Finance Committee - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Felix. Yes, Felix. Not Not honest cuz I'm leaving He's flip bits. Yeah, I think so. Good evening. Welcome to the special called Finance Committee meeting for May 11th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. We're going to open up our meeting and I'm Jeff Sasser, the chair of the Finance Committee. And with me I have Mark Worthington. I'm Ward 1, vice chair. Mark Evans, Ward 6. And we want to go around the room. Tammy Ingersoll, Finance Director. Rachel Collins, Ward 5. Eddie Robertson, Ward 6. Jesse Eckenroth, Chief of Operations. JP Finnegan, GIS Coordinator. Mayor Jamie Clary. You guys want to Matthew Cole, VP of the Intervale Farm Association. June Garret, Ward 5. Mary Gillen, Ward 4. Great. And someone else working back there. All right.

[laughter] Well, welcome you all. I want to open us up first with prayer and I've asked Mark to do that for us. We'll remember Mark and Shannon's little new grand baby less than a week old. He's having some some issues. Just pray for for him. Just uh Felix.

Yes, Felix. That's it. All right. Do you have any Father, we thank you so much for this day and that we can come to you and we thank you for the great weekend that the success of the Arts Council and for all the other things going on in the city and Lord, we thank you that we are blessed and that you provide all that we need. What I ask that you be with the Bergdorf family, be with this baby and and heal his body and Lord, hopefully it's just something just um uh something small, but Lord, we never know when it's a newborn, but Lord know that your hands mold everything that is in this world. And Lord, I just pray that you put your hands upon this baby and be with the mom and the dad. Lord, give them a comfort and a peace tonight. Be with us as we deliberate and we make decisions about the finances of the city. And Lord, we love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[clears throat] Thank you very much.

Thank you, guys. First is acceptance of the agenda. So moved. Second. Any changes? I mean, we're going to consider one thing, and that is the budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. All those in favor? Aye. That passes. No minutes submitted. Okay, great. Any public comments? Okay. And that brings us to reading of ordinance 2026-2027, ordinance of the city of Marysville, Tennessee, adopting the annual budget and tax rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1st and ending June 7th June 30th, 2027. And I need a motion to consider this. So moved. I'd second. Okay. So, Tamara, since we last saw this, could you give us a summary of what's changed or for Jesse or for Mr. Mayor, give us a summary of what's changed. I sound smarter when they speak.

[laughter]

So, um the biggest changes from the last time that y'all saw the budget at the workshop where we had listed out a whole bunch of items that were being proposed as potential changes to the budget. We have since updated the revenues a little bit, specifically with sales tax and property tax, as well as um the list of items that will be considered for reduction off of the budget. Um travel and training are no longer being recommended to be reduced off of the budget. Um the COLA has been um updated from being a 2.8% that's being implemented as of October, which was in the last version you all saw, to being a 2.4% COLA that would be effective the first payroll in July with an additional half percent COLA being added in the second payroll in February. Um so that's, you know, a big change. And then the implementation of the pay study um is recommended um effective the second pay period in July. Um with that and um the last iteration that we have the estimate instead of being the $125,000 that you saw before, it's about $35,000. So a little bit um a bit different in the cost there. Um is there anything you want to add to that, Jessica?

tax, no trash, no property tax increase, no trash fee. Revenues came up slightly after we got another month of revenues in. So we looked at the revenues again and we bumped up sales tax a little bit to match what came in and a little bit for property tax. And no no adjustment um or reduction to the nonprofits um compared to what the committee originally recommended. So remind me when we had our last workshop, Mhm. what was our deficit? A little over 700,000. And so we made up that deficit how? Or what are the key things that made up the deficit? That increased revenue. The revenue opportunity.

Yeah, we increased revenue increased revenue by about $235,000. It's 1/3. A third and then decreasing of expenditures um by, you know, a significant amount as well. And most of that coming from the July of the Cola. Um Or the 2.4 as opposed to 2. Part of Part of that, um we also instead the iteration that you had, um we had PD having one or one and a half vacancies for the whole year. Um what's in here that is been carrying two two vacancies for the entire year, um and then

And the benefits are going to be And yeah, it's yeah, it's a yeah, fully fully burdened. Um reduction of the lobbyist of $30,000. I mean, there's to what? To what? What's the 10,000. 10,000. Oh, by 10,000, too. By 30,000, too. Yeah, so essentially that list that you had in the um in the at the budget workshop, the majority of those items are staying for the reduction in the revenues and then a few things have been adjusted a little bit to make this balance will be made the changes to the Cola. We had about 90,000 where we overestimated the reclassification changes from the salary study. How did that happen? Because we budgeted significantly more. 125 was it, right? And they only charged 35. Well, it's not their cost. It's after we ran the calculations for the reclassifications. So, we plugged the number based on early estimates on what we thought it could be to be conservative. And so, we thought it could be up to 125 per 10. Yeah, not Yeah, not for the pay study consultant. That's for the employees.

The results of that. to make sure we had enough built in. Yeah, we didn't want to under under shoot it.

up, you know, being less than 40. So, Looking at the pay study, it was a little bit off topic, but looking at the pay study, were we satisfied with the results of the pay study? you. Yeah, we'll have a presentation tomorrow from the consultant, but you know, we compared ourselves to a group of cities and within that group of cities we put ourselves at the 65th percentile, so not at the bottom pay, not at the top pay, 15% above half but by the 50% mark and we're benching very strong to that mark. So it did the pay study did recommend a cola uptick of 2.8%, so in its total we're going to be 2.9 by the end of the year but still at 2.4. And it recommended some reclassifications to positions, so all those reclassifications are included in the budget. So everything that was recommended by the consultant is baked into the budget. Okay. And where did we end up as far as the sick leave? Did we just leave the 120 that was in there originally? Or the sick leave pay out? Or retirement something like that?

Yeah, I think it's That amount that amount hasn't I think it was 35,000. We added an additional 25,000 on top of the 100 Let me pull up the line item total. 100 and I think there was 120 in the departments and then we added 25,000 in the central services budget. in there. So that yeah, that hasn't changed. Okay, great. But the line item, so we added a line item. Yeah. Right. That that is the number Was it 25,000 25,000, yeah. things you just didn't know. And the other ones are built into the department budgets. Yeah, and that hasn't changed.

Okay. Maybe next year we can put that I have a question about the when you said that originally we thought it was 125 for the pay study. Were there other positions that were originally considered for reclassification that ended up to not need it? Um I think we estimated high on the part-time, I think is what we were doing on hours. And at point I think we were just estimating very conservatively on what it was. I don't have the exact like pre-list, post-list reclass, though.

Yeah, the one I the what I was going off of was a preliminary version because we needed to estimate and when our discussions we thought it was prudent to estimate on the higher side as opposed to the lower side because we didn't know exactly where it was going to land.

then with the employees starting at 2.4 for 8 months and then moving to 2.9, what how much time until they hit a break-even point on that? Until they're actually ahead for having the 2.9. I think it sounds like a couple of years. Well, I guess if we talked about them starting in October at 2.8%, then we'd have to factor the first couple of months of the budget at basically zero. So, when we originally proposed the budget, it was a 0% cola until October, I think it was, and then it went to 2.8. So, I don't have the calculation on the difference between Mhm. the implementation of that date versus 2.8.

eligible, though? 2.9. Pretty much this. It takes 2 years. Because what I mean, I'm calculating I'm thinking about it from if they got 2.8 from day one. And and that delay and how much they end up with at the end of the year and how long does that extra 0.1% take to Uh catch it? I think it's 2 years. At which point that amount is saying it's At which point they would be better off because their next raise compounds on a higher total. Right. Right. That sound like a formal financial analyst saying that. Mhm. Maybe. Um I have a thorough understanding of compounding interest. But so, it only really would hurt people who are retiring in in next 2 years Or leaving for other reasons. What's included in the budget? I know that we had um we reduced the other professional services for HPD and I think that was the crisis counselor. Do we still leave that in that cut in there or do we put Well, that cut's in there. And that's that was okay with the chief? Yeah, it's not preferred, sure, but um that's something where, you know, mid-year too we can Yeah, we find out that that was cut. And you know, the budget So, the way that the budget is organized within each department is within three groups. So, they have their salaries and benefits group, then operations, and then assets. So, we don't budget by the line item like within That's within an operations group.

Okay. So, if we're over on one line item, but under on fuel, like they could be over on professional services, under on fuel, but as long as the operations total's not exceeded, that's the line we're budgeting on. the discretion how they want to spend it within that. Yes. So, it could be that they lost the funding, but they even have savings from another line item where we don't even need to recommend a mid-year budget. Oh, that's right, cuz this was the one where they get funding from and it hasn't been utilized. The last couple Yeah, the last couple years we put it in there just in case. Right. Okay, got it. And this year we didn't put it in for the just [snorts] in case.

Okay. Thanks. September, uh I'm I'm not a macro question. The the president has indicated that he's going to try to eliminate the sales tax off of gasoline, the gasoline tax. How much revenue do we get from the federal government? Is that state street aid that we get off of the federal It's gasoline tax. How much state street

Part. It's a good question. You know, I I I'd have to look into which one which of the cuz I think there's four different, um, gas tax revenues that we receive. Um, so I'd have to look at it to see which of those is a federal versus state. affect the operating budget? It wouldn't affect general fund, but it would affect state street aid, which in turn we couldn't support. It has 14 employees. We wouldn't be able to support 14 employees at that point, which would then impact the operating budget.

for paving in state street aid this year? Yes. But I would bet that if the federal government did that, I would bet very quickly the state government would add their their total tax to take that revenue to claim that revenue. Mhm. And I'd be okay with that to be honest with you. I would be a break even, probably. So, if the federal government cut back, the state government

replace it? It would be I bet you they would. Well, it's it's a hypothetical because Congress has But I was just wondering how that would affect the operating budget if it if it if it if it passed. Yeah, there would be a There would be an impact to the state street aid fund. Okay. Good question. Uh, do you have any anything up right now on the revenues? Um, No. I'm still trying to figure out where the $700,000 is though. So, you said you know, so at at the workshop we're 7,000 700,000 in the hole. Mhm. Revenues decreased that by 235. That brings us to 465. Yeah, and then there was The COLA adjustment is negligible. And and what else is

adjustment's not negligible. No, the COLA adjustment ended up being about eight little over 80,000. Okay. And reduction. The Um, there was about 125 last 40. So, about 85,000 for the pay study. And then a bunch of a whole bunch of other line items that, you know, totaled the remainder of that. 30,000 for the lobbyists.

Yeah, 30,000 for the lobbyists. There's 55,000 for the reappraisal expense reduction. About 20,000 for IT software. And probably about about $40,000 more because of the HPD. Yeah, a total of 160,000 for PD. So 40,000 more with the going from 1 and 1/2 to to 2. Can you map that? [laughter]

Yeah. I [clears throat] think I left my calculator. Never. Well, I make fun of your calculator. About 45, so you're still by 150 short. But it's in there. Those are just going to be smaller. Yeah, yeah, 10,000, 2,000, 10,000, 1,000. There's a whole bunch of little little line items that make up that difference. [snorts]

And from the previous version we weren't giving employees a cola to begin with. It was being delayed, correct? So this is an improvement. It's increasing our expense. No, it's a deduction of our expense by 80,000 for the year. Because we're starting off lower. Well, we had we had budgeted 2.8. Right. Mhm.

So now we're budgeting 2.9, although it's 2.2 million. 2 Starting out with 2.4 and going to 2.9 in February. Some of you are comparing pre-workshop numbers to Mhm. Some of you are comparing post-workshop numbers to today's numbers. That's where the confusion is. Okay, thank you. Yeah. Okay. Uh Uh, couple of things. Uh, And that covers the TCRS increase, right? Just making sure Yes. Okay. Okay. Um, it was brought up by another alderman in the room about um, the loss of two uh, police positions. And so, I'm bringing that to the table. I just wanted to ask about that, where those are coming from. Yeah. Uh, so if you could explain that.

Sure. So, for the current fiscal year and fiscal year '26, we actually had um, 10 positions for police budgeted vacant for 6 [clears throat] months. So, essentially five vacant positions for the entire year. Um, for next year, we're budgeting two vacant positions. Jesse and I had um, more than one conversation with Chief Jones about that. And typically anytime he has a vacant position, uh, whether it be a higher position where they promote up or or a officer leaves, it usually takes them at least 3 to 4 months to fill backfill that vacant position. So, just through normal attrition, he's going to have positions vacant. It's not any specific position. You know, somebody's going to retire. They're going to promote and then promote and then promote. Well, during each of those processes, they there's one position that's vacant. So, they'll be um, over time over the course of a year, if they have four people leave with 4 months, 3 to 4 months each, you're going to have, you know, or six people leave, they're going to have vacancies that cover that period of time.

100% as full as they are. But there was one position that he did remove, right? Yes. And he reclassified that. And that's in that's included in the budget. Yes, the original budget. In the original, yeah. Regardless of this change. animal control. [clears throat] Yes, an animal control. Yeah, that's And then there was a couple of other positions that were reclassified into other um, [clears throat]

other classifications. Overall, there was about a 20 to 25,000 dollar savings by making that change, but that was baked into the original version that you all saw at the committee meetings already. That that's Yeah. So, there's no savings for that in this version. It's already included in what you already saw. So, since we're on the topic of police, I was looking at the numbers. I'm going to get excited, so I'll take this off. Um the 2026 original budget was 19.8 19.8 million for police. The estimate actual was about a million less. 1.1 less. Um but we're budgeting for the next year 20.7 even though we've had those reductions. So, I'm just wondering where that 20 that 20 million or that 2 million comes from, especially when the next highest budget, which is fire, is only going up 500,000. So, that's where the at the beginning of this year, um of fiscal year 26, police did have some vacancies if you all will remember. They have since filled them. The majority of that savings is from um vacancies. We budgeted five positions to be vacant for the entire year. For the current year, next year there's only two. So, you've got three positions um different plus an additional two and a half for well, 2.4 then going up to 2.9% cola.

to budget for three vacant positions rather than five. Is that correct? We're budgeting two vacant positions as opposed to five. So, so you're budgeting for three more full-time positions in the salary and benefits than in the current fiscal year. Well, that's not going to be It's And then the cola and the cola And the retirement. Yeah, TCDRS. And TCDRS. huge right. Okay. So, fire between the beginning of 26 to the beginning of 27 is up 800,000. Mhm. Um but they were basically fully staffed

Mhm. beginning of last year. And they're fully staffed now, right? Well, we're we're budgeting for them to be fully staffed. They won't be. I mean, like there's always a vacancy or two, but we're budgeting for for a fully staffed. I think right now there's four or five vacancies. Yeah. Cuz their estimated ending is actually 340,000 above budget. Because of the overtime. Yeah, and that's the original budget. Yeah, I'm saying we did do an amendment in mid-year to add further op to their um Yeah, overtime and then their um That's right. apparatus, okay.

did increase overtime to be in the original budget, too. And then their TCRS as well. Yeah. Okay, that's right. Okay. All right. So, um Good question. moving on. What else What other questions do you all have? No, I'm fine. Si- Since we're on TCRS, can I say something about TCRS?

Yes, please. So, I asked um I asked Tamara after our last Finance Committee meeting to tell me what his Did give me a trend of our TCRS payments [clears throat] compared to our operating budget. And so, this is 2022 fiscal year through 2027. 5%, 5.9, 6.4, 6.1, 7.1, 8.4. That's not a good trend. No. And so, that's why we're looking at some other options that we'll talk about tomorrow night. Great. And talk a little bit tonight, too. Uh look forward to them. Yeah, the Yeah, the payment for fiscal year 27 is estimated to be more than double what the total TCRS payment was in 2022. TCRS the contribution to retirement uniform across all jurisdictions or is it Is Is dependent upon the draws that you make? Yep. It depends which plan you're into. Mhm. Okay. So, we we could be at the highest tier of increases. Because of Yeah. We have the We have the richest

The the richest as far as what's on the employer plan that you can have. So, yeah, like over the state's plan, we would see an increase where they they wouldn't see any increases because of ours. So, have you talked to other jurisdictions, the mayor, and are they seeing the same kind of increase in their retirement? They aren't cuz they didn't because so many of them have gone to the other plans in the past 20 years. We haven't. Okay. We're we're one of uh just a handful that still have the traditional pension plan. And is this something we can expect more of uh in the future? I would say

If we stay where we're at. Yeah, the rates can continually be adjusted. We don't have cost controls built into our pension plan. Okay. So, it's dependent on the market and salaries. It's not dependent on a stable cost control system. And TCRS is uh the way they do their actuarial studies are 2 years in arrears. So, what they're using to calculate the fiscal year 27 rates are based on our 2025 salaries, which if you recall, that's when we did um large bonuses for all staff, and that's when public safety, especially police, ended up getting what 11% 12% increase. We had significant salary increases. That's hitting in fiscal year 27 for um as part of that rate calculation. And then so, every year as we do bonuses, we should expect to see some sort of adjustment, but that fiscal year 27 is catching the brunt of those huge uh pay increases that staff saw Under the case, I would expect to stay along the same percentage trajectory though, cuz all of our other expenses have gone up, too. So, I I hear what you're saying there, but I you know, the [clears throat] the TCRS going to go up at the same rate as As our salary expenses, not all operating expenses. All of our will be that your your uh what you your um what you stated was all operating expenses, right?

Right, but our salaries are taking up a greater portion of our operating expenses Mhm. for the past couple of years. Yeah, salary the salary rates have gone up Okay. a significant amount. Yeah, that would make sense then. Yeah, because then they're a higher percentage than TCRS can be.

Yeah, and then part of that calculation for the retirement pay is based on your highest year earnings, so as your staffing cost your pay goes up, you're going to get a higher payout, which requires more to be on the in the income percentage. So, if our percentage of our salaries are going up, we're able to put less money into maintenance. Right. Mhm. I probably didn't say that right. I probably didn't say that right. Could we have better predicted that this increase would be large since we increased the salaries significantly 2 years ago and it hit now? I mean, I know they dictate it to us, but should we kind of have seen it coming? Yeah, so I wasn't last year it went from our rate was 14.38 and it went up to 14.64, so about a third of a percent. Talking with um Jason, we we thought we might go up maybe a half a percent or a little bit more, not 3%. So, uh Have we had an unusually large number of people in retire or has that been stable? I don't think we've had any system-wide, right? Yeah, but yeah. Oh, no, they base our rate on us. Oh, they do? Oh, yeah, 100% us. Yeah. And it's just the the thing that's system-wide is the yield they get on investments. Right. That's the only part that's So, that they didn't have any adjustments. Can you do a little adjustment? You know, that there's probably some wisdom in looking ahead at that. It's just it's hard for us in our position to kind of predict

I understand. But maybe this is something now we know. I think the takeaway is that we it's not it's not stable year to year. I think everyone is getting that or kind of getting punched in the face with that. Yes, it's not stable. Well, in the interest earnings have come down a little bit compared to the prior year. So, then that gets factored into the calculation and what portion we're on the hook for as well. I mean, all the adjustments we've made are because of the TCRS rate increase. We wouldn't have be having any of these conversations Yes. if we hadn't had that increase.

But I guess my point is like we're not just completely victims here. We did contribute to the rate increase because we increased the salaries significantly. And so, we

the highest across the board raise in the history of the city. Yeah. So, now we've had the highest rate increase in the TCRS. They correlate. So, I mean, it's causation, not complete causation, but we contributed to it. We're not just we can't blame the big evil TCRS for all of this. Yeah, of course not. And we're on the pension plan with no cost controls, too. So, you know, it's we don't have that stable plan. But we have some ideas for that, don't we? There's options for them all to consider. This year? For this budget cycle? No, for well, for next budget cycle. It only affect new employees. Yeah, it wouldn't affect existing employees. Um I have a couple of now digging into some of the details here and thank you for providing these details. I don't have much. No, but I and really just clarification that I'm looking for here. For subscriptions and dues, we have GNRC and TML which very familiar with what they both do but GNRC we had two payments to them in October or period 10 so that's not that's not October that would be April. April right. April 26 one of 28,000 the other one of 19,000. I'm just wondering why we had two payments to them in the same period. So we we pay a membership and then we pay dues. And I can't remember which is which. Yeah, so it's split between planning and executive and executive pays a piece so they send us a bill for over 40,000. Yeah, so we internally split it into two bills. Yeah, so that's why Planning covers one planning goes to all the GNRC

meetings and everything so they cover one and then I think we cover the member executive covers the membership piece of it. Yeah.

So we we actually get one bill and then we internally split it up into two different payments. So it's not two payments it's just I wish we could have eliminated it to one. We should call them and see if we could just get billed for one. See if we can just want to pay the 19,000. Well that. Um And I know that they provide some grants for us. Do we know how much grant money we've gotten from them over the years? A lot. A lot. Millions of projects. Yeah. So a lot of our 80/20 splits on the transportation projects are through the GNRC. So they're kind of like the they're like the middle man for federal funds. So federal funds kind of route through them. They do the transportation improvement projects like the Drake South 30 Drake Street project.

Ferry I mean that's true. That's what 50 million dollars that they're contributing? That's a state Yeah, that It's millions and hundreds of millions over the years. Yeah, and I I just wanted to reference that. You know, this is a valuable resource. So, anything that you can go to the GNRCC website to see what the is in the works uh for the city of Muscle Shoals. They have little dots everywhere on that map.

Yeah. Very impressive. We also currently have um a lot of, I should say, a more than significant influence on their technical committee that scores projects. Mhm. Mhm. Elaborate. Huh? Elaborate. That's what I was hoping. Uh our planning department and public works department uh have a lot of say in how the projects are ranked. [snorts] The criteria for ranking. Yeah, and sort of So, they might lean Once picked. Once picked, yes. They may not might might not know how to submit applications. apply twice a year 3,000 bonus points. [laughter]

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. And at the chapter projects, we're going to get a report on the new GNRCC list. They're coming out with the new list, and we submitted how many, Jesse? 10 or all of them? Yeah, we're going to go over it We're going to actually go over what we're going to So, we're on the tip, so we're going to go over what we want to propose. Are the RTP we want to propose and get concurrence from capital projects what we're going to submit on the tip. It's in the magnitude of hundreds of millions. Yeah. Over a hundred million in the projects we want in the next few years to submit to. It's very significant. Yeah. And thank goodness Governor Ivey approved a capital uh transportation 10-year transportation project. We are cutting and pasting those projects onto the RTP and the TIP list for hundreds of millions of dollars. Great. Sounds good. Look forward to hearing the hearing about that. Uh TML uh very familiar with them as well. Um we paid them 19,000. Um we they don't provide any grants, but they do provide a lot of services to the city. Um Mayor, I know you're a big part of that, so could you explain a little bit about TML? Um So, TML is a mixed bag.

[laughter]

Uh TML represents every city in the state. Um some people complain that there is uh an outsized influence from the big four cities. Uh and sometimes that you can see that. Uh but they are so that the Yes, but the the updates that I send you all from from the state legislature, um that's coming from our lobbies, that's coming from TML. And TML does a very good job of um of lobbying some people in the state legislature legislature. And uh our lobbyist does a good job of some of the other ones. So. Have they have they helped been beneficial to us uh in legislative and our legislative agenda? They've been beneficial from the standpoint So, so the sales tax, the so the 1,600 to 3,200 that we get nothing on, they've been pushing to change that for us. Um also the There's a couple of things they've been pushing it for that has not been successful. However, they've also I think they've been very successful when it comes to the accessory dwelling units that I told you all a little bit about that that got shot Yeah, that got shot down. I think they've been very successful in some items that we didn't want to see get approved. They have not been successful in some items that we would like to get approved. Is that Gatlinburg. Yeah. Well, I think you're right. I think that the big four municipals drive the the agenda of that group. Yeah. And I'll give you examples. One of the things that TML fought against was partisan elections for for city offices. Doesn't matter how you feel about that. The big four decided how TML was going to feel about that. Is that they were going to be against it. Would it hurt us if we dropped out of that? I think from the standpoint that we're the 10th largest city and that we can call them then they do and they do provide opportunities especially when it

comes to planning, especially when it comes to some road projects and some road funding. Okay. And it's You may recall Lance reference referencing calling them for advice on different things. Yes, and they refused No, they advised. Well, short-term rentals. We asked for for them to file an amicus brief. They refused. They refused that. That was unfortunate. Yes. Yes. Yeah, there's more to say on that, but this isn't the time or the place, I think. Um but yes, I 100% agree with you. So if [snorts]

if TML had been doing a better job for us, we would have never needed to hire somebody else. Yeah. But TML represents I mean the big four and the state all municipalities blended together and our lobbyist represents our unique city. So I think both seem reasonable to me. And our lobbyist has worked with actually lobbyists in Nashville, Knoxville, Germantown, Memphis for items that are in our both of our interest. Um TML may or may not be working on those items. Having a more targeted approach is probably a better idea for us altogether. So I brought up the issue about cutting the lobbyist and I appreciate Mayor you doing that, but with the new budget numbers, uh does it does it look like we need to cut the lobbyist as much as we do because he it is that targeted approach. I don't know what's on the agenda for the city this legislative uh session. Uh this up upcoming, so I guess that's just a Yeah, it'll be very similar um to engage the same lobbyist, we have to go up to $50,000. Are you as

the same Are you as confident in the uh the lesser [snorts]

uh costly representative? Yeah. At $10,000, I'm going to be the lobbyist. And I can pay for I mean it's it's going to be me and talking to our legislators a lot. That's what it's going to be, and I won't be able to keep up with everything that's happening down there. At $10,000, we won't have a lobbyist. Interesting. Yeah. How do you feel about that? So, we will have money in professional services. So, there's going to be value in using that money for something else. Okay. Um I would love to have somebody down there watching out for us all the time. Absolutely would. Um is $50,000 worth that? Um if the hard part about it is putting a monetary value on some of the things that they fight. That's hard. But, how do I ask what I got? Hm? What are you going to cut? That's that's what it comes down to. Yeah. Cuz I feel like I listen to y'all in the workshops. Um and I express your priorities. You did. Thank you. Evidently. Thank you. Yes, it's a It's a good budget. And Yeah, it's We also have um It's called Chris Taylor. He wants to start 45.

activities. We'll see on road projects?

Perhaps not. Yes, and perhaps not focused on Hendersonville the way we would want, but at least it's Sumner County. What about our state representatives? Are they Um they're very very responsive, but occasionally they'll have an amendment, they'll have a motion, or they'll have a bill that we haven't talked to them about. And James is there to talk to them about it. That's incredibly helpful. Um and I'll give examples. He's several times he would text me and say, "Hey, I think you need to call William about this, or I think you need to call Johnny about this." And so immediately I would, and they would say, "Thanks for the phone call. I didn't know that's how you felt about it." Had James never texted me to call me in the first place, I would have never known that something's coming up right then. And that's that communication piece as well.

[snorts] Um That's interesting. Thanks. You've given us a lot to think about. Maybe. Yeah. Clearly he's a valuable resource. We've seen a lot of benefit out of it. Mhm. And we're going to hear from tomorrow night. Oh, we are. Yeah. So one of the things I made sure he knew that when we hired him that at the end of the year he gives a report to BOMA as far as what, you know, what he's accomplished. Great. Does our lobbyist help us on the grants through the parks department? I mean, we've gotten a millions of dollars in grants through the state. Does Does he help us with that? No. It's It's Andy Hill. That's all Andy.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you I almost hesitate to bring this up in a public meeting, but you said very key word was to hire the same. So am I reading between the lines properly that there's a different lobbyist that we could get a bargain basement lobbyist? Maybe, but not that I'm aware of. Okay. So [clears throat] this is the second one we hired we hired somebody to help with us on one specific project several years ago, and that was worthwhile. Yes, it was successful. Yeah, it was. Um

Yes. We've been getting a discount for a long time. And we appreciate that. Uh but to continue, we need to go up. Uh couple of the just questions on here. Maintain X8. That was $8,172. What is What is that? Can I see the lines for maybe elements? Let me see the screen. That's in parks. It's in the next line. I can look it up and tell you what it's for. Okay. And then your work order system? It's I think Oh, yes, that's exactly what it is. it? Work order system?

For parks. Is there software for the work order system? Oh, I see. Okay. So, is it a subscription or is it just a fee? It's a subscription. And then last one I wanted to ask about was regional transportation. That's the What is RTA? Yeah. I'm sorry. It's RTA. I'm We're not spending much of that money. Uh 6,000 Yeah, it's the dues. Mhm. So, it used to be 64, I think.

Mhm. We were paying 50,000. Used to provide bus service outside of that. They still do, but we're not paying for it. Yeah. But what are we getting for that? How much is it? $6,000. How much What are we getting for $6,000? That's our membership on the board, is what it is. Yeah. Oh, that's the Is that Is that the nonprofit? The Robin Group? Yeah, I guess it is considered a nonprofit, isn't it? It's It's one of those It is one of those. I think When you said the dues, it made me think about that.

what? A couple years ago, they said that we didn't have to pay the $50,000 because they had excess in the bank um from the cities that have been We've been paying kind of a little bit extra, so we're getting a pass on a few years for them to continue doing the bus service here. So, Mark, did y'all send that in Cumberland Human Resource Park? No, it's That's different. It's probably an executive It's relaxing ride is what it is. That's That's not It's not It's not on the non-profit because we're There's That one was It's totally different. Yeah, it's the bus that goes downtown. Yeah. I just have one that was came in and moved transported elderly folks that would have Cumberland It's mid Cumberland. That's the mid That's the mid Cumberland. Or you thinking of the other one? Yes. Community ride share. There we go. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, yeah. Community people. My We're funding that.

I know about things non-profit. And that's a bigger need for us, honestly, than taking people downtown. Absolutely. Yeah, that's So, what would we lose by getting rid of that? There's a lot of people who use that bus to go to work every day. Yeah, I think they're down I think they're down to 19 per day. Oh, really? Yeah. I don't know the answer to that. I don't know the answer to that. Can we look into that? This What do we get for $6,000 membership? And do we have a choice? Very good. Yeah, thanks. Can we get the bus service? Well, if we nix this, would they no longer provide bus service? Is that what They're going to go to train anyway, though. Have you heard? No, I thought it was a Elon Musk coming. What with the tunnel? Y'all got Y'all got to get up here, Henderson. We'll We'll find out anyway. And I know that there might be this a state statute that says we have to. Um that's why it's so low. Yeah. It is low. Yeah. It is low. I'll follow up on it. Thank you. It was 16,000 I'll just call them and ask them if we can cancel and if we can continue the bus service. [clears throat]

[laughter] Call them and cancel. Well, we don't want to cancel, we just don't want to pay. [laughter]

I'll email the group. Uh and then on the other professional services, Tyler Technologies, there's They're on here several times. And she are implementation. They're it's a professional service for their project management for implementing different software platforms. Okay. We have a lot of that lately. Yes, we have. Yes, we have. We're doing the last one. We're supposed to go live [clears throat] June 1st with the last with the very last one for bringing court online. And then we're done for a while? No, we're not we're not completely done, but the I mean And I think the board should be prepared that technology costs are going to go up significantly and not just with city hall, but definitely with PD. And you know, I mean there's a great difference for a lot of things with fire as well. So, I think it crossed the board. You know, we rely so much more on software now. Yeah. And some of the software we get, we don't necessarily eliminate positions, but we don't have to grow staff like maybe if we didn't have the software, we'd be having to grow staff that we would have to grow right now. So, you know, we can take online credit card payments. We can do so many things just from the click of a mouse now at home. Mhm. And once you get on those programs, you have to continue on those programs or switch vendors and when you switch vendors, you have to go through the whole implementation processes Yeah. we've all been through. So, I expect those costs to go up. That's just something we should be prepared to see. Yeah. Uh TCLOS Tennessee Comprehend Something The lung. Yeah. Is that Yeah, that's

That's where the firefighters go and they get their diet duties fit. So, they check they do multiple checks on the firefighters when they go in. So, that's what we pay and that's a local business that they go into and get checked every year. So, we make sure they're fit. That's I mean, 40,000 that seems like a deal to me actually for that kind of service. There's a over 100 that could run through that office. Exactly. Okay. Uh Placer Labs They do our AI information. So, when we say there's been, you know, 50,000 visitors to the Arts Festival this weekend, that's the AI software and the subscription we have that gives us that information. So, we can see how many people are in our parks. So, our economic development, uh Jay Ritterbeck, that position uses it and then parks uses it to kind of measure how many people are in the parks, out of state, within 50 miles, outside of 50 miles. Yeah. So, like They use like your cell phone pings? Is that what you're saying?

Yeah. It's subscription-based. This may be the last year we did it. We're looking at being part of the state's bigger tourism plan and we we're allowed a subscription within that plan. So, we may not continue Placer AI after this year, but we will continue to use it. The plan is this year. The data also helps us secure grants from the county. When we get grants from the county for tourism grants. [clears throat] How does that happen? [laughter]

We appreciate everything the county does for us. And you can always see what what what of the special events are bringing people from outside that qualify them for hotel, motel funds and I also used it the Arts Festival, something like it because they had a computer and it was getting images and counting people as they passed by. Is that the same thing? they did the Arts Festival. I think they did their own and then they want to compare it to Placer AI to kind of see Yeah, they had they actually had a manual clicker. They were clicking everybody

They had that but then they also had a laptop where it was it was scanning people and that was good neighbors. Yeah. But the Placer AI is and actually nice thing is it doesn't have to be on site. I don't know how they get all your information but they know where you're at. You have your location on your phone. Where you spend money at, where you went to next. That was all the questions I had on the itemized Let me check real quick stream. Any other questions for you? Nope, I'm good. Anything for you? I'm good. Uh what's our recommendation on this budget to the board? I'd recommend we move it to the board with the approval. A positive recommendation?

Positive recommendation. Second. And I third that. So, I think that's with with no changes, yeah? Yeah. I think that we're just going to have to make some Excellent. Yeah, what's that? Just going to have to make some feedback regarding some of those other pieces. The RTA is the only one on my to-do list unless there's another one. I think that's it. Sounds good. Um I want the mayor to consider the the lobbyist piece. Can we do that? Sure. Okay, thanks. What are you talking about? Considering it, him adding it back.

Consider whether we're two different things we talked about. Consider Al McCombs suggested a lesser cost for a lobbyist or then um Mayor Clary being our lobbyist. Which by the way, that's a bad idea. Um But what it comes down to is I'll just keep up with it more Mhm. than I have in the past because we've had somebody keeping up with it. Mhm. Um So, and at this point it has to be an amendment because even though it's my proposal, I've made the proposal, I'd have to amend it. I'll look and see and we do have a couple weeks where where revenues will have a better idea of revenues as we get closer and closer to fiscal year. So, I appreciate that and I'll consider Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you for bringing that up. Yeah, thank you. Um And I just want to say this is a very great very good budget, streamlined, well put together and I appreciate staff. I appreciate you, Mayor. Thank you so much for bringing this to us. I'm going to pass this on to Beaumont for final recommendation with sounds like no changes or very minimal. So, Thank you. Yeah, good job. I need a motion to adjourn. I make a motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor?