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Good evening, everyone. Please turn off your phones or put them on silent.

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And I will start the budget meeting at 6.30. Please stand for the pledge.

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Thank

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you.

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Roll call, please.

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Commissioner Brocky.

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Here.

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Commissioner Dharminio.

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Here.

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Commissioner Roli.

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Here.

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Vice Mayor Caputo.

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Here.

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Mayor Newton.

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Here.

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City manager.

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Thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of the commission. This is a follow-up to the last budget workshop

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where the commission thoroughly reviewed all of the funds in the city budget as well as

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gave direction on the tentative milligrate. At that commission meeting, the proposed operating

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milligrate was flat from the current fiscal year at 6.2270. The commission authorized

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tentative millidrate of $6.000 resulting in an overall budget reduction of $500 and about

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$542,000. Within the backup of this evening's agenda is a summary of the budget changes

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that were made to balance that the primarily were I'm sorry it's about

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five hundred and sixty thousand. There was a negotiation of our fire

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agreement and we were able to lower the cost of the general fund portion of that

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agreement by one hundred thirty two thousand as well as reduce the city's

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contribution for exempt organizations for fire services of about seven thousand

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and other operational reductions were made.

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The city commission provided direction

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to reduce capital expenditure by $100,000,

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and that was related specifically to one project.

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There's also an appropriation of fund balance.

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There was a discussion about that at the budget workshop

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and trying to bring that down

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as an overall percentage of the general fund operating.

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So at this meeting, our intention is to

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see if there's consensus on the recommended changes and to understand your direction on the final millage rate because we have our

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public hearings and

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Need to publish our advertisements in September

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All right. Thank you now. We'll ask anybody from the public like to speak to

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Come up. You get three minutes. Just state your name

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If you would and address

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Mary all two eight one nine Northwest 12th Avenue. Good evening

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Last week you were emailed a petition from 75 Wilton Manors residents who are seniors

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in response to Mayor Newton's request for input into the 26-27 budget.

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Programs offered through leisure services such as brains and balance, chair volleyball, library

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activities, music, and movie events in our parks play a vital role in supporting the health

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and well-being of older residents.

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These activities help us stay socially connected,

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physically engaged, and mentally stimulated.

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Social isolation among seniors is a huge issue

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as supported by scientific research.

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It is particularly damning for older adults who are less able

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to cope with its negative effects

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and it significantly increases the risk of death, heart disease, stroke, and dementia.

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As of June 2025, residents of Wilton Manors age 65 and older comprise 23% of the population.

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As you consider budget priorities, we respectfully ask that you recognize the importance of

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programs to maintaining a healthy, connected, and thriving senior community and ensure that

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they remain supportive and accessible. Thank you.

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Thank you. Anyone else like to come up?

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Come on up.

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Somebody can't hear? What?

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You can come up. Okay. That's okay. Anybody else for budget? Seeing none. I'll close

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the public hearing, and if we could turn up when we have ComMess during the

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River City Commission meeting so people can hear. And if you just pull the

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microphone closer to your to your mouth it's better so you can hear more. You

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are talking about there whoever said they couldn't hear, right? It's everything.

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Sit closer.

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All right there's only one comment and I'd just like to make

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comment for it not a comment but City Manager, has there any of those

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progress been cut from our budget?

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No was the answer just so you I don't think any

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of us here wanted to cut that part of our budget. No. All right let's start

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anybody want to have any comments on tonight? Go ahead Don. Sure so at the

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last budget workshop we reduced the we agreed to reduce the millage rate from

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from 6.2270 to 6.0.

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We are almost at the rollback rate, which is 5.9835.

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And we've cut the taxes for next year by $542,000 already.

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It's only an additional $40,000 or so

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to adopt the rollback rate, which would mean no new taxes.

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is it would be the same taxes last year.

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So I really think I don't ever recall our city adopting

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the rollback rate.

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And I think that we have an opportunity to do that.

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So I would like to recommend that we

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adopt the rollback millage rate of 5.9835.

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Where would you suggest you take it from?

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It would come out of the unassigned balance.

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OK.

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anybody has any comments about that so I got my my trim notice and it was based

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on though what we had set here the highest limit and my taxes only went up

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$8 which I was pretty excited because that was the lowest increase of any of

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the things on that bill and that was knowing that we were still going to

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take it down lower from there so as much as all the taxes are all too high

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everywhere it was encouraging that ours were sort of the the lowest of

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them in that way as far as supporting the world-back rate for

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$42,000 I I mean I think it's a it shows good financial stewardship to do that

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and it doesn't matter to me if it comes from the fund balance or I continue to

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argue that some of our stress revenue like the fine revenue is a little bit

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low if we took $42,000 under that that's fine too it doesn't matter to

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me which where you want to play with it from okay anybody down here yeah I

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would support the rollback rate I would support the rollback rate but I

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I wouldn't take it out of the fund balance.

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I would suggest that we raise our revenue estimate for code

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fines.

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I do.

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Thank you.

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Mr. Terminio, I appreciate you coming back

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and proposing that I've been talking

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about the rollback rating since the first budget meeting

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that we've had.

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So I appreciate, finally, somebody

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or more people now agreeing with me.

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I don't necessarily agree where we get those funds from.

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I believe we should be pulling these from recurring costs.

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I don't believe we should be using the unassigned balance fund to pay for that.

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Nor do I think we should just artificially raise revenue to make up for that.

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In that 542,000, there's already 194,000 from the fund balance.

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Correct.

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And again, I don't think that's the right way to do it, right?

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When we talked about going back to the rollback rate of previous meetings,

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that 542,000, it's about a 2% reduction in the general fund.

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That's, again, two pennies people.

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We're talking about two cents in efficiencies.

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And it's up to the city manager to find them.

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I had conversations with her.

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She said we may need to discuss potential services

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that may need to be adjusted.

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Times, I think that's the way to go.

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I don't think it should be increasing

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a revenue artificially or from the unassigned balance

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fund.

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And then I also just want to make a comment.

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Again, people will not be paying the same taxes as last year.

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Although we are reducing the millitrate,

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all the other fees, except for the fire fee, are going up.

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So city manager, what was the average cost increase?

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I think it was $230 or $230 from the fees.

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Yes and for anybody that would like to see a reference to the numbers that you're

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speaking about we do have in the backup an overall household change to fees and

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taxes for an average taxpayer and an average utility rate customer for I

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I think our house would save our homes

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with a taxable value of 400,000.

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We'll have a reduction in taxes of 27 per year

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and the fire assessment of 19 per year.

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However, utility rates will be increasing.

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And so for a typical single family household

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with an average consumption,

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they will see a $264 per year increase

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in water, stormwater, sewer, garbage, fees.

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And so again, can you say that number again?

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Just so everyone can increase.

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264.

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So although, Commissioner, I appreciate your bill going

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down $8, just specifically based on the millage rate.

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With this budget, everyone's taxes are going up.

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And that's an average.

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Europe is an average of people who would save our homes.

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Do we have an estimate of what the change in the millage

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rate will do to people without saving our homes. You may be saving $1 and people

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always say $40 depending on the value of your house if you're homesteaded.

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No, that actually was difficult to calculate. A house would save our homes. It's based upon

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the taxable value of the property. A property would save our homes taxable value increased

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across the board uniformly 2.7%. And that's based on a state statute formula. For a property

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that doesn't have save our homes, and we're talking about commercial and residential properties,

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properties, it's not uniform. There are properties that decreased in taxable value and some properties

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that increased as much as 10%. The average taxable value of a non-homesteaded property

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between 26 and 25 actually decreased when we look at just the averages. And I don't

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think that that's, it's not consistent for every property. So looking at overall

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It's a decrease in Avalorum, but we know that's not the case for many non-homestead properties.

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So for a non-homestead second homeowner that has a million-dollar house here supporting

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our community coming down during the winter, potentially their taxes are going up 10%.

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If their taxable value increased by 10%.

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So potentially their taxes are going up $1,000 while yours may be going down $8.

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In addition to the $265 that's going up.

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So it's hard for me to talk about here

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how we're reducing, reducing the budget, reducing the budget.

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Folks, just be clear, this budget

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raises every single one of your taxes, OK?

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I'm not a mathematician.

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I'm not an accountant.

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All I know is if I'm paying more next year

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than I'm paying more this year, it's a tax increase.

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Ultimately, that's what it comes down to.

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And I struggle because people on this commission

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will talk about, we need workforce housing.

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people on bartenders should be able to live on Bolton Drive right close to

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where they work. It's already unaffordable they can't do that and by

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increasing taxes on non homesteaded properties you think landlords are going

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to eat that cost? No they're gonna pass that cost right off to the tenants just

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to make the city more and more unaffordable. Again my point is with

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this budget your taxes are going up no matter how much you hear the word

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reduce reduction rollback rate. Your taxes are going up unless we continue to

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fine recurrent savings and it may be a form of another $500,000. I don't think

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the city manager we talked about it yesterday was able to get to a number

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of where your taxes will be zero increase with those assessments.

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Ultimately that's where I want to be. We all shop in publics, we know how

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things cost and I think it's our duty to the public to try to help just a

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little bit with this affordability crisis.

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Well you're right about one thing everybody's water bill and electric bill

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or water bill and screw bills going up. Check every city in Broward County.

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They all have the same problem. Pipes are getting old. They have to redo their

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pipes, stations, everything that we do they're doing. So it's not uncommon right

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now to do that. I think we're ahead of the curve compared of a lot of cities

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in Broward County on doing that. It's going to cost a lot of other cities a

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lot more money is costing us because we've been doing it for quite a few years now.

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But get down brass tax. If the city has not charged you any more money in taxes this year,

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the city of Wilton Manors and the city commission up here is doing a good service done. It's

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just for ourselves because we all live here, of course, but for all of you. How many of

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your homesteaded homes? Just curious. How many live in Wilton Manors? I'm just curious

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because I mean there aren't people I know come in not from Wilton Manors. So most

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Most of you are home-setted, so most of you will not see an increase in the city part

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of the taxes.

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And yes, the rest will be school board and others that are going to be raised.

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But I think we've done a really good job here this year, especially when we don't know what's

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going to happen because of Amendment 3 coming up.

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Sorry, you pushed the button.

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Go ahead and turn it.

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I think it's the red one.

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No?

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No?

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No?

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All right.

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Meeting's over.

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No.

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It's alright. It's alright. It didn't hurt anything. You're okay. But we can take it

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out of the, you know, add fines for code and put it in there. If we come up short, it's

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going to come out of unfunded balance. We can take it out of unfunded balance and,

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you know, if it doesn't meet, we can average that way. So it doesn't really matter where

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we take it out of. So I don't care. Whoever wants to make a motion and put in either

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one let's do that but I think we're on the same page here. There's additional points I just wanted to

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finish this conversation. Yeah no I wanted to finish up this part of the conversation so

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I don't know if you all want to come to an agreement on where the money's going to come from

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or well first of all are we agreeing upon the fact that we're going to lower it down to the

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rollback rate? I am. Everybody in favor say aye. Yeah I am. All right now. Can we just can

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can we just ask the city manager to explain to everyone what that means the rollback rate?

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The rollback rate? Sure. The rollback rate is the millage rate that would need to be assessed

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for the city to receive, collect the exact same dollars from property taxes as the prior fiscal

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year. It doesn't translate to each property paying the same amount because there's changes

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individually from property sales and homestead versus non-homestead, but it's the rate that

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would result in the city collecting the exact same amount.

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So from property taxes, it would be no, a zero tax increase to the city from the property

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tax perspective.

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From a collection, yes.

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From a property tax collection.

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And the aggregate.

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Okay.

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Thank you.

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So you, anybody want to make a motion to, I will make a motion that we.

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This is workshop.

251
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Oh, that's right.

252
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That's right.

253
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We're just giving you direction.

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That's right.

255
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Thank you.

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All right.

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I have additional questions for that for this part not for necessarily for this

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part now okay I mean it's about where I couldn't take it from oh yeah no you

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could all decide that where the money's gonna come from yeah well we got to get

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the city manager direction or you come from recurring some type of recurring

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cost otherwise next year we're in the same position of here we are now we

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need to find additional dollars because we took it from the unassigned balance

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balance funds from the revenue perspective.

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On a recurring basis, we have understated some revenues,

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including code, which is why the fund balance continues to grow.

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Let's not make up revenue and just say arbitrarily it's going to come from there, but consistently

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we have understated the code compliance revenue over the last three years

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and we have pending foreclosures, a growing list of pending foreclosures.

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I'm confident that we can get from the

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one million to the one million forty thousand.

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I just I think it doesn't make

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sense to do that otherwise. I agree with that. Can the city managers just

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remind us of what the current code revenue is in the budget? I know for the

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last three years we've had a million dollars or so of money coming in

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consistently every year for the last three years. I just don't recall what

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we budgeted for code fines. The proposed budget includes one million

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dollars in revenue okay all right so I'm for taking it out of a fun balance yeah

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so or we can increase it by the forty thousand dollars and if we don't meet

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that target to your point mayor it would come out of the unassigned fund

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balance that's fine for me I didn't understand how you I suggested that we

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Let me increase the code, find revenue, but I think it's $40,902 is the amount.

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And I said, if we don't meet that target, it would ultimately come out of the undersigned fund balance.

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Just like any other expense.

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Right, I agree.

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All right, so you have place four, I don't know where you're at.

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It's just bad accounting for us.

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It's four.

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Okay, anything else for the budget?

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Yeah, so I talked to the city manager.

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We have two years left on the city hall bond.

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we have payments paying interest on and you know there's a debt millage rate that

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we have here. The interest that we collect on that is variable and it's

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extremely small so I want to just have the conversation maybe City Manager you

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could provide more edification to the residents of what I'm talking about

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here. This city hall construction was funded through a voter approved debt

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service millage rate meaning the city put on a referendum for voters to approve

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an additional millage rate which shows up on your tax bill each year that

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provides the exact amount of revenue to the city that's needed to make the

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annual debt service payment on the 2008 City Hall bond. Once that bond is paid off, that

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debt service millage rate would go away. We have two years left to pay for that. So for

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the next two tax years, our voters would be paying .1598 mills. The total amount that

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the city owes is $780,736 with an interest rate of 1.46%.

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There is no prepayment penalty if we make the payment in full.

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So I'm making the recommendation that we take the 740 to something

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thousand from the unassigned balance fund,

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pay down that loan, and then we

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could take that debt millage rate off of the books.

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Do we make any interest on our money?

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Yes.

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Our cash is part of a state investment pool called Florida Prime.

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The interest rate that we receive on those investments is 3.83%.

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There's a, obviously if we pre-pay the loan, there's an opportunity cost of revenue loss.

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$13,588 is the difference between estimated interest received versus the interest that

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would be paid. So just to be clear what would we save by paying this off instead

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of just leaving it alone and paying the two years like it is now since we're

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getting pay or getting interest on our money as it is now. Assuming the interest

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rate doesn't change over that period of time we would receive $13,588.

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That's what we would lose by pre-paying. So it would be that plus

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Because the interest paid 24,000, about 25,000 is the interest we would earn.

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Just want to make both sides of it, because we're earning money on that money, so.

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Anybody else have a feeling about this?

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You know, just with the interest that we're earning being higher than what we're saving,

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it's like, it's the opportunity cost, it doesn't make sense for me to do that.

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Because then it really means we need to figure out where that 25,000 revenue ultimately

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is going to come from because that is certainly playing into our overall budget as it is.

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It's a variable interest rate.

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Interest rates may not stay the same,

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and then you get to reduce the debt billage rate

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and just take it off the books.

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The money's sitting in the unassigned balance fund.

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Just an idea?

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Don?

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Yeah, no, no, I appreciate the thought.

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My only concern, of course, is that we have tax reform looming,

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and we will know the results of that November 3.

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But if we've already agreed to reduce the rollback

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to adopt the rollback rate, which reduces our taxes by $600,000 or so.

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We may need, part of that unassigned balance, if tax reform passes.

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This city will need to cut $4 million a year, it's a lot of money.

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And we do need some money to survive in the interim.

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So, while I would tend to agree with Commissioner Brocky just because of tax reform looming and

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the low interest rate, I'm just not sure that now is the time to do that.

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If tax reform doesn't pass, I would tend to agree with you to get rid of that portion

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of the debt-militrate.

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That's not through votes, we can move on.

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The other thing I wanted to bring up, I talked to the city manager, we have some

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line items in the budget for contractual services and professional fees. They're just

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listed. And the actual detail is not in the budget book. I would like for transparency

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purposes to the residents. I would like that to be published before part of the backup

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before the next meeting. This way everyone could see what those expenditures are.

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We'll do.

352
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Make sense.

353
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Thank you.

354
00:28:06,360 --> 00:28:07,080
Sounds good.

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Anything for the good of the budget? All right. There's a meeting at adjourn. We'll

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Well, it started at 7 o'clock for the regular sleeper.