City Commission - Regular Meeting

We talked about that already.

Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to today's workshop. Today, we began, I guess, the special fiscal year, but before, I want to thank each and every one of you all for being part of this. I know we have a great team, and we always do very well in the budgets. And I know this is just a little bit different. We're fortunate. We're more fortunate than a lot of the cities around us. We are doing very well. But I do want to thank him. I wanted to also mention that we're missing somebody on our left. A little old lady that was always here, very civic-minded. Let's make sure the rest of the kids. Let's proceed.

All right. Okay, Mayor. Thank you. I'm sorry. I was just reflecting there for a second and taking a minute to figure out who's going to do the recap when we finally ask you all to adopt something. So I'll have to figure that out. Well, thank you very much, Mayor. What we have for you today is a general overview of what the next couple of days and workshops will look like. Thanks. You know, when we approach the budget, and I added a few slides this year, so you'll have to bear with me as we get through this presentation, but we always start from the premise that we want to make sure we're preparing and working asking you to consider a balanced budget. And so the budget we present to you for your consideration does have revenue over expenses. We want to make sure that as we're working through the budget process that the departments receive the funding that they need to make sure that the services that the city delivers meet the expectation of our residents. We want to make sure that we're able to sustain the integrity and responsiveness of all city functions. And there, as you said, we view ourselves as the economic driver of the Rio Grande Valley. And so we want to make sure that our budget establishes, continues to establish our position as the civic leader of the region. Some highlights to the budget. We are recommending an adjustment to the property tax rate. That is roughly three pennies. And we'll explain the basis for that in the coming slides. Some additional highlights for you to see. Last year's budget was $578 million. The budget we proposed to you this year is an ambitious $622 million budget. When I came in as your city manager in 24, we adopted a budget that the commission and management before me looked at. Last year, we wrote a budget that focused on making sure that we caught up and provided our workforce adjustments that they needed to meet the challenges of an economy that was changing and a little bit more expensive for them. And this year, our real focus is getting back to developing capital projects and improvements for the city that will continue to drive value and make McAllen a very attractive place to work and live in the valley. So you'll see $240 million in proposed capital projects as opposed to the $221 million last year. We've got in the budget that you have in the books before you today a recommendation for seven new employees in all funds. I can tell you that by the time we get through this workshop, we will be asking you to consider some additional enterprise positions. And so we'll work through that. over the next couple of days. General fund ending balance of $110 million. That is over the fund balance from the end of the year 25-26 budget. And total of all funds ending balances of $352 million. General fund revenue, as I told you, over expenses at $1.6 million. 242 days of working capital. That is 102 days over our required minimum of 140 days, funding over $9 million in general fund departments out of $22 million in requests that they asked us to consider. We propose or estimate $103 million in total sales tax collection. Mayor, I certainly hope I don't let you down in another state of the city. $26 million in development corporation revenue. And it's always exciting to see sales tax reduce the property, the burden on the property tax rate by nearly 19%. We do continue to fund CIP, True, sales tax, Insight, and gas royalties, street maintenance continuing. We continue to invest in street repaving and maintenance at $3.6 million. We know that roads, drainage, basic infrastructure is very important to our residents, and so we will continue our investments in the basics of what municipalities do. I put an asterisk there because I will tell you that when we get to Thursday and CIP, I have a long-term CIP program that we've worked with our financial advisors to put together that I will be asking you to consider. This next slide is a page that has a bunch of numbers on it that you can't see, but the good thing is if you look in your presentation books under the General Fund tab, it is the first tab there. This is the overview of the city's revenue and appropriations, which were summarized on the page that we just looked at. General fund, well, I like to show you every year when we do this a five-year trend. So beginning fund balance in 23-24 is $78 million. Proposed ending fund balance this year or in the coming budget at $108.5 million. million total revenues, you're going to see a decrease in revenue between 25, 26, and 26 and 27. That is not something we have seen for some time. And that is due largely in part to significant changes that were made at the legislature, allowing additional exemptions and valuations that were very low this year. Ending working capital, we estimate this year at $110 million, like I said, 242 days over our required 140 minimum. And I would highlight, I had this line added to the slide, which is the slide you see every year, and that is the continued growth in the daily income operating costs of the city. And so each of those days of capital reserves equals the $455,000. General fund dollars, just to see it another way, you can see in 2018 we carried about $170 million up to where we are in proposed 27-28. You'll see in 2020 we had the first of the CARES Act infusions. Those monies were set aside at the instruction of the city commission to take on some capital improvement projects. We are about finished. with the projects that those monies were allocated to. And so the money that you see now in the fund balance no longer includes any of that money. This slide is, again, a graphic that shows sales tax and ad valorem tax growth over a 10-year period. So you can see where McAllen was in 2016, where we are going into 2027. We are estimating last year, if you'll recall, I estimated sales tax flat last year, just didn't know where the economy was going. After observing this year and the flurry of activity that we continue to see, we did budget conservatively 2% on sales tax this year. Where we are going to see nominal change is in the ad valorem with the valuations that we saw this year. This is another way of looking at sales tax and property tax. Just to show you the year-over-year changes, these are reports that you see on a regular basis as they're made available. In 2006, McAllen accounted for approximately 50% of the region's sales tax. You will see that in 2026, that is down to about 37%. And the areas there, cities there at the bottom of the page are what are incorporated by the cities. You can see in 2006, McAllen's 50% share of the regional sales tax was about $50. million and you can see in 2025 at 36 percent of the region that that value was up to i'm sorry mayor i let you down just shy of 100 million dollars in sales tax revenue um so um Tax cover page, again, this is showing the breakdown of the proposed tax rate. We'll take questions on that in a minute. This graphic shows you historically where our tax rate sat in 2021-22. We started to see that drop. And that was probably a responsible decision to make as the city received the CARES Act infusion and had money to fund capital projects and before the legislature made changes to how valuations would be assessed. We are recommending in light of those changes that we adjust the tax rate to the Pre-Cares Act, still lower than Pre-Cares Act amount, but one that will sustain the city's operations long term. This graphic shows the total certified tax values net of freeze rate. And this graphic shows, again, a 10-year historical breakdown in the tax rate, M&O, and INS. And so you can see what makes up the money or how the money that is collected through the tax is allocated. The majority of what's collected here is maintenance and operations. And I handed you a sheet when you walked in. That outlines the city's debt obligations there at the top of the page, which rest at roughly $100 million. Our obligation to service that debt is roughly $5 million a year, give or take some pennies. And so you can see that the INS rate is a very nominal component of the tax rate. This next slide is a breakdown of expenditure increases over a 10-year period. Again, general government proposed a trend down slightly in 27. We continue our emphasis in making sure we adequately fund public safety, streets, highways, health, welfare, and a priority in culture and recreation. One of the things I did this year was take the directors through a discussion of credit rating and why the budgeting process is so important to the credit rating that the city enjoys. And right now, McAllen sits at a double A+. Unfortunately, we have seen other municipalities not far from us downgraded. But that credit rating isn't just a badge of honor that we wear. It translates directly in dollars to the rate at which we can, if we need, borrow money and is a reflection of our fiscal stewardship. The rating agency looked at us on an annual basis. Fitch looked at us this year. Our budget process is evaluated. Again, this is significantly more than an accounting exercise for us, but I am pleased to report to you that this year Fitch sent me an email letting us know that they affirmed our AA plus rating with just an email and no required interview. We do target modest growth in the city, and so the budget we proposed to you right now is sitting between 4% and 5% growth. This is important to the credit rating agencies. They want to know the spending is controlled, the growth is controlled, and every decision is disciplined so that the decisions that we're making are sustainable for 20 or 30 years. They're waiting. And we approach this with a mindset of one-time revenue to fund one-time expenses and recurring revenue to fund recurring obligations. And what I ask the departments to consider this year when they're making their requests is can you afford this today and can we afford it every year if you buy it today? We talked about lower borrowing costs. Just again to highlight the six categories that were scored on, economic strength, financial performance, management, debt liabilities, institutional framework, and governance and risk. Things that are attributed to economic strength include population growth, employment trends, industrial investment, major employers, and diversification. As you know, we very actively engage in economic development scouting. We were very, very proud to see Valeo decide to plant their flag here in McAllen. We know that that decision has led to conversations with Businesses both north of us and south of us looking to relocate to be close to what Valeo's operations are doing here. And that decision is significant. Having advanced manufacturing move to the area and support global industry is incredibly important to us. Financial performance is obviously the single most important category that the rating agencies look at. Are our budgets balanced? Do we have operating surpluses? Do our funds balance? Et cetera, et cetera. You know, in the notes I've read about several municipalities and their grades, their downgrades recently, the rating agencies noticed inter-fund loans to make the budget appear balanced and lack of fiscal restraint. Again, the highlights, is it essential, is it recurring, and if it is, is it sustainable? They'll look at management, how we approach developing the budget, what our financial forecasting looks like, policies. We have a very robust investment policy, for example, internal controls. I sit next to two people here today without whose help. I need to pause for just a second and say that this budget wouldn't be in front of you. So to Sonya and Angie, thank you for all of your support in putting this document together. But they're also an integral part of the internal controls. Budget requests, budget changes, reclasses, amendments don't happen if you can't get through Angie. You know, GASB has updated their rules this year, changes to the budgets. Budget amendments are going to require significant additional documentation. And so those journal entries are managed by Sonia and the two ladies sitting, flanking me right now, do an incredible job at what they do. So thank you both. And again, the message to the department says, you know, bring us bad news early so we can help you manage it. And if you deliver it late, well, get ready for financial problems. Debt is obviously something that credit agencies look at, debt per capita. What is our future borrowing plan? Can we handle the debt we have, retiree health obligations? As you saw, McAllen's INS rate is very, very low. For a municipality our size with a budget our size, we hardly carry any debt. We pay our way. We're very, very proud of that fiscal restraint. But again, the recurring theme is Can we comfortably afford our obligations? I think the overwhelming answer to that question is and will continue to be yes. institutional framework. We don't have a whole lot of control over that. The state government tells us how we can operate, but one of the things we do have to do is make sure we follow the law. And my Padawan over here, Austin, I'm very proud to have him as our city attorney, and he is an incredible resource in helping us make sure that we're complying with our obligations. Lastly, this was the category of scrutiny that I looked at hardest last year when I was working on the first budget because there were significant changes. We had turnover on the city commission. You had turnover in the city manager's office. You had turnover in the finance director's office. And we wanted to make sure that we proved to the rating agencies that despite that, that McAllen was very, very stable and steadfastly following the instructions of the city commission at the time and those that came prior to them. And so to get the letter from Fitz that they were affirming us without an interview, we were very, very happy to see. So, again, as we work through this and show you, every budget request matters. We want to know, is it essential? Is it sustainable? Does it improve our efficiency? I'll pause there for a second. One of the conversations I had with the management team when we were considering new positions is, before you come and say, I need a new body, my question is, is that body functioning as efficiently as it can, and is there something we can give it to make it more efficient? Because sometimes technology... responsible technology can go a long way in eliminating the strains on people's jobs. So we've been fortunate here in McAllen that we've always been conservative in the staff that we're adding. I come from the private sector, and so variable costs are a big ally of mine. And turning variable costs into recurring or fixed costs is something that we very much try to avoid. I won't linger on this because it's not an issue for McAllen, but there are entities that are downgraded from time to time, and if you're curious to know things that might lead to that, that's what's on the screen there. Again, you know, think beyond. This, again, was the message to the department. Think beyond yourself, but the overall organization as a whole when you're making requests. McAllen's budget is our annual declaration of our fiscal discipline, preserves flexibility to invest in our people, our infrastructure, and our future. And that was really the guiding principle that we used to approach this year's budget. And so having gone through that, we'll get to what this year's budget shows. This is a summary of the general fund and my recommendations. Our operating budget exclusive of a COLA for employees increases by 3.8%. We engaged in a compensation study a couple of years ago and have programmed a 3% COLA should the city commission deem it's appropriate. If we do adopt a 3% COLA, that would increase the budget by 4.8%. We have 96 budget funds, and Angie single-handedly and Sonia account for all of them. It's an easy job. You could do it with your eyes closed. I could. As you can see, anticipated revenues of $170 million, expenses of roughly... $169 million in revenues over expenses of $1.6 million, leaving us 242 days of working capital. General fund departments, I showed you a slide earlier. The general government is broken down by the departments there on the left. Public safety includes police, animal care, the radio shop, fire, traffic operations, building inspections and permits. Highways and streets include the engineering department, street maintenance, street lighting, sidewalks, construction and drainage, health and welfare, code compliance, graffiti cleaning. And then cultural recreation, all the fun departments, parks administration, parks, recreations, pools. We're fortunate to live here in South Texas. It's almost a year-round activity. And don't forget to visit our libraries. They are really awesome. Enterprise funds include the Sanitation Fund, the golf course where we are today, the Convention Center, the Performing Arts Center, the airport, the transit terminal Metro McAllen, the toll bridges and internal service funds, Fleet, which does a tremendous job maintaining the panoply of vehicles we have. I'm going to give a little shout-out to the Fleet Department here. I know there are a couple of guys across the room there who will be glad to hear this. We had a couple of our reserve fire trucks or frontline fire trucks that wound up with some challenges this weekend. We were down to no reserve trucks, and your fleet department was able to get the frontline equipment back up and running in literally a matter of hours, considering it was over a weekend. So really good job, guys. They do a tremendous job keeping the fleet running. General depreciation there, health insurance, retiree health, workers' comp, and the property and casualty program, city attorney's office runs. General fund revenues by source, so sales tax accounts for about 43% of our revenue. Property tax, about 36%. Charges for services, 4%. Franchise fees, 4%. Licenses and permits, investment earnings, transfers in, and other revenues, 6%. You can see what those are. We are, as I've mentioned at several city commission meetings at the Audit Investment Committee, very actively engaged in taking all of the reserves that we have available to us and making sure that they're working for us constantly. If there's $2 million available to invest and we can do it safely, we certainly want to do that at 4%. If we can turn that into $100,000 in interest earnings, well, that allows us to more easily enhance parks or provide other benefits for the city. General fund expenditures, you can see we still focus about 50% of general fund revenue to public safety. We have both the police chief here and the fire chief here. Chief, you've got your night out tonight, right? 7 o'clock. The police department does a tremendous job. Mayor, you're always proud of how safe this community is, and our hat's off to the men in blue. The fire department, very, very active fire department. I've tried to send you all notifications more recently of when they're out doing what they do. But our rescue crews are amazing. This weekend, I know they were amazing. In addition to responding to the raise we had this weekend, responding to grass fires, house fires, rescuing dogs, rescuing cats, all the cliches that you might think of, but they do it in a way. And the fire department and police department, all the employees of those departments are some of the most beloved employees we have. So congratulations, gentlemen. You guys do a tremendous job. Okay, getting down to business now. We did have requests, as I mentioned, for employees recommending five new employees. And the General Fund Department, Office of Communications, we have a new director in that department. Those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting Irma Chapa, and that's impossible. She is doing a tremendous job with that department and bringing in-house a lot of the work that for a number of years was outsourced. And so we definitely want to support that transition and the continued growth of that department with two photojournalists, traffic department, We know that from the feedback we get from our citizens that traffic is very, very important to them. And so I don't know if Marlene is scheduled to present, but you might hear from her. We are recommending a deputy director in that department that will certainly aid in some software management, integrating some design, and helping to improve some of the efficiencies that our citizens want. Engineering, Eduardo, here to my right, runs a tremendous book, and it's about to get bigger this year, and hopefully bigger over the next couple of years. We're adding a designer to his team. Quinta Mazatlan, we've got one employee, an accounting supervisor there that is intended to both oversee the work at Quinta Mazatlan in the queue. And as we present over the next couple of days, we are going to recommend to you that we bring on six more employees. We've got the queue set to open soon, probably in the next couple of weeks, maybe a month or so. And we need to make sure that as we move into operating there that we've got staff ready to make that building operational. Operation Coordinator being added at the Convention Center. I think Dehida's trying to hide in the corner over there, but she does some 800-plus events over there a year, and an extra set of hands will certainly add to efficiency there. And at the Toll Bridge, an Assistant Director of Bridge Administration. So the departments this year brought to me modest requests for $21.8 million in additional appropriations. After meeting with them and working with them, we agreed that, for the most part, $9.1 million were absolutely essential. There were 31 positions in the general fund requested, as I said. We're recommending five, and a 3.8% increase to appropriations. The next several pages, and I'll scroll through these. I will show you the total recommendation per department. City Commission, you'll notice a significant amount of money allocated to City Commission. That is where we budget for elections. just so the commission and the public are aware. And about $250,000 of that number is possible cost of future elections. We won't know exactly what that is until they're called and see what the breakdown looks like and what McAllen's share will be. But we want to certainly make sure that we are appropriately budgeted. Like I said, budget amendments in the future will not be prohibited, but they will require a significant amount of new explanation that was not previously required. City Manager's Office, $120,000. International Relations, $36,000. City Secretary, $39,000. Audit, vitals, passports. You'll see Municipal Court documents actually voluntarily reduced their appropriations this year. Finance, likewise. Management and budget. Tax office. Where's Becky? Tax collector, in case anybody wants to know who to take. Purchasing department. There's Jerry here. City attorney's office. grants. Is Julia here? I know I saw Julia. Julia's done a tremendous job working on our grant compliance and making sure our funding ratios stay in order. She's done a really, really outstanding job over the last year. and really elevating what we're doing, securing EDA opportunities. And so just super proud of what's going on in the grants department. Likewise, human resources. Christy last year agreed to take on civil service and increase their workload there. And Christy, we thank you for that. Planning department, is Omar here?

Yeah, that's him.

Oh, you're behind me. Am I talking fast enough, Omar? The only guy I know who can talk about 1,000 parcels at a time in about 45 seconds. But they have a lot of work that flows through the Development Center, and Omar understands our priorities and why getting projects moved through the Development Center as quickly as possible. is important to us. Information technology, we live in a very complicated world that Robert simplifies for us. So Robert, despite the arm wrestling we do on a daily basis, we do appreciate everything you do for the city. And in fact, he's taken on to lend to some of our efficiencies managing software that used to be procured by individual departments, taking it on, working with departments, making sure that they're purchasing only what they need to be purchased, and actually has identified some Fairly significant ways for a city to reduce unnecessary spending and, again, increase our efficiencies. We've talked a little bit about Office of Communications and why you see an increase there. 311 call center. I don't know if Marco is here, he's not here, but I call there or use the app probably every day and they do a tremendous job at handling a very large volume of calls that comes in and communicating with our citizens. Building maintenance, development center, that's mostly insurance adjustments and some postage. Police department, we've got some capital outlay, server upgrade, some intersection cameras, and you'll see there adjustment for health insurance. There's also on an annual basis per our CBA adjustment to police and fire salaries, so just keep in mind that those are contractual. and those are plugged in without negotiation. Animal care, we need adding a bee sprayer, some cacti poles and nets to help them. The radio shop, as you know, we just upgraded all of our police, fire, and emergency management radio systems, and the radio shop was responsible for coordinating the rollout and programming of that. Not equipment.

Fire department. I apologize for interrupting. I know I remember asking some years ago and back when Commissioner Oldmont was here, where it says other. Let's say for the police, other services and charges. Does the actual budget on the USB that we have, does it drill down specifically to what those items are? Okay, I just want to be sure that that's available, not just for us, but for the general public so they know specifically what items are being put in. It's just not a job. I try not to sit it on this vermo, because if I did, it would look like that one page with the numbers that you can't see. Got it. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Fire department, self-contained breathing apparatus, rescue vehicles, Chief Lordy and I, Arm wrestled over equipment. We know that we've got needs in terms of apparatus for his operations. Definitely need to be supportive of that with the Section 108 loan that he just applied for. We freed up some money from another vehicle that we would have had to purchase. And so over two years, we're going to be able to secure two apparatus for him instead of one. Chief, that may not be reflected here yet. We'll get to that in your presentation because this was prepared before you and I talked. emergency medical services, traffic operations. Marlene is here. We've got a new deputy director of physician and some equipment that she needs to keep traffic moving here. Building permits and inspections, mostly health insurance adjustments there. Engineering, we've got a new physician, some capital outlay, some software and equipment that they need. Street maintenance, anti-pack roller, street lighting, sidewalks, drainage, continue to invest in... drainage projects and maintenance. I know that the radio-controlled mower was not something that I was very interested in purchasing until Ms. Alveda and Robert convinced me that that wasn't just a remote-controlled car, but would actually make our drainage system function much better and would be a much safer way for staff to approach that. So thank you for the education there. Coast appliance, like we said, the fogger, the vector sprayer, surveillance cameras, those cameras are very handy when we've got challenging areas of our city, and I appreciate Michelle and her departments when those calls come in and getting those deterrence devices out there. Graffiti, pause there for a second. We've talked about streets. We've talked about the general periods of McAllen. I think I said this in a meeting yesterday, but I'll say it again. Somebody said, y'all should invest in monument signs for McAllen so when people come from the northwest, east, and south, they know we're here. The mayor happened to be with me when that comment was made, and I'll echo his remarks. You don't need signs to know you're in McAllen. You just know the streets are really, really good. And so we do invest as much as we can in making sure that McAllen is – well, we'll just say that McAllen shops.

Well, the survey – The resident survey that we took indicated that traffic and the quality of the streets and drainage, those are the top three in their concerns that we need to keep up with, that's important to them. So as he mentioned earlier, traffic and the quality of the streets is very important. And people do say that. They know when they get to McDonald's.

And I want to make sure the public knows that we hear them and that that is, you know, the basics of our infrastructure is at the core of what we do before we do anything else. I'll point out that we are buying free chainsaws for the Parks Department. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny.

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Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny.

Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny. Be nice to Jenny Like I said, we've got the new accounting supervisor, a revision to the events coordinator position, a library, some picnic tables and outdoor seating for the community centers. And our overall recommendation with respect to general fund, we'll get to agencies in a separate category, but our overall recommendation on funding agencies was a small reduction of a couple hundred thousand dollars. And so that's the breakdown of the $9 million in appropriations that we believed were appropriate over last year's budget. Capital projects, $119 million, broken down by fund. Infrastructure, the convention center has an incredible feature on its way. Bus terminal. Yeah, and if you're... I don't know if you can see that, but Commissioner's in your book on the next page. There's a breakdown of what those projects are. Happy to talk about any of them specifically. I'm going to go back to this slide because it's a little easier to see them. Airport CIP, City Hall is moving along there.

Can I ask one question that I don't see? I mean, as we get study coming in, Where is it that we might potentially be allocating some funding for any work that we'll need to do downtown?

That's not built in yet. We've got another meeting with the consultants to decide what that's going to look like. And once we have a better plan on what we want to invest in, we'll budget for that at that time. But it's difficult for me to budget something that I can't explain yet. We, like I said, have sought, I don't know if Mario's here, but I think it was a $12 million grant from FTA to help us with sidewalk improvements, rerouting traffic. We've got the circulator running. We've got parks looking on plans for the planters. I know Public Works will be involved in that, fixing the sidewalks. We know that we want to incorporate shade structures, seating, and then I know Becky's here somewhere. Rebecca's there across the table from us looking at making sure that we're allocating sufficient money to refresh buildings and programs downtown to encourage reinvestment. And further, I know that James Alexander is here, but further discussions that he and I have had, part of the economic effort or development effort that we make also involves working with outside investors who have an interest in relocating to McAllen. And we actually had the opportunity, I'm happy to talk to you about it after the meeting, with some groups that are interested in putting what we think will be a real benefit to specifically the 17th Street area, but will certainly be a draw to traffic downtown generally and will support retail. So enhancements at Archer Park may be appropriate. We just don't know until the commission gives us more direction. So that's coming, but not forgotten.

Great. So if that can happen this year, we're amending the budget. Absolutely. And specifically, like, Allocate the money. Right. So typically to that is an area based on the recommendations, obviously the input from the downtown parts, and then obviously focus that that money remains and the boundaries are going to be created or recommended by the state. That's right. Good answer. Thank you very much. Yeah, that's right. Thank you. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Development Corporation, we went over this budget with the Development Corporation yesterday, but recommending appropriations, $35, $27 million, that includes funding for agencies, street improvements, drainage, other projects.

Looks like we're going to have to commission.

This is a breakdown of recurring development corporation expenses that we pay on an annual basis from there. And there on the right side of the page, you can see local agencies that are supported by the development corporation, Boys and Girls Club, Comforthouse, Lifshond, STC, DITA, A&M.

Dukakos, for example, on the left side of the screen, D.E. Leinster, Capital Plot, December 3rd. On the 2nd, That's because it's $3 million appropriate for the airlines if it's even unusable. Correct. It's just what they maybe historically or pass it out. Correct.

As we've worked through airline development, we may or may not use that money, but it's their conversations with the airlines. I know Jeremy has them on a regular basis, but we'll get into the specifics of all of that on Thursday. Okay. Again, these are just overviews. All of these will be discussed in more detail over the next couple of days, but the Convention Center Fund resources of 10.6 and ending working capital of 4.7 appropriate this month. Yeah, it's tomorrow. That's right. Performing Arts Center.

Let's see, you know, the mayor is holding each year a 45-minute demonstration. We've got two minutes to do it.

I told him I was going 18 slides over this year. The next, I don't remember how many pages it is in your book. I think we're pretty much at the end. If there are any funds that you want to specifically talk about, we're happy to take them. But you've got a page for all 96 budget funds.

Very good.

I think you'll make sure we... Yes, sir. So actually, one of the things that Yehida is doing this year is she has reallocated a position there whose job is going to be maintenance. And so that we know is a priority of the mayor and the commission. And we are actively working to make sure that we beautify the grounds, work on the buildings. And again, we've got that new feature coming in the late. So that is neat. Yep. Definitely, definitely appreciate that.

And on the CFP Fund page, any warning? I know it was around when we looked at the operating percent, the second line, insight. Yes, sir. Without going into a lot of detail, what do they do? That's software.

I'm happy to start. Yeah. Yeah, that's a 380 agreement that we have, and I'm happy to go into it. They've been very successful. We have. Very. We have.

Happy to discuss that in the executive session. Thank you.

Rebecca, how many more years do we have on that? I know that Rebecca and I have had conversations this year about reaching out to renew that agreement. Fast forward now to page 82. This is the list of the capital improvement projects. Again, we'll get into more detail about these on Thursday, but you've got 25, I'm sorry, nine recurring projects. balance of rollover projects that are in progress and then the right side is pretty much new projects recommended for this year one of the things that Michelle and I talked about this year we met with Eduardo and specific to MPOs, making sure that we had our projects shovel ready. And so we are are now taking on a lot of projects, doing a lot of design work, preparing for land acquisition and making sure that as Cat 7 MPO money comes available, that we are ready to be at the MPO seeking that matching money to remove give or take on the project, 80% of the burden from our taxpayers.

Yep.

Getting down to the end of traffic bond projects. As you can see, ARPA money is kind of dwindled to the end there.

Look at 5 on Jane. Crafted drainer's farm. Very quickly. Is that located over there by the fire department training center? Is that? Yes. Okay. Sorry, it's all buttoned. Back on 73 on the occupancy tax fund, I know that the majority funding is always probably going to go to the convention center area, but is there any opportunity to do some tourist attraction type spend in other parts of the city? There could be.

We would have to rework how the revenues are allocated to cover our expenses there. So as long as we're net positive, it could be possible.

We have had, for instance, holiday attractions in the past in other areas of town.

Downtown specifically, and it's on the list of things to bring back this year.

Okay. Thank you.

That's for you, Bert.

So we'll go into detail about a lot of those.

Sorry. Yeah. Hi. I know you're happy about it. On ARPA, don't we have a deadline to exhaust some of the funds?

It's appropriated. We're done. Oh, as long as it was Utopia, not necessarily Spain. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Peace. Did you say that's it? No, you said it hasn't kicked in.

Oh, it hasn't? Okay. Health insurance there. Agencies we'll talk about separately. We just had a workshop on health insurance. Happy to address any more questions you have on that. At the top of the page, you'll see agencies that are supported by the general fund. At the bottom of the page, you'll see agencies that are supported by health The Development Corporation, you will see affordable homes is not recommended this year. And that is... Because we want to make sure that the work Julia has done on our CDG money is being expended and meeting our expense ratio so we can maximize the dollars available to our community. And Affordable Huns has had a little bit of a challenge keeping up with the rigor of those programs. And I know that Christians Manor, the development corporation, did recommend funding that yesterday. So when we bring the agencies back to you, we will recommend including funding there. And I think one more project was on that list as well.

Well, specifically in Goldford, the spray yeast is there tomorrow or the day after.

Agencies is... We'll do it on Thursday. Happy to take any questions. Appreciate all the staff who came out to hear the presentation. We did an hour with staff a couple of weeks ago on the budget process and invited everybody to come out and participate. So very glad to see all the staff that decided to come out tonight. Thank you all for doing that.

Don't use the questions.

For tonight, Mayor, that was the program. Tomorrow, I have a schedule for you. We'll take up general fund and enterprise projects. Then Thursday, capital projects, development corporation, agencies. uh and a presentation on the capital uh financing plan that that i've talked to you about uh and then we've got a couple of meetings a meeting scheduled for budget wrap-up uh if it's needed and then the budget public hearing will be on september 14th and uh With the city commissions, after that hearing, the city commission can consider adopting the budget and the tax rate on September 28th. We are remote here, but I will work with the communications office to see what I can set up and coordinate with you as soon as I know.

Okay. So whatever you can, you can't help us.

We will do our very best. I'm sure there's something we can do. Okay. And then anything you need to discuss or want to go over, feel free to reach out. Always happy to do that.

Thank you. Cheers. That's it.

Thanks. Well, that's the budget overview. Unless there are additional questions, Mayor, that's all I have on the agenda for tonight. Anything else, anybody? No?

I guess we'll chop them later.

Thank you.