City Council - workshop

THIS IS OUR BUDGET WORKSHOP THIS IS OUR BUDGET WORKSHOP FOR FISCAL YEAR 26-27. FOR FISCAL YEAR 26-27. THE DATE IS FRIDAY, AUGUST THE DATE IS FRIDAY, AUGUST 21ST, 2026, AND THE TIME IS 21ST, 2026, AND THE TIME IS NOW 2-18 P.M. NOW 2-18 P.M. COUNCILWOMAN NICOLE REYNOSO.

COUNCILWOMAN NICOLE REYNOSO.

SUPER PRESENT. SUPER PRESENT.

COUNCILWOMAN MARINE PORRAS COUNCILWOMAN MARINE PORRAS IS HERE. IS HERE. COUNCILMAN RAPHAEL PINEDO. COUNCILMAN RAPHAEL PINEDO. PRESIDENT. PRESIDENT. VICE MAYOR DIGNA CABRAL IS NOT VICE MAYOR DIGNA CABRAL IS NOT PRESENT

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.

All right, I'm going to go ahead and turn this over to our city manager.

So good afternoon, Mayor and Council members. Today, I'm pleased to present the City of Doral's proposed operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. This budget is guided by a clear principle, protecting what Doral has built while preparing responsibly for what comes next. It reflects the City Council's priorities while preserving the high standards of public safety, municipal services, and quality of life our residents and businesses expect. The proposed budget totals $147.2 million across all funds, a decrease of approximately 26.3 million or 15.2% from last year's FY2526 adopted budget. This decrease is primarily attributable to lower one-time capital transfers and projected appropriations and does not represent a reduction from the city's core services. The proposed general fund budget is $110.1 million, which is also approximately $7.4 million or 6.3% below last year's FY25-26 adopted budget. The proposed general budget is supported by approximately $102.7 million in projected revenues and the planned use of approximately $7.4 million in fund balance exclusively, for one-time capital investments. Even after these investments, the city's projected to end the FY26-27 fiscal year with over $41.4 million in general fund balance, which is approximately $25 million above the city's required 15% reserve. This preserves Doral's strong financial position and provides the flexibility needed to respond to emergencies, future priorities, and changing economic or legislative conditions. Consistent with the City Council's preliminary action on July 29th, this budget is based on staff's recommendation of an operating millage rate of 1.5994 mills, equal to the rollback rate, and reduced debt and a reduced debt service millage rate of 0.3600 mills. These budgetary recommendations were achieved through disciplined financial planning, careful prioritization, operational efficiencies, and continued efforts to diversify revenues and reduce the city's reliance on residential property taxes. The proposed budget preserves public safety, maintains essential services, advances key city priorities, and protects the quality of life of our community expects. It continues Doral's tradition of fiscal responsibility while maintaining the lowest operating millage rate in Miami-Dade County IN DELIVERING HIGH QUALITY SERVICES WITH FEWER RESOURCES. OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, CITY STAFF HAVE PROVIDED EACH COUNCIL OFFICE WITH A PROPOSED BUDGET BOOK AND THE PROPOSED LINE ITEM BUDGET BOOK. Staff have also met with council offices to review the proposed budget and have responded to questions accordingly. In addition, training and access have been provided for the city's financial and budgetary software platforms so that each office could independently review financial information and prepare for today's workshop. Today's workshop provides the mayor and council with an opportunity to discuss policy priorities and provide direction before the proposed budget is finalized for consideration at the public hearings that will take place on September 8th and September 22nd. At this time, I will turn the presentation over to Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Fernando Casamayor and Finance Director Solangel Perez, who will present the FY26-27 proposed budget.

Good afternoon, Mayor, council members. Fernando Casamayor, Assistant City Manager and CFO. Pleasure to be here again in front of you to present the City of Durrell's budget. So as the manager stated, this is our policy recommendation for our fiscal year 26-27. This shows a continued commitment to maintaining the City of Doral's outstanding operations, but also keeping in mind the ongoing, continual financial health of the city. So our budget at a glance, as the manager mentioned, our general fund budget is about $110 million. Of that, we have an operating budget of $102.7 million and capital improvements of $7.4 million. The rest of our funds is $37 million, and some of those funds include building, a technology fund, transportation, people's transportation plan, our bond payments, and post-employment benefits. So this is a breakdown of our revenues. As you see, our ad valorem taxes are about $34 million of the $102 million general fund. I want to make a note, and it's not in here and it's not written in my notes either, but when I first got to the city, the ad valorem portion of our general fund revenues was about 39.5%. This year, it represents a 34% of our general fund budget, and that is really because we took to heart what was told to us a few years ago, which was we need to find alternate sources of revenue. And I want to congratulate not only the finance team, but the rest of the city for actually doing that. So we've gone from 39% to 34% reliance, and that's pretty significant. Most other governments are going the other way around. Of the general fund, the rest of it is made up of some of the charges for services, license permits, some intergovernmental transfers, fines and forfeitures, and then some miscellaneous revenues. As mentioned, the $7.4 million in capital is using in-use fund balance, the idea being that fund balance is used only to cover those things that are one-time purchases, so we are not Continuing to spend one-time money on ongoing operations, we are simply using it for one-time capital purchases. So as mentioned before, this is our revenue analysis. As you see, Ad Valorem revenue is 34% of our general fund, and the rest of the percentages are shown there in the pie chart. Okay, so this is the 10-year millage history for the city of Doral. As you can see, in 17-18, the millage rate was 1.9%, and it's been a steady decrease over the last 10 years, particularly over the last several years, where we've gone down to 17166, 16912, and then today's proposal, which is 15994. We are the lowest millage rate in Miami-Dade County. I can say that with certainty. But I can tell you with a little bit of uncertainty, but pretty much all of what I think, we probably have the lowest millage rate in the state of Florida when it comes to a municipal government. And here is the proof that we are the lowest in Miami-Dade County. Doral is the last one over there on the right, my right. So what does the millage rate What is the impact to our residents? So based on the information that we have, which is the average homestead residential value for a home here, which is about $357,000, when you multiply that by the 1.5994 millage rate that we're proposing, the annual tax due to the city of Doral would be $570.81. So this is about a decrease of a little under $33 per household. But for the city, it's a decrease of approximately, well, almost $2 million. So it's kind of hard to read up here, but this is a sample of the tax bill that our residents and yourselves and myself receive every year. It is color-coded so you can see the county the school board is in pink up at the top State another is an orange in the middle Miami-Dade counties in blue and the city of Doral is in the green area what what you'll see is the majority of a tax bill is being spent and being utilized for school board services and countywide services, and some of the state of Florida taxing authorities. Very, very small amount goes to the city of Doral's operating and debt service. Interesting on this bill, because the total is the total for everyone, but you see above a line that says ad valorem taxes, below it says non-ad valorem assessments. In Doral, that's a really big deal. We have a lot of homeowner associations here that charge for their services, whether it's by CDD or by special district in that non-ad valorem line. Even though the total amount being paid by this particular taxpayer is significant, you will see that a very, very, very small portion of that actually goes to Doral. And a lot of it actually goes to a community development district and a special lighting district and about $1,000, $700 and plus to the county for trash services. So these are your tax dollars at work. Basically, when you pay your tax bill, out of $100 that you pay, $44.60 goes to Miami-Dade County. $38.58 goes to the school board. Only $12.63 comes to the city of Doral. And the rest of it goes to regional millages, which are some of those state millages, and then the Children's Trust. And then once Doral actually gets its portion of the $100, the majority of Doral's budget is going to police services, which is about $0.38 out of every dollar. $0.31 out of every dollar is in general government, and that includes Council, manager, finance, HR, inspector general, procurement, some of those general service departments. Parks and recreation takes about $0.16 of every dollar. And you have public works at $0.10. Planning and zoning is $0.02. And we use debt service for about $0.01. So these are our expenses. These are all of the general fund departments that we have. You'll see what the adopted budget was last year, what our year-end estimates are at this time, and then what our proposed budget is. So our year-end estimate is about $116 million that will be spent. This proposal is about $106 million in total with capital transfers out, the $110,111. And this is a pie chart, kind of a consolidated expense analysis of how we spend it. The largest expense that we have is non-bargaining employees. That's general employees, non-sworn. Of our bargaining unit, 13% is going to our police services to pay for police personnel. About 27% is just regular operating costs, so fuel, equipment, things like that. 1% on debt service and 3% on capital outlay. Those are the large expenditures that we have. So a little bit on our personnel highlights, because obviously our staff are the most important elements of the city of Doral. So for our non-bargaining employees, we are proposing a 3% cost of living increase this year and a 3% merit increase. We are anticipating or we were anticipating a 5% increase in health insurance costs. And then for our bargaining unit employees, i.e., our sworn police officers, by contract, this is year two of their contract, which we negotiated a 3.5% cost of living increase. And by contract, again, 3.25% step increases. To note, also a 5% health insurance rate increase was calculated, but also we did have an FRS rate increase this year again, which went from 35 and change to almost 38%. That's a contribution we need to contribute to the state of Florida for the Florida retirement system for our sworn police officers. We are not proposing any new positions. We continue to have or continue to ask for 542 full-time positions. So a little chart that shows you what our cost of living increases have been compared to CPI. The CPI information is, you'll see that COLA's in green, CPI is in blue. Obviously our consumer price index has gone up considerably, at least it went up considerably in 23. We still haven't caught up to the consumer price index changes, which have been about 21%. With this proposal that we have, our COLAs would go to approximately 18% from the same time period. So we're still a little bit behind what the CPI was. And then what does House, Joint House Resolution 1F, what is the impact to the City of Doral? So House Resolution 1F is the Amendment 3 that we will all be voting on in November. This is the impact that not only us, but also the state of Florida's Office of Budgetary Affairs has calculated. In 27-28, if the amendment passes, we estimate it will be a little under $3 million impact to our revenues. And 5.8%. almost 5.9 million in 28-29, and then it going up slightly based on increases to the homestead exemption calculation that would go on further. Again, this is just an estimate based on what we know today. There may be new construction that's coming on board. There may be other things that occur that would impact this number. Obviously, finding alternate sources of revenue would be incredibly helpful in order to mitigate some of these things, which is why we have done A variety of the different things that we have done in the past, including hopefully having a contract ready to go for Doral 10, which would actually begin bringing money into the city very soon. So it's a significant impact if this passes. We have been studying this. We have been working and we have some ideas on what we would do in order to mitigate these things with hopefully not a whole lot of impact to our residents. And I'm going to turn it over to Sol so that she can go through some of our highlights.

Good afternoon, Mayor and City Council members, Finance Director Solyndra Perez. In this slide, we're showing the CIP projects that are included in the fiscal year 2027 capital program, which totals approximately $16.4 million across all funds. Major priorities include completing the Turnpike, Beacon, and Dressel Drury trail segments, advancing Doral Central Park parking garage and recreation area, through design and permitting, beginning construction on overflow parking, replacing playgrounds at three city parks, continuing road sidewalk drainage, resurfacing, landscaping, and beautification projects. For fiscal year 27, the proposed budget includes funding for the design, permitting, and pre-construction services of the new police department headquarters, which positions the city to proceed with construction once an appropriate financing and project delivery strategy is approved. In the following slides, we'll go over some of the major department highlights of the general fund. In the mayor and council department, there has been a reduction in sponsorship and initiated events due to budgetary constraints. In public affairs department, the social media coordinator position has been transferred from parks to centralized social media operations, enhancing efficiency and consistency. This transfer results in no net change in total city positions. Additional funding has also been allocated for a council swearing-in ceremony in anticipation of the upcoming election. Within human resources, there is an increase of funding for contractual services to cover higher pre-employment testing costs for new hires. In the IT department, efforts are focused on enhancing cybersecurity and resilience by expanding disaster recovery and data loss prevention capabilities to bolster security and continuity. The department is also undertaking technology modernization by replacing end-of-life servers, network equipment, and creative services computers to improve reliability, performance, and connectivity. In the planning and zoning department, professional services funding has decreased due to a reduction in external professional planning services following the hiring of a planning director. In general government department, there has been a strategic decision to reduce funds for contractual services by discontinuing the absorption of credit card transaction merchant fees. The grants and aids account has been revised to better align with the community's strategic funding vision, resulting in decreased allocations for the façade and Doral hardship grants due to reduced demand. However, the City is committed to meeting community needs by exploring alternative funding sources such as sponsorships and private investments. Additionally, $4.1 million has been allocated for operating transfers to support long-term capital and financial priorities across the various funds listed. Apologies. In public works, The introduction of pay-for-use model in the city's parking system has led to forecasted 15% increase in revenue from parking operations, with additional funding allocated to contractual services within the parking program. Public safety remains the city's foremost responsibility. The budget continues investments in police personnel, training, technology, vehicles, equipment, and specialized operations. It supports the strengthening of the traffic unit, the establishment of a crime suppression team, and continued coordination with federal, state, and regional law enforcement partners in preparation for presidential visits and the historic G20 summit. In the police department, revenue growth is anticipated to rise by a little over 9%, largely due to the completion of the school speed zone camera program. Additionally, vehicle purchases are now centralized within public works department under the new vehicle policy. The Code Enforcement Department projects revenue growth in fiscal year 26, what's remaining, and fiscal year 27 across various categories due to the recent fee study and ordinance adjustments. The Parks and Recreation Department has projected a revenue growth of 1.2 million, representing a 33% increase due to expanded programming, memberships, facility utilization, and new revenue opportunities. Operating expenses have been reduced by approximately $399,000, or 5.3%, while maintaining and expanding key programs and services. In its full year of operations throughout Central Park, achieved a 3.5% cost savings through comprehensive evaluations of operational efficiencies in utility services, ground maintenance, and custodial services. This was the budget workshop presentation. Please, if there are any questions.

Thank you, Sol. Madam Manager?

So Mayor, more or less, this is what we've gone through. Like I said, we've met with all of your offices and with each of you to get some input and answer the questions that you may have. And if you have any now, I'm happy to discuss.

Thank you. All right, we will open it up to the council, my colleagues, to have a discussion or ask any questions, make any comments. Councilman Pinedo.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, I want to thank the administration, city manager, your staff, finance, Fernando, Sol, the whole team. And first of all, because I mean, I know how difficult and time consuming it is to put a budget together. I mean, I say it as someone that has to do the same as part of my job, too. And not only that, but the fact that what we're going to show to the residents this year, it's something that It reflects not only the commitment that we have as a city, but at the same time, the great, great work that you guys do. So, and I just want to point a few things that I think is going to be important, especially for the residents, you know, which is, I mean, I always see government as a, you have to treat it as a business. So revenues, expenditures. and so on. So the fact that this time around we have 4.3% increase in revenues compared with last year, and at the same time we're decreasing expenditure by 6%, so let's speak that we're being financially responsible. But not only that, the fact that we're increasing services So we're doing everything that usually really, especially these days, doesn't happen in government. Not only here in Miami, in the county, especially the county, or statewide or nationwide. So the fact that we're saying, and that's the part something people don't understand, we're increasing services We're increasing revenue. We're decreasing expenditures. It's like, how you guys do everything together? We're decreasing taxes. And we have to call it the way that it is. We're lowering the millage rate second consecutive year for the first time in city history. So it's like, what's going on in Doral, right? That's why I call smart government. So for residents, what I think is important to know is, again, number one, we're reducing, lowering taxes. We're lowering expenditures. We're increasing revenues. And we're increasing services. We're making sure that we keep the best police department in Miami-Dade County. Well, for me, it's in the state of Florida, anyway. But we're making sure that safety remains a priority. We're taking care of the seniors. We're taking care of the spatial needs, increasing services. And I want to highlight, I want to thank the city manager and the administration for doing that. When it comes to seniors and special needs, $1.1 million. We have never seen that number before. So, again, I'm proud to represent the city, especially this time around, because we have never... accomplish something like what we're going to be accomplishing this time around. So I want to congratulate the administration, finance department. I think this is great. And again, really, I don't have any questions for you guys. I just want to say congratulations. I'm very excited. We're going to do great things together. We're going to continue doing great things together. And I think the residents are going to keep seeing what a real smart government is about. So thank you again. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Anyone else? Councilman Porras?

Well, I also want to thank you guys for putting this budget together and for also walking me through it. Overall, in looking at it, I think it's definitely on the right track. Last year, I suggested the rollback rate, and I knew we could do it. This year, adopting the rollback grade and keeping services, or in fact, increasing services is something that I'm very happy to see. Obviously, the residents are very happy to see that. And I've been speaking with a lot of residents who have asked, right? And some are concerned. obviously with the new proposed amendment. And, you know, I'm always happy to tell them that we as a city are not as reliant or dependent on ad valorem taxes as other cities. And the numbers that you guys showed today, 34%, it's a very low percentage. And that's something that I've shared with the residents. It definitely does help, you know, just really... Address some of those concerns that they're going through obviously we're looking at different streams of revenue Which is exactly what you know the city should be doing and I you know everyone I speak with right now I tell them the city of Doral can be an example of a city that has historically been very fiscally responsible and Obviously, I've disagreed with a lot of the ways, you know that we've spent the funds but overall and in general I think the city has been very fiscally responsible for years and it has allowed us to get to this point where we can reduce the millage rate where we can keep our services where we can continue to increase those programs and so Personally, I'm happy to see us moving in this direction and I do want to thank you guys for really getting creative and thinking of ways to maintain our quality of life, which is so important. We've had our budget meeting. I've asked a couple questions. I'm still going through a lot of the numbers, but overall, I think it's, again, it's a budget that's being presented on the right track, in my opinion. And so I want to thank you guys for doing that. I do want to ask two questions, which are two of the same questions that I asked during our review, just so that the residents know and understand. And it's something that I've had a discussion with the residents about. And of course, one of them being there's a reduction in the budget, right? And if you can explain where that reduction is coming from, from last fiscal year to this fiscal year.

So Councilwoman, as we discussed when we met, the reduction that you see in general fund and across all the funds mostly have to do with capital expenditures. We did fund high capital expenditures last year because we funded the design and pre-construction services for the police building and the new parking garage, which was included last year. And of course, that was a much higher number than what we have this year.

And what percentage is that again?

Of the reduction of the capital services alone or the budget went down 6.3% in general fund. Right. Okay. And across all funds by 15.3%, I believe. Yes.

And then the last question, which is something that I've had a discussion on with residents and also that we've been seeing some of the cities also adopt. And we talked about it. And I just want you guys to explain it, which is some cities are adopting the freezing vacant positions to kind of wait out to see what happens with the new amendment in the meantime. And I know that we talked about it. And you guys had some thoughts about that.

I can have the CFO respond to that. I will tell you what I think at our level right now and where we are and the amount of employees that we have. I think things like freezing positions is something that affects a budget in a substantial manner in a much larger organization than what we have. And I know from the organization that I came from, in the middle of my being here and being over there which has twice the amount of employees that we do um that um was not a common practice and if and if anything there were two or three positions filled but we do not have that kind we have turnover every year and we take care of what we do with our vacancy trend so we know that throughout the throughout the year we will have people that will resign we'll leave we will have to go through the hiring process and then hire those positions again, and we take care of that number through vacancy trend. If Fernando wants to add anything else, I'm good.

So just a little bit of seasoning onto that amazing pot roast that you just put in the oven. So having worked in other places as well myself, usually a hiring freeze is kind of an immediate thing that I'm adjusting to either revenue that I'm not getting or expenses that are out of control. So you do a hiring freeze in order to just stop spending money on personnel. You don't actually stop spending money on personnel because not every position that is vacant happens to be not important. I would argue every position that's vacant is important. For instance, if you do a hiring freeze but you can't staff your police department anymore, you're not really doing a good service. Usually hiring freezes come with an exemption. Well, I'm freezing all these positions except for public safety. Or I'm freezing all these positions except for whatever. Usually, the hiring freeze isn't really a stop hiring. It's really an add more complexity to hiring so that it takes me longer to hire people, so that my vacancy rate goes up and I can save money because I'm not paying an individual. So again, we're not at a position today in my professional recommendation to do a hiring freeze. We know what our revenues are. We anticipate our expenses. We believe that we have enough resources dedicated to make sure that we staff our city properly. If something changes in the middle of the year and we have an emergency, hopefully not, that's something that we definitely would take into account.

Thank you. And after we discussed it, I agree with you. It's something that some have asked. I guess they've heard it from other cities or, I guess, being proposed. And I agree with that. So again, overall, my comments right now is that I think that we are a great example of when we ask to do something like a reduction while keeping services, that we can do it. So thank you, guys. And I don't have any more questions after that.

Councilor Reynoso. Thank you. Well, I'm going to echo a lot of the things that were said. First and foremost, thank you to the finance department for the excellent job that you always do. to the department directors that have participated in this process, looking into your departments to see where things could be cut, have also been helpful. Like I always say, this is a city of excellence, and I believe this budget reflects that. So to be able to continue, I see the city as a product, right? To be able to continue to give the services that we do, to be able to continue to have the morale within the city, is just an example of how well everything is ran and how the thought process that goes behind every decision that is made, especially in something so important as a budget. I'm proud of what has been presented. I'm proud of what I've been seeing, the research, the answers to the questions that I've had. And to our residents, I don't feel that the programming has suffered from this. I believe a lot of our key services are still maintained. You know, we are all preparing to rely less on ad valorem taxes, and it's a strategy that needs to be prepared for. And I see the foresight in what is to come and the preparation that has been built into this budget for that possibility of relying less on the ad valorem is skillful. So thank you again for the job that all of you have done. I'm proud to support so far what I've seen in the budget. And that's the end of my comments.

Thank you, Councilwoman. I just want to also echo the comments of my colleagues. And thank you guys again. I know we've had the discussion many times and the process. And all of this starts with our strategic plan and the workshops. And at that time, the discussion, and I know I had the discussion with the city manager and all of you, that there was a plan this year to find the additional reductions were possible, be very thoughtful and intentional with how we planned the budget, with a clear decision that we were going to be lowering the millage rate to set an example, as we've done in the past, and as something that, by practice, the city, as it's grown, has been able to accomplish. But that takes planning and proper Proper analysis, last year we had a park that came online that we had projections and numbers, but no real data. And now that we have real data, I think that's where we're seeing some of that savings. And kudos to all of the directors who really took a deep dive into their budget, something we all discussed, and found ways to be more efficient. One of the things that I think that we all talked about, and last year we saw a lot of positions added, not just because of our parks, but I think we wanted to operationally be more responsive. And this year, we looked at that and said, no new positions will be added. We're going to look at how we become more efficient with the people we currently have, really focusing and investing into professional development to make sure people's times are freed up with investment in technology and AI to be able to make sure our employees not just are growing professionally, but using their time more efficiently to do new things. And I think that's a great direction to take with what may be coming down the pipeline. As far as freezing positions and things like that, we saw that here in 2022, 2023 in a rushed manner when politically there was a decision to lower the millage rate during an election year. And all it did was result in our police department not being able to hire positions that were needed. And our safety and security suffered. There was complaints about no presence. And we corrected that in 2023. when we came in. And so I think right now, the fact that we're not adding new positions speaks to the fact that we have a handle on operations. But every position that we currently have is critical. And obviously, vacancy trends are going to be vacancy trends because people grow, move on, retire, which we encourage and look forward to for them. But I think it's important that every position we have is filled in a timely manner because it does suffer operations and stresses, other employees, and progress. So I think that we're in a really great place to where we are in our budget. I think that we're focusing on investing on the right areas as far as infrastructure, police, all the things that have been part of our strategic plan and vision in exceptional services. So we are a model city for many, and I continue to say that at all levels, and especially when speaking to Tallahassee and looking at what will come from Amendment 3, potentially, and then decisions that they'll have to make after that. On that legislation, I think that our city can definitely serve as that model. So I take my hat off to all of you who really do that hard work every day. We set a direction, and you all drive the ship. And that's credit to our city manager and deputy city manager and assistant city manager and CFO and then each of our directors and goes all the way down to each employee. So I know that this is hard work this year. there was a new budget tool that was implemented. I know I had some hiccups along the way, and we look forward to being able to utilize that to make this process more efficient and even more available to information. So I know you all quickly jumped on being able to assist us in getting the information so we would be ready for this workshop. And there's been many meetings had about discussions on how else we can be more efficient. And I do want to Just point out a couple of things and questions that I have and I think that we can address. So I noticed that this year the Doral Hardship Grants weren't funded. And I know there's a lot of aids and funding that we had discussed on cutting in an effort to find that savings. Because truthfully, our city never has had the fat, let's say, that others have had. expenditures so when we have to make reductions to be able to get to that number in a balanced budget sometimes those luxuries have to be looked at and I think we do a lot when it comes to funding grants and aids and opportunities and so we've made decisions to take a different direction such as the facade grant which has been around for many years decided to go in a different direction we're now doing Doral seeds we're looking at private sector funds sponsorships to be able to enhance our the programs and opportunities for the businesses in our community. And I think that that's very progressive of us, because we have to look at it as we're looking at the potential cuts that could come from property tax reductions. I noticed that the hardship grants weren't funded, and I want to refund those. I think it's needed in our community. I believe we did $100,000 last year. Or was it $150,000? It was $100,000.

$100,000, ma'am.

$100,000. So here's what I propose. We are projected to raise probably another $300,000 in parks and police for kids this year. We have the funds that we raised last year, plus we got $150,000 from the state. We do plan with the new executive director to apply for larger funds this year at the state, and we anticipate getting those. So my proposal is that we move some of the subsidized programmings in this budget right now. I believe if we go to parks, I've marked a few, like our special needs, some of our special needs programming, the summer camp to the tune of, Fernando, if you can help me out. I believe it's here. I'd say it was like 70,000. And we can always go back and look at those and then highlight them when we come to... to the actual approval. But there is some subsidized programming in our park system that I think that we can move to PP4K, and we can take on that cost and take it out of this budget and refund. And we'll still have, I think, savings, because there's potentially about $350,000 we can take off the city's hands. and PP4K, you know, in this budget and move it to PP4K and continue those programs, continue to enhance the programs that we're working on in PP4K, but alleviate funds from this budget to be able to fund things like our hardship grants, which I think were very valued last year and were expended in the first two months.

So just to clarify, we'll go back and look for $300,000, $100,000 worth of programming?

I will get you the exact amount we have budgeted to spend in PP4K. I still want to leave some funds there for new programming we want to start, but I think we can take about $300,000. to $350,000 to take off the hands of this budget and shift over and then maybe we can I'm not saying necessarily I don't want to unbalance the budget but let's use those funds to refund the hardship grant and maybe a couple of other things that we can look at that we chose to defund since we're now getting private sector funds to take on some of that subsidized programming that meets the mission of PP4K so it's not getting away from the mission of PP4K but that's the purpose that's why I decided to reestablish the foundation or establish the foundation. Because although it was there, it wasn't really serving a purpose. As a matter of fact, we were funding it from general fund. We're no longer doing that. So those private sector funds that we have raised are to be utilized for our children in the community. But it now frees up funds in our general fund to be able to do other things with.

So with the manager's permission, we will identify certain programming that may qualify for this and work, I guess, with you between now and the first budget hearing.

We've requested to then add to your agenda reviews additional time prior to the budget hearing. We can set up individual meetings if there are things that you would like to change with you, with the rest of the offices as well, in order for us to do that. We just need to do that sooner rather than later, you know, so that we can meet our deadlines for publishing and and any changes can be worked into a change memo for the budget hearing.

Yeah, I'd like to just, if we could have during our discussion, I know we've talked about it briefly in the past and we waited to see the entire budget. I really don't think there's even anything to pick up. I think everyone did such a great job of reducing professional services, looking at all the opportunities that exist now, not just with AI, but just with having a complete staff that's totally capable. of getting our priorities done. So I don't think there's anything to pick at in this budget. I think that there's opportunities to continue to invest in the right places. So I'd love to sit down. We'll pull out some of those numbers with the permission of my colleagues, and we'll bring it back with a full summary of what we're kind of reallocating to PP4K and how we're going to utilize some of those things like refunding those grant programs, which I think serve a great purpose and I know our residents value. And there's definitely a need for it. And I want to congratulate also Luis Amor, because the $20,000 we put in for the Doral seeds has turned into $50,000. So, I mean, it doubled, or not doubled it, well, yeah, he doubled our money and even got a little bit more to be able to, you know, give back to a business in our community, and it's going through its process right now, so I want to see those things continue to grow in our community, and I think there is a lot of potential. So I will continue to work on PP4K and raising private sector fund money. So we're not using taxpayer funds to subsidize park programming. And then we can reinvest into some of those programs that I think people value.

Okay.

Other than that, congratulations. Every single one of you did a great job and truly listened to the direction we gave to be able to provide relief, continue to improve service, and continue to be an exceptional city.

So congratulations to you guys, and those are my comments for today.

Can we get a copy of this presentation?

Oh, yes, absolutely, ma'am. Mayor, just to follow up. So again, we felt like we've worked with each and every one of your offices to be able to listen and to hear what was important to establish priorities. I do want to thank everyone. I know for the directors and for everyone here, I tell them all the time what a great great job they're doing, but they work very hard at making all of this as seamless as possible. And I know that Fernando, Frank, and I really appreciate their input and how hard they work at making this budget work. to the finance team who sits with me as I obsess over every last little word that I'm going to say up here and to present and make sure that everything is top notch. They are top notch people and they're a pleasure to work with every day. So I just wanted to thank everyone. I want to thank you guys and I want to thank them because this is a combined effort and a partnership. We are, I think, on our way to taking Doral to the next step, which is what I wanted to do when I came here. So thank you, everybody.

Thank you. All right. Is there any other comments or questions? All right. Motion. Being known, motion to adjourn the budget workshop.

Second.

Second by Councilman Bineto. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Our budget workshop is adjourned. And we will start our special called meeting for health insurance.