City Council Committee - Regular Meeting

Ms. McLean, I was going to say Ms. Phoebe. I'm sorry. Please call the roll. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman Green? Councilman Carlisle? Councilman Spinoza? She told me to just go down.

She actually was going down. I was going down the list.

And so I just said, let me skip. Feel bad now. Chairwoman White.

Present. I'm sure some other colleagues will soon join us. First, we have a resolution to allocate and appropriate $2,388,000 in city council community grant funds to nonprofit agencies, FY27, all council districts, sponsored by the Memphis City Council. Request for same nine minutes. I need a motion and a second. Got a motion from Councilman Spinoza, a second from Councilwoman Green. And who do we have? Do we have someone that presents on this? Yeah. Yeah. Let's hold that one and see if we can get somebody from council to come and present on it. Second, we have a resolution, so we're gonna hold number one. Second, we have a resolution to amend the fiscal year 2027 debt service fund operating budget to appropriate an amount not to exceed $2,600,000 for arbitrage rebate payments to the Internal Revenue Service, all council districts sponsored by the administration. Request for same night minutes. Can I get a motion and a second? Got a motion from Councilwoman Green. I need a second down here from the right. All right, got a second from Councilman Connelly. Thank you so much. You all may proceed.

Thank you. Art Davis, CFO, City of Memphis, 125 North Main. Let me start by saying thank you to the Council and the Vice Chairwoman for allowing this to be added to the agenda at the last minute. We received the arbitration calculation late Thursday and in order for us to do our review, I wanted to have time to do that and I also wanted to present it to the council and request same-night minutes because it's actually due yesterday, but we have a 10-day grace period. So that's why we're asking for same-night minutes tonight to do that, or today to do that. What we're asking is that the fiscal year 2027 debt service fund operating budget be amended to appropriate an amount not to exceed $2,600,000 for the payment of arbitrage rebate obligation to internal revenue service in connection with the bond issues identified in the resolution. For those of you who are in the audience or maybe listening online, I wanted to explain what arbitrage is. It's basically when we borrow money for capital, we invest it until we spend it, and based on the earnings of that, If we exceed what's allowed by the Internal Revenue Code, then we have to rebate some of that money back to the IRS. And that's what makes up the $2,578,689. The next question probably comes up, well, if it's $2,578, why are you asking for $2.6 million? When the resolution was written, I wasn't sure if we're going to go to same-night minutes. And I wanted to have a little bit of leeway in there. But the calculation will be the $2,578,000. I'm happy to answer any questions related to any of this if you've got them.

Any council members in the queue with questions? See, yeah, Councilwoman Cooper-Sutton, you're recognized.

Thank you. And so how much are we, two million, how much you said it was?

2,578,689.

Is that number two that we're discussing? It is. We held number one. Okay. All right. So it's not 22,600. It's how much because that's a different number.

Well, we're asking, the resolution asks for $2,600,000. $600,000. So that I have a little, when we wrote the resolution, I wasn't sure if we were going to get same night minutes, so I added some extra in there in case we have to pay additional interest. Okay. But if y'all pass it with same night minutes, it will only be the $2,578,689. $5 million, I mean $2 million. Yes. $2,578,689. Yes, 689.52, and that's in the chart in the middle of the first page of the resolution.

Okay, I'm looking at the resolution. Hold on. Because when figures change, that's... Now that's grant funding. Where is the resolution for... Okay, I see it. $2,578,689.52. Yes, ma'am. So that's what we're asking for, and that's what we have to do.

That's what we have to pay. The resolution is actually written for the 2.6.

Yeah, but we're going to pay the $2,578,689.52. Yes, ma'am.

Yes.

That's what we're paying.

Yes.

All right, so where are the other few dollars going? We ain't got to worry about that, right?

That's right. It's not going anywhere.

I'm just making sure. Oh, no, I appreciate that. Every dime will go back where it need to go, need to be where it need to be.

Absolutely.

Okay. All right, and this is why you're asking for the same nine minutes, because we have a 10-day grace period, am I correct?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Cooper-Sutton. Any other members in the queue? Seeing none, all those in favor for this to go down with a favorable recommendation with the request for same nine minutes, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say nay. The ayes have it. This will go down with a favorable recommendation with the request for same nine minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Item number three is accelerate Memphis update all council districts requested by Councilwoman Swearengin-Washington.

Thank you, Chris Winton, COO, City of Memphis. Wanted to just give a brief update on Accelerate Memphis and thank you for the timing because actually the deadline to the teams to submit all projects and pencils down was this past Friday, August 28th. So, as you can imagine, the teams were working feverishly to get the projects done and invoices submitted. So, while we're still finalizing some of the tally, we'll give you updates across the three pillars. So, if you will, go to the next slide. I only have one slide to give you the update. The goal today is kind of give you the update on overall progress and spend. across the 70 plus projects, but we'll have a comprehensive update in 30 days with details of before and after videos on all of the initiatives that have been critical to our neighborhoods. So as you look at that first bucket, improving our parks, 100% utilized and completed. Shout out to the Parks team. They've done some incredible work, as discussed, even in the Parks Committee, with over $79 million invested into neighborhoods and community centers like Geisman Community Center across the board. When you go to the second bucket in activating Memphis 3.0, 100% of that has now been utilized and came through across neighborhoods, Soulsville, Raleigh, Hollywood, Whitehaven, Klondike, Orange Mound, South City, Oak Haven. I mean, a number of projects. that we'll be able to provide in the comprehensive update before and after photos of all of the work that was completed there. In the third bucket, when we talk about the city-wide assets, those are our investments into facilities like the FedEx Forum, AutoZone Park, historic mail rolls, as well as police vest replacements. We're in the final tally of those this week. And so, like I said, you'll see that in the full comprehensive update end of the month. And with that, I'll open it up for questions. If there's anything you would like us to expound on in that comprehensive update, or if there are specific projects you'd like us to meet with you one-on-one, happy to do so.

Okay. I just want to quickly say, let the record reflect that Councilman Ford has joined us, Councilwoman Walker, Chairwoman Swearingen-Washington, Councilman Warren, and Councilwoman Cooper said. Do we have any members in the queue? Seeing none, thank you all so much for this update. Thank you. We're gonna go back to item number one. which is the resolution to allocate and appropriate $2,388,000 in city council community grant funds to non-profit agencies for FY27, all council districts sponsored by the Memphis City Council with a request for same night minutes. Can I get a motion and a second? Second. Got a motion from Councilman Ford and a second from Councilman Warren. Ms. Valdez, you may proceed.

Thank you. Valerie Lewis, Memphis City Council, Office and Grant Administrator. So the resolution is for 2.388. That's showing the deduction for what Councilwoman Green allocated to medical bills, non-medical bills, and then to MLGNW, and then also the $13,000 to hospitality hub that you all did once before.

Thank you. Do we have any members in the queue with questions? Seeing none, all those in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed, say nay. The ayes have it. This will go down with the favorable recommendation with the same nine minutes request. There are no other items in our budget committee. It's hereby adjourned.