City Commission - workshop

All right, let's call this meeting to order. Jeremy, would you mind doing the pledge for us?

Please stand and face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Joshua Jackson, would you mind doing the invocation?

I'd be delighted. Let's pray. Lord Almighty, thank you for the people that are here for everything that they do to make this city possible. the residents, the commission, the city staff and the chance to do life together. This is incredible. I am truly delighted to be here. I pray that the time we spend tonight going through the expertize, the insight that has been brought together by the city staff, their wisdom, their experience, that we would be wise in how we take it and how we consider it in the decisions we make, that this would be a opportunity to improve Cocoa Beach, to improve the lives of our residents, our businesses, and to increase and improve our relationships together. So, Lord, thank you for this time. Thank you for this opportunity. We love you and thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.

I'm so thankful for our commission and our staff, how well we get along. how respectful we are to one another, and thank you for everybody out there too that comes, and I thank you for your dedication and your respect as well. I'm gonna take a public comment right now. This is from Kathy Dillon, if you wouldn't mind. And we don't really have a public comment section, but I want to hear what you have to say. And when it comes to the budget, if you want to say something, please raise your hand, and I want to hear what you have to say. Go ahead, Kathy. Hi. I am Kathy Dillon, and this is Diane Willow, my neighbor.

We own homes on East Osceola Lane. The ongoing speeding issue that we've experienced for a long time as I can remember has not gone away, hasn't been resolved, and it's only gotten worse. East Osceola evidently is one of the more frequently traveled roads leading to the beach. numerous Airbnb people in addition to the regular residents walking to and from the beach on East Osceola many families have small children either walking or being pushed in strollers people are pulling their beach carts loaded with their beach toys and it's a continuous stream of visitors and residents many people walk their dogs down the street a few months ago someone actually drove up on our grass almost the entire length of the front lawn had deep tire marks on it Months before that, someone had decided to do a burnout on our street. Thank God no one was walking at the time. I've given the mayor some pictures of the burnout. That crazy driver was heading west on our street, and when they got to the end of the street, they continued so rapidly onto A1A that the tire marks went onto the oncoming traffic lane. These burnout streaks were visible for many months. You can not tell me that the police or anyone else from the city who was driving on our street didn't see the burnouts. Look at the photo showing the burnout in the police car. Did the police officer in the SUV who was on our street facing the burnout make a report on that incident? I would suspect not. Photo was taken the day after the burnout took place. The speeding on our street is unsafe and dangerous. The speed limit being 20 is laughable. People turn on to East Osceola and seek to try to get as much speed as they can before reaching the end and having then to break. Even the delivery trucks like FedEx and Amazon don't adhere to the 20 mile an hour limit, not even close. Three years ago, a petition signed by the entire street minus two part-time residents requesting the installation of speed bumps was submitted. We were told it was not in the budget that year. Cocoa Beach's response was to place a patrol car at the end of the street a few times. Well, no one with half a brain when seeing a police car would then speed. That was a waste of time and police resources. Then an electric speed controlling sign was placed at the end of the street. Again, come on. Who's going to speed when they can see this big, large sign looking at you? Controlling the speed will only work when the speeders are forced to slow down. Installation of the two requested speed bumps are the only solution. Someone's gonna get hit and it's only a matter of time. We are here to strongly request that two speed bumps be placed in the budget and installed on East Osceola Lane. The cost is minimal, less than $1,000 for both. Our petition was submitted in 2023. perth the former city manager on march 15th the request to honor the request for speed bumps was supposed to be addressed by engineering and the development department services which obviously it was not please honor this request that was made not by just one but ninety percent of the entire street and help make our lives safer thank you do we get to sit down now

Is there any other public comments? Yeah. Go ahead, Janice.

Good afternoon. Janice Scott Kukovic. I welcome the opportunity to make this public comment on the day of the primary. There are so many Republicans hiding out as an NPA or whatever your party affiliation because Florida has closed primaries. you miss the opportunity to select who the candidate for the next governor is going to be. Today was really, really important. I hope that in the next primary, whoever you are in PAs, you will consider it. And despite that, I hope that Paul Renner somehow, the dark horse, wins this primary. Thank you.

Thank you, Janice. Greg, go ahead.

Greg Lund, 411 Barilla Lane. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, members of the community. I'm standing before you tonight to address a fundamental financial reality in Cocoa Beach. One that every resident in the city feels every time their tax bill arrives. Cocoa Beach is the crown jewel of Brevard County's tourism industry. Millions of visitors, day trippers, cruise passengers come through our city every single year. They enjoy our beaches, they ride our roads, they rely on our first responders. And under the current federal law, Brevard County collects 100% of the tourist development tax generated right here within our city limits. Yet when it comes to paying for the massive daily operations burdened by those millions of visitors, they create our police officers, our fire, our beach rescue teams, and our road and sanitation crews. 100% of that tab is picked up by the permanent residents and the homeowners of Cocoa Beach. That is a structural imbalance. Over 40% of our public safety calls originate in commercial and tourist corridors. Our local taxpayers are effectively subsidizing the municipal operations that keep the Brevard County premier tourism engine running. It's time to run Cocoa Beach more like a business and adopt a true user payer model. I'm asking for the city commission to adopt a resolution that does not raise taxes on our local residents. Instead, it formally requests that our Brevard County legislative delegation sponsor and pass a local bill in Tallahassee during the upcoming legislative session. The local bill would grant Cocoa Beach a dedicated municipal resort tax authority or secure a mandatory 20% carve out of the TDT collection inside our city limits. More importantly, this resolution makes a firm commitment to our taxpayers. One hundred percent of the net proceeds captured from this measure will be applied directly to offset municipal operating expenses. That translates to a direct dollar-for-dollar reduction in our local ad valerem property tax and millage rate. This policy is fiscally conservative. It costs the state of Florida nothing. and it protects our local business climate by ensuring our beaches and infrastructure remain pristine, safe, and clean. By passing this resolution, we send a clear message to Tallahassee and the county we're taking action to protect our homeowners, balance our municipal budget, and ensure that our city is profitable, professional, and positioned for the future. I respectfully ask your unanimous support to formulate and adopt a resolution something like this. Thank you. Thank you, Greg.

I love that I can actually call on you by name and actually I don't have to look at a paper. I think that's what's so awesome about a small community like this. I don't know if you want to rebuttal to any of that, Hannah, but this is something that obviously we've kind of looked into in the past a little bit as well, but It's not an easy task. Any other public comment? All right. Let's get into it. New business. Considerations for fiscal year 2027 budget. Staff Representative Hannah Juman, Finance Director Wes Mullins, City Manager.

Good evening, mayor and commissioners. Welcome to budget workshop number two. The intent of the workshop is to present to the public and the commission the proposed budget as it currently stands. During the July 16th meeting, we sat together the max millage rate of 6.1644. The difference between the max millage rate and the rollback rate is around $531,000. The budget that I'm showing you guys today, the proposed budget, it's currently balanced at the rollback rate, 5.9988. What that means for the city is that we're not projecting to have any tax increase, that the amount of revenues received will be the same amount of revenues that was received within our current fiscal year. Okay, so this slide is your consolidated financial overview. This slide shows all city funds. The total projected revenue for fiscal year 27 is $96 million and the total expenses is $95.4 million. Our revenues currently exceed our expenses by around $647,000. Under intergovernmental revenue, you'll see a little bit of a jump between the 2026 and the 2027 amount. This is due to grant funds that are received over in the utilities fund, because again, this consolidated view shows all funds throughout the city. So when we go into the detailed breakouts showing individual funds, you'll see that more in detail. the general fund. Okay. Starting off with the general fund, as you can see, the projected revenues are budgeted at $45.4 million. This exceeds the expenses that are budgeted, which are at $45.1. Why I'm pointing out the revenues versus the expenses is because this year, the budget that's being presented, it's truly balanced, where our revenues are exceeding our expenses, where in past previous years, that wasn't always the case with the budget that was being presented to you guys. So you'll see where I highlight that and emphasize it a little bit. The reserve total is $13.3 million, and this meets the requirements set forth by ordinance 1681. OK, the CRA. So for the CRA, again, you'll see our revenues that are there for 2.7 million, and then we have two million, a little bit under two million in expenses. For our building permit fund, You'll see a little bit of an increase on personnel services, and this is correlated to the way we allocated positions this year. What we did is we took existing development services positions and we split out the allocation of these positions between the general fund, alleviating the impact to the general fund and having some of the cost absorbed by the building permit fund. Of course, with that, our reserves did go down just a little bit in that fund, so we'll continue to monitor for the next year to see how everything's going, if we can continue that pattern or if it will have to be further evaluated in next year or future years.

Can I ask a question on that real quick? Of course. The funds, charges for services, So 2024, we had like a huge, huge charge, 1.8 million. And then the 2026 is about half of that. Why is there a difference there?

So from what I understand and I can confer with you can confer with Dave as well. It's based upon the projects that are completed at that time. It's a timing thing for certain projects when they're completed. That's where the permits are paid, so it's based upon who comes to the city for permits, what the size of that project is, the scope of it, and based upon that is where the revenues are determined.

I believe, Dave, was that Weston 2024?

Yes.

Yeah, so all the fees were incurred there for us for the Weston project.

OK, the impact fee fund. So I've included this slide to show that the impact fund was created in accordance with Ordinance 1710. This was adopted by the commission earlier this year. In this fund, I did not budget any revenues or expenses because they're not determined at this time. It's going to be just sporadic amounts that come in. When they do come in, I'm going to have them booked as unrealized revenue. That'll help set a baseline for how we can budget them going forward in future years. Utilities. For the 431 Utility System Fund, you'll see that jump that I mentioned earlier in intergovernmental revenues between 26 and 27. This reflects the SRF funds for plant upgrades. On the expense side, this is reflected under capital outlay. You'll see that 28.1 million, that's part of what offsets that. The reserves for this fund are projected to be around 7.9 million Your 441 stormwater fund summary revenues are totaling about $4.6 million, expenses $4.5. The reserve balance is projected to be around $2 million when it comes to the end of fiscal year 27. And again, the revenues are exceeding the expenses for this fund. OK, and then your last summary before we go into the CIP, we have the 525 Health Care Internal Service Fund. The city, we have a hybrid health plan, and it's partially self-insured. So this fund is utilized for tracking internal health care costs. It's one of the best practices from the GFOA to track those expenses. So it's just kind of how one of the things that we do for internal processes. Then our five-year CIP. So this slide shows an overview of all the capital requests for all of the funds for the city. The next several slides will individually list each project or item, grouping it by department. Okay, starting off with IT, in fiscal year 2027, you have $38,000 for computers, tablets, and laptops. and 20,000 for physical security. For the city clerk, there's a $5,500 request for an ADA software to meet new federal compliance standards. For police, police are requesting in-car cameras, radar units, body cameras, and block cameras. And the communication division The items listed are pursuant to a contractual agreement with BCSO for dispatch services. For the fire department, they're requesting a report writing software. This item's replacing existing software, and it presents cost savings for the city. For the Public Works, Roads, and Street Division, we have the Miniman Shoreline project for $915,000. So we deferred everything? We have deferred a significant amount of projects, yes. And you could see in the column where it shows fiscal year 2028, most of those projects are shown in that year. And that's why it's weighted a little bit more over there compared to the other outlying years so next year yeah i think there will be a lot of um things to evaluate for future years one what the results are from the november election when it comes to amendment three and then also evaluating these projects further to see what is priority and what isn't i could say for from discussions we've had so far, paving would be a big priority for next year. And we're awaiting that plan from Public Works for paving to be updated.

So basically, you're going to have in mind all year that we've got to try to fund this stuff for 2028. So that'll give you a lot of time to think about solutions for that as well, I suppose? Or planning for the future?

Yeah, as a city, we're going to continue planning for the future, looking for ways to diversify revenues. But I think a lot of the projects will have to be carefully evaluated. We'll have to seek additional grant funds where possible, similar to this year when it came to the appropriations that were received. So in meetings and everything else coming up in this fiscal year, we'll have to keep these projects and the CIP in mind with our goals of achieving these projects and the plan at hand.

So is it possible we can try to get Jason to get into the paving program, like try to get us funds for that as well this year?

So a couple of things. We have a meeting with our lobbyist coming up with the staff, with all of our staff on the 28th of this month. We're all going to sit and talk about what appropriations we see going forward. And two, I would just also kind of just remind everybody that we were more realistic this year with what projects could actually be completed in a given year with staff right and we just kind of tried to nail staff down and they were great about it with what they could actually accomplish realistically rather than kind of have loftier expectations as well i understand historically we've over committed on stuff we never actually accomplished so this was silent we were just very optimistic i would say yeah

So a question on the paving. I know that's a critical thing. There's a couple ways I think when Hannah and I were talking about it. We're going to debt finance it. There's a comprehensive plan in place of how we do the roads, whether it's each year or we do it all in one year. And we talked about potentially putting in a provision for debt financing. It would have no impact on reserves. Does it make sense to do it now up front or just doing a budget amendment mid-year if we decide that it makes sense to do a portion of that project in 28 and just debt finance it?

The public works director, Brooks, he's working right now on updating the paving program or the plan at hand. So they evaluate what the need is for each street, what's in the most critical condition, what needs resurfacing, milling, what is priority. So I'd like to see first what it is that he receives for that plan. Debt is an option, but there's also the option of utilizing the funds that we receive on revenue and prioritizing that project and further evaluating some of the other requests. So I feel like there's two ways that you could really do it. You could just make it a priority and see if there are any other projects that are being requested that maybe aren't so much of a priority, or maybe those projects would be subsidized with grant funding or appropriations or some other fund source, or alternatively, We could seek a line of credit or some sort of debt and look at that. I think it'll be important in the next year to just look at rates. Rates are still a little bit high. So we'll evaluate that closer and see the options. But at this point in time, we still don't have that paving plan in hand. So I feel like it would be premature to look at it for this budget year.

My concern is if it comes back and says, hey, let's do it all in one year, do we have a lever we can pull to make adjustment?

We do. It's the it. That's the actual definitional problem, right? Some is complete overlay and mill, and others is just chemical treatment. So we don't know what we have yet. We know they're not getting better, right? We're sure of that. So I think Brooks is on it, and when he gets back with that study, we'll know. When's the last time you did that?

brad six or seven years something like that thousand four two the entire city will be paid four years ago and then before that when before that was the rejuvenation so i don't know when we paid the road so maybe one road in in 2004 was the last time we paved the entire city

Yeah, the complicating factor with debt, and correct me on this, please, is the tracking of the debt and how we pull it at certain times, right? I mean, and then how Hannah tracks that debt. If we were to pull it all at once, we can't do it all in the same year. We can't do it all at once. So we're still kind of working through some of those challenges.

Yeah, it could be, if it's a multi-year project, I was trying to explore some of those options after the last budget workshop of what we could do. I can't approach them right now until we have an actual dollar figure. We would still have to go to bid for the project. There's still that process that would take a significant amount of time before we can do it. So I think it's reasonable to, I know Brooks is working on that plan, to receive that plan to start the bid process to look at that a little bit further and then have Oliver ducks in a row, if you will, for the next budget cycle to have everything there. Whether the best option at that time is to go out to debt or if it's to prioritize and use our incoming revenue to support I Think it would be better to have more information and know what the total project cost is before looking at it further But

They're not going to get any cheaper. It's not going to be cheaper next year to pave a road or the year after. And to go from $900,000 this year to $4.9 million, that's $4 million. I know, yeah, we may get some money from TDC for the Doom crossovers, and that's possible. We could get some of that because of the micro-center work. So again, we're kicking the can down the road Our responsibility here is not for the wants of the community. It's for the needs of the community infrastructure safety and security and I think we're dropping the ball if we don't get on this immediately. Putting $3 million out there next year isn't going to happen. It just will not happen. I don't know what else to say about that. We've got to be on it. That's 2028, $3 million. $3 million. Next year is 2027, which is four months away. And we've got a zero budget for paving for the entire year. Zero.

It sounds like it's not finance-constrained, though. It's assessment-constrained. So even if we had the money, we wouldn't be able to pull the trade. Is that what I'm hearing? We want to do this comprehensive plan. That was kind of where I was going. Does it make sense to put a provision in 2027 so if it comes back and says, hey, let's do partial paving, Because I agree there's going to be a $4 million ramp up. If it's debt financed, it's going to just be the couple hundred thousand.

We're awaiting a proposal is what we're waiting on.

So if we want to do that comprehensive plan for paving and the financing piece of it, it doesn't sound like we can. Are you suggesting that we finance? Of course.

Oh.

OK. So it seems totally against everything that you've done. So that's all I'm saying. That's surprising to me.

If I may, I also want to note that this is just one of the divisions of Public Works that's listed out. So it just shows that one project for Miniman Shoreline. But the next several slides are also Public Works divisions throughout. So you'll see a number of other projects that will be accomplished within this budget.

I'd just like to say that every year we have the CIP. as planned, and then we don't, due to whatever circumstances, not negligence of city staff or anything, but things don't actually happen, which frees up other money because things didn't happen, and then we always end up with the pushover of the capital projects from one year to the next, okay? So, I mean, this is basically a line in the sand budget. This is where we're at today. And if you expect halfway through fiscal year 2027 to come back and find all these numbers half spent, you're kidding yourself because it doesn't quite happen that way, okay? So just this is, a workshop to talk about what's planned as of today. And things will change. And there will be a change in the commission in November, at least for my seat. And whoever's still sitting up here will deal with it. But things get moved from year to year. And some things get actually, Tim, some things actually, because other things move out, some things get pulled in. And when that assessment on the paving comes to fruition and we have a bona fide number, And there's potential to work with it.

Exactly. And then we'll pull money from somewhere, the tree that we're growing the money on, and take care of it.

You have a money tree?

Yeah, we do. You didn't know about that?

You've only been a mayor. It's in the back of your truck.

There you go.

Go ahead. Thank you.

Okay. Still for Public Works, but for the building maintenance division, you'll see we have a few replacement AC units, a fire alarm panel and a swing set. The asterisk on the slide or on the line where the swing set is that just indicates that there's grant funds associated with the project. Through the next several slides, you'll also see some asterisks and that just indicates that there's grant funding aligned. For the grounds maintenance division, we have $350,000 for the 520 medians. Again, you'll see that asterisk there. This denotes that there's grant revenue for $350,000 from FDOT. The next two slides are for the public works division, the fleet division. The fleet items requested are categorized by department. So starting off with police, you'll see their replacement vehicles. And going through, you'll see parking enforcement, fire department, the public works vehicles and equipment. Development Services, they have one replacement four-door SUV and a compact pickup for code enforcement. Leisure Services, they don't have anything until 28. And then other furniture and equipment categorized below. OK, the Capital Improvements Division 3170. This includes design and construction for Fire Station 50. As you guys know, the project is being completed with the state appropriations funding that was received this year for $4 million. It's a multi-year project, so the remaining $1 million of grant funding, it's being budgeted in fiscal year 28 for that phase two of construction to be complete. The $3.3 million in fiscal year 2027 includes $300,000 for design, $3 million for construction.

If that entire $4 million pushes to 28, is that at risk? Like if we just accomplished the design in 27, can we still get the full $4 million in 28? Or we have to spend some of that in 28?

I believe we have to spend some of it to show them that we're actively working on the project since the funds were given because it's not a guarantee that they would allow for us to extend the chances of them allowing the extension. It's more likely with us being in construction and only having a small portion remaining. But if we weren't to start at all, I feel like we would be jeopardizing the grant funds awarded.

From a project management standpoint and a finance and procurement and contractual standpoint, if we get the design done, we put it out for bids, we get a contract, we obligate that contract, then that funding is obligated, which should qualify us to be able to pull that money, to be able to solidify having that money by having that obligation in the books. Is that correct?

I believe so, but also for the $3.3 million, if we were to remove or defer that, it wouldn't have an impact to the budget as a whole because it's neutral to the revenue that's budgeted on the other side of expense.

I wasn't questioning that. I'm just saying if the grant says we'll give you $4 million, we finish the design, we get it under contract, and we sign off on the contract, we've obligated ourselves to spend that money, that $4 million.

I believe so.

OK. And City Manager, we're comfortable we can resource that, because that's a hard stop, right? So now we've got to have the design completed, out for bid by the end of 27. Yeah. And awarded. I just want to make sure that it's low risk.

So we've already had contact with State Fire Marshal. We have a meeting with State Fire Marshal's office next week, I believe. Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday regarding this grant. We've done everything we're actually supposed to do. And according to our lobbyist, it's while not in 100% guarantee to get an extension, if we don't get everything done this year, it's not uncommon for that to happen should we be along in the process.

All I'm saying is It's a little bit of modifications to a cookie cutter previous design in another community. It's not a starting from scratch design for this fire department. So it shouldn't be that hard to finish the design and get it under contract by, let's say, April of next year.

Yes, sir. That's actually going to be in front of the Commission day after tomorrow. We're going to have that on the Commission. Brooks is going to bring it forward to move forward with the design. We've already got that worked out for you.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

It's not that complicated. We've built fire stations before.

Go ahead, Candid.

So now fiscal year 28, we're at $10.8 million. You said we've got one item, a fire station project. with an asterisk for grant money. Do we not get grant money for the dredging project, or does that come from Indian River Lagoon?

For the muck capping?

Is that? The dredging program.

The dredging program. Not the muck capping. That's a different project. Yeah, the dredging program, that existed in the past, and it's being brought back to be brought back to the city to dredge and maintain the areas.

Right, but that's all.

It's not grant funded at this time.

Right, so we're paying for that.

Correct.

Right. And the Brevard Avenue, what is that project? Verify.

I can speak to that. So a lot of 28... we wanted to be honest about things that may occur in 28. I can go down the list, but for the driving range, we all kind of know where that stands right now. That's currently on pause. Maybe it goes in 28, maybe it doesn't go in 28, but we wanted to put it in there to be honest about what it should be. On the Brevard Avenue project, the mayor mentioned during a commission meeting and the commission agreed to do pavers on North Brevard Avenue. After the pavers were ordered, staff discovered that the pavers would not go in as previously thought because of the poor condition of Brevard Avenue itself. So we are planning a Brevard Avenue streetscape project, partially funded. I don't know to what degree, Devin, with CRA funds to some part of that. That's what that project is as well. That is correct. Right now, right now this is where we're at. Am I saying that right?

Yes, that's correct. There's a portion in the CRA as well for the Brevard streetscape, I believe for the sign portion. Um, and you'll see it in the next few slides.

I just want to point out that that's a glaring fact. I mean, the number goes from 3.5 million, which is basically almost a hundred percent funded in fiscal year 2027 with the grant that we're getting from the state. to $10.8 million in 2028, which I guarantee, well, I don't guarantee, but I will say, in my opinion, it's just going to get kicked down the road again, the majority of these projects.

A lot of those would be classified, I think, as wants. Some of them could be classified as wants. Thank you. So we can just go from there. All right.

Okay. In 2027, we also have the ADA Ocean Park and then Sunset Bridge Repairs.

The Sunset Bridge Repairs, isn't that an FDOT road?

Would that be something we can get grants for from FDOT? That's the bridge here. Yeah, that's one right off of Minuteman here, Mayor.

That's right here. Oh, okay.

I was thinking the one by Sunset Grill.

Going to Barger's house. Got you.

I actually made the same mistake with Morgan. She corrected me.

OK. For Leisure Services Department, they're requesting a replacement software. For the Parks Division, they have $10,000 to resurface Ramp Road's tennis and pickleball court. And for the Aquatic Center, they're requesting $45,000 for locker room plumbing. For golf, they have $25,000 they're requesting in 27 for a new beverage cart. And then for the CRA, as we kind of discussed before, you'll see that Brevard Avenue complete street project, the design portion for $200,000. We wanted to see what the design would look like and evaluate what the costs are before allocating any construction funds towards the CRA. to see what portion could be absorbed. We have $250,000 for a portion of the Cedar Woodland Brevard's second stormwater improvements. The other portion of it is in the stormwater fund. And then the new mobile road barriers, which previously was placed in the general fund under PD's budget, but it's been reallocated to the CRA because it will be used for any public events within the CRA zoning.

Does it make sense to put a construction cost estimate of some sort in out years for the rec center? And there's $200,000 for design. I don't want to just shelve that if we're going to go forward with that. It's not critical, but let's get it on the roadmap is my suggestion.

For construction costs? Yeah.

Is that what you're asking? Yeah. I think similarly to the Brevard Avenue project, we wanted to see what the design was, what it came back with with recommendations so we could better plan for what the construction costs are and if it's a multi-year project or a single-year project to appropriately budget it at that time. The next three slides are for the utilities fund. Again, the asterisks indicate that it's aligned with grant funding. And for the utilities fund, you will see that they have a lot of grant funds planned in the next few years for their projects. so slide two okay and then this slide it's an overview of the utilities fund it shows all the grants that are associated with the cip request it shows a total of 25.8 million for federal grants there's 337 000 coming from fema for the fema grants to 75 percent FEMA 25% city cost share. Most of the grant funds received or the funding received is from the state revolving fund, the SRF. They are working with the city to go through the lift station projects, the inflow I&I, the existing abatement program, Port Force, Maine, and then also various treatment plant upgrades. Through state appropriations this year, Similar to the $4 million that we received for Fire Station 50, we also received $500,000 for our gravity sewer line for system rehabilitation. So that's the $500,000 that you'll see over there as well. Lastly, the stormwater fund request. Grant funds are itemized below for slip lining, cocoa aisles, and cedar woodland brevard improvements. But they have in their 27 budget the slip lining. The other portion of cedar woodland brevard And second, Southwest Improvements, Cocoa Isles for $472,000. And then the Maritime Hammock Preserve Alum Tank for $16,000. OK. This is our debt summary page. And this shows where it includes the new debt for the replacement golf cart fleet that we brought to the commission a few meetings ago. At the end of fiscal year 27, we're projecting a total outstanding debt around $28 million. And of that, 12.3 is due to the general fund. And just shows a breakout. It's color coded by funds. You'll see the CRA in blue, utilities fund in green, and stormwater at the very bottom in red. So our next steps forward in this budget cycle for fiscal year 27 is our first public hearing that's on September 3. At that time, you guys are going to take a vote to adopt the tentative millage and budget. And then lastly, September 17, you'll have the second public hearing to vote and adopt the final millage and budget. These dates are set in accordance to the term process guidelines. florida statute that's always very stringent with the timelines making sure that we have our meetings not placed on the same time as any other the school board any of the other areas so that is it i will leave it to you all for any questions that you have very good thank you thank you yeah thank you we all good with the adjournment or you guys got more questions

Go ahead, public comment. Mr. Fink.

KP Finker, 190 Seminole Lane. As many of you already pointed out, the meat is, or where the can is kicked down the road is in 3170 and in 3110. Fiscal responsibility, to me, looks different. the kudos by the way to you guys to manage something that is almost unmanageable with a rollback to come to a budget but clearly they have been able to avoid the hard cuts which is people and they got they went for the soft cuts which is projects which is what you need to do when you kind of look into I don't have that kind of money so my suggestion here would be If a project is not worth being doing, then don't kick it down the road. Admit to yourself that, hey, we ain't going to do this. End of discussion. It's not in the budget. Let's not kick stuff down the road big time because it'll be more expensive and it'll come back to you to haunt you. So either find the money if it's worth it and don't necessarily shoot for a rollback, shoot for no increase or, God forbid, even an increase. Next year is going to be leaner than this year. and kicking the can down the road leads to an avalanche in the future. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Yeah, I just want to say we actually have cut positions in the whole city. I think including the comm center, which was earlier in the year, I think our number is 20 positions in the city that were full-time that were cut as well.

Those folks are still working.

majority of them did they get jobs working for the county the comm center folks had that opportunity yes yes they had that opportunity all right and we didn't we didn't fire anybody they just either left and we didn't fill the positions there were a couple positions that were no longer needed that had people in them yeah okay all right thank you guys you guys uh hannah um the whole your whole staff everybody um wes you you've done something here that i think shows the commission and the residents that We gave you the liberty to go with the higher number, and you guys have come back with a rollback number, which is amazing. Obviously, we still have to vote on it, but that was hard work. And it shows the residents and the commission that you guys didn't just roll over and take the easy road. So I want to thank you guys for just stepping up to the plate and making those decisions.

I agree. Mr. Mayor, what you guys are doing is remarkable. And I think we did. We put in the top level at the 6.1499. And to have you guys come back and confidently present what you're presenting is impressive. I think KP's right. We're looking ahead at tough times. You hand a voting base money back and hearing different numbers on what's going to end up in November, but suspect that next year is going to be tough. And I think, Commissioner Tumulti, you're right. It's not going to get easier. So thank you guys for being thoughtful. This was a tough year anyway. We came into it in a tough spot due to previous decisions and some of the corrections we had to make. So that's not lost on us that you not only found how to fix that and correct that, but that you guys are looking for intelligent, smart, and long-term ways to solve this. The one thing I had, and I didn't hear an answer, and there may have been, Commissioner Hutcherson had asked if we need to put a, if there were a decision needed to be made, or if we need an answer on putting a provision in, were we to have the opportunity to do paving? And I think this was something Commissioner Tumulty was also pointing out. Do you guys need direction from us? Is there a decision to be made, or is that still TBD?

There could be a budget amendment put in at any point in time, and it could be brought back to the commission then as well. It doesn't need to be inputted into the budget. It would still be the same process of doing a budget amendment. So if the plan comes back, everything's evaluated, it's shared with you all, and it's something that you want us to amend the budget for, we would bring that back to you as an item.

After September, we could baseline this with $0 in 27 and then at any time.

That's absolutely correct. So we could look at the budget and everything can stay as is until we get back that plan, see how it breaks out, what the priority streets are, if it's attainable to do everything at one time, if it has to be done in stages to see what's presented. by Public Works. And then for us to evaluate at that time if we need to do something soon, we can go ahead and amend the budget. If it's something that is around the corner by the time, I'm not sure the timeline in place for everything to come back, then we could plan for 28. If it comes back next month, we can revisit it then with an amendment.

Thank you. So when you talk about amending the budget, It's basically, if you look back at our city commission meetings for the last year, most of the stuff on the consent will say this is a budgeted item, but because it's over the $50,000 limit, it has to come to the commission for approval. But then under new business, we have things come to us in the hundreds of thousand dollar range on a monthly basis or whatever. And they're not budgeted items. Therefore, they are under new business. And it is an expenditure that wasn't previously budgeted. So each one of those is, quote unquote, a budget amendment. when we do that. So it's not like Hannah has to, every month, come up with an amended budget. We amend it as we go, and they keep track of all the numbers and make sure we're not going in the red.

One comment on the Commissioner Tolte. I agree. I'm not trying to just cut services, but to level set, one mill is like $3.2 million. So one total mill. So we've got to be careful. Unfortunately, we have to make tough decisions in terms of priority, right? We can't millage our way into funding all these projects, because it would be raising two, three, four points. Does that make sense? I mean, it's a thing of we literally need to prioritize these.

Well, we had a conversation, right? I spoke on this in our last meeting about good debt versus bad debt. And you brought it up today that maybe we can go out and do a debt service on some of these projects.

You know, I've talked about

the debt service out for 20 to 30 years why are why are we paying for all of us paying for everything right now you know it should be paid out forward you don't go buy a house and pay cash for it you get a mortgage most people do and for a reason right you can afford it you can pay it out over time and uh and your actual value your house goes up during that time right typically i mean Eventually it will. Over 20 years it's going to. It may not over four or five years, but over 20 years it's going to. And I think, you know, you all did a great job in getting the budget down to rollback, but reality needs to, we need to think about this. You know, inflation isn't just hitting our residents in Cocoa Beach. It's hitting the employees at Cocoa Beach. It's hitting the city at Cocoa Beach. Everything the city buys, we don't get it without inflation. Everything you're buying has gone up. Everything has. And it's a reality of it. And to go back to rollback to how many of you would go back to the wage that you made last year if you're getting an increase this year? Sure, I'll do that. No, you wouldn't do it. You just wouldn't do it. You know, as it turns out, the 6.1 amount that we had for the exact number is approximately a half million dollars. It comes out to about $45 to $50 per person per resident of Cocoa Beach per year, for the year. That's all it is. I say that's all it is, but that's $45, $50 per person increase in taxes if we were to go to the 6.1. Just throw it out there. That's a half million dollars. What does that do for us? You did a great job in getting it down to the rollback. We probably could have got even further down. I mean, we could have pushed and kicked the can down the road for some other projects that we're going to do this year. I just don't want to end up where our neighbor is kicking the can down the road, and then finding ourselves in a situation where we have no choice but to spend the money to get these projects done. If we lose some roads due to five, 10, 20, 30 years of a road not being paved, what are you going to do? You have to pave it. I mean, we have to. And that's what we should be doing. We should be keeping our infrastructure sound so that we can get to and from our house, to work, to the beach, to wherever. And if we continue kicking the can down the road, we're not going to be able to. And there are a lot of people out there that want the Cocoa Beach to be this sleepy old town. Well, it may be. It may be a sleepy town. We may be back to dirt roads. if we just keep kicking the can and going back to rollback. If we go back to rollback every year, where would we be in 20 years? Where would we be? We'd have nothing. Because inflation is going to take care of everything, and we'll have nothing. So I don't know what else to say on that. We're not voting tonight. It's just something to think about. And, you know, we've got a meeting in two days. We'll talk about a lot of other things. And then we've got our budget meeting to approve the tentative millage rate on September 3rd. And we'll see what happens then. Hopefully you all think about it. We'll get some residents to speak on it. I know Janice definitely is going to speak on it. Yeah. So that's all I've got to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Janice, you raise your hand if you want to come up. Yeah, come on up. Step on up.

Well, I do have a couple of comments about things. It's all over the budget, though. One of the things is, yes, I would love to see 520 landscaped $350,000, but it also comes with maintenance. You know, if you could see what happened to the rest of 520, the Myra project, it really got killed during this freeze. And they haven't finished trimming all the plants there yet. But you have to be very careful with those projects. And they tried to be except for the royal palms. And they withstood the freeze, which is quite astounding because they're not frost tolerant at all. I think many times we have to pick here for years. 25 years in Cocoa Beach, everybody wants all this recreation. We wanted the country club. That building ought to be bulldozed and have a couple of golf cart stacks and a bar or something out there and get rid of the maintenance on that building. It's horrendous. I mean, you could have built two more Taj Mahals with what the maintenance on that building has cost in the last 20 years. I know health care for the employees has really gone up a lot. I was quite surprised to see that figure, but it is what it is. There are other things related to tourism, like the beach rangers. I think it's great that we have them. Before we had the beach rangers, we had two or three vendors, beach vendors on the beach, no cell phones. And they were the ones who took care of all the emergencies on the beach. Sent somebody up the road to call the dial 911 or whatever. And I think with all honesty, that ought to be taken out of the tourist money. We didn't need the beach rangers like we need them now. And when that maximum security prison opens, we're even going to have more people on the beach that need those beach rangers. So some other things I noticed, I won't go into all of them, but what goes unheralded here, if you look at the utility page, it had three grants on it. I really love that. $25 million. I don't know who writes the grants for... The utility department, whatever, for wastewater, if you have a grant writer, whatever. But it was almost $30 million. That is the one utility, the one thing going on in this city that all the residents need all the time. And I really think that they should be complimented for that. Thank you.

Thank you, Jess. All right, if we've got no other public comments, I'm going to close up shop here. We're adjourned.