Board of Mayor & Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right, if I could have everyone's attention, can you hear me? Okay. All right, this is the City of Avondale Estates, Georgia, Board of Mayor and Commissioners' special call meeting, public hearing number three. It's June 30th, 2026. It's six o'clock. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Before we get started, though, I've been asked to, if we could take item number eight, off the agenda. We're just going to consider that next week. Manager asked me to do that. So do I have a motion to take item eight off of the agenda? That was a lie. Do I have a second? Second. That was Mike. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. So do I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended? So moved. That was Graham. And that was Lyda. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. First item up is presentation of 2026 property tax scenarios. Mr. Manager?

Yes. And before I turn the floor over, I want to first introduce our new finance director.

Yay.

It's Tony Joe Howard. Tony Jo has a lot of experience as a finance director in the Atlanta metropolitan area. She has served in the role for the city of Smyrna, for the city of Sandy Springs, for the city of Tucker, and for the city of Johns Creek, where she was a mentor to her predecessor here and former supervisor to her predecessor here. Tony Joe has a bachelor's and master's in accounting from the University of West Georgia and is a certified public accountant in both the state of Georgia and the state of Virginia. So please, welcome to the floor.

Welcome to the city. Thank you. Thank you.

So yes, I have a presentation. I'm just going to go over some numbers related to the digest for the discussion tonight. So first, this is your 2026 overall digest. I know that y'all have seen these numbers before. Ultimately, you get to your net value of $507 million. And then next I think an important component that needs to be considered is the tad. So these are those same numbers for your side. And that also shows that that has a net value of 61 and half million Right now. And then I went and wrote down just so that you could see the percentage change from 2026 to 2025. So when you look at your overall digest, your residential change was 4%, commercial was 95%, industrial 69%, public utilities 7%, and then your motor vehicle went down 26%. When you look at just that general fund portion, which would be your overall digest with your TAD removed, You get a residential at 3%, increased commercial at 81%, industrial at 0%, showing that all of that was actually in the tab. The public utilities at 7% and both made for 26% because you don't have those in your tab. So next, I showed what the revenue would be from what it will say for simplification purposes. Your 2026 property tax revenue is best case. This means if you were to look at the overall digest at the 9.55 millage rate. So that would be just that straight net digest number, net value that we showed in that first slide. That would be the 4.8 million. However, you have to remove the TAD. So that's the growth of the TAD over the base year to get what you are expecting to get from your general fund. So I've called that the general fund portion. And again, that is at your current millage rate of 9.55. So then we'll look at what some of the impacts would be to that general fund portion. You've historically had a 2% rate on appeals. So that dollar value is a little over 80, almost $88,000. So your general fund portion after your historic rate of appeals would bring you down to $4,293,254. Additionally, besides the appeals, on the next slide, I showed the impact of delinquency. Again, using your historical rate of delinquency is at 1.5%, so that would be another dollar impact of a little over $64,000, bringing it down to the $4,228,855. So I know this was discussed a little bit before, but there is some concern that there will be an increase in the overall level of appeals just based on some of the properties that have been included. So if we use what our best guess might be at six and a half percent of appeals. That equates to another 194,000 that would come out of that number. So that represents the 4.5% additional from the 2% that you've had historically to get to that 6%. And that gets you down to a total of $4 million.

But that's a projection.

It is a projection. We do think that it's a best guess at this point because we do think, again, just from what's in that budget, it will be higher. than what the historicals have been, but yes, yes, yes.

Have you based that on any information from the assessor's office?

Just based on the properties that are in and sort of the value that they included and how far they considered it in the process. The types of properties that it is do typically have a higher rate of appeal.

To better elaborate on that question, if y'all will allow, properties that have seen the greatest jump in valuation are commercial properties, including the properties now owned in totality because the closing was earlier today by Avila Hedgewood and the Willis and the Jade. We have already been told by Avila Hedgewood that their valuation to have already happened upon the site. And so they believe and their attorneys believe they have a very strong case to make an appeal. Their property is located entirely within the TAD. you know, if their appeal would be granted, it wouldn't affect the general fund base, but it would reduce the amount of projected revenue to go into the TAD. Because of the fact that residential growth outside of the TAD was tracking at 3% and 764 of those properties either remain flat or decreased in value, we do not believe that we will see the same rate from residential properties that we have historically seen and that most of the appeal efforts this year will come from those commercial properties. And as we've experienced in the past, those properties tend to hire attorneys who are very much experienced in the world of making appeals to reduce their valuations.

And I think in trying to choose sort of this scenario, we were kind of trying to show you the bookends, right? Like, here's sort of your historical, and then here's what possibly could be sort of what we'll call a horse case interview. So, yeah, thank you. So just to go over again the review of that. So at your current millage rate, your 2026 budget is the 4.3%. That number did include a little over $89,000 of prior year delinquent taxes. So if you're looking at that revenue number as far as what is just current year property revenue, that's slightly over $4.2 million. So again, your 2% appeal, 1.5% delinquents, historical rate, the expected revenue would be $4,228,855, which is just $18,000 over what that current year property tax revenue would be. If it were to get to the other end at the 6 and 9 appeals and 1.5% delinquency, that's just over $4 million, which is $176,077 less than your prompt budget. We also ran another scenario review that went those same appeal and delinquency numbers, but with a 9.3 millage rate. So you can see there, again, at your historical averages, you're a little over 4.1 million, which is about 93,000 less than your budget for current year. And then at the 6.5 appeals and 1.5%, let's see, that puts you just under 4 million or 281,000 less than your composite. Lastly was the 9.15 millage rate. So again, at your historical, you're right at $4 million, which is $159,000 less than the expected for current year in the budget. At the six and a half appeals and 1.5% delinquency, you're at $3.865 million or $345,000 less than estimated in your budget. So those were the numbers that I ran for you. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Glad you're here.

Thank you.

Mr. Manager, was there anything you wanted to... Well, just a couple of things. These were the scenarios that were proposed, the various military scenarios that were proposed at the last work session. We did say to you guys that we would run those scenarios for you and provide them prior to the public night, so we did. In addition to that, I think one... there may be one thing to consider in your decision that was not a part of this presentation but is relevant is that the DDA who is the committed $5 million of TAD revenue plus an additional 600 and some odd thousand dollars of TAD revenue already. Meaning that as those monies are collected into the TAD, they are already committed via contract to go back out. transformed seven interior blocks of the downtown, and then the others were pledged for infrastructure to be developed as a part of the Avalon Hedgewood project. The commitment that they have made works basically like as those monies come in, they can be redistributed to the parties that have been contracted to on a more timely basis, which presumably could, the more monies that are collected in the TAD now, the sooner the opportunity to sunset the TAD after those commitments are made in order to then take monies that would otherwise be going into the TAD and reclaim them into the general fund.

Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Well, that was staff's presentation. Anything to add up here? I mean, we're going to have a chance to comment on item number five, but.

So we'll talk about it after. Right. Okay.

All right. So we're good up here. All right. So I would now like to, uh, open up the public hearing. Uh, we're not going to do for or against just anybody can say whatever they want. It just try to keep it at three minutes, please. Uh, we're not setting a time limit right now, but when everybody's had their say, we'll take it down. Yes, sir. Alan.

Yeah. Uh, Wow, I thought I had the numbers. Based upon the work session last week, this went on the website the next day. I copied it off, and Ms. Harris just cut the legs out from all of these. I'm still looking at, you know, at Draft Digest, $507,000. Projected property taxes, $404,845,182. Budget of $4.3 million. So I ran the numbers. Yeah, with the... 9.55 milliliterate looks great. I rated at 9.3. And that was also putting in 5% expectation of delinquencies and appeals. And that came out with the adjustment of 5%. At 9.3, it came out 4.482, call it 4.5 million. At 9.15, Again, with a 5% judgment came up to 4.4. So everything was above the budget. And five days later, it's not. Part of that is nearly a half million dollar hit from the TAD. And again, the thing with the TAD is it's dedicated project. It doesn't go into the general fund. Is that why we're taking out 4.64 thousand for the TAD? Why did this come up last Wednesday? Anyone? Okay, so now we're seeing three figures where it's all below the city budget. My figures based upon last week are all above the budget. And I was going to ask that we can do a lower millage rate. We can do 9.3. We can actually do 9.5. I'm not sure of that now, but it's very disconcerting not to have that information available. First of all, we had two hearings on comics on the millage rate. After the second one was when we had the word session and then these numbers are finally made available. Now we're getting new numbers five days later. So I'm not sure how this is conducted, but that's disappointing.

I know your first name is Alan. I know it's not Zocalo, but... No, Dion, like Celine Dion. Thank you. Just for the record. Yes, thank you.

Very famous actor named Alan Zocalo.

And then Dale.

Yeah, he's rich. Thank you.

Can we ask for address while you're at it?

Oh, yeah. What was your address? I know it's Wilshire. Oh, I'm sorry. I did not get that. 3316 Wilshire.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. Thanks for asking.

Yes, Stan. Just name and address, please.

How you doing? My name is Dan Marks. I am a huge supporter of the city of Avondale and I'm deeply invested in it. And I operate the Oak House at 2855 Washington and where the Pine Street Market is at 115 Pine. And also, if you've ever been to the forest behind Oakham Place, I own 3072 Oakham Place, along with a few houses on North Clarendon, 141 and 145. And I just wanted to lend my support for the proposed millage rate of 955 because I want to see the city fully funded, adequately funded. We've made incredible progress. Our services are great. Our infrastructure investment has been great. The city street project, the park. And I'd love to see us continue to move forward. And I'd like to see the whole city funded adequately to maintain and continue to improve our services and infrastructure. And I think that's just the best way forward, a nice long-term approach where everything is funded and we don't have to dig deep into our pockets because we've thought ahead. We've planned ahead. And so I lend my support to the 955 military. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Anybody online?

Hey, Emily?

Hey, this is, can you see me?

We can hear you. Okay.

This is 61 Wiltshire Drive. We attended the first meeting. This is Emily Fish and Dustin Ducote. Hey, I just got a question on the notice of the property tax increase. I keep doing the math and I suck at math. I'll be frank, but my name's still Dustin. And I cannot get those numbers. So it's what, like the example is fair market value of $575,000 times 0.40, right? To get the... that one of the solutions, then you multiply that by 0.00955. Is that correct?

You don't take 40% of 507. Oh, okay. You've been reduced.

What we really want to know is on the notice, it says it's $197 increase. Is that per month or per year, if you were to look at that property tax increase?

Year.

That's a year?

Oh, okay. Sorry. That's like, I don't know, that would be very useful to put that on there because I was just like, okay, so I need a little bit of context, right? And I apologize, missing the second hearing because there were some details on there. But okay, that's good to know. That's all I got.

Thank you.

Anyone else out there? Paul. Paul Dora, 820 Stratford Road. I have two or three questions. I know it'd be nice if someone would answer them. And to the new finance director, welcome. Excellent presentation. First question, the five-year document that the commissioner's office produces includes the city of Avondale,

in two different tabs two different tabs are both of those included in this tad number no one of them is the kensington at the marta station tad that's a county tad there's an avondale city tad and then the other one is is a dead cab county tad but it's in our disc it's in our it's included in the roll up okay um but it's it's not part of our tad well then

The information, the two details, there's two one-page tax digest. One says Avondale Estates, and it's the bulk of it. And then another one says TAD1 or TAB1. So it's the TAD, it's that second one that's included in the numbers that were presented. Yes, it's about 60.

TAB1 is what it says, and that is our TAD. That is that we would need to pull out of any kind of calculations for our general fund revenue. The other one, the 114, is a county TAD, and that is included in our general fund numbers.

All right, thank you. And then the second question is an excellent presentation. Was that card with Tackett tonight, or is this the first time you're seeing it?

First time.

Well, it was in Tackett.

So, for clarification, at the last work session, Those scenarios were provided to the board in a spreadsheet prior to the meeting. This presentation is making its debut right now, will be posted to the website.

Well, I guess I would echo Alan's comment. It would be really helpful to have that information prior to the meeting. I know there's a number of folks that would be interested citizens that look at the data. And I think we all came away with different conclusions that are showing tonight. It would just be really helpful. Thank you. Thank you.

Can we do this one?

Yeah. All right, we'll go online and then come back, Lisa.

Online?

Neil?

Sorry, just getting technology to work with me. Can everyone hear me?

We can.

Fantastic. I just want to echo. I apologize. I didn't get the last person's name. I'm Neil deCruz at 538 Stratford Green. I want to echo that. I appreciate all the effort people put in to start presenting the financial data to us. I understand that that is a lot. And, you know, people appreciate. We don't want to create a scenario where everyone is constantly checking the city's numbers, but we very much appreciate seeing the data. We very much appreciate getting more in-depth financial information, especially when major decisions are about to be presented. So I do want to say thank you for doing the presentation. I want to say thank you to everyone for doing all that work. But I definitely would like to see more data more often, especially when it comes to major taxes or even maintaining certain taxes. So that's all I wanted to say. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Lisa.

Lisa Shortell, 6 Clarendon Place. So thanks for the numbers tonight. Those were helpful. My takeaway is that if the city exceeds its average delinquency and appeals rate, it'll collect less than it's budgeted. And this makes me nervous, especially given what we've heard about appraisals, commercial appeals this evening. A couple of things I want to emphasize. So the overall residential property tax increase this year is less than inflation. Contrary to what the tax notice language leads one to believe, and even without lowering the millage rate, many homeowners will see a decrease or pay an equal amount of city taxes as last year. And I know we all know infrastructure needs generally cost more than inflation. Most of the increase is in the community district. This should be cause for celebration. Yes, many of those funds are going into the TAD and not the general fund. But let's remember that the downtown was essentially not invested in for nearly 100 years. This saved those past taxpayers money, but shirked our responsibilities to infrastructure in that area. We're playing catch up in the downtown, but we should celebrate. Because all the money in the TAD goes to needed infrastructure improvements, because the fund includes county taxes as well as city, and because our downtown is finally beginning to pay for its own improvements. The TAD funds are money that residential taxpayers do not have to shell out in the quest to play catch up in the downtown. This is good news. No residential taxes going to the TAD. but I would ask that you please maintain the current millage rate. It's not excessive in comparison to other cities with similar service rates. Lowering it will among other things have two effects that I'm seeing. Less money will go into the general fund for infrastructure improvements. This does not mean that those needs go away. Instead, less money means that those projects will be more delayed. Time is money. Delayed projects always cost more than they do right now. Cutting the millage rate a small amount now may not even end up saving taxpayer money. May not end up saving any money. The more quickly the city can accomplish projects, the cheaper they will be. As you know, as discussed tonight, 5.6 million of TAB funds are committed to the downtown infrastructure improvements in partnership with the Avila project. Lowering the millage means less commercial taxes collected from the very area where we're seeing significant growth. And it will take longer for that 5.6 million mark to be reached. Why does this matter? Because of what can happen after that amount is reached. The city and county may decide to sunset the TAD at that point, which, along with the Avila development, could allow for a significant reduction in millage. The sooner infrastructure improvements are made, the sooner that obligation is met, the sooner those TAD funds are either at the city's disposal for other improvements or sunsetted in order to provide a tax break for the entire city. We should be literally capitalizing on the recent significant commercial growth, not reducing its impact. Please keep the millage at the current rate and keep the progress going. Thanks.

Thank you. All right. One more.

Oh, OK. Did you have somebody?

No, no, no. I was just checking online. Go ahead, please.

I don't know if you're supposed to speak into the microphone or not. It doesn't seem to really matter.

You probably nod.

Okay, good. Adam Flournoy Archer, 2894 Washington Street. My wife and I are... new residents to Avondale as of May 16th, officially. Very happy to be here. Avondale area, the Willis, in fact, was our first home. And we loved, we fell in love with Avondale and loved it so much that we decided to stay, even though we had a bedroom facing College Avenue during construction. So we then moved to the J because we didn't want to leave the city. And then we found something we never thought we'd find in a home to live here. We love the artists that live here. We love what you all have done in terms of the progress we have made. We haven't lived here that long, obviously, so I don't know what sounds like a pretty different downtown no more than 10 years ago. I guess my only fear in the idea of talking about anytime raising taxes, property or otherwise, the idea of home ownership is becoming less and less possible for anybody, artists especially. So as you raise or whatever the city feels is best, please keep that in mind. Like what created such a wonderful landing spot for my wife and I were a lot of the artists here. And I've seen other cities quickly price people out of paradise as the progress becomes so great that everything is glass and gray and there's no more personality left because they can't afford to live here. Not that people with a lot of money don't have personalities if you're rich in here. So please. So I just encourage you to consider artists and to consider the personality and soul of Avondale as we talk about rates. Because a rate increase this year, no problem. A little bit of a problem, not the end of the world. But if it's a rate increase every year, it does become more and more difficult. And I understand inflation, but you have a city full of creatives. So maybe there are some creative ways on your end that we can find other funding. Thank you.

Fair point. Thank you. Hey, thank you for choosing Avondale. Yeah, thank you. Anybody else online?

Okay.

Anybody else in the audience?

Question. Did I? Okay.

I'm Lucy. I'm said wife. We have been hearing tell of the SSD. We're on this side and not that side. I don't know if this is the right context to talk about that and what rates might change, but I just wanted to ask. And if it's not, That's okay.

Not at this time. Okay. We're really limiting comment to the millage rate itself. And those are separate, not related? This year, yes.

We can talk after. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Andrew. So my name is Andrew Dust, 1133 Dunwick Drive. And the quick question I have is specifically to the 1.5% of delinquent that you have. Is that a constant that you have historically? Yes. And if so, how does it adjust? I'd like to know, that's your projection based on the constant. but you would tend to think that there'd be some variance across the per year that would change that in one direction or another. And so what does that look like for historically for the last year and the year before you think you have 1.5, But is it truly that? I mean, it just seems kind of odd to have just a specific constant of 1.5 delinquency.

I can speak to that. I used to work at a tax commissioner's office. I was the director of accounting. It's not like it's just 1.5. I mean, it could be we collect 98 point something percent and we have for years. People pay their taxes in Avondale, which is a good thing. So that is a pretty expected thing because it's been going on for decades. And it's been that way. I looked at the last three years. It's always been 98. It was 98.48 one year, 98.76 another, and 98.5 something another in the last three years. And it's been historically that way.

And further breaking it down, is that just particular properties that are consistently the same altogether? Or is it just happen to be a haphazard?

It's how much you collect of the net taxes. So basically, after appeals and everything, you have a net tax base. And how much of that do you collect? So... That's consistent. Now, how much the adjustments go up or down can vary, but it hasn't varied dramatically either. It's historically been around 2%. One year in 24, it went up to 3.6%. And the Jade and the Willis both appealed their properties that year.

This is for my own education, but the clarification on these numbers. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Last call? Yes.

Hi, I'm Susan Belmonte. I live at 9 Coventry Close. And I've lived in Avondale for 14 years with my husband and my daughter. And I guess my question is, when does it stop? Because every year there's a slightly... little percentage rate that over time does make a big difference. And I have been thrilled by all of the development. I have been a big supporter of the development, but I do have to ask at some point as a resident, when are we going to start to push out people who have been here for 15 years, are artists that we do want to continue to attract to the community or people who have been here for 50 years who can no longer afford their property taxes and Because on top of Avondale's millage rate, let's not forget that DeKalb County doesn't really seem to have a rhyme or reason as to why your house prices go up 25 percent, 30 percent, which my family has seen consistently for the last four years. So those two numbers together are a huge impact financially on my family. And we do we are incredibly fortunate financially. to have the financial fortune that we do, but there is a point every year where we do start to talk about how long can we afford to live here because our property taxes keep going up. I am for maintaining the current millage rate. With the current numbers, I'm somebody who can't just digest numbers quickly. I would actually appreciate some time to consider the numbers that were presented tonight as a resident. So that we can, as a city, make a more informed decision as well. But I'm just asking you, if anything, please keep the millitrate as it is. $200 may not seem like a big deal over time, over the year, as one of the online attendees mentioned. But I'm thinking about my own property taxes, and I'm like, it's going to be a lot more than that. $200 because I know DeKalb County is going to come in and tell me my house is now worth 25% more, which sounds like a good thing, but I'm actually tired of my house appreciating in certain ways so I can catch up with my property taxes. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Anyone else?

Okay. Seeing none, I'm going to close the public hearing. Thank you all for your comments. Thank you all for being here. Meeting's not over. Just wanted to thank you. All right. So closing public comment or closing the public hearing. So on to item number five, which is our end of the business. Consideration of an ordinance to set the tax millage rate for tax year 2026. I'll just go first. You know, Lisa made some really good points, as always. And, you know, and you all did. Lisa's was in office for eight years.

Yeah.

And Mayor Pro Temp for a lot of that. So, you know, I do appreciate your comments. My primary concern Consideration here is the citizens of Avondale. I know what everybody's saying about capital projects, about pushing money down the road, that we need to continue to invest. I appreciate, Dan, your compliments. And we're trying really hard to find that balance. We have not always spent a lot of capital projects and I think we're on a good path. We still have not fully resolved a dedicated capital stream, which we still have to do in my mind. And I hope we can do that soon. But, you know, I understand all that. And again, it's a balance, but I just, I know that I've heard a lot in the past year, a lot more in the last year about inflation and just cost and just everything. It's gas, it's food, it's, insurance, you name it. And we've had to make some adjustments. And we're all pretty lucky here now. This is a nice community. We have nice houses. I mean, there's some people out there that are probably struggling a little more than they want to let on. And I feel for them. But it's this pretty nice city. I'm not saying that as an assumption of anything, but nonetheless, we're hearing it, we're feeling it, the effects of inflation. And I know that setting a millage rate lower can affect us for years to come. I mean, we could take it back up next year. We try to keep it steady or take it down. We've been really good about that, I believe, and I think that's a good approach. The state cap is going to be difficult. I don't think they're going to get rid of property tax entirely. I think it would decimate a lot of small cities in the state of Georgia. That would be insane. And I don't think there's enough sales tax in the world to replace it. And I think it would hurt the wrong people if you did that. But that's kind of political opinion. But I just don't think they're going to get rid of property tax. I do think we've had some good fortune. Amongst that, Waffle House giving us a million bucks. I think we've done a very good job of managing our money and our projects. Mr. Manager, kudos. A couple of years ago or a year ago, we got a couple of million extra from the county. Our capital fund is in a good place. I just don't think that lowering the millage rate to 9.3 and collecting $100,000 is going to bankrupt the city. I know it's not a lot, but I think it's worth doing. And I'm in support of lowering it to 9.3. I think our citizens need a break. I know it's not a huge one. But we have been trying to incrementally lower that tax rate. We're not there yet as far as some of the benefits of the CBD. We do have some obligations that were mentioned by the manager. But we're trying to build something that's going to last. And that takes time. And I think we're off to a very good start. I think in five, ten years, I know that's a long time, but I think we will be in a very good position with the development that's coming our way. Maybe we do sunset the TAD, and I think we probably will, but I think we're on the right path, but I think we're in a good position, and I think we can safely, reasonably lower the millage rate to 9.3 to give our citizens, who are the primary, in my mind, the primary consideration in all things, give those folks a break. Give us all a break. And so that is going to be my... Well, that's what I'm thinking right now. I'm not supposed to tell you I'm going to vote. That's my two cents worth.

I'll go next. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I respect your position there. I am going to express my support for keeping the millage at 9.55. I have a couple of reasons for that. And I've thought about what... what does that uh reduction mean going from 9.55 to 9.3 that's that's one quarter mil um you know and i i i uh i think of my personal finances on a monthly basis so i broke down what that means per month and i'm not going to really go through my math but but you know just looking at um Up to the most expensive house that I could find in the city, a reduction of 0.25 mil saves that particular homeowner, whoever it is, $13 a month. It would go down from there, obviously. I know every bit helps. I'm not going to speculate on what helps and what doesn't, but I can tell you that that money adds up and it would impact the city. My number one goal in setting the millage is to meet our budgetary obligations. And everybody here knows that we're on a kind of a strange thing where we adopt a budget, then we set a millage. We're not on the fiscal year for our budget, yet we're required to set our millage on June 30th. So we kind of had to make some predictions there. So we set a good budget. The city runs really well. They run really lean. They run very efficiently. And so I do think it's important that we prepare through our millage to meet our budgetary obligations. And if we don't, what suffers? Probably our capital projects. Maybe staffing. I don't know. But what we do need... We, everything on our capital plan is important. There's projects, uh, that have been on there for a while that I want to see get done. They're all, they're all important. And if they're on that plan, they're important. And I don't want to see any of those go away. Um, and you know, speaking about the TAD, uh, you know, we, we do generate a good amount of money to put in the TAD. The sooner we, and, and, uh, I'm not sure who said it, but we do have that TAD money obligated. So we have to fill those coffers to meet those obligations. And that's a double-edged sword. We collect that money. But then once we're done, that TAD can then be, you know, I don't know exactly how the city and the county will work it out, but that TAD will not be there forever. It will go away. And then the money that was going into the TAD, the county will get their portion back and we'll get our portion back into our general fund. And so the sooner we do that, the sooner that will, you know, sundown and we can put that money in our general fund. And if anybody was here last year, you know that I advocated for having a dedicated capital stream. We don't have that. I think we can all probably agree that that's important. But right now, you know, our capital point's okay right now. It is. We've had some good fortune, but we can't count on that good fortune year after year after year. And so I do want to see... I do want to see us deliberately set aside money each year for our capital funds so we can make our capital projects happen. Let me think if there's anything else I want to say. I understand, and I appreciate everyone being here, and I appreciate all your comments, and I want just as much as anybody else to lower taxes, but I have to balance the short-term relief with the long-term vision and goals of our city. The city exists to provide services and infrastructure, and I want to be able to continue to do that at a high level for our residents, for our visitors, for our business owners, for everybody that has an interest in our home here. And so that's my reasoning for supporting the 955. And I want to thank all the commissioners. I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts. And that's it. Thank you. It's all I got.

I'll go. I look at these numbers a lot and I kind of broke it down in a different way. One of the things that I did was when I first calculated this, I was forgetting to put the base TAD back into the general fund. So I looked at it at the real estate only level, personal property, public utility, and most of these things don't contribute a lot. It's mostly our residential real estate taxes. But I'd like to say one thing is that I have analyzed this over many, many years. And over the last five years, residential taxes have gone up over 9 percent, about 9.6 percent every year. Mine has been double digits personally. So when I look at this on a just the real estate only perspective, What I'm coming up with is that we're going to get an extra $127,000 on real estate over what we budgeted once I remember to put base TAD back in. And to me... And that's me factoring in a 98.5% collection rate and a 3% reduction due to appeals. So to me, there is room there to do at least a quarter of a mil rollback. Also, we were told that there were savings in our current budget that could be found. I think the TAD's going to be just fine. They already had a base of $1.7 million in the TAD before this tax year. So I think they're going to meet their obligations. I think expecting a 6.5% appeal rate is way too high. I'm not expecting that, and I'm not expecting our collection rate to change. But I think that a quarter of a mil rollback is very reasonable. We might do more. But, you know, the thing is, is, yes, people's went down, but other people's went up, you know, and it's always that way. There's winners and losers every year. I don't know why the assessors I don't know what their algorithm or whatever is, but it doesn't make any sense. You know, sometimes it's just not about the dollars. You know, it's about six points.

Yeah.

letting the residents know that we care, that we hear you and that, you know, we want to do something for you. And to me, that's more important than anything. Um, I think that, uh, you know, that we can, uh, I think we can roll this back and that's what I want to do.

Well, um, Yes. Thank you to everybody who came in today. Thank you to staff, Mr. Manager, for preparing everything. You guys put in a lot of time, and the job that you do over the course of the year is amazing, doing what you do with the staff you have, the resources. I think it's, I'd be remiss to say, and a lot of people don't know, like the the job that they do and how well they take care of its residents and how they're such good stewards of our tax dollars, they really are. And I think a lot of that is lost in the midst of continuing pressures to raise taxes and such. Inflation is a thing, it's a real thing and they have to deal with that as well. I feel that a little rollback is possible. And I think the reason being mostly is this past year has been tough for our residents. We asked a lot of our residents while we went through the complete street project. There was a lot of transition, a lot we asked of our residents. And I think it's important to to give them a little bit of a break. That being said, I think it's important to note that you know, we're basing off of projections. And if we roll back the rate a little bit and we have a shortfall, keep in mind, we still have to provide the services that we're entrusted to do. So we may have to raise the millage rate next year. And you never know. There's a lot of factors that come into that, especially with a lot of talk about property taxes being changed. So I ask the public to, while I support a little bit of a rollback this year, that things do change and that next year we may not be able to do that because there are other unforeseen things that happen. There could be a major, major, major capital project that occurs and because we roll, say we do roll back the rate this year, we won't have as much money capital to take care of that project, say with what we have in our reserves, and then it becomes an even larger tax increase the following year. So I want everybody to really keep that thing, keep those things in perspective. I feel, you know, the little bit of a rollback is still an increase in revenue for the city. And I feel confident that the city will continue to do an amazing job, you know, running a lean operation that really manages its finance as well and continues to do the great things that they do. So I do support a little bit of a rollback.

Thanks for everyone's comments. We covered a lot. As I've been thinking about this and stressing about it and not sleeping as well as I'd like, I keep thinking about how to explain this to everyone. Regular folks, not the super brains, not the people. Like the people who just are, you know, want the best in every instance, in every case. Want everyone to thrive and do well and be happy and be able to sleep at night. So I'm going to think about this slightly differently. And it's completely different from how I thought about it a week ago. I consider a... a modest reduction in the millage, a gesture of goodwill, just simply a way to build trust between the community, the staff, the board, and diffuse a little bit of the sort of unpleasantness that's sometimes in the air. And so if I was speaking to a friend and a neighbor, I would say, Keeping the millage rate as it is is really good compared to other cities, other municipalities, the school district. It's a really good thing. There are a lot of places that are raising. A gesture of lowering a bit is going to cause a little pressure on the budget. It's going to cause a modest relief to the folks, but it is a gesture, and that's the way I'm going to look at it.

Can I make one more? Of course. I will say some people are raising because their digest didn't go up. You know, the average outside of Avondale is about three point something percent. Ours grew 20 percent. So I think that has something to do with what people are having to do. And our digest went up a lot this year because of the growth, you know, and this portion. I mean, the TAD grew 58 percent this year. So I think we need to... give a little something to our residents who've been carrying a pretty good burden over the last four or five years.

Okay. Well, then I'm going to add one more thing. I speak in numbers, but I will speak in numbers. And I did a little snooping and I checked around and I looked at a bunch of different types of houses and houses and the residential appraisals have gone up. What I found in mine, two to 5%. And out of several, I saw one, one or two stay even or come down. I did not find any properties that went up 10 or 20% in their appraisal, Beth, from last year.

Absolutely. Just thank you guys for your opinions. Totally respect your opinions. I just wanted to say, you know, I get what you mean by saying it's a gesture. It's symbolic. We're trying to... you know, show that we're in this together. I get that, but I would just want to caution us against doing things on emotion. The presentation we got tonight tells me that the 955 is appropriate. And, you know, believe me, I would love to provide real tax relief. Real tax relief would be From what I see, from my rudimentary math skills, real tax relief will be cutting the millage in half. I know that cutting it by 0.25 is cutting it, but it's, you know, I just... I don't know where I'm going with this, but I get calling it a symbolic gesture, but I'm working at it strictly from an impact to the city and what we need to do to keep our city in a good financial state.

So that's why I'm still at 9-5-5.

I have just one more comment, please.

So go ahead.

Okay. Graham, I appreciate your comments and I respect them. I'm not looking at this from an emotional standpoint. I'm looking at it from a number standpoint completely. The fact that I want to let the residents know that we hear them and we care about them is just an added thing. It's not the reason.

Well, and I just want to remind everybody, you know, in 2008, I can't remember what it went up to. It was 2007, 2008, 2009, somewhere around there. But the millage rate jumped up to, I think, over 12 because values dropped, and that's what needed to happen. So, you know, we need to be prepared for things, but I do think we're in a good position to Don't think this is going to put us in a bad position. For me, it's like, well, we've had to tighten up. I think if the city has to tighten up, that's okay. But I think we all need a little bit of relief. And it's not emotional or gestural. It's real relief. And we have done this four times?

No, two in the last 10 years.

Dropped the millage rate?

Yeah, I've got the number somewhere.

No, we've dropped it. It went from 9957 to 98 to 955.

Well, I was hearing it dropped from 10.9 something to 9.9 something.

I think that was in 18. No, no, no. It dropped from 9.957 to 9.8 in 17. The full mill was before that.

Yeah, but it's something we've been trying to do Um, and I know everybody's like, well, just if I say something like, well, we're getting there, give us some more time. I know you're all just rolling your eyes and groaning inside, but growing a commercial real estate tax base is not something that happens overnight, okay? We have worked really hard and I know we've given some abatements and we've done these things, but at the time we felt like we had to do that, those abatements are burning off. They have gotten adjustments to their valuations. But I think we've been making a lot of good moves. We're trying to grow the CBD in a way that is beneficial to us. And it's also providing the stuff that we want, like a safe sidewalk and a pavilion and a town green and all these things. And we want it to provide more. Also, it's occupancies or functionality issues. But it does take time. But I think that we are absolutely, positively, 1000% doing the right things for the future of the city. I don't know what would have happened if we hadn't have done any of it, but I don't think it would have been that great. I don't think we were headed on a good trajectory, and I think we are now. And yeah, so I think we're good. I think a little break is in order. And I hope it's more than just a little break for some of you. I hope it's a lot for some of you. But anyway, all right, we're all good up here? Okay. I think I know where this is going. So... Do I have a motion to approve an ordinance of the city of Avondale Estates to set the tax millage rate for tax year 2026 and for other purposes at 9.3 mills?

So moved.

That was Lida. Do I have a second? Second. That was Mike. All in favor say aye. Aye. All in favor say nay.

Nay.

Okay. That's that. So the millage rate will be 9.3. All right. If all of you want to go, I understand. We're not going to get upset. If you want to stay, we would love to have you stay. But if you've got to skedaddle, that's totally fine. All right, let's move on. All right, so item number six, we have a resolution about sanitation fees. Mr. Manager, any to you, please?

Yes, so per the terms of the contract with AERO, Their price will provide sanitation service to the city will increase on an annual basis based on a March over March CPI adjusted inflation rate. That was very beneficial to the city this year because that inflation rate was 2.3% and has substantially jumped. since then, and it's expected to go into the fives in the month of June. So that being said, that is a win for the city and our residents. That would result in a $9 a year increase in sanitation services. So we are proposing to set this year's city sanitation rate at $397.

Three, five, seven. Okay. All right. So do I need to state that in the motion?

Yes.

Okay. So we have before us a resolution to set the 2026 residential sanitation fees for the City of Avondale Estates at $397.00.

So moved.

That was Graham. Do I have a second? Second. That was Louie. All in favor say aye. Aye. That's five. All right. Thank you. All right. Item number seven. We have a resolution about stormwater fees. Mr. Manager?

Yes. As we discussed at the previous work session, staff's recommendation is to maintain the current fee for stormwater units at $180 per unit. $180.

girls okay and we did we have discussed these items at previous meetings so um all right i'll go up here okay all right we have a force of resolution to set the 2026 stormwater service fees for the city of avondale states at 180 dollars per unit do i have a motion to approve That was Lyda. Do I have a second? Second. That was Louie. All in favor say aye. Aye. That's five. Okay. We took item number eight off of the agenda. It will be on next week's agenda. July 8th. July 8th. So our next meeting is July 8th. We do have an executive session, so I'm going to have to ask everybody to clear the room, but I do appreciate all of you being here. I hope I see all of you at the July 4th parade and fireworks, and have a great rest of your week. Thank you.