[0:00] and those

[0:03] two.

[0:06] Well, I, I know

[0:11] theoretically I'm saying it never happened,

[0:17] you got

[0:19] 2.

[0:22] I think you got a ground nest. When

[0:27] they get upset enough with the sprinkler. They'll move. Well you got she's just whatever

[0:34] their name

[0:40] is. She got every now and then. She's got the yard. I'm out there every year. Yeah,

[0:41] they must be a little. I mean, they must really. She does things that feel less in

[0:44] the ground.

[0:46] Yeah, and it gets to be later in the summer. Summer and if you get anywhere near

[0:51] them, they come for you. So I, you can abandoned whole sections of my yard because

[0:59] they had that slash door. Yeah, that that's all she wrote. You don't even go there.

[1:06] And you're there, you're there.

[1:10] How's Jen doing? There you go.

[1:14] I did, yeah, I needed for the part,

[1:27] yeah, right. I was thinking, you know, I saw the agenda because I thought

[1:36] I know they've been doing this.

[1:41] Hello, thanks for being here tonight. I'm gonna call this meeting to order. This

[1:45] is a City Folsom Commission budget workshop. It's July 20th, 2026. If you would please

[1:51] join me in the pledge.

[1:55] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic

[2:01] for which it stands, one a nation under God and indivisible, with liberty and justice

[2:09] for all.

[2:12] Thank you so much. I'm gonna do a quick roll of the commission.

[2:17] Commissionerless here. Where, where McDonald here. Uh, Holly, here, Schrader.

[2:24] Houdini is not here. Thank you. Um, agenda item 3 is the approval of the proposed

[2:30] agenda. Can I please have a motion from the commission. Second, the motion from Commissioner

[2:36] Douglas, the second from Commissioner McDonald. Any further commission discussion?

[2:42] A public comment on the proposed agenda. Hi Lee. Everything online, Mr. Simpson.

[2:48] No, ma'am. All righty, we will then take a vote. If there's no further comment, Commissioner

[2:53] Schrader Young.

[2:56] proposed agenda.

[2:59] Uh, yes, yes. Molly, I'm sorry, I was reading this. You caught me off guard. Sorry,

[3:07] I like to sweep it up. 4. All right, McDonald, 44, Douglas 4, and Deborah 4. That

[3:13] motion carries. Thank you. Agenda item 4 is public comment on significant matters

[3:18] to the public, not on the agenda. Is there any public comment in the gallery this

[3:22] evening?

[3:24] Anything online, Mr. Simpson? No, ma'am. All right, seeing none. We will move on

[3:31] to agenda item 5, which is new business. It's the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget workshop.

[3:38] Uh, city manager Simpson and finance officer Jody O'Sullivan, please.

[3:48] Good evening, Jodie O'Sullivan, finance office. So I have a short, um, PowerPoint

[3:54] presentation that I've already been mocked on because it doesn't have enough pictures

[3:58] but has words and numbers on it, um, that kind of goes over and outline just as a

[4:03] refresher or maybe it's something new of how the different fund categories work when

[4:08] we're talking about budgeting. Um, so it's not gonna be super in-depth, but just

[4:12] kind of a refresher of the things that that George and I have been working through

[4:16] as we're working through this budget process. Next slide please.

[4:22] So our big fund that we're always concerned about is the general fund. This is the

[4:26] one where we're waiting for the information for the from the Department of Revenue

[4:30] to determine how much revenue we're going to get from property taxes. You should

[4:36] know by August 3rd. Um, I heard a rumor it might come a little bit earlier, but until

[4:41] we get that information, really nothing can be set in stone. Um, so some of the sources

[4:47] of revenue that come into the general fund are gonna be your property taxes, the

[4:51] state entitlement payment, which is a collection of payments that come from the states

[4:57] make up for lost property tax revenue. Um, the permissive medical mill levy which

[5:02] pays for employees out of the general fund, the city's share of their health insurance,

[5:08] so it's a way to supplement that, that cost, um, local vehicle local option tax which

[5:15] comes from Lake County, and then recently, I mean, I've only been here two years,

[5:20] but we have seen the marijuana excise tax that has gone up quite significantly, so.

[5:27] We're estimating that it'll stay the same. So these are the major functions within

[5:33] um the general fund. You can see that we've got commission, courts, city managers,

[5:39] city clerk, finance department, city attorney, shared costs, which are going to be

[5:44] things like the liability insurance for the entire city, um, and all departments

[5:49] and funds, police department, fire department, code enforcement, building inspections,

[5:55] street department. The city share of the lighting district, parks, and then a portion

[6:00] of the ITGIS. So all of these um operations are paid from the general fund.

[6:10] Next slide please, so this is a snapshot of where we are right now, um, as within

[6:16] those groupings, what is being paid out of the general fund. So as you can see by

[6:21] this circle here, if one side goes up, then another side has to go down, right? We

[6:27] can't just increase across everything, um, without that revenue itself increasing.

[6:36] Um, as has been for the last couple of years, public safety continues to be the largest

[6:41] sector in the general fund.

[6:46] It looks like we have.

[6:50] The special revenue funds, they're the funds that start with the number 2, so from

[6:55] 2000 to 2999. These are funds that are established um either by a mill levy or it's

[7:02] a donation fund, it's a tax increment district. They're generally outside of the

[7:09] property tax revenue, um, with the exception of public safety. Uh, no levy that we

[7:14] have going on, and those funds just operate within themselves. So like, for example,

[7:20] the public safety mill levy, that money goes in and it's used specifically for the

[7:25] police department. That's the only thing that that money can be used for. So there's

[7:29] several of those funds and you'll notice that um it may have shown up, I don't know

[7:34] um if it did on your packet or not, but last year the city closed down a bunch of

[7:40] 2000 series funds that were not being used and consolidated them into the parks donations

[7:46] fund. So going forward, that long list of unused funds should continue to contract

[7:53] and then the only thing that's gonna be showing up on the reports are ones that are

[7:57] actually active.

[8:00] slide. And then the third class of funds that we talked about our enterprise funds.

[8:07] Those are going to be the three enterprise funds that City has. Those are the 5000

[8:11] series funds, golf, water, and sewer. Those are self-supported funds, so they're

[8:18] business units that they don't rely on taxpayer dollars to fund them. So when we

[8:23] are looking at water and sewer, that's a service that's provided and purchased, and

[8:28] that's what supports each one of those funds themselves. So they live in their own

[8:33] world, um, and all the golf money stays in the Gulf, all the water stays in the water

[8:40] and sewer and sewer, with the exception of the indirect cost allocation, that's the

[8:45] only time, and that's for, um, because these three enterprise funds do utilize the

[8:51] service of some of the, um, City Hall general fund functions. And that's my brief

[8:58] overview of, I didn't want to go down into the weeds of what every single account

[9:02] means and what objects mean, but if you can kind of think in budgeting, why are we

[9:07] talking so much about the general fund, that's really the one that's impacted the

[9:10] most by property taxes. The rest of them have a little bit more predictability into

[9:15] them, not a ton, but a little bit more. We can get on those a little bit earlier

[9:20] in terms of budgeting. Yes, can we ask questions or not? Yes, you can. Um, so you're,

[9:27] uh, you know, the general fund, if we find out on August 3rd we have a big increase,

[9:34] then how is that decided what, where that money goes? It's not, I'll let I'm being

[9:40] optimistic. So, uh, a lot of it depends on what, what that number looks like and,

[9:48] and what the commission decides is a priority, um, you. In my mind, you kind of have

[9:54] two ways, uh, for people or for projects. So, so right now we're looking at tentatively

[10:01] a 2.5% in cola, um, but again, it's all dependent on what those August 3rd numbers

[10:06] look like. Uh, if we can do more than that, that's great. If, if we have a big windfall,

[10:12] we can direct it toward a project. So it kind of depends where that dollar amount

[10:15] falls. And then that's decided after you find out. It's not free. You, you just see

[10:22] first, right? We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll have a better idea when, when the time comes.

[10:26] And then my other question is your enterprise funds, uh, the indirect, is it the

[10:32] same amount for all three of those funds? It's proportional based on their expenditures

[10:37] at relative to the, the entire city budget. It's a whole formula that goes through,

[10:42] it's like 3 tabs on a spreadsheet, so they're different. They're they're different

[10:47] dollar amounts for each of those funds, yeah, and the dollar amount changes based

[10:50] on a number of conditions like their expenditures, how much um insurance claims they

[10:56] had. It's been the formula the city has been using for 5 years, I believe, and it's

[11:02] that spreadsheet that is prepared and documented that gets reviewed at year-end closing

[11:07] and also during the audit time they pull all of that and confirm the numbers that

[11:12] are on there.

[11:17] And just for illustration, the, the sewer is the biggest enterprise fund, and it,

[11:24] the Allocation is about 2000 some odd,000, 212 or something like that, right, quite

[11:30] large and then the watering doll for. More comparable and they're both just under

[11:36] 100,000, isn't that kind of where the numbers are 97. More or less, you know,

[11:44] so that's, it's, depends on how big the fund is. And who's, uh, how many employees

[11:50] and all that, probably insurance. It's their, it's their, um, expenditures. So yeah,

[11:56] if it was if one of the funds is gigantic and $400 million then they're they're gonna

[12:03] pay a higher percentage of the indirect costs. We don't have any funds that big,

[12:07] but if someday we did. So if one of those enterprise funds as a

[12:14] huge project like a big sewer construction project, that's really gonna increase

[12:20] the it could potentially, yeah, um, it's, it's not all expenditures again, I don't

[12:26] want to get too far in the weeds. It's, it's very particular and how that formula

[12:30] is used, um, so that it's. Done The same way every year, basically

[12:37] consistency and then using factual numbers to come up with that. Does that formula

[12:43] also? I noticed there's savings in all those areas. I mean, you know, when you look

[12:49] at the budget, I mean, there's like a, a fund for like there's like a big project

[12:55] coming up or emergency or whatever. Is that also affected by a formula of what's

[13:00] taken out and put into savings? I wouldn't have to actually look at the spreadsheet

[13:06] to give you that answer. Um, but, like I say, it's been done the same way for the

[13:13] last 5 years for the city.

[13:17] Yeah, no, I, I'm not concerned it's been done the same way. I just wanted you to

[13:20] explain how it's done. That's all, yeah, it, but it's if requested, I can, uh, if

[13:27] it, if requested, I could probably, I know Mr. Reese had done a presentation on indirect

[13:31] cost allocation back in April, I think, um, we could potentially go through it again,

[13:38] um, and. I could give you an example of going through the spreadsheet. You may regret

[13:44] that, but I would be happy to do that. But I think part of that would, would come

[13:49] in the PER, like for the emergency contingency plan, so. I'll show you that part

[13:56] in just a minute.

[14:00] So are the numbers that you're using for the tax revenue, are those based on last

[14:06] year's numbers for planning purposes? We don't, we don't have, I know you don't have

[14:11] this year's. I understand that. I'm just trying to figure out what you did uses um.

[14:17] It's based on last year's numbers with just a, a slight increase, but again that

[14:22] could go the other direction. One of the complicating factors again that's still

[14:27] out there is the way that the department or did the certified values where they included

[14:33] the tip district, but then when they billed for the taxes, they didn't include it.

[14:37] So that's a wild card that. I don't know. Um, I work, I've been working with Susan

[14:42] Nicosia. I'm trying to get a handle on it, but the fact of the matter is we're just

[14:46] not gonna know until August 3rd. Joe, you, uh, when you're using the previous year's

[14:52] numbers for this, are you using actuals or like what was budgeted? I, I used the

[14:57] actuals. OK, thank you. And that local vehicle

[15:05] vehicle local option tax and the um Marijuana excise tax. Are those

[15:13] statutorily designated for specific purposes?

[15:18] I don't know the answer to that, but I know that they go into the general fund. That's

[15:24] where they were going when I started, so those are all collected on the county side

[15:27] too. That's just money that's like I can't predict how many license plates are gonna

[15:32] get renewed, right? So we have to go on. What happened last year. I just have one

[15:40] last question. When uh when someone in the city, uh, writes a grant, it gets funded,

[15:46] and when the city employees or city department heads or whatever, is the indirect

[15:51] the same amount on those grants from grant to grant to grant? No, it's a different,

[15:58] is it a formula then for that? So it, it depends on the grant. Um, some grants are

[16:04] just, they, they pay for everything 100%. Some are a cost match, some only pay for

[16:10] a percentage of the project. It really depends on the grant and the source you're

[16:15] getting the funds from. OK, so the city doesn't ask for an indirect, uh, for each

[16:21] grant application. Not for all of them, some, some of them.

[16:30] Like I had to play with indirect so much when I was at the college. I mean, because

[16:34] we wrote so many different grants, and we had a formula, and so I'm familiar with

[16:38] indirect. So the, for an example, the ARPA grants that went through these last couple

[16:44] of years, there was actually a portion of that that. Was itemized out for the audit

[16:49] costs for those grants alone because that moved the city into the a federal audit

[16:54] level um so it was handled that way but in terms of like itemizing out an indirect

[17:00] cost on the ARPA that that wasn't part of the plan there.

[17:09] Yeah.

[17:11] Thanks, Jordan. Thank you, Jody.

[17:15] So I just wanted to explain to you how the process works and how we got to where

[17:20] we're at today, because I, I know we have some, some new members on here. So the

[17:25] process began in April this year for the budget. It was towards the end of April,

[17:29] and the department heads in, in the city submitted their department budget with notes.

[17:35] And so as you're looking in the budget, you'll probably see some notes like 4 police

[17:39] cars or whatever under whatever fund. So the department had to put those in. Then

[17:44] in May, the city manager and the CFO go through it and they meet and they review

[17:50] the notes for each department head, and that first budget is essentially, if you

[17:55] can get everything, what would you want? It's, it's the wish list budget. Then in

[17:59] the May, June time frame, the city manager, the CFO and that department head sit

[18:05] down to go, hey, what is, what is realistic, what's not realistic, and we have that,

[18:10] that first conversation. Then in July, we all meet again and we say, hey, this looks

[18:15] like we're going to be able to keep this in, but we're going to have to get this

[18:19] out so we can, we can make the budget work. Um, And then again, here we are, we,

[18:25] we meet with you guys and, and then we discuss it further. Our taxable values come

[18:29] August 3rd, and then we'll have our hearing, I believe, on August 17th, and, and

[18:35] then the meeting thereafter. Uh, so we'll have those numbers and so if the numbers

[18:40] change, In dramatically one way or another, then we'll we'll plug them in, so. If

[18:46] something, things that went out, got on our priority list, so depending on the money

[18:50] we get back, we, we plug those back in. So capital improvement plans and the growth

[18:58] policy. So every department is working on capital improvement plans. The fire department

[19:03] got theirs done first, so you'll, you'll see that on tonight's agenda, and those

[19:08] are typically 5 to 10 year plans. And having those approved and adopted by the commission

[19:14] allows us to carry funds over from one fiscal year to the next. We cannot do that

[19:19] without your guys' approval. So it's, it's a way to save money. So if the fire chief

[19:24] says, hey, we need to buy a new fire apparatus, we can't support all that in one

[19:28] year's budget. If it's in the capital improvement plan, we can carry funds over and

[19:32] save for that. So it's a good budget tool as far as the savings goes. Um, oftentimes

[19:38] it's a requirement or desired by a grant. So keeping with the fire truck analogy,

[19:45] if we're applying for a grant for a fire truck, they want to see a capital improvement

[19:49] plan. Maybe the grant is a match, 50% comes from the city, 50% comes from state or

[19:54] whatever federal entity is giving away the money, but they want to see that you have

[19:58] a capital improvement plan that you can cover that 50%. So that's why those, those

[20:02] documents are important. And then it comes in front of you all, and then it gets

[20:07] published publicly, so it's public transparency there. So that's a way for the community

[20:12] to see how we're saving their tax dollars to benefit the city.

[20:17] Like I said, right now, the fire department has, has theirs done. All department

[20:20] heads are working on theirs, and we'll, we'll put them together. But Publix Works

[20:24] has a different kind of plan. I said the PER, which is the preliminary engineering

[20:28] report, that's a 5 to 10 year plan, and that, it's, it's a detailed document that

[20:34] identifies all our infrastructure problems in the cities. So, roads, water, storm

[20:40] water, all that stuff. And it talks about the history of the city, how everything

[20:46] infrastructure wise came to be and what problems we see in the future, but it also

[20:50] lays out the solutions. It's, it's like a 5 ring binder, 5 inch, 3 ring binder that

[20:57] HDR, our engineering firm puts together that, that compiles all that stuff. Like

[21:01] I said, it lists all our facility infrastructure, what the status is, and then it

[21:06] gives us the solutions to fix it. But we also have alternative solutions in there,

[21:11] and then the best recommendations to fix those. And again, those are required for

[21:16] budget documents, particularly federal ones when you're looking at EPA stuff or,

[21:20] uh, DNRC grants. I think they're, we have one on the agenda tonight. um, and it's

[21:25] a way from the engineering standpoint to estimate the cost of the road or the water

[21:31] or the well to get all that fixed. Uh, particularly the, um, MMSEP, the Montana Coal

[21:37] Endowment Program, they require you to have the, the PER for that, so you can put

[21:42] it in and get those grants. So that allows us to get those bigger grants. Those are

[21:46] pretty exhaustive plans. Like I said, you'll see one tonight at the city commission

[21:49] meeting. That's for 40,000 for DNRC grant. That will be for our storm water plan

[21:55] and transportation plan. And it's 100% from the state. There's no match from the

[22:01] city, um, but that grant requires a resolution adopted and approved for you guys

[22:06] so we can pay the engineers to produce that document. Um, and then we also have one

[22:12] for water and sewer plants. So And, uh, other thing that we use for, um, I just

[22:20] want to be clear, so we're, we're behind in those capital improvement plans and,

[22:24] and that PER. Like they're, they're outdated and, and we need those to navigate the

[22:30] funding for the better roads, for the better sewer, um, and then same thing with

[22:34] our growth policy. So we're also working on a growth policy, which is real similar

[22:39] to that, but it identifies the need for planning. Um, for houses, local services,

[22:44] infrastructure needs, and then the future of growth. That's what it is. It has a

[22:47] lot of old maps, current maps, and then projected future maps based on population

[22:53] and housing needs and, and infrastructure in the city. It's really valuable to evaluate

[22:58] risk when it comes from a public safety standpoint, police, fire, all that stuff.

[23:04] Um, it's a great resource book for the community. That's the best way to think about

[23:08] it. What are we going to need 5 to 10 years from now assant city? So that's what

[23:11] that growth policy does. So, ideally, we would already have those in place and we

[23:16] would build our budget around it. But we're, we're doing that now. We identified

[23:21] it, we're, we're doing it now. The other thing that I think ideally we would have

[23:25] done in April is this workshop right here to give you guys the very basics that Jo

[23:30] and I were given, provide you with a copy of the budget and then go from there. And,

[23:35] The idea behind that is to get the city's priority through the commissioners and

[23:40] what you guys would like to see now how the transition worked with the with the last

[23:45] city manager Chanel didn't quite work out that way because he exited during during

[23:49] budget time. That's when we were kind of going through it. So what I did was I went

[23:53] back and watched several of the city commission meetings to kind of get a gist of

[23:58] the priorities, and one of the number one things I heard from there is is a code

[24:03] enforcement person. We need a dedicated code enforcement person. So Jody and I sat

[24:07] down, going through the preliminary budget and said how can we make this happen.

[24:12] Um, one of the positions that we had last go around was a temporary assistant to

[24:18] the city manager position. So we got rid of that position in this budget, and we

[24:24] used the funding from that to help with the code enforcement. So this new code enforcement

[24:29] will fall under building and planning to help them with their code enforcement side,

[24:33] but still be available for the other code enforcement angles. With the understanding

[24:37] that, that's not a 24/7 job. So when there's downtime in the code enforcement world,

[24:43] Then that person can still assist, um, building and planning with their needs and

[24:48] assist the water clerk and meet and greed with, with those needs. So we can kind

[24:52] of pull that salary from all three of those departments that that touches. Another

[24:57] thing that I noticed in there was, was streets. Everybody was like, we need more

[25:01] money for streets. And so that's where we, we've, we've sat down with Ashley, our

[25:06] public works director, and said we need to focus on this. And so, The money that

[25:11] we are projecting that, that we're going to have in the budget, we, we put as much

[25:15] as we reasonably could toward street projects, uh, and water projects, with the understanding

[25:21] that if there is a windfall, with our fingers crossed, however that looks, we can,

[25:25] we can interject that somewhere. Uh, again, I, I think people should, should take

[25:30] their priority over the projects. For example, we have 3 people in the streets department,

[25:34] and, and if we don't pay them, there's not going to be anybody to build that road.

[25:38] Um, but that, that's up to you guys. That's, that's my two cents on that. Um, and

[25:44] it's very important, and we did set aside funding for those documents, those public

[25:48] work documents that I was talking about, and a lot of that was already in, in place.

[25:52] Like, they, we have already been working on the PER, and so we're hoping by the end

[25:56] of the year to have a lot of these documents, and then, It not only identifies the

[26:00] problems, but identifies the cost, and then it prioritizes that based on, you know,

[26:04] what would fail first or what would be the big problem. So when you're asking about

[26:08] emergencies, um, that's kind of where that comes from. Hopefully, it's something

[26:12] that that's on the list that has been. Identified. If there is a phenomenal, unforeseen

[26:19] emergency, there are specialized emergency grant funding for that. Um, ideally, you

[26:25] don't want to do that. You want to project and see, but if something comes up, we

[26:28] can, we can certainly work that out on the back end and get that fixed. Um, a good

[26:33] example would be like the bridge failure in Libby from the flooding and, They just

[26:37] now got the grant to redo all that, but you saw how long it took from the flooding

[26:41] to get it approved, and then they still have to start to do all that, but that's

[26:44] where that would come from. The other thing I wanted to, to show you,

[26:54] I is this right here, and I'm gonna do the yardstick because it's easier for me to

[26:59] for me to do so.

[27:02] 24 and 25, we, we pretty much got 1.35% of the majority of taxable

[27:10] value in, in Pulsson on the houses. Then it went to 0.76, and so now they do it in

[27:17] a tiered status, and that memo I sent you kind of, kind of had it laid out. So now

[27:22] up to $378,000 in value, we're going to get 0.76, so we're losing almost half a percentage

[27:27] point in the majority of our homes. So that's what we're looking at, and that's why

[27:33] we're like, well, we'll see if, if there's a windfall, because the reality is we're,

[27:36] we're going to get 0.5% point less. The other thing is. We used to be able to tell

[27:41] real easy what our tax value would be because we have a good uh building and planning

[27:48] department and we got 100% of of new construction, but now we get 75%, so we get

[27:54] a quarter or less of that, we get 0.5% less than this. Um, the upside is now they're

[27:59] doing short term and long term rentals, and they kind of have all that busted out,

[28:03] so we might get some of that back, but we just, we really don't know and even the

[28:07] Department of Revenue. Doesn't know and that's why it's gonna be till till the last

[28:12] minute, it looks like that's what we're gonna get. So as a taxpayer, it's really

[28:15] great if you're looking for services, it's not ideal, yeah. Uh, George, that has

[28:23] like a lower concentration of expensive houses or like, um, the short term rentals

[28:30] and stuff and say like the county would or something like that, like, um, within

[28:35] city limits. Is it likely that there will be decreases because most houses are just

[28:42] normal working class level housing. Yeah. The honest answer is I, I don't know because,

[28:50] because right now until we get some of this planning stuff done, we don't have a

[28:53] solid number of what is short term rental, what's long term rental, what's all that,

[28:58] so these are kind of new categories this year. Uh, that, that's something that we,

[29:02] uh, with the building department we've been in, in the talks of trying to figure

[29:06] out a way how to identify these and we can better predict this. I think after, after

[29:10] this first year, we'll have that taxable value because no matter what they do in

[29:14] Helena, I seriously doubt it'd be fixed before the next budget. So the numbers that

[29:18] we get this year we'll be able to, to roll them over to next year, but are, is it

[29:23] going to be a positive or negative? I just couldn't tell you because we really don't

[29:28] know that number. OK, so all that data will kind of be revealed once they announce

[29:32] the numbers, more or less because they'll, they'll have to pay the, the taxes on

[29:37] that, and so that'll be the way to, to get that figured out. OK. Um. That's unfortunately,

[29:42] that's the best answer I, I can give you. No, that's totally fair. I get it. I was

[29:47] just curious if we had any info on that ahead of time or not, but I know like they

[29:52] had to have everyone like basically register what type of home type they had with

[29:57] DOR or a lot of people got rolled into it based on, uh, I forget what exactly the

[30:02] metric was, but I was curious if we had any background on it or anything. We're not,

[30:09] we're not alone. I, I, I forward you guys an article from Montana Free Press about

[30:13] Great Falls, uh, so we're kind of, kind of tracking. It seems like the majority of

[30:18] the, of the cities are kind of playing in this way. Uh, it's very difficult to approve

[30:22] it in July when you don't know what your money's going to be till, till August, um,

[30:27] and then if it goes the other way, if it, if it comes in less, then we have to go

[30:31] back and look at what those cuts are going to be like.

[30:35] So right now, like Ms. O'Sullivan said, we're, we're, we're going by last year's

[30:41] numbers because that's kind of the, the best that we can figure on.

[30:47] And we're budgeting on money began within the city limits for tax dollars, and the

[30:53] county then uses all the money they get for every other home that's out of the city

[30:58] limits. Yeah, the county has their own thing, but they do collect the taxes for us

[31:03] like she said, and then we get it back when they, when they put it forward.

[31:09] We don't ever get a chunk of that for anything. The county money, considering all

[31:15] those people use services in town. Now you're good. And use your, your police services

[31:22] and all that when they come to town and all that. We don't get any of that. They

[31:25] do. And that's, and that's why when we look at the annexation, that's, that's what

[31:29] we consider. How, how much of the city services are you using for free. Yeah. That

[31:34] you're, that you're not paying for. And there's some give and take to that because

[31:38] during the, the tourist season, despite what Elma thinks we are a tourist town, and

[31:42] so people do come through and travel on our roads and use our emergency services,

[31:46] that, that happens. There we go.

[31:51] But only 11% comes from tourism.

[31:57] So is there any questions that we can help you with? Is there something that you

[32:02] would like to see a better focus on budget wise? I know it's just a random list of

[32:08] numbers unless you really sit down and look at it. Um, was that a fair estimation

[32:13] of the, the priorities that you all had with code enforcement and in streets, Safe

[32:18] streets. I think it's not only repairing potholes and stuff, but looking at sidewalks

[32:25] and, you know, crossing. Safely and that kind of stuff, you know, with Carolyn not

[32:32] being here, I can advocate for, excuse me, safer streets, you know, whether that

[32:37] be um

[32:41] Some type of a speed bump or uh um A median in the middle whether it's

[32:49] got flowers in it or whatnot just uh I there's a term for I think it's what completes

[32:56] complete streets complete streets yeah you know something to keep the the traffic.

[33:02] To be forced to slow down, there's an actual term for all that traffic control stuff,

[33:09] so we do, we do have a line in there for the sidewalks, um, but we have, we have

[33:15] money in there for, for the potholes and, and, and striping and, and all of that,

[33:19] and we do that, you know, case by case depending on, on the, the situation and where

[33:23] it's at. Sure. So the gas tax, which is dedicated to streets, isn't it?

[33:31] It might not. Remembering that's right, that is correct and

[33:36] is but that's Kind of everything to do with streets, that's plowing, that's pothole,

[33:42] that's whatever, right? And not necessarily construction of new streets. It could

[33:49] be, it looks like to me from the last several years that fund was used for a couple

[33:54] of different street projects. It can't be used for personnel, but it's for maintenance.

[33:59] Um, you can use 20 3rd class. These can use 25% of that for capital

[34:07] purchases like machinery and equipment, um, which is what we did this year to get

[34:12] the street department and a new mower that they needed, um, and we're looking at

[34:17] next year they need to replace their F-550 and possibly a dump truck bed, um, and

[34:24] then the remainder of that is what's being spent is gonna be on like. The striping

[34:31] stuff. Rainbow chips, you may see that in the claims list a lot. That's the reflective.

[34:37] Stuff.

[34:42] And then They're

[34:46] Engineer studies for rate studies in both the water and sewer funds for this upcoming

[34:53] year. It's, I think probably been 10 years or more since that's been done. And it

[34:58] looks like the rates are not keeping up with the expenses at this point. So, um,

[35:05] I was glad to see that that was in place, but unrelated, we do have some outstanding

[35:10] revenue bonds for those funds and The revenue bonds usually have.

[35:19] Instructions, talking about saving for capital improvements, revenue bonds have instructions

[35:25] on how you're supposed to manage that money you're getting on rates, and do we know

[35:30] if we're doing that? When I asked Ed before, he did not know.

[35:36] Um, I don't know the answers for that, but I can certainly look into it. We will

[35:40] get it.

[35:51] And one other question on the reserves. I know we have reserve funds, which we need

[35:57] for when catastrophes happen. And do we have anywhere within, and I

[36:05] did not, did not go back and look through to see if I can find this, but do we have

[36:10] anywhere where we designate what our aim is as far as creating our reserve funds?

[36:17] Are we trying to create something that's You know, 20% 1.6, 16.6.

[36:25] Minimum industry standard 16.6, um, 18 to 20 is, is a, a more conservative number.

[36:34] And we've, I mean, we have pretty good reserves. I mean, not great, but, but we're

[36:41] within that, that percentage, aren't we? Yes, ma'am. OK. Thank you.

[36:50] Any other questions, commission? Jodie or? Uh, I got one just cause I kinda thumbed

[36:58] through this and I did notice that there were, um, Like you said, uh, focusing on

[37:04] people over projects in some ways, and I. I think I generally agree with that, but

[37:09] I guess like, I know cause last year, um there were a lot of cuts across the board.

[37:14] Um, there was significant from police, and I was kinda looking through some of those

[37:20] details on here in the expenditures one. And I just wanted to make sure I was, uh,

[37:25] reading this right. Um. Um, so under like personnel

[37:33] service or I guess personal services, there's 2 FTE at 100% and then 2 chief officers

[37:40] at 15%, and below that there's salary parity for like a 2% raise, it looks like.

[37:47] I guess I was just curious, is the 2 FTE like hiring two additional police officers

[37:53] or is that bringing current officers up to full time and then. Um, As

[38:01] a follow up, I guess based on the fact that there was like 30% cut from police last

[38:05] year with, um, some of these increases, how much of that has been able to get put

[38:11] back in place, especially when it comes to personnel and stuff, which I, I prefer

[38:17] over, you know, other things. Sure. So, um, when Mr. Sullivan was talking earlier

[38:23] about general fund and, and police mill levy, those, those are two different persons

[38:27] that money comes from. Um-hum, um. The police mill levy is somewhat vague on what

[38:34] you can get with it. It was just the verbiage that was on the mill levy, uh, but

[38:39] it's essentially people, equipment and training. And so we, um, all our employees

[38:44] at the police department are full time employees. They're all FTE. OK. But some of

[38:48] them are paid out of the general fund, a percentage, and some of them are, are paid

[38:51] out of that mill levy, and that's to alleviate some strain on the general fund. So,

[38:55] that's, that's, that's your part one. OK.

[38:59] So, part two is, uh, no. Unfortunately, that's, that's the short answer. So, That,

[39:07] that money was, was gone. It was out. Um, it was, it was used for other things. And

[39:12] so when you. When you, when you take money out of one department and you use it for

[39:18] a different department or use it for something else, it, it's extremely difficult

[39:23] to get it back into the department it came from. So the money that came out, that

[39:27] was the cost savings for somewhere else, um, got used for something else before.

[39:32] So now, so it was, it was around 300,000 for the police department. It's just 300,000,

[39:38] the police department's not going to see it, because wherever that was spread out,

[39:42] I don't know where to pull it from, because if I pull it from another department,

[39:45] now they're, they're missing 300,000 or a percentage of it, you know, however it

[39:50] gets it gets divided out. That's why it's extremely difficult. To get that money

[39:56] back because let's say it came out for a water project or something, and it wouldn't

[40:02] be water, they got their own fund, but now if I take it back out of there, then they're

[40:06] missing that money and, and that's why it's really hard. And so, and it's very difficult

[40:11] to do the people. So let's say I, I'll pick on the police department. So I try to

[40:16] buy a police car a year and let's say I want to. Hold off buying a police car and

[40:23] use that money for raises. So this budget, I skip a year buying a police car, and

[40:28] now I give the guys those raises. Well, what happens next year? Next year I, I still

[40:33] need to get a car, and now I'm behind one in my rotation on my capital improvement

[40:38] plan, but I don't have nowhere to pay those guys that raise I gave them the year

[40:43] before. So it's really, it's really difficult. Um, so that's why I'm like, when there's

[40:48] a windfall like this, you, you have to look at it and say, what is a, you know, an

[40:52] emergency project, and then what is, is a priority to keep good talented people here.

[40:57] Because we have great people in all the departments. All the departments have great

[41:01] people, and it, it just, it, it amazes me how many of them stick around for, for

[41:05] what we're paying them. And that's how you know you've got the best darn people,

[41:08] because they're here and they want to be here. I mean, they're phenomenal. Every,

[41:12] every department, every department that we have. So, did that answer your two questions?

[41:18] Yes, and just to make sure that I'm fully tracking here, so then the two FTE folks

[41:24] listed for like that 100 account, that's 2 full-time officers are paid out of the

[41:31] general fund, and then the rest would be coming from the police mill levy then, right,

[41:36] because you should if I understood I'm not looking at it, but that sounds how it's

[41:40] split up, yes. OK. Opposite. It's all the way around there. Yeah. OK. Two out of

[41:45] the building. 12 out of the general and the general. There you go. Two FTE. Cool.

[41:50] But it's split just like you're talking about. You just got to flip it. All right,

[41:53] cool. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was reading it right. So, that is a

[41:56] game PD did get one additional FTE.

[42:02] Well, because we're, we're full staffed, yeah, that makes the, that makes the difference.

[42:07] And then back to your growth policy, which is not necessarily part of this, but it's

[42:12] part of the big picture. One of the components that I think we also need, I mean,

[42:18] we have a lot of old plans that need to be brought up to date, and one of them is

[42:23] probably the water availability. We have an old report on water availability, but

[42:31] My guess is with the challenge to the water rights and the uh reservoir

[42:39] and the fact that one of our wells is pumping sand instead of water, that might not

[42:46] be applicable anymore. Did, and how's the replacement? Well, how,

[42:54] what's the status of that? How's that? Been Which in operation. Which

[43:01] replacement I think well 5, was it well 5 that. Stopped operating and they were going

[43:08] to try to find a replacement? Well, it is, but it isn't, and that one's on, on, that

[43:13] one is on our list and, and so it is workable and, and we, we are budgeting for it

[43:19] and we do have it in there. So the water availability, that is in the public works

[43:24] plans, so you will get, you will get an answer to that. Thank you. And it will be

[43:29] in two separate documents. It, it'd be in that PER, but it'll also be in that as

[43:34] well.

[43:38] George, back when you're explaining things to Jake, I had a question. Um, so the

[43:44] emergency occurs and money has to be taken from another

[43:49] area for this emergency. Does Does the department head is being taken out of, just,

[43:57] are they alerted to that? Do they know about that? Because you act when you talked

[44:01] about that, you were head of the police department, you, you would have known that

[44:06] that money was being taken out, that 30,000 or whatever it was, 300, 300,000. You

[44:12] would have known that, right? You were told that, right? I was, I was told that.

[44:17] I just wanna, that's, that's usually how it goes, they, they pull in the department

[44:21] and say, we're gonna need to take this kind of money out of your budget for this

[44:25] emergency. That's, that's what happened. Yes, ma'am.

[44:33] Then you just gotta go with the flow. Yes, ma'am. OK.

[44:42] And I have a random question. We had a line item last year for animal control that

[44:48] was like $600. Apparently none of it was used, and it's completely taken out this

[44:53] year. We do not provide any animal control through the city, do we? Correct. OK.

[44:59] What, who does provide the animal control? No one? Correct. OK. Thank you.

[45:12] Anybody else, questions, questions for? City managers still in there for Jody.

[45:22] In public comment.

[45:28] So that helps, George, thank you, that helps me understand things a little better.

[45:33] OK. Anything else, city manager? No, ma'am, and nobody online. All right.

[45:43] Take your time.

[46:02] Fleay ward too. First, Commissioner McConnell, uh, Question about

[46:10] the county on, we did the main street. Project, the county put in. I think it was

[46:18] $150,000 of their debt money to street

[46:26] Transportation Enhancement Act or something. They made their annual payments. My

[46:31] understanding, they did not have to do that because they're tax exempt empty, but

[46:35] they made their payment anyway for the 15 years. The tribe did also, and so did the

[46:42] state for their building. So that's, they do put some money into the, in the past,

[46:47] put money into the cities. OK.

[46:55] I'm getting a little more specific. I'm looking at.

[47:01] The tax increment district, it's on page 27.

[47:08] The first item on that is professional assistance, closing tip district, $5000. That

[47:16] seemed like a rather high amount to me, just offhand, how long, how complicated it

[47:20] is to spend all the money, houses closed and. Uh, no, $20,000 for.

[47:30] Final payment for indirect costs, uh.

[47:35] I don't know the status of where the money's. But it's going to be spent, it's supposed

[47:40] to be spent on the.

[47:43] Streets over here on Savage Point, and It's been almost a full year now for that

[47:51] project, money's available, and I don't know where the bids are, if there's any bids

[47:54] gone out to do that or not. Uh. Paving costs or direct costs or oil costs, and oil

[48:01] costs are high, so I'm not, but I, I don't know how long you can put off spending

[48:05] that money, and if any of the big contracts are going, been gone out yet. Uh.

[48:13] We spent a lot of money at HDR for engineering on that at different times over the

[48:17] years.

[48:29] I may be able to help you find a little bit of money, and maybe you can help me find

[48:34] it. I don't, I don't, there's some money out there that I don't know where it is,

[48:37] and that's in the tax district.

[48:42] Last year This time, just after this time, the State of Montana Department of Revenue

[48:48] told the city of Folsom that they can continue collecting on the tax increment districts.

[48:54] And so

[48:59] $691,280. Went into the tax increment district in the budget. Later in the year,

[49:08] BOR came back and said that was wrong, the money comes back out. At the October

[49:14] 25th meeting last year.

[49:20] There was a budget adjustments. For that money

[49:26] Some of that money in the tax increment history came out. That amount was

[49:37] $600,000. Maybe it was $660,250. It says in the $60,000.

[49:45] I think the minutes might be wrong, at $250. But how much money that went into that

[49:52] tax district came from the city. Where does that tax increment money come from? It

[49:58] comes from the mail levies, from the school, the school's bond issues, it comes from

[50:04] the county's money. It comes from the city's money. North Lake County Library.

[50:12] Uh, Mission Valley Aquatics. So how much of that money came from the city, and how

[50:19] do you figure it out, how much it is? And the way I did that, I used

[50:29] The city's mill levy as a percentage of the tax increment mall levy. The tax increment

[50:35] they'll levy is the total levy that we paid. Less less uh.

[50:43] University and the SCS.

[51:03] That,

[51:06] that was uh, showed me that there could have been $395,972 in that. In the past they

[51:16] from the city's money.

[51:20] On the October meeting again, they brought out the.

[51:26] $60,000. So there should be left in there, about $37,273.

[51:35] When they brought out that

[51:39] $60,000 it was allocated to several different places, of which some of it went to

[51:44] the police military.

[51:59] But the difference between 60 $60,000 and $97,000

[52:07] 37,723 dollars. I don't know where it is.

[52:12] All of the money came out of the Kicks factory and they allocated only $60,000 or

[52:16] $60,250. Where's the rest of it? It's never been allocated that I could find. I haven't

[52:22] been to all the meetings, I do watch them. There should be a resolution someplace.

[52:27] For that $37,000.

[52:35] Part of that money, as I said. What's remaining is the balance in the police levy

[52:42] is $4700. That's not a decision for the. City commission to make. That decision was

[52:49] already made by the voters on the bond issue. That money has to come back into the

[52:56] city's military or the police mill.

[53:02] I would try to answer some questions for you. I know there's a lot of numbers on

[53:05] there, but. Something's missing, as far as I can see, uh.

[53:13] The mayor has a copy of my worksheet that I did. Uh, not a lot of explanations on

[53:19] it. But

[53:24] The numbers are there. They may not be all right. I'm not perfect. I could make mistakes.

[53:34] I'm also looking at Streetscape SID 42, it's on page 45.

[53:51] He chose to on some number of $800 transfer SID to SID revolving, transfer balance

[53:59] of cash to SID revolving $31,000.

[54:05] Didn't we already do that?

[54:12] This is a worksheet

[54:15] I published meeting. Budget.

[54:21] Shows in the bottom of that transfer remaining SID 42 net cash revolving fund, $30,334.44.

[54:37] I have some different numbers about how much should be in that revolving fund at

[54:41] the end with the remaining balance. Right. I think it might be a little more than

[54:48] what's shown there, based on our starting revenue. The end of Till

[54:55] June 2024.

[55:00] But I don't know where I got my numbers. I got a note that came from Public Review

[55:04] on the Black Mountains website, but I can't find that exact number now, but the ending

[55:08] balance was at the end of July, the end of June 2024. But if what I have is correct,

[55:15] there should be another, some more money into that.

[55:19] If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them.

[55:24] Thanks,

[55:26] thank you. City manager and Jody, can we take a look at some of those questions?

[55:32] Yeah, right off the, the, the top of my head here. So we, we had a meeting with HDR.

[55:37] We have a weekly meeting. Um, and Zach would be on during the regular meeting, and,

[55:42] and he's gonna give you an update on, on this as well, but on the, say this point

[55:46] area, the, the parking area and that kind of angled road coming up out of the park,

[55:51] so we, we have approximately 335,000 left in that fund, so we're trying to spend

[55:58] it all, and that's what we're, we're doing it on. So it'd be. That, that angled road,

[56:05] um, and as much as we can get on first coming out of it and the, the parking lot

[56:10] down there to get all of that updated and redone and, and paved out and blacktopped.

[56:15] Nice. Um, and that will, that will bring us to the end of it. And the bids went out,

[56:19] uh, this week, I believe. We had that meeting on Wednesday, and they were supposed

[56:23] to go out after that, so they ought to be out. But HDR will be on, on tonight and

[56:27] they can, they can give you an update. As far as the other ones, I would, I would

[56:32] have to look, and what that money was spent on prior, I, I couldn't even tell you

[56:36] without looking it up. I know I'd be wrong. If we, if when you guys have time, if

[56:41] you could get some numbers maybe from Mr. May, that would be great and for the condition.

[56:46] Thanks you guys, I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Manson. Any other public comment

[56:50] to make? Before we adjourn, anything online, Mr. Simpson? No, ma'am. And I just wanna

[56:58] say I think you're definitely on the nose with your watching of our meetings and

[57:01] our priorities. I think what we've talked about, um, as a commission over the years

[57:05] is streets, obviously codes, ordinance enforcement, and also I think infrastructure

[57:11] just in general. I mean, to Lisa's point with water usage and sewers and stormwater,

[57:17] um. Yeah, I think those are all things that are pretty crucial, and I think we agree

[57:21] as a commission that those are our priorities. Dead trees on the golf course. We

[57:25] got one down, 300 to go. Oh, the playground at the by the skate park.

[57:32] Oh, we have an update for you, girl. Oh, I know. I'm excited. Coming soon. Stay tuned.

[57:38] All right, if there's nothing else, can I have a motion please to adjourn? So moved.

[57:42] One second. Second, thank you. I have a motion from Commissioner Douglas. The second

[57:46] from Commissioner Reard. Uh, commission, all in favor. We're adjourned. Thank you.

[57:56] 3.

City Commission Workshop

Agenda

Transcript