Commission - Regular Meeting

Time is 6.10. I'm going to welcome everybody to the Unified Athens-Clarke County Special Call Session. It's Thursday, June 4th. Time is 6.10. At this particular time, I'd like for the Clerk of Commission to do roll call.

Davenport. Link. Here. Taylor. Here. Wright. Present. Johnson. Here. Culpepper.

Here.

Myers. Here. Thornton. Here. Hamby. We have a quorum.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The purpose of the meeting will be to conduct public hearing number three on the proposed FY27 budget as required by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 1999. The FY mail recommending the budget can be reviewed on the Ascot County website. A budget summary section is available as part of the overall budget document. Tonight, we're going to conduct public hearings. If you wish to address the Mayor and Commission on the recommended FY27 budget, please go to the podium, state your name and address, The rules of the commission states that members of the public may speak once during a portion of the agenda for up to three minutes with a 30-second reminder at two and a half minutes. So please write, you'll see the green light, the yellow light, which is 30 seconds, then red light as you will conclude your comments. So at this particular time, if we have any comments from the public, please come up to the podium.

Hello, my name is Patrick Howard. I'm a neighborhood leader with Family Connections Communities and Schools. I serve the Fowler Zone. I'm located off of Millage Avenue. And today I would like to have a conversation about the budget. Me as a neighborhood leader, I Really love what I do. And as I was thinking about what I was going to say today when I volunteered to stand before you, I thought about all the stories that have already been shared about my coworkers, about the residents, some of the residents that we serve. And what it took me back to is my own story, my 49-year-old story. and I thought about just my life, and I was looking through those pages, and as I was looking through those pages, I saw romance, I saw love, I saw action, adventure, drama, horror, and I saw some comedy. And I was thinking about just how the fact that my life is still unfolding, and I'm in a good place in my life, and I was looking at the factors that put me in this place, and one of the main factors was the fact that I had a support system. I had a support system when it came to my family. I had a support system when it came to my faith-based community. I have a support system when it comes to my close friends and relatives. But then I also thought about the people that we serve. And I feel like most of them don't have that, and that's why our program is essential. We are that extension of the family member. We're the extension when it comes to support. We're the extension when it comes to resources and services. We're in so many ways viewed as that walking Google. You can go on Google and find anything, but you can get lost in that too. It's great to be able to have someone that can help you navigate that information. One of the great parts about our job is that we're able to help those people navigate that information. But the other piece, too, is that just like we're a support system, you all are a support system for us, too, because without your money, we can't do the work. So all I'm saying is that if you will continue to support us, we can continue to support the community and the community continue to move forward. We've shared all kind of data over the times that we've stood at the podium. And we know, and you know, that if we help people now, which is preventative, then it'll save the city money later. And so I'm just asking that you all consider that, continue to offer us support. But I also want to tell you that I thank you for the support that you already offered us. And that's all I have to say. Also, my resident was supposed to be here, but life happens, which is a prime example of who we're working with. And so I didn't want to pressure them or make them feel bad about not being able to be here. but they couldn't be here because something came up. Very important that they're dealing with, and tomorrow I'll have to jump in and help them out with that, too. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Howard.

Good evening. My name is Alice Kinman, and I live at 457 Sunset Drive. I'm here tonight as the Board Vice President of Family Connection Communities and Schools of Athens, and I'd like to comment on the proposed funding for the Neighborhood Leaders Program in the FY2027 budget. You've heard a lot of stories over the course of these hearings from neighborhood leaders and the residents they serve. These stories are essential because they humanize the data around the need for these services. The data are important. That's why we collect it, and you ask us to collect it. But they can overwhelm us. You've been told, for example, that neighborhood leaders field around 385 unique phone calls, emails, and texts every single day, and that the need for services is actually increasing in the current economy. This can feel like water rushing over a dam, going faster and faster, and there's no way to slow it down. But when we hear from the actual people, we're able to reimagine that metaphor. Now those 385 calls, texts, and emails aren't some catastrophic force, but voices of fellow humans who live and work and raise their children among us. We realize that they aren't just bundles of need, they are our neighbors who contribute to the fabric of our community. They're workers, they pay bills, they feed and nurture their families. They are not even they, they are us. When I joined the board of Family Connection Communities and Schools, I was a recently retired Athens-Clarke County Commissioner. At the time, the Neighborhood Leaders Program was brand new, but I could see it had potential to play a crucial role in our community. I know I don't have to explain this to you all, but I learned a lot about the power of local action when I was on the Commission. I'm probably describing your own lives to you right there. I learned that we have powers at the local level that governments don't have at higher levels, specifically the power to see each other and to extend a helping hand. It's only at the hyper-local level, at the neighborhood level, that we can physically see a neighbor who's teetering on the brink of catastrophe. And it's from a neighbor that that person is most likely to accept help in averting that crisis. Since I've been with Family Connection Communities and Schools, the Neighborhood Leaders Program, in partnership with this government, has evolved from a band of caring neighbors into a trained network of resource brokers who have open-door access to the communities they serve. And while they certainly do connect residents to resources, they also do something equally, if not even more, important. They connect strategizers and decision makers, like the people in this room, to real-world data about what our neighbors need, first to survive and then to thrive. While I understand and accept the significant budget pressures you are all operating under, I hope you will decide to continue the partnership between Athens-Clarke County government and the neighborhood leaders. This partnership provides a unique local safety net that protects all our residents. It improves quality of life, promotes public safety, and protects neighborhoods. I strongly believe it's a wise investment in our future. Thank you for your time and your service.

Thank you, Ms. Kidman.

So this is the resident I was just talking about.

State your name and your address, please.

My name is Danielle Shields and my address is 2360 West Broad Street, apartment UA, Athens, Georgia, 30601. And I just want to start by saying good evening to the mayor and the commissioners. My name is Danielle Shields and I'm here tonight as a mother and as a member of the community. and as someone whose family has been directly helped by Family Connections in Schools through Mr. Patrick and the advocates whom he works with. I just wanna speak from the heart for just a moment. about what this program has done for me. As a single mother, I deal with life and life just happens. But between family connections and schools, what they have helped me with is they've helped us with food when we didn't have any. They've helped us with resources when I didn't know where to go. And they were just really just a listening ear when I needed somebody to talk to without feeling like I was judged. My daughter also goes to Clark County Schools, and she also has a community leader in her school, and she loves him. That's like her favorite person. She's like, Mom, I went to go see him today, and he gave me all kinds of treats and stuff like that. So I just wanted to speak for just a moment to let you know that I think that this program is definitely vital to continue because... For me personally, I don't know what I would do sometimes if I didn't have somebody to talk to or somebody to ask for help. I know we've been in some pretty tough situations, but it seems like Mr. Patrick always comes through. And if he can't come through, he'll find somebody who can. But I do just want to take a moment to say thank you to Mr. Patrick and to the advocates for all the help that you've given me and my daughter. I am nervous, so I do apologize. Oh, but other than that, I think that's it. I think that y'all should just keep supporting this program because it does make a difference in the community and in our lives.

Thank you, Ms. Shields. Thank you.

Hi, my name is Keegan Brooks at 291 South Finley Street. I'm here to talk about the budget. Specifically, I wanted to come to kind of thank the Commission and ACC government for continuing to implement fare-free transit with the Athens-Clarke County transit system. It's something that has benefited me a lot. It's how I get to work. It's how I get to school. It's how I get groceries. And it's also something, in my experience, kind of talking to members of all walks of life across Athens, how it's benefited them, residents who don't have a car, have an unreliable transit. I talked to a lot of... underpaid workers at UGA working in janitorial or custodian or dining positions who rely on Athens buses to get to work. And it's something that I've seen kind of benefit people across the community, whether that's my friends or family or people I meet just once off on the bus or see every day. And I think it's been enormously beneficial. I've had the privilege of or the not so much privilege of experiencing transit systems in some other cities that I think suck a lot worse. And I'm really glad that we have this fare-free transit in Athens, and I think it's a very worthwhile investment of our local government. And since I have some time on the clock, I also want to bring up something I believe not directly in the budget, but I believe at the next Commission meeting, a proposal to have a floss put on the ballot for November will be voted on, which will create a small decrease in property taxes and the creation of an additional 1% sales tax. I think this is an idea that sounds really great, lowering property taxes and helping lift that burden of cost of living of homeowners. But I would caution commissioners to look into some more of the details of how these flaws, when they're implemented, actually impact Georgia's working families. Sales taxes are inherently regressive, and a 1% tax on sales tax disproportionately affects lower income families and households that spend a higher percentage of their total income on these essential goods and services, groceries, et cetera, that the sales tax is on. And additionally, renters don't receive the benefit of this. There's the argument that implementing this kind of sale, this property tax decrease will help lower rents because landlords will be incentivized to lower rents just because their property taxes go down. But I think that's a little bit of a fallacy that has not happened in a lot of communities where these are, where this has been implemented and it sort of makes sense as a landlord, like, you know, There's no reason for landlords to lower those rents just because their property taxes go down. And in a city where 59% of our housing units are renters, I think that's something super important we need to consider when implementing things like this FLOST and deciding whether or not to put on the ballot in November. Thank you to the Commission.

Thank you, Mr. Brooks. Any other members of the public would like to come speak about the budget?

Good evening.

My name is Leslie Sinyard. I live at 710 Milledge Circle. And I just want to address the budget as it affects property taxes. It's all rolled there together. So all these things that we spend more and more and more and more money on are what's driving the property taxes up. And so I forgot my sheet of paper. I've left it back out there, so I'll have to... go from memory. But I appreciate all you do. I appreciate so many of the things that my tax money goes to. Fabulous, there's ball fields, there's libraries, there's events. There's so many good things that it goes to. But then there's also so many frivolous things. And so I wonder sometimes, do you ever say no? Because I know that because of the good things. There's good bus systems, you just heard that. do we ever say no in the name of we need to free some property taxes for people. It's gonna hurt this community in the long run if we don't start getting control. The county has more money than they could ever, that they've ever had. I mean you've got, we've raised water sewer Over the years, we pay more for water than pretty much any county, I think, in Northeast Georgia. We now have a tax in the form of the sewer charge, the extra sewer charge, so we have that. And I'm not sure where it's going, because we have a mess of a sewer system, to the point where now we're partnering with private companies to build supposedly more affordable housing, because they say, well, we'll help you with your sewer system. And we know that that's been a little messy too, right? So we have that. We have a SPLOST that's general for the county. We have a SPLOST that's for education. Not sure where all that's going, because they're asking for another 4%, right? We have a SPLOST for transportation. that is now going to repair roads. Where did my tax money go? I thought my tax money was supposed to repair roads. Now that's what that's going for. Yes, some things for Firefly Trail, Greenways, things like that, those are other great things. We also have so much more money because of the crazy increase in home values. Some of that's just the market. But guess who benefits? Our county, because when those values go up, you get more tax money. So there is so much money. There are grants, there's federal grants for all the things that we do for underserved. So much money, and I can't figure out where it's all going. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Thania. Any other comments from the public? Okay, if not, we will take comments from my colleagues. I'm gonna step down, I'm gonna pull the screen down and see if we got any comments or any talking points that we need to talk about before we adjourn.

When the screen comes down, what's going to be portrayed is the spreadsheet that Sarah has been sharing with you all and stuff. It has captured, hopefully, what it is that you all have said that you would want to see going forward as an amendment to the mayor's proposed budget. So the items that you have on the screen are those items that, and we've shared these with you, they're in the facts and issues, they're what has been put out publicly as well, and they're the ones that, based off of the previous discussions you all have had, there appeared to be either consensus around or there was a need that had been identified. for that, most of which came about through the rebalancing, if you will, of the tax digest. Once we got the real numbers in, it gave us some dollars that we could apply to other purposes that you were interested in, so that's what these are.

Are there any comments from our colleagues about what we're taking a look at right now?

I'm curious, did the manager's office reach out to the public defenders, John Donnelly, and I'm wondering if they thought they could use that.

Yes, they can. And I think the dollar amounts they felt comfortable with as well. Because the two things we wanted to check was make sure that if provided those funds for investigators, they would benefit from that, and then also making sure that the dollar amounts were accurate, and both of those have been the case. Tim, can you scroll down just a little bit? Because I think there were a couple of one time. Was that it? Was there anything else below that? Yeah, the fuel. That was the other piece that we talked about the last time was the...

Did we get a, I know we talked about that at the last meeting, did we get sort of the idea what that fuel cost may look like?

That is kind of our best guess at this point. It really is gonna be largely based on how long does the elevated price last and or does it go up any higher. There's a, with $400,000 more in there, that could be enough or it could end up being, we'd have to come back and ask for further adjustments. We feel comfortable that that's at least we're gonna increase it enough that we have reason to believe that that'll carry us some distance with it. But again, a lot of it depends on how long it lasts.

And just for the public knowledge, we do get our fuel at discounted rates. We don't pay what other people pay, so I just want the public to know we do get our fuel at a discounted rate. It'd be nice if it was discounted more. Yeah. Other thoughts, comments?

Can you scroll down with the concern of the additional fuel costs?

Yeah, that's right there, right below 20. Yeah, right there.

But below it said $200,000.

Scroll down. If you scroll down, there was another. Right there. Yeah, that one.

$400,000 for the general fund. 200,000 is for other funds.

Okay. It's okay.

Yeah, so what you're seeing here, and the reason why you see it in two different places, is that $400,000 is what we're anticipating to be allocated to the general fund for fuel costs. We, of course, have other departments that don't have their funding in the general fund. So you have $200,000 that'll be for other funds. In total, you're looking at $600,000. That's why it's in two separate places.

Thank you. OK. So if you could describe that, the $1,026,000 total expenditure change, where does that come from, fund balance?

No, that is, so the $1.6 million that was the additional from the tax digest. And so what that has allowed us to do is to add a few of the items that you all were interested in and still have about $500,000 roughly that will go into the fund balance associated with it. Because I don't believe, you know, we had proposed and then the mayor further proposed some reductions in the budget, which offset, but there were no other reductions in the budget that you all proposed. So this is really just an allocation of that 1.6.

And Bob, what would that put us for the fund balance per se? Yes.

We'll have our budget folks in the room try to pull that up.

We had that number, so let me see. I don't know if I have it in my notes. Because it puts us, I know percentage-wise, it puts us at like 17, 18%. And I had said that it would be ideal the closer we could get to that 20% going into any borrowing that we would anticipate, the better for the actual dollar amount.

So the available fund balance is somewhere between $13 and $14 million. And so if we make this adjustment, we'll be using about $7.5 million.

No, I I think it's great. I think it's good and just for the you know for those historical sake I mean the fund balance here the most of this is coming at the recommendation of The recommendation of the managers office and and so I think we did a really good job during our meetings to talk about things listen to and some of the offices and especially in the courts and address the issues there, so I feel really good about this.

Yes, Commissioner Lane.

Yeah, I'd like to know where in the budget are the parking revenues? Yeah, because I am interested in taking a look at that to supplement the CEP fund and see if we can increase that $50,000, you know, maybe get it up to $75,000. And I'd like to take a look at the parking revenues to find that money.

You got that? You all have that available?

Yeah, so what Andrew was just mentioning is, of course, those revenues come into the general fund, and then there's an agreement as to a return of a portion of that that goes back to ADA for their operations. If we don't have the exact dollar amount of those, now, they're all accounted for, so it would require a reduction. in another category in order to allocate those to another purpose because they are accounted for elsewhere in the budget with it.

I mean I know in the past we've gotten kind of creative with those parking revenues to fund things that kind of come up at the last minute and it seems appropriate to fund you know community events with those revenues.

Commissioner Wright.

Yeah, I think some of that too, Melissa, might have happened before, some of the re-proportionate apart, some of that stuff with the improvements for College Square. Wasn't that done, Mike, with the parking? Yeah. So there's not as much from another time where it does.

We increased the percentage going back to ADDA so that they actually could cover some of the costs associated with it.

Yes, it's been committed. And for me, I'm not going to... pick apart the increase that has happened but for the community events program but it started with 250,000 and now it's up to 300,000 we have neighborhood leaders here wanting their funding restored. And I think that a long-term improvement for our community events programs, in the current way that it's done, it can only be downtown special events. And we have a whole community that deserves the attention that special event funding and locations can be. For me, a long-term approach that this little pie chart could help with is the Visit Athens that gets Hotel Motel. If we could move community events funding under them, move Visit Athens, our Convention and Visitors Bureau, out of the Classic Center, then they would be able to appropriate to special events that are throughout the community and not just downtown at the ADDA. So that's like a long-term thing that we can look at. It's not something we're gonna solve here, but I get it, but they are getting a lot of money for only downtown events, and that's my district. I'm kind of embarrassed that we're not able to be supporting more of the events in other areas of the community, but it's a pretty big chunk, and with the new, ways of the festival zones, there is money to be made with those bracelets, as we saw with Jamper Cam. So I think that there's also some upgrades that the events, the ones that have the beer festival areas, can make the money that they're seeking. But I'm not interested in us changing out of what's already been discussed by you guys with the 300 from Hotel Motel into.

I think we did mention also, because there's been a couple of items related to that piece. There are several items that through your discussions have come up that we've said we need to talk about kind of between this budget and the next budget. And I think there's been several discussions of ways in which ADDA and others could generate additional revenue for events. There's been discussion of the CVB component. The mayor has talked about, you know, that we have one cent less hotel-motel tax than what could be a positive. So those conversations are perfect conversations kind of in between the budgets also. So I don't want anybody to think that because we arrive at a budget related to that here that it's done because there needs to be subsequent conversations relative to that between the two budgets. So I just want to make sure that was out there and they're not alone.

And I do have a page reference for you. So Commissioner Link, you asked where it is in the budget. So in the Mayor's Recommended Budget, you can find the downtown parking fee revenues denoted on page 24 of your PDF or on page B11 of your packet. So we are anticipating to generate $4.8 million in downtown parking fee revenues in FY27. And of that, as already noted, 40% of the net revenue does go back to ADBA per contract. And of that 4.8, we are using a lot of that for the operations of the Washington Street parking deck, College Avenue parking deck, on-street metered parking spaces, and parking lots.

Commissioner commissioner commissioner sure.

And Bob, I'd like to add this to that list of things to talk about in between this budget and the next budget. And that is commissioner link brought up the parking. And I know, you know, I know the system that the downtown development authority uses in order to enforce the parking. But I'm not real sure about what happens. outside of downtown that perhaps the police officers write a parking citation for for being on a yellow curb or parking in a neighborhood residential street. I think once we look into that, there may be quite a bit of fines that are still outstanding that could need enforcement, for one, because It's on the books to enforce them, but also, you know.

The funds would go into the general fund, obviously, but I think here part of your question is what is our collection rate, I guess is what I would say.

Well, I guess in the past they gave us not only collection rate, but the total amount of outstanding fines that have not been paid.

And that's kind of what I mean, like how much of the fines have actually been collected.

Right, because if we're not following up with it, then people are still going to continue to park on the yellow curb and all sorts of things.

Commissioner Meyer.

Yeah. I'd like to, you know, emphasize on that list, and Manager Cowell mentioned this, the hotel-motel tax. I think, I feel that's clearly a tax that would be on people coming to Athens, not on people's grocery bills as is the case with our possible FLOST tax. So the hotel motel tax, in terms of the process, and I think we have to get the state representatives involved in that and such, and hopefully this fall, late fall, we can actually have a formal meeting with our state representatives again on this and see if they could help us with this and other issues.

Commissioner Link.

Yeah, I would like to explore increasing parking revenues for the long-term parking in the decks. In the past, we've increased it for on-street parking. But from what I understand, are we charging $80 a month for parking? A permanent spot, Mike? No, it's not that much.

And I would say this, Commissioner Link, that downtown development authority is in the process of changing over how we operate the parking and generate the parking revenues. And our thinking is let's see how that rolls out as far as the paying with the app and whatnot before we take on...

I mean this may not happen for this budget but those are untapped revenues there and from what I understand a lot of our parking decks which we spend a lot of money on are basically serving as car storage facilities for students.

That's not totally accurate.

I mean there are plenty of people who park downtown who work downtown and I would love see a discounted rate for cars that are registered in Clark County?

Because I've asked that question before too, Commissioner Lane, because I know it's come up a lot. I think all in total of our parking spaces and our decks, oh goodness, there's maybe 800 spaces to that effect, maybe not quite that many, but roughly around 100 to 150 are exactly what you described, but they're rented by places where there is no available parking. We typically avoid doing that.

And we do have in the proposed fee schedule, there are some adjustments upward on some of the parking fees, in particular for events, because definitely one of the things we've noted is that the event parking in our garages is significantly lower than what everybody else is paying around, so there is a proposal adjustment associated with that.

I do believe we should, and this is I guess would be directed through the ADDA. Like, we really need to look at that long-term parking.

And to Bob's point, we are looking at the ADDA on, like, game days, for example, you know, to pay for folks parking in the bank to pay more, but also on those heavy days to do that. And I will say about events, and, you know, this commissioner link and commissioner, right? Does as well from serving for quite a while that we started with a few years ago, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Is that 60,000 dollars? And we have increased it to 50. But not only that, if you remember, we did waive. Remember, we used to charge like Twilight and any other event. If we had to close a street, they would have to pay for whatever parking revenues were lost out of that. So now we absorb those costs. And I know on Twilight we absorbed the cost for a, I think it was College Avenue deck that wasn't able to utilize. So there are ways that we try to work with them to save them money that could do it. It's not coming back to us. The insurance is another example of something we worked on to try to help them with that. But to your point, I think we could find ways during the next year to help out even more.

I mean, I also want to initiate a discussion about the neighborhood leaders and, you know, seeing to it that we can assure that that program is fully funded. The economy is in dire straits. I mean, there are three families on my block in Boulevard that have seen job losses due to developments in AI and the economy. A wave is about to crash, and we are going to see families that are in dire straits that we wouldn't typically have expected. And these folks have their hands full as it is to cut that funding. There are people who have never, ever had to ask for anything who are going to need those resources. are going to need that assistance on where to turn. I mean, I see what's coming and to have any cuts to that program at this time, you know, I feel like it's really unethical.

Yes, sir, Commissioner.

Just a general question with the budget. I may have missed this, but When it comes to, we use Microsoft, right? And we get a license for all of our computers. Can that be shared with the Sheriff Department? Or why do they have to?

I think all of our IT platforms are all managed across the entire enterprise. Now, there are also specialty softwares that some of the individual departments have. I'm certain that the Sheriff has some of those that will carry their own license. But in terms of things like Microsoft and stuff, we would carry those across the entire enterprise. So yes. And that also includes the ones that are enterprise operations are paying for those, not out of the general fund, but out of those enterprise funds to try to, so the impact isn't all borne by the general fund as well.

Didn't Sheriff John Q say that he was running Windows 95 or something?

So he has his operating system on his jail technology, so it isn't actually on the general computers they have with it. It's because, frankly, it's because the jail technology is as old as it is, which is why. You've got in the proposed budget the mayor has, and you all have talked a little bit about, there's a fairly decent expenditure going toward modernization of that technology. I think I had mentioned it's probably at least two years of funding similar to that to be able to completely turn that over. But, yeah, that's part of his challenge is that the technology he has is so old it can't run on the newer versions of the software.

One of the things, we got an opportunity, one thing I had proposed, and we kind of said this publicly, since you just made me think about it, Bob, our enterprise fund. Could you just go down and just, if it's up here, I'm not sure if it's available, just the enterprise funds that we use for our different departments, and just maybe talk about that a little bit for the public, and how those dollars are spent, if possible.

of any of the enterprises is obviously with the projects that are included in the service delivery plan, so all the infrastructure improvements for water and sewer, there is the continuation of a proposed year-over-year 3% increase in those rates in order to be able to actually fulfill those capital obligations but we certainly you know the budget has it we can certainly provide references to the pages associated with you know we have a few of those landfill operates as an enterprise wastewater airport so there's a handful of those there's a few service charges that are going up at the airport I think also for like hangar fees those kinds of things Really the expenditures, there's no, there are no, I'll use wastewater for example, no increases in personnel associated with it because the positions they requested, we were able to adapt from existing vacant positions. So really their rate increase is almost exclusively driven by the capital programs that are going in place. And I do think, because of this come up, I do think it would be beneficial to have a work session where we focus just on discussion of the enterprises. We may not do it all at one time, but I do think there's always, the public always has a bit of confusion about how we have some of these operations that we operate as a business. And so we actually extract dollars from it to help supplement some of the general fund costs, but generally don't go the other direction. So water and wastewater is operated and paid for by our utility bills. And, similarly, the landfill is operating paid for by people coming and depositing things at the landfill and the airport, of course, by users of the airport and so on. So, I do think there'd be benefit of having that as a work session to dig a bit deeper into those budgets so that folks understand that a lot better.

So, I come to one minute, Commissioner Thornton. So, if, I mean, if possible, and I know we got one more of these here, just to bring I guess just to show the public, we don't want to get into the rules, but just to show the public.

Yeah, and I think what we would do is just, what we would do is pull up the mayor's budget and show the enterprise expenditures. That'd be the easiest way probably. That's awesome. Yeah. Commissioner Thornton.

I don't know if that's the easier, but I know that we have asked this question about the enterprise fund forever and a day. I don't know if... Just like we're looking at this sheet right now, all we would like to see is the enterprise, what enterprise it is and how much it is. I don't think that the viewing public wants to go through the mayor's budget and try to find it. And I know that's not what I want. It just seems like it's elementary third grade to put, which, what enterprise it is and how much money is in there, and if this was not the first time this question was asked, I probably wouldn't feel a little bit like chasing money. Can we just get it like that? Can we just break it out?

Sure.

Just break it out and put public utilities and what that dollar amount is. Yeah. I mean, can we just do it just?

DAVID BURRAGE- Yeah, it's four pages in the budget, so yes. It's very easy.

CHRISTIE WOODARD- I'm just saying, list the things and just put them. DAVID BURRAGE- Amount.

Yeah, and what we would do is show you the one page in the budget that does just that, because it shows just that. Well, just do all the enterprises on one page. I think probably for the public what would help is, because it's very easy to find that in the budget. What's difficult, I think, is for the public to know which of the departments, if you will, operate as enterprises. So I think what we would do is extract out of the budget those pages just for the enterprises.

And you would list them. And then we would see that dollar amount. And it would be a lot clearer.

The five enterprise funds are listed on E4. Correct. And it's just the budget, the recommendation, the change amount. And then you would look up each one of those and get their page.

Correct. So the airport fund is on E30. It's page 287 of your PDF. You have the landfill fund, which is operated by our solid waste department. On page 288 of your PDF, it is page, as I scroll down, E31 of your paper copy. The Water and Sewer Fund, which is operated by our Public Utilities Department, is on page E32 or 289 of your PDF. The Solid Waste Fund, which is also operated by our Solid Waste Department, that is on page 291 of your PDF. or if you're on the paper version, E34. And then lastly, we have our stormwater fund, which is maintained by our Transportation and Public Works Department. That is found on E35 or on page 292 of your PDF. Bingo. But I think you make a great point, Commissioner Thornton. We can break that out for you.

Just break it out. Pretend I'm in the third grade, and it's probably not even a pretense right now.

And I think the public probably don't think much about enterprise funds. I think for us, again, and that's one of the things I mentioned when we first started talking about this, just to give a snippet of what the enterprise looks like. And we need to ask that question sometime.

Yeah, and just so you all know, if, for example, there were major changes proposed to any of those enterprises, we would have a completely different discussion. The enterprises this year really are... effectively following through with these very routine changes. So I don't want anybody to give the assumption that the budget goes through without discussion of enterprise. If there were big changes in enterprise, they would show up. But yeah, it's really easy to pull those individual pages out and show those. Thank you.

That's Commissioner Taylor.

Is the neighborhood leaders in the budget at all?

Yes. Yes. So the funding previously was $1.1 million. that went to neighborhood services and the mayor's budget proposes reducing that to $722,000. So there is $722,661 going to neighborhood leaders.

What page is it?

Oh, I don't know. I just wrote that in my notes here. It's in the housing community development budget.

Oh, it's in HCD. Page 89 is a document. Page 89.

OK, so see 52 if you are looking at your favorite version 89 if you are in your PDF. Thank you.

And just for clarification, that was done this year. So in previous budgets, if you go look for where's the neighborhood leader budget, it is, and you can't see it because it was actually just buried in the overall HCD budget. We extracted that out knowing because there's changes, we wanted to make sure that everybody understood what the dollar amount is that's in the funded program. Now, ultimately... what they do in terms of the number of employees and stuff will be up to them. The indication is the number of employees funded from this source will be eight employees. That was the indication I think is referenced in the budget as well. But they're not our employees, that's just the indication they've given us.

I don't see it listed here. Any other comments from my colleagues?

Okay. So what we will, as we mentioned at the last meeting, then what you will see is the agenda report will include the options of approving the recommended budget with the changes that we discussed. None of that... preclude you all from introducing at the meeting additional adjustments with that's just where we'll start because these are the ones we have consensus around we will include we'll continue to add to the list that you've all had before in case any other questions come up and we will include in the presentation of the budget the discussion of the pages of the enterprise fund so that you see those as well so that folks know um the enterprise funds

What did you say?

Pulling those out for the presentation. So there won't be a lot of budget presentations since we've been through those, but since you want to kind of extract those, we'll extract those out so you can see those.

The question I have, for some of the things that were not originally included in the budget and you're tweaking it and working it, are you trying to find ways to fund some of those things? And the one that I think that Commissioner Taylor was talking about, like the investigator for

Yes, so that's in the amended, and so it is already covered in the proposed budget. So, yes. Yeah, those dollars have been identified. I should have said that. Everything that's on this list has already had funding identified for it. Okay, I'm good. Yes.

And that's why we was calling this an amendment budget instead of a new CDO. So that's why we. Yes, sir.

Because we all worked on it together. Right. Versus two teams, three teams. One team.

Just so I can clarify something. Sure. So we generated an extra $1.6 million in the funds. Correct. And so there's about 500-something thousand dollars left over. And I'd like to just throw something out there in regards to... And y'all thought I was dead. So... So I just throw something out there as a way to maybe be a bridge to next year in regards to the neighborhood leaders. Would it be possible for this body to consider funding them at the same level they were last year, using that $500,000? with the understanding that this has to be a one-time expense. So not this year, but next year is when we have to kind of examine how you're delivering your service, if that helps. I'm trying to help with the transition for another year.

And I think that equates to $380,000. $380,000.

Is that something you all would consider or not?

Well, I think that we need to commit to talking to the school district in earnest. I agree. I think that we've talked about that several times and several cycles, and I think the new teamwork, the new team that we have here with the new manager and the new operations, that that would work. need to be a commitment to get the school district to join in.

I agree. I agree, but I'm looking at, you know, and that would be, I mean, for next year's stuff. I guess I'm just looking at a bridge for this year with the Neighborhood Leaders Program, understanding that... that that we have to we with the way our budgets are these days we have to look at a different way where we fund it not only them but some other really great partner organizations that we have that do a lot of good for this community and we also need to have that conversation with the school board, because I was thinking the same thing, Commissioner Wright, that this certainly helps a lot of kids that are going to our school system, too.

And we already have a partnership with the youth development and after school programs, too. So we can start talking about these together.

Well, and recall that the mayor's, and I'm not suggesting that you change this, the mayor's proposed budget reallocated the three hundred eighty thousand dollars that was removed from the neighborhood leaders so what and so when you mentioned the youth the youth sports program for example there were a couple of programs that were slated to be unfunded because of arpa dollars the mayor proposed taking that 380 savings and applying it to that piece so if i hear right it ultimately becomes a consensus here what you're saying is keep those intact they were repurposed to keep those intact, one time restore the 380 effectively out of the fund balance piece that what we would be sending back to the fund balance.

Right. And spend the next year really working with the school board on that youth development money and on helping us with the work that the neighborhood leaders do.

All right. Are you adding that in there so we can see how that looks?

Commissioner Lee.

Yeah, I mean, I just want to point out that $380,000 loss from the Neighborhood Leaders Program is a 35% budget cut.

Right, and we're trying to work on getting it back in there.

Yeah, I mean, that's astronomical, and, you know, I really feel like it's just, it's really unethical to ask them to take that kind of cut all at once.

Yeah, I guess the only comment I'd make, and I'm certainly not arguing against or for it, the only comment I would make is that this This program, when it originated, was a three-year program. It was to be phased out.

It originated and the world has changed a lot.

Prosperity package.

uh... i mean in addition to approaching school board everything the in schools is a non-profit i would hope that some private entities could be approached in in other communities often programs like this you know youth development programs get generous assistance from corporations and and other community partners school district I really think we need to start asking some of the major employers in our community to start contributing to these needs.

I did want to mention also that there is, and again this can be part of the conversation we have after the budget and kind of in between budgets, but there is a companion program similar to the neighborhood leaders piece that is done by the schools. So this is a two-part program. there's a staff you heard somebody make reference to their neighborhood leader inside the schools because there is a similar program that's actually funded by the state and funded by the schools that's alongside the neighborhood leaders this is our kind of local version for those three years to kind of get it stood up and actually the intent as i understand it was to get it stood up in those three years so that there could be those private dollars and those grant dollars secured to fund the program that hasn't happened

But if it's in here listed like you just did as a one-time allocation, because this is from sales tax revenue

increase that is not going to be for sure well it's funds we it's funds that you could count on from year over year we were just putting it we were proposing to put it into the fund balance which would be right generally not someplace you would rely on year-over-year expenses gotcha which is why i think having it up here as a one-time funding portion The other advantage of having as one-time funding is that then come next year when the budget is put forward, you'd have a reference point to come back to and say it was clear that those dollars were put in as a one-time bridge from this year to the subsequent year. rather than it getting baked into the base budget and having to view it as a cut. It wouldn't actually appear in the... A good example of that is the food bank. The food bank was a one-time investment you made last year. It is not in the budget because it wasn't in the base budget. This one would be treated the same way. The base budget would still stay at that 722, 661, 380 would be added to it one time, so next year's budget would show up at that 722-661 number up until the point anybody wanted to add to that. So yes, that helps.

And it also speaks to the fact that this funding in this listing is funding that came up when the budget was handed over to the commission too. So it also speaks to how it wasn't available in your process or the mayor's, but in our process.

And speaking of school district, and again, I like our partnership that we got, but I really would like for them to share more data with us on a youth development program. We don't get much of that. And I think we need to, we're gonna be partners and we'll give them money. I'd like to see more from them towards how those youth development programs are impacting from an academic perspective, from an after-team perspective. Because I go to those games. The place is packed. It's a good thing. I think we, at least I haven't seen anything from them. I think those are some of the questions we'd be asking our neighborhood leaders. They come and present. Outcome, input, you know, we're cutting them, you know, and we're giving the school district, again, and I want to be good partners with the school district, but also I want to see how the dollars that we're giving them impacting those young people in those youth development programs.

That's a good idea.

Any other comments?

Motion to adjourn.

So moved.

We adjourn. Thank you. Thanks. Next Tuesday.