeting,

[5:13] um, tuesday before last. And it was supposed to be the main

[5:17] item on our agenda. Uh, there was an item also on there about the golf course,

[5:21] which was just a perfunctionary, um, increase of

[5:26] another five year extension. But because some people got on social media and

[5:30] made a big thing about it, we ended up with a packed house beyond packed

[5:34] of people wanting to speak on the golf course. So by the time we got to where this was

[5:38] supposed to be on the agenda, we were already past 10 o'clock at night, which was not

[5:43] a good time to do budget workshops that are gonna be lengthy. So

[5:47] that's the reason we ended up having to put it off to today. And, uh,

[5:51] so just to explain that, 'cause some people are wondering why we, why we were having it today.

[5:56] with that, I'll turn that over to our city manager. Uh,

[6:01] thank you mayor. Council members, members of the public. Uh, so we will

[6:05] be kicking off our first, uh, formal budget workshop, uh, as we prepare

[6:09] for the new fiscal year in 2027. Uh, as far as the

[6:13] format today, uh, we're gonna turn it over to our, our finance team,

[6:17] uh, led by, um, our acting director, uh, rachel

[6:22] bera and aberra, and also our budget manager, paul valez.

[6:27] um, at the conclusion, uh, we will be opening up for questions.

[6:32] uh, just to give, uh, a heads up, we are gonna be recommending a second budget

[6:36] workshop. Um, we're trying to coordinate calendars, uh,

[6:40] and at, at the end of, uh, paul's presentation, uh, I'll give a

[6:44] few highlights on what, what our plan is for the second budget workshop. With that,

[6:49] I'm gonna go ahead and turn over to paul to kick off the presentation. Thank you.

[6:55] thank you, city manager. Good afternoon, mayor morrison, vice mayor molina

[7:00] and members of the city council paul ez, budget manager.

[7:04] uh, today's presentation is intended to give an initial overview of

[7:08] the fiscal year general fund preliminary budget. These

[7:12] preliminary numbers include only the cost to maintain the city's current service levels,

[7:18] any increases in expenditures or due to labor agreements, inflation,

[7:22] contract agreements, or other existing obligations.

[7:35] here are some of the budget highlights. The budget includes 382 full-time

[7:39] equivalent permanent benefited positions 276

[7:43] of which are in the general fund. It includes an additional 1.9 million

[7:48] in unfunded pension liability over the fiscal year 2026

[7:52] general fund budget. It also includes an additional 1.4 million

[7:57] general liability insurance premium over the fiscal year 2026

[8:01] general fund budget. There's also $1 million

[8:05] in new funding for general fund cip projects.

[8:10] and of course, it also includes compensation increases approved during fiscal

[8:14] year 26, as well as scheduled fiscal year 27

[8:18] increases as a result of the city's recent labor negotiations.

[8:26] the slide illustrates the growth in sales tax. The city's primary revenue source

[8:31] over time from 2019, actuals through 2027,

[8:35] estimated this equates to a 3.6% average annual

[8:39] growth rate.

[8:45] our other, uh, main revenue source property tax revenue. The

[8:49] slide illustrates the growth in property tax over time. Again, from 2019,

[8:54] actuals through 2027, estimated this amounts to a 5.9%

[8:58] average annual growth rate and property tax.

[9:06] here we have the general fund revenues by category, the sales and use tax,

[9:10] as well as the district tax budgets are based on analysis provided by our sales

[9:14] tax consultant. I wanna point out that there are

[9:18] currently wholesale sailors that remit district tax to the city. However,

[9:23] the point of sale by the retailer occurs elsewhere. That's

[9:27] why you see a 7.5% growth in districts tax and only

[9:31] 1.9% increase in sales tax.

[9:37] uh, the property tax categories, property tax amounts are based on valuation reports

[9:41] of property within the city. I have broken out the property tax

[9:46] allocated line, whoops.

[9:51] ah, there, it's broken out. The property tax allocated

[9:55] line, which shows the amount that is allocated to partially fund the parks,

[10:00] maintenance and library funds. These transfers are roughly $1 million

[10:04] each to each fund.

[10:08] property tax in lieu of elf is expected to increase by 58,000.

[10:13] so as a whole, property tax revenue is expected to be relatively flat compared

[10:17] to fiscal year 2027.

[10:21] other revenues are budgeted at 20.9 million, which I'll break down on the following

[10:26] slide.

[10:33] there are $4.1 million in successor agency distributions.

[10:38] uh, the associated debt service for, uh, obligations for the success

[10:42] successor agency run through fiscal year 20 20, 20 33.

[10:49] at that time, these, uh, distributions that you see up there will revert to property

[10:53] tax revenue for the city.

[10:58] the other large contributors in this category are f franchise fees,

[11:02] tot reimbursements from the port and

[11:06] investment earnings.

[11:10] I wanna point out that the 400,000 in cannabis revenue does not include sales

[11:14] tax and only reflects the 5% cannabis fee applied to

[11:18] gross receipts. This revenue stream has somewhat

[11:23] stabilized and is based on the monthly actuals received during fiscal year 2026.

[11:31] the remaining $6 million on the last line includes various revenues

[11:35] such as business license, tax plan, checking fees, building

[11:39] permits, and swimming pool revenue.

[11:47] this chart illustrates the growth in expenditures over time from 2019

[11:51] through 2027. Estimated that equates to

[11:55] a 5.3% average annual growth rate in general fund expenditures.

[12:06] this table shows the 92.5 million general fund preliminary budget,

[12:10] broken down, down by department with police and

[12:14] fire making up the biggest portion

[12:20] going down to the administration line. That's made up of city attorney, city

[12:24] clerk, city manager, finance, and human

[12:28] resources. The preliminary non-departmental

[12:32] budget of 15.9 million is detailed on the next slide.

[12:43] the 4.7 million pension obligation bond line is due to refinancing

[12:47] a portion of our unfunded pension liability in 2021. This

[12:52] transfers for that debt service, and these payments will run through fiscal year

[12:56] 2043.

[13:00] 4.6 million is to subsidize other city funds, which I'll break down in the next slide.

[13:07] and 4.4 million is for the remaining unfunded pension liability.

[13:20] here are the transfers out to the other funds.

[13:24] 4.7 million is for that, uh, pension obligation fund,

[13:29] 2.5 million and 1.4 million respectively to, uh,

[13:34] subsidize the library fund and park maintenance fund

[13:38] $1 million in a general fund funding of, uh, capital

[13:42] improvement projects. That's 1 million in new funding,

[13:47] 6 7670 5,000 to subsidized nutrition fund.

[13:52] 4 64 retiree health benefits, and approximately

[13:56] 18,000 for the, uh, landscape maintenance district for the

[14:00] mile of cars.

[14:08] the slide shows the flow of general fund transfers to subsidized funds on the left

[14:15] and general fund. Internal service charges on the right

[14:24] here are our general liability and workers' compensation funds.

[14:28] during these to fiscal year 26, there is a significant increase in premiums

[14:32] and estimated claims.

[14:40] these are the city's internal service funds. The annual cost of these

[14:44] funds are spread equitably throughout the city based on allocation factors, such as

[14:49] number of vehicles, number of computers, square footage,

[14:53] et cetera.

[15:01] the slide shows the transfers out. Again, this time compared to fiscal year 26, adopted

[15:06] the transfers out, make up the difference between annual costs in the fund and any

[15:10] other revenue sources.

[15:17] here's an informational slide showing our, uh, expected increase

[15:21] in the city's unfunded pension liability payments. So you

[15:25] could see there are anticipated to continue to increase.

[15:35] another informational slide here is, uh, the perception is that

[15:40] the city typically outperforms the budget. If you

[15:44] drill down a little bit, the majority of that outperformance is on the revenue side, particularly

[15:49] in the other revenue category. This category has many accounts

[15:53] that are difficult to predict, such as investment earnings, which has been as high as

[15:57] 1.7 million and as low as negative 900,000 during the

[16:01] period shown on this slide. Unrealized

[16:06] gains and losses also fall under this category, and that's an accounting entry

[16:10] made in order to comply with government accounting rules.

[16:20] here's a snapshot of, uh, the city's general fund vacancies.

[16:25] this, and I, I call it a snapshot because this, this is continuously changing

[16:29] . It'll look different last week than it will next week. So this is just to show you

[16:34] a snapshot in time. Here's what was vacant and the approximate,

[16:38] uh, 20 fy 27 value associated with those positions.

[16:48] here are the city's key reserves. The estimated

[16:52] balance is as of 6 30 20 25. Uh, the audit has not yet

[16:56] been complete.

[17:01] that middle uh, column there, the estimated balance is a 6 30 26,

[17:06] takes into account, uh, what's in the preliminary budget for the unassigned fund balance.

[17:12] and then that target on the right is based upon the $83 million

[17:16] budget that was adopted in, uh, fiscal year 26.

[17:22] that final column on the right shows, uh, just a brief

[17:26] summary of what the policy is.

[17:34] here are the general fund expenditures by category.

[17:38] so you can see the biggest increases in personnel ser services.

[17:43] that $7.2 million increase from 26 to 27

[17:48] is made up of the following, primarily $3.9 million

[17:53] in salary and benefits driven by the labor negotiations and

[17:57] mous that were recently, uh, negotiated.

[18:02] they include increases, uh, for fiscal year 26, as well as the scheduled

[18:07] increases for fiscal year 27

[18:11] includes $1.9 million payment and unfunded pension liability,

[18:17] and 1.4 million in general liability charges.

[18:23] debt services are going down due to paying off the rcs communication debt

[18:28] in fiscal year 26. That remaining

[18:32] amount is for energy bonds

[18:40] increases in internal sur. I I discussed that. I'm sorry.

[18:44] skipping down just to the bottom, the bottom line in bold

[18:49] shows the preliminary estimated general fund deficit of $16.1 million

[18:54] for fiscal year 27 compared to 9.3 million in

[18:58] the fy 26 adopted budget.

[19:10] this now shows how we closed the gap in 2026.

[19:16] that was done through the use of $8.3 million in unassigned fund balance,

[19:23] and $1 million in economic contingency reserve, which

[19:27] was for, uh, a city revitalization project.

[19:31] I didn't mention on the, uh, on the policy slide, but at the end of

[19:35] fiscal year 26, all or much of that $1 million

[19:40] revert back to the economic contingency fund.

[19:52] here's a calculation of the estimated unassigned fund balance.

[19:58] so starting with 23.4 at the end of fiscal year, uh, 20 25, 23

[20:04] 0.4 million less the deficit projected in fiscal

[20:08] year 26, which was, uh, presented at our last council

[20:13] meeting on the 21st of 10.3 million.

[20:19] that leaves an estimated unassigned fund balance at the end of fiscal year 26 of

[20:24] 13.1 million,

[20:28] less the projected deficit of the preliminary budget of 16.1 million

[20:34] results in the exhausting, uh, of the remaining of our unassigned

[20:39] fund balance and an additional $3 million

[20:43] deficit.

[20:50] and with that, I'll turn it over to the city manager to discuss the next steps.

[20:56] uh, thank you, paul. So as we, uh, previewed, we

[21:00] will be scheduling a second workshop, uh, in the coming, uh, weeks.

[21:06] um, essentially what we want to cover is, uh, if there are

[21:10] any questions that we're unable to address as part of this workshop,

[21:14] say, that may require some additional research and analysis, we'll go ahead

[21:18] and be prepared to respond to those at the next workshop. But primarily

[21:23] we want to focus on one, um, the remaining

[21:27] projected $3 million deficit. Um, we had,

[21:31] um, some very focused meetings with all the individual, uh, department

[21:36] directors and their teams where, um, they did a great job,

[21:40] uh, working with their staff to look at strategic measures that each department

[21:44] is being, is considering, um, to implement, to reduce the impact of

[21:48] the general fund. That will include looking at, um, potentially

[21:52] freezing some of those vacant positions you showed. Uh, in addition,

[21:57] we want to provide, uh, our comprehensive review and, and

[22:01] options for revenue initiatives. Obviously, uh, when you look at that presentation,

[22:06] um, our expenditures continue to be, um,

[22:10] exceeding, you know, revenues on a, on an annual basis. So we want

[22:15] to take a deeper dive into that. Try to quantify what some of these revenue streams

[22:19] that have been touched upon over recent years could actually generate.

[22:23] in addition to focusing on, uh, what are some new revenue opportunities

[22:27] that can hit within the next 12 to 18 months, given the fact that

[22:31] we, um, have, uh, really begun to, to, uh, deplete

[22:36] our reserves at a very rapid rate. Um, so with that,

[22:40] I am going to, uh, go ahead and open it up to questions, um,

[22:44] on the presentation and the, uh, general budget budget questions.

[22:49] uh, thank you for your time. And paul, again, thank you for all you and,

[22:53] um, rachel, your hard work preparing this presentation tonight.

[23:01] mayor, thank you mayor. Uh, thank you very much

[23:05] mr. Steve manganello. Um, just for the public to know, uh, mr.

[23:09] manganello is now our acting city manager for the time being.

[23:13] um, I have questions mr. Valdes, on the presentation. If you could

[23:17] please, um, scroll to slide 15. Um, my questions right now, really, I

[23:21] just, I just wanna understand the calpers, um,

[23:26] um, what is it? Ual, um,

[23:30] liability. What's ual unfunded? Unfunded

[23:34] unfunded pension liability? Yes. Uh, yeah, these numbers here come

[23:39] directly from calpers, the actuarial, and that's what we base that budget

[23:43] on, and I understand their projections. Right. Um, fiscal year 26,

[23:47] the total ual is 3.029.

[23:52] right. Can you show me in the previous slides where that is in

[23:57] our, um, expenditures?

[24:01] I don't think I called that out as a specific line item. Uh, that

[24:06] the categories are a little higher. Okay. Um, I'd, I'd be happy to follow up and show

[24:10] you. Um, the reason I ask is because I'm nervous about the fiscal year 27,

[24:14] um, ual, which is, um, quite a balloon

[24:18] from that. It's 5 million that we will have to

[24:23] pay for, correct? That's correct. And I wanna understand where in the budget

[24:27] for 27 that is. So I was trying to see where it is in

[24:31] 26 so that then I can understand where it's gonna be in 27. But if it's not in,

[24:35] you know, portrayed in the slide right now, I, I'm happy to wait and

[24:40] see it later. The, the 26th portion, I don't believe it's broken

[24:44] out that way, but

[24:50] for, uh, for fiscal year 27th, the general fund

[24:55] portion is

[25:01] one moment. Sure.

[25:06] 4.4 million. So that was another question I had. 'cause I had, um,

[25:10] been studying this and I didn't understand why the difference, the, the difference

[25:15] between that number and the number that's on this slide. Correct. There, there are a

[25:19] portion of the city's positions staffing that reside outside

[25:23] of the general fund. Got it. The 4.4 million is the general

[25:27] fund portion, which is the vast majority, um, including all

[25:31] of our safety positions. Uh, and then that additional amount, the delta

[25:36] there are for positions that fall outside of the general fund. Got

[25:40] it. And my final question here is, when, when is that paid?

[25:44] is that in monthly installments? We do get a prepayment

[25:48] kind of, uh, discount if we pay it. I believe it's july

[25:52] one. Um, and I believe that's for the entire fiscal, for the

[25:56] upcoming fiscal year. Mm-hmm . And I believe that's typically what, uh, the practice has been.

[26:01] so we, our practice is to aim to pay the entire amount.

[26:05] so like for six, for 26, it would be something around 3 million. Um,

[26:10] this payment would've been made last july at the beginning of the

[26:14] fiscal year 26. That is correct. Last june. That's correct. Or

[26:18] last june, july. And, um, do you anticipate we will be able

[26:22] to do that again this year, pay the fi close to 5 million or the

[26:26] 4 million? I will de I will defer that question to, uh,

[26:31] finance director. Thank you. Finance director, bur, thank you.

[26:35] uh, that is correct. Uh, vice mayor, uh, we are scheduled to process that

[26:39] payment and we do have the funding available to make that available. Thank you. Um, the

[26:43] way it's processed, and I'm just gonna kind of give you a, a snapshot of

[26:47] the way it works is we receive an invoice from calpers and

[26:51] they provide that information to us with a valid, um, invoice date

[26:55] and a expected pay date. And in to ensure that we have the

[27:00] retirement available for our employees, we have to make that payment by july.

[27:04] you have to make that payment what, uh, by july. By july 1st. Got it. Thank you.

[27:08] uh, that clarifies a lot of, um, my questions around the, the calpers

[27:12] payments. Um, I have another question related, not to this, but to the,

[27:17] um, $1 million contingency balance that we have in

[27:21] 26. Um, there's, I think, um, it is not fully

[27:25] understood that that is going to revert back into reserves.

[27:29] um, but I'm not sure if that's something that we wanna talk about right now. Um, at,

[27:33] at some point if my colleagues are interested in that conversation, I do wanna understand

[27:38] the process around that. Thank you.

[27:42] um, question on a specific, I got a bunch of question, but specific one on,

[27:47] um, slide number that would be a slide number nine.

[27:52] and we're talking about the pension obligation bond payment there. And we got

[27:56] an asterisk that says previously part of labor cost. So then when

[28:00] we go over, when we start talking about our departments, most of that is labor

[28:05] cost. And so we have last, we have previous years in this year

[28:10] on our previous years on that slide, did we take that out there also since, so we're

[28:14] comparing apples to apples? Well, last year for 26

[28:19] is when it was, is when it was moved out of the labor costs. Okay. Okay. So it is apple

[28:23] to apples. So it is apple. Okay. That's what, that's what I wanted to, yes. Yeah. Um,

[28:27] okay. So yeah, normally I think then otherwise you say previous to 26, 'cause

[28:31] otherwise it looks like previous in the year that we're looking at now, that that could have been, uh,

[28:35] okay. Clear. Definitely. Okay. Yeah, that's what I was wondering. I just wanted to make sure we were doing one to the other.

[28:39] um, kind of see other hands.

[28:43] so starting at the top,

[28:47] uh, going back to slide two. And

[28:52] so we have our, well calpers, that one,

[28:56] you know, that's what calpers gives their actuaries. And we just, we have to pay that.

[29:00] so that's that one. The liability insurance going

[29:05] up quite a bit. How much, I mean, is that something that is

[29:09] dependent upon us individually as a city or a, is it

[29:13] a from a larger pot? I think our city attorney could,

[29:18] uh, sure. Eloquently answer that

[29:22] eloquently. Now you've put a contingency on it. Yes. Alright. So, um,

[29:26] the, the increased premium is a result of two factors. The first

[29:30] factor is what's called a hard market, a prism, like other insurance

[29:35] companies. This is not truly an insurance company, but a collective, um, is experiencing

[29:39] hard market. What that means is that there are more lawsuits

[29:43] which have much higher, um, verdicts or settlements,

[29:47] and that is an amount over $1 million. So what they have seen

[29:51] in the last five years is an extreme uptick in liability

[29:56] and number of judgments, um, against public entities. So that's

[30:00] part one. Part two is that this is a collective each

[30:04] city will pay in its proportionate share into the group. However,

[30:09] like any insurance company, if you have, uh, cause

[30:13] to use the insurance, it can cause your premiums to go up. Um, here

[30:18] in the city, there are, there are some judgements that are being handled

[30:22] mm-hmm . Should they come down. Um, we have one matter up on appeal.

[30:26] if that matter comes down with a, um, a different number or

[30:30] is retried, that number would be paid by and large through prism. And

[30:34] so that may potentially affect our numbers in the future. Mm-hmm

[30:38] . It's a pretty constant, um, sort of reworking of the numbers.

[30:42] they do constant valuations for each entity. And this is not unusual

[30:47] for, um, all of the entities that are here in prim, in southern california and in fact

[30:51] throughout california. Okay. Any other questions?

[30:56] yes. On that note, um, heidi, would you be able to provide us basically the actuals

[31:00] and all of the backup for that? Because I appreciate the verbal report, but I would like to

[31:04] sit down and actually understand what percentage or what proportion to the

[31:08] best as possible is because of this collective and what part

[31:13] is because of, uh, prior judgements. Right. And there'll be a couple of

[31:17] things. Um, the first is our premium just comes as a premium. Um, some

[31:21] of it'll come through actuarials and other items, but we can put those materials together

[31:25] for you so that you understand. I can also get you the prism materials that describe the

[31:29] market that we're in and what's happening. It is important to know, so I can get that all to you please, because

[31:34] I think we, um, we on council and the public needs to understand which, uh, portion,

[31:38] which we don't at this point, which portion is this because of the collective factors that

[31:42] are beyond our control versus what has been within our organization are

[31:47] our control. So I'd, I'd really be sure interested in that. I'll, uh, get that information

[31:51] to all of you. Thank you. Okay. Um, also then on

[31:56] page two, we have $1 million out of general fund going over to cip

[32:00] fund. Question is that, is that our

[32:04] matching amounts to, uh, to get grants?

[32:10] mayor, I can speak to that on behalf of I was you over there for some reason?

[32:14] ? Yeah, it's, it's a combination. Um, so

[32:19] a a portion of that is, is to support matching funds

[32:23] to get after, um, grants. And, and just as a looking

[32:27] at some big picture numbers, I'll give an example. I mean, we've,

[32:31] we've received on average over the last four to five years,

[32:35] about $50 million in competitive grants. And I think we've leveraged about

[32:40] a million dollars in general funds. That's about a 20 to one return on investment.

[32:44] so that's very notable. In addition, there's some major maintenance, uh,

[32:48] needs that, um, we will, uh, we, we typically use

[32:52] when we request funding for the, uh, general fund to the cip.

[32:57] okay. Okay. Thank you. Just wanna bring that up. Um, going over

[33:01] to page five, uh, property tax, uh,

[33:05] going down, uh, what is our, what is

[33:10] the rationale for that to be going down in property tax?

[33:14] that can be caused by, uh, less turnover, less, less new

[33:18] sales or less turnover of existing homes. Okay. Um,

[33:22] it's really based on the valuation reports we get from, from the county. Okay.

[33:27] so, uh, but, but there's still gonna be, even on homes, there's still a two gonna be a 2%

[33:31] increase. I don't know if there were some possibly reassessments. Yep.

[33:36] uh, I will, I will drill down further into that and let you know the

[33:40] specifics behind. No, I I I'm assuming one of it would be some reassessments.

[33:45] another thing would be if commercial property is going over to

[33:49] becoming non-profit, uh, uh, is another thing. 'cause we

[33:53] got a lot of non-profits are getting grants and buying up buildings, things along that line,

[33:57] and all of a sudden they go off the tax roll. Another thing is affordable housing going off the tax

[34:01] roll. Uh, so there's a number of things that could probably

[34:06] lead to that. I just want to clarify, uh, next

[34:10] page over page six, um, we have a list of the revenues.

[34:14] it has $2 million for transient lodging tax. So that would be what

[34:18] we anticipate collecting during the next fiscal year, correct?

[34:22] that is correct. What about unpaid past due

[34:27] bills? That would, if we was, that,

[34:31] that is not factored into this 2 million. Okay. This is just based upon trends,

[34:35] right? Uh, I don't know if, uh, occupancy rates have increased or room rates have increased.

[34:39] sure. But these are, these are actual trends. Um,

[34:43] no, no. I just based that aside from, aside from any delinquencies that are outstanding,

[34:48] not included in that 2 million. Okay. So I'm just thinking that's another possible revenue sources

[34:53] in the delinquencies. Okay. Um, and this one

[34:57] down at the bottom on both revenues and when we go down to expenditures,

[35:02] uh, one of the largest numbers here is others. Uh, I would

[35:06] like to see a, a little bit more definitive list down to a certain point down to

[35:10] a certain point. We don't wanna get down into real, real dinky numbers, but I think in some

[35:14] of the larger numbers, both in revenues and we have our, our list

[35:18] also for, uh, expenditures, that other is a huge category.

[35:23] and so, you know, kind of determine where, where it kind of gets ridiculous to get down

[35:27] into too much minutia. But, but some of the large

[35:31] a, a more extensive list, I agree it, it is a fine line of where

[35:35] to cut, cut off the, the, you know, the small ones. But

[35:39] just to give you an idea of what's included in that 6 million, some of

[35:43] 'em, the larger ones, business license tax building permits,

[35:47] swimming pool revenue, utility company permits. Yep. And then miscellaneous

[35:51] refunds. Um, okay. I'd be happy to provide

[35:56] counsel with, uh, you know, the buy account. Okay. Down to

[36:00] the, down to the smallest ones. All right. Um,

[36:04] then, uh, going down, I think most, most

[36:08] of the other ones, I mean, you did the same thing with non-departmental, but then you did a nice explanation

[36:13] of those non-departmental. He broke those down, which was really, really appreciate that.

[36:17] um, the, uh, um,

[36:23] next one, let's see. I'm trying to think what, um,

[36:28] yeah, once again, general, uh, general liability. Yeah, that was the other one on there. Um,

[36:33] question going down to page 13, and hopefully if I bring up

[36:37] some of these, maybe I'll answer some questions. Maybe some other people may have already had, uh,

[36:43] a significant deal in building maintenance. Do we have some specific projects

[36:47] coming up or something that's gonna cause an increase of another $400,000?

[36:52] or, I, I'm sure some of it is on the maintenance and operations side,

[36:56] but there's also staff there too. So the staff there,

[37:01] they receive their compensation increases, they, those costs increase,

[37:05] and then those get those costs then get allocated out to the departments. Okay.

[37:09] um, and then that becomes that, well that's part of the internal

[37:14] service then off of that. That's correct. Okay. And, uh, um,

[37:18] and I'm also looking at, well now another one that wouldn't necessarily be our, our staffing,

[37:22] but, uh, vehicle replacement charge. And we got, um,

[37:27] you know, uh, sizable increase about doubling, uh,

[37:31] I mean, do we have some really large purchase, uh, purchases that are scheduled

[37:35] to, to fall within this next year? A as part of our next

[37:39] steps? That's one of the funds we'll be looking at to identify any, uh,

[37:44] any potential savings that mm-hmm . Can be, uh, realized from that fund. Okay.

[37:48] as well as the replacement schedule. Okay. And, you know, and I don't want us

[37:52] to be dealing with antiques or whatever, but, um, you know, if

[37:56] you go back 20 years ago, once a car hit 60,000

[38:00] miles, it was time to get rid of the thing. I mean, they were, it was, they, they were ready. Total breakdowns.

[38:05] now anymore, they're just designed to last a lot longer. And I wanna make sure we're

[38:09] not still dealing with, you know, the same type concept that

[38:13] we were using, you know, for, for reasonable life of like

[38:17] vehicles and things along that line. So that, uh, um, at the same time, we

[38:21] don't want to put anyone in a hazard situation or put something we're putting too much maintenance

[38:25] or maintenance gets overburdensome, but, uh, don't necessarily want

[38:29] to be just changing out vehicles for changing out vehicles. Uh, just be concern.

[38:34] um, the,

[38:39] um, next page on 14.

[38:45] um, so I'm assuming the differences on

[38:50] library park maintenance and nutrition fund are once again assigned a lot

[38:54] to increase, uh, labor costs. That's a portion, that's

[38:58] a portion of the increase. Uh, there are, there also could be increases

[39:02] in, uh, maintenance and operation costs just due to, uh, existing

[39:07] contracts. Mm-hmm . Uh, that are scheduled to go up as well as just inflation.

[39:11] mm-hmm . But, uh, each of those funds does in fact have

[39:15] staff mm-hmm . Right. So that's why the costs go up. Okay. I'm, you

[39:19] know, I'm not picking on anybody or anything. I'm just saying with

[39:24] what we're looking for, everything's gotta be on the table. Everything needs to be looked at. Uh,

[39:29] the, uh, uh,

[39:33] let's see if I had anything more specific. I do appreciate your comments about

[39:38] the vacancy snapshot. If every one of these things were filled today,

[39:42] next week, we would have another list. That's just the re that's, that's the reality.

[39:46] um, and, uh, the,

[39:51] the other thing I would mention is of our reserve

[39:55] balances, every one of our reserves are below our targets, with

[39:59] the exception of unassigned fund balance, which with

[40:03] this budget, we're talking about wiping out entirely. So, um,

[40:09] the thing to, uh, um, to look at. Now, the other,

[40:13] uh, if I go down to 19 and on our

[40:17] expenditures, um, okay, personnel cost of what will be going

[40:21] up, um, this is 13.3%. That is, if,

[40:25] if all those vac, if, if vacancies are all filled 12

[40:29] months, if we have everybody in everything else, uh, that will be going up

[40:34] 13.3%, uh, which is quite considerable, but then our internal service

[40:38] charges going up 23%. Is a lot of that also the connection

[40:42] with the increased, uh, uh, personnel costs?

[40:47] that is correct. The general liability gets charged as part of, uh,

[40:51] the payroll process against the salaries. Okay.

[40:55] um, and then the, on

[40:59] page 20, the economic contingency reserve. Now, that one we basically

[41:04] have not used during this year. Correct. There are a couple

[41:08] minor payments. Um, I think, uh,

[41:12] a plan for that city revitalization project, uh, a fully realized

[41:17] plan has never been presented. Right. So, uh,

[41:21] uh, staff believes that that $1 million will return to

[41:25] the, uh, economic contingency reserve. Okay. I've got some

[41:29] comments here. That's all the questions I have for right now. Uh, looking to others,

[41:34] uh, member imani. Thank you, mayor. Um, thank you very

[41:38] much. Um, for, um, this presentation, um,

[41:44] listening to those comments and insurance, um, insurance is

[41:48] the number one situation problems right now that we all are

[41:52] having. It's all trajectory to increase, um, housing

[41:56] liability, all of that. So property tax, um, I'm sure

[42:01] it took, because there's really no, um, housing sales in, in

[42:05] the industry right now is not, um, significant. That's why the,

[42:09] the, the decrease in property tax as well as in our city,

[42:14] we have a lot of affordable homes that we don't really collect property tax.

[42:19] um, but we serve, um, this, this, um,

[42:23] you know, I mean, affordable housing that we have, doti, I believe

[42:27] our, our city manager has, um, been looking

[42:32] at that. I, I understand there are, um, you know, I

[42:36] mean, collectibles that we have take care of. Um, but those

[42:40] are, um, things that we can, um, address.

[42:44] you know, I mean, this is a living document, you know, I mean, we can

[42:49] make adjustment quarterly or, um, or midyear,

[42:53] uh, nutrition center. Um, if we are going to subsidize $675,000,

[42:58] that means this pro, this program, I will have to direct our city

[43:02] manager to look very closely on it. Um,

[43:07] I appreciate the fact that our finance director had

[43:11] provided us all of us here, a actual

[43:16] as of march 30th, 2026. So, with that

[43:20] said, I believe, um, I would, I have requested our city manager,

[43:25] um, to look at a zero based approach, um,

[43:29] in order for us to really, um, do a deeper

[43:34] dive on, um, this numbers, um, as I have

[43:38] provided to our city manager and to our city attorney with,

[43:42] uh, a copy to our, uh, finance director. Um,

[43:47] these are actual costs that, um, we are looking at.

[43:51] um, and so it's very easy to put an estimate

[43:55] in the next three months to fulfill the, uh, the fiscal year.

[44:00] um, you, I mean, I have, uh, looked into

[44:04] our, um, into our, um,

[44:08] gen, um, our, um, our,

[44:12] um, 76,000, um,

[44:17] that is our revenue

[44:21] generating, uh, that will be generated for 2027.

[44:26] I know there are a lot of, um, other ways that, um,

[44:30] our city manager and the directors will be providing us,

[44:34] um, in our next, um, budget workshop.

[44:39] um, however, I think the expenses is

[44:43] what I really have looked into, uh, very, very carefully.

[44:48] you know, I mean, as of now, if you're asking about a 1 million cip that

[44:52] seed money for, for that, um, you, I mean, to date, we

[44:56] only spend about 365 of it, right. Based

[45:00] on the actuals. So I think we, our

[45:05] staff are also very diligent in how they use this, um,

[45:09] funding our economic, uh, contingency reserve. You

[45:13] know, I mean, uh, paul, paul valez, our manager said a few,

[45:17] but really those are just allocations that, um, you know, I

[45:21] mean, we may be able to use, but you know, I mean, based on us being

[45:25] so prudent in how we spend it, is why the,

[45:30] the, the funds are still there not being touched.

[45:34] our, um, question for our calpers, um, those

[45:38] are also allocated beforehand. So then we can you, I mean,

[45:42] with, with the actuals, were paid for 2026, uh, based

[45:47] on the actuals that I have received or we have received. So,

[45:51] um, I would like for our city manager to, um,

[45:55] have a sit down with our, uh, finance director to

[45:59] look into a zero base approach, um, based on the actuals

[46:03] that we have, um, that we have, uh, been provided

[46:08] in order for us to really streamline, um, our budget

[46:12] as, as, as I, I don't wanna see a 16 million

[46:16] deficit in our books. Um, so I, I

[46:21] believe it's doable. 'cause we, based on those

[46:25] numbers that I received, I crunched it and it

[46:29] is doable. Um, but I have, um, you know, I mean,

[46:33] I have, uh, sat down with our city manager and city attorney to look

[46:37] into those numbers and make sure that we start with the zero based

[46:41] approach. Thank you so much.

[46:47] okay. And so, uh, thank, thank you staff, uh,

[46:51] for the, uh, presentation and for, uh, responding to so many of, uh, my

[46:56] questions, including the, uh, providing the actuals. 'cause that was, um, really

[47:00] helpful. Uh, just to start, I would

[47:04] request the additional actuals. So I did do this over

[47:08] email, but just doing it just to reiterate, uh, what I asked, uh,

[47:12] for through our, uh, city manager on our council department budget.

[47:17] so that's going to increase, or at least it should,

[47:21] based on our, uh, the 5%. Uh, what, what was presented

[47:26] on here, uh, I don't think reflected

[47:30] any updates or any inputs that we on council or any of our staff

[47:34] provide finance, right? Because I

[47:38] see it flat from last year to the, from the past

[47:42] year to this year. I see that as flat. And it shouldn't be just the exact same, it should not

[47:46] be the exact same number. And it is the city council and mayor's,

[47:51] uh, districts include funding for, uh, the mayor

[47:55] and his staff. And then in the district budget, it includes the

[48:00] funding for the district members and their benefits. And then

[48:04] the additional a hundred thousand dollars that was added, uh,

[48:08] via policy three years ago, I believe. Right.

[48:12] so what I'm requesting is the actuals from this past year, like

[48:16] the detailed salary, actual, uh, breakdown. And, uh, no, we, we don't, I don't, do

[48:20] we have it, did we, that was just that give, give 'em to us today? No, it was even

[48:24] all of us. When was that? Um, last,

[48:29] last week? No, then I don't think that provided, unless I missed something, I don't think that provided,

[48:33] yeah. So that report was broken down by types of expenses,

[48:38] which included the personnel costs. Okay. I'll, I'll take a look at that. So I,

[48:42] I appreciate that because I think we need, in order for us to adjust our

[48:46] budget and, um, add more clarity, because if you look at, um,

[48:50] the fy 26 adopted, uh, budget, it, it hasn't been

[48:54] updated. Like, so we need to update the descriptions. We need to update, uh, there's

[48:58] placeholders like 60,000 for each of us. So, um, all of us need to

[49:03] put those, um, inputs because we all have our different staffing needs. We all have

[49:07] different, like we shouldn't use that 100,000 was just a placeholder. That's what I'm

[49:11] saying is that's done as a placeholder. Now we have enough data and info, uh, we have

[49:15] years of actual, so now we can actually budget and project, um, between

[49:19] the 5%, uh, increase. Um, all of us are

[49:23] using our budget in different ways. So that's what I'm saying is that, and I'm not saying you

[49:27] guys have to take the lead on that. I'm saying we as a council department, a m council,

[49:32] um, it's, it's our responsibility, but, but a, uh, we need to do those actuals,

[49:37] uh, get those actuals and actually project. And so if we can work with staff on

[49:41] that, I think that'd be helpful. So, um, so the,

[49:45] um, uh, slide eight, uh,

[49:50] did, so did, um, were the actuals in the breakdowns

[49:54] for slide eight, uh, were those included in the,

[49:58] uh, excel that we were given?

[50:03] I see what you're saying about the mayor, uh, city council line where there's not much of

[50:07] a change. I think that's just a coincidence. There's some ups and downs there. Mm-hmm

[50:11] . Uh, what I can tell you is this budgeted, just, just how I stated, um,

[50:15] for, for the districts, um, the council members salary and

[50:19] benefits, and then $100,000, um, that has,

[50:24] that you're correct in saying it has not been updated, uh, based upon

[50:28] any sort of, um, mou agreement with the, the

[50:32] labor unions. It, so it doesn't, but that's not correct. It's not an mou

[50:36] that needs to be done. We have, what I'm saying is that we have actuals

[50:40] from how we've spent that for the last couple of years. And so I think

[50:44] each of us, um, from our districts need to submit that to one place

[50:49] probably should be the mayor's office, um, one place. And then we

[50:53] put that kind of package that together and give it to you all to review. So we make sure

[50:57] we're including any of the healthcare, uh, adjustment increases

[51:01] the retirement, increases the, uh, 5%,

[51:06] um, increase. Uh, so that, that's what I'm, I'm, I'm

[51:10] saying that those inputs, I think because that number needs to be a more

[51:14] defined number, but I, I think, uh, that we, we need to do that work. So that's not

[51:18] necessarily for you guys, I'm just saying to my colleagues that we need to do that work and

[51:23] we need those act, but those, the actuals for this were provided

[51:28] or the break, the breakdown. The breakdown. Well, well the breakdown of this, so for example,

[51:32] um, one of the big increases, um, uh, was,

[51:37] uh, overtime in some of these departments that went beyond their budget. Yes. But then it's,

[51:41] the overtime is just a number, but there's nothing, no actuals beyond what

[51:45] that reflects. That is correct. So overtime is an overall, and there's different

[51:49] categories that roll up into an overtime category. So if that's what you're

[51:53] trying to , yes. So, so overtime, for example, is just one of many things.

[51:58] correct. That we need to understand the actuals and,

[52:02] uh, in order to know why it went over budget so much,

[52:06] um, and how we can control those costs. So some of it, from what I hear from staff

[52:11] is that, uh, there's, um, been a struggle with hiring.

[52:16] so I understand that, but then that means we need to beef up the hiring or

[52:20] something needs to be done on that end. So that, that's where getting those

[52:24] actuals will be helpful for that. And then if we can go to slide 19,

[52:30] that was similar, needing to understand that breakdown.

[52:36] um, and that's not for right now, but if you all could

[52:40] provide what factored in, so there's no

[52:44] breakdown here on personnel for, unless, like

[52:48] I said, you all provided this in excel, so personnel services, um,

[52:52] I, it's too broad. So we need to understand from which department,

[52:56] which categories, what are the inputs that the directors

[53:01] are feeding into this. So we can take a look at that, and then that way we can understand, okay,

[53:05] well this is how we can reduce the future,

[53:10] um, expenditures. Because what it seems like we're, like, what staff has done from

[53:14] an exercise, and I don't mind this, but I, I just wanna be clear, is

[53:18] it staff just rolled over? Like we just we're assuming just

[53:22] kind of the best case scenario. Um, everything we want, this is

[53:26] kind of a reflection of everything. Staff kind of wants no reductions in expenditures

[53:30] or anything like that. Right.

[53:35] council member, the, the numbers for 27 reflect the cost of

[53:39] the city, uh, maintaining its current service levels. Got it. Okay.

[53:43] so no adjust, no adjustments for cut? No, just no changes

[53:49] from the baseline. From the status quo. This is basically the status quo. There are no new

[53:53] enhancements, no new, um, program, no new staff.

[53:57] uh, just whatever it would cost for the city to keep performing

[54:02] the same services that we currently perform. Okay. That's fine. Great. Thank you. Um,

[54:06] and I do wanna say, I definitely second what council member yamani said

[54:10] about, uh, needing to go to a zero based, uh, approach of

[54:14] budgeting. And so I'd be interested to know, um, we we're in a quick

[54:19] timeline, so we need to get this out, but I think even if we can't, um,

[54:24] uh, transform right away because of we're restricted in time and, uh, need

[54:28] to get this out by july 1st, we need to get this adopted. Um, but in concept,

[54:32] I would like us to do that. So for me, for example, for overtime, I would like us to start

[54:37] zero on that. And then, uh, because what, what hasn't worked

[54:41] for overtime in particular is we budget for it, but then we

[54:45] continue to go over budget. And I've seen this year, over year, over year, it continues to

[54:49] go over even when we, like, I understand budgeting for it, but I, I think there needs,

[54:53] and there hasn't been in the interim, there hasn't been any reporting

[54:57] to us on, hey, we're, it looks like we're going over on over overtime,

[55:02] so we need to, you know, do something different. And we need to be,

[55:06] as a council, I think we need to be getting more reports on specifically

[55:10] when we're going over budget and how, what we need to do to fix it. So that's

[55:14] where, what I'm kind of looking at for this moving forward. So I'm requesting

[55:18] those details for that and request. And I like the idea of going to a zero

[55:22] based approach so that we can start there and then build, like what are, what

[55:26] are our needs, uh, where are our priorities that are, uh, public safety, that,

[55:31] um, our obligations that that, that we, we need

[55:35] to do? And then what are, you know, how can we, uh, make efficiency

[55:39] adjustments, uh, moving forward, what we can do on that. So that's why

[55:43] I like that on the zero-based approach, um, it was

[55:47] mentioned by a couple of my colleagues on the economic contingency reserve.

[55:51] there was a presentation by the chamber and a couple of

[55:56] other groups in a co, uh, conceptually, and they, I think they

[56:00] estimated there, uh, was a 250,000 they did present in december

[56:04] to staff and city council. So, um, that, uh, we haven't

[56:08] acted, uh, on that. But I think for that,

[56:12] that, um, I, as I would recommend, we take a look at that,

[56:16] what I envision economic contingency reserve, this city revitalization,

[56:21] uh, project, which we did talk about, but it's actions

[56:25] that we can take to enhance specifically our sales tax

[56:29] since that's one of our largest, uh, contributing revenue sources. And there's a lot of ways

[56:33] to do that. The chamber came with a proposal on focusing on events,

[56:37] special events, and attracting people to national city has been proven from

[56:42] a data perspective to increase our sales tax revenue. So

[56:46] I definitely want to, uh, explore that more and have more discussions

[56:50] about specifically what that could look like. Um, and then

[56:54] question on slide 13, um, I think the mayor talked about this. This was

[56:58] the internal service charges, so he brought this up. I don't really

[57:03] understand what the net positive or benefit

[57:07] is on this, because this is internal. So I'm really confused about what this

[57:12] actually means, positive or negative to our budget. Each

[57:16] of these funds are outside of the general fund, and they provide a service

[57:20] to the general fund. So, uh, the way we determine the charges

[57:24] is we take the total cost of those funds for the year. For example,

[57:28] just looking at the vehicle replacement charges. We look at that charge, those charges

[57:33] for the year, and then we allocate them to the city departments

[57:37] based upon an equitable factor, which in this case, of course, would be the

[57:41] vehicles. So everybody gets a, a piece of that, or

[57:45] maybe it is, is, uh, more straightforward.

[57:50] that's the, that's a separate fund outside the general, you said the beatles. I'm sorry, you

[57:54] said the beatles? The beatles. I, I did it. Vehicle.

[57:58] oh, the vehicles. Vehicles. I'm sorry. I thought you said beatles. That's what I'm vehicles. I'm, I got so confused.

[58:02] I'm sorry. I'm a mumbler. I apologize. No, no worries. I'll take where you go, .

[58:08] okay, thank you. So it's, so let me, uh, let me use it,

[58:12] it as an example. Uh, that's information technology that's outside the

[58:16] general fund. It's, its, it's its own fund. They have staff there,

[58:21] they buy equipment there. Uh, and what you see there, that

[58:25] 2.9 million is the cost for fiscal year 27.

[58:29] that cost needs to be allocated. So depending

[58:34] on, in this case, it's probably computers, phones that

[58:38] total cost is allocated throughout the city so that every department

[58:42] and fund gets their fair share. Okay. So this could be

[58:46] adjusted after if we give direction to the directors to look at

[58:51] savings. Um, and for me, I would prioritize,

[58:55] um, labor people over vehicles, equipment,

[59:00] obviously with the asterisk that it depends on, you know, what the assignment

[59:04] and, you know, there's a lot of other factors, but in general, I feel like we should put people over

[59:08] vehicles and equipment and property. But I, that to me is

[59:13] the, I feel like that's for the directors to decide. So once the directors and,

[59:17] and hopefully the employees expect all the directors to be engaging every single employee from

[59:21] the bottom all the way to the top, it it, to me, it shouldn't matter ranker title or position.

[59:26] but, so once the directors have some recommendations there,

[59:30] then like, so say the, uh, directors, um, identify a bunch

[59:34] of, uh, cuts or a bunch of reductions, like putting off a bunch of purchases, then

[59:38] this number would theoretically go down, right? In theory, if

[59:43] reductions were made in theory to these internal service funds mm-hmm . Those savings would

[59:47] then flow through to the general fund by the appropriate portion and being positive.

[59:51] okay. Theory, like hope, being hopeful. Okay. Um, and then

[59:57] what, um, the nutrition fund,

[1:00:01] I have a bunch of questions, a, a bunch of the little different funds, but I, I

[1:00:05] can save some of those, but while I'm at it, the nutrition fund, what was causing it

[1:00:10] to increase by 171,000? Uh, was that,

[1:00:14] like, how do we know how much of that was labor versus how much is, uh,

[1:00:18] food material cost building energy?

[1:00:25] I don't know the breakdown off the top of my head. Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't expect you to, but,

[1:00:29] but the way we, we fund that, the, the nutrition, uh, the nutrition center

[1:00:33] is funded by, um, a county grant

[1:00:38] by a transfer from . Oh, partly, right? Partly they, they have revenue sources

[1:00:42] and then whatever the, the change is, whatever the difference is between

[1:00:46] the revenue and the cost of that program for the year,

[1:00:51] they don't carry a fund balance. So the general, that's why the general fund

[1:00:55] has to make them whole and transfer those funds. Right.

[1:00:59] so that's the, that's the estimated amount to make them whole,

[1:01:03] uh, for 27. If I could, can you put your mic on

[1:01:07] though? I'm sorry. So it would make, I think it would help if I like that

[1:01:11] on that line, if we was to know how much that 674

[1:01:16] was coming from gen, that's all general fund, the 674, right?

[1:01:20] the 6 74 is completely from the general fund. So that's, so that's over

[1:01:25] and above what the feds and what they, what the county, state,

[1:01:29] any of, any other funding sources. So all of that is general fund.

[1:01:35] that is correct. And got it. So that's, I mean, I'm just giving one example. I I

[1:01:39] really think, uh, it should be all hands on deck. I don't think there should be any

[1:01:44] sacred cows. Everything should be on the table. And, uh,

[1:01:48] we have discussed, um, restricting

[1:01:52] ideas to restrict our costs there. Uh, for example, I think

[1:01:57] there was an idea, uh, from scott actually, uh, from a few months

[1:02:01] ago about restricting adjust to national city residents, um, what we're doing to reduce

[1:02:05] our costs. So there's some ideas there, like, I don't wanna get too into the weeds, but there's some good ideas there.

[1:02:09] that's all the questions. Um, can I ask a follow up on this slide?

[1:02:13] um, I, I, so I understand fully what you just stated,

[1:02:17] um, mr. Valez about the, um, nutrition fund, right? So

[1:02:21] this is, um, the money that is needed to continue the service for 27,

[1:02:26] um, that isn't covered by grants and, and everything else. Is that the same

[1:02:30] for like the library this, um, transfer out to other

[1:02:34] funds? Is that explained the same for the library fund?

[1:02:40] some funds, it's, uh, potentially do carry a fund balance, and at

[1:02:44] the end of the fiscal year we do review that. Uh, we look at the

[1:02:48] actual expenditures because we don't want to transfer more money, uh, than that

[1:02:52] fund actually needs. But, but, uh, there is,

[1:02:56] it is possible that some of these funds actually carry a fund balance

[1:03:01] and we could use a portion of that to offset,

[1:03:05] uh, the total transfer. In other words, kind of scale back the

[1:03:09] transfer out from the general fund to these, uh,

[1:03:13] subsidized funds. Yes. I, I think it would be important

[1:03:17] because we are talking about, just as mr. Bush mentioned, we are

[1:03:21] talking about like the granularity in the numbers here, right? Um,

[1:03:26] and now that we are getting into the details here, I think it is important to understand

[1:03:30] truly the library and how it is funded. And in 26,

[1:03:35] um, 2.2 million from the general fund funded the

[1:03:40] library. And, and what I'm asking is, is that beyond,

[1:03:45] um, all of the grants that were acquired by the library, everything else.

[1:03:49] so then the increase for 27 is

[1:03:53] perhaps because of the labor increases, um, that are expected.

[1:03:58] uh, and then what else? You know, like the, you

[1:04:02] know, the bills that have to be paid, right? Like the, the, I don't know, the, the maintenance

[1:04:06] of the library, the books and the, the fees to all of the,

[1:04:11] you know, everything that, that needs to be paid in order to make the, the library function.

[1:04:15] uh, I think I do need to understand truly what it means, just

[1:04:19] as mr. Bush mentioned, to transfer this money out of the general fund. Um,

[1:04:24] when it isn't a balance, we can definitely provide

[1:04:28] that information in the, in the next budget workshop. Um,

[1:04:33] I would ha I would hate to misspeak and tell you which of these funds actually have a fund

[1:04:37] balance at the moment. Um, but we will provide that information. Yeah, that

[1:04:41] would be helpful. Thank you. And just, I don't have any

[1:04:46] more questions, but just, uh, uh, f follow up, uh,

[1:04:50] thought, so I just talked about the expenditures, but on the, the revenues,

[1:04:54] again, I think, uh, all hands on deck. Oh, uh, and I did forget

[1:04:58] to mention, um, I, we, we need more breakdowns on and, uh,

[1:05:02] for reductions need more breakdowns on professional

[1:05:06] services and consultant services. And, sorry, I forgot what code

[1:05:11] that is. But basically across the board, which are generally our outside consultants, um,

[1:05:15] before we cut staff, that's what also I would like to,

[1:05:19] uh, prioritize is, and I, um, can't really

[1:05:24] recommend what to prioritize over another if I, if I don't know, you know, what,

[1:05:28] on, on some of the consultant services. So if we can look at that, but getting, shifting over to the

[1:05:32] revenue, um, I, I do worry,

[1:05:36] uh, in my review of the actuals that was

[1:05:41] provided, that we might be undercounting some revenue sources. Um,

[1:05:45] and I did send staff this over, um, email. So if you don't have an

[1:05:49] answer for that right now, that's fine. But for example, parking, uh, parking

[1:05:53] citations, code 3, 2, 0 1. Um, and that is reflected in the adopted

[1:05:57] budget. Um, I, when I looked through the actuals, I couldn't find that anywhere. And

[1:06:01] there was a couple of the, uh, different, uh, actuals for,

[1:06:05] um, some of the permits, I think residential permit, commercial permit, um, that weren't

[1:06:10] reflected. And so if those inputs are feeding into this,

[1:06:14] uh, budget, then we're, um, when then we're undercounting our, our revenues.

[1:06:19] so if, if staff could take a look at that, unless you had an update for that specifically.

[1:06:23] well, with, with respect to the parking citations, the parking programs in its own

[1:06:27] fund, it's in a separate fund. The actuals that you were

[1:06:31] provided were for general fund only. Got it. Okay. Understood. Um,

[1:06:36] but so I then still want to talk more about that

[1:06:40] because there's still re revenue potential there with, with parking. So we can,

[1:06:44] like, we should have, um, more discussions. So I can understand

[1:06:48] that. 'cause I know a lot of it is just my lack of understanding. And then revenue. Oh, can

[1:06:52] I do a follow up on that? Also, um, on this slide related

[1:06:57] to the sales tax that is projected, um, on another slide

[1:07:01] you mentioned the 5% gross receipts, um, expectation

[1:07:05] of the cannabis, uh, commercial cannabis businesses. The amount that,

[1:07:10] and you said that doesn't, that projection doesn't include the sales tax, the amount

[1:07:14] that is part of the sales tax. Is that in this, is that

[1:07:18] included here? That is included in the sales tax? It is here that

[1:07:22] I don't have it broken out. I'm sure it could be derived right. Looking at that. No, but that's

[1:07:26] what I'm saying is, um, as mr. Bush is saying, is like we need to distill down, um,

[1:07:31] you know, is there perhaps revenue that is being under counted?

[1:07:35] it triggered my memory. Maybe the sales tax from the cannabis is one of those. But if you're saying it

[1:07:39] is accounted for here, then that's a moot point. Thank you.

[1:07:46] uh, we're always talking about like the library fund, the

[1:07:50] nutrition fund, uh, park fund, those, if we can also

[1:07:55] see, you know, what is their total budget because they get a lot of revenue.

[1:07:59] I know the library gets a state library fund and different stuff along that line. So that is not

[1:08:03] their total budget. That is just what we're going outta the general fund. So if we kind of

[1:08:07] see that difference, in other words, how much are we, are we paying above what they get

[1:08:11] from other sources to, to, to make that overall price? I think that would be helpful.

[1:08:16] you know, if we just, uh, just to that point, if you guys could just provide us, and

[1:08:20] this should have, this is all in excel, right? All the different department by department

[1:08:24] breakdown of the adopted budget.

[1:08:28] it's contained within the, uh, the city's financial system. Mm-hmm . Right?

[1:08:33] so if that can be broken out, like in this kind of, uh,

[1:08:37] format, and if there can be an additional line, like I just opened

[1:08:41] it up, 1 6 6 nutrition fund, and you have the fya and this

[1:08:45] how, how it appears organized. I'm 90% sure this is excel. So you have fy 24, you have

[1:08:50] fy 25 adopted, which should be actual, but that's okay by now. Um,

[1:08:54] and fy 26 adopted. Um, and

[1:08:58] then if, and then we could on our own, create an fy 27.

[1:09:02] and then if, if you guys gave us the inputs or we start from zero and

[1:09:07] then build from there. If, if we can have that to play around with some

[1:09:11] of this, I think that would be, that would be helpful. Okay. Okay. Down here.

[1:09:18] uh, thank you to the public, thank you to staff for compiling this and putting it

[1:09:22] together. I know we have a lot of things going on at the city at this particular moment.

[1:09:27] and so squeezing this in the daytime, I know it's something unusual, but

[1:09:31] considering, uh, everything we have going on, uh, it, it, it was the only thing

[1:09:35] we could fit in. And I appreciate everybody making time to do hopefully numerous,

[1:09:40] uh, budget workshops, which are very important. And so, um,

[1:09:44] I do echo the sentiment to my colleagues and going into a new

[1:09:48] approach to dealing with our budget. And, um, we've been discussing

[1:09:53] the zero based budget process, uh, one that is looking more at

[1:09:57] the actuals instead of constant projections, um, as

[1:10:01] something that we should probably change in our city because we seem to go by last

[1:10:05] year's projections. And the projections before that. And

[1:10:10] what we've noticed over the last 10 years is that the projections have been wrong

[1:10:14] oftentimes, uh, in incredibly conservative. And so

[1:10:18] I wanna go over some of the presentation right now and then I'll come back to that point at the end.

[1:10:22] but can you go, uh, to the page where we cover the property tax on

[1:10:26] page five? Is that it? Yeah.

[1:10:30] there we go. Thank you. So, um,

[1:10:34] the property tax in particular, does that account for new

[1:10:39] property that has been built and there's a new tax assessment for

[1:10:43] that property in the city, is that considered part of the

[1:10:48] property tax revenue that we get when a home is, when a home is sold, yes. When

[1:10:52] there's when, uh, the owner gets a property tax bill due.

[1:10:56] right? That's what makes up the property tax. It was, if it was an empty lot and then

[1:11:00] suddenly somebody built 20 units on it, then, then

[1:11:05] they're paying property off of those new units that are, that are built in the city. Correct.

[1:11:09] once it's assessed, yes. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Affordable.

[1:11:14] and what about development impact fees? Where do they land on this

[1:11:20] in terms of where does that revenue come? So like if a project, they're gonna pay development impact fees,

[1:11:24] where does, where does that go? They fall outside the general fund. Where do they fall?

[1:11:28] they have their own development impact fee fund. I see.

[1:11:33] not part of the general fund, not part of the discussion, obviously. And okay. That's correct. Okay.

[1:11:37] just curious. Um, uh, when it comes

[1:11:41] to changing over to the slide when we're talking about, uh,

[1:11:46] staff time, I have it as slide number eight, but I think I have last,

[1:11:51] uh, yeah, there we go. I'm sorry. Yeah.

[1:11:55] so is there a way we can, um, because we did go over some of the actuals

[1:11:59] with individual staff members and realize that over time is

[1:12:04] considerable, but can we go over, we've had a,

[1:12:08] um, uh, big issue of human trafficking in our city and, and

[1:12:12] I know our pd or human trafficking task force have been working diligently on this.

[1:12:17] I, uh, did a ride along, uh, just this week and, uh, definitely,

[1:12:22] um, see the frustration in, in making sure we address this issue and

[1:12:26] it's costing our city a lot of money. And so we wanna make sure how much

[1:12:30] is that, is there a way we can get that breakdown for the next workshop?

[1:12:36] I'm, I'm sorry, what, what is the, uh, overtime cost relating to human

[1:12:40] trafficking in our city? I'll, I'll, uh, perhaps our police chief

[1:12:44] or somebody from our police department could field that question.

[1:12:51] , I, I, I will definitely have the breakdown for you.

[1:12:55] I, I was just overlooking it now. Uh, one of the challenges that we have,

[1:13:00] and ron's here with me today is, um,

[1:13:04] some of it is reimbursable that goes back to the city. Mm-hmm . But some of

[1:13:08] the operations I would have to categorize as overtime

[1:13:12] special events or, uh, whatever category we use. But

[1:13:17] it is substantial when I'm looking over these numbers. Yeah.

[1:13:21] yeah. I did see the jump in, uh, pd over time, but I know that some

[1:13:25] of that is related to that. So it's important to kind of differentiate even when we don't

[1:13:29] get reimbursed, how much is this issue causing us? And it's

[1:13:33] important that we work with our state legislators to hopefully get some of that, uh, be

[1:13:38] reimbursed. 'cause ultimately this is a regional issue. We happen to be at

[1:13:42] the epicenter regionally, um, as a result of, of, um,

[1:13:47] uh, some installations near our city. And so I think it's important for us to

[1:13:51] continue to make that argument and bring in revenue. Um, if our pd is,

[1:13:56] is accruing additional overtime and making sure that they're tackling this

[1:14:00] issue, we need to make sure that we get reimbursed for that as we continue to address it. So

[1:14:04] I definitely look forward to those numbers. And, uh, similar for pd,

[1:14:09] uh, sorry for fire, is it possible to get, uh, overtime numbers, I

[1:14:13] know a lot of our, a lot of our fire, uh, uh, go statewide

[1:14:17] to fight fires, , is there a way to get some of those

[1:14:21] overtime costs kind of, um, accounted for? Uh,

[1:14:25] yeah, absolutely. We actually had been looking at overtime closely for the past three

[1:14:30] years. So we have a very accurate breakdown on where each one of those

[1:14:34] overtimes categories, uh, is, is set apart. And we can certainly provide that

[1:14:38] to you. I appreciate it. 'cause I know it isn't just the person that is leaving, right?

[1:14:42] so if a crew leaves of four, like at the palisades, you left to the palisades

[1:14:46] with a crew of four or 5, 4, 4, it, it, it also meant that,

[1:14:51] um, our own stations were understaffed and as a result needed

[1:14:55] to have overtime. Is that, that is somewhat accurate.

[1:14:59] so the, the way that it works, if I may explain, uh, real briefly, as the engine goes to

[1:15:04] an any incident on a mutual aid call, yeah. We are reimbursed at

[1:15:08] a hundred percent for each one of those members that leave. So the overtime costs are,

[1:15:12] are, are reimbursed to the city at a hundred percent. And on top of that, the city

[1:15:17] makes an administrative fee on top of that, currently 24.6%.

[1:15:21] okay. But, um, uh, yeah, we can certainly give you a, a

[1:15:25] detailed expenditure of every overtime category and can answer all those

[1:15:29] questions for you. Yeah, I appreciate that. Definitely looking forward to the, to the breakdown. And I know

[1:15:34] our officers are first in line, always signing up to helping fight,

[1:15:38] uh, fires throughout the state. So thank you for, thank you for that work. And I also echo

[1:15:42] the sentiments of, um, uh, colleague bush. Uh, when it comes to the mayor council

[1:15:47] budget, again, it is this kind of same approach that we seem to have

[1:15:51] just going off of projections year to year. And the reason I know that, that is the

[1:15:55] case is because just this last year, I believe we approved, um, the mayor's

[1:15:59] assistant to go from executive to management.

[1:16:04] and, and that should have at least changed the preliminary budget, but

[1:16:08] it didn't. And so we need to make sure that we do a zero based

[1:16:12] approach. Where are we in now? Where's the actual now? And go off of that instead of going through last year's

[1:16:16] and the year before. That's projection. So just the observation,

[1:16:20] um, I, I dunno what page this is on, on mine, it's 11.

[1:16:25] uh, I'm looking at the nutrition fund. And this

[1:16:29] is a conversation that's hard for me to constantly have because

[1:16:33] every time we have a difficulty in the city, and it's been, I mean, every

[1:16:37] time since I've followed the city, you have about 12 years now, 13 years.

[1:16:42] and we always talk about cutting programs that, uh, uh, people

[1:16:46] that need the most absolutely need. And I, I go to

[1:16:50] the nutrition center, uh, often and I could tell you folks are desperate

[1:16:54] to just eat. And oftentimes it's their only meal, um, especially those

[1:16:58] that are being delivered food. And so I would be, um,

[1:17:02] very considerate of those funding, uh, of that funding. But also,

[1:17:07] uh, I do have a question for staff. Have we applied for additional county grants? And are

[1:17:11] there opportunities for that to happen?

[1:17:15] uh, thank you council member for that. That question. I know we've talked in the past about there's a

[1:17:19] potential funding with, um, like the community enhancement grant. Um, but at this point

[1:17:23] we're, we're still trying to see, um, kind of like where

[1:17:28] we're at with the budget and how we can kind of restrict, um, or what kind of direction we're

[1:17:32] gonna get from you all. Because if we are currently going

[1:17:36] forward with our current model where we're just opening it up to the rest of the county, it's, it's

[1:17:40] kind of getting to be un unsustainable. And so if we were to like,

[1:17:44] apply for another grant that again, restricts us to that same parameter, um,

[1:17:49] then it's, it's probably not gonna help. It's probably gonna make it even worse. 'cause right now we're actually,

[1:17:53] um, restricting it. We've, we didn't have a cap before and

[1:17:57] now we've actually finally put in a cap for our numbers. Um, it just, I don't know if food insecurity

[1:18:02] kicked in or, or if just the word got out that the food at the nutrition center is really

[1:18:06] a lot better than other, um, centers . But our numbers were up to like 400

[1:18:10] at one point, and that just wasn't what we budgeted. Um, so staff

[1:18:15] did a good job of, of finding a, a good point to kind of like put a

[1:18:19] cap at. Um, but we still are getting a lot of non-residents that are coming.

[1:18:23] and so that's what we, we need to kind of figure out and get some better direct or more direction on

[1:18:28] how it could look, how it could look like if we did scale it back. And if it was gonna just be for

[1:18:32] residents before we go out for another grant that could tie us to be, again,

[1:18:36] it could be more cost exorbitant than, um, than what we're making. 'cause most,

[1:18:40] most, uh, cities that have this grant, they're not actually, I can't think

[1:18:44] of a single city that is fully subsidized by this grant. Everybody has,

[1:18:48] has to pay, um, as part of when you put in the grant proposal that you

[1:18:52] are gonna offset some of these costs. Um, so it's a, it's a great question. I know

[1:18:56] you'd actually connected us, um, with, with the community enhancement grant is potential

[1:19:01] and we're still kind of waiting to see how this outcome is gonna come. Have we applied for those grants?

[1:19:06] uh, no. And again, it was all based off of this direction that was coming up because we knew there could be

[1:19:10] some cuts and not knowing what, what that would look like. We didn't want, again,

[1:19:14] tie us to a new, um, requirement, um, if we were

[1:19:18] gonna reduce, reduce our services, if that makes any sense. It doesn't. I, okay.

[1:19:22] yes. Lemme just give scenario. I just give some state to not apply for county funds that would bring in revenue

[1:19:27] to address a problem that we all see is only getting worse. Right. Food

[1:19:31] insecurity is a regional issue. So I do think it's important for us to apply to as

[1:19:35] many grants as possible. Yeah. Some of these grants though, I will say, if they have these strings

[1:19:39] attached to them where we have to keep feeding more people, that's, that's where the, that's

[1:19:44] where it's gonna be cost prohibitive for us to try to apply for more grants when we just can't.

[1:19:48] the problem is, um, the dining room is so small, you can only, you fit

[1:19:52] like a little, a little bit more than a hundred people. And to get people within just a couple of hours,

[1:19:56] we really shouldn't have been serving that many people. Um, it's supposed to be a congregate

[1:20:01] setting where they actually have time to sit down, enjoy a meal and socialize. Um, so,

[1:20:05] so that's where the kind of the problem is. We, we can't keep getting more and more money,

[1:20:09] um, without kind of having a, a little bit better direction and seeing like where we,

[1:20:13] where we need to go and where we can go with, with this, uh, with this program. So I think we're

[1:20:17] gonna get there very soon, this next month from your leadership and, um,

[1:20:21] knowing like what it could look like different scenarios, we could definitely, at that

[1:20:25] time I think we'd be ready to apply for another grant. Um, but we just kind of need to

[1:20:29] know where we're headed. How long has the nutrition center been open? Do we know? Gosh,

[1:20:34] I don't know. It's been over over two decades, I believe. Yeah, I would imagine. I think that sounds

[1:20:38] right. It's been a long time. Yeah. And it has been a staple to our community. And so

[1:20:42] again, I realize that times are tough, but times are tougher for people

[1:20:46] that go there to actually get a meal. And so I, I know we had this

[1:20:51] specific conversation last year, but I, I would encourage all of us, and I've been in conversations

[1:20:55] with, um, county supervisor aguire to bring in some additional

[1:20:59] grants. I know we all have relationships with other in, uh, uh, organizations as

[1:21:03] well. But I do think it's imperative to continue to fund the program, especially

[1:21:07] the delivery portion, because those are individuals, uh, that

[1:21:12] are seniors that cannot drive. And oftentimes they're caring for a loved one

[1:21:16] that is sick, that is old, that can't move. And so anyw who

[1:21:20] I, I just wanna reiterate that real quick. Uh, um, if I may, uh, councilman rodriguez.

[1:21:24] so I agree with you, especially this spirit, it just integral, I think in principle, I hope we are a city

[1:21:29] that, uh, does and acts exactly how you're saying. So

[1:21:33] we should protect and prioritize the most vulnerable,

[1:21:37] uh, a thousand percent. And I want to make sure to protect, uh, this program as much

[1:21:41] as possible. So I don't see it as a giveaway. I don't see it as charity. I, I, I do see it as

[1:21:45] like very valuable for, for our city. I for me, the,

[1:21:50] the nuance, like what I, from, I think the information or the data

[1:21:54] or the applying the grants, I would like to know

[1:21:58] whether, um, the county grant,

[1:22:03] um, if in getting that, if

[1:22:07] it kind of the strings that are attached, such as requiring that, that be

[1:22:11] open countywide, if I'd be interested in some kind

[1:22:15] of analysis from staff, if that, if that doesn't cover those costs

[1:22:19] versus if it would be better to just prioritize national city. Because as much as

[1:22:23] I, I do, and you know, I don't really care about these jurisdictional

[1:22:27] boundaries that much, to be honest. But just with, at least for this next year or two years

[1:22:31] while we're in a crisis, then at least let's narrow that to let's do

[1:22:36] a study and, and see if this county funding,

[1:22:40] if it really does cover the cost of expansion, if that juice is even worth the squeeze. 'cause otherwise

[1:22:44] we could just, we might be able to just completely fund it in-house and, and save

[1:22:48] money. And I, I would also be leery, I guess, of,

[1:22:52] uh, overreliance on the county because they're going through a lot of budget issues too.

[1:22:57] so I just don't even know if that even is a sustainable, uh, pot

[1:23:01] of funding. I, I appreciate that. And I think those are valid points. I think my frustration

[1:23:05] is considering our, uh, fiscal position, we still did not apply

[1:23:09] for the grants because the idea was, hey, leave it up to council to decide whether or not

[1:23:13] they want to continue to support this program. That to me, is problematic. I think if

[1:23:17] there's grants available for the fiscal year, I think we should apply for them and go for them. You know, I, okay, I

[1:23:21] see your point. I I agree with that. I agree with that. That makes sense. Yes, I, I agree with that. Because then,

[1:23:25] and then we should apply and then, and then if we decide not to, then we

[1:23:30] have our conversation, not leave money at the table. I second that. Yeah, I agree with that.

[1:23:34] I'm, I'm down for the conversation. I just do think we need to take advantage as much as we can. Oh, and if I could just add one

[1:23:38] thing, sorry. Council member. Yeah. Um, we did not get

[1:23:42] a grant, um, like a few years ago when it was time to re-up the grant. And

[1:23:46] you'll, so you'll look, you'll see, uh, fy 24, we had, um, 600,000

[1:23:50] in county grants. And then the next fiscal year, fiscal year 25,

[1:23:54] it drops down to 3 79. And that's because we, um, had changed in the changeover

[1:23:59] in the department. And there's some confusion. They didn't get the home meal delivery,

[1:24:03] uh, grant. So we're about $220,000, like from

[1:24:07] fy 24 to fy 25. That is a reduction. I don't

[1:24:11] know what that grant would've looked like in fy 25 'cause it should have been more. 'cause each year they

[1:24:15] usually give us an increase. Um, so there is that grant that's part of the county,

[1:24:19] but you, once these grants come out, it's a five year process before you can reapply again.

[1:24:24] so this grant's gonna run out in 2028. So then we just need two more years to

[1:24:28] get through. So right now, the home meal delivery program is totally out of outta the drill fund.

[1:24:32] we don't get any, uh, county grant reimbursement, but, but most cities do get that

[1:24:36] reimbursed. Um, and again, just it was a change in leadership in the department

[1:24:41] here that we didn't get that grant. Um, I'm not aware of any city,

[1:24:45] any agency in the county that it has any other grant, um, has

[1:24:49] any other funding than what we have right now. So we have all the funding that other cities

[1:24:53] have, and I'm just not familiar with any other program that's out there. And we

[1:24:57] just got notified last week from the county that, not this fiscal year, but the next fiscal

[1:25:01] year is when they're gonna have reduction in funding. We think that's because of changes in

[1:25:06] the federal administration that had been coming for a while. Now they're finally trickle down into this, uh, federal grant.

[1:25:10] um, but I hear you, sir. If we have any funding available, we'll definitely make sure,

[1:25:14] uh, we're going for that. I appreciate it. We appreciate all your support. Thank you.

[1:25:19] looking at another page, I believe it's page 13, uh, there

[1:25:23] was a general liability insurance question. There was a concern.

[1:25:27] I do echo the symptoms to my colleagues and our attorney in getting a breakdown of that.

[1:25:31] I do find it important and it feel, if my numbers are correct, does

[1:25:35] that look like a 50% increase, which is significant from year to year.

[1:25:40] and so I think it's important to, it's not 50, but it's around 38. Okay. 38

[1:25:45] . I'm not a mathematician, but it, it was a significant increase of 1.3 million.

[1:25:49] so I do think it's important for us to have that broken down.

[1:25:54] um, uh, can we look at, uh, the

[1:25:58] vehicle replacement charge? So earlier

[1:26:02] there was a discussion of not increasing

[1:26:07] from last year's budget, but this is an increase in last year's budget.

[1:26:11] but I have assumptions myself, but I I am only assuming.

[1:26:15] so can, can you kind of, can we look into that for next, next,

[1:26:19] um, budget discussion? And, and this might just be that there's

[1:26:23] cycles. I I get it. But is there a reason why there's a,

[1:26:27] a substantial increase? We'll, we'll have the full details in budget workshop too.

[1:26:32] okay. I appreciate it. Um, and then can we go over the general

[1:26:36] fund vacancy snapshot?

[1:26:45] uh, um, this is also, I think a reason,

[1:26:49] as my colleagues mentioned, to go into a new budgeting process

[1:26:53] because we do have this idea of, you know, aspiring to

[1:26:58] hire all these positions and sometimes these petition, these positions are rotating, right? So,

[1:27:02] so, um, when we say, you know, uh, uh,

[1:27:07] we, we project a budget deficit of x amount of millions of dollars, that's assuming that all these

[1:27:11] positions are filled, but they're not filled, right? So many of these positions are open,

[1:27:15] they're vacant, they're, we're constantly bringing people in, right? Because

[1:27:20] we have natural turnover within the organization. And so that's something

[1:27:24] that I think we need to be more considerate of when we are thinking of,

[1:27:28] uh, uh, or when we're discussing, uh, our budget. Because

[1:27:33] this is assuming that, that we are at 100% capacity the

[1:27:37] entire time. And I look, I just looked at last year's budget. Last year's budget included 22

[1:27:42] positions, right? And, and I don't know, it, it, it, it looks like the

[1:27:46] same positions as last year. So I don't know how many more were added

[1:27:51] and how much more was added. I think it was a total of 1 million more than last year.

[1:27:55] but, um, any who, so just a, just an observation of

[1:27:59] us maybe needing to go through a different process in order to account

[1:28:04] for this within our unassigned general fund balance, uh, depletion.

[1:28:08] because that's how it is painted to us. Like, like, we're gonna use all these

[1:28:13] funds, but we're, we know we're not, right? Because we haven't last year or the year before, or the year before.

[1:28:17] so I think, I think it's important to account for that. Mm-hmm.

[1:28:21] um, and then can we go over the, uh, oh wait, jose, if I may, um, on,

[1:28:25] on that note, like for example, and I saw this on, um, police, uh,

[1:28:29] on the fy 26 adopted budget. I think I saw it on police budget. Do we, do we have an

[1:28:34] assistant police chief? It's a frozen

[1:28:38] position, and you guys are right, you know, looking at some of these numbers,

[1:28:42] you know, there's some that, that have, I show

[1:28:47] a couple of higher numbers than, than the ones that we have here. So, but yeah,

[1:28:51] to, to answer your question, it's been frozen and, and paul, uh, already

[1:28:55] removed that from the process. Yeah. Council member, the, I, I reviewed the

[1:28:59] list and assistant police chief was frozen. Uh,

[1:29:03] I also assumed we weren't gonna operate without a, uh, a city manager,

[1:29:07] which is technically vacant or a city attorney, which is technically

[1:29:12] vacant. So those were, uh, or director of finance, you assumed those

[1:29:16] because it's, are you here the status quo and you were just being consistent with applying the

[1:29:20] status quo? I, I didn't, I didn't include them on this list because

[1:29:24] I assumed that we would fill the city manager. I assumed that we would fill the city. Oh, oh, I get,

[1:29:28] oh, got you. Okay. So, but, but for assistant police chief, for example,

[1:29:33] you dropped it off because it was, the decision was made not to include it. So

[1:29:37] that, that's why it wasn't, because there's no funding, there's already no funding

[1:29:41] included for the position in fy 27. Got it. Okay. So there would be

[1:29:45] no savings. Great. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:29:49] can we also look at the, um, unassigned general fund balance slide?

[1:30:01] there we go. So, so the projected ending unassigned general

[1:30:05] fund balance for fy 25, that means this june 30th,

[1:30:12] that was last june, june 30th of, uh, june 30th,

[1:30:16] last year, 25. Yeah. That, and that number was, uh, what was presented

[1:30:20] to counsel in december. Correct. Okay. And

[1:30:24] the projected ending unassigned balance by this june would be 13, but

[1:30:29] we don't, I haven't seen the actuals. I know that there might've been an email go out, but

[1:30:34] do we know the, the, the actual, now, the thir, the 13.1

[1:30:39] is start with the 23.4, and then that,

[1:30:44] uh, the le the projected deficit of 2026 is what was

[1:30:48] presented to council on april 21st. Correct. That's

[1:30:52] the projected deficit for the, for, uh, this current fiscal year. So

[1:30:56] we project and fy 26

[1:31:00] at 13.1 million, uh, unassigned fund balance.

[1:31:05] okay. And then from there, the, uh, you know, just the preliminary

[1:31:09] 27 budget is, uh, 16.1 million mm-hmm .

[1:31:14] yeah. Again, I, I think we need to have actuals for this,

[1:31:18] because I'm looking at, for example, last year's

[1:31:23] projections. I'm looking at last year's budget that was presented to us

[1:31:27] may 8th. And, and the nu numbers are very similar

[1:31:31] to projections. Um, it also states we're having

[1:31:35] a $8 million deficit for the next projected

[1:31:40] year and a $3.3 million deficit for that fiscal year. But, but

[1:31:44] that fiscal year was not a 3.3 budget deficit. And,

[1:31:48] and I wanna see the actuals, you know, because I, I don't believe to,

[1:31:53] I don't believe this actual number, because that has not been historically the case in our city. So

[1:31:59] council member, are you referring to the 25 actuals? Correct.

[1:32:03] uh, that, that is still unaudited? Yep. Okay.

[1:32:08] well, I, I do think it's important for us to, to, to look at, at

[1:32:12] actuals because we make, um, a lot of projections. And look,

[1:32:16] I've been following the city for 12, 13 years now, and it's been the

[1:32:20] same conversation over and over and over again. And, you

[1:32:24] know, I think, I think it, um, uh, it just leads to

[1:32:29] a sense of frustration because it, it comes from a perspective that I think is like a scarcity

[1:32:33] mentality that seeps into every one of our departments. So we feel like the

[1:32:37] money's gonna be gone, and then we should actually fight for a position because we want

[1:32:41] to fill it, and then we leave that position open for years because we think there's not gonna

[1:32:45] be any revenue. I think it's, I think it's really an approach that we have towards our city

[1:32:49] that makes it very difficult for us to continue to operate. And I think we need to

[1:32:54] have a new approach to look at our budget, seeing actuals, seeing what

[1:32:58] we actually need going forward, uh, and budget accordingly and,

[1:33:02] and, uh, and, and make the decisions, have those conversations. But there, there's just a

[1:33:06] deep frustration with the process that has continued over, over the last

[1:33:10] decade. And, and I understand the need for us to be conservative when it comes to our budgeting,

[1:33:15] and oftentimes projections are, are, when it comes to revenue, are much higher. But,

[1:33:19] um, at the same time, we need to be realistic as we're making decisions, because

[1:33:24] I don't believe the point of a government is to just continue to have

[1:33:28] humongous reserve balances and not utilize them for community when our

[1:33:33] community needs them. So an example of that playing out now, right? It,

[1:33:37] it, you know, I get it. We need to constantly, uh, fight to, to

[1:33:41] save money, but, but it's difficult for me to make that moral argument when there's

[1:33:45] people that are struggling to make ends meet, that wanna go to the nutrition center and

[1:33:49] get a meal, and we're saying, no, we don't have money for you. Right? That is the

[1:33:54] kind of, um, um, what is it called? Um,

[1:33:58] kind of ethical conundrum that I deal with, right? So we need

[1:34:02] to make sure that we try to take care of everybody in our city, and that means having the actual

[1:34:06] numbers for us as we go forward. Um,

[1:34:11] that's it. Those are all my comments. Thank you, mayor. Follow through? Yes. Thank you, mayor.

[1:34:15] um, I have touched the expenditures. Um, for my first comment,

[1:34:20] I would like to delve on the revenue right now. Um, you know, for

[1:34:24] the other revenues that are, um, um, here,

[1:34:29] I have requested the manager to have a breakdown of it. Um,

[1:34:33] you know, I mean, and define, you know, I mean, um, this,

[1:34:37] this, uh, revenue, um, uh, generating, um,

[1:34:42] programs that we have. Mm-hmm. Um, I would also like to see,

[1:34:46] you know, I mean the other services, um, like our

[1:34:51] towing services, our land rental income, I think

[1:34:55] those are the assets that we have, um,

[1:35:00] to revisit. Um, because we know

[1:35:04] that, um, there are opportunities there that we can,

[1:35:08] that we can, um, benefit from, um, the

[1:35:12] overtime reimbursement. Um, you know, I mean, that was defined last time, hopefully

[1:35:17] can be defined, um, better. This, this school district, um,

[1:35:22] uh, 408, this is ncpd. Um, so

[1:35:26] these are the two school resource officers that, um,

[1:35:31] you know, I mean, basically it's coming through the, uh,

[1:35:35] general fund, but it's really, you know, I

[1:35:39] mean, expensed by the pd because it's paid for by the

[1:35:43] school district. So, um, I don't wanna touch that

[1:35:47] away from the pd because we need those, um, those

[1:35:51] resource officers. I'd like to delve onto the, uh, other

[1:35:55] revenues more defined, please. And I would like to request,

[1:36:00] um, city manager, I failed to request this from you earlier. Um,

[1:36:04] all our enterprise funds, uh, that we have, uh, that covers vehicle

[1:36:09] replacement, um, all the funds that we have, uh, I

[1:36:13] know that we have those, I know these are all reflected via the,

[1:36:17] uh, general fund, but I know that we have other, um,

[1:36:21] enterprise funds that covers, um, you know, I mean those,

[1:36:25] those other, um, like for example, there are staff

[1:36:30] that are covered through hud. Um, you know, those are funds that we have. They're

[1:36:34] called enterprise funds. That, that we can, why

[1:36:38] do we not have this here? Because it's covered by this.

[1:36:42] I think those will you, I mean, will make my colleagues here

[1:36:47] understand where those funds are coming from. So if you will just,

[1:36:51] um, uh, break down or identify all the funds that

[1:36:55] we have within the city, so then they know that, or, or

[1:36:59] we all know that we have some funds, like you said, oh, we need two,

[1:37:03] we need 675 or 2.2 million for library.

[1:37:08] but there is a library fund that is, um, covering

[1:37:12] some of those. And I think identifying those and what is the,

[1:37:16] what is the number, um, currently as of, you know, I mean,

[1:37:20] whatever it is, you know, I mean, report as of march 31st,

[1:37:24] then we will have an idea, um, on how we can,

[1:37:28] um, you know, I mean, we can, um,

[1:37:32] allocate some other funds, um, towards the general fund.

[1:37:36] um, I, I, uh, I have all those.

[1:37:41] I think, um, you know, I'm in city manager and

[1:37:45] city attorney had, um, you know, I mean, received

[1:37:49] all my, um, all my requests, um, with

[1:37:53] regards to those, um, breakdowns and, and,

[1:37:57] um, definition, um, to, to,

[1:38:01] um, to, for, for all this revenue to be defined. Um,

[1:38:06] um, so then it will be, um, clearer. And then we, we

[1:38:10] can be, you know, I mean, there is no questions. Thank you, mayor.

[1:38:16] thank you, mayor. Uh, quick question. Is there a reason why the, uh,

[1:38:20] potential revenue opportunities page wasn't included on this presentation?

[1:38:24] I think it was for last time. I can speak to that.

[1:38:29] so this is an iterative approach. So the whole idea

[1:38:33] of having two budget workshops is to get a big picture of our projected

[1:38:37] expenditures and revenues. And then the second budget workshop is gonna be

[1:38:41] a deeper dive into these revenue initiatives and opportunities. Um,

[1:38:46] you know, one of the things I want to clarify is, you know, over

[1:38:50] the, the previous months and weeks, uh, you know, your finance

[1:38:54] team has done an excellent job working with the individual departments to

[1:38:58] address and ultimately present what you will see at the next budget

[1:39:03] workshop. A lot of what you're asking for, so I I, I just want to, I, I

[1:39:07] want to clarify that, um, this was, uh,

[1:39:11] an initial budget workshop. We didn't want to come to you with 50 slides

[1:39:15] that covered every single account that the city has access to. So, as an

[1:39:19] example, um, part of what the staff are looking at department

[1:39:24] by department is how are we using to council member yi's,

[1:39:28] uh, question, um, some of our enterprise funds,

[1:39:32] um, and how do we maximize the use of those funds to offset,

[1:39:37] uh, general fund expenditures? So I'll just give an example. Like, if we look at

[1:39:41] a maintenance worker on our sewer crew, a hundred

[1:39:45] percent of, of, of their salary and es is funded through the sewer enterprise

[1:39:49] fund. So we have asked staff to go back and revisit that, whether

[1:39:54] it's housing, whether it's, it's our, our sewer fund that is

[1:39:58] part of, when we talked about a strategic approach. Um,

[1:40:02] we have to revisit that and make sure what, if there is a position in

[1:40:06] the city, maybe there's an operational shift where

[1:40:10] now we can justify using 50% of that staff salary to

[1:40:15] one of these enterprise funds. So what you guys are gonna get at the next budget

[1:40:19] workshop is each one of our directors are gonna present about their department.

[1:40:23] and in mr. Pachecos case, he, he's responsible for overseeing the

[1:40:27] nutrition center operations. He's gonna give you options.

[1:40:31] um, and I can assure you that what they are looking at are,

[1:40:35] um, right sizing services to the community. So we don't have to cut services.

[1:40:40] they are, each department is always looking at grant opportunities.

[1:40:45] and, um, part of that, as mr. Pacheco said is, are there restrictions

[1:40:49] or are some discretionary where we should be aggressively getting after funding?

[1:40:54] 'cause there aren't restrictions. We will be working with the departments on those.

[1:40:58] um, you know, again, as we move through the budget process. But a lot has already

[1:41:02] started, um, over the last couple months. And I think a lot of your

[1:41:06] questions will get answered at this second budget workshop. I, I appreciate

[1:41:10] that. And, um, one of the things I would be interested in

[1:41:14] knowing is which ones of these fees are insourcing or,

[1:41:19] or quote unquote taxes or economic development, which ones are these are able

[1:41:23] to occur through, um, uh, council directive and which ones would

[1:41:27] have to go through a ballot initiative? Um, and then,

[1:41:31] you know, if we can commit to working on some of those or prioritize some of those,

[1:41:35] I think that would be, that would be good for us as well. Thank you.

[1:41:44] I'm sorry. There it is. Uh, couple of things. Uh, one of the things that was talked about was on

[1:41:48] zero based approach. And I, I would like to see eventually, uh, for staff

[1:41:52] to come back with a concept of that, uh, realistically,

[1:41:57] we really can't consider that for this one. Uh, I mean, we gotta present

[1:42:01] a, a balanced budget and a whole budget next month. And so,

[1:42:05] uh, that's just kind of impossible to completely change our, uh, the whole format

[1:42:10] within that shorter period of time. Um, but as say, I think we ought to be looking at

[1:42:14] that policy for this next fiscal year and, and because it's gonna take a lot of preparation

[1:42:18] to get to take a look and see if we want to take that approach and then to take that approach.

[1:42:22] why mayor? Huh? Why, why are you answering for them? Why

[1:42:26] am I answering them? Yes. Why are you answering for the, uh, finance finance? Um, I'm

[1:42:30] not answering though. I'm answering for me. No, we're you're saying that we cannot do a zero approach right now

[1:42:34] if you have the actual yes, you can. That's the direction that the city manager

[1:42:38] will have to make. Okay. I'm gonna, city manager's got his hand up and then I'm gonna go back. Okay.

[1:42:43] again, I think there's a misconception

[1:42:47] that as part of our process, they're not looking at actuals. They absolutely

[1:42:52] are looking at actuals. Yes, we have actuals through third quarter now. And,

[1:42:56] uh, again, I'll use the staff vacancy slide, um, as

[1:43:00] an example. Um, there's about 4 million, at least in that snapshot,

[1:43:04] $4 million that is currently in the budget that is presented

[1:43:09] to you tonight. Assuming all those get filled again, um,

[1:43:13] you're starting to, um, take a more str we

[1:43:17] are taking a more strategic look so that when we come back to you at the next budget workshop,

[1:43:22] I can tell you there, some of these are going to be recommended to be frozen. And

[1:43:26] now you are going to see how that, uh, reduces

[1:43:30] the impact to the general fund. Mm-hmm . So give us that opportunity to second

[1:43:34] workshop. I do think we're making progress towards getting our

[1:43:38] budget process to where you want to see it go. And I, I do believe you're

[1:43:43] gonna see a lot more detail in, in, in a strategic approach

[1:43:47] with numbers to show how we start to reduce, um,

[1:43:51] what I know you're considering to be a conservative budget by taking a deep dive

[1:43:55] into services, into vacancies and then into,

[1:43:59] um, more realistic revenues that we may actually be able to

[1:44:04] get within the next 12 months. Yep. Yep. Um,

[1:44:08] yeah. And as I say, the workload is gonna be heavy over these next few weeks. And plus

[1:44:12] we got a few other things on our agendas and meetings, uh, including, you

[1:44:16] know, city manager interviews and all these other fun, fun things. Uh, so

[1:44:21] it's gonna be a jam packed few, few weeks in the next couple weeks. Um, another

[1:44:25] thing is when we, you know, there's been a lot of discussion about overtime. If we

[1:44:29] are wanting to see overtime by department, what I would like to see is what are

[1:44:33] the reimbursements, in other words, for total amounts. Uh, and, and

[1:44:38] so, so in other words, if you say, I'll just say million dollars in overtime, well, how much of that million

[1:44:42] dollars that total amount was reimbursed, uh, and I'll use the example

[1:44:46] 'cause everyone keeps wanting to, the fire's kind of a complicated one, but I'm gonna use july 4th.

[1:44:52] july 4th, we have police and park and, and, uh, public works on overtime.

[1:44:56] well, that's in their budget. And so, but how much, how much

[1:45:00] was that re how much of that was reimbursed so that we see, um, you know,

[1:45:05] what the actual cost was to the city? And I think that's what

[1:45:09] we really want to get to the, uh, and mayor, I, I think that's a great, uh, example.

[1:45:13] and if I may jump in on that, and that's where there is the more difficult

[1:45:17] conversation that's gonna take, I think more time is so, so in those

[1:45:22] overtime things that we know are coming, do they have to be overtime? So can our pd,

[1:45:26] whether it's fire, whether it's public works, I don't care which department it is, where can

[1:45:30] you shift staff around instead of just the expectation of overtime,

[1:45:34] where can be, there can be, um, staff adjustments,

[1:45:39] enhancements. We used to have, um, a really strong senior patrol.

[1:45:43] we used to have more of a

[1:45:48] cadets that were kind of enhancing that. Maybe it's existing staff. So how can we be

[1:45:52] creative about that? Like, again, that's where I'm really looking for in that second

[1:45:56] workshop to kind of, that's why I would like to see those, those details. And there's a cost of those things

[1:46:01] also. And, but still, but it's still at the same time, um, you

[1:46:05] know, we don't wanna say, okay, shall we say public works? Public works. You come spend so many hours and

[1:46:09] july 4th, so during the week, don't do your work here. And so you, so we're

[1:46:13] gonna do work for an outside, for another group, you know, we have to be careful, you know, what our primary

[1:46:17] core mission is. And then when we step outside of that core mission,

[1:46:21] and then we charge others, you know, if we're doing something for, for another group, right?

[1:46:25] or it's like, maybe we don't need to cut the grass this week in this particular area. So

[1:46:30] I'm, I'm I, that's so just staff. So staff knows that's the kind of level of

[1:46:34] micro level that I would like you guys to go into. Like where, where

[1:46:38] can, where, where can there be creative, uh, solutions there also? Yeah,

[1:46:42] we do have de uh, developer impact fees. Diffs, our primary

[1:46:47] one is the one that we just increased, which was per housing unit or over $3,000

[1:46:51] per housing unit. If they're not affordable, affordable doesn't pay that. Uh,

[1:46:55] if they're not affordable, then you get, uh, over $3,000. But that money is

[1:47:00] designated for increased capacity on regional arterials.

[1:47:05] it is very specific in the, in the law. And so we can't just touch

[1:47:09] that for something else. So we have to look at, you know, what, uh, what strings there are on

[1:47:13] these different pots of money, uh, each for every one of them as we go through this. Another

[1:47:17] thing, we talk about the ups and downs over the last, uh, 10, 12 years. And

[1:47:21] we've always had these budgets, which are high, and then we come

[1:47:26] in where we spend a lot less. But we have to realize this

[1:47:30] budget that we've looked at for this last year, 25, 26, and now going

[1:47:34] into this year, is different than any of those other budgets. Why? Because

[1:47:39] of that big swing that was going on. The one big variable we have in like this

[1:47:43] year's budget, the one we're currently in, and this one coming up is,

[1:47:47] is those, uh, oh, the, uh, vacancies that

[1:47:51] we know is a swing, but the one we had in there before was cip.

[1:47:55] that was the huge one. So we had cip included,

[1:47:59] we might have a $3 million cip project, and this year we're only

[1:48:04] doing the, uh, some engineering work. So we only might only spend

[1:48:08] a half a million dollars of that $3 million. That means we saved two and a half million dollars. No,

[1:48:12] we didn't save anything. It falls over to the next year. And so now we've taken

[1:48:16] cip out of this, out of this current f 25, 26 budget

[1:48:21] and 26 27 budget, and the ongoing budgets, cip is no longer in there.

[1:48:26] so to say that we had those big swings, look at those years, and so therefore that's gonna

[1:48:30] happen. Now we're, we're giving the wrong information to the public and we need to be careful

[1:48:34] in how we do that. Um, the, uh, so what kind

[1:48:38] of information, mr. Mayor, that giving not right to the public?

[1:48:43] what kind, what I just, what kind of wrong information are we providing

[1:48:47] to the public? 'cause I don't like that statement. Okay. We are not providing

[1:48:51] anything that is wrong to the public. That's why we are here, right?

[1:48:55] we are giving direction like most especially to our city manager.

[1:49:00] so then he can direct all this to the directors, so then we can

[1:49:04] provide the correct information. So please don't

[1:49:08] say that we're not providing, that we are providing wrong information to the public. Okay? If you're

[1:49:12] finished, I just explained it, but I guess you didn't hear me, is that when

[1:49:17] we state that in those years, 10 to 12, 15, 20 years, in the last 20 years

[1:49:21] we've had these big swings. The difference between what the budget ends is

[1:49:25] because we had cip in there, we've taken cip out of there.

[1:49:30] so to, to put the claim is that to 25, 26.

[1:49:35] and the 26 27 budget is the same as those other budgets. It's

[1:49:39] not, it's widely different. So, so that big variable is taken out.

[1:49:43] the big variable we still have left in this budget right now as it exists,

[1:49:48] is that right there, the va vacancy rate, we know that's there because we're, if we are

[1:49:52] budgeting for a certain number of positions, we have to increase, we have to include those

[1:49:56] into the budget. Our question is, which one do we, are we really gonna do? And

[1:50:00] therefore should they be frozen or not? What the deal? But otherwise we're given out that bad information.

[1:50:05] mary, I, mary, I think that, so I think what you're referring to is earlier,

[1:50:09] um, I, I think jose said that, uh, he was

[1:50:14] talking about the swings in budgets. What I, I don't know that he was talking about that.

[1:50:18] I can't assume, but I, when I heard that, I was thinking of

[1:50:22] the swing and when the actuals come in versus what

[1:50:26] we're budgeted for, um, on the, um, revenue and the expenditure

[1:50:30] side. Like I've seen swings in that. So for me, that was what I think, um,

[1:50:35] my colleagues were, were talking about. At least that's what I was referring to, the cap not being there.

[1:50:39] you're right that that does, um, that's been, that's

[1:50:43] been fixed. So that's not gonna be, but that's not gonna be an issue moving forward. So, but that was the, that was the big part of

[1:50:47] the increase in revenue that we, that we showed that we weren't expending. That was

[1:50:51] some of it. It wasn't so that gone, it wasn't all of it. It was some of it, it, but not because most of our,

[1:50:56] most of our cis there's some nuance there. I think there's some nuance. That's why our public

[1:51:00] directors in city engineer had only requested for a million to provide

[1:51:04] for those, uh, those, uh, minor, uh, matches. But most

[1:51:09] of our projects, that's why I recommended to re to

[1:51:13] separate cip from our general fund. So then our general fund is not to,

[1:51:17] um, you know, infringed. So, you know, I mean, I see the,

[1:51:21] the swing, if you wanted me to use that word, you know, I mean to, to,

[1:51:26] uh, start with the zero base because of all these vacancies that has

[1:51:30] been there. Um, you know, I mean five or more years ago. So, um,

[1:51:34] you know, I mean, that, that is my comment there. Okay. Alright, mr. Mayor,

[1:51:38] I, I usually wouldn't comment on this, but I mean, you really didn't have to make this political.

[1:51:43] I mean, I remember 12 years ago sitting on, in the

[1:51:47] public listening to you say the same thing over and

[1:51:51] over and over again, and it is an excuse why to then keep

[1:51:56] our employees wages stagnant over and over and over again. And

[1:52:00] that's the reason why many of our employees were 15, 20% underpaid

[1:52:04] for market value, which is ridiculous. I kept hearing about un unassigned general fund balance

[1:52:08] depletion in a few years, 12 years ago, same conversation

[1:52:13] and big businesses still operate in our city without paying their fair share and

[1:52:17] no action on that. This kind of feeling of just stagnation in

[1:52:21] our city that it, it makes it very difficult to sit through these conversations.

[1:52:25] I'm trying to mind my business, but there's really no need to, to, to do that, mayor. So

[1:52:29] I do, I do have to say that. And, and we really need to get away from the scarcity mindset and need

[1:52:34] to get to work to make sure that we bring in resources so we can take care of our employees and our community alike.

[1:52:38] thank you. Okay. You, you were hearing 12 years ago, me saying that

[1:52:42] cip needs to be separate because it was giving us an un real expectation,

[1:52:46] and you heard that then you're hearing it now. And so we can't use those

[1:52:51] excuses now. Then the, uh,

[1:52:55] as we look toward our next, our, our next one, I would hope a number of things

[1:53:00] I would hope that we would take a look at kind of, uh,

[1:53:04] as, as I would see it, and we'll see the rest, council agrees, three different concepts. One,

[1:53:08] what we can do in the fairly immediate future. I'm talking about right

[1:53:13] now in this budget, what we can do in the midterm and then what we need to look at long

[1:53:17] range and 'cause I think those are three different things. And a lot of times we start looking at the long

[1:53:21] range actually, if that's gonna have an effect right now when it's not. So if we can

[1:53:25] look to see what kind of, what kind of effect we can have in those different areas

[1:53:29] and, uh, because there's, I think there's a lot of different both, um,

[1:53:34] challenges, but also some opportunities in each one of those if's, especially

[1:53:39] if we don't confuse the three different categories. And, uh,

[1:53:43] so, uh, so I know that we're looking

[1:53:47] at scheduling right now for a second workshop. We don't have an actual date yet.

[1:53:52] as I'm looking, I know that shelly was putting out stuff, trying to

[1:53:56] get, uh, dates from everybody. Uh, 'cause I know we're working around a lot of things.

[1:54:00] we had, we had a special meeting last friday. We had all day special meeting

[1:54:05] saturday. Here we are today having a special meeting. We got council meeting tomorrow. So yeah, there's

[1:54:09] a lot of meetings. So we're trying to work around these schedules to get, and we got a very short time period to

[1:54:13] get, make all this, make all this happen. Uh, so unless

[1:54:18] look to the city manager, unless there's any, uh, closing comment.

[1:54:22] okay, counsel. Uh, so I, so I appreciate

[1:54:27] staff and, and my colleagues for the, uh, the debate. We need to debate and we

[1:54:31] have different ideas and approaches to things. And I think, uh, this is a level

[1:54:35] that, um, in the past that we haven't gotten into, and I think we do

[1:54:39] because we need to understand, like I, I'm really proud of what we did as

[1:54:43] a body, um, increasing everyone across the board, um,

[1:54:48] their, uh, their wages and bringing everyone up to the median and then having, you

[1:54:52] know, 5% consistent across the board, not treating one group differently than the other across

[1:54:56] the board. 5%, 5%, 5%. And I'm really proud that we did that. And

[1:55:01] there's a cost to it and we're seeing what this cost is, and hopefully all of the

[1:55:05] employee groups, and I think they did understand what, what that is. And so now I think it's really an

[1:55:09] all hands on deck for every single person in this organization. Like, let's be creative, let's

[1:55:13] look at, there's gonna have to be some tough conversations about efficiencies, about

[1:55:18] what people are doing. I've had that starting with myself and my staff. Like even on

[1:55:22] time sheets. What were you doing on your task? What, um, where's

[1:55:26] the, uh, performance indicators for this? I think that's something that our organization,

[1:55:30] we all, all of us across the board really need to do better on is performance indicators.

[1:55:34] um, like what's our goals for this month, for this quarter?

[1:55:39] um, and, and how, how we can meet those goals where, um, I

[1:55:43] mean something as, um, like, uh, doing performance

[1:55:47] evaluations, uh, a lot of that has fallen by the wayside. That's a measure

[1:55:52] of, um, efficiency. And I'm not saying for every department, I'm just saying like

[1:55:56] I, I've, I've seen it in enough departments where I think it's enough an issue where

[1:56:00] we just need to collectively address it. But, um, I

[1:56:04] I, I don't think it's, we don't need to panic because

[1:56:08] the money is there. So that fy 27, that looks

[1:56:12] scary, you know, looking at negative 2 million at the end. But we haven't spent that. That's just theoretical.

[1:56:16] we're just starting. So I, I'm just really confident in our council leadership.

[1:56:21] I'm confident in the leadership of all of you, our directors, uh, our

[1:56:25] employees in the community. Um, so the, the public I think has

[1:56:29] some ideas and suggestions like, so I think, um, if we're transparent

[1:56:33] about everything that we're, we're spending our money on, um,

[1:56:38] and we, we have those kind of difficult discussions about what,

[1:56:42] what are the trade offs, what's the drawbacks? Like, I, I'm really, really confident we're gonna,

[1:56:46] uh, balance this budget do better than we did last time. I think last last

[1:56:51] cycle was the lesson. I think there's a lot of things we could have done differently as a, as a

[1:56:55] council. Um, but I, I'm just really confident. I

[1:56:59] feel good about this moving forward. I believe in each and every one of you. So thank you for this.

[1:57:04] thank you. You know, I, I do wanna throw in my reality point here

[1:57:09] is, um, I, I do agree with, um, the, I, you know, the task

[1:57:13] that we are all out here to do, and that is to provide a balanced budget. Um,

[1:57:17] some of the commentary up here has been difficult to swallow because

[1:57:21] I do recognize that in fact, for example, our unassigned

[1:57:25] fund balance at one point very recently was 23 million. Um,

[1:57:29] suddenly now it is 13 million and we are actually facing the

[1:57:33] real possibility that we are going to need to drain it to zero.

[1:57:38] so that is a fact. You know, the, I don't

[1:57:42] know the exact numbers. I think we've gone, we've belabored this point already that

[1:57:47] we are going to look at the numbers. We will do that exercise, but the reality

[1:57:51] is, is we had $23 million unassigned fund balance,

[1:57:56] and the reality that it will come down to zero very soon

[1:58:01] is a reality. So I hear you all, you know,

[1:58:05] let's not think, um, what is it? Um, god,

[1:58:09] the term just escaped my head. Um, no, the, uh, scarcity

[1:58:13] mindset. I, I don't know what you're talking about. 'cause I am scared.

[1:58:17] okay. I am scared. So let's, let's be careful with some of that commentary,

[1:58:21] because we really do have to face this very real possibility. Thank

[1:58:26] you. Just to , it wasn't scared mindset of scarcity

[1:58:30] mindset. I know. And I play a made a play on words. Thank you. Okay.

[1:58:34] it is different things though, but, okay. Thank you.

[1:58:39] thank you, mayor. Um, again, thank you for the public and

[1:58:43] for staff here. Um, city manager, thank you so much for, uh, being

[1:58:47] patient in, uh, you know, I mean relaying those messages to our

[1:58:51] directors, um, you know, I mean, all the numbers that we have right now,

[1:58:56] our estimate, so there is no facts here right now.

[1:59:00] the facts will come at the, when we approve the budget,

[1:59:04] those are the facts right now we're looking at estimates, we're looking at,

[1:59:08] um, um, you know, and, um, revisiting each, um,

[1:59:12] line item per line item in order for us to be able to understand

[1:59:17] how we can streamline it and approve a budget that is not,

[1:59:22] you know, I mean, that's not that, that we can, that we won't be afraid of.

[1:59:26] how's that? Right? So that we, that we will move forward,

[1:59:31] um, with confidence in, um, you know, I mean providing the services

[1:59:35] to the people that we, we pledge to serve. So you, I mean, that's

[1:59:39] my comment. Thank you. Alright, we'll

[1:59:43] go ahead and wrap this up, I guess, at this stage. Um, and that is,

[1:59:48] we'll look forward to the next, uh, budget workshop. We'll get that date out as

[1:59:52] soon as we can get a date together, uh, that works for

[1:59:56] both staff and for the, for the electeds, uh, to make this happen as soon as

[2:00:00] possible. At the same time, give staff enough time. We gave you a lot of stuff today saying we

[2:00:04] want all this stuff back , which I know doesn't just hit by pushing the, the button

[2:00:09] on the computer. It doesn't, um, it takes, it's gonna be a lot of work, uh, to put some

[2:00:13] of that stuff together. And first of all, just make the list of all the things we just asked you about.

[2:00:17] so, uh, that's part is good. And as I think it's, as we look forward

[2:00:21] toward dealing with the budget, hopefully we'll use good sound budget concepts.

[2:00:26] and one of it is if we're gonna be including our ongoing expenses

[2:00:30] that we make sure it comes from ongoing revenue and, uh, that we'd

[2:00:34] be careful about using one time, one time funds, one time,

[2:00:39] uh, money to do ongoing revenue because, or ongoing expenditures.

[2:00:44] um, because otherwise that's gonna be eaten up as we can see already in that one fund alone

[2:00:48] in a very, very short period of time. And a lot of those, a lot of the,

[2:00:52] uh, one time money that we have is dedicated money. We don't have

[2:00:56] some of that. We don't have any choice. It has to be there. So, um,

[2:01:01] a lot of choices to be made, and we're looking forward to staff coming back to us with

[2:01:05] a number of ideas and council members, you know, putting our

[2:01:09] ideas together and, uh, listening to the public also and seeing what

[2:01:13] we can, uh, we can make happen with that.

[2:01:18] uh, your ajour. Thank you, mayor.

May 04, 2026 Special City Council

Agenda

Transcript