[0:09] Good evening and would like to welcome

[0:11] everyone to the SP the special city

[0:14] council meeting town hall meeting.

[0:17] [clears throat] Um we do have this

[0:18] televised as tonight as well. I'm happy

[0:21] that we have some participants here that

[0:24] came in person and brave the hot

[0:26] weather, but um this will be viewed

[0:28] online and we usually have lots of

[0:30] followers with that. So, uh we will go

[0:33] ahead and start out with the roll call,

[0:35] please. Connie

[0:36] >> B

[0:37] >> here.

[0:37] >> Mang

[0:38] >> here.

[0:38] >> Nichols

[0:39] >> here.

[0:40] >> Alson

[0:40] >> here.

[0:41] >> Sfield

[0:41] >> here. Swanson

[0:44] >> here. I will mention that council member

[0:47] Swanson is excused for the evening.

[0:49] She's at a trip overseas out of the

[0:52] country right now. She wishes to be here

[0:55] and will join us at the next quarterly

[0:57] meeting. So, I'd like to move on to

[1:00] agenda item two. It's the budget

[1:02] development process. We do have Rich

[1:04] Morgan here from our finance department.

[1:07] Um, Rich will update the public on the

[1:10] budget development process.

[1:14] >> Okay.

[1:17] No spitting.

[1:18] >> Yeah. none allowed. And by the way, for

[1:21] the others that are here to comment, um

[1:24] we'll take about a half hour with Rich.

[1:27] And um after that, it is open for some

[1:30] dialogue in case you're waiting for

[1:32] that.

[1:33] >> I thought I would just open with one

[1:35] caveat. I I am happy to be here, mayor,

[1:37] council, happy to talk with you

[1:40] generally about how a mu a municipal

[1:43] organization would budget. If I crack or

[1:47] start crying, don't worry. I'm a dad and

[1:49] my daughter's leaving for California

[1:51] tomorrow. We just finished our last

[1:53] supper and Yeah.

[1:55] >> Yeah.

[1:56] >> It's not the budget that's making me

[1:58] cry.

[1:58] >> No, I promise. You know what's important

[2:00] in life.

[2:02] >> Okay.

[2:04] So Idaho code 50 uh chapter 10 section 2

[2:08] says the city council of each city shall

[2:10] pri prior to passing the annual

[2:11] appropriation ordinance prepare a budget

[2:14] estimating the probable amount of money

[2:16] necessary for all purposes for which an

[2:19] appropriation is to be made. So, the

[2:21] reason or one of the reasons that you

[2:26] budget is because Idaho has staturally

[2:30] required you to. You're going to hear me

[2:31] say a lot about Idaho because we are

[2:34] regulated by Idaho. The very fact that

[2:36] we exist is because Idaho lets us or

[2:39] allows us to through statute. Idaho code

[2:42] 67, which is also relied upon quite a

[2:46] bit in municipal finances, says budget

[2:48] information shall conform to the

[2:49] standards established in the uniform

[2:51] accounting manual for local government

[2:53] entities. This is where we're going to

[2:56] get um the authority to rely on GAP

[3:00] which is generally accepted accounting

[3:02] principles as promulgated by gazby which

[3:06] is the governmental accounting standards

[3:08] board.

[3:10] So why budget? We just talked about the

[3:12] statutoily required um what we have to

[3:16] do, but there are also some very very

[3:18] good reasons why even if it wasn't

[3:21] statutoily required, we should probably

[3:24] go through this process. And the first

[3:26] one is that it's a policy document. Uh

[3:28] the council and the mayor can use this

[3:31] process and this procedure to set policy

[3:35] simply by funding and not funding what

[3:38] you want to and not want to fund. It's a

[3:41] financial plan. They're guard rails. I

[3:43] use that analogy a lot. The budget is

[3:46] not actual. It's an estimate, but it

[3:49] sets those guard rails for department

[3:52] heads and for the city um where we're

[3:54] going to go. It's a legal appropriation.

[3:57] So, now we're back to statute. If we

[3:59] didn't pass the ordinance that we will

[4:03] uh coming in in August, we would not

[4:06] have the authority to spend any money.

[4:09] Um, so you guys really do hold those

[4:11] purse strings. Um, giving us that

[4:14] authority to to to

[4:17] cash a check. It's a communication tool.

[4:19] We have a few people in the room. We'll

[4:21] have people online. It's going to be

[4:23] available online. We get records

[4:25] requests for it. It's a very easy way to

[4:27] communicate what we're going to do with

[4:29] the funds that we receive. And it also

[4:33] allows accountability because we can

[4:35] compare what really happened, what

[4:37] actually happened with the plan.

[4:42] Idaho budget requirements. So first just

[4:45] to set this is this is a requirement

[4:47] that we have to to follow. We can't pick

[4:49] our own fiscal year. Our fiscal year is

[4:51] from October 1 to September 30 and that

[4:55] is also set by the state.

[4:58] What do we have to do or what are we

[5:00] required by statute to set the budget?

[5:03] Well, we need to estimate our revenues

[5:05] by fund. And you'll hear me say that a

[5:07] lot too because a lot of times we'll

[5:08] talk about departments, we'll talk about

[5:10] line items, we'll talk about specific

[5:12] commodities like fuel or something

[5:15] that's catching our attention. But the

[5:17] budget is always by fund. We need to

[5:20] estimate our expenditures by fund. They

[5:23] are required to balance. So when we

[5:26] publish, you'll see this time at our

[5:29] revenues are going to be 186 million and

[5:32] our expenses are going to be 186

[5:34] million. Now a lot of people say, "Well,

[5:35] what if you want to save or what if you

[5:37] don't want to spend all that?" Well,

[5:38] that's possible. You'd see a line item,

[5:41] a specific line item that would be

[5:44] called transfer to reserve. If you're

[5:47] going to spend down now, sometimes you

[5:49] spend some of your reserves. We have

[5:50] that happening in some of our funds as

[5:52] well. Uh the biggest one is the the uh

[5:56] water pollution control fund. This

[5:58] coming year they have an $8 million

[6:00] project. So they're going to use their

[6:02] reserves. Instead of transfer to

[6:04] reserves, you're going to see a transfer

[6:05] out of reserves and that becomes a

[6:08] revenue source. So

[6:12] then we have tenative approval before

[6:14] publishing the notice of public hearing

[6:15] and we just finished that. In fact, we

[6:19] took an extra step. We had tentative

[6:21] approval and then we actually found a

[6:24] little bit more revenue and because we

[6:25] hadn't published I thought it was a good

[6:27] idea to get it that in there and we

[6:30] again approved tenatively that 186

[6:34] million and then we published the notice

[6:36] of public hearing. I do have I'll a

[6:39] quick jump because I think I can go

[6:42] back. Whoops.

[6:45] This is the notice of public hearing

[6:47] that we've prepared. Now, I know you

[6:48] can't see the detail very well. There's

[6:50] 55 funds here at the city, but that's

[6:53] what it'll look like. Um, if we go back

[6:56] now, that notice of public hearing, and

[6:58] it does, it needs to include the date,

[7:00] the time, the location.

[7:03] And in the notice of public hearing, you

[7:05] actually do have to split your revenues

[7:07] into two. You have to show the proposed

[7:10] tax revenues and then everything else.

[7:14] You have to have the proposed

[7:16] expenditures and then that comparative

[7:17] information. You are required to have

[7:21] two years plus the proposed. And I've

[7:24] always used budget, but I did learn just

[7:27] in the last couple of weeks that the

[7:29] oldest year where actuals are available,

[7:34] you could use actuals. So, for example,

[7:36] we're going to publish 27 as a proposed

[7:39] 26 as a budget number because we don't

[7:42] know what our actual total is yet. And

[7:44] then 25 could be either what the budget

[7:47] was was set, which is what we've

[7:49] prepared, or the actuals.

[7:52] >> Can you remind us real quick, Rich, when

[7:55] the public hearing is the date of the

[7:57] budget public hearing?

[7:59] >> The actual one we're that's coming up.

[8:01] >> That's our next council meeting on

[8:02] August 6th.

[8:03] >> Okay. Thank you.

[8:05] >> And that's the opportunity. You know,

[8:07] most of the time government in a in a

[8:09] represent re representative republic,

[8:11] which we are, is um what I like to call

[8:15] a spectator sport. These guys get to

[8:19] come and watch.

[8:21] They're spectators. They've elected you

[8:24] to do their job and they get to watch.

[8:28] Every once in a while, they get to

[8:30] participate. This is one of those every

[8:32] once in a while where we're required to

[8:35] have a public hearing and they can

[8:37] actually come up and address you. I

[8:39] think there's a lot of heartburn

[8:40] sometimes in government because people

[8:42] don't realize that they always hear

[8:43] democracy, it's my government and those

[8:45] are all true, but it really is a

[8:47] spectator sport. So, okay. So, we'll

[8:51] hold the public hearing. Um, you could

[8:55] adopt the budget on the same day, but

[8:57] the city of Pocutello chooses to adopt

[9:00] the budget the next meeting so that you

[9:03] have time to think about the comments

[9:06] that were made in that public hearing

[9:09] and that would be August 20th

[9:13] is when we'll adopt that budget. Then we

[9:15] certify our property taxes to the

[9:17] county. So, we'll send everything. We

[9:18] have to send our notice of public

[9:20] hearing. We have to send the budget. We

[9:22] have to send what's called the L2. It's

[9:24] a form that specifies how much budget

[9:28] we're asking the county to levy.

[9:31] Everyone says, "What's the le what are

[9:33] you going to set the levy at?" Well, you guys don't set the levy. You set a

[9:37] budget. I don't want to be misleading.

[9:40] What you do affects the levy. Certainly

[9:44] it does, but you don't set a levy. You

[9:46] set a budget. And you're limited in

[9:48] being able to do that. the the the state

[9:51] says that you cannot exceed 3% of the

[9:54] highest of the last three years. That's

[9:56] usually the most current year, but if

[9:59] for some reason we had a year that was

[10:01] lower in front of that, you can go back

[10:04] three years, look at look at those three

[10:05] years and choose 3% of the highest, you

[10:09] cannot exceed when you're using

[10:10] foregone, which we are 1% for M or 3%

[10:15] for capital use. and we're choosing 1%

[10:19] or have proposed 1% with our M. And then

[10:24] just recently the legislature passed a

[10:27] new limit. So after all of that, they'll

[10:30] look at the total increase including

[10:33] annexation,

[10:34] new construction, the 3%.

[10:39] Wait a minute. I don't think it does

[10:41] include annexation or new construction.

[10:43] Those go on automatically. It's the 3%.

[10:46] It's your use of foregone and you can't

[10:49] exceed that 8% increase.

[10:53] Sorry, I got I got a little excited

[10:56] there and I didn't want to misspeak.

[11:00] >> Also, another one of the revenue sources

[11:03] that the city relies on very heavily are

[11:05] fees. Those are in our enterprise funds.

[11:07] All the taxes are in our governmental

[11:09] funds. The fees that we are most most um

[11:13] familiar with are water, sewer,

[11:15] sanitation.

[11:17] We send out one bill and everyone pays

[11:21] their hundred plus dollars, but it

[11:24] actually is three separate utilities.

[11:26] It's water

[11:28] >> sanitation, please.

[11:29] >> When you're done with your blanket of

[11:31] points whenever you're done with that

[11:32] point.

[11:32] >> No. Well, so those can those are not

[11:36] limited like the property tax increases.

[11:39] The only caveat there is there's a 5%

[11:44] line drawn. If you if you raise a fee

[11:46] under that 5%,

[11:49] you just have to pass it. We have to go

[11:51] through the process. We have to present

[11:53] why we want that fee raised and then you

[11:56] guys will decide yes or no. If the fee

[11:59] is over 5%, you do again have to go

[12:02] through a public hearing and have input

[12:05] from constituents and citizens on those

[12:08] fees.

[12:10] >> So, uh I if you could briefly uh give us

[12:13] a

[12:15] description on what foregone

[12:17] specifically is so that people at home

[12:18] when they hear the term foregone,

[12:20] they'll understand.

[12:22] >> You bet.

[12:23] Forgon is an accounting

[12:27] of

[12:30] the ability that you had to tax and

[12:34] chose not to.

[12:38] There's no money there. It's just

[12:41] tracking

[12:43] if that makes sense. You You could have

[12:46] you. So, let's say your budget is $1,000

[12:52] and you can increase it to

[12:56] $1,300,

[12:58] but you only choose to increase it to

[13:01] $1,200.

[13:03] We don't take that increment of $100,

[13:07] but we track it.

[13:09] and the state has so far preserved your

[13:12] ability to come back later

[13:16] and say yeah we need that now.

[13:19] >> So it's is that fair?

[13:21] >> So it's the number or the amount that we

[13:23] had foregone on collecting.

[13:25] >> That is correct. Uh currently

[13:28] [clears throat] the city has about $5

[13:30] million

[13:32] being tracked in their foregone amount

[13:35] >> and of that total balance of foregone we

[13:38] can only take up to 3%

[13:41] of that or a lot for

[13:43] >> well 1% of that is three I think our

[13:48] foregone is $375,000

[13:51] and that can be permanently placed into

[13:55] M into the levy and every year it will

[14:00] be a part of that taxing levy. You do

[14:04] have the opportunity to take another 3%

[14:07] which would be almost a million dollars

[14:10] or maybe just just barely over a million

[14:12] dollars. It's a onetime shot. It reduces

[14:15] your foregone by that million dollars,

[14:18] but you never see that again and it

[14:20] doesn't roll over.

[14:21] >> So those are the two ways you can use

[14:24] that foregone. Thank you,

[14:28] >> Rich. Um, this might be something for

[14:30] myself I don't always get as well as the

[14:33] audience at home and here. Um, there's

[14:36] that overall 8% limit and just how

[14:40] that's adding up. But it's hard to grasp

[14:42] that because you can get the 3% of the

[14:45] highest last years, last three years,

[14:48] and then your management and overhead

[14:50] can exceed 1% and you can exceed 3% for

[14:54] capital and foregone. Well, that only

[14:56] adds up to 7%.

[14:58] >> Right?

[15:00] I'd have to show you some examples, I

[15:02] think, to make that clear. Uh to to to

[15:06] show you the math of how that would

[15:08] actually happen

[15:10] >> and could happen.

[15:11] >> Okay. So, it's a possibility that could

[15:14] happen, but we never seem to bump into

[15:16] that scenario here.

[15:18] >> We haven't yet. That is correct.

[15:22] >> Okay.

[15:26] What that does, what the legislature was

[15:28] trying to do there is actually it is

[15:32] actually cap the increase and it forces

[15:35] because of the computation or the math

[15:38] it forces the levy down

[15:41] >> because it used to be that rather than

[15:44] 1% on management and overhead we could

[15:47] take three

[15:49] or maybe I don't

[15:50] >> well it actually used to be when I

[15:52] started that you could take the whole

[15:53] >> whatever your gun amount is that is

[15:56] correct. Okay. But that's

[15:57] >> these limits are are fairly new. All of

[16:00] them.

[16:00] >> Yeah. The 1% really

[16:02] >> Yeah. The foregone may be sitting there,

[16:04] but you're you're really tight on what

[16:07] you can take is the crux of it,

[16:09] >> right? I think it's I think it's been I keep telling myself I shouldn't speak

[16:17] on the fly, but it's within five years

[16:19] that all of those limits have come into

[16:21] play.

[16:22] >> Mhm.

[16:23] And there was a lot of hubbhub on that

[16:26] year that they started them if city

[16:28] should go ahead and take the foregon

[16:33] before it's limited.

[16:35] >> Yeah.

[16:36] >> So, but we're way past that now.

[16:38] >> Okay.

[16:40] >> All right.

[16:43] Well,

[16:46] amending the budget. We get a lot of

[16:48] questions about that. the same exact

[16:50] process that you're [clears throat]

[16:52] going through now. Although

[16:55] I guess the difference is

[16:58] usually when you're amending the budget,

[16:59] you're specifically thinking about one

[17:02] revenue

[17:03] stream that that either is new uh we

[17:07] missed something reserves that we didn't

[17:10] include before and now we do want to use

[17:12] them for some reason. That's a revenue

[17:14] source that could be for amending the

[17:15] budget. So, it seems like it's more

[17:17] focused when you're amending the budget

[17:19] then than when we go through this

[17:22] process in August, but it's the exact

[17:27] same steps that we go through.

[17:32] What does the city budget pay for? I

[17:33] just threw up some of these numbers to

[17:35] show you. Police, there's two numbers

[17:38] there. Police is 44% of the general fund

[17:42] and 12% of the total budget of the city.

[17:46] Animal control which is under the police

[17:49] is 3% of the general fund and 8 and8%

[17:54] of the total city budget. Fire is 23%

[17:59] of the general fund and 6% of the total

[18:05] city budget. I think it's interesting to

[18:07] know and I think it's a good thing that

[18:10] if you look at the general fund 75%

[18:13] almost 75% of those funds are going to

[18:16] public safety and I think citizens

[18:19] support that. I really do. It's we're

[18:23] not

[18:25] um funding something that doesn't get a

[18:29] lot of their support. Parks is 2% of the

[18:32] total. Um,

[18:35] cemetery is 0.5%, streets is 5%.

[18:40] Transportation was three, water nine,

[18:42] wastewater eight, sanitation seven, and

[18:44] you can see libraries two, airport one,

[18:46] internal service was five.

[18:49] Just an interesting way to look at um

[18:52] how those 55 funds make up the total.

[18:55] These I picked these because these are

[18:57] the ones that are usually their

[18:58] operating funds and usually the funds

[19:00] that are that the citizen interacts with

[19:03] right the ones that they see.

[19:07] Where does the money come from? So

[19:10] property tax makes up 20% of the entire

[19:13] budget of the city. Shared revenue

[19:15] intergovernmental like sales gas. So

[19:18] sales tax the 6% you pay at the register

[19:20] when you're at Walmart. Gas tax when you

[19:23] fill up your car. the liquor tax. So, if

[19:25] my presentation is driving you to go

[19:28] across the parking lot here in a minute,

[19:31] you're helping the city budget.

[19:34] Uh, utility charges, 25%. That's all

[19:37] three of them. Franchise fees, those are

[19:40] those fees that we collect from um Idaho

[19:43] Power, Gas, it's one. Permits, permits,

[19:45] licenses, fees, leases. I added those

[19:48] all together. Kind of a catch-all, too.

[19:50] grants. 18% of our budget is from

[19:53] grants. We hear a lot of people saying,

[19:57] "Well, look for different ways to fund

[20:00] what's going on at city hall." And this

[20:03] one surprised me. I hadn't looked at

[20:05] that number and the mayor asked me to.

[20:07] That's almost as much as property tax.

[20:12] I I think that goes to show that we are

[20:15] trying to look for different ways,

[20:19] different revenue sources and that were

[20:23] successful. [clears throat]

[20:24] >> I was pretty happy with that number.

[20:27] Interest is 2%. We've had a lot of talk

[20:29] about that. reserves. A lot of people do

[20:33] not look as at reserves as a revenue

[20:35] source, but that's exactly what it is

[20:37] when it's budgeting is you bring it back

[20:39] in as a as a revenue stream.

[20:44] >> Are there other percentages, Rich?

[20:46] Because that didn't add up to 100.

[20:48] >> That is true. I only picked the ones

[20:51] that I thought were

[20:52] >> Okay, just in case someone's wondering

[20:55] why that doesn't add up to 100%.

[20:57] >> That's a really good point, Mayor. and it would have taken a couple of

[21:01] slides to get through them all.

[21:02] >> But so if the council is interested, it

[21:05] would be really easy, I think you've

[21:07] seen this report before, to put that

[21:09] percentage out on every single fund and get you that information and and

[21:15] maybe I should just make a note of doing

[21:17] that because it's good information to

[21:19] know.

[21:23] Oh, I went the wrong way. Sorry.

[21:29] So we're doing governmental accounting

[21:31] and it's by fund. Uh we have several

[21:35] fund types. Our governmental funds are

[21:37] the general. There are eight of them.

[21:39] Each fund that receives property tax is

[21:43] a governmental fund. We have a highway

[21:46] streets and roads fund. That's a

[21:47] governmental fund. It receives property

[21:49] tax. We have 11 enterprise funds. That's

[21:53] because we count their capital and their

[21:55] debt service. Each one of our enterprise

[21:58] uh funds has a capital fund and a debt

[22:01] service fund. We have eight internal

[22:03] service funds, seven capital projects

[22:06] funds, 20 special revenue funds, and one

[22:10] fudiciary fund. That fidiciary fund is

[22:12] the police retirement. I believe there

[22:15] are 15

[22:17] participants left in that fund.

[22:22] What's the budget calendar? Well, we're

[22:23] going to start in January. In fact, I

[22:25] think we've [laughter] talked about

[22:26] we're going to keep we're going to keep

[22:28] going. So, when I put this together,

[22:32] it's what we have done, but we are

[22:33] actually going to, I believe, have

[22:35] meetings either monthly or

[22:38] >> every other month or something. We're

[22:39] going to keep going and keep the

[22:41] conversation going and try to get some

[22:42] of the things we've talked about in the

[22:44] past budget strategic. But basically

[22:47] what you do is you sit down with the decision makers

[22:54] that are you and you find out what their

[22:58] goals are. You do some strategic

[23:00] planning and um we did that. Um one of

[23:04] the things that sticks in my mind that

[23:05] we always talk about is curb appeal.

[23:07] There were others. I I think we had five

[23:10] main 13 total. Um but we did that in

[23:13] March. I think it's important and and

[23:15] this was a little bit of a change for

[23:17] everybody here at the city is that you

[23:20] uh look at your revenues and wage and

[23:23] wage related expenses because those

[23:25] things really don't

[23:28] necessarily the wage and wage related

[23:30] expenses. We can pretty much h nail

[23:33] those down. We know who works for us. We

[23:35] know how much they make. We know what

[23:37] those related expenses are going to be.

[23:39] And the reason you want to do revenue

[23:40] first is because you need to know how

[23:42] big your pie is going to be when you

[23:44] start talking about adding um the

[23:48] department requests. Uh April, May, we

[23:51] have a lot of departments for those

[23:53] requests. June the council workshops

[23:56] when we get it all put together. July

[23:58] the tenative budget adoption. In August

[24:01] we'll have the public hearing. Now, in

[24:03] August, we're going to adopt our our um

[24:09] ordinance, but the drop dead is actually

[24:12] that first September, that first

[24:14] Thursday in September. The reason we

[24:17] build our calendar that way is because

[24:20] if for some reason you guys throw a loba

[24:22] bomb at us and we have to back up and do

[24:25] something different

[24:27] because you want to change direction or

[24:29] change your goals or whatever, we have

[24:32] that. We're nimble enough to do that. We

[24:34] have the opportunity and one more

[24:36] chance, one more meeting that we can

[24:38] make that um correction.

[24:42] What's a sound budget philosophy?

[24:44] spend with spend within reoccurring

[24:46] revenues. That means the ones that come

[24:49] back every year. Maintain adequate

[24:51] reserves. We've talked about this a

[24:53] little bit. Three months of operations

[24:55] and every single one of our funds has at

[24:57] least three months of operations. What

[25:00] happens after 3 months? Well, then you

[25:01] start building your capital plan. And uh

[25:04] we're actually moving into a formal

[25:07] process. We've had informal capital

[25:10] plans, but we're going to move into a

[25:12] formal process of that capital plan,

[25:14] which does include um deferred

[25:16] maintenance, prepare for emergencies,

[25:19] invest in infrastructure, and have a

[25:21] multi-year plan. I'm really excited

[25:23] about the opportunities we have with

[25:25] open gov. We have started entering 20 uh

[25:29] 28 already. I'll be able to do the L2

[25:31] for four years ahead. we can um

[25:36] tenatively look at wage wage related

[25:37] expenses. It it's going to be great.

[25:40] We'll be able to give you a real

[25:41] snapshot of what it might look like for

[25:45] four years instead of one. I almost wish

[25:48] in Oregon you can adopt two years at a

[25:50] time. And I almost wish that we could do

[25:53] that, but I don't think we'll ever get

[25:55] the conservative cowboys in Idaho to

[25:58] >> loosen up those rains that much, which

[26:01] is probably a good thing.

[26:03] >> What are the challenges?

[26:05] Inflation might be the biggest one. And

[26:07] I looked up last month's or the or 12

[26:11] months ending May of 2026. That's the

[26:13] latest data that we've got. Inflation's

[26:16] 4.2%.

[26:18] Well, I mean, that's a problem already

[26:20] because we can only go three, right? So,

[26:23] we're looking at less buying power.

[26:25] Employee wages are challenges. They're

[26:26] the largest part of the budget in any

[26:30] fund.

[26:31] Insurance, it's the largest individual

[26:34] annual increase. I looked up what is an

[26:37] average annual increase for health

[26:38] insurance for Idaho municipalities and

[26:42] it's 10 to 12%. That is that is what

[26:46] I've seen in my in in my past. It's what

[26:50] we saw this year. It's it's just it

[26:54] rings true that that is one of the

[26:57] [snorts] biggest challenges we have.

[26:59] Deferred maintenance I mentioned that

[27:01] infrastructure we are I think taking a

[27:04] great step towards that in the capital

[27:07] plan growth.

[27:10] I looked up the Pocutello metro area. I

[27:14] think that would probably just include

[27:16] like Portf Valley. Our growth is really

[27:19] small.5%.

[27:23] And so that's one of the challenges we

[27:25] have. We want we are going to have to

[27:27] provide not more with less, but we're

[27:30] going to have to provide what we're

[27:32] doing. We're going to have to try and

[27:35] maintain what we're doing with less.

[27:38] uh state legislation and you guys saw

[27:41] that clearly HB uh HB312 the funding

[27:45] evaporated and we had a $ 1.3 million

[27:48] hole in our highway streets and roads

[27:51] just economic uncertainty alto together

[27:54] what's the council's role in governance

[27:56] well you set priorities you set service

[27:58] levels you adopt tenative and final

[28:03] budgets meeting statutory requirements

[28:06] you monitor our performance with our

[28:08] reports back. Uh you make adjustments as

[28:11] needed. And I think that's why it's so

[28:13] important that we keep some of these

[28:14] meetings going and the discussion going.

[28:18] Really, what you guys do is protect the

[28:20] city's long-term financial health.

[28:22] That's that's what you're supposed to

[28:24] do. I thought I'd slide in really quick.

[28:27] I don't even know. Oh, I'm way over

[28:29] time. I better hurry.

[28:31] >> You're okay. Yeah, just a few minutes is

[28:33] fine.

[28:33] >> I thought this was I thought this would

[28:34] be really good for those who are

[28:36] listening. These are the things that I

[28:38] have gleaned from you as we've talked

[28:40] about the budget. Build a better

[28:43] Pocutello.

[28:44] Be proactive versus reactive. Be

[28:48] accurate, timely, understandable.

[28:50] What do you want to pay for and not want

[28:52] to pay for? If this was a new request,

[28:56] would you fund it and stop keeping

[28:59] score? I think those are all really good

[29:02] and it shows the the flavor of the

[29:05] council that we have.

[29:08] It shows that you guys are really trying

[29:10] hard to put something together that's

[29:13] meaningful when it comes to the budget

[29:15] and and doing your due diligence and I

[29:17] appreciate that. What's management's

[29:19] role? develop a calendar, prepare the

[29:22] estimates, draft the budget, review for

[29:24] accuracy, report performance, carry out

[29:26] adjustments, and in the end, it's to

[29:30] protect the city's long-term financial

[29:32] health. I highlighted that because

[29:35] we have the same role in the end. We

[29:39] just get there together in a different

[29:41] way.

[29:46] So, in the end, what makes a healthy

[29:47] budget? balanced revenues and

[29:50] expenditures, healthy reserves, three

[29:53] months of operations, realistic

[29:54] revenues, those those based projections

[29:57] in revenues. We had a little bit of that

[29:59] happened last year where maybe some of

[30:01] the projections were

[30:04] op a little too optimistic. It's not bad

[30:06] to be optimistic, but maybe in budgeting

[30:09] we should dial it back just a little

[30:11] bit. Sustainable staffing, good

[30:13] management because it's our biggest

[30:15] expense. capital investment, long-term

[30:17] planning. We're taking a step there and

[30:20] timely financial reporting.

[30:22] And I want to tell you that today we

[30:25] started disseminating our fiscal year 24

[30:29] financial report. It's old news, but

[30:32] it's still exciting to have it done. And

[30:35] we're well on our way to 25. So, I do

[30:39] believe we can be caught up for the

[30:42] current year when it's due in March of

[30:44] 2017. Yeah, kudos to you and your staff

[30:47] for that. That's

[30:48] >> my staff's been a big part of

[30:49] >> accomplishment and I know you've been

[30:50] laser [clears throat] focused on that

[30:52] since [laughter] you've gotten here.

[30:54] >> Thank you. I am going to quickly slip

[30:57] this in. This is kind of making a right

[31:00] turn, but we have an audit committee.

[31:02] It's not something that we had uh at the

[31:04] city of Chubik. It's really important.

[31:06] Doran actually at Deon wanted the city

[31:08] of Chvik to set one up. Uh what is the

[31:10] role of the audit committee? And and one

[31:12] of the reasons I want to slip it in is

[31:14] because during our final interview for

[31:16] fiscal year 24, Dorne thought or Deon

[31:19] and company thought Dorne's our auditor,

[31:21] I probably should say Deon and company

[31:23] suggested that we do some training and

[31:25] education on the role of the audit

[31:27] committee, especially on uh bullet

[31:30] number five, but audit committee, they

[31:32] they're financial reporting oversight.

[31:34] They're the ones that reviewed the

[31:35] financials and they accepted them. that

[31:37] the financials were actually accepted in

[31:39] May 26th, but there were some things

[31:41] change in my department and there are

[31:43] some things happen with the financials

[31:44] that we had a little bit of cleanup to

[31:46] do. So, that took us about 55 days to

[31:49] get that through and get her done.

[31:50] Oversight of the external audit, they

[31:52] take care of what's happening with Deon.

[31:54] Internal control oversight, risk

[31:57] management oversight. I'm going to skip

[31:59] that ethics one because I'd like to just

[32:01] point it out at the end. Monitoring,

[32:02] corrective actions, and communications

[32:04] with the governing body. And there are

[32:05] two council members on that audit

[32:08] committee. Council member Mangum and

[32:09] council member Swanson are both on

[32:11] there. So, but pointing out ethics and

[32:15] fraud. So, if there's something going on

[32:17] at the city that you thought that's not

[32:20] right or could even be maybe fraud or

[32:25] you're like, "Where did all that money

[32:26] go?" and you're uncomfortable in either

[32:29] talking to your supervisor, which is

[32:31] regular chain of command, that's what we

[32:33] usually do, or um

[32:37] there's another way for you to uh get

[32:40] your concern taken care of, and that's

[32:43] the audit committee. You can tell the

[32:45] audit committee what you're thinking

[32:46] about, what you've seen, what you've

[32:48] heard, what's your concern, and they

[32:50] will, I know they will take it

[32:52] seriously, and they'll investigate it,

[32:54] report back. at the end it's going to

[32:56] come back to the mayor and you guys, but

[32:59] um and we need to get that word out

[33:03] so that it's one of our internal

[33:05] controls

[33:07] and we do have every once in a while and

[33:10] sometimes it's baseless,

[33:11] >> but we do have someone ask, well,

[33:13] where's the money go?

[33:14] >> You know,

[33:16] >> what about me members of the public that

[33:18] they're feeling that there's just some

[33:21] shenanigans going on? I I want there to

[33:24] be a someone to look into this. Is that

[33:27] going to the audit committee as well or

[33:29] is that more

[33:31] >> both internal and external folks?

[33:33] >> I'm sorry that I did not make that

[33:35] clear. In fact,

[33:37] um

[33:39] I would like to make sure that that we

[33:42] do enough education that our that our

[33:45] public know that

[33:46] >> and that they realize there's that

[33:48] avenue that they could take to report

[33:51] that. Yeah, the audit committee is huge

[33:53] and I think getting that word out as

[33:56] much as we can in that spirit of

[33:59] transparency.

[34:00] You know, you think something is going

[34:03] on that's, you know, that there there is

[34:05] a method that it will be looked into.

[34:08] You know, I think it's very critical to

[34:10] get that word out.

[34:13] Thank you. Okay. Key takeaways. Budget's

[34:17] planning. Budget reflects community

[34:19] priorities. Every dollar has a purpose.

[34:23] Financial stab sustainability requires

[34:25] discipline and that's one thing I would

[34:28] thank you guys for because I think you

[34:29] do have that and I appreciate it.

[34:32] Today's decision affect tomorrow's

[34:34] taxpayers.

[34:36] >> And back to the audit committee, Rich,

[34:38] did you say there there are external

[34:40] people that belong to that as well?

[34:43] >> Yes, there are

[34:44] >> internal and external folks that

[34:46] >> on the committee. Yep.

[34:48] >> Mhm. [snorts]

[34:50] And then

[34:50] >> there are two employees, there are two

[34:51] council members, and there is one uh

[34:54] he's a financial um provider in our

[34:58] town. So, he brings some real expertise.

[35:01] >> Yeah.

[35:02] >> For the financial part, but

[35:04] >> Okay. So, you you mentioned open.gov or

[35:07] kind of the bigger question that this is

[35:10] a a great broad level overview like if

[35:13] I'm a citizen now and I really want to

[35:15] dig into these numbers, where do I go?

[35:17] How do I do that?

[35:19] >> Well, and I'll have to apologize. I

[35:21] think in the last meeting I told you

[35:22] open gov was available and I since

[35:26] learned like about 5 minutes after that

[35:28] meeting that I was wrong that it's not.

[35:31] And so we're going to take care of that

[35:33] this week. and and my vision is that you

[35:37] would go to the city's website and under

[35:42] budgeting you would see a link to our

[35:45] open gov software and be able to go in

[35:47] and look. I do I think that's correct.

[35:51] Um but again that link is not there. I

[35:54] checked with it. I've checked with my

[35:56] staff and we've got to set that up. So,

[36:01] >> and we're looking hopefully by the end

[36:03] of the month to get that going. Yep. You

[36:05] know,

[36:06] >> I think that'd be generous. I want to

[36:08] have it done before then. So,

[36:09] >> yeah. Yeah.

[36:10] >> Yeah, for sure.

[36:12] >> What What does Open Gov do that our last

[36:15] system didn't do? Because Open Gov's

[36:18] less It's only about a year old. We've

[36:20] only had that for about a year, haven't

[36:22] we?

[36:22] >> It really the biggest thing is provide

[36:24] access, I think. um and maybe more

[36:29] trusted access. Although we're putting

[36:31] in the numbers, we're not we're not um

[36:37] we don't have a period of time between

[36:39] the request and delivery to look at it

[36:42] and massage it or change it, right? The

[36:45] numbers are there. They're right there.

[36:46] >> The numbers are matched. They can go in

[36:48] and look at them. So, I don't think

[36:51] anything untrustworthy was working, but

[36:53] I think that system allows the person to

[36:56] feel that it's more trustworthy, if that

[36:59] makes sense.

[37:00] >> Okay.

[37:01] >> I think that's the biggest thing.

[37:03] >> Great.

[37:03] >> They'll see the stories that were

[37:05] presented. They'll see the total

[37:06] budgets. Um,

[37:10] and they can see those now as static

[37:13] entries under

[37:16] like the council's packets. And they do

[37:19] look like they will look in open gov,

[37:23] but we want to get them live.

[37:26] >> Okay, great.

[37:28] Okay. Well, well, thank you. It's it's a tad awkward how we set this up

[37:33] because I know Rich is presenting to the

[37:35] council. Um, but the way this was set up

[37:38] was really to let the folks here know

[37:40] and members of the public. So,

[37:44] >> next time we'll have you flip around

[37:45] toward the audience. But um that that

[37:47] was the target. This was a

[37:50] >> more of learning for us too, but we

[37:52] wanted the members of the public to see

[37:54] this.

[37:55] >> I didn't realize I was so chatty. I they

[37:57] told me 30 minutes

[37:58] >> and I thought I'd take 20 and look, I

[38:01] doubled that.

[38:02] >> We could have told you it was going to

[38:04] go longer. [laughter]

[38:05] >> Yeah. Always does.

[38:07] >> Thank you.

[38:08] >> Okay. Thank you, Rich.

[38:08] >> Thanks, Rich.

[38:11] >> Okay. At this time, we will accept some

[38:14] comments from the audience. We didn't

[38:17] have anyone sign in at the start of the

[38:19] meeting, but the sign-in sheet is at the

[38:22] podium. And so, if you'd like three

[38:24] minutes to speak on any topic that's on

[38:26] your mind, we welcome that. Um, I do

[38:29] need to remind everyone that regarding

[38:32] the the appeal and the appeal for the uh

[38:36] hearing examiner for that conditional

[38:38] use permit for the data center, there's

[38:41] a good chance that that's going to be

[38:43] appealed by the applicant. And so where

[38:47] it's an ongoing and the the council is

[38:50] on under exparte, it's an exparte or

[38:53] quas judicial matter, I should say. that

[38:57] same rules govern that before where

[38:59] we're still probably in that appeal

[39:02] process. It's kind of like what I told

[39:04] the public at council meeting last

[39:06] Thursday night that if your your

[39:08] comments pertain to something about that

[39:11] appeal that uh we're not able to take

[39:14] comments or hear comments like that

[39:16] tonight, but any other subject is wide

[39:18] open. And at this time, I'd invite you

[39:21] to come to the podium if you'd like and

[39:23] sign in. Hear what you got.

[39:39] » [snorts]

[39:45] [clears throat]

[40:06] » Lydia Noble from Pocutello. I have three

[40:09] things that I think um I would just like

[40:11] the council to consider and I appreciate

[40:14] your service and I'm glad that all of

[40:16] you are doing it because it is a lot of

[40:18] work and I want you to know that I

[40:20] appreciate what you do. Um, first one is

[40:24] I think that there's there are some

[40:27] things that can be done that may not

[40:30] maybe should be done. Just because it

[40:33] can be done, maybe it shouldn't be being

[40:35] done. And that has to do with the

[40:37] interest. The fact that the interest

[40:39] from most of the city departments seems

[40:41] to be being swept into the general fund.

[40:44] Whereas in other places, it's more that

[40:47] those interest incomes are kept within

[40:49] funds or departments so that those

[40:52] departments have their own source of

[40:54] income, source of revenue. So I know

[40:56] this is not something that can be fixed

[40:58] overnight. It's taken years to get here.

[41:01] So it's just something I want you to

[41:03] consider that as a member of the public

[41:04] who has some financial background, I

[41:07] would like to see us get back to that.

[41:09] The next thing is the right of way. I

[41:12] recently put in a public record request

[41:15] to try to understand if the city has any

[41:18] logical breakdown of how the row charges

[41:23] that are buried into the budgets for the

[41:25] enterprise departments water sanitation

[41:27] WPC those kinds of things if there's a method to how those charges

[41:33] are determined the answer I got was the

[41:36] raftellis

[41:38] rate study that we do every five years

[41:41] I'm Not sure that's exactly correct. So

[41:44] that brings me back to the initial

[41:46] question. How are the row charges

[41:48] determined? What is the methodology?

[41:50] Because I believe Raphelis may just be

[41:53] given that as part of the budget. So if

[41:56] they're already given that, of course,

[41:58] they're going to build the rate study

[42:00] with th those numbers built into the

[42:01] budget like they would build a budget,

[42:04] you know, with salary information in it.

[42:07] So my concern is in other cities, two

[42:10] other cities, Lewon and Moscow have

[42:12] already removed those kinds of charges

[42:15] because they have been viewed as an

[42:18] unconstitutional additional tax because

[42:21] sanitation, water, you know, these

[42:23] enterprise departments, they have

[42:25] nothing to do with street maintenance

[42:27] and the public already pays taxes,

[42:29] levies, county taxes, state taxes for

[42:32] the maintenance of our roads. So by

[42:34] burying it in the budget of the

[42:36] enterprise departments, I believe we

[42:38] could be artificially inflating our fees

[42:42] that we pay for city services. So I'd

[42:44] like to see us get back to maybe not

[42:46] doing that. It may take a few years to

[42:48] get back to that. I understand, but I

[42:51] just think it's not a good practice. And

[42:53] just because we can do it, I don't think

[42:54] we maybe should be doing it. Two other

[42:56] cities have removed it.

[42:58] >> And the last thing that I had, and I'm

[43:00] running out of time,

[43:00] >> I don't mind you going an extra minute.

[43:02] There's not

[43:04] >> and this last one is easy.

[43:06] >> I've been watching the growth of the

[43:07] city budget, but again, I'm looking at

[43:09] total numbers and I know a lot of that

[43:11] sometimes has the grants buried into it.

[43:14] So, there's no easy way because the

[43:16] city's never been really good about

[43:18] advertising how much of that portion

[43:19] comes out because it's simply the grants

[43:22] that the city received that need to be

[43:23] spent over one year, two years, five

[43:25] years, whatever. But I would like to see

[43:27] a comparison over let's say the last

[43:30] decade of how the budget has grown, the

[43:33] base budget, the budget that is the base

[43:36] of the city over a 10-year period. I

[43:38] would love to see a graphic of that or

[43:41] something to that effect because that

[43:42] would help the public understand the

[43:44] budget isn't growing exponentially,

[43:46] which is what I'm seeing when I'm

[43:47] looking at it when the grants and

[43:49] everything are put into it, but just how

[43:51] we've been growing our budget.

[43:53] >> Yeah. because the city the city itself

[43:56] isn't growing by population that much.

[43:59] So that's my concern that we need to

[44:01] start looking at that type of a thing.

[44:03] I've talked to other cities that have

[44:05] told me, two other cities have told me

[44:07] that they base the number of city

[44:10] full-time positions on their population.

[44:13] And they have between four and five city

[44:15] employees for every 1,000 population

[44:19] size. So, if they have an explosion in

[44:21] population, that helps them to justify

[44:24] additional full-time and I ask them,

[44:27] "What do you do when your city isn't

[44:28] growing and yet you see something

[44:30] unusual come up as far as workload?"

[44:33] They handle it with part-time workers is

[44:35] what both cities told me. And that was

[44:36] Twin Falls and Caldwell, I believe, that

[44:38] I spoke with. So, I'm just giving you

[44:40] that as it's something to to think

[44:42] about.

[44:43] >> Okay.

[44:43] >> All right. Thank you.

[44:45] >> Thank you. And I'll allow an opportunity

[44:47] for council to whatever comments you

[44:49] have. Like one quick one I have Lydia

[44:52] is, you know, I understand what you're

[44:54] saying. Duly noted about that interest.

[44:56] Like we have all of our funds and

[44:57] they're accumulating interest and it's

[45:00] been practice to put that in the general

[45:02] fund. Um you're right. It's a hard thing

[45:05] to resolve overnight. You know, one

[45:08] thing you probably know about this, but

[45:10] with the street department this year,

[45:12] like incremental step number one, that

[45:15] we we did transfer that out of the

[45:17] general fund and into the street

[45:20] >> fund. And that that was part of the way

[45:22] we were able to overcome that $1.3

[45:25] million shortfall from the state. So, so hear what you're saying. I agree

[45:30] that it's a a longer process and we we

[45:34] we've talked much um you know with

[45:37] finance staff and amongst ourselves on

[45:39] what we can do to

[45:41] >> to chip away at that and um you know and

[45:44] then the rate study on the the

[45:46] enterprise funds for the utilities. I I think that makes sense. Let's get some

[45:52] logistics there. and um it got what

[45:55] you're saying about take the grant

[45:57] portion out too cuz sometimes that does

[45:59] artificially inflate. Yeah.

[46:02] >> So that those are my quick comments.

[46:04] Just be happy if you you all have any

[46:07] more.

[46:09] >> Thank you.

[46:10] >> So thank you.

[46:11] >> Thank you.

[46:14] >> All right. Be be happy to hear from some

[46:16] others out there.

[46:21] Otherwise, this might be the shortest

[46:23] town hall meeting in history. [laughter]

[46:28] » Yeah.

[46:31] >> Okay. Well, appreciate you all being

[46:33] here. Hopefully, you'll learn some

[46:35] basics about budget formation and how we

[46:38] put that all together. Um, we all have

[46:42] email addresses. Our email addresses are

[46:44] on the city's website. Mine is

[46:47] mayorpocatello.gov.

[46:49] I believe there's a council at

[46:52] pocatello.gov that reaches everyone. So,

[46:57] um, always happy to chat. Um, if you

[46:59] want to talk with the mayor one on one,

[47:02] I do accept appointments and I can get a

[47:05] half hour. You may have to wait for two

[47:07] or 3 weeks or so to get in, but um, just

[47:11] know that we're all contactable and

[47:14] please feel free to reach out.

[47:18] Okay. And with that uh thank you and we

[47:20] are adjourned for the evening.

Pocatello City Council Townhall Meeting 07 20 26

Transcript