County Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning and welcome back from recess to our final budget hearing. We'll get right to the point here. Everybody should have the resolutions to approve both the airport and the rest of the budget. And at the council's will, I'll entertain motions. entertain a motion. I will motion to approve both the airport. Let's do them separately, please. Airport. A second.

All right. For the airport, I have a motion by Jessica and a second by Dan. For the record, that's 202517. Thank you, Bill. Any other comments or questions? Is that actually a mistake? Should it be 017? This one's 016. There's two, right? Is it 0017 or 017? It should have been 017.

01 2025 017. Hearing nothing else. Roll call, please.

Mr. Flangen, yes. Miss Hughes, yes. Smoggle. Yes. Mr. Brook, yes. Spiper, yes. Mr. Can Yes. Mr. Wyhead, yes. I will make a motion to approve uh 2025-016, the county budget. I'll second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Comments, questions from councel. Hearing none. Roll call, please. Miss Planen, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Smoggle, yes. Mr. Bookout, yes. Mr. Piper, yes. Mr. Canad, yes.

Other comments from council before we adjourn the budget hearing. Entertain a motion to adjourn. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan to adjourn. Roll call. Miss Flangen. Yes, Mr. Hughes. Yes, Mr. Mogul. Yes, Rout. Yes, Mr. Can. Yes, Mr. Piper. Yes, Mr. Whead. Yes. Thank you. We'll give Kyle a moment to change the audio video and we'll get started shortly. I think it's continue.

All right. Welcome to the September Delaware County Council meeting. It is roughly 9:05 in the morning. If everybody would stand for the pledge. Ben, would you lead us, please? To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Ben. Roll call. Mr. Brookout, yes. Flangen here. Smoggle present. Mr. Hughes here. Chance present. Piper here. Mr. Whitehead present. Mr. Freeman here. All righty. Was the agenda posted? All right. Before we approve the agenda, I do have a request from council that we would add resolution 2025-15. It is the give back resolution.

We need to make a motion for that. Yes. I'll make a motion to add resolution 2025-15. Second. Second. Motion by Matt. Second by Brad. Brad. Yeah. Does that include just approving it then as amended? Yes. I didn't hear that. All right. Roll call. Mr. Flanken. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Mo. Yes. Mr. Buck. Yes. Mr. Can. Yes. Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Sweethead. Yes. Yes.

All right. Now, I need a motion to approve the amended agenda. So moved. Second motion by Jessica. Second by Dan. Roll call, please. Miss Planken. Yes. M. Hughes? Yes. Spok? Yes. Mr. Brook? Yes. Spiper? Yes. Mr. Can? Yes. Mr. Swahhead? Yes. Thank you. Council has had an opportunity to look at the August 26 council meeting minutes. Make a motion to approve. I will second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Comments, questions, corrections. Did you say you had a couple corrections?

Uh, mine were very small, just spelling, nothing that changed the intent. Okay. Bless you. Any other comments, questions, corrections? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Flanken, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. Mole, yes. Mr. Buck, yes. Mr. Spiper, yes. Mr. Can yes. Mr. Whead, yes. Okay, we'll move directly into the transfers. Elizabeth,

starting with transfers in County General 138 courts 311 contractual services $225 390 other services and charges $8,200. 536 equipment positive $8,425 total transfer zero. Move to approve. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Comments or questions for Emily?

Uh, if you don't mind, go over the U debits and credit, please.

Sure. The $225 was an additional grommet for the juvenile court upgrade that was left off the original quote. So, I needed to move another $225 from contractual services into equipment. The $8,200 is the jury chairs that was uh discussed during budget hearings to be taken out of this year's budget. The quote that I received for those jury chairs was $7,27860. And then I also need to purchase a uh micro PC for my recording equipment rack. Um they have to have a PC to be able to come in and work on that, but I don't need a regular PC. I was quoted at $730, but I put a little extra in there because I might have to upgrade the PC uh for more memory. That's where all the courts put their evidence into when they do pictures in the courtroom. Um, so I don't know the exact price that it will be at the end. So that's where I I just put a little extra in. That's where I come up with $8,200. So 730 with a little extra for the computer and then the chairs. Thank you.

You're welcome. Further comments or questions? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Lang, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. Gance, yes. Mr. Mogul, yes. Spookout, yes. Spikiper, yes. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Emily. Moving on to other 1176 motor vehicle highway 173 health insurance88,219 537 vehicles positive $88,219 total transfer zero. Move to approve. Second motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Good morning. Morning, Katie.

This is for our truck leases. So, last year at budget time um the money was put in the budget through the um local roads and streets. The state came back and said, "You're not going to get enough funding." Um so, at budget time, we lowered that amount. Um, I waited until I absolutely needed the money to make the payment. Um, and hoping that we had money that we could transfer instead of asking for an additional appropriation, which we did. Um, we had extra money in the health benefits due to um so many unemployed or open positions that we had.

Thank you. Comments, questions for Carrie hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Flanken, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. Can yes. Mr. Smoke, yes. Mr. Buckau, yes. Mr. Spiper, yes. Mr. Whead, yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Carrie. Moving on to appropriations. We're outside of County General Elizabeth. 4911. Uh, Delo Fair and Expo. 211 office supplies, $1,000. 220 operating supplies for $1,000 for a total of $2,000. Move to approve.

Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Questions for Donna. Just general operating supplies. Yeah, it's like all of our toiletries and cleaning supplies. Office supplies. We had to order receipt books this year, so we're running short on office supplies. Other questions or comments? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Flanken, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. Can? Yes. Mr. Ogle? Yes. Mr. Rugout? Yes. Mr. Spiper? Yes.

Mr. Wyatt? Yes. Thank you, Donna. Thank you, Elizabeth. All right. 1222 466 statewide 911 536 equipment $60,000 for a total of $60,000. Move to approve. Second motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Red, do you want quickly tell us what this is? Yeah, this is just the last radio console that we're adding to the center. It's part of a multi-year plan. So, any more comments, questions for Fred here? None. Roll call, please. Mr. Flank? Yes. Mr. Hughes? Yes. Mr. Can? Yes. Mr. Bogle?

Yes. Mr. Buck? Yes. Mr. Piper? Yes. Mr. Whead? Yes. Thank you, Fred. All right. Moving on. Elizabeth. 1148. Drug-free community fund 31,500 for a total of 31,500. Move to approve. Second motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Like to welcome the executive director, Jennifer Moore. Thank you for being here. Any questions for Jennifer? I'll ask one. Just tell us what you're going to use the money for.

So, this is the the time we come every year to ask for our funds so we can distribute them during Red Ribbon Week. We're giving out 10 grants this year to local organizations that help try to uh deal with the overdose and uh drug situation that we have in the county right now. Appreciate that. Thank you for the update there. Any other questions or comments? Uh this is a grant that we're just redistributing for just for the public to know. Roll call, please. M. Langan. Yes. Mr. Mull. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Can? Yes. Mr. Buckau, yes. Mr. Piper, yes. Mr. Wahhead, yes. Thank you for being here. Thank you.

All right, moving on. Wizard. 4910 EMS capital improve improvement. Uh 550 other capital outlays $10,000 for a total of $10,000. Move to approve. Second motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Any questions for Mike? What what are we using this for? Mike utilities. Cover that constellation stuff till we get that straightened out. I know that they're working on that. Further comments or questions? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Miss Planken.

Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Pants, yes. Mr. Mole, yes. Mr. Buckau, yes. Miss Piper. Yes. Two. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Mike. Motion to approve financial transfers into amend salary ordinance with like reductions. Second motion by Jessica. Second by Dan Moall. Miss Flangen. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Mole. Yes. Mr. Brook. Yes. Mr. Piper. Yes. Mr. Can. Yes. Mr. Wy. Yes. Thank you. Council in front of you have the back filling report. I have a question. Yes, sir.

Uh there are two entries there say part-time. My memory was that the what qualified for back billing was that an employee left was being replaced and there were sufficient funds in the in the line to pick up a new salary. So how does part-time get in on that report? Excellent question. Who puts that together? Me. Okay. Would you like that removed in the future?

I I just don't understand why every time we hire a new part-time employee shouldn't appear on this report, I don't think, because they don't have a line item for salary. Correct. Right. Correct. That doesn't require our approval to fill with part-time position. Correct. So, yeah, I think I think the part-time should not appear on this report in my opinion. Yeah, I would agree. They're sending it to you though, Marissa. Is that what you're

No, but they're you're being alerted that there are part-time changes to somebody from an employee standpoint. Okay.

Okay. So, you'll just eliminate those. Okay. I I guess I have one other statement which is basically we're in August or September of this year. Um you know we don't have a we did not agree to or or discuss a hiring freeze of any sort for 2026. However, I would um advise all department heads and elected officials for 2026 to consider replacement positions um throughout the course of the year. And uh because if everything we know holds true um there's a good chance that you know there's going to be percentage cut across the board sometime by 2027 if a position does not need to be replaced uh immediately or ever. I would uh I would give that serious thought throughout the course of the next 18 months. still have the back filling report in front of us. Anybody like to entertain a motion to just receive the back filling report?

So moved. Second. Motion by Dan. Second by Matt. Roll call, please. Miss Planet, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. Mogle, yes. Mr. Brook, yes. Mr. Piper, yes. Mr. Can. Yes. Mr. Royhead. Yes. I would like to echo Mr. Can's comments. I would agree with that wholeheartedly.

All right, moving on to ordinances and resolutions. First one we have in front of us is the ordinance 2025-14 30-day ordinance for second reading. We've had a few suggested edits. Now we as council need to figure out what we'd like to have it read. Matt, didn't you have an idea about

Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. What were we saying, Dan? Uh, so didn't you have an I had an idea and you did, so I'd like your Go ahead. I I was just going to um change out B, but didn't you suggest maybe we take eliminate it completely to get it out of finance committee? Wasn't that your idea? Uh, yeah. Would point me to this spot?

Uh, 5B. actually 5A 5B. Okay. Yeah. Um that was just my statement about the fi the the the finance committee's um providing a recommendation um one way or another. This reads as if the finance committee determines that it would be denied. It seems that's really outside the purview to deny for the full council that that this fund or appropriation couldn't happen. Um so I I did have concern about that. It was a similar concern I have about just the finance committee making recommendations quote unquote um uh coming out of every monthly meeting that it's really up to the council to to make those determinations. finance is really just um asking the questions, trying to vet out any uh inappropriate requests, you know, things of that nature. Uh not approving or denying um anything. So that that's my that's my statement on that.

All right. So your suggested edit to this ordinance is removing section 5 BB2 at a minimum. Um if if your goal is to remove the finance committee's role and just essentially make it come before the full council for any like any other normal appropriation, then I think what would make sense would be removing uh subsection A in its entirety, B in its entirety, uh C would then become A, remove D in its entirety, and then E would become B. And essentially, it would just say uh an appropriation request received by the council shall follow the council's regular procedure for appropriations and ultimately be decided by majority vote. And then E, upon the approval of the appropriation request from the rainy day fund, the council shall adopt a resolution noting the terms of the appropriation. Those would be the only two remaining that section. So the way it reads today with D in there, basically if the finance committee denies the request, the request is appealed to the council by the department head. Okay. I mean, this is a discussion. I'm not I'm not I'm just trying to be consistent, I think, or trying to maintain consistency, but if there are appropriate measures in here, the way the wording is today, you know, now, uh, following that that that it can be pushed to the full council. Um, it just seems overly complex. Maybe it miss.

But going off your suggestions from last month, I also had striking parts B in its entirety and part D. And you're saying, Ben, that part A should be struck as well. Or could Well, I mean, you you could leave A. I mean, it would just go to the council or the finance committee for review. Generally speaking, I suppose it wouldn't have any which it would because it's an appropriation. Okay. Then leave it just be striking B and D in their entire entirety. Leaving A, C, and E. What are the thoughts of the rest of council? I support striking B and D. I agree. I agree.

Yep. All right. Matt also had some other suggestions and I agreed with him on Let's turn. Let's see. It's H number four C. where it states the purchase of statemandated computer hardware or software and striking the words statemandated. I remember that. I agree with that. Yes.

An issue with that. No, I mean the the items listed in subsection 4 are it's been a minute since I drafted this, but my recollection is I believe that was they were just pulled from the prior rainy day ordinances that had been approved over the years trying to consolidate them into a single ordinance. So no issue with you striking or adding if you wanted additional language to that. Bill or Brad, any comment on striking that? I'm fine with that. I agree, Jim. Fine. I heard from everybody else. All right.

Could I make one uh suggestion to four also? 4B, I would uh recommend that where it says maintenance or construction, I'd recommend it say maintenance, construction, or emergency repairs. We have an emergency clause in there. I agree. Yes. Same. Yes. That work, Ben. Mhm.

All right. It's all right with me. Matt also had another suggestion number four part E striking the verbiage that comes after county general fund which is as a result of the non-payment of property taxes. Just striking that entirely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, point being, we may have a shortfall that's not due to a non-payment. Correct. I agree.

Yes. Yes. Okay. All righty. Those are all of the edits that were brought before me or at our last meeting. Does council have other suggestions or edits they'd like for us to discuss? All right. Hearing none. Do I hear a motion to approve it for second reading now? Second. You need to amend amended. As amended.

Can they amend that that as amended in their motion? For the record, let me just read the changes as I understand them and then somebody can feel free to adopt that as their motion to amend. But uh beginning in section 4 sub paragraph B will read maintenance construction uh or emergency repairs of any buildings or improvements owned by the county or which the county is legally required or compelled to maintain. Uh, subsection C, the purchase of computer hardware or software. Subsection E, to supplement and/or advance funds as necessary due to a shortfall experienced by the county general fund. And then paragraph five, subsections B and D will be stricken in their entirety and and then the pageionation updated appropriately.

I still move to approve as amended. And I will still second. All righty. Motion by Jessica, a second by Dan. Is there any further comment, questions, corrections? Hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Flanken? Yes. Mr. Hughes? Yes. Mr. Mogul? Yes. Mr. Bookout? Yes. Miss Piper? Yes. Mr. Science? Yes. Mr. Swahhead? Yes. I'd like to thank Ben and council for their work on that. the process if we wish to put additional funds in rainy day fund it would be just is that a trans major transfer from county general is that what happens that's my understanding Elizabeth

yeah I think I defer to the auditor's office on that right it goes before the council me transfer just transfer whatever funds you feel appropriate make sure your mic's on thank you thank you all right moving on to resolution 2025-15 reduction of funds resolution. I'll move to approve. I will second.

By Jessica, second by Dan. I know this is possibly the first time you guys are seeing it in resolution form, but these are numbers that we received during our budget hearings. Are there any questions, comments, clarifications, corrections? All right, hearing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Flangen, yes. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mr. McGall, yes. Mr. Bau, yes. M. Piper, yes. Mr. Can, yes. Mr. Whitehead, yes. Like to thank all the departments who worked hard on trying to figure out if they had money to give back. Thank you all.

All right. Uh, I didn't have any committees or appointments that need to come before us. Council have any committees need updates? All right. I didn't have any old business. For new business, I think I briefly mentioned at one of our budget hearings, we have a dormant fund in the inheritance tax fund with a little over $6,200. My suggestion would be for our next meeting have that money ready for a major transfer to put in the rainy day fund. But I just wanted to give an update to council that we can move that by a simple vote because we've done that in the past to put it in general or as just heard here the auditor said that we could do a major transfer and put it whatever fund we'd like.

So that's fund 7202 I believe. So, yes, you have an exact number there while we're Well, only as of August, it was $6,258.94

and I don't believe that's changed any and then talking with the auditor's office who has also talked with Department of Revenue and the state board of accounts. They don't expect any more money to go in there and it was also recommended to possibly close that fund. If we do decide to close that fund, I think we should state it in an ordinance or resolution where that if any other money comes in from that that it goes somewhere. It goes into general. It goes in the rainy day. It just needs to go somewhere so that way money doesn't sit there and not get placed into a fund. Agreed.

That's my update on the dormant fund. Any questions on that? I think I would agree that the resolution needs to let's put it for 80 day. Thank you. All right. Also in new business, Captain Johnson, give us an update on the chirp grant. Good morning. Morning. Morning.

Captain Tony Johnson, Delaware County Sheriff's Office. Um I oversee our OPO and our CHP grant, which uh emphasizes highway enforcement, traffic safety. Uh earlier this year, we were approved on that grant for uh the fiscal year 26 in the amount of $124,200. So that money will need to be approved for the 26th uh fiscal year coming out of our OPO juvenile grant. That's all I know. We'll see you next month to be able to do that. Okay. Uh, any questions for Tony while he's here? Can I make a comment? Yes, sir.

Tony's been to office several times working with our office in reference to grants and I've noticed that he comes well well before he receives the money or anything. So, he's essentially got our office in the loop and everything's set up. So, when he comes to the commissioners to get those approved, it it's very easy for us on our end to keep track of things. So, Isaac, I want to thank you for doing that. All right. You're welcome. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Moving on to elected officials and department heads. Kylen,

thank you.

Good morning, council. Kylen Swackhammer Plann Commission.

So, I'm just here to report that the Delaware County ADA transition plan is complete. I gave you um one physical copy there in order to save paper. Um I will email the rest of you a link. It is posted online on the Delaware County website. Um underneath departments, human resources, there is an ADA section. Um, as a recipient of federal funds, Delaware County is legally required to um comply with federal and state regulations in regards to the Title Six and the ADA. Title six is um prohibits discrimination um on the grounds of race, color, national origin, and then ADA prohibits discrimination on the um grounds of disability. So for this plan um one requirement is to have this plan the ADA transition plan. American structure point was hired as the uh as a professional consulting firm to do this. There were grants um that we received from the community foundation and the ball brothers foundation. 80% reimbursement is being sought through um the plane commission office and actual plan itself, right, Connie?

Sorry. For the plan itself. Yes. The creation of the plan.

Yes. For the create Yeah. the development of the plan. Um so for this there were eight Delaware County facilities that were assessed um and included in the plan. So, this included the county building, the justice center, um the emergency communication center, EMS station number three, county highway department, county health department, um the new mental health facility, and then the county fairgrounds. Um the purpose was to identify any physical barriers to access to these facilities. um identify whether we are compliant or non-compliant with the existing um ADA standards. It also outlines a plan to reduce and remove those barriers, provides cost estimates um to correct any non-compliant issues and it did include public involvement. This plan will need to be updated every 3 years. And then we will also be required to submit an annual goals and accomplishment report to um report back on the progress that was made.

All righty. Thank you, Kylen. Comments or questions from council? I think it'll take us a while to review all that, but I would encourage everyone from council to look that up and review it in case there are questions in the future.

Okay. One I do have another paper I'll pass out. One of the main questions that I've been getting is so if we fix everything that they found to be non-compliant, what what what's the cost of that? So on page 182 of the plan, it does outline out outline that um they prioritized into four priority categories and it covers year 1 through year 10. So I'll give you that. I get that summary sheet to the fairgrounds if you don't. Carrie, could I get you to look and see who all signed up, please? Mr. President, may I speak?

Yes. Um, as the honor, I wanted to thank all the department heads for all the work they've done on the budget this year. I know there's a lot transitioning to a new platform, and we're going to make our office accessible like we did this year. uh it'll be accessible again next year. So, you'll be able to come in our office if you need assistance setting up your budget or anything reference to your budget. Um I do want to thank the girls in our office. They spent a huge amount of time getting open gov set up and prep for the um for the budget this year and I apologize for not being able to attend a lot of the meetings because some personal family matters to address. But from my understanding, they did a very good job. So, I want to thank them for all the hard work and and it obviously showed during the the chair and and also want to thank the council for working with us during this whole process. That's it. I'll ech I'll echo Ed's comments. Thank you, G, for all your hard work. I know some long days and lots of hours and lots of brain power went into what we were doing. So, thank you. We do have we do have about two pages of suggestions on on different things for the process and we will try to implement those with the vendor and and some of the things we know we can do ourselves but it's it's a pretty major undertaken to to make that transition. So it'll be evolving for the next couple two or three years. Appreciate those comments, Ed. Thank you. Other elected officials and department heads. All right, moving on to public comment. Mr. the answer.

No. Uh Rick Yanser, newsman and author. I guess the first step is to make a request under state and federal records for the budget resolution. I didn't see any copies out here. I heard no discussion at the meeting. Uh the last time I was here a week or so ago, I recall that there were no raises. Uh you wanted to preserve a $6 million cash balance and I wasn't sure the number that you cut. I think what people want to know is whether you're going to raise taxes next year. You know, this talk of still property tax relief is gutting schools and government is untrue. Uh we did some financial review of your money and we found millions in cash whether it's in the general fund tip edit uh some leftover uh STEMI money American Rescue you've always got money because we the people pay you to provide us service. And I still have a problem with this form of government not being too open as far as telling us whether we're going to raise taxes and what we expect to pay here in 26. I just heard glimpses of um we probably push everything to 27. But I would hope again you would comply with our records request because that's the law and people still want to know what you're doing because they'll be paying taxes here in a month. And given the assessed value has gone up greatly. I think the state's at about 25% over the last 5 years. We're still

paying more regardless of how much you spend. So remember too how this works and how much we pay whether it's the homeowners, the businesses, the farmers to keep this government going. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Any other people from the public that did not sign up would like to speak? All right, hearing none comments from council. I would like ahead.

I would like to echo the earlier thoughts to thank the ladies and the auditor for all their effort. It was a mountain there. And also Jessica and Matt for their efforts. I'm just a nerd. Spreadsheets. Somebody's got that one. Yep.

Uh sure. So I have just a couple things. I wanted to speak about uh open gov. Uh, so thank you to the auditor's office for implementing that. Um, it was nice. Matt and I are getting a little our feet wet in playing around with open gov throughout the budget process, but it was nice to be able to go see those itemized details for those departments that uh went ahead and put those in. I look forward to uh more collaboration on stuff like that and having all of that available online for us to look at and work with and uh circle back to. Um, I'm really interested to see how like the the graphs and charts and such, the reporting part of it can be developed out a little further moving forward. So, thank you for all of that. And it was nice that we were instantly able to get those updated numbers. I mean, it was you'd say, "Oh, just a second." And it literally was like a few seconds. So, we were able to get all that and that made Matt and my life a lot easier, too, with our our spreadsheets that we were working on. So, thank you for that. And the only other thing I had that I wanted to make sure I called out is uh September is childhood cancer awareness month. So today over at the uh Horizon Convention Center in partnership with the children Muny Children's Museum. They are having a blood drive this afternoon. I guess actually this evening from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. there still are spaces available you can sign up for. Otherwise you can just walk in and I'm sure they would be happy to take your donation. So just wanted to make sure I shared that out.

Thank you. Other comments from councel?

Two things. First, uh I wanted to make sure my understanding was correct that there's nothing in the budget we've just adopted that directly goes to the new mental health facility. Is that am I correct in that? Yes. Okay. I just want to make sure that my understanding was correct. And the other thing I passed out a little old document I prepared and there are a couple copies on the table over there. It shows the the max levy amount from last year and this year projected which is shows a 4% increase. And at the beginning of budget hearings when we were first looking at revenue numbers I said where's our 4%? Where did it go? Because it didn't seem like we were getting that. Our problem is what's called the tax cap loss. And this is not unfamiliar to Delaware County because we have the highest percentage loss compared to our max levy of any county in the state by far and have had for many years. Uh if you have seen a copy of the document that Senator Alexander uh made available uh in 2024 our tax cap loss was 35% of the of the levy. Nobody else was even above 30%. Most of the counties our size were in the low 20s. And I've heard explanations over the years why this is. we have so much non so many properties and nonprofits. Uh I've heard all kinds of explanations, but it doesn't make any sense to me when I look at last year our tax cap loss, which is the money we can't collect

because it it's above the 1% 2% 3% uh constitutional levels. Last year was 17 or 7,347,000. That tax cap loss, which is taken off our max levy, went up 17% this year. It's not a mathematical error. Actually, the state had even a higher number. I've talked with Elizabeth. She worked it through. This is the best estimate that we can come up with at this point. But I don't understand things. Nothing's happened in Delaware County that dramatic in the past 12 months. Why our tax cap loss would increase by that amount. So my my intent the bottom line is as far as property taxes, we're going to receive less this year than it received last year by about half a percent. So that's where our 4% went. If employees were thinking, well guys, we should get a 4% raise because our max levy is up 4%. the state took that away. It's my intention to contact our legislators. Even if this is mathematically correct and follows the current law, it is still a huge disadvantage to Delaware County and if this is still in place and then the effects of Senate Bill one, which we haven't even begin to deal deal with yet, I don't know where we'll be a year from now or two years from now. So this is a to me it's a it's a crisis. I want our legislators to look at it and try to figure out why it is we are being punished in this way. Even if that's what the what the statute says. There's there's something wrong that we are suffering uh that kind of an increase that that depletes our backs levy to the point where we're not able to give

raises. We're not able to to fund capital projects. We're not able to serve the the citizens of Delaware County in the way we want to. So that's my speech. Thank you, Bill. Well said. Other comments for council? Bill, I thought you said you had two things. Did you have two things? I got the other one was the other was the mental health.

Okay. Okay. Brad, okay. I have uh maybe just a couple things. Uh well, one for sure just to reiterate what Bill said. I think it's uh criminal basically what we're witnessing from a financial perspective coming down from the state. And I think that would behoove maybe our finance committee to call in our state representatives and legislators to to discuss this and uh make sure that prior to next session they uh somebody takes a look at what's happening with this because um to me that's uh counter to what uh Mr. Yenser said which is you know we're not taking in the money that people are paying in in essence. Um, so where is it going and why are we why are we seeing that? So that's an outstanding question. Um, we had a brief uh conversation with Commissioner Brand um around part-time and the salary ordinance um the discussion was um around some of the housekeeping changes that that that he's working through, but more so the complexity with which our part-time component of the salary ordinance has become with all the changes and carveouts for 911 and EMS and everybody else. I think it's uh robustly overly complex to to implement. It also doesn't really give the department heads any uh meaningful um leeway to to work from on a part-time perspective when we know full well that part-time help costs us a lot less money uh in the long run. And so, um, Commissioner Brands agreed to with our new HR, uh, leader to review that and just you can might be able to see something hopefully maybe even next month if, uh, if we can do that. Um, I think that's it. I do appreciate everyone's time and effort

this year. Um, contrary to, uh, statements made, uh, I think every dollar has been accounted for publicly this year. Uh so uh it may take a second to go back and wade through it, but the monies uh have been accounted for and are there um on what is being spent for next year and I think we've uh done the best we could um with with the pieces that we've been given. So thanks everybody for your help.

Thank you Matt. Other comments from council. I would like to take a moment to thank all the elected officials, department heads, those who put the budgets together. I'd like to especially thank our budget team, our auditor's office for all the long hours and hard work outside of just inside the budget hearings in this room. It takes a lot of effort and a lot of time to get this all to a point where we can vote on it. So, truly heartfelt thank you to all of you. I'd like to thank council as well for all the time. We were pretty much here for 100% of every single meeting, which I know in past years has not been a perfect attendance and myself included on that. Uh, I'd also like to go out and say that here we are at the end of September. Harvest season has started already. Myself being a farmer, I'm going to be driving a lot of slow equipment on the roads. Please be patient with us. We do our best to get over. We do our best to get out of the way. County roads especially are not wide enough for a lot of our equipment. Just be aware of when you do decide to meet us uh where mailboxes are, telephone poles are, ditches that are deep. We don't want anybody to get hurt, especially us and our families and you and yours. So, please just be aware. Beyond that, I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn.

So, move. Second. Motion by Jessica, second by Dan. Roll call, please. Mr. Hughes, yes. Mangan, yes. Mr. Rookout, yes. Mr. Mole, yes. Mr. Scans, yes. Mr. Sper, yes. Mr. Whead, yes. Thank you, Kyle.