City Council - public_hearing

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your patience. We'll be starting in just a little bit. I should have a recording of this. That way it'll make it easier, right? The beginning of the meeting. We'll be starting in a couple of minutes. Thank you, everybody. Good? Everybody's live? Yeah, thank you. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for coming. Thank you for your patience again. And welcome to the City of Hialeah Council Agenda Meeting. This portion will be for a budget hearing, public meeting, budget hearing for fiscal year 27, which starts in a few weeks. And so I'm going to call this September 8th of 2026, budget hearing for the City of Hialeah. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 5.53 p.m. Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll? Mr. Zogby? Present.

Mr. LaVega? Present. Mr. Gonzalez?

Here.

Mr. Marrero?

Present.

Ms. G. Perez? Present. Ms. M. Perez? Present. Mr. Rodriguez? Mr. President, you have a full council.

Thank you. Invocation from... Victoria Plaza. Oh, Victoria Plaza. Thank you. I didn't get your name until now. Thank you. Invocation, would you like everyone to rise or stay seated?

Yes, please rise.

Yes. Everyone, please rise.

If we could all bow our heads. Thank you, Jesus, for breathing air into our lungs this morning and protecting us throughout our days. We ask for your protection over our city, our families, and all those who work each day on behalf of the public. Lord, please grant our mayor, city council, and city leadership wisdom, patience, and discernment as they carry out the responsibilities entrusted to them. May every discussion this evening be guided by integrity, respect, and a sincere desire to serve the people of our city well and to glorify your name. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Thank you very much. Everyone, please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. If you could please face the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Madam Clerk, can you please read the meeting guidelines for tonight?

The following guidelines have been established by the City Council. All lobbyists must register with the City Clerk. As a courtesy to others, please refrain from using cellular telephones or other similar electronic devices in the Council Chamber. A maximum of three speakers in favor and three speakers in opposition will be allowed to address the Council on any one item. Each speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes. No signs or placards in support of or in opposition to an item or speaker shall be permitted within the council chamber. Any person interested in making comments or posing questions on matters of public concern or on any item on the agenda may do so during the meeting. members of the public may address the city council on any item pertaining to city business during the comments and questions portion of the meeting a member of the public is limited to one appearance before the city council and the speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes individuals should be respectful of the elected officials and staff and make every effort to speak with a moderate tone using appropriate language and avoiding personal attacks. Members of the public in the audience shall refrain from shouting or making remarks from their seats to the mayor, council members, or staff sitting on the dais. The public can view public meetings on the city's YouTube page.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. The next item, item six, is comments and questions. Just to remind, do we have anybody who signed up to speak, Madam Clerk? No. Okay, that doesn't mean that somebody from the audience could not come up now if there's any comments and questions. Specifically, please, if you're here for the council meeting and you have an issue there, this is not the meeting. The comments and questions for the public today is dealing directly with the budget. Absent any comments and questions, do we have any, we have presentation, we'll get to that in a minute. Any announcement or amendments or corrections to the agenda? No, sir. Okay. So I guess we have a presentation, right, Pedro? You have the floor, sir.

I do. Thank you. Thank you.

Bye.

All right. Good evening, Mayor, council members, Pedro de Faria, Chief Financial Officer. Tonight, I am pleased to present to you the City of Hialeah's proposed operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2027. This is a balanced budget that reflects the priorities of the mayor, his administration, city council, and most importantly, the residents. Right now, I'm going to basically walk you all through our revenue estimates, our operational investments, our major capital projects, and which then I will open up the floor to any questions. But feel free to ask questions as I go through my slides. So I'd like to begin with a quick overview of the budget timeline. In February, we have something called the budget kickoff, where we meet with every department head, and we basically give them the budget submittal documents. We set expectations. We prepare revenue estimates from the state. Then our budget team basically grabs the budget. They... They analyze it. They come up with what we call a preliminary budget, which we meet with department heads and budget liaisons. We come up with a number, which we essentially present to the mayor at one point, and hopefully we could come to an agreement on the budget. The first major milestone is June 1st, and that is when we have our first glimpse of property tax revenues. That is when we get our estimated taxable values for the city, which I'll present to you shortly. Later on in June, we meet with the mayor and get his priorities on what he wants to fund as far as operational increases, capital investments, and things like that. July 1st, we get our certification of taxable value. That is the final number we base our property taxes off of. At that point, we balance the budget. Cities are required to pass a balanced budget. And in August, we basically certify that number to the property appraiser. Later that month in August, we meet with the council. We show them the proposed budget. We get your insights. We get your feedback. We refine whatever we need to refine to then proceeding to our two required by Florida statutes, our public hearings, of which this is the first one. And the second one is on September 22nd at 530 p.m. And on October 1st, hopefully we start the new fiscal year. So what you see here is a chart showing the taxable values of the city. This is essentially not the market value, but what we are able to tax our cities on. So this number gives us our total property tax revenues for the year. As you can see, for fiscal year 2027, we're at $23.5 billion. And if you look back 10 years ago, we're more than doubled that number. So the property values in the city has grown tremendously over the years. I would say even more importantly than that former slide is the growth rate, which you're seeing here on this chart. And as you can see, the city has benefited from double digit tax increase from a property value increases over the years. But we're finally it's coming to a standstill that that could be or the growth rate is reducing rather. That could be from any reason. New construction is going down. Assessed values are starting to stabilize. We may have less new folks from out of town coming in and purchasing properties because when you purchase a property from someone that had a homesteaded property, that value is reassessed and the city and the residents benefit from that additional income. So now millage rates, so the current year millage rate which we're currently operating off of is 6.3018 that is the lowest millage rate in 46 years the highest millage rate since then was 1996 at 8.23 and. The 6.3018 has been the same millage rate since 2013, and the mayor proposes to keep the millage rate the same. And I will mention the rollback rate. It's something that by Florida statute we do have to mention in these council hearings. And that is the rate if we wanted to get the exact same amount of revenues as previous year, excluding new construction, that is the rate we would set, which is 5.8719. So here's an example of what somebody would pay, right? A typical resident in Hialeah. So the median assessed value based off the property appraiser is $235,072. That is not the value of their home. If they were to sell that home, it could be double or triple that amount or less, but that is what they typically get assessed on. When you deduct the $50,000 homestead exemption, assuming they have one, Their adjusted taxable value is $185,000. When you multiply that times our millage rate, you get that resident would essentially pay $1,166.29. So when you see that number, that is not all that a typical resident will pay. In fact, when you look at your tax bill or your trim notice, you're gonna see all these different line items. So this image here is a representation of what the typical resident would pay in all their property taxes, right? So the city of Hialeah is only 33.8% of your total tax bill. You have the largest source, which is the school board at 35.6%. And you also have Miami-Dade County. We do still pay millage to the county. And you have other smaller ones, such as the Children's Trust, the South Florida Water Management Districts, and other special taxing districts. And in some bills, you may even have a community development district that I think in Northwest Hialeah, we have a lot of those that you may even see an amount that's even greater than all of the taxes you see there. And that is so it's very important when you look at your tax bill, you look for the line item that says City of Hialeah, because that is the only portion that we collect. So what does this number mean to us and our budget? So the $23.5 billion, when you take our millage that we're proposing, which is 6.3018, at 100% collection rate, the city would essentially see revenues of $148 million. We however, because of discounts of people not paying their bills and things like that, we typically receive less. So statutorily, the minimum we can budget is 95 percent, which is what we include in the budget. And that is one hundred and forty point eight million dollars. And for reference, the typical amount the city ends up collecting. So everyone is clear is ninety six point three percent. So probably around one hundred and forty two million is what the city will expect to receive in the end. So what this number means year over year compared to the current fiscal year budget, it's an increase of roughly eight point one million dollars. So this is just a representation of the year over year increases we receive for property tax revenues. As you can see, dating back to 2023, we receive, you know, 10, 13, 14 million, 13 million. And then this year it's come down a bit.

I'll just interrupt you here because this is a very important slide. If you notice at the beginning, fiscal year 2023, the growth rate was 13%. It was 14% in 2024, another almost 14% in 2025. It's slowing down in 2026 at 11. Now we're at six. So we're growing at less than half. the rate that we were just a few years ago, and we expect it to continue slowing down. So this is an important slide to look at. I mean, we're on that tail end, like you showed in that graph earlier, we're on the tail end of those property value increases.

And to the mayor's point, not only are we on the tail end, now we have something called Amendment 3, which is going to be on the ballot on November 3rd. And essentially what Amendment 3 is, is it gives voters, if approved, it would provide an expanded exemption to homesteaded properties. So right now, if you're a typical resident, you get your two exemptions at around $50,000 that comes off your taxable value, excuse me, your self-value. If approved, next year's budget, the next taxable year, residents will gain an additional $100,000 exemption, and the year after that, an additional $250,000 exemption. And on top of that, there's another part of this bill or this amendment that would significantly affect the city, and that is the cap on non-homesteaded properties. So for any second homes, rental properties, industrial, commercial, If typically when your assessed value is below your market value, it grows every year. The state caps it at 10%. And what this amendment will do is it will change that cap to five years, excuse me, to 5%, essentially reducing our taxable base. And just to give you some demographics of the city of Hialeah, out of the around 61,000 residential properties we have in the city, 32,000 are homesteaded properties, so a little over half. Currently, out of that 32,000 residents, homes, excuse me, 2,877 pay no taxes to the city of Haleah. Now, there could be many reasons for that, but notably, it'll be they must have a senior exemption, a widow exemption, or a long-term senior exemption, and you pay no taxes to the city. If this amendment gets approved, that number will go up to 13,691, or 43% of all homesteaded properties next year. And the year after that, it'll go up to nearly 23,000, which is 71% of homesteaded properties. And what this means to us, which is the bottom part you see here on the slide, is the city will be basically will receive 15 to 17 million dollars in less revenue. So on top of the growth rate slowing down, the revenues that we're used to receiving every year, we will be receiving, if approved. A lot less revenues, and these revenues will be restricted to crucial city services, fire, police, 911, things like that. And whenever, if it does get passed, then we have to make some difficult decisions. A lot of that will come from the, from parks, libraries, administration, you know, finance, budget, all those different types of departments that basically service all of the departments in the city.

And I just want to impress on this slide. You said it very eloquently, but this may be the last good year that the city has a full budgetary revenue because starting next year, if this passes, which I think it's going to pass, you'll see upwards of $17 million hit to our budget. And then in year two, the year right after, $28 million on the high end. And it's only going to go from there. That number is going to keep increasing our loss of revenue because primarily of the cap on commercial properties going from 10% to 5%. So half of our properties in the city are going to have a growth capped at 5%. You already saw the growth at 6% in this current fiscal year, but it's going to be capped at 5%. So it cannot be greater than 5% ever. And then you're going to see also for your homesteader properties, that's upwards of 71% of them will pay absolutely no tax. So half of the city, almost the entire half of the city doesn't pay tax. And then the other half, you can only increase by 5%. That's it. That's the maximum. And again, we're seeing a slowdown in the growth. Like it shows there this year. Yeah, well, this is the last good year. There's zero revenue impact. But next year, 17 million, then 28. And then it's just going to keep going up and up and up. So this is Amendment 3. It's going to be on the ballot, obviously, in November. But I think it's going to pass more than likely it's going to pass. So this is something that we have to plan for. And we're doing so in this budget.

Moving on to our proposed operating budget. So the total budget for fiscal year 2027 is projected at $514,375,100. That is a 1.4% increase over the current fiscal year budget, which is $507 million. So I do want to point out. that another indicator instead of this number is that number net of transfers, right? So with governmental funds, one fund pays another, there's sort of a double counting of expenses. So typically we like to focus on the number that is net of transfers. And for fiscal year 2027, That is $490 million, $406,000. And if you compare it to last year, it was $471.7 million. That is a 4% increase or $18.7 million. Now, that number is more indicative and more representative of the true increase because, as you know, every year we have merit increases, increases to the cost of utilities and things like that. So 4%, I would say, is a pretty healthy number for this budget. So the annual historical numbers for you to take a look at, like I said, this year is $514.4 million. Last year was $507. The outlier you see there, the $575 million, that was the year that we had to recognize basically the rest of the COVID-era money, the American Rescue Plan Act. And the funds are currently being allocated by being used by water and sewer for infrastructure projects. Moving on to our general fund, which is the primary operating fund of the city. So typically when people think about a budget in the city, you're really thinking about this fund. And the reason I say this fund, this is where your property taxes go. This is where your user fees in your parks. This is when you get your business tax license, your state revenue sharing. This is that fund. And this is the fund that will be directly impacted by Amendment 3. So as you can see, the gross amount, not net of transfers, it's actually a decrease. It's going down. Last year was $253 million. This year is $252 and $100. And if you look at the net of transfers numbers, it's actually an increase of $10.5 million or 4.7%, which is in line with the standard increase for these types of budgets. Here is the historical year over year numbers. Like I said, it's pretty much the past two years have been around the same amount at 253, 52. In 2025, that is when you had a lot of inter fund transfers that came out of the general fund related to COVID era money. So moving on to our general fund revenue projections, there's a lot of information here, but I'll just basically highlight some of the things we should look at. Top line, that is your property tax revenues. It's going up 6.1%. Our second largest source of revenues is intergovernmental revenues. This is your state revenue sharing. This is your half cent sales tax that they share with cities. This is alcohol beverage license, mobile home licenses, and things like that. Your next largest source of revenues is a utility service taxes. Those are basically a 10% gross receipt on water, electricity, and basically utilities in the city that operate in here. And I will also mention another large reduction you see there. uh for appropriated fund balance you see a negative 13.5 million dollars so appropriated fund balance is basically a another way to say city reserves or money that is set aside in the in your general fund last year we basically had to budget a $13 million contribution coming out of the general fund from our reserves to balance the water and sewer budget. Basically, the county, as you know, they increase their rates every year. And in order to basically balance that budget and be able to fund it without increasing rates, the city had to contribute $13 million. On top of that, we also had $6.5 million in COVID-era money that we were transferring to water and sewer. And last year's budget, we needed $3 million to balance the budget. So when it was all said and done, we had every department budget ready to go. We were under $3 million. So we had to use reserves to basically plug that gap. Moving on to expenditures, our largest category of expenditures like any other city is personnel services. This is your salaries, your health insurance, your pension, retirement, FICA taxes represents around 78% of the total general fund budget. As you can see, it increases 4.1%, which is a modest healthy increase that I've seen in that category. That has to do with the standard merit increases that our employees get here in the city, any cost of living adjustments that were approved by a collective bargain agreements, positions that were added, positions that were eliminated. Another area that went up is the operating expenditures at $2.7 million. And that basically has to do with increases in parks programming, which I'll speak on shortly, increases in maintenance costs, utilities, communication services, and software licenses. And then that last number there, that negative 11.4 million, that just basically has to do with the amount of money the city is sending to water and sewer this year, which is zero. Here's just the list for your reference of what the city transfers out from the general fund to other funds. So every year, the city basically balances the affordable housing fund. A couple years ago, we outsourced these operations to HHA, to Hialeah Housing Authority, which has paid off tremendously. We have units that are basically turning over immediately. Revenues are going up, not increasing. The housing rates are based off the standard rates that Hialeah Housing Authority does, which is called a high home. That number is actually coming down. So the past two years, that number went up because we had so many expenditures from deferred maintenance in these units, from redoing cabinets, windows, roofs, HVAC systems. And now that we've caught up with all those expenses, it's finally coming down. And hopefully in a year or two, it'll be under a million. The next amount, the $6.3 million, that is what the city pays in capital projects and a capital improvement plan. So instead of budgeting it within the general fund, we send those funds off to a capital projects fund where we fund our police vehicles, our roof replacements, our fire trucks, and things like that. And the last number you see there is $11.9 million. So a couple of years ago, the city received a little over $66 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. Out of the $66 million, $50.4 million was allocated or earmarked to water and sewer. We have around $22 million left in that pot of money. $11.9 million of those funds are being loaded essentially in this budget. And just a note at the very bottom, unlike last year, we are not contributing any money to the water and sewer fund to keep rates low. Next slide is something we are particularly proud of. We are using no general fund reserve dollars. Unlike previous years where we have to balance the budget with reserves, we are not touching those. This money is to be used for economic downturns, natural disasters, and critical infrastructure when you don't have other funding to fund. Moving on to our largest budget in the general fund, police. So the police budget this year is approximately $89.5 million, which represents a 4.8% increase over last year. In capital budget, we have around $3.9 million for year one. This budget basically maintains current service levels. And what that means is whatever services we've always provided with police, we intend to do so. And that includes all equipment, tools, all the different things police need to do their job is in this budget. And very importantly to highlight, the city recently approved a historic collective bargaining agreement with the FOP. So essentially police officers will receive an 8%, a 6%, and a 6% in the next three years, including an additional step 10 for officers, sergeants, and lieutenants. And they're also getting an increase in their hazard pay over the next three years. So the average police officer, sergeant, and lieutenant will see a 13% pay raise on October 1. And just to round out this budget, I will mention the city continues to fund their police vehicle replacement program. So a couple years ago when I started with the city, we had, I think, 2006 Crown Victorias out in the streets. And at this point, I'll be happy to say that we're at a replacement schedule at around four to five years. So every year we're trying to buy around 40 to 50 police cars. And thankfully, in this year's budget, we're able to continue doing that, as well as any emergency equipment, radios, and mobile data terminals. Moving on to our fire department, which is the fire department budget at $62.1 million. There's only a 1% increase in this budget, but I will tell you we're currently in negotiations with the fire union and hopefully we'll come to a happy conclusion in our upcoming union negotiations so we can give them the money, the raises, the benefits they deserve. As always, we provide everything they need. We maintain current service levels, all the equipment, all the tools, all the supplies they need is in this budget. We're investing $10.4 million in this budget and capital over four years. Subject to change, that money could very well go up. That includes rescue trucks, fire engines, bunker gear, cardiac monitors. Particularly in this budget and in the next five years, we're allocating some funding for renovations of all nine fire stations, including resurfacing of all roofs. Moving on to our third largest budget in the general fund is the parks and rec budget. This budget has probably seen one of the most investments in the current year budget at 18, total budget of $18.8 million, a $2.6 million increase. The primary reason for this increase, the $2.6 million is something we call the parks, excuse me, aquatics program reset. Basically, the mayor approved adding new positions to the aquatics program, including an aquatics administrator, a deputy administrator, which will oversee all city pools moving forward. We've converted several aquatics managers to pool captains and assistant pool captains, so every pool would have additional staff to oversee those pools, which includes pay raises that are comparable to other cities. Lastly, for our lifeguards and head lifeguards, we are increasing their hourly wages to match some of the neighboring cities, if not better. And to give you an example, I think a lifeguard right now is making $17.50. It's going to go to $21 an hour. And a head lifeguard, which is currently making $21, is going to make $25 an hour. And just something else I wanted to highlight, which is very unique to our city. So park user fees and program revenues cover just 7% of what it takes to run our parks. The city funds the remaining 93% as a direct investment in our community's quality of life. And what this says is, so when you look at the total budget of parks, which is $18.8 million, we only get back... 7% of that total amount in what we charge out to our residents. So we really subsidize the majority of our park operations. And just this morning, I looked at two other neighboring cities, which I won't mention, but one of them was at 28%, and the other one is at 32%. So out of their total budget, 28% to 32% of it, they get back in user fees compared to the city of Hialeah that we only charge 7% of our total budget. Just to round out the general fund budget, I will mention we have a, I'm proud to say we created a new grants division, grants administration division, which will seek out new funding opportunities, would help with reporting, with monitoring, with reimbursements and all those different things so the city could get money rather than increasing taxpayer dollars. We could tap into federal, state, and local dollars there. And then some of the events that the city is funding this year, and I would probably say we're fully funding this year's budget, is Independence Day celebration, tree lighting, snow blast, Mayor's Turkey Drive, the entire list you can see up there. And also we're doing a food and wine event later this year. Street sweeping is something that we've seen pay a lot of dividends. The city residents are very happy. So we're happy to say that we doubled the capacity by bringing in. And I believe, Mayor, we're going to be having a press conference in the next couple of weeks to highlight this investment. And then a cost savings that I'm particularly proud of. When the mayor came in, there was a lot of change, a lot of staffing changes, a lot of turnover, a lot of things like that, a lot of restructuring. And in three of our biggest departments in the general fund, and I would say it's finance management, HR, and the office of the mayor, normally you would expect an increase in those budgets because of merit increases, salary changes, pension, health insurance. Those budgets are actually going down $357,000. So essentially we're doing more with less. And lastly, as I said already, we are in new negotiations with the fire union as well as the AFSCME union. Moving on to our enterprise funds, which is our business-like funds. You charge for a service, right? This is your water and sewer, your solid waste, your stormwater. So the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund is the largest single operational budget in the city. This year, total revenues and expenditures are projected to be at $133.4 million. And as you all are aware, the city purchases our water from the county, and we also sell our water back to them to process wastewater, sewage, So naturally, this is our largest expenditure in this fund. And I can tell you that every year, particularly the last two years, we've had significant increases for the county, which unfortunately is a pass-through to our residents. Two thing I do wanna highlight in this budget is number one, the mayor has allocated $4.5 million for a digital water meter replacement program. Right now, as all of you are aware, we have some pilot programs going on. We haven't quite landed on which vendor and which solution we're gonna go with, but when we do figure that out, we're going to start replacing meters throughout the city. And the total cost of this program is going to be north of $20 million, probably $20 to $25 million. But year one, we're able to secure a $4.5 million allocation in the budget. And then lastly, I will mention this again. The general fund will no longer contribute the $13 million or any dollars to this fund in order to subsidize it. Moving on to our water and sewer rates, which is our primary revenue source for this fund, we're excited to announce that we will be lowering the rate by 25%. And this reduction will apply to any property, whether commercial or residential, consuming less than 10,000 gallons a month, which is your typical highly resident and your typical small business consumption. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that by consuming less, you're going to benefit from a lower rate. And this, if approved tonight, this rate will go in effect October 1. Some more good news. We are creating a program which will come back to the council to approve the program itself called the Water and Sewer Senior Relief Program. So much similar to the program you all approved this year that we gave a relief check back to seniors in Hialeah, we're gonna provide an additional 25% reduction to all senior bills, depending on a certain criteria, totaling 50% reduction on your bill. excuse me, pairing the 25% reduction in the water and sewer rate and the 25% reduction from this program, you're going to see a 50% reduction on the bill. And to qualify for this bill, it's much similar or exactly similar to the previous program. You need to have a senior exemption. And to have a senior exemption in Miami-Dade County, you need to be 65 years or older. As of January 1 of this current year, you need to maintain a homestead exemption in the city of Hialeah, and you need to have a gross income for all occupants in your property of less than around $38,686. So Morgan News, there is no increase in the annual solid waste fee. So right now, all Hialeah homes, they pay $438 a year for their trash pickup. In the county, as an example, I live in a county, I pay $702, so it's a significant decrease compared to the county. And on top of that, I believe the county does two, you can call in for two bulk pickups a year. The city of Hialeah, if I'm not mistaken, it's one pickup a month. Moving on to our stormwater fee. The city has not changed this fee since 1993. We have probably the lowest fee in the entire state. We are keeping that fee the same this year at $2.50 a month. So no increase there as well. Now to round out my presentation, I'm just going to quickly go through the five-year capital plan. I'm just going to highlight a few of the major projects that you should be aware of. So the total... Five-year capital plan is $126.4 million. That's for across all funds for all five years. This year amount, which is the amount you're essentially approving in the capital project ordinance that's coming your way, is $55.5 million. So it's probably hard to see all this from downstairs, but basically what you're seeing in this slide is just a continued investment in equipment and service vehicles citywide. Moving to our fire department, year one, we're investing $2.8 million, including a lot of the things I already mentioned to you all. Renovations of fire stations, resurfacing of roofs. Rescue, I think it's Rescue 9 we're replacing this year. And the following year, we should be doing a engine at Fire Station 4. There are several plans, the standard upgrades as far as IT is concerned, but we're continuing to fund them, switch replacements, server replacements. The city, when we got here, there was a lot of old technology, old computers, and we have a lot of new software that require up-to-date technology to run those things. So we provide IT department a nice sizable allowance to be able to replace all citywide computers. Anything we don't replace basically goes back to fund balance. Parks is probably the area with the highest volume of capital projects. We have the $1.8 million investment in the Sparks Park, which is already underway and includes a $200,000 grant. We have several other capital projects, including continuing our CCTV project, which will put cameras in all city parks in the next three years. We have funding allocated for several pool resurfacings and conversions, including at Walker and Bright Park, and we have several roof replacements scheduled as well. Moving on to the last, excuse me, the last page of the park's capital improvement plan, we have an $8 million line item for the Hialeah History Museum at JFK, which consists of design, development, and installation of a permanent museum and exhibit space dedicated to preserving and showcasing the rich history, culture, and heritage of the city of Hialeah. And just to be clear, the library will not be replaced. The library is gonna be on the top floor of this museum. And then lastly, there's $2 million allocated from CDBG funds, which is federal dollars, for improvements at all our passive parks. As I mentioned, the police department, we're continuing to fund, as we always do, the police vehicles, police equipment, radios, and all things like that. Our streets, we're continuing to fund all streets. Oh, excuse me, this is water and sewer. Yep. Water and sewer is also seeing a significant investment. A lot of it is funded by ARPA dollars. We have $10 million in sewer projects lined up. We have valve trucks, pump station replacements, and the $4.5 million digital water meter program that I brought up earlier. Streets is an area that since I've been here over the past four years, we put a lot of dollars into this. We're continuing to target the areas that need the most. And we are... also investing in beautification and entrances, as well as purchasing drain cleaners, which will be used throughout the city. And that concludes my presentation. If anyone has any questions.

Thank you, Pedro. Does anyone from the dais want to ask questions now, or should we ask them as we go along with each of the seven items? Whatever your pleasure is.

Through the chair?

Yes, ma'am.

I'd rather ask the questions. Yes, ma'am.

Yes, go ahead.

Going back to the budget timeline, once again, thank you for your hard work and dedication to this. Going back to the budget timeline that is in the actual budget book does not match what was presented to us. Because here is... It says proposed budget is printed, delivered to council and available to city website. It will be September. You mentioned that you will meet with us on August, correct? Yes. At the council meeting. And I know you will be meeting with the mayor prior for preliminary budget meetings, et cetera. Do you think The council can be, after you meet with the mayor, you guys do any revision or any balance that you have to do, any changes, meet with each council member to get an idea what's going to be the budget. Because we just got this budget. And honestly, mayor, you know I respect you a lot, but I am not happy that I received this budget book today at 9 a.m. And I received my PDF budget book by email at 6 p.m. So I think we really need to work on the budget timeline. This is very important. We're all working people here. We all work for a living. So it's really hard, you know, to have two business days to review this budget book. This is a serious budget, and I take it very serious every penny that we obviously spend in the city, as we all do, as the mayor does as well. But I honestly do not feel comfortable right now with, you know, Being able to, you know, I didn't have, I couldn't. I know we met last week. I understand. Wonderful presentation. I asked my questions. But honestly, getting the book today at 9 a.m. is a little disrespectful, I feel. And I'm a little disappointed because I felt that we were going to, you know, have some type of, you know, I don't want to say it, but we need transparency. And I don't feel we have received the transparency that I got the book today at 9 a.m.

Absolutely. And we hear you. This is something the mayor and I have been speaking a lot about recently and not to give any excuses. Next year, you'll definitely be receiving it a lot sooner.

And, you know, through the process that the council should, if they have any questions that, you know, preliminary budget workshops, if we can, because this is a lot to take. And obviously we're not here every day knowing the operations of the city. So we need to understand what we're voting for. Because obviously we represent the residents the same way the mayor and all everybody in the city represents the mayor. We represent the residents of the city as well. So I really want that we work on this budget timeline.

I'm totally in agreement with you. And next year, we'll definitely have it a lot sooner. I will add, and this is something the mayor mentioned previously, is that a good 90% of this budget is basically funding that's going to happen, right? It's your salaries, your benefits, this thing that's there. The other major items, capital investments, water and sewer rates, millage, all those different things. And we try to highlight and present to you individually as we did and provided a very lengthy presentation with backup information. But 100%, I am in agreement with you and next year will be corrected.

I think, and I appreciate that, Mayor. Like I said, this has been one of my main topics.

Oh yeah, I completely agree with you. You're 100% right. We'll do better. We need to do better. And obviously, you know, it's the first budget that we make, right, our team. And so there was a lot of changes, a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff. So now the good news is we obviously do have the two sessions. So we have the rest of the month of September. to go through it and with a fine tooth comb. But yeah, this is sort of an initial first meeting. But thank you. And well taken, well taken. And I think Pedro also knows that we're going to get it sooner next year.

Should I ask my other questions now or?

Whatever you like.

Okay. I know we approved previously the senior relief for the taxes that we, is that something we're going to look for the upcoming year?

Yes. So the answer is yes. You're not going to see it in the budget because remember the way that we funded it in the same way the resolution was written is that it was essentially a prepayment made on interest owed. So we would repeat the same program. That would be a separate item. It would come before council sometime in the fall and it would basically be a repeat of the program. So yes, absolutely. But you won't see it in the budget.

Through the chairman, I interject. You should support something that she questioned. No, no, that's okay. I just didn't... I have other questions. I'm not trying to prevent her. I'm trying to add up something that she questioned, Mr. President.

I'll approve your comment.

Thank you. I appreciate that approval. But, Mayor, we don't know exactly next year what kind of money we are going to have towards that retirement system that allows us to create that saving. We might not have the same amount of money to make the same approval.

We will, and I'll tell you why. So every year we have approximately $40 million worth, some years it's 38, some years it's a little more, but it's roughly $40 million worth of pension payments that we have to make as a city. We're under contract by obligation, unless we declare bankruptcy, we're gonna have to make those payments. So what we're doing is the way we funded the senior relief program earlier this year is we got that money and we prepaid. Instead of staggering it over 12 months, we prepaid half of the money up front in the first month. And then the rest of the payments were scattered throughout the year. That saved millions of dollars worth of interest that we would have accumulated otherwise because we had the cash we could do it. And with that interest savings is how we funded the senior relief program. So we're going to have that regardless. It doesn't matter what the rest of the budget looks like.

That's something that- Bidding those funds come from the general funds in general?

the pension payments didn't come from the general fund they came from the savings and interest uh the actual payment given to to the um i'm aware of the payment but the money where it comes from itself because yeah it comes from the general fund yes and that's what i'm saying but what i'm trying to say is we have to make those 40 million dollars anyways well i don't know that depending what happens after the elections in november

So I cannot guarantee that, or we cannot guarantee that next year.

Those pension payments we have to make because we're under obligation.

So that'll change everything else in the general fund, assuming those taxes relief comes about. But I'll leave it there for now, and I'll allow the Councilwoman to continue.

Going back to the tax relief, I just want to make sure, because I know we said last time that this will be something that we eliminated for 65 or older, like we eliminated taxes, giving it like a relief to the senior, a relief to the seniors. I just want to make sure that we do the same thing this year, if it's possible.

Yeah, no, we're going to do it the same way. It's going to work exactly the same way as we did last year. Nothing's going to change. And again, you're going to see that probably in the fall, you know, October, November timeframe.

Okay. I have some questions regarding the JFK investment that we're planning to do. I understand. What is the $8 million for the museum at JFK library? Like how, like... you know, we're approving this and we're budgeting for it. Where do we come up with that number? Like a million dollars.

So the $8 million will come from impact fees. And Mayor, do you prefer the Parks Department to speak on the actual capital project itself?

We can, but basically, it's really exciting. In our library, obviously, over the years, obviously, it doesn't look as good as it could. The last renovations that were done were in 07, and those weren't in the interior. Those were primarily exterior renovations. So, we're going to give the entire library of facelift. With the idea of increasing the number of people that use our library, we're 1 of the few cities, if not the only city that still has its own library. We're not in the Miami Dade County system library system. So. Basically, $8 million is probably a generous estimate. It's probably going to be less, but we don't want to start the project and run out of money. And we basically are going to do a complete facelift to the interior of the library. It's going to include a new coffee bar. It's going to include, obviously, new bathrooms. We're going to retain a lot of the historic elements, right, like the floors and things like that, a lot of the columns and all the historic parts of that building. And we're going to remain, obviously, it's still going to be a library. It's still going to have books. People are going to be able to go and still study and all those things. But there's going to be a section in the center of the library, which is going to be like the History Museum of Hialeah. Miami did a history museum not too long ago. Obviously, we're a major city. And so this is going to be an attraction, something that schools can do field trips to, something that members of the public can go and learn about the history of Hialeah. And it's also going to be a space that we can use for different events if we wanted to. So it's gonna have a multi sort of purpose use. Some of the money is gonna come from grant funding as well. We received about a million dollars for grant funding for the renovations of the library. And then also I'm working with our legislative team so that we wanna get some appropriations as well towards the construction. But obviously we budget for the cost of the project. And then as these things come in, they'll offset. But again, this is being paid by impact fees. impact fees for parks. So you're very limited as to the use of what you can use these monies for. It has to be for the creation of a new space and it has to be in our park system. So with those limitations, we're going to be using the money there. Obviously, we are still funding many other projects, as you saw, with impact fee dollars. So we're redoing Sparks Park almost completely. A lot of the pools are going to see a huge improvement as well. cameras in many of the fields. So there's a lot of stuff going on. It's, I think, probably the largest year in terms of parks at $18 million. So basically everybody's going to get a good amount of renovation to their park.

And obviously we'll go through the whole process of bidding.

Yeah, it'd be the same. This is just a budget appropriation. So once we actually put this out to RFP, after the budget is approved, presumably we would put this out to RFP, we'd get a contractor. And then that would go before the council. And obviously during that process is when the actual plans will be made and all the specific details. But this is sort of the overbroad appropriation.

I just want to make sure we still offer for the kids to go and do their homework. I personally was raised here in Hialeah and my parents didn't have the means to have a computer. So I went to my homework there and projects there. So I want to make sure we maintain that. I understand the museum. And all that, and once we get closer and have an idea, what are we going to do? Because I would like to see, obviously, pictures and the idea that we have, and we should all be putting an input of what we think that space.

This is going to be a project for all because it's not for my administration or anything like that. This is something that everybody's going to have a part in because it's the history of our city. So we definitely want the part to be engaging. We also want the members of the public to participate and donate items if you have interesting memorabilia that we can... Bogby has plenty.

So, yeah, I just want to make sure we still have our library.

Yeah, absolutely. I think if you've seen nationally, many cities are actually doing this. Claudia actually, I think, has some examples. But basically, there's other cities that they're doing the same thing because, you know, enrollment in libraries has gone down. Kids, you know, they're more stuck to the tablet or whatever. So this is a way to just draw people in with some different kinds of settings and then still stay there and be able to study and be able to do all those things, like you said.

Okay. Once again, going back to the budget timeline, unfortunately, and I would love to see if I can get the support to reschedule this to maybe... Well, remember, we have the second hearing, which is going to be in two weeks.

But by law, we have to have two hearings for this.

So some other cities do it differently, but we have to have two hearings based on our code. So if we moved it today, I mean, obviously, that kind of puts us on a very tight timeline here.

I just want to make sure that I review this before I vote. President?

You wanted to do what, you said?

I want to see if we can reschedule the budget hearing and take this like a workshop.

That would require a motion.

Well, through the chair, just for clarification in regards to what state statute requires. So the deadline for adoption of a tentative budget is usually 65 to 80 days after the property value certification. Usually it's around mid-September. And then the second reading has to be September 30th in order for the budget to pass and us be then traveling under a new budget come October 1st. So only our CFO could say after the exact date

date of when it is that our tentative budget could in fact uh be voted on i would have to probably look through my notes a bit and see what day you would reschedule but essentially there are timelines related to the trim process and reporting and advertisements um and i would assume it would have to be this week something very quickly

So if any motion were to be considered, it may be a motion for a special meeting to be called as to the first budget to be addressed, the first reading. After today? After today.

So just to be clear what you're asking, it would be, today would be not a budget meeting? And we would reschedule and have a completely separate budget meeting, a special meeting, aside from the second meeting that we have in the second council meeting.

That is correct.

Is that a motion, attorney?

That would be a motion, but there would have to be a second.

No, no, of course, of course, of course. Yeah, yeah, we have a motion to table this. We don't know a date yet.

We don't, and it cannot be on the same dates as the hearing from the school board or the county. So there's a lot of rules and intricacies that we need to look at. So I would even say, like, if that is what the body wanted to do, I would say to give me some time to at least figure out what date it could possibly be in. It's very specific. Florida statutes are very specific when you have to hold the tentative hearing and the final hearing and when you advertise for that hearing.

I just want to be clear so that we're all aware that we have two hearings regardless. So the second hearing is going to be held currently on the 22nd. So that's two weeks away. We could also push the second hearing if you wanted to, maybe a few more days. But whatever vote happens today in terms of just moving along in the process, it doesn't prevent any changes to be made before the second hearing or at the second hearing.

If I may do the chair.

Yes, ma'am.

I think it's October 1st, right? Is the last day that we could have to pass. If I remember from our previous, when we had a hurricane many years ago, we had to postpone the budget hearing.

That's to adopt the final budget. That's the second hearing. So you can move the second hearing up into September 30th.

The first budget hearing, maybe on the 24th, the week prior. The 24th would be.

After this, you would have the tentative hearing after the second hearing, which doesn't make sense.

No, no, no. We would move the second hearing to, like, let's say the 30th or the first, and then the first hearing would be the week prior to that, let's say Thursday.

So there are advertising requirements for the second hearing, so the timeline wouldn't work because you would have to have a finalized budget before you even have your tentative hearing. I know that sounds, that's a lot there, but there are so many requirements in Florida for TRIMF.

From Thursday.

In our city.

Madam Attorney, go ahead.

And our city charter in sections 3.08 is specifically said that per the city charter is required to adopt a balanced budget by ordinance on or before September 30th of each year. If the city council fails to adopt a budget before September 30th of any year, the prior year budget shall be in effect until a tentative budget is adopted.

Okay, so it's fine. We could still pass the date and it would still be the prior budget. It wouldn't matter. It would still give us time.

You mean if we do pass this first hearing?

No.

No.

Without this first hearing.

Correct. As a councilwoman. Table this first hearing.

Correct.

But we'd have to have an additional separate hearing.

It says at the second hearing, we would still adopt the previous budget until the new budget is approved.

The thing is that, again, our CFO could speak to that. There are repercussions at the state level if we don't have a proposed budget before October 1st.

Correct. And if you, you know, the will of the council, if that's what I think I would, again, it's very complex sort of statute. So I'd have to look at it. I'm not ready to just give a specific dates that, you know, because we do have to abide by Florida statutes. I could get back to you on that, but I don't have an answer in the moment, but there are two hearings. If you don't agree with it in the second hearing, you could also not vote to approve. And that's what we did last year. And they basically recessed that meeting and held it again, I believe twice, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, I just, if I may through the chair. Yes, ma'am. I just have to agree with Councilwoman Perez. I think that we did get it through email on Friday. Unfortunately, I was in the hospital the entire weekend until Monday. So I didn't have access to be able to be focusing on my phone. I was hospitalized. And this is one of those real reasons why we can't wait to the last minute. I just, I don't feel comfortable now that I'm skimming through it. I'm reading. You know, some of the expenditures on the financial schedule from 26 to 27. I have some questions that I would like to ask you. You know, there's just I usually go through each of the departments and I see what was the previous increase. I haven't been able to truly. dive into this as much as I can. I got it this morning and I've only had about an hour and a half prior to the meeting to look at it. And I did sit with the mayor. He took some time to answer some of those critical questions and you did a great presentation as well. I think that maybe if we had this a month prior, that we could sit and we could go through it. I know other municipalities have a similar schedule. I don't know how it was in Miami Beach. Would they do that too? What was the timeline?

They had it much sooner, but like I mentioned before, City of Miami Beach had, I believe, 10 staff members. We have three. Other cities have 14. We also went through a new ERP implementation, which most cities didn't. Can't even do within the timeline that which we did, which was 18 months. So there was a lot going on. And that is the reason for a new administration. We have the building division ordinance.

So you mentioned that your department took a cost savings of this year of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Was that some employees that you're missing in the office?

No, that's between four divisions. That's that's affected more finance and purchasing. The budget was the same.

So budget still has the same amount of employees that we had last year?

I'm not in budget now. I'm in the CFO role. But yes, we have new staff.

But it's the same, the same?

Yes, we have new employees.

Okay. I don't know. I respectfully I understand the time crunch. I understand the change of administration. I realize that this was a difficult year. However, none of those reasons make me feel comfortable right now with some of the things that I just flipped through that I saw that I would like to ask you and just read on my own. One of the concerns that I met with the mayor prior, which Councilwoman Perez brought up too, was when I met with your team last week, I had asked for some public records for the library as it pertains to activity of resources and patrons that go in there to use it. I still haven't received those documents, but I know that one of my concerns that we discussed today was that JFK is where we do early voting. And that now if we do have this museum cafeteria built out, we would have to then readjust a new place in the city where we would have those two weeks of early voting. I love the idea of the museum in a portion of the library, not the entire first floor, because I think that the library still needs to be utilized. And I love the idea of the cafeteria. I think those are all really innovative, great ideas, but I'm also concerned with deducting some services i want to be sure that you know the children's section is still going to remain the computers the printers like all that which the mayor told me that it would but then now i'm concerned with early voting um and that portion is for early voting which where would we do two weeks of early voting um in the city that's another concern that i have um

Well, Councilwoman, remember that we're just appropriating the money. The actual use of the space, whether we wouldn't do it at all, that's all a separate item. If we don't use the money in the next fiscal year, basically the money basically just goes back to the pot, which is where it is right now. So does it really affect in terms of the budget? Those are all very specific questions. The day we get the contractor, we go through the whole process, if we even do it at all, right? But we are basically just setting aside some money in the budget. It's all we're doing. In regards to your other questions, I mean, listen, we can be here. As long as you want in terms of the budget meeting itself. But what I would respectfully ask is there's no reason that we can't move forward on first reading because like any other ordinance that we pass on second reading or between first and second reading, we can make all the changes that are necessary. So on second reading, we can take all those comments. And even second reading right now is still scheduled a week before the deadline. So even if second reading had to be moved or we needed a third reading or what have you, we would still be able to do so. But not taking a vote today just delays basically the process without any real goal. So that's the part I'm confused about. I think we could just move forward on first reading. Again, between now and the next two weeks, we can get together as many times as you'd like, and we can discuss any particulars, any changes that need to be made, and we can make those changes before or at second reading. Yeah.

Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to ask, just so that I'm aware, if this were to pass on first reading, and I think we had a very successful workshop last month on the boats and the RVs. And I know you mentioned, right, kind of just having like this dialogue. And I know, you know, technically this is our budget meeting. But are we able to do between first reading and second reading a workshop where we would be able to truly deep dive? I mean, that was one of my requests for next year.

We can do that. We can do a deep dive. As long as it's sunshine, it's not a problem.

Thank you.

How much in advance do we have to sunshine? Do we have the time to do it before the next scheduled meeting?

Yes, because there'd be no action. It would just be a workshop. There would be no vote. So we can do it as long as it's done the day before, it's sufficient.

The announcement? Yeah. Oh, okay. All that being said... Do you still stand with the motion, Madam?

I do.

Okay. We have a motion to table this. We don't know what date it would be.

Yeah, the motion for clarification is to table the first reading of the budget and set another special meeting at a time that complies with all the state requirements, including no conflict with the school board meeting, budget meeting.

We don't know that yet, then. We don't know that date yet?

That's correct, sir.

How do we? Madam Attorney, can we figure out that date this week and advertise?

I could have one of my colleagues look into it. Okay.

Through the chair, can we recess for five minutes? Is that enough time?

Yeah, I mean, that would help.

Just so that we're kind of clear before we vote. Okay.

Yeah. Madam Vice President has asked if we can have a recess. Do we have to vote on that? I guess so. No. Yeah. Do you want a motion on that? Try to get for a recess? Do we have to vote on the recess? We don't. Does everybody agree to have a recess then? No motion. OK, Lewis, just we don't need anything. So I guess it's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Six fifty seven p.m. When do you want to come back? 7.05 or is that too soon? That's seven minutes? Eight minutes? 7.05? Recess for till... Now you're confusing me. Till 7.10. Let's give them 10 minutes. Okay. We are in recess at 6.58. We will adjourn the meeting again. I'm sorry. Call the meeting to order again at 7.10 p.m. Thank you. Do I have sound?

Yes.

We went a little bit over the recess, so I'm calling today's the City of Hialeah budget meeting of September 8th, 2026. I'm calling the meeting back in order at 7.21 p.m.

Thank you, Council Members, for the opportunity to confer. As to the proposed new dates, it would be for first reading September 14th, which is a Monday, and second reading September 24th, which is a Thursday. That is compliant with all laws.

So that would be, if it got tabled, that would be the next available? Yeah.

And then I would just add, if we do the workshop, which is obviously my preferred choice, we could do the workshop also on the 14th. We wouldn't take any action, but we can be here all day long on the 14th. And if we wanted to do a second workshop, we could also next week at any time. Or if another day is more convenient, obviously to the board. That would be for the workshop. Assuming we pass it today, then we could do a workshop next week. We can get into the whole weeds of it next week, and then we can come back for second reading later on.

What time would the workshop be if that is the case?

I can propose that we commence at 9, 9.30 on Monday the 14th. Okay.

That would be if it goes to that. Okay. So... We have a motion, right? We have a motion to table it from Councilwoman Jalene Perez. Councilwoman Jalene Perez, sorry. Right, so we have a motion to table. And that would be to... Yeah, to table it. Wait, we're talking the workshop. Do we have a date if we had to? The workshop would be the 14th. If we were to successfully table this today, when would be the first hearing?

We're saying that it would be the 14th. I think what she's saying is she's, and I don't want to speak for her, but I think she's saying that she's motioning to reschedule the meeting, today's meeting, to the 14th. I think that's what she was saying.

That's the date we have, we can do it in. Okay, so that's...

But that would be to reschedule the first reading, which is what we're doing right now. We are at first reading.

Yes.

Right. Okay, so we have a motion for that.

The September 14th, if that's the will of the entire council. So we have a motion to table this entire meeting today till September 14th. Pleasure of the council. Through the chair?

Through the chair.

Oh, sorry. Yes, ma'am. Ladies first. Yes, ma'am.

I wouldn't be able to attend that day. So I don't know if maybe you would just want to have the workshop that day and do the first reading today, since regardless, you're going to have the workshop that day as well. It's up to you. But I wouldn't be able to be in attendance.

I propose something to reschedule because I need more time to review the budget. But it's up to the council to decide what they want at the end of the day. I just won't vote. Yeah.

No motion from you. No, not yet.

I wouldn't be able to be in attendance, so I don't feel that it's appropriate for me because I wouldn't be able to be there.

I'm sorry. You're not motioning.

No, I'm not.

Okay.

Yes, sir. I have a lot of questions myself, but I'd rather move forward on first reading. And I think we have plenty of time to decide and get all these questions worked out no matter what, whether we do a workshop or not in material. But I think there's a lot of homework that we need to do from here to there in second reading. So my motion is to move forward on first reading.

All right. So as far as the motion to table, if we don't have a second, it dies. That's right, sir. So we're going to go ahead and continue with the meeting today. Okay, we don't have to take any action on that, right? So go ahead and read, please. And anybody, of course, any questions through the process, go ahead, Madam Clerk, and read item A.

First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance accepting for budget purposes the Miami-Dade County Assessment Rule establishing a tax millage rate of 6.3018 mils for fiscal year 2027 commencing on October 1st, 2026 and ending on September 30th, 2027, which is An increase of 7.32% over the rollback rate of 5.8719, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Agenda item 9A is on first reading and of course open for our discussion or public discussion. This is an exemption made for budget meetings, even on first reading public discussion is allowed. That being said, barring any public discussion, pleasure of the council on item a through the chair. Yes, ma'am.

So I just before we take a vote on this, I just want to kind of just mention, right? I kind of. I agree with Councilwoman Perez. There's, you know, the fact that things were given very late, bring a lot of questions. I am for kind of moving forward, but I do want to make sure we can have a workshop because to me that's very important. I don't want to kind of get to second reading without a workshop. I know we're going to kind of go through it because there wasn't a second motion, but I just kind of want to make sure that's on the table. Can we

Through the chair, can we just go ahead and motion for a workshop at the next? Can we? Yeah, but let's we don't we don't need a motion.

We could just schedule it. Yeah. So if the 14th works for the most of you or if you want another day, that's fine. But we can do it the 14th, Monday, the 14th. I would propose at nine, nine a.m.

Okay, so basically we're going to, and this is also, right, so those at home understand we're going to go through and continue the meeting. We're also going to have a workshop so that all of us can discuss in detail, right, many of the things about the budget. And if anything comes up, we can change that before second reading, correct?

Absolutely, correct. Thank you.

To clarify, you would need to change it by the 15th because we have trim advertising deadlines for the trim documents. So if you wanted to change something on Monday the 14th, we can go ahead and do that. The budget team will make all the changes necessary and we'll update the advertisement.

So the deadline is the 15th to make any changes?

To make it to the advertisement dates on the county's website in order to have a second and final hearing on the 22nd. Correct.

Okay. Understood. Thank you.

The 14th worked for everybody?

You said it doesn't work for you.

We could do it this week if you prefer also.

What day this week could we host it?

Obviously tomorrow.

I think it's too soon or Thursday, but we could do Friday. Okay.

Only by Thursday. We advertise it by Thursday. Because we don't take any action. It's just a workshop. There's no vote that occurs.

It still needs to be sunshine, but in the mayor's park.

Oh, we could do it Saturday.

We're going to leave it for the 14th, Mayor. The 14th? The 14th is good?

Okay, 9 a.m.? 9 a.m. 9 a.m. 14. Okay, great.

All right, so we just make a note of that. We're scheduled for the 14th at 9 a.m. for the workshop. But okay, coming back to A, pleasure of the council.

Second.

Motion from Councilman Luis Gonzalez and second from Councilman Luis Rodriguez. Please call the roll, Madam Clerk. Ms. G. Perez.

The military, the 90. The A, yeah.

Once again. I'm going to vote no based on the fact that I need more time to review the budget. Duly noted. I just want to note that.

No, no problem.

Can we say that that's for every item coming? Yes. So your vote is no. I got a lot of questions myself, yeah.

Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero?

Yes.

Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Thank you.

Item B, Madam Clerk.

First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance approving and adopting the general fund budget for the city of Hialeah, Florida for fiscal year 2027, commencing on October 1st, 2026, and ending on September 30th, 2027, appropriating for funds for operative expenses of the city of Hialeah for the general operation of citywide departments and other fixed obligations of the city for and during the fiscal year, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for conflict and severability clause and providing for an effective fee.

Thank you. Item B is also on first hearing, of course, and open for public discussion. Otherwise, motion. Second. Also, we have a first. Item B from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. I'm sorry, from Councilman Luis Rodriguez. And the second from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. Please call the roll.

Ms. Zala-Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zogby? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Mr. Marrero? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? No. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Item C, Madam Chair? First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance approving and adopting the budget for the enterprise funds of the city of Hialeah, Florida for fiscal year 2027, commencing on October 1st, 2026, and ending on September 30th, 2027, as provided for herein to maintain proper coverage ratios as required by outstanding bond covenants, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective deed.

Item C is also first reading, but open for public discussion. Otherwise, pleasure of the council.

Motion.

Motion from Councilman William Marrero.

Second.

Second from Councilman Luis Rodriguez. Please call the roll.

Ms. Ann Perez. Yes. Mr. Rodriguez. Yes. Mr. Zogby.

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez.

Yes.

Mr. Marrero.

Yes.

Ms. G. Perez. No. Ms. De La Vega. Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you. Item 9D, Madam Clerk, please.

First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance approving and adopting the budget for the special revenue funds of the City of Hialeah, Florida for fiscal year 2027, commencing on October 1st, 2026, and ending on September 30th, 2027, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective date.

Item D, 9D, first reading. Public discussion is available for this. Otherwise, pleasure of the council. Motion. Motion from Councilman Luis Gonzalez on item D. Second from Councilman William Herrera, right? Okay. Thank you, sir. Please call the roll.

Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero?

Yes.

Ms. G. Perez? No. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for September 22nd, 2026 at 530 p.m.

Thank you. Item 9E, Madam Clerk.

First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance approving and adopting the budget for the capital projects funds of the City of Hialeah, Florida. For fiscal year 2027, commencing on October 1st, 2026, and ending on September 30th, 2027. Repeating all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective deed.

Thank you. First reading on item 9E, open for public discussion, if any. Otherwise, pleasure of the council. Motion to approve. Motion from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. Thank you. Second from Councilman Willie Marrero. Please call the roll.

Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero?

Yes.

Ms. G. Perez? No. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading of public hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you. Item 9F, Madam Clerk.

First reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance approving and adopting the budget for the debt service funds of the City of Hialeah, Florida for fiscal year 2027, commencing on October 1st, 2026, and ending on September 30th, 2027, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing for a severability clause and providing for an effective deed.

Thank you. Item F is on first reading, open for public discussion. Otherwise, pleasure of the council.

I hate to approve an F, but I'm going to support an F. Which one? Item F. Motion. Motion, thank you. You're confusing me.

Did you say motion? Second from Councilman, first from Councilman Luis Gonzalez, second from Councilman Luis Rodriguez. Please call the roll.

Mr. Marrero? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? No. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zogby? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for September 22, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you. Item 9G, Madam Clerk?

Proposed resolution adopting the Tentative Capital Improvement Plan for the five-year period of fiscal years 2027 through 2031 and adopting the City of Hialeah Tentative Capital Budget for fiscal year 2027, subject to a second public hearing scheduled on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. in the amount as specified in the attached Exhibit 8 and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Thank you. Item G is on... First reading as well. But they forgot the language.

No, it's a resolution, but it is open for public participation.

This is just one reading.

Yes, sir.

Just a resolution. Open for public discussion or pleasure of the council.

Motion.

Motion from Luis Rodriguez on item G. Second.

What is this?

Second. You want a second as well?

The chair, I need clarification for this 1. yes.

The resolution it, so this is something new. The city started this current fiscal year fiscal year 26 and it just adopts a 5 year budget. So anytime you approve a capital project in the current fiscal year, that that project is allowed to be used up until completion. So it'll roll over every year. But unless you approve the other funds, if you don't approve the other funds, this resolution won't make a difference.

Okay, so we have any more questions? We have a first from Councilman Luis Rodriguez on item 9G. Did you, William? Is that second? Second. All right. Second from, yes, second from Councilman William Marrero. Please call the roll.

Ms. G. Perez? No. Ms. Dela Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero?

Yes.

Motion carries. The item is approved.

Ten. Unfinished business? The chair. The chair. Yes. Yes, sir.

So another year budget. I just want to thank every single director mayor opening your office for me and all the questions that I've asked you guys, email me back. Appreciate that. I know a lot of, sometimes I got to ask the questions. If not, we can't get answers. The streets. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. And I'm looking forward. Like you said to me this year, this year is that everything gets done quickly. So I know we're going to be aggressively putting everything out there. So, So we can use the funds. So I appreciate that. Thank you guys. And I appreciate everybody answering the emails and questions and everything. I appreciate that. Thank you for the transparency.

Thank you to the chair. Yes, sir. In the eternal words of Armando Vidal, God rest his soul. The budget, the budget is a, it could still be blessed.

It could still be blessed. This is a living, breathing document, the budget is.

And so we will see each other all on Monday to discuss it further. So thank you again for the support. And we'll see each other on Monday to discuss the rest of the budget. And again, thank you and kudos to the staff. I know they've put a lot of long working hours. I think, Pedro, you're at minimum wage or just under? Feels that way. So thank you, everyone. And we'll see each other to discuss the budget more thoroughly on Monday, the 14th at 9am.

If there's no new business, anybody new business, our last item left. Otherwise, I will adjourn our first budget meeting of September 8, 2026 at 7.38pm. Thank you.