2026-09-08 - Finance Committee

00:05All right. So, we're officially live.

00:08[clears throat] Turn it over to you.

00:28All right.

00:30got your laser.

00:31>> I do have my laser pointer. Okay. Um

00:34thank you. Very happy to be here. We

00:37prepared a presentation um to

00:42you mostly high level go through some of

00:44the backdrop uh some of what's going on

00:47through the budget highlight some of the

00:50the larger changes uh or really the

00:53material changes uh for you guys. And um

00:57I'll [clears throat] try to be judicious

00:59about your time. If you guys have

01:00questions, it's it's your session. Jump

01:02in. Um if you can hold off a question,

01:05especially it's going to bring in a you

01:09know, send us off in a 15-minute

01:10discussion. Maybe try to hold that

01:11toward the end. But um either way, okay,

01:16next slide.

01:20We can go to the next slide.

01:23and the next one.

01:25Okay. So, um just to go through the

01:28process first,

01:31um you mentioned introducing the team.

01:34Uh two of the key people who were very

01:37much very deep on this. Lee Moons is our

01:40budget officer. Uh he really shephered

01:44this process. Um from the beginning,

01:48actually even before I got here, this is

01:50five plus months ago. Lee was already on

01:52top of this process. Um,

01:57creating training videos, one-on-one

02:00opportunities with the different

02:01departments to guide them through what

02:02this budget process would be. Uh, Donna

02:05is uh, you all guys all know Donna very

02:08well. She's a consmate professional. She

02:11u knows everything. She's been very

02:13involved and critical in this entire

02:16process. Um, I do just want to thank

02:18them. Um

02:22and let's see. So to review,

02:26okay, what what is the process that

02:27we've gone through? What has gotten

02:28here? This is a five-step process. Uh it

02:32is months long. Uh it begins with the

02:36departments.

02:38the department managers get a chance to

02:40review their prior year budget

02:44um and look at their needs request,

02:48submit that up to the executive director

02:50level. They've got a month plus to do

02:52that. Um we know inside those

02:55departments they're having meetings to

02:56consider their different, you know,

02:59items, needs, headcount.

03:02the directors, the executive directors

03:05receive that information. Then they've

03:06got another approximately a month to

03:10digest that information

03:13um and once again filter, refine,

03:16prioritize with their team. At the same

03:18time, the finance team is having a host

03:21of other meetings. At the same time,

03:23uh we've had a couple conversations,

03:25including with the mayor, with our bond

03:27ratings advisor.

03:29Uh we're, you know, cutting up the

03:31personnel data to review uh to review

03:34those requests, you know, relative to

03:36history.

03:37Uh we're discussing the arena with OBG.

03:41They've got a budget. We're picking that

03:43apart with them. Same thing with the

03:44convention center. Went with visit

03:46mobile. I went with Amanda, our HR

03:50director, and met with our uh health

03:52plan administrators. Get a feel for how

03:54health costs are trending.

03:56Uh we spoke with the EMS billers, get

03:59get a handle of that process. I visited

04:02the GCTC

04:04uh fire stations.

04:07We also had a series of meetings about

04:08the capital budget uh that request. So

04:12point is is that there's a lot going on

04:14in the background that feeds into this

04:16ultimate budget. When the executive

04:18directors are good where they are, they

04:21filter the budget up to uh we'll call it

04:24the finance department, which is what we

04:26are. We compile all the information.

04:29Uh Lee was great with this. Most

04:34most if not all directors uh we had an

04:36in-person meeting to review their budget

04:39request

04:41distilled those notes u up to the 10th

04:44floor to the mayor

04:47and we're we're working on the revenue

04:49side at the same time.

04:51Um it's important for me to say is we're

04:54not the finance department is not

04:57editing anyone's budget at this point.

04:59So we're compiling the information

05:02when it gets up to the mayor, he's got

05:05the department request and a host of

05:08accompanying information to help him

05:10make his decisions. Um, then with the

05:14mayor, that's that's another month. So,

05:16uh, we had a host of in-person meetings

05:19with the mayor, went through everything

05:21very closely with him, called up some of

05:24the directors for some additional Q&A.

05:27Um, and the mayor has his own, you know,

05:30he has a whole host of the rest of his

05:32job and, you know, prioritizing and, uh,

05:36really balancing needs verse the

05:37resources. As you can imagine, the

05:40requests that come in are a good bit,

05:42uh, higher than what the city's actually

05:44able to do. And part of the mayor's job

05:47is, of course, to, you know, balance the

05:49needs with the resources. And then the

05:51budget gets submitted to you guys. um in

05:55that respect

05:57that my word is bottoms up. I would call

05:59this a very you know bottoms up budget

06:02and that it's really been reviewed from

06:04the ground up. It's not someone takes

06:07the top line and says okay this needs to

06:09grow this doesn't what this is really

06:11done from the bottoms up. That is why

06:14some of the departments the line items

06:16that you'll see some go up some go down.

06:20uh it's not smooth all the time and

06:22that's because

06:24everything's been considered. So

06:25[laughter]

06:27um and we'll we'll answer questions

06:28about some of those departments as you

06:30have them. We can go to the next slide.

06:35So this is very important. Uh this is

06:39the

06:40this is the the general fund balance.

06:42This is what we all talk about. So the

06:45city some history for you. The city came

06:48in to this fiscal year with actually our

06:51highest general fund balance that we

06:53have ever had. Uh back in the

06:57uh 2013

06:59that top number was 11 million.

07:03Uh in general

07:06um that number through from about 2016

07:10to 2018 got to around 40 million. stuck

07:14around there for a few years and then

07:16gradually climbed up to by fiscal year

07:192022 it was 130 million. That's when the

07:23prior administration started making some

07:24of their big investments including in

07:27the parking lot. There was a big

07:28transfer there.

07:30uh you know some of those investments

07:32and this number is hovered around 120 to

07:36140 ever since but uh much to everyone's

07:40credit uh including the council in this

07:42room the city came into this year at a

07:44very good spot

07:47um you can see um a number of

07:51investments were made with last year's

07:52budget that actually took us to a pretty

07:55high I use the word deficit that's a

07:59loaded word But it's a transfer in from

08:02the unassigned balance. Um you know

08:06lastly with with the 26 budget the

08:08expenses were 30 million higher than the

08:10projected revenues. Um one thing we talk

08:14about a lot is the unassigned balance.

08:16The difference between the general fund

08:19and the unassigned balance is um

08:24there some funds are encumbered. you

08:26know, if we've if the city's ordered

08:28something, vehicles is a big one. It

08:30might have long lead time. Um, there is

08:33a pot of money, which to me

08:36should be out of the total fund anyway,

08:38but this is just the accounting of it.

08:40But the unassigned balance is anything

08:43that's not encumbered

08:45is what that represents.

08:47So,

08:49um, if you were to

08:53take what was budgeted this year and

08:55call that the result, we would end the

08:58year at about 90 million unassigned

09:02funds. The two-month reserve, which was

09:06passed by ordinance, I believe last

09:08year,

09:10um, that gets recalculated each year

09:13with the revenues that have been

09:17projected for next year that uh we

09:20believe that reserve fund balance will

09:22be 66 and a half million. So that's the

09:26two-month reserve that we all talk

09:28about. Um so if you compare that to the

09:3190 million, you'll see that uh part of

09:34the decisions the mayor had to come into

09:36this year and make is you can't do

09:38another 30 million uh draw from

09:40unassigned because then you're going to

09:41hit that balance. So [snorts] um we can

09:45go to the next slide.

09:50So this shows some of the history.

09:53Um

09:55you will notice a pretty good jump in 26

09:58um in the expenditure side. Some of this

10:02was actually

10:04um fiscal year 25.

10:10fiscal year 25 actually came in about 15

10:13million under budget. So part of what

10:15propelled that 26 number upward was

10:18there had been headcount that had been

10:20budgeted in 25 and wasn't fully utilized

10:24but towards the end of 25 um those hires

10:27had been made. They got filtered into

10:3026. Part of that is the increase in

10:32headcount um with the police department.

10:35That's uh part of it. Uh there's some

10:38other costs that have come through. You

10:39can actually see that when we get to the

10:41next page. You can compare department by

10:42department. But um I do give credit to

10:47the mayor and taking what uh

10:52you know what could be a lot of inertia

10:54and

10:55um you know continuing a a a deficit and

10:58really doing a lot of work this year to

11:01uh bring that back to for obvious fiscal

11:05responsibility reasons. also um you know

11:09leaving the city a foundation a

11:11continuing foundation to execute on

11:13other um you know other things that come

11:16through that we may need to invest in.

11:18You can go to the next page.

11:25Let's see.

11:34So, the prior pages charts were were an

11:37output of this page. We've all been

11:39looking at this page. I'm trying to

11:40think what I need to add to you for um

11:46one thing I want to

11:50stress that we paid a lot of attention

11:51here is to create numbers that compare

11:54directly over time. Um there are some

12:00little accounting things in the past

12:02that make some of these numbers um hard

12:05to compare apples to apples. Uh if any

12:09questions come on that, I'll speak to

12:10it. But um my predecessor last year

12:14actually did us all a favor and cleaning

12:16up um some of how the capital transfers

12:20were presented.

12:22um to the extent questions come that

12:24I'll speak more to that but um in the

12:30in this budget one thing we were very

12:32conscious to do was to show you exactly

12:34what was shown last year except for 2027

12:37so you could compare these two things

12:39side by side [clears throat] um

12:43we can continue to the next page

12:46so these are some of the highlights from

12:49the mayor's budget message. These are

12:52some of the bigger

12:54um highlights that the mayor wanted to

12:56make about this budget. Uh the public

12:58safety budget is 135 million. That's

13:03the budgeted amount is approximately

13:06um I guess you'd say flat from last

13:09year.

13:10Um the

13:15there's some areas um

13:18well let me say the personnel inside of

13:21that the funding is up. Uh there is some

13:24room to consolidate on

13:28vehicle purchases which is uh saving

13:30some money on the operating side and we

13:33can speak more to that later. Uh the

13:36transit expansion 14.9 million.

13:40There is 2.2 million within the fleet

13:43cost center for trolleys and

13:45infrastructure. And then you'll see the

13:4712.7 million in transfers. That is 12.1

13:52million for operations with VIA and then

13:54600,000 for the city's pension

13:58contribution to the transit plan.

14:01the is very important for the mayor to

14:05uh support the employees as as best we

14:07can. So there's a merit compensation

14:09increase included in there annualized

14:12that's expected to be about 3.6 million

14:16being enacted in April 2027. It's it

14:19affects the budget by 1.8.

14:22Uh Africa Town, I know there's a

14:24question or two about this from uh we

14:27received a couple questions in writing

14:29from you guys a few minutes ago.

14:31>> [clears throat]

14:31>> Um the

14:35well I I'll let the team speak to that

14:36when we get to it, but uh this is

14:38personnel and then additional support to

14:41that welcome center. This is also a new

14:44department

14:45this year at the Africa Town. Um that

14:48was important to the mayor that that be

14:51broken out into its own separate

14:52department.

14:54Grants initiatives are a big

14:56opportunity. It's a place that there's

14:58been a lot of internal focus on. The

15:00950,000 cited there includes the grant

15:04department which does include some

15:06additional positions

15:10uh and the accounting support for grants

15:12as well. Uh grants are very

15:16intricate. They're each one's different.

15:18And there's a lot of specialized

15:19expertise to each one and it is very

15:22important to

15:25manage them properly. Uh it's part of

15:28that is you you need to manage them

15:30properly properly to get more um you

15:32need to get your reimbursements in on

15:34time. You need to really do everything

15:36well to have the opportunity to really

15:39take advantage of the opportunities that

15:41are out there. I just said opportunity

15:42about 10 times. So, uh, just to give you

15:46a feel for some of the scale of this

15:48effort,

15:50uh, the team has what's currently out

15:54there, 140 awarded value in active

15:57grants that are in process, and we've

15:59got a 45 million pipeline between grants

16:02that have been submitted for or

16:05preparing for the application. So that's

16:08meant to give you to give everyone a

16:10feel of the scale relative to what we

16:13would say are the dollars invested.

16:16Uh the cruise terminal has been a

16:19highlight for the city.

16:21They have done fairly well for a little

16:24while now. The cruise terminal actually

16:26has nearly $4 million on their balance

16:29sheet today.

16:32Um, from the conversation with the

16:35cruise terminal, the departments,

16:37they're projecting close to another four

16:40this year from operations.

16:42Um, sometimes things don't go as planned

16:46if that, you know, if they were not to

16:49make four for any reason, there's cash

16:51on that balance sheet or very confident

16:52that the general fund will be supported

16:54by four because [clears throat] there's

16:56plenty of cushion there. Um but the

16:59year- round cruising is

17:02as you know that's an important part of

17:03that. We can go to the next page.

17:07So from a high level revenue assumption

17:11um when we take in all the individual

17:14revenues that have been projected the

17:16total city revenue growth that's

17:19reflected in this budget is 1.7

17:22versus what we're expecting to make for

17:25FY26.

17:27um that compares to a similar number of

17:303.4% for this past fiscal year. So um I

17:37mean the revenues were projected line

17:38item by line item, but in total we feel

17:42and are hoping that that's a reasonably

17:44conservative uh result u for what we're

17:49projecting as a city for revenue growth.

17:51The topline sales tax projection inside

17:55of that is 1

17:576% versus

18:00um year-toate sales tax growth of 2.6%.

18:05Sales tax is one of those places where

18:09last year some

18:12um just method changes were made and how

18:16it was accounted for and shown on the

18:19financials. So you might be seeing a

18:20number that shows a lot more sales tax

18:22growth than there really is.

18:25What used to go through the financials

18:28is that approximately 10 or so million

18:31was the sales tax was put directly

18:33toward the convention center fund bypass

18:36the general fund directly. I'm very

18:39thankful that the team last year and

18:41probably you guys, I don't know who

18:43where that all that came, but that got

18:45dramatically cleaned up and simplified

18:46last year. But what that might show is

18:50that you you might be looking at a

18:52number that shows a larger growth from

18:542015 or a more aggressive assumption

18:56than it really is. On a city-wide basis

18:59today, the sales tax is uh the top line

19:03is 2.6% growth year to date. Once again,

19:05we've budgeted 1.6% 6%.

19:08The other

19:12uh revenue, you know, income lines

19:14across the budget. We went down line by

19:17line

19:18uh talked with the appropriate people

19:21and tried to project those in large part

19:24based of where 2026 is coming out today.

19:28We can go to the next slide.

19:32This is the org chart. This is for your

19:34information. And there's also a copy in

19:36the budget. We can go to the next page.

19:40This is to highlight the organizational

19:43changes which are reflected in the

19:45budget. I won't spend too much time on

19:48these, but um the

19:52the mayor can probably put this better

19:53than me, but this is to reflect how he's

19:57actually managing the city and um the

20:03you know the decisions that the team

20:05have have found best and how to organize

20:07the city. So um the art museum and field

20:11film office were transferred to general

20:13government. I believe that was from

20:14administrative services.

20:17Um the office of professional

20:19responsibility has been moved. Uh it's

20:23under legal.

20:25Uh there is a new external affairs

20:27department that

20:30um the the directors there al also

20:34oversee community affairs and 311 and

20:37policy and legislative affairs. those

20:40the employees from external affairs um

20:45generally came from well not generally

20:47came from administrative services in

20:49what's now communications to form that

20:51department uh public safety the fire

20:54rescue operations have been consolidated

20:57that was actually previewed and talked

20:59about last year I probably should have

21:01consolidated the whole thing in this

21:03budget just because there have been a

21:05couple questions about that but that

21:06decision was has been made for a year

21:09now. That was also a fire department

21:11desire. Um on top of, you know, once

21:15again how how the city's managing this

21:19uh administrative services, you'll

21:21notice that cost center is slightly

21:22beefier on personnel because people have

21:24been moved to that department. Um

21:27there's some training and compliance

21:29roles that have been moved over there.

21:31And then occupational safety. Um the uh

21:36Dino Davis who manages our workers comp

21:38program. He's been moved over there. We

21:40can go to the next page.

21:44The operations administration

21:47broken out to oversee the four the three

21:49larger departments of engineering,

21:51infrastructure, parks, public services,

21:54and finance.

21:56Grants administration. We've spoken on

21:58that. Strategic initiatives. um has been

22:01combined with parks operations and I

22:04mentioned Africa Town is the new

22:05department. The maritime museum the

22:07decision was made to transfer that to be

22:10uh it's not a cost center anymore. It's

22:13an enterprise fund where the revenues

22:15and expenses will both be reflected same

22:18way as the tennis center uh EMS golf

22:22course. We can go to the next page.

22:26the so this gets back to the

22:28comparability point that I made earlier.

22:31I I we want to change as little as

22:33possible over time and how we're

22:34accounting for things because we truly

22:37want to be able to compare everything

22:38side by side year to year and

22:41know that you're looking at things

22:42apples to apples. The one change that

22:45has been um that's worth mentioning as

22:49far as to methods is that all the city

22:52vehicles have been budgeted in the fleet

22:54cost center. That's why the fleet cost

22:55center is larger this year. Um that that

23:00will stick out uh when you look at it.

23:03So

23:05the and then when vehicles are

23:07purchased, they'll actually be moved to

23:09the cost center that's receiving the

23:10vehicle.

23:12This helps the fleet department or the

23:15fleet cost center.

23:17It will help them be more flexible, more

23:19efficient, more nimble in uh actually

23:24taking the budget and allocating the

23:25resources and prioritizing and being

23:28able to execute on that in the best way

23:29possible. Uh the other major fleet

23:35functions are also centralized in fleet

23:38uh fuel cost, repairs, maintenance, and

23:42um

23:43really really just managing the fleet.

23:45There's a lot of good stuff with the

23:46SAMCR technology on usage statistics.

23:49They've been doing a lot of things very

23:51well uh and and getting better over time

23:53and managing the fleet. So, other than

23:56that, I don't think there are any

23:58updates worth mentioning or I don't I'm

24:01not I don't believe there are any at all

24:02off the top of my head. We can go to the

24:04next page.

24:06So this is meant to just touch on some

24:09of the larger

24:12changes in the uh in the cost centers.

24:17Um the museum of art, this has been a a

24:22key focus area for the city. Uh that

24:25budget is larger due to staff security

24:27resources. the municipal court. I

24:31wouldn't be the best one to get deep on

24:32this, but uh they

24:35there's a need there to support the

24:36municipal court, which the city is uh

24:40which the city has budgeted to meet. So

24:42that's uh in large part that's

24:44additional personnel.

24:47the uh public safety the personnel

24:50funding is

24:53budgeted

24:55a little bit higher uh that is meant to

24:58support what I don't think anyone would

25:01disagree with me if I said you know

25:03fairly full staffing at police and fire

25:06that feels like a loaded term full but

25:08the um the the numbers that you've heard

25:12the number of officers are trying to get

25:13to number of fire department fire

25:17um firemen. The the mayor's mentioned

25:20525 police officers that is accounted

25:24for in this budget. Uh the city has had

25:27some

25:29a few big years in our vehicle

25:31purchases. Um we did speak with

25:36departments across the city and budgeted

25:38some uh budget some consolidation there.

25:42So, some of the savings in this year's

25:44budget are coming from lower vehicle

25:46purchases across the board.

25:48Next slide.

25:51The animal services budget uh a new

25:55center is coming. You may be wondering

25:57why that um why that cost centers down a

26:01little bit. The uh that is partly from

26:04the accounting change to vehicle

26:05spending and

26:09they are uh looking at an in-house vet

26:12instead of some contracted third third

26:14party spending there which is

26:17something I'm absolutely all for and

26:19we're we're going to uh hopefully in the

26:23future bring you some more opportunities

26:25to talk about how

26:28you can either

26:30hire instead of contract or sometimes

26:32contract instead of hire but I think um

26:37hopefully in the future there there are

26:38plenty of things we could talk about

26:39there.

26:41Uh information technology is up due to

26:44software costs. This is one of the costs

26:46that have

26:48grown in the city over time and

26:50something to you know something to watch

26:52the um not in a bad way but that is

26:56what's driving the increase in in the

26:58information technology. The biggest

27:00piece of that I believe is the new

27:02mobile um the police department records

27:06management system which is inside of

27:09that budget

27:11under operations. There's a pretty large

27:144 million decrease in that public

27:16services administration cost center.

27:19That's vehicles which are now at fleet.

27:22Urban forestry has some um new increased

27:26tree trimming contracts. That's what's

27:28driving that higher. And then we've

27:31talked about what is in fleet on top of

27:33the vehicles and trolleys.

27:36That is where fuels budgeted. Of course,

27:38we've also budgeted the reimbursements.

27:40Uh so that's not really driving the

27:45dollar number that's inside of fleet.

27:46But uh that's also a good amount of

27:49repairs that are budgeted and the staff

27:52that are in there.

27:55uh Build Mobile

27:57[clears throat] there. Not a ton to talk

28:00about in major changes in the budget,

28:02but that permitting fee study is in

28:04process and

28:09uh the city has not budgeted major

28:11changes in that department for that

28:13study. Uh but those are expected to

28:16hopefully contribute positively in 27

28:18and 28. We can go to the next page.

28:23Uh some other key changes, the

28:27jail and juvenile court, you'll notice

28:29those are considerably higher in this

28:30year's budget. They were frankly too low

28:33in last year's budget. I wasn't a part

28:35of that, but the city has an agreement

28:38with the jail to

28:41contribute a percentage of the cost at

28:44the jail. And that's um that that run

28:48rate is 15 million. So, uh, the district

28:52attorney, I'll leave that to to, uh,

28:55Robert and the mayor to get into if

28:57they'd like, but that has been budgeted.

28:59Uh, it was a request to make sure that

29:01that showed separately in the budget, so

29:04it wasn't inside of any other

29:06department. Um, the library is budgeted

29:09at 7.5 million. Uh, the

29:14we can go down the whole page of other

29:15performance contracts, uh, if you'd

29:18like.

29:19EMS. This was actually overbudgeted last

29:22year at

29:24um we've realized some savings as a city

29:27which have kind of balanced out against

29:29the jail effect above but um we had some

29:34good conversations with uh Chief Glisten

29:37on the EMS. This is generally where it's

29:39tracked to over history, but that is a

29:42change from last year because EMS was

29:45over 9 million in last year's budget and

29:47that really needed to come down.

29:50Uh the fire the police fire pension

29:54savings. We're expecting to realize

29:56about 10 million

29:59savings as a city approximately next

30:02year from less catch-up payments. now

30:05that the plan is famously

30:08um mostly caught up. So, and we should

30:12realize some additional savings the year

30:14after that on

30:17on these pay on these catch-up payments.

30:19It may be closer to uh 5 million. So,

30:22next year an additional five. The arena

30:26is

30:28um

30:29the the overall plan of the arena is

30:31that it makes money for the city over

30:33time, ignoring the debt part of it. Uh

30:36that being said, we budgeted we budgeted

30:39one and a half million to be safe. Uh

30:41but we're hoping to outdo that one. The

30:44convention center 6 million. that's

30:47closer to um that's in conversation with

30:51OEG and our historical experience.

30:55The enterprise funds, tennis, golf, EMS,

30:59the directors went through each of those

31:03individually. We talked to them about

31:04it. That's what's driving those costs. I

31:07think in general they're close to

31:11uh 26.

31:13But you will note in the budget you'll

31:15see the new transfer to the maritime

31:17museum. That's how we account for the

31:19enterprise fund. Second line transit,

31:22we've spoken about it. Legal liabilities

31:24expenditures, that's budgeted 4 million

31:27up from 2.9. Uh the the

31:32uh the relevant staff can speak to that

31:34as needed, but that does track closer to

31:37what we're actually seeing this year.

31:40You can go to the next slide.

31:42the capital improvement fund. The

31:47uh this is the place where that top part

31:50transfers in. Look at the budget from

31:52three years ago. it'll look a lot more

31:54complicated than it does today. But the

31:59um

32:01the

32:04I guess what's important to mention here

32:05is the transfer in from the general fund

32:07is what you get to once you have

32:11calculated the taxes coming in from

32:16uh everywhere else that's mandated to go

32:18toward this fund. So the the 5-cent tax,

32:22the seven cent tax, those are mandated

32:24toward these capital type expenses.

32:27There's obviously the 1 cent sales tax

32:30uh that's coming in at the top

32:33and there are portions of the lodge the

32:35lodging tax that are directed toward the

32:38capital improvements fund. So those are

32:40calculated.

32:42Um, one deep exercise that we went

32:45through this year was actually looking

32:47at

32:48uh completed projects or inactive

32:51projects. You know, projects that have

32:54been um

32:56that have

32:58you completed or for one reason or not

33:00seen a you know a

33:05just not seen activity in a long time.

33:07We went over those one by one with Jim

33:10Barber, with the department heads and

33:13were able to find some savings there

33:15that you know in the appropriate fashion

33:17with you guys. We expect to bring back

33:19in to the uh to serve other capital

33:22needs. And then about two of that 3

33:24million is from the animal shelter. that

33:27was a safe bet on what were um the

33:31city's actually expecting to save on

33:32that project from the original what was

33:34originally conceived a year and a half

33:37two years ago.

33:41We can go to the next slide and then

33:43debt service. This is just meant to be a

33:46reminder to everyone of how the debt

33:47service works. Um the you will see the

33:51arena debt service. We're currently

33:53paying

33:5411 million a year, which was mentioned

33:56in the mayor's letter.

33:59Uh once the legacy debt, which is

34:04I think that's all or mostly all pre203,

34:09that debt will finally be paid in 2030.

34:13And that is when the we begin paying

34:16principal, not just interest on the

34:18arena debt.

34:21uh in total the city by then will be

34:23saving 12 million a year versus the debt

34:26service that we're paying now. But I

34:29just we just wanted to put this slide in

34:30here to show you how it swaps out. So

34:36hopefully that was helpful. Thanks for

34:38letting us run through that. Uh we can

34:42we can take it however you guys would

34:44like from here.

34:47>> All righty. Um, I'll start with the

34:49committee members and then after that,

34:52um, we'll, uh, we'll roll to everybody

34:55else. Um, Councilman Reynolds or

34:57Councilwoman Ingram, do y'all want to

34:59Whichever one of y'all wants to start.

35:02>> We get a

35:03>> Hey, and thank you, Logan. I appreciate

35:04that. That's very detailed. So, thank

35:05you.

35:06>> Thank you, Logan. Thank you, Mr.

35:06Chairman. A head count, department head

35:10count. Did I seen that? Can we get that?

35:15>> Did you Did you

35:16>> Yes, I think we have that. We can I can

35:19probably forward that to you now.

35:20[clears throat]

35:21>> Um, how many employees does the city

35:23currently have?

35:26>> Do we know that

35:27>> the city currently has about 2450

35:30employees? That includes part-time

35:39and that is part of how that

35:44cost over time.

35:47I'm not I don't have a ton. I got I do

35:48have a few questions.

35:51Uh in the revenue section

35:56um regarding the gas tax,

36:01we had a budget of 24 I mean 2.4 million

36:06last year and we're uh going to almost

36:09double that. $4.5 million.

36:11>> Yes.

36:12So

36:15the question is, well, I guess they can

36:17hear you.

36:18>> Are we selling more gallons of gas? I

36:19guess

36:20>> no. The

36:24uh that's a correction. It should have

36:26been four plus last year is the short

36:28answer. Part of the gas tax used to show

36:32up in a capital transfer in. That's what

36:34I was talking about earlier.

36:36And then when they fixed that last year,

36:39that got missed, which is good for us

36:42because it's helping us by $2 million

36:44this year as a city that we that that

36:46was under budgeted. But that is a per

36:49gallon gas tax and citywide. It's been 4

36:54million plus for a while.

36:57um

37:02interest on idle funds

37:05is showing a decrease of about a million

37:08dollars.

37:11Um why is that?

37:15The

37:18I would tell you I'd lump that in with

37:21the line item below on top of that. the

37:26[clears throat]

37:26um

37:29we've got lower cash balances, lower

37:31interest rates, and

37:35as a

37:37city on that line item, we're going to

37:39come in, I believe, $4 million under

37:41what was budgeted

37:44for nonrena.

37:48Um

37:50for non-Arena.

37:52>> Yeah. Interest on. Investment funds are

37:54non arena funds.

37:56>> Yes, that's correct.

37:56>> Right. So, we're at

37:595.4 budgeted from a previous budget is

38:036.3. And you're saying our actual for 26

38:07is only going to be around 2.3.

38:12>> Trying to follow those in my head. the

38:14uh well what we did to project those is

38:17we took where we're

38:19>> heading for this year and actually

38:21haircut it by 20% to account for

38:24>> lower cash balances and lower interest

38:27rates to try to be conservative there.

38:30>> All right

38:32budgeting there's no doubt about it but

38:34so I guess the answer to that I'm

38:38we're expecting a

38:45reduced [clears throat]

38:46cash balance in this in idle funds. So

38:51we're we're planning on spending a a

38:53significant amount of money to reduce

38:55our idle fund balance. Is is that am I

38:58understanding that correctly because

39:00we're only offsetting it by $5 million

39:02on this budget?

39:06interest rates alone, I guess, is I'm

39:08saying you shouldn't see that big of a

39:10dip on interest rates alone.

39:15>> I mean, it it it's conservatism. It it's

39:18a

39:21there's not a message behind that

39:23assumption that there's lower cash in

39:25the background. That was

39:27simply trying to take where we're

39:29heading towards this year and haircut it

39:31to to be safe. [snorts]

39:34>> Okay.

39:35But we're not expecting like

39:37>> not the most academic thing ever, but

39:39>> like a

39:40>> airing in the correct direction. Yeah.

39:42>> But we're not we're not expecting like

39:44an economic downturn or something like

39:46that substantially.

39:47>> No.

39:47>> Okay.

39:50>> It's not budgeted.

40:01I'm I'm disappointed not to see the $3

40:03million we have uh set aside for

40:06inspection and permitting fees increased

40:08uh revenue for this knowing that we've

40:11got this

40:15professional engaged to basically come

40:18back to us and say we're going to

40:19increase permitting fees or that we're

40:22going to be more productive in the

40:24number of permitting permits that we

40:25issued which would of course increase

40:27it. Seems like we're setting our goal a

40:29little low. [snorts]

40:30>> You know the idea generally is permit

40:33fees should cover the cost of processing

40:37permits. And what we see already is that

40:40our permit fees as they are now don't

40:43come even close to covering the cost of

40:46processing those fees whether it be

40:48through the engineering department,

40:50build mobile or otherwise or you know

40:52fire. Um one thing you know I think you

40:55can see in fire's budget if you dig deep

40:58there are some new positions um

41:00specifically for inspectors.

41:03Um, you know, oftentimes you have people

41:05promoted into that role who haven't been

41:07there, uh, and they get trained up and

41:10and work there for a time and then get

41:12promoted back out of that role. So, what

41:14Chief Glisten has done to try and, you

41:17know, speed that process up is bring in

41:20some retired experts and bring them in

41:23part-time to really oversee that

41:24department. You know, the goal I for me

41:27with the permitting study is as those

41:31fees, you know, a we need to tabulate

41:35the exact amount of dollars, which I

41:37think we have a good idea that we're

41:38spending on processing permits now,

41:42take a look at all of our surrounding

41:44areas. You know, we want to be very

41:45competitive with any other market in our

41:47general area and see what that delta

41:51looks like. you know, with we don't know

41:54what that stud is going to say. We don't

41:55know if it's going to say that we need

41:57to increase fees to a point that um you

42:01know, to me are not palatable because

42:02they would put us in a different

42:04stratosphere than our neighbors. Uh or

42:07if they say, you know, an increase

42:09that's manageable and will create a

42:11great deal of dollars. Um either way, we

42:14while we expect to make a lot of

42:16operational changes over the next year

42:19plus um in that department to improve

42:22permitting, I expect the bulk of that if

42:25not all of it can be paid through the

42:28fee study, the the fee increases, which

42:32every no everyone realizes that as where

42:35we are now is in the basement compared

42:38to all of our neighboring jurisdictions.

42:41our fees are way below generally all of

42:44our neighbors. So we we know an increase

42:46is justified to what level we're not

42:49sure yet. Just I don't know where we are

42:51currently what our run rate is. Is it

42:53going to be close to $3 million for this

42:57year for permitting or inspection

42:59permitting?

43:00>> You [snorts] know looking at find it in

43:03here

43:03>> it's fluctuated over the last few years.

43:05It depends upon the size of the projects

43:07and the projects that come in. knowing

43:10what I you know whether those fees are

43:13waved or not you know as part of part of

43:15an economic development package. Um so

43:18it fluctuates

43:20to a degree that I say predicting it is

43:22is pretty difficult.

43:24>> Okay. I I can't find it in the the

43:27monthly finance report to figure out

43:28where we were in our last report.

43:30>> Uh there there is a number in there.

43:33Yeah, there's a number in there. I

43:34forget exactly where it is.

43:39And I, you know, came in a half second

43:41late trying to do too much at once, but

43:43um just to to echo some of what um Logan

43:48said, the finance department um has done

43:51an incredible job and I think in

43:54conjunction with our department heads,

43:56the the level of communication meetings

43:59um the amount of discussion that went

44:01into this budget uh really I couldn't

44:05quantify it. But I know how much time I

44:06spent on it and I know they spent far

44:08more. Um, but I I saw some of those

44:10discussions happening. Uh, it was key to

44:13us. We we didn't want any department to

44:15feel as if they had not been heard,

44:17their concerns had not been heard. And

44:20frankly, there are, you know, quite a

44:21few things out there that we would have

44:23liked to have done um and devoted

44:25dollars to, but because of that delta

44:27from last year, um, it it wasn't all in

44:31capital. You know, if it's a one-time

44:32expense, pulling out of the savings

44:34account, if you will, the unassigned uh

44:37account,

44:39matching one-time expenses with one-time

44:41draws is fine. Uh especially if you have

44:44that reserve built up, which we did. Not

44:47all of that was onetime expense. A lot

44:49of it uh you know, 5 million essentially

44:52for create creation of the storm water

44:54department really was coming out of

44:56there. There were some other dollars

44:57spent. So, the key mantra for this

45:01budget season was to marry our recurring

45:05expenses with our recurring revenues so

45:08that we're not going to continue to chip

45:09away at that savings account forever.

45:12Um, and also, you know, where we can do

45:15more with less, you know, where where we

45:17have those individuals within our city

45:19that deserve raises or increases or

45:22promotions. Um

45:26are is it possible that through our

45:28natural attrition at lower levels, you

45:30know, do we have to rehire for every

45:32position that is now vacant, can we

45:35consolidate some of those duties with

45:37individuals that are doing a very good

45:39job that can handle it and and

45:40essentially increase their pay um

45:43commensurate with that increase in

45:45responsibility. Uh and I'll just say

45:48thank you to everyone at the city um

45:50who's been a part of this. I I think

45:52we've done an incredible job. When we

45:54first got those kind of asks on the um

45:58budgetary side, we would have it would

46:00have resulted in a a delta of about $40

46:02million from we would have spent about

46:05$40 million more than we were projecting

46:07in revenues. Um we've able to carve that

46:10down to a very manageable

46:13$5 million. And it's our hope that with

46:15the very conservative estimates on the

46:18revenue side, we're going to be able to

46:20surpass our revenue estimates as we did

46:22this year. Um, you know, we budgeted a

46:251.7% increase. We've experienced 3.4%

46:29this year. I think it's um with all of

46:32the things coming online, the arena, the

46:34airport and others, you know, son of a

46:37sailor this weekend, uh the art, the

46:41gateway exhibit at the at the museum of

46:44art. These things are going to bring

46:46eyes and I hope bring people to the city

46:48of Mobile who had not previously been

46:51spending tax dollars here. So, I'm

46:53hoping that those revenue uh projections

46:55end up being extremely conservative. And

46:58if that's the case, we we have a chance

47:00to put dollars back in the account

47:02rather than taking them out.

47:06>> All right. Uh, how's the cruise going to

47:09generate 6.77

47:11million in revenue? How's the cruise

47:13term going to get 6.7 from

47:16>> what was budgeted to 2.09?

47:20Um, and Logan, you can probably talk to

47:23that, but we've experienced a good deal

47:26of money transferring in this year, and

47:28that's prior to these cruises going

47:31full-time. So, not only is the Valor

47:34much larger than our previous ship, it's

47:36going to be here year round. Uh, we're

47:38also in talks with the American River

47:40Cruises that, to my knowledge, they

47:43weren't really um anticipated in last

47:46year's budget. that really came on after

47:48that budget had been announced and so we

47:50saw a good bit of you know dockage fees

47:52and other and parking fees less parking

47:55fees dockage fees from that. Um so a lot

47:58of it is increased parking revenues. We

48:00anticipate raising the nightly or daily

48:04rate by $2 uh for those overnight

48:06cruisers. Uh and of course we're working

48:10pretty steadily on a uh another longer

48:13term parking solution. Uh trying to

48:16partner with some local groups on some

48:18of their land to create additional

48:20spaces which of course we can charge

48:22for.

48:24>> All right.

48:26And that would be a conservative number

48:286.7 right.

48:30>> I think so.

48:32>> I like that.

48:34Um,

48:36the mayor's budget has increased

48:40uh nearly I think I wrote here 300%

48:44since 2023.

48:46Why?

48:50>> I mean primarily I would say

48:52reorganization is a huge part of that uh

48:54as you heard. So legal falls under me

48:58generally and you know we we tried to

49:01determine as general government to be

49:02more representative that you know these

49:05are departments working in the area of

49:08general government not just uh the

49:10mayor's office

49:12>> you know I can't speak to 23 and 24

49:14because

49:14>> you weren't here

49:15>> I wasn't thinking about anything about

49:17this budget back then but I've reviewed

49:1925 pretty well um certainly reviewed the

49:23results of this year Um, you know, I I

49:27don't remember what the year-over-year

49:29increase from last year was, but I felt

49:32like it was not certainly not that

49:33large. Um,

49:36>> about $200,000.

49:38>> Yeah. Uh, and a lot of that's just

49:40reorganization. Um, we've got, you know,

49:43OPR and things that have come out of

49:46administrative services under legal. um

49:51you know when you look at the art museum

49:54and a number of those cultural assets

49:56those have come under um you know the

49:59mayor's budget general government where

50:01they had never been there before so

50:03previously those were administered in

50:05administrative services but Mr. Cory

50:07Adair when he came on uh his experience

50:10with the art museum. He was on the board

50:12when they brought in director Carfagno

50:15um and generally you know he's really

50:18interested in that stuff and he really

50:19likes it and he's been doing a

50:22phenomenal job not just with the cruise

50:26terminal and the maritime museum but

50:27also the history museum uh generally the

50:30arts community as a whole. So we those

50:32are under our budget where they had not

50:35been previously and I think that makes

50:36up a loan for the increase

50:39year-over-year.

50:40>> Mayor, you're saying that the Mobile

50:42Museum of Art is under your budget in in

50:44in the mayor's office.

50:46>> It's under general government.

50:49>> Okay. I'm talking about the the mayor's

50:51office total on page nine of the budget.

50:54Um, oh well part of that I believe is uh

50:58the ever dynamic and impressive

51:02recently birthday having Kesha Brown

51:04being pulled under my specific budget

51:07versus uh community affairs

51:12>> uh and also if you look at the uh it's

51:15kind of a funny act of accounting but

51:18the million dollars that we

51:21dedicated to the critical repair program

51:24somehow flowed through my budget. It it

51:26went from capital into my budget and

51:29then back out the door um

51:31>> previously.

51:33>> To my knowledge that happened last year

51:34and this year.

51:38>> Okay.

51:38>> Well, it happened this year and is

51:40anticipated and budgeted to happen next

51:42year as well.

51:43>> So, if you take the the million dollars

51:45out

51:47from last year to this year, we I mean

51:50this is million dollars both years. So,

51:51there's a comparative. All right. So I

51:53I'm trying to understand this. I every

51:56year it seems like I don't know if it's

51:59intentional or not. I know this your

52:00first year

52:02>> there's always moving departments where

52:05like there's not clear line of sight to

52:07us ever on any of this where we know if

52:10you're adding people or taking people

52:11away or expanding services or taking

52:14away services. Yeah.

52:15>> It's just hard for us to know.

52:16>> You know, a lot of it is is is that

52:18leadership piece. you know if if

52:21leadership so we're in the past

52:24you know some of these cultural assets

52:26were in administrative services those

52:27were moved under Mr. Adair and his role

52:30as senior adviser and now interim comm's

52:32director. Um we just want to make sure

52:35the budget as well as it can reflects

52:38the org chart and the org chart has

52:40changed uh to a pretty significant

52:43degree over the last year or 11 months

52:46and five days.

52:48>> Okay. So

52:51>> 10 months [clears throat] five days.

52:53>> So the mayor's budget is increased by

52:55$200,000. Okay.

52:57>> Yes. get it last year under the mayor's

53:01office

53:06does not include the same thing that are

53:07in the mayor's office this year.

53:09>> Correct.

53:10>> Okay.

53:11>> I would say specifically uh Miss Miss

53:14Brown's position moving uh to cabinet

53:18chief from that community affairs.

53:20>> But community affairs

53:22has gone up as well

53:25>> to what degree?

53:27uh I don't know about $20,000. But if if

53:30we were taking a community affairs

53:33person out of community affairs, they're

53:36they should reduce and then move to the

53:38mayors, the mayors would increase.

53:40>> Well, she certainly vacated a position

53:42that we wanted to fill. We need a

53:44community affairs director and we have

53:45now filled that position with Mr.

53:47Brandon Calvin. and you know where I I

53:50just see community affairs really being

53:53that direct connection uh between the

53:55city and the people the citizens and

53:59whereas we've done some fantastic things

54:01in the past with community affairs and

54:04continue to do it with the citizens

54:06academy for one thing money moves boot

54:08camp and other things of that nature I

54:11think we can do more and I think we can

54:13have a better connection with our

54:14citizens uh and specifically their

54:17organizations homeowners associations,

54:19neighborhood associations, and we really

54:22want to make sure that we have an ear on

54:24the ground that's hearing the issues

54:27directly as they come up and that, you

54:29know, we're not in a position to get

54:31blindsided by them.

54:32>> I've got a lot more, but I before I go

54:35on, um, chairman, am I all right to

54:38continue to ask these questions?

54:41>> Oh, yeah. And I'm sorry. the just foyer

54:44the increase that I think you're seeing

54:46in community affairs is primarily

54:49related to the increase in the cost for

54:52that software just foyer helps us answer

54:55those thousands of foyer requests that

54:57we get

54:58>> that that that budget is that would be

55:00coming out of the operational budget

55:03>> correct

55:03>> yes

55:04>> just foyer comes out of you know at

55:07different times

55:07>> saying personnel budgets increased okay

55:10you want to do

55:12Say that again. Gallery.

55:16>> Um, one more.

55:17>> 10,000 increase personnel budget, which

55:19I think you can attribute to.

55:21>> Where's the other 10 from?

55:23>> Right here. There's 10. And then we have

55:25an increase in budget on operating

55:27>> attributable to just FOYA. But we did

55:29also cut some costs as well.

55:30>> One more.

55:32>> One more. I mean, I've got I've got a

55:33lot more. And I think it's important

55:34that we have these discussions. This is

55:36this mayor's very first budget. Make

55:38sure we all are on the same page.

55:40understand what we're dealing with. I

55:41don't want to monopolize time because

55:42I'm liable to do that.

55:44>> But one thing on u the way this is

55:47listed in public safety prevention and

55:50mitigation.

55:51I think we discussed a little bit this

55:53morning. It's showing a negative

55:54operating budget of $31,000.

55:58>> Yes, sir. That's

56:01reverse expenses

56:06operational

56:10>> and we show that in revenue somewhere

56:12>> that's operations reimbursement.

56:16>> Yeah. But if you get $31,000 from it,

56:19you got to show that as revenue, right?

56:21That's

56:27>> some of it salary being reimbured.

56:29>> Yeah, Mr. Dio Green I believe is

56:32>> and that's a little annoying. The salary

56:33is being reimbursed in operation. So

56:35there's a counter to it.

56:39>> And what we'll do is um we'll we'll drop

56:42over um and we'll we'll keep on going

56:44for for the next few minutes. I mean, if

56:46you have any other questions um that

56:47that we can address um through an email

56:50or if there's because we we do have a

56:51follow-up meeting. So, I mean, if

56:53there's any more questions that we come

56:54out of today, we can we can definitely

56:56get those answered.

56:57>> And we're certainly if you want to

56:58provide any of those in writing any of

57:00those questions, we're happy to try and

57:03answer those in between meetings as

57:04well.

57:04>> Yeah. The biggest one that I didn't get

57:06to is is certainly uh public service is

57:09being decreased. I mean, we we stood up

57:12this storm water department. They've got

57:13the money out there on the street.

57:15They're doing the contracts, getting the

57:17work done. They're probably going to

57:18spend all their money. And then in this

57:21follow-up budget, we kind of keep them

57:23steady, but decrease public services.

57:25And I we didn't really stand up a

57:28department at all. We did for one one

57:30quick year. And I just think we if we're

57:33going to expand our mowing contracts,

57:36their budget's got to increase, not

57:38decrease. because I and you and I we all

57:41know that our we we intend I hope to

57:44expand our mowing contracts and those

57:46are coming out of public services. So I

57:48think we need to find some way somehow

57:52to to fund them, you know, and still

57:55continue some of the storm water work

57:57that we're doing. You know, one of the

57:58main things that we really tried to do,

58:00and I think

58:02our attempt was to not decrease services

58:04in any way, and I I would tell you that

58:06I believe this budget accomplishes that.

58:09What we did, I think for the first time,

58:11or at least to my knowledge, the first

58:13time, is really try to take into account

58:16attrition. And the truth is at the

58:18police department um at the fire

58:20department less so but definitely at

58:23public works um there's a good bit of

58:25turnover especially in those entry level

58:28jobs there's a good bit of vacancies

58:30that exist throughout the year that

58:31ultimately decrease the amount of money

58:33that has to be spent on personnel and to

58:36my knowledge for the first time we tried

58:39to add that in a little bit. We tried to

58:41add, we tried to subtract from that

58:44ultimate um budget number for personnel

58:47really not to reflect the entirety of

58:49the anticipated

58:51um turnover, but a good portion of it.

58:55You know, when we're looking at this $40

58:56million delta, it had to come from

58:59somewhere.

59:00>> You're saying $40 million delta, that's

59:02the director's request.

59:03>> Correct. Correct.

59:04>> Yeah. They'd be crazy to request less

59:05than

59:05>> Yeah.

59:08But, you know, even if we'd have kept

59:09them to last year's, we'd have been at

59:1130. So, you know, they increased a

59:13little bit. But if we'd have kept last

59:15year's and the current, you know,

59:17capital projects and everything else

59:19didn't go through and kind of clean up

59:20the old encumbered dollars that were not

59:22going to be spent on projects that were,

59:25you know, had been either handled

59:26elsewhere or moved on from. We had to

59:29get that money from somewhere and we had

59:31to do it in a way that was not going to

59:32hit services because the last thing we

59:35want to do as a city is decrease the

59:36services we're providing. You know, we

59:38looked at a couple of um contracts.

59:41There are some areas that I would love

59:42to see increased spending in uh

59:46specifically in public works. The hope

59:48is that we start to realize that early

59:50on in the year, either by exceeding

59:52revenue projections or, you know,

59:55undersshooting our budgeted expenditures

59:58early on in the year. And that's when we

1:00:00can kind of regroup every month. We can

1:00:03do that every month with payroll. uh and

1:00:06take a look, see what our projections

1:00:07look like and add in whether it be more

1:00:10internship job training, more mentorship

1:00:12programs. Um increased mowing contracts,

1:00:16something that we can look at. It's

1:00:18>> got to be done.

1:00:18>> Or there was some like ornamental tree

1:00:20trimming that I we certainly looked at,

1:00:22but some of that we're hoping to with

1:00:25new personnel on the um in the tree

1:00:28department uh taking on some of those

1:00:30things inhouse rather than contracting

1:00:33out for them.

1:00:38Thank you. Um, thank you Logan

1:00:41for the

1:00:43Thank you, Logan. Thank you, chairman.

1:00:45Uh, Logan, thank you for the report and

1:00:46the overview. Um, I want to uh and also

1:00:50just the fact that we are moving towards

1:00:52a healthier budget in terms of the um

1:00:56amount of um income in terms of the

1:00:59transfers. So, thank you. But my

1:01:02question is when you look at the

1:01:03revenues and it looks like and I'm on

1:01:06page six, it looks like there's almost

1:01:10like a 25%

1:01:12increase in sellers uh sellers use tax

1:01:15increase. What economic assumptions are

1:01:18driving that? Like what what's

1:01:20happening?

1:01:21>> You know, some of that I would say it it

1:01:23is I'm not sure on the 25% number, but I

1:01:26will certainly take your word for it. A

1:01:28lot of what we've done here is marrying

1:01:30actuals with budget. Um, and so this

1:01:34year, uh, I think we're exceeding

1:01:36sellers use. Let me see. I think I had a

1:01:38note on that. Um, we're exceeding

1:01:40sellers use. We budgeted 17 million.

1:01:44We're anticipating taking in almost 20

1:01:4619.8 this year. And so you're looking at

1:01:49about an 8% growth rate to get us to

1:01:51that 21.4.

1:01:53Um, a large part of that assumption is

1:01:56kind of the year-over-year increase that

1:01:58we've seen in sellers use uh

1:02:01dispositions. Um, more people are

1:02:04shopping online, more people are buying

1:02:06more things online. You know, the hidden

1:02:08number while increase is good. You know,

1:02:11more money coming in is good. I think

1:02:13it's very safe to say that if the

1:02:16dollars spent in SSUT, simplified

1:02:19sellers use tax were spent in brick

1:02:21andmortar stores here in Mobile, we'd be

1:02:24looking at 40 um to well north of $50

1:02:27million for those same sales. So, you

1:02:31know, to say that this represents half

1:02:33of what we should be getting, I think is

1:02:35conservative. Uh, I think it's probably

1:02:37more like about 40% of what we would be

1:02:40receiving if there were true local um a

1:02:44true local tax rate on the city side of

1:02:47that simplified sellers use tax. And

1:02:49that's that's something we're fighting

1:02:51for every day. I went to Montgomery last

1:02:53week to take that very issue up with um

1:02:58with the League of Municipalities and

1:03:00others.

1:03:02So then that same assumption would hold

1:03:05true for the city sales tax. You use

1:03:07you're using actuals and that's why the

1:03:09numbers were over what we expected.

1:03:11>> Exactly. So if you look at last year's

1:03:14budget, we were at about we budgeted 28

1:03:16million. Um this year's actuals should

1:03:19land us right at the $215 million range.

1:03:23Uh and so when you look at our budget

1:03:25for next year, two 219

1:03:28million proposed, that's about a 1.9%

1:03:32growth rate, 1.8% growth rate.

1:03:35>> Okay. And then my next question dealing

1:03:37with Africa Town, I noticed that um

1:03:40Africa Town Welcome Center, it states

1:03:42that, you know, we have what 757,000

1:03:45something like that in operating costs.

1:03:48the 516,930

1:03:51in operating budget. What does that

1:03:53represent

1:03:56>> for the operating or for personnel?

1:03:59>> I think that 516 is operating. Let me

1:04:01just make sure.

1:04:02>> For the operating so that is anticipated

1:04:05to cover um utility costs also the

1:04:11marketing get. So really it's a heavy

1:04:14for this up upcoming because of the

1:04:16opening. So the biggest portion of that

1:04:19is the implementation. So we just

1:04:21approved the contract for $240ome,000

1:04:24for watermark and that is to do the

1:04:26design. The second part of that is going

1:04:28to be the implementation of that. That's

1:04:30the posting of the items that need to go

1:04:32up, the wall, the the AV equipment. So

1:04:35that's where the bulk of that is from.

1:04:37And then it's the utilities. And because

1:04:38this is our first year, it is preparing

1:04:41for the grand opening and what the grand

1:04:42opening would look like in the

1:04:44marketing. So subsequent budget years

1:04:46won't be as high as this one.

1:04:48>> Okay. And and just to clarify because I

1:04:51received questions regarding the welcome

1:04:53center um about $5 million being

1:04:56invested. I think that $5 million that

1:04:58they're referring to

1:04:59>> restore grant grant funding

1:05:01>> was grant funding from previous years.

1:05:03Am I correct?

1:05:04>> Yes.

1:05:05>> Okay. So that's not $5 million that is

1:05:07coming out of the budget for this year.

1:05:09>> Okay.

1:05:10>> Thank you for that clarification. And so

1:05:13the other the other 200,000 like 330 I

1:05:17know is in contracts. Two contracts that

1:05:19we've approved and then the other

1:05:20200,000 you said is for the second phase

1:05:23of implementation

1:05:25>> for Africa Town.

1:05:26>> Yes. So that but that contract is not in

1:05:28that operating that is a capital fund.

1:05:31That's not general fund money.

1:05:34>> Okay. So will you so it's utility cost

1:05:37marketing. Yeah, utility cost, the

1:05:39marketing, the opening. If we got to get

1:05:40a stage, if we get a band, it's

1:05:42preparing for all of that. It's about

1:05:44350 of that is about the implementation

1:05:49and then it's the other costs are your

1:05:52um your regular utilities, our

1:05:55operational costs. We plan to sell

1:05:57items. So, it's those different things

1:05:58that we will have to purchase to be able

1:06:00to be ready to open.

1:06:02>> Okay. Thank you.

1:06:04Um, my next question deals with uh

1:06:06public safety. Um, trying to see what

1:06:09page I think it's page 10.

1:06:20And we'll we'll also um let's do another

1:06:23we'll do another uh five 10 minutes and

1:06:26then um just because we are this it we

1:06:29are getting up to 2:30 almost at this

1:06:31point. Um we'll we'll if we can um if

1:06:34you got a question that that we need to

1:06:36ask like today um then uh we need to ask

1:06:39that question. Um if not um we'll submit

1:06:41some questions to you guys in writing if

1:06:43that's fine. Um that way we we're not

1:06:46taking all your time and then um we'll

1:06:49we can work that way. So we'll do it

1:06:51like that.

1:06:52>> Okay. Thank you chairman. So overall it

1:06:54show it looks like public safety

1:06:56decrease but when you look at the fire

1:06:59department it shows that there was a

1:07:02decrease of 2.53 million but the police

1:07:08department increase by 2.29 million. If

1:07:12if I can get an explanation on the

1:07:13decrease in the fire department like

1:07:15what what are we decreasing? What's not

1:07:18going to happen as a result of the 2.53

1:07:21million? you know, um, you could

1:07:23certainly describe it as savings, but I

1:07:26think there was some money built into

1:07:28last year's budget, anticipating a

1:07:30potential change on how we dealt with

1:07:32EMS.

1:07:34And we had quite a bit of savings uh,

1:07:38over last year where we realized we were

1:07:40not going to have to expend that money.

1:07:41And um the the fire department this year

1:07:45is going to come well in

1:07:48well under their budget this year on

1:07:50spending. Um so the decrease I think can

1:07:54wholly be explained by that ch change in

1:07:57the budgeted amount for EMS services.

1:08:00Uh, I don't think we're going to be

1:08:01costing any kind of services as part of

1:08:03this. Part of this year's budget is um

1:08:07is finally engaging in the renovations

1:08:09at Central Fire Station that I've

1:08:11certainly heard a lot about. Um, there

1:08:13was some, you know, behind the scenes

1:08:16legal stuff that was kind of holding

1:08:18that up for a while, but we've decided

1:08:19to go ahead and plow forward. Uh the

1:08:22fire department already had about uh I

1:08:25believe about $2 million

1:08:28stashed away in capital funds to go

1:08:30towards central fire. We've also in our

1:08:32capital funds budget I think re is uh

1:08:36allocated another $3 million to that

1:08:38project assuming it's going to cost

1:08:40five. Um the reason why there's that's

1:08:43really the reason why there's a decrease

1:08:44there at fire and and fire has generally

1:08:47been experiencing

1:08:50um throughout this calendar year and

1:08:52fiscal year. Uh that's a little

1:08:54different for the police department. The

1:08:56police department has been ramping up to

1:08:58this full staffing. So we've not had to

1:09:01pay the salaries of 515 plus police

1:09:04officers all year in this fiscal year.

1:09:07But we do expect to have to do that next

1:09:09year. So the bulk of the increase that

1:09:12you're seeing there is is directly

1:09:14related to a police department that is

1:09:17fully staffed.

1:09:19>> Okay. So then that decrease we're seeing

1:09:21in the fire department will not impact

1:09:24staffing. That's just um additional

1:09:26funding that was left.

1:09:28>> It it should not fire. So you're looking

1:09:30at budget verse budget.

1:09:33Fire should come in a few million under

1:09:35budget this year in reality. Um, so

1:09:40they'll actually come in under budget

1:09:43for this year.

1:09:45We base next year's budget off of kind

1:09:48of where we're tracking toward this

1:09:49year. There's some vehicle savings as

1:09:51well. I don't know if that's worth

1:09:52>> Yeah, certainly. Um,

1:09:56there are some things with um vehicles,

1:09:58[clears throat]

1:09:59you know, we took a hard look at

1:10:00vehicles this year and want to continue

1:10:01to do that.

1:10:03um you know the the vehicle market

1:10:05changes fairly rapidly and uh I think we

1:10:08had a good very good plan and

1:10:11replacement schedule. I just wanted to

1:10:13take a look at that and frankly last

1:10:15year we spent a whole lot of money uh on

1:10:18Tahoe specifically for those new

1:10:20officers that we were bringing in. Uh so

1:10:23we we drastically when we were looking

1:10:26at that $40 million delta from requested

1:10:29to revenue um vehicles took a big hit

1:10:32and again while we've taken in attrition

1:10:35uh taken in into account attrition in a

1:10:38way we really have not before. Um we

1:10:41still expect there to be quite a bit of

1:10:43attrition turnover um you know just

1:10:46natural turnover where people move and

1:10:48you bring new people in. Um I I believe

1:10:51there's going to be room in the fire

1:10:53department's budget even to buy some of

1:10:55those larger vehicular purchases this

1:10:57year. They expect that. Um but again, a

1:11:01lot of this exercise with this budget

1:11:03was marrying actuals

1:11:06um year-over-year instead of just going

1:11:09from budget to budget. Rather than just

1:11:11keeping budgets level, we looked at what

1:11:13actuals were. And in some cases, they

1:11:15didn't tell the full story. And that's

1:11:17why we had so many of these meetings

1:11:19with our department heads, executive

1:11:21directors to make sure we weren't

1:11:23missing something. And in some cases, we

1:11:25were. And so we went back and adjusted

1:11:26for those things.

1:11:28>> And and I have others. I'll just do this

1:11:30last question and then the other ones we

1:11:32can put in writing. But we keep

1:11:33referencing fleet management. And I'm on

1:11:35page 13 and I'm somewhat confused

1:11:37because it shows that fleet management

1:11:39increased by 2.772

1:11:43million, right?

1:11:44um approximately 25%. And then it

1:11:47referenced that there's been vehicle

1:11:49consolidation, but the operating expense

1:11:52shows an increase from 7.65 to 10.3. So,

1:11:57how are we consolidating? We're saying

1:11:59we're saving there, but it shows that

1:12:00we've increased there and that I'm I'm

1:12:03just not following how the two are.

1:12:06>> You know, I I understand your uh

1:12:10difficulty in understanding this. I've

1:12:12been looking by line at Excel sheets for

1:12:15uh months. But um whereas most of the

1:12:19vehicular budget had previously been

1:12:21housed in specific departments budgets,

1:12:24everyone for the first time this year if

1:12:27I'm correct, I think we did some last

1:12:28year.

1:12:30um all this year. Uh so all this year

1:12:34we've moved all of those vehicular

1:12:35purchases that are non-public safety,

1:12:37not police and fire, anything that's not

1:12:39public safety into fleet. And so fleet

1:12:42will actually be making those purchases,

1:12:44making the sales of the vehicles that

1:12:46we're offloading. Uh and that's

1:12:48generally the increase that you see

1:12:50there is all of those vehicles were not

1:12:53there last year.

1:12:58>> Thank you.

1:12:59>> All right. Um, is there anybody else

1:13:01that has a question that wants to pop it

1:13:03just two minutes or less? Um, or um,

1:13:06like I said, we can we'll submit in

1:13:07writing. We we do have a follow-up

1:13:09meeting next week. Um, same time, same

1:13:11place and uh, um, you know, between now,

1:13:15I guess my my goal between now and then

1:13:17was to collect anything that you have.

1:13:19We'll we'll provide it to you guys and

1:13:21then um, see if we can go from there.

1:13:22So, if there's if anybody else has an

1:13:25immediate thing that we need to pop it

1:13:27um, uh, let me know. Um and

1:13:29>> chairman.

1:13:30>> Yes, sir.

1:13:30>> Yeah, I send my questions um as well,

1:13:32but I do want to um put this out out

1:13:35here. Um I know on performance

1:13:37contracts, I have a lot of questions

1:13:39regarding performance contracts. One

1:13:41particular um I would like to work with

1:13:43administration and this council and

1:13:45restoring um the Port City Classic

1:13:48before we can do a performance review

1:13:50for all the um football games that we

1:13:52have. Um, so I would like to work with

1:13:54the administration before we start

1:13:56trying to move money around. So I want

1:13:59to I send that information and kind of

1:14:01talk um so we can be on the same page um

1:14:04going forward. Um but that that's that's

1:14:07my main question and then I'll submit

1:14:08the rest of the questions um through you

1:14:11or to the administration.

1:14:12>> Thank you.

1:14:13>> We're certainly, you know, knowing that

1:14:15there's an appetite to take a look at

1:14:18performance contracts for the first time

1:14:19this year. We we required everybody

1:14:22whether they'd received something last

1:14:23year or not to submit an application,

1:14:25submit financials and other things. You

1:14:28know, for that one specifically for um

1:14:31brothers working together that

1:14:33represents the GF Coast Challenge, Port

1:14:35City Classic as well as the Bridge

1:14:36Builder Classic. They only requested

1:14:39$500,000 even though the application was

1:14:41for all three entities. Uh we actually

1:14:44increased that to 600,000.

1:14:47uh we understand there's still some need

1:14:48there and are certainly willing to talk

1:14:50through that and and work on that and in

1:14:53the future um you know I know we've had

1:14:56some discussions on how we look at

1:14:58performance contracts uh as a whole and

1:15:00I'm I'm interested to continue that

1:15:02conversation

1:15:06>> I'm sorry one more um neighborhood

1:15:08development and maybe I'm in the wrong

1:15:10department but I I recall us saying that

1:15:12we were going to have a conversation

1:15:13around um trying to enhance that

1:15:16department. So that because we were

1:15:17having many challenges as you know with

1:15:19the blight and so forth but when I look

1:15:21at the funding I it looks like it's

1:15:24flat. So did we move away from that

1:15:26idea?

1:15:29>> You know I would say certainly not. You

1:15:30know so much of

1:15:33the big things that we've been able to

1:15:34do as a city over the years have been

1:15:36tied directly to grants, federal funds,

1:15:39ARPA, ADCA. Um, you know, we don't

1:15:42expect ARPA um anymore, but uh there is

1:15:47hope that within that uh community uh

1:15:50development that we can continue to use

1:15:53those funds as matching funds for other

1:15:56larger um grant opportunities and things

1:15:59that we're continuously pursuing.

1:16:02Again, it's always my hope that we're

1:16:04undershooting revenue and that we are

1:16:06overshooting expenditures. Uh and my

1:16:08hope is that as you know I think it's

1:16:10very important to to maintain a healthy

1:16:13rainy day fund um unassigned fund

1:16:16balance if you look at essentially 90

1:16:19million that's in there 67ish

1:16:23right at 67 is accounted for. So that

1:16:25only leaves us with a delta $23 million.

1:16:29And um I'm not going to lose sight of

1:16:32that. You know, we have a lot of

1:16:34discussions to happen soon around TIFFs

1:16:36and what they can do specifically in the

1:16:39housing realm, but we're focused on this

1:16:41right now. My hope is that we can

1:16:43identify outside sources of funding to

1:16:45continue to make large gains in in the h

1:16:47area of housing.

1:16:50>> Thank you.

1:16:50>> I'll just add their department

1:16:53uh probably want to bring Jamie here for

1:16:54next week, but there's a lot of funding

1:16:56there, this grant funding that you

1:16:58you're not seeing through the general

1:16:59fund. So they've got actual positions

1:17:01funded by grant.

1:17:03>> Okay. And I'm specifically speaking and

1:17:06Chief Barbara, you might remember this

1:17:07conversation. I'm specifically speaking

1:17:09of the fact that trying to have

1:17:11inspectors to go out identify property

1:17:14that needs to be um identified as

1:17:17nuisance and so forth and not having

1:17:19enough staff to do that. And so we're

1:17:21constantly behind the eightball. Well, I

1:17:23am happy to report that they heard that

1:17:26call and they have gone out and created

1:17:28a GIS overlay map of all to our

1:17:32knowledge the blighted occupied

1:17:34building um dwellings in the city. So we

1:17:38have that now and available actually

1:17:40with you know [snorts] categories of

1:17:43level of blight.

1:17:47They have we have been able to

1:17:48accomplish that under the budget that we

1:17:50have now. uh and how we go out and

1:17:53actually target those individuals for

1:17:56you know potential critical repair

1:17:57funds. We have not worked through

1:17:59completely yet but we intend to.

1:18:03>> All righty. Anything else right now? Um

1:18:06and if you will uh submit any questions

1:18:08either me or or to them. Um but uh if

1:18:11you would uh I mean I would like to be

1:18:13tagged just so that we can kind of at

1:18:15least keep that conversation going. Um

1:18:17again next week uh same time, same place

1:18:20here. Uh, and then that being said,

1:18:22thank you Logan and thank you your team

1:18:23for for putting this together. I know it

1:18:25takes a lot of work. So, thank you'all

1:18:26and thank you to the administration for

1:18:28uh for being willing and open whenever

1:18:30we ask questions. So, thank y'all. With

1:18:32that, we'll adjourn.

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