Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Welcome to the May 11th study session. I'm going to turn it over to city manager Anderson to get this started. Honorable mayor, members of council, uh Troy Anderson, city manager, and uh want to take an opportunity just to first and foremost uh tee this up tonight. Uh I'm pleased to present to you all the proposed fiscal year 2627 budget for the city. Uh this is all in accordance with section 8.2 of the city charter. Uh before discussing the proposal itself, I just want to recognize the many individuals who contributed to the development of the budget. First, thank you again to the mayor and city council for all of your hard work and the feedback that you have uh provided over the last year. I know a lot of that was before I got here, but um it it certainly goes without saying thank you so much for all of your input that you all have had into the budget process. Uh, additionally, I'd be remissed if I also didn't uh thank our entire leadership staff and our entire team here at the city. Uh, specifically uh our finance director, Melissa Cabrera, our budget manager, Alex Morgan, our budget analyst, Mallayia Finch, um, and the indispensable Laura Edgar and Crystal Jeff. uh just to mention a few as well as all the department directors for all of the countless hours and time and energy and effort that they have put into uh presenting and p pulling all of this together in order for us to be able to present it to you this evening. So with that being said uh let's dive right in. So the proposed budget that we have

provided you uh totals $532 million. This is the all fund budget. Uh this is an increase of 17% over fiscal year 2526. Uh budget growth is driven primarily by growth in personnel and operating expenditures. uh personnel specifically is increased by a total of 6% due to collective bargaining agreements, added positions, and as you'll see here in a 3% cost of liv living living adjustment for non-represented employees to try to keep up with the cost of living and encourage retention. So, let's take a look back at kind of where we uh have been. So over the last fiscal year we have maintained a general fund balance of 16% uh for reserves uh which is the the minimum that we want to maintain. I know that uh we've had conversations uh that we want to continue to bolster our position in the future and in out years but at this point in time we're going to continue to maintain that minimum threshold of that 16%. Uh, also this last year, we issued GEO bonds in September of 2025. Uh, that allowed us to commence uh, construction on the approximately $55 million for street, bridge, and sidewalk repairs. We moved from old city hall to the new municipal commons building that we're in here today. Um, and in addition to that, we also hired a new city manager, and that new city manager is now one month on the job. So, you'll have to be patient with me. Uh, again, I have to credit uh my staff um and you all for bringing me up to speed and getting me uh caught up on a lot of the nuances in and around the budget. And so, uh I do have our budget

manager, Alex Morgan, here with uh us tonight, as well as department heads. So, if you all have specific questions, don't hesitate to to ask. I'll try to answer questions at a really high level, but if I don't have the answer, I'm sure one of these professionals behind me will certainly be able to get you that information in a timely manner. Okay. So, moving forward, a couple of things I want to highlight, right, is that while, as you have seen with uh some of the initial numbers, and we'll dive into them in greater detail here in just a little bit, we do have an improved financial position. Um but we are facing critical choices as expenditures continue to outpace recurring revenues. Uh we call this structural imbalance, right? That uh when expenditures outpace revenue streams, um it's not a sustainable business model and it's something that we're going to have to address uh in the near future. And uh we're we're actually going to do that for those folks who are in the listening audience here today and online. Uh we've got a two-day series here next week on the 18th and 19th. The 18th we'll talk about that strategic plan update. I'll talk a little bit about the strategic plan here in just a second. But then the following Tuesday, we'll also talk about developing a fiscal plan and a fiscal policy on what our short and long-term goals are uh regarding how to course correct some of these structural imbalances. Um, one of the leading factors in that is uh the anticipated pilot revenue that will be coming in uh the near future and in out years and how we can be good stewards of those of those resources uh while at the same time addressing those those fiscal pressures that are on the budget with growing demands around wages and benefits uh in particular. So as I mentioned uh this is our guiding

document. These are guiding PR principles. Uh this budget is primarily a priority based budget. And so we're going to take the priorities in this strategic action plan that you all have laid out before us. Uh and we're going to use this as the foundation for how we are responding to certain budget expenditures. Uh balancing those revenues and expenses against achieving the goals and objectives, the strategies and the tactics that are laid out in this strategic action plan. Again, this kind of uh builds on that, but something else that I want to plant the seed with you all here uh today is um we're going to continue to allocate based on those priorities, but we want to try to start thinking uh comprehensively or holistically around how each of the departments and not just uh maybe the traditional departments that we might think of when we think about some of those strategic uh action plans is how are all of our departments, how are we as an organization responding to those goals and objectives laid out in that strategic action plan. We're going to be a little more um thorough in providing how our our tools and the resources and our staffing that we have uh available to us are achieving those overarching goals and objectives. Okay, so let's dive in a little bit deeper. Um, so this is uh really the conversation around the general fund and so how we've landed from that 500 plus million dollar all fund budget as we start peeling away uh those enterprise funds and those special revenue funds at the end of the day what we're really left with is the general fund. This is where we have the most discretion in uh spending. uh most of your enterprise funds are are very specific and siloed

in and what those expenditures can or what those revenues can be spent on. Um we generally can't go outside of of those silos. Same with special revenue funds. So the most uh broad discretionary fund that we have available to us is that that general fund. And so just to set the stage for discussion and conversation today, this is the first time in the last several years that the city has not started the budget process uh while facing a general fund shortfall. And we should just take a moment and celebrate that uh that there was a a good year last year. Um and so we're anticipating continued uh progress and uh and seeing some of our revenue funds continue to grow. We drew down some fund balances and we've really been able to uh cobble together a budget that we think showcases um I've I've sort of framed the the budget around the idea of show me independence, right? Building upon the state of Missouri and Missouri being the show me state and this being the 250th year celebrating our nation's independence. Uh it was a a great opportunity to showcase that we can invest back into the organization and subsequently into the community. Uh while it it is minimal in certain areas, right, uh we want to be able to show that um when given an opportunity, we can be good stewards of taxpayer dollars uh and reinvest that back into the organization and the community. So, in one of one of those ways, we were able to provide a 3% increase across the board wage increase for nonrepresented employees. We also added an additional $143,000 uh for transportation service levels. Now, something of note is that is simply to sustain the current level of transportation service that we're

providing. Um, and so this does not at this point in time offer an opportunity to add any additional routes or lines or invest in any new uh equipment or u uh resources, but this does provide a a continued service level. Additionally, we have provided another $2.9 million uh for police and another $2 million for fire coming out of general fund. Uh that's in addition to the other revenue streams um sales and use taxes that are currently in existence uh for those two departments. We've also added $60,000 for property abatements. Um and we have allocated funding for four new positions uh as well as continued support for parks and wreck and animal shelter. Okay. So, uh, as we kind of showcase the revenues and expenses, uh, as it specifically relates to general fund, um, this is about a $92.3 million general fund budget. I won't belabor and read through all of these. These are all of the revenue streams that are contributing to that general fund. and subsequently on the expense side uh how we arrive at that same $92.3 million. As you can see the bulk of general fund is allocated and and dedicated to salary and benefits. Uh primarily a large portion of our overall operating budget is dedicated to wage and benefits uh but particularly general fund. So, as you can see, we have very little uh of actual general fund money that can be contributed to uh some of

the needs and and wants of the organization and community. But we were able to kind of set aside a few things. Again, I'll try to highlight some of those as we continue to walk through this. But one thing I want to point out here in particular is this $490,000 contingency. This is in response to the Jackson County uh property issue that we're all aware of. Uh and just assuring that we've set aside dollars for that. City manager, I have a question real quick. I'm looking at 2526. I'm looking at the transfers out. Uh start with the salary and benefits. We're going from 67.1 and 2425 and then 10.6 6 and 2526 and then back up to 68. Can you just possibly explain that? No, I appreciate uh you giving me an opportunity to highlight that. So last year uh the city tried something new from an accounting practice, right? And uh so what you're seeing on the screen in front of you is a transition back to probably a more traditional method of showing those general fund dollars. So last year city uh tried doing something um there were reasons behind that but you'll see that transfers out from the general fund. The city did two transfer out two transfers out. One to the fire uh sales and use tax fund and one to one of the police sales and use tax funds. And they did that in the context of trying to put operational expenditures, wages and benefits and under one sales and use tax fund rather than simply

trying to show that as funds that are going to fund that department but they're staying within the general fund. So, one of the things as I have come on and uh wanted to um try to to better showcase what those and and there will be some other slides that I'll highlight that on uh about how the sales and use tax proceeds are coming in and how it could be a little misrepresentative if you look at this year's budget because this year's budget shows that the transfer in from that general fund. Uh somebody might misconstrue some of those line items as actual revenue coming in from sales tax and that's not actually the case that that actually shows the the general fund transfers in. So it's not a there's not a right way, there's not a wrong way. This is truly just a preference of uh sort of budget philosophy, so to speak. And so after a long hard conversation, I I made the decision that uh I I prefer to see it this way. Uh showing how the general fund dollars are being allocated within each department rather than making those individual transfers from general fund into special revenue funds. Um again, it's just a sort of phil philosophical uh accounting practice. But what you see here, yes, last year, uh, only $10.6 million, for example, was allocated directly to salary and benefits. But for that transfer out of that approximately $65.4 million, had that transfer out not um had occurred, you would see those numbers almost inversed, which is why you see the FY2425 numbers more aligned with the FY2627 numbers. Hopefully I answered that well enough. So,

Mr. Mayor, proceed. Thank you. On page 11, does that organizational change? Is that what reflects in those statements there for the FY2627 with the proposed budget returns to the firing department budget to the general fund?

Yes. Sorry, I didn't have my budget book with me. I apologize. Yes, Pel, the reference is yes, that return to showing that general fund uh allocation to those two particular departments remaining in the general fund. But if you go to each one of those departmental u budgets, you can see how all of those revenue streams and all of those funding sources are still uh hold true. Okay. Uh the next slide is really an opportunity to kind of introduce that structural imbalance that I talked about, right? But for uh some of the new revenue streams that the the city may uh see the benefit of in coming years, right? Uh this just continues to show that if we're just looking at things like the sales and use tax, property tax, etc., um that we are structurally beneficial policy and plan looks like. and we'll continue to have that conversation here on uh in the coming weeks and months. But this is just an illustration showing what those revenues and expenses look like. But for some of those new revenue streams, this is another just illustration for folks uh to understand where their general fund tax dollars are going to. Right? This shows a breakdown um amongst departments showing that between police and fire, community development, parks and recreation, what percentage of each

dollar is going towards each of those departments. And so, uh at the same time, here's an opportunity to plant the seed, right, of this is probably not a a sustainable business model either, right? that when we start looking at some of our peer cities and uh what we call benchmarking around the nation, we're seeing more communities of our size and demographics in the 60 65%, right? Even on the high end, some cities going so far as as capping those revenue stream, those expenses for place at at 50% of their general fund, right? And so we we are not making any proposed changes as part of this budget cycle. and at this part of this budget. Uh but this is again just an opportunity to kind of show how what percentage of every dollar that goes into that general fund how it's being allocated amongst the organization. So here's another opportunity to kind of showcase what we were just talking about a little while ago. This is the special sales tax funds uh breakdown. And so you can see down there, for example, uh the fire protection sales tax fund 17 and the Prop PD sales tax fund 67. How in FY202, excuse me, in FY2425, how FY 2627 more closely aligns, it's that year, FY2526, the year that we're in right now, uh that you see kind of that that difference, right? And that again is just that accounting practice where we took general fund dollars and we put them into uh fund 17 and fund 67. And so it's a little uh misrepresentative perhaps of actual revenues that are coming in from those special sales taxes.

Similarly on the expenditure side you can see for example um up in the salary and benefit lines how 2024 25 and 26 27 are more closely aligned with that uh 2526 year um being the outlier in how those influx of general fund dollars were allocated towards salary and benefits. um whereby actual sales tax revenues would have been appropriated differently. I won't spend a whole lot of time on enterprise funds. Um again these are these are truly siloed in the context that uh any dollars that come into these enterprise funds power and light water sanitary sewer can only be spent on expenses directly associated with providing those programs and services. And so you can see a lot of that uh sideby-side comparison between revenues that are coming in and expenditures going out uh within each of those specific enterprise funds. I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have on those but generally those are pretty straightforward. Similarly on the expenditure side. Okay. And then shifting to the shifting to the internal service fund. Um this is where we're using a fund to centralize and allocate cost of shared support services across city departments. Um things like HR, communications, tech services, finance, right? These are shared uh services amongst all the departments. And so as those specific uh special revenue funds come in the interdep departmental to pay for some of those

programs and services that HR, communications, tech services, finance provide. So one of the things we've done this year to help respond to that is we have added $40,000 for a safety and compliance program. We've added uh 805,000 to authorize some new positions including a help desk team supervisor, a learning and development specialist, a procurement specialist 2, a budget analyst, an accountant one, an accountant manager, and a cyber security supervisor. Additional uh additionally, we've added $1.34 million in some capital expenditures. Mr. Mayor

proceed. Before we move into this one, I I wanted to uh kind of touch on what we had discussed earlier in regards to how some of this will uh dovetail into the conversation that was had about a month ago on risk management uh and the need to take that very seriously for kind of that physical uh responsibility going into the future.

Yeah, absolutely. So, the safety compliance program is specifically a response to we we've started having the conversation around risk management and uh how we need to better position oursel. This $40,000 again get allows us to start implementing some of the the programs and services that we need in order to start laying the groundwork uh to better prepare ourselves for responding to um lowering that risk in the future. So, yes, thank you for that. Okay, again, this just shows some of our use tax receipts. Pretty straightforward. Again, I won't belabor the line item uh numbers, but would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have. And in conclusion, um kind of real overarching two primary points. Um, and I'm just going to kind of read these. Generally, I don't like to read from the slide deck, but words matter. Um, so I'm going to kind of read these because I think these are the two overarching themes that have come to my attention over the last month that I've been here. Um, and that is is that the budget maintains those core city services while making targeted investments in public safety, neighborhoods, infrastructure support, internal operations, and organizational capacity. Right. These are the things where I think there's an opportunity to showcase that when given an opportunity, we can reinvest back into the organization. We can reinvest back into the community uh in really meaningful ways. Right? Given our limited resources that we do have available, I think we've tried to showcase that here a little bit today. Uh given an opportunity, I I think that we can be good stewards of those taxpayer dollars and we can reinvest them wisely. Uh secondly, and this is uh really the the springboard into some of our conversations in the coming weeks

and months, and that is because of the increased pilot payment in l of tax revenues. Um we've improved city's near-term financial position, but it's imperative to focus on long-term planning and the need to build a more sustainable funding strategy for the future. And with that, I will um kind of kind of highlight just a couple of upcoming events and activities. This first one is a community budget session on May 27th at the Midwest Genealogy Center. That'll be at six o'clock. And really, this is uh our opportunity to to showcase how we want to continue to engage with community, right? We have we've heard from folks as I have visited with individuals within the community. Uh we've heard from you all that you all want us to engage more with the community as it relates to the budget. Um and so while this is less of a a town hall, it'll feel a lot like a town hall. Um but it'll be less like a town hall and more of an opportunity to talk uh about sort of two things. Number one is just municipal budgeting 101, so to speak, right? Uh we'll continue to kind of highlight some of the the information in in this slide deck around um our our our structural imbalance about what percentages of your taxpayer dollars are going to fund what departments programs and services. But more importantly, we want to take that opportunity on the 27th to engage with community and really start seeking uh input from the community on how they see us engaging them in the near future. So as we really start planning not necessarily for FY 2627 but FY 2728 so next fall um

October, November, December we want to go out to community and we want to hold those more traditional town halls. I'd love to uh perhaps hold a town hall in each district as well as maybe a couple at large, right? Where we're truly engaging community where they are, seeking their feedback and their input on um those things that matter to them most and how those align with that overall strategic plan uh as we start developing that FY2728 budget. Uh but this is an opportunity to really start garnering feedback on how they prefer how the community prefers that we engage them to seek their input. Um with that being said, then uh the official budget presentation uh for this FY 2627 budget will be made on June 1st with the adoption anticipated for June 15, 2026. And with that being said, I will stand for questions. Mr. Mayor,

proceed. Mr. City Manager, I would like to request that we have an internal audit on um a few of our um different tax budgets and um go back to some of them aren't that old, but if we could go back to 10 years if they're that old or to what their inception is. And those would include public safety tax, um fire protection sales tax, the use tax, the marijuana sales tax, Prop PD sales tax, and the restaurant or hotel tax. I want to end.

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much. I know we talked a little bit about that earlier today. we'll be more than happy to go back and provide you an audit of each one of those sales and use tax funds, how those funds were uh distributed, and how those funds were spent. Um, again, we we'll continue to dive in and try to provide you the most appropriate and applicable information. It as far down into the line items as possible. every single penny we have no problem accounting for. Um we'll be more than happy to do that.

Thank you. And so will that be posted on the city website for people just to eventually? Yes. Just in the context of we're sort of um responding to this request as we speak, right? And so what the actual product will look like is something that we can continue to talk about um to make sure that you're getting the information that you're looking for. And so I'm sure there will be probably various iterations of what that that final product looks like, but absolutely we have no problem sharing any of that information. Thank you. Yep.

Mr. Mayor, proceed. To add on to that, may I suggest that with the that finished product that comes before the audit and finance committee for review and and further discussion and also public in input and comment if Absolutely. Yep. Mr. Mayor, proceed.

Thank you. Um just some overarching um questions. Um I was able to read the budget book. Um I I like some of the new format changes that we've done. I think it's um able I was able to highlight some of the departments in a really nice way. Um we added one of the new positions we added is in parks and the parks department and this person is going to apply for grants. Can you talk a little bit about um how we've lost grants this year and and maybe how that can help us going forward? Yeah, I will I'll try to answer that at a really high level and then I will turn that over to u our parks and recreation director uh to respond more specifically. But yes, it's my understanding that we have lost out on uh parks and rec uh grant opportunities in particular. And so this is an opportunity sort of a a beta test, right, to show that a position like this can not only uh go out and apply for and obtain specific grants for parks and recreation, but also pay for the position itself, right? And hopefully this is a beta test, a business model that we can also then duplicate into other departments. Uh, I think there's we're in a a little bit different environment. The grant dollars aren't as prevalent as they once were. Uh, they're they're a little bit fewer and far between than than they once were, but there's absolutely grant money out there and available to us, and we should be doing everything we can to try and increase our revenue streams. But with that being said,

and one of my questions today was, can the other departments utilize this um person? I think I think the answer was no. Unfortunately, this is going to be specifically limited to parks and recreation, but again, great beta test to showcase that um if this is done well, this is a model that we can duplicate within other departments and across the entire organization.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council. Morris Heidi, director of parks and recreation. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this position. We're very excited about the GAPS position and that's an acronym for grants, alliance, alliances, partnerships, and sponsorships. So, I want to make sure it's clear this isn't just about grants or applying for grants, but also these alliances, partnerships, and sponsorships. As we went through the parks and recreation master plan, this is one of the key takeaways. Uh most uh organizations of our size would have two or three individuals that would be specializing in this area. Not only funding, as our city manager mentioned, funding their own position, but then additional revenue for programs, activities, and events uh and and parks and recreation. So really covers those four main areas. And to your question about missing out on grant opportunities, we certainly have because we have not h had this position, but also have um we we've been able to u uh seek a few sponsorships, our uh Popsicles in the Park, if you remember last year, uh Blackburn Orthodontics, some other uh individual businesses in the community, but you know, very tentative steps in getting some opportunities for that going forward. So, we're really excited about getting a position on board and then opening up these opportunities to apply for grants, sponsorships, etc. as I mentioned. So,

thank you. And then, um, an investment in the CAD to CAD system. We did a study session on that last fall. Um, and that helps our dispatchers talk to AMR. Is that that was my understanding? That's correct. And then I noticed throughout the budget book that we're really targeting deferred maintenance across the board. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Yeah, absolutely. Again, this was an opportunity to take what little resources we had available to showcase that that we can go out and reinvest not only back within the organization but within the community. I I call it a a fix it first mindset, right? that um we we have a lot of community assets and um we can be good stewards of those assets and continue to fix it as long as it's within its uh useful life, right? We also have to and some of the other things you'll notice throughout the plan uh throughout the budget, right, is we're also starting to lay the groundwork though for strategic long-term equipment replacement plans, right? We again have a lot of aging infrastructure and so rather than continuing to invest in fixing it, unfortunately sometimes these things run their useful life and we have to replace them. And so how are we thinking holistically around a long-term uh equipment replacement and including assets but replacement program and plan?

Thanks. And then I noticed um 28,000 for the Star Chase system and it's my understanding that's going to outfit seven cars. Is that right? That's correct. And then I had the question about the 1 million for the 23rd Street safety. Um and just wondering if we can get more information on that. Yeah, I'm going to defer to Mike Jackson. Hold on just a second. We've had some incidents on 23rd Street with pedestrians being hit. Um,

so that will be coming out of the street sales tax. Excuse me, Mike Jackson, municipal services director. That'll be coming out of the street sales tax. However, it is 100% reimburseable. Okay. Through the hub shopping center. And can you outline that a little bit? The project? Sure. It's going to be from 20, let's see, along 23rd Street from uh Lee Summit Road to 291. There'll be ADA improvements, um some uh crosswalk improvements, streets, uh street lights, uh and some uh some light lighting uh crosswalks improvements on that, too. So, thank you.

And then we talked about this a little bit today. um independence residents living in poverty has grown from 12.4% last year to 17.9% this year. Can you talk about that?

Yeah, these are always uh hard numbers to to digest, right? Um we talked a little bit of uh we're going to continue to do a little bit of a deep dive just to um I always made make the saying right of trust but verify. We're going to go back and verify some of these numbers and make sure that uh that the resources and the information we're we're getting are are uh comparative to the information we've provided historically. However, with that being said, really really high level. Um it it probably doesn't surprise me, right? We know that u uh inflation is outpacing wage growth across the board uh whether you're in independence or in most communities across the nation. And so even if you have um uh individuals who are right on the cusp of again inflation if inflation itself if that's outpacing uh wage growth that could mean a matter of a couple of percentage points even on some of those numbers. So we appreciate you kind of highlighting that. We we're going to go do a deep dive uh into those numbers. And

Mr. city manager, if I may, I just brief update. Council, we did double check the source this afternoon. Um, and we get it off of the the census.gov. Um, and so what what we'll do next, so we have verified that the number was was correct, but I completely understand why we would ask. Um, and so what we'll do next is look to see was there a change in the threshold for reporting? Is there some other factor um that may also go to explain it? But um as city manager Anderson has said unfortunately I think with a combination of socioeconomic factors and inflation that unfortunately that number is not surprising. Then last question we talked today about the 16% unreserved fund. Can you talk about why that's important and why we would like to build on that and why it would it's good for the city to have that jump from 16 to say 20%.

Yeah, absolutely. Excuse me. So, right now we're maintaining that minimum 16%. Um, cities generally try and tuck away and establish a reserve that is appropriate uh for their operating expenses, right? Uh the those reserves have direct correlation to things like bond rating, right? Or our credit rating. And so, uh, if all of a sudden we drop below a certain percentage, now all of a sudden, uh, bond raers start to get concerned about our our fiscal health and our responsibility. And so, we can get downgraded. Those things, uh, have direct impact on things like interest rates, uh, for our borrowing power. And so making sure that we're continually having those reserves set aside um is is critical and important for for a whole slew of operational uh margins. But uh particularly what you might see across the nation, right, is something more like a 25%. Um equates to sort of a three-month operating reserve. We saw we saw COVID devastate um entire communities, right? Because they didn't have the operational reserves that that necessitated. Again, not anticipating another COVID, but that there's a prime example of how uh we set these dollars aside to asssure that we can continue to provide essential city services to our citizens. And the more money that we're tucking away, the the the better health we have for our budget and our business model. Uh there's also opportunities around those reserves for our investment policy. We'll talk a little bit more about our investment policy in coming weeks and months, right? How are we make how are we using these reserves in a way that's fiscally

responsible and then also provides an opportunity to grow our annual operating budget and invest back into the community. So, there's somewhat of a twofold reason why cities should think about making sure that their reserves are right sized. Yep. Mr. Mayor,

so first I just want to thank city staff uh for doing this. Uh we've got three new members up here. We have a new city manager uh all under a month. Um not that you've only been working on this for a month, obviously. Um but the flexibility that you all have shown uh has been tremendous. So, thank you. Um, I wanted to talk about um, and I'm surprised Councilwoman Wy did not bring this up, 75,000 for the shelter. Um, so I I just wanted to see if uh, Christina may come up here and explain the importance of that uh, additional allocation.

Christina Heinen, Health and Animal Services Director for the City of Independence. So, as many of you know who have been out to visit the shelter, our turf has taken a beating over the years. The um average lifespan for AstroTurf, I'm told, is about 10 years. This turf was installed back in 2012 and hasn't been replaced at all. Um, we have done our best to literally duct tape and clip this back into place, nail it back into place as we can, but the dogs are active and the sun is hard on it and they play they play hard out there and they rip it up and so we've done our best, but it is it really desperately needs to be taken care of. Um, it needs to be taken care of not only for aesthetics. You know, people are out in the yards, they're meeting the animals there. We want them to know that we care and we take care of this property, but it's also we have to clean it on a regular basis to prevent the spread of parvo and other diseases. If it's ripped up and it's torn, you can't maintain it and you can't keep it sanitized like it should be. So, it's really important for us to get this taken care of.

Gotcha. Thank you. Um, you can always volunteer at the shelter as well. Um, also wanted to see if Morris may want to come up here again. probably already know where I'm going with this. Um, with the parks grant writer, um, you know, we have discussed, uh, the importance, uh, of making sure our parks are inclusive for children with disabilities. I just wanted to give you an opportunity to explain the difference between um kind of the barebones ADA compliance that all parks have to comply with and the difference between that and being a truly inclusive park and how important that would be for our city.

Yeah, great question. So, uh I think everybody's aware in case you're not though McCoy Park, we have an inclusive playground at McCoy Park. Uh if you recall, that was about 15 years ago. Uh we partnered with the Cal Ripken Foundation, Variety KC to put that uh park in place and we're very proud of that facility. Excuse me. Most of our other parks um fall under the category there's actually five or six different criteria for sensory skills, other uh uh you know um applications for a playground to make sure that they're uh in inclusive in as many ways as possible. With all of our playgrounds, we try to cover at least a minimum uh number of bases. I think there's only two or three, can't remember off the top of my head, playgrounds that don't have any, and those are some of our oldest playgrounds. But any of the newer playgrounds we're installing at least have some components that are that make them ADA compliant in those categories. not anywhere near the level of a inclusive play playground like at McCoy Park as you mentioned. But so we would love to in the future as we uh replace playgrounds obviously go to a much higher level. Uh but that being said, the other challenge we face is actually the logistics of the sites. Many of the the locations where playgrounds are located do not have ADA parking, do not have ADA uh sidewalks to those locations. So it's it's even broader beyond the actual playground itself. if it's it's more of a sight specific issue in some circumstances, but um certainly an issue we're very cognizant of, but again, it's just the challenges of of the funding that we currently have. So,

thank you. Anybody else? Any questions? I have a couple if you don't mind. Sure. I'm going to go back. Um, one of them was on the 490,000 contingency plan. And I want to make sure I understand this because this has something to do with personal property taxes through the county. Can you just explain this to me so I understand where this, you know, 490,000 contingency is is coming from.

Yeah. So, I'm gonna defer to my our budget manager U Alex here in just a second to elaborate, but really high level, right? This is the the Jackson County property tax issue uh that is affecting cities and taxing jurisdictions, school districts throughout Jackson County as those uh funds were collected. Uh the suggestion is in the lawsuit was that they were uh overassessed and subsequently overcolcted and so therefore all the taxing jurisdictions are are left subsidizing and so uh more specifically we know and understand that there have been funds that have been taken already in order to compensate for that. But I'm I'm going to defer to Alex for a a more articulate answer than what I can give you at that high level.

I think that was a pretty good explanation. But uh to to drill down specifically, we are concerned based on communication that we have received from Jackson County and based on actions that they have taken already that they will we use the term clawback funds where they literally take funds from the municipalities as part of this process and as part of what they have decided to do to uh create restitution for the property tax situation. Um for us unfortunately for the that amount is sort of based on some estimates. The 490 of what we've heard could potentially be clawed back. It may be more than that. It may be less. We're trying to budget conservatively there. Um and unfortunately for us that's a good chunk of change and the departments that it would affect the most would likely be parks and animal services because it will impact those levies. And as you can see in the budget book and through the city manager's presentation, um there's not a lot of flexible funds for those departments, that would be a serious hit. So we are making a difficult decision to put more back in reserves in the event that something like that happens. So those departments are taken care of. is do you know if there's a time frame I mean on this um moving forward on so I'll answer it the high this is a three-year uh that so this is going to occur over the next three years so unless something happens in the short term that uh uh provides us with more information on exactly how this is going to play out over the next couple of years based on the information that we have available to us today knowing and understanding that the county is in flux uh at this point. We don't anticipate that we're going to see or hear anything new in the coming weeks or months. Um but with that

being said, based on the information we have available to us today, we know that this is about a three-year repayment schedule. And so this is just 490,000 for this fiscal year. And we'll have to continue to address this in out years. I just I got one more question. So I you know we were going through this. I saw 3% increase for nonre represented um employees. Um can you tell me what the cost of living increases has been this year so far?

So during this budget cycle we did a 3.25% 25% cost of living adjustment uh in the FY2526 budget. That was from what I understand the largest cost of living adjustment that the city had ever done. Um again, so this year also trying to strike that balance between not only putting money in the pockets of those folks uh who are working and uh members of the community and of this organization. But there's also needs within the department. We tried to strike that balance to to improve their overall working conditions um and give them a little bit of a sense of ownership and pride and sort of coming to work each and every day and get and responding to some of the deferred maintenance needs and those kind of things. And so it's just a matter of trying to strike the balance between those two goals and and objectives. So, I I mean I I really think the city employees are very important and we appreciate the work that they do every day.

Agreed. I would hope moving forward that instead of just meeting a a cost of living increase that we could even a 1% from 3 to 4%. Is it possible we could look at this six months down the road and make adjustments?

Yeah. Uh we're we're going to do a midyear it's almost inevitable. We will always do a midyear budget adjustment. And so fast forward six months from now, right? Uh we're going to we're going to know exponentially more information. We're going to know how the budget is shaking out within departmental operational. There's things we're just never going to be able to anticipate. And so as we as we approach that u mid uh term budget adjustment, we can absolutely take that under advisement. Thank you. Any other questions, Mr. Mayor? Proceed.

Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Well done. Great job on your first uh presentation and good job on your first 30 days here. So, you're hitting the ball really well. So, good job of that. And thank you to the Alex and and Melissa and your staff. They're putting this together and your leadership team. A lot of time, a lot of hours going into this on top of everything else that's taking place. Mr. Langford, we've been talked about it for a little bit here. We finally got you administrative help. So, thank goodness we have that locked in. You know, the the city as we move forward and we develop you how we take money. I'm not going to be exhaustive on how we bring money into the city to where we can do things with it, but growing our tax base through economic development, whether it's Greenfield development, rather through its u revitalization, which is kind of Councilwoman Va and and myself side of town on the west side of town, it's economic uh revitalization, neighborhood stabilization. So continuing to work on the needs on the independent square to bring that re revitalization still going be in a partnership with the mid-continent public library bill with Copen and Brooks. Uh looking forward to uh 35 room boutique hotel that will be brought to the uh Independent Square that brings tourism, brings development, brings people who spend money here. Um, side note, they're making a continual um, um, regional conversation. My wife was in Topeka about three weeks ago during a housing summit. She works in Kansas and Englewood was brought up. It was brought up because they are now how does art support neighborhoods? How does support arts support neighborhood stability and revitalization? So, it's good to see them hitting the regional scene uh, more aggressively.

We will continue moving with and supporting the uh friends of Englewood theater. They've acquired the old building as we know. There's been some exciting movement with that. There's been some good exciting movement with the five and dime. Council uh men Atkinson has been helping and working with IATSI. That's the international alliance of the theatrical stage employees possibly looking to to move their headquarters here. That's 200 individuals. Um that is a proposed thing that we're looking at. Not only will they bring those types of jobs here, that'll bring that stability and that'll bring that tax base here. Fairmont, we're finishing up on the uh final phase of 24 highway complete streets working with community improvement district there and also Mr. city manager. We'll talk about a little bit more tomorrow, but we're having a community discussion and and Councilman Atinson is going to be a part of that um to help bring those ideas and how can we make city hall more accessible to our Latina community. So, there are a lot of things that take place working to make people want to spend money, be attracted to the city of independence, and develop ourselves. So, those are some of the things that we try to do to fill our gap. This is my speech I give every budget year. We don't have a money tree out back, but we try to do things in the economic development to bring people here. So, well done today, Mr. City Manager.

Thank you so much. Any other discussion? Mr. Mayor, proceed. One last thing. When will this budget book be available to the public? So, this budget book is available online as we speak and so uh feel free to access it. We also have copies that are available here in the city clerk's office that are viewing for the general public. So, if you don't have access uh online um or don't have the resources necessary to access it online, we do have budget books here in municipal commons that are accessible. People can come and peruse.

Thank you. I just of all the things I mean it's a 250 page document but it's a really important document and there's no cliffnotes so in order to understand the budget you really have to read the whole thing so I would encourage anybody who's in you know if this is important to you if you have questions you you got to go through the the budget book thanks any further discussion all All right. Well, thank you for your presentation and u look forward to seeing how we're going to move forward with this. Thank you all so much. Thank you guys. Meeting adjourned