City Council Formal Meeting - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Accounting for needed operational costs, a $70 million surplus remains. This strong financial, this long-term planning also helps Phoenix State resilient in the face of challenge rely on. Each March, the city manager releases a trial budget, a draft that aligns projected resources with anticipated resources with anticipated, primary property tax, and useripated canoes, primary property tax, and user fees and other revenues. Fees and other revenues. Enterprise funds operate like benefit the community. Now to the 202627 trial budget which continues budget which continues new vital services including 12.9 strengthen system reliability and reduce long-term contracting costs. The budget converts key temporary IT and engineering forward. Together we're building a more sustainable, resilient, and welcoming Phoenix. Forego Phoenix.

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for Phoenix Sky Harbor. responsibility. participate. We will now call the names of the speakers. Each speaker will have two minutes to provide their comments about the budget. Please approach the podium when your name is called. And a reminder to the audience, there are interpreters available for our Spanish language attendees. I will start off with Jeannie Sner, followed by Angela Flores. Thank you. Frustrated with the speeding

and cut through traffic in my neighborhood and loss of feeling safe and driving in Phoenix, of course, I went to Google. What I found was the amazing amount of technology and effective strategies now available to traffic engineers. Please consider support funding support for traffic engineers to find technical solutions, strategies, and methods to return safety to our streets and stop the cut through traffic in our neighborhoods. I support additional police officer motorcycles, additional motorcycle officers. Thank you. I also support park rangers, private security and mobile cameras for our parks. I support the office of homeless solutions budget and I respectfully request money be set aside for an OS representative to be present at every medical provider and feeder per permitted in the parks if the ordinance proposed ordinance is passed. The office of homeless solutions offers opportunities for change. Thank you. Next up is Angela Flores, followed by Christy McCann.

Thank you. My name is Angela Flores. I'm a resident in District 8. Um, I want to talk to you today about the day the bus benches went away. Uh, I live uh right off of the corner of 51st Avenue in Baseline. Um and a little while back uh we were having a pretty significant uh unsheltered uh situation happening on those corners. And so the solution was that the bus benches were removed. And while there was much rejoicing in the next door land, uh I thought it was it it felt like the dignity was being stripped of the community that was using those bus benches. And since then there have been some individual seats returned. But what I saw in that in that few hours buses being removed and the inventiveness of that community. Um community gathered shopping carts from the various grocery stores and created a bench for themselves by laying down the shopping carts. Uh by the end of the day, because it also happened to be bulk trash week, um there was a sofa uh well not a sofa, a love seat, a recliner, and some ottomans that people had gathered around that particular area. I raise that because our community with a nearly eight bazillion dollar budget deserves better than uh than us having to invent our own seating in order for us to access public transit. Um in addition to that, I really would like to see more heat mitigation for our community in that space. I'd like to see more reliable public transit. Um native plants and uh more affordable housing uh for folks so we can address the unsheltered population.

Next is Christy McCann followed by Irma Pis. Today I would like to support the following children, youth, and families setting aside money and supporting Phoenix families uh child care set aside of $5 million. Flexible emergency financial assistance in the amount of 1.5 million. Additionally, I would like to see um Head Start expanded into schools that do not have prek to include transportation if applicable. As someone who works in schools and sees the difference between children who have had prek within a school versus children who have started from daycare in a kindergarten classroom. It the difference is dramatic. They know the rules of school. So teachers just don't have to invest that much time teaching it and they can dive right in in into teaching them number sense and learning to read. And I'm seeing children have amazing success. This will provide a foundation for them as they go through the rest of the years of school. Additionally, I would like to see homeless service continuity with shelter operations in the amount of 12.9 million, heat relief funding in the amount of 1.5 million, uh 2.5 million toward the master lease program. Next, I would like to see um the continuation of 6.6 million in the housing trust fund toward housing affordability. And lastly, I want to uh I want to make a plea to ensure and expand funding for

our community action officers to include overtime. Recently in my area, there was an incident and several neighbors because they have had contact with the community action officer reached out and have shared videos from their homes so that the police have a file and can move things forward. Okay, next up is Irma followed by Darren Jerick. is Phoenix. Phoenix. Paradise Valleyarket. Fore!

Foreign! Foreign! Broadway. Hello everyone. My name is Irma Pacco and I've been living here in South Phoenix for many, many years. Um, I work for the Hispanic families. And today I was working around 32nd Street and Shea Boulevard. And what really caught my attention was that it was that there were some barricades because they're going to expand the landscaping. And I was thinking about my area, South Phoenix. And I was thinking to myself, when is it that I'm going to see this these barricades in my area to expand and um plant more trees, more vegetation, years go by, more years and years go by, and South Phoenix continues um to to look um the way it does. It just looks uh poor. It's in poor shape. if you they they put more attention in the Midtown area. Um, in other districts and here in South Phoenix, we're just marginalized with we have also issues with paying our

water bills and the electricity. Don't get me started on that one. We are anticipating a very hard um summer, very strong heat, and I would like for you to um implement or put some shades um just like you see them in Paradise Valley and and in Scotssdale. We would like to see some shade outside of our supermarkets, grocery stores because when the summer is here, the heat is hot. We are looking for shade under trees or we go into um the grocery stores like the fries, food city looking for a shade of where to park. And also I would like um more funds to be designated uh for families that are affected with um their they have higher bills by the end of the summertime. They a lot of them have a really high debt. We're talking about over $1,500 in just electricity bills. Um and I'm talking about working families, okay? Um people that work where it's the the the husband, the wife, and sometimes even the children. And in spite of that, by the end of the summertime, they have this high debt of over $1,500, $1,800. Um and this is combining both um the electricity and water bill. And I would like to also see more planting of trees in in alongside 7th Avenue, 7th Street, Broadway, Southern. Our community looks

really sad in comparison to the other communities where I go work. My South Phoenix looks really sad and very desolated. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Dar Jurich followed by Andrea Luna Sa. Hi, my name is Darren Jezik. I'm with Organized Power in Numbers and the Take Back Our Homes campaign. We fight for tenants rights. We're not asking for an arm or leg. We are asking for people to have a chance to avoid homelessness. You can bet your last dollar that not all evictions have been on the up and up and renters have been at a disadvantage since the start. They can barely afford rent thanks to the greed of landlords and corporations. They need your help and it's past time that they have the help they need. We have been here many, many times and we are not going away. Fund right to council, please before another family goes homeless.

Thank you. Next up is Andrea, followed by shy.

Hi, good evening, Vice Mayor Aach Washington. My name is Andrea Lunes Advantes and I live in District 8. Um, and I'm here to ask the city to invest in working families who are struggling to stay housed and stable. So, right now, too many tenants uh face eviction and so we need the city to pass a right to council and fund it. uh families are are facing rising costs and need support now. Flexible financial assistance, refugee crisis support and child care currently receive about 7 million combined. But we don't believe that's enough. We are demanding a total investment of 12 million that includes these programs plus funding for right to council and legal services. The city must also invest more in housing. This include increasing the master lease pilot program to 3 million. Master leasing is critical because it creates a pathway to stability for most for people at risk of eviction and homelessness. It lowers barriers to housing by b by bypassing strict credit checks, prior eviction records, and several things that our community currently faces and people should have the right to be able to access these these homes. I also want to thank Vice Mayor Hodgej Washington for leading in housing issues for our community. We need to be able to invest in these critical programs because Phoenix families need to be further reflected in the budget. Um, additionally, I would love to see investment in the infrastructure of where I live on 7th Avenue in Grants. Uh, the closest grocery store to me is a 20 minute walk, but my roommate and I are too scared to walk due to the lack of sidewalks and lighting. And then my unhoused neighbors um and community are also just constantly facing danger with speeding and again the lack of lighting in that area. So we're also love to see investment there. But thank you.

Thank you. Um next up is Sky followed by Adriana Garcia. Good afternoon. My name is Sky Zachar. Excuse me. I'm nervous. And I currently live here in Phoenix. I'm originally from a small town, funny enough, called Phoenixville in Pennsylvania. Uh, growing up, I saw what it looked like when a community is wellunded and invest in its people. Phoenixville has strong assistance programs and recently even invested in a large community project, an inoperable ferris wheel in the center of town. When I first heard this, I thought, why? After thinking about it, it shows a community that has already built a strong foundation of support for its residents. But what stands out to me isn't just the projects. It's the support systems. I've personally needed assistance programs in the past. And because of that, I know how different life can look when those support systems are there and when they aren't. That's why these programs matter to me. Tenants facing eviction often don't have legal representation, which can lead to preventable housing instability. Establishing a right to council would ensure people have a fair chance to stay housed. Access to community legal services is also critical. Many people can't afford help with housing, employment, or immigration issues. And without that support, small problems can quickly become crisis. At the same time, families are navigating rising cost, stagnant wages, and reduced federal support. Flexible financial assistance can make the difference between stability and displacement. We also need stronger investments in the affordable housing and programs like the housing trust fund and master lease program so working families aren't priced out of their communities. And finally, child care remains a major barrier. Without affordable, accessible child care, many parents simply can't work and stay financially stable. I'm asking the city to increase funding for these programs and to adopt a right to council

ordinance. These are not just investments. These are not just policy investments. They are investments in the stability and wellbeing of the entire community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next up, we have Adriana, followed by Jessica Bueno. Everybody, good evening. Uh, good evening, Amber Allen, vice mayor. Uh my name is Adriana Garcia Maximilliano and I'm with Organized Power Numbers, an organization dedicated to serving and advocating alongside workingclass families. A lot of the families in our um city are struggling right now, especially with rising um costs and with the federal government attacking immigrant or refugee communities. Um and so I came here today to ask for more funding uh for parts of the budget. I also want to say thank you to Vice Mayor Hoj Washington for championing housing policies um that have been supporting folks like the housing trust fund and the eviction legal services. Um and Amber, I I know that sometimes community groups, they want more out of the budget, but I will say that this budget a lot of our partners are very excited about. Um there's a lot of really good investments that the city's making on programs that folks have been asking for for a long time, but there's um always room to do more. Um and so our members and community partners would like to see an increase um in this trial budget in the following categories. the master lease program, uh, flexible financial assistance, the refugee crisis support, and the housing trust fund. Um, housing stability and flexible financial assistance could really go a long way. Um, especially helping families, uh, just like Sky was saying, um, that again, folks are just a paycheck away from ending up on the streets or in a really bad situation. And so, we like to I would like to see funding in all of those. Um, but also been coming for years now and we like an

expansion on the eviction legal services through a right to counsel ordinance. Making sure that an attorney is present when folks are getting evicted uh really changes uh the outcomes um and they're able to stay in their homes. Um, and as the city's uh rolling out all these programs and looking into the expansion of some of these, really asking for them to be low barrier so that folks who need them can actually access them without so much bureaucracy uh from the city. Thank you all so much.

Next, we have Jessica followed by Callie Gregory. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor Hajj Washington and Deputy City Managers. My name is Jessica Bueno and I am here with Chispa Arizona as the clean and green campaign specialist. Our work and campaign is involving um increasing tree shade canopy and ultimately a free transit program. I'm here to advocate on two points. The first one being um these this budget uh process. This is my eighth year participating and it honestly just feels like going through the motions. I think as we continue to grow as a city, the fifth largest city in the country, that we explore options like participatory budgeting, which is kind of ultimately what we're doing right now with the general fund. And also uh being a little bit more transparent around the budget. Um, we did not cover, the video did not cover exactly what the city departments are actually costing us. And I think the residents deserve to go more into detail about how a budget is created, all the different funding mechanisms like the general fund, enterprise fund, uh, capital improvement, all of those buckets. Um, you know, I thank Councilwoman Hernandez for creating a budget um cohort of some sort to get residents more involved with um giving input and understanding where our money is actually going. And second, I really uh implore you all to explore a transit bond uh a bond a transit bond. I know we just did our GO bonds not too long ago, but I think with council's recent decision to move away from the cap X light rail and prioritize Mville, I think both need to happen. I think we need to be more aggressive around transit and a bond could possibly solve some of those things with building out

our BRT, building out more light rail. Um, I know T2050 can only go so far. So that's why I'm asking to please maybe explore how a transit bond can really support our environmental goals because we can no longer um be able to subsidize personal vehicular ownership. Thank you. Next up we have um Callie Gregory followed by Dylan Sage Crossman.

Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. So, that was the last of our speakers unless there's any additional cards. Well, that's all the speakers that we have for today's budget hearing. I want to again thank you for participating and providing feedback on the proposed 2026 um trial budget. Um I want to just talk about one key proposal that we in the trial budget um that's of importance to myself. I'll take a little personal privilege. I want to say that Phoenix has had so many qualities that make it an amazing place to be. From our community and culture to career opportunities, Phoenix has entered the global stage while remaining a wonderful place to call home. Historically, the affordability of Phoenix as the fifth largest city has been one of the key quality that sets us apart. However, as we've heard from numerous residents, it is clear that the affordability of our city is becoming a challenge for more and more people and families throughout our community. That's why I have been focused on affordability in all aspects of the city, especially in housing. I've been advocating for the city to establish and continue to invest in the housing trust fund as a key tool in our community's toolbox to expand access for safe, stable, and affordable housing. This remains one of my highest priority. I believe in the housing trust fund because it gives us a muchneeded tool as we strive to increase our obtainable housing stock, respond to rising house housing costs, prevent displacement, and support innovative solutions that meet families where they are. I thank city staff for their work in creating this um housing tr house housing trust fund last May and I look forward to working together with my colleagues and rest of staff and community as we continue to invest in this key strategy. Thank you for indulging me and allowing me to talk a little bit about this because I do believe it is a one of the areas that we

definitely need to focus on as a city and we have been doing that and we're continuing to do that. So, thank you again for joining us at tonight's budget hearing and this concludes the hearing. Thank you.