City Council - Special Meeting

So,

two one. Good afternoon everyone. This is Mayor Serial Jefferson convening a special meeting for the High Point City Council. Is our first of many actually first of maybe not too many budget work sessions for the 2026 2027 fiscal year. Uh before we officially begin our meeting, we'll ask if there is a motion to adopt our agenda. So move I'll second. Motion is recognized. Council member Holmes, second to council member Andrew. Any discussion on the motion to adopt our agenda. Seeing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying I.

I. Any against? You guys have it. And we have an agenda. Our first item for presentation is item 2026-151. This is our official proposed budget. We'll recognize our budget and performance director, Mr. Steven Howard. Thank you, mayor, and good afternoon to you, members of the city council. Uh, a few topics uh for today's presentation that we prepared in advance. Um, we're going to talk about u what we put together. It's called an inflation impacts index. Um, and it's our first slide, and I'll kind of talk about what that is, uh, in a second. Uh, we're going to talk about our capital improvement program or CIP. Um, I'm not going to go project by project and read the descriptions, but, uh, there are some projects that are kind of, you know, at a higher level and give you some examples or some specifics of what some proposed dollars may be spent on. Uh, we're going to talk about fee schedule changes. Uh, also next steps, which is kind of our upcoming calendar, and obviously time for any any questions. And so earlier this uh budget cycle I would say kind of January February timeline uh as we're tracking uh things uh with the budget and also at the state level we started looking at you know things that are going up that are what we've been calling cost of doing business. You've heard me talk about cost of doing business. The manager alluded to it last Monday. I alluded to again in the presentation. I'm talking about it now. Uh we've seen it with many different things. Uh so we try to put that into some sort of like how do we show it versus what inflation is and so these are just some examples and so uh I smartly print my items in grayscale which doesn't help with a colorcoded uh PowerPoint uh but I do have notes and so this first one the blue um and we've used this example in past budgets that is the cost of a fire apparatus and so our index basically shows one is the

baseline and so if we're at 1.6. That's a 60% increase uh from 2022 to current. And so a fire apparatus in engine specifically in FY2022 it was about $750,000. Uh we're expecting about $1.2 million for that same apparatus. So about a $500,000 not quite $500,000 increase or 63%. Uh moving down this next one is uh a sedan. Uh we don't have a lot of sedans in our fleet. Um but similarly up almost 50% or about $11,000 since that 2022. Uh other examples as you go down full chemicals is that third one. Uh that's up about 43 to 44% about $40,000. So uh while some of the amounts may be smaller, uh if you look at it from a department's operating or that necessarily that operation, uh it can kind of range. uh the highest dollar one uh kind of in the middle which is the health insurance premiums. And so these are paid out of our uh our health fund. Uh in 2022 about $17.9 million uh up 35% since then about $24.2 million uh planned for this upcoming year. Um 35% kind of increase on that index. Uh you do see the consumer price index uh for South. We tried to use our most, you know, what was up to date on uh the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and that's kind of where we got that number from. Um I will note also on police officer and firefighter starting pay uh police officer pay up about $15,000 uh or about 37%. Uh firefighter starting pay about 11,000 or 31%. So individually that doesn't sound like a big amount, but when you think of how many firefighters and how many police officers and then while that's the those positions, any kind of pay changes for

sworn officer, certified fire went kind of up the kind of command chain. And so uh those increases multiplied out uh get much higher. And so we just kind of wanted to show you when we're talking about cost of doing business, these are some of those examples. Um, and this was just a way we were able to kind of put it into one chart um, to showcase it.

Stephen, this is this is really helpful. Thank you. I I am curious uh, seeing this um, I know you only picked out roughly nine looks like examples there. Um, if you had to just look across our expenses for the entire organization, um, is it the rule that most of them are probably above where that consumer price index line is or is it the exception that these nine are above it and the rest of our expenses are probably lower than that consumer price index or or or add it? I'm speculating here without having looked at it. I I would think you know over that time period u we'd probably be close to at least around that consumer price index you know those earlier years 2022 2023 you know inflation was go growing at a much higher rate. It's starting to kind of go toward that benchmark of 2% uh we're kind of you know pushing potentially higher currently and so um you know sometimes those increases in costs come a little bit later. we may not see them in real time with the latest month's inflation data and so um you know you think globally the entire city budget uh you know the department like budget we don't have a large operating budget and so inflation's not going to be a a big you know impact on the overall general fund but you look at some of those you know direct services asphalt street maintenance uh you know that's that's seen an increase u that's even going up higher currently we We haven't really factored that quite in with what's going on with uh oil prices and and things going in the Middle East, but that's going to have an impact that, you know, is not yet reflected here. And so, but I would say, you know, on average, you're probably at least that benchmark over that time period since it is since 2022. Um, and in some instances where it's higher, it's uh

it's sustained higher. I don't see fire engine prices stabilizing. I think they're more likely to continue uh at some sort of growth pattern as we continue to purchase them.

Yeah, this this kind of chart just it's really informative and um it's not lost on me. Um chairman of our finance committee, Britt Moore, is going down to Raleigh tomorrow morning. He's going to sit in on a committee meeting that the general assembly is having regarding finance, uh where they're discussing property taxes. And um there are some folks in Raleigh who would assume that uh local government if all we did was just go off a consumer price index for things then we'd be completely fine to be able to cover all of our expenses. And um I'm I'm not convinced that we would. I'm convinced that the costs are going up in many of these key products. Um and it's significant. It's like really significant. It's higher um than what you're seeing the rate in some other places. Uh it's just something to be mindful of. I think I was having a chat with someone yesterday and I think it can get lost pretty regularly to people. Um that the stuff that we have to deal with as a city, the amount of vehicles we have to put on the road, the amount of products that we need that go into that, it's really hit right now. Um so thank you for showing this.

Can I add a comment on that? Um if I may. Yeah. Uh, I think it's important to throw in there too that the way that municipalities fund their budgets is inherently different than how a state and then on top of that a federal government funds their budgets and some have to balance them, some don't. Um, and it u it can get lost in the discussion as you try to decipher and interpret numbers even on on the local level that if you're paying attention to state news and geopolitical news and federal news that those aren't apples to apples all that you're all the time you're talking about.

Agreed. And and I think you said some have to balance and some don't. Let's get let's get real specific. Sure. local government like city of High Point has to balance or we're penalized or we're penalized and the folks setting the rules in Raleigh and in DC don't have to balance which is why deficit is as crazy as it is right now. Councilman Andrew, you were about to say

yes. Um I remember in the finance committee meeting when the transportation director brought in um requests for vehicles, there was like a group buy or whatever things like that. Are we locked into a specific manufacturer for fire engines? Is there any kind of shopping around we can do? Because the last set of vehicles we bought for the police department, the price was actually very good. It was a competitive price. And I know that it's not an apples apples comparison, a car versus a big fire engine. But um surely we're not the only one feeling this and there has to be some kind of way we can arrest this this increase because we're going to continue to need fire apparatus but we can't sustain um that kind of increase year-over-year. So we can follow with Chief Evans on that specifically. I I think also lead time is something for u you know you're replacing a fire truck that's mean end of his useful life. Well, if it takes two years to get it, well then it's two years past the useful life before you are able to deploy it on the street. So we'll follow the fire and get a response.

And then I I will say one other thing along that you know typically we you use Pierce um and when we think about what it takes for us to maintain those vehicles because we do a lot of that in house. If we're starting to use a different manufacturer, then we have to think about if there are other costs that might come in in terms of parts, what it takes for us to maintain, what it takes to train. Um, so although there may be another manufacturer out there, I think we have to figure out if there's some other things that might impact our ability to move to another manufacturer at this point in the game.

Yeah, unfortunately chat GBT said that PICE is the best one. That's when I was doing some homework on this. Um, the other question I had and I lost my train of thought. I'm sorry. Next time I um will come back and paper.

So there no further questions on this and and we can obviously come back to this. U we'll kind of dive into uh the capital improvement program uh portion of the presentation. Uh so the slides here we kind of go by by fund or kind of function area and then just you just kind of see the list and I'll probably try and provide some examples and um if you're unsure about you know what's this particular project our budget document does have kind of project summaries for all the projects not just for 2627 but also the entire five-year capital plan. Uh so this slide is similar from last week. Uh so uh general capital uh at $5.4 million. I will say that uh 4.5 of that is out of the general fund and that is an increase of about $1.9 million from what we have traditionally been doing the past few years in general capital. Uh you see the other amounts for the funds. Um

why did you take it? Why did you change it? Why did you

uh there's one particular project that uh was kind of the driver of that increase and we have a slide specific to that that reason. Uh, I'll note on transit. I've noted it several times already uh since last week, but uh that 220,000 uh 44,000 is local dollars. Uh there's also state and uh federal dollars that help us with our transit capital. And so in our general capital area, uh again, I'm not going to go through every project with the description. Uh we did list the department here since general capital makes up more than what the enterprise funds necessarily make up. Um I will note on the core switch refresh project uh I kind of gave a total general capital amount just now and then said this how much is general fund core switch refresh refresh is kind of part of the backbone of our IT network and so it doesn't help just the general fund and so there's some cost share with this between some of the larger enterprise funds uh water resources electric solid waste and storm water uh because everyone is on that network and so everyone's benefiting from that increase. Uh similar to how uh previous years we had the ERP project, uh that was kind of how that was funded as well. Uh going kind of down the list, uh fire station upgrades and renovations. Uh and these are always subject to change depending on the needs of the departments, you know, when the new fiscal year starts and as the year goes on. Uh but some examples that uh chief discussed with us include uh HVAC improvements at station one, bathroom renovations at station 5, kitchen renovations at station 11, and bathroom and first floor renovations at station 14. And so uh this is kind of recurring pot of funds that you know they spend on things like I just named uh really until they spend it down and then you know hopes that there's a kind of further investment uh in a future year. Uh similarly with the parks and recreation deferred maintenance and playground and equipment. Uh some deferred maintenance

projects that are you know potentially planned for Mr. Tillery and his operation. Uh pool plastering at Oak Hollow Park. So this is specifically a campground. There's a separate pool there that gets a great deal of use and it's in need of repairs. Uh restroom renovation at West End Park. And on the playground side, play planned playground replacements are for Hitchcock and Macedonia parks. The stand Remind me is um parking decks under parks and wreck. Parking decks are in the parking fund. Parking.

Yes. Um and we have that uh coming on a future slide. Uh the sand trap replacement uh we have two golf courses. Uh this allocation of 251,000s would be for Blair Park and then future years of the capital improvement program uh would fund the same uh sand trap replacement but over at over hollow. And then specifics here just on the local bridge maintenance and repair. Uh there are a couple bridges uh around Red and High uh railroad near Leonard uh Centennial and then the railroad uh near Broad for Hamilton. Um I'm sorry for those the way I described that, but I was just provided a map and trying to you know figure out how to explain it when it's not to a street and street corner. Um, public services is kind of talking with uh the state since the railroads are involved. Uh, but those are the ones that uh if funding is secured in this budget, they'll be able to hopefully start moving on those bridge improve uh bridge maintenance and repair projects. And then uh there was a question about where the increase is compared to previously previous years. And so uh you'll notice on that list there was a project called downtown infrastructure and redevelopment. And so we increase general capital uh exactly by what the equivalent of a penny is. So it's really an additional investment of a penny toward general capital. Uh and this would be for parking improvements and also future downtown redevelopment. And so that is driving uh the increase uh year compared to what we've seen in recent years uh for general capital. Uh moving on to water resources. uh water resources is up uh not quite $1.1 million over the previous years. Uh it's usually in that range of about a million, you know, plus or minus a few hundred,000 uh for increases to PGO

capital for water resources. These are all PO projects. In the capital plan, you see revenue bond projects. Uh when those projects are ready to go to bid in construction and an item comes before council, we usually attach a budget amendment setting up the budget at that time. Uh so you know a lot of these are kind of pots of funds to use as are needed. Uh the obsolete water lines and obsolete sewer lines. Uh recent years this has been more of a where is there an emergency where we need to do either an on call repair or something. Um I think the ideal utopia scenario is we're able to identify ones that are ready for replacement. Uh unfortunately uh do our aging infrastructure. Uh we don't quite have that luxury. we kind of have to uh we can be as proactive as we can, but we have to be ready to be reactive uh when those instances occur. Uh you see that $1.3 million uh third from the bottom water distribution master plan recommendations. Uh so water resources underwent a study that identified about $87 million over a 15-year period. Obviously 1.3 million is not $87 million. The hope is to use these funds for some engineering and design and then figure out all right if we're going to move to construction or to another phase. What do those estimates look like to work into either a future capital plan uh or you know talk with finance and Mr. Fitz John about future revenue bonds ward water treatment plant projects. Uh this is generally a pot of funds for just you know capital items that are going to come up at that facility throughout the year. Um some examples that uh we were given included uh replacement of a vacuum tank, a blower, and a super pulsator. Um and so just things that come up to keep that plant moving. Um it's kind of a recurring, you know, there's always going to be something, but this specific kind of changes from year to year at that particular location. Uh the east side

dissolved air flotation system replacement, uh big $2.2 $2 million out of uh you know if you look at the comparable other project costs uh this would replace the internal components of tank one and two. Uh the time frame of uh the life of that is since 1985 and so uh some good life on it. Um and this particular you know DAFF system if you will uh is part of the biological treatment process. And so all told a little over $14 million for water resources uh which is increase of not quite one about $ 1.07 million compared to last year's budget uh funded by water resources only. U any of our enterprise funds capital are funded by the operation of that enterprise fund. Uh looking at electric uh I'll just note electric capital is down about $12 million. Uh last year there was funds set aside for construction of the new EOC and that was a very large kind of capital project and so uh that kind of rolling off uh you kind of see this big year-over-year uh decrease. Uh those first four projects are kind of recurring uh just you know new area outdoor lighting, new street lighting as it's needed in areas throughout the city. Um transmission pole replacements. Uh that's replacing any that may still be made of wood uh with steel. Um and northeast substation expansion is uh a capacity kind of project to uh expand upon that. But all told on the electric side uh not quite $9.4 million in the proposed budget. Uh the two for transit uh these are the total amounts. Our matches are $40,000 for the transit maintenance facility renovations and uh $4,000 for the transit fueling station dispenser. Uh the maintenance facility renovations

include um some paving and some parking pad improvements. Uh the fueling station dispenser uh for their dispens dispensing of fuel uh that needs that piece of equipment needs to be replaced. Uh in the parking fund area uh kind of a generic catchall of parking deck improvements. That's for uh deferred maintenance or kind of maintenance needs that come up throughout the year. Um and then specifically the elevator modernization at the Broad Street deck. And so currently the Main Street deck has that project kind of ongoing in the current year. Uh this is funding for at Broad Street and then planned for the FY28 CIP uh will be the modernization at the other deck. And so all told $450,000 uh out of the parking fund. Then the last two enterprise funds uh in solid waste the $50,000 uh at the material recovery facility or the MURF. This is kind of a recurring project always setting aside $50,000 uh for any maintenance. And then the Kersy Valley landfill uh postclosure reserve. Uh that's to uh kind of set aside funds for the eventual uh closing of the landfill. Uh and those are funded out of our uh landfill or solid waste closure postclosure reserve fund. Uh and then lastly in the storm water area, annual covert repairs. Uh this is by contract to kind of you know areas that most need it. Uh but it's recurring of about this much to hopefully uh make improvements and repairs uh before they become more major improvements or repairs. And then the CCTV trailer equipment replacement. We replaced one of these a few years ago. And so what we've done is the strategy is set aside I think it's a fifth or a sixth of the cost every year so when the next one is due to be replaced we'll have the funds built up to replacement instead of

having you know 0000 $300,000 and so uh it's just a strategy we're able to do within the storm water fund. So that concludes the capital improvement program section. Um and next I'll talk about fee schedule changes. And so first we'll talk about water resources. Uh as we noted last week, there is a proposed 8% rate increase for water resources or your water and sewer rates. Uh this would be effective on October 1st, 2026. Uh that's been the standard practice for any increases to these rates to go into effect uh October 1 of each fiscal year. uh the drivers, you know, debt service payments for uh current revenue bond payments and also future uh paying capital, which we kind of talked about just now, and also personnel and operating expenses. And one thing we're seeing that it kind of falls into that operating pot, but kind of recurring unplanned repairs. And so, uh you know, we'll talk about, you know, the incinerator being down at East Side, which led to us having to do some hauling. Uh I believe uh water resources brought a change order of pushing seven or $800,000. I mean that's it's a big number that hits their operating budget and so that in addition to you know just your normal cost of doing business, chemicals, things of that nature uh within the fund uh are definitely a big driver uh there here in water resources. Uh I will also note that we're currently undergoing a rate study. Uh this rate study is looking at the long-term needs of the system as well as the current rate structure and so u unfortunately uh the results were not able to be you know done in advance of this budget. Uh but once they are complete uh staff will be bringing more information to you all.

Um madam manager this may be better for you. Uh Stephen may know when was our last rate studying in that um arena because I know we do a lot of studying of things but water one that has been projected for a long time to keep growing and then we get the pea fountains and all this stuff that come in on top of it and that blows it through the roof. So, I think people are coming accustomed to uh seeing that increase, but it looks like it's never going to end. Mhm.

I don't recall the last time that a rate study was done. I don't recall one being since I've I've been here. I think it might have been done prior to me coming. Um but we can look back and see when that was done because we had been on this projection of rates continuing to increase over the last at least five or six years. And there was one year, I do believe, um, the pandemic year when that budget was done where we did not do the rate increase that year and then we picked it back up in 2021. Okay. Well, none of y'all laugh, but I think I was here when that went into Yeah, it's it's been a while. Yeah, I do know our financial adviserss work with uh financial services looking at, you know, if there's a revenue bond issuance coming up, but looking at the actual rate structure, uh, I've been here over 5 years and it's it's not happened since I've been here. uh just you know that

so what do you mean by the rate structure I mean talk a little bit more about that I believe Mr. Dane has got has volunteered to provide some information. Go ahead. Sure. I'm sure I was going to we we did a similar exercise with our electric rate structures looking at commercial users and then looking at residential users and that's what we're doing with water as well, but I'll let Damon explain it.

Good afternoon. Damon Dukane, assistant city manager. Uh so, council member Moore to to that point is um is to look at how the rates are structured. So do a cost of service study along with the rate study. So what does it cost to actually serve say a commercial or an industrial customer and then adjust those rates accordingly to make sure that they're paying that sort of their their share. Um here I'm just saying in High Point our uh customer base is primarily residential. So residential kind of carries the the the fund. The other thing is how the rates are actually structured themselves. So right now we kind of just have, hey, you pay X number for so many gallons of use. Well, you can do an increasing block that says if you're going to use this much water, then you're going to pay, you know, this much at this level, but if you stay below that, then your rate would actually be lower. And there's there's those type of structural changes that we can make so that we can meet our revenue goals by charging the right customers the right amount of money instead of just charging everybody at the same level. And that's why that's what we're going to bring back to It just seemed I remember big discussion and and uh community not pleased when it was like okay for in foreseeable future every year your water's going up 4%.

You know sir that's been in effect for a long time. It has. And so it looks like we may be having to make adjustments, inflation or whatever. We are. And and even though the rate study is currently underway, we completed the portion where we know what our revenue expectations need to be for the next 5 years. And it's to your point, it's a it's their steady increases each year, you know, to cover those increasing costs. But again, how how we achieve those revenue goals is what we want to bring back to all of you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Moving on to other fee schedule changes. Uh we talked a little about about this last week in electric. Um and this is kind of it's kind of recurring fee change, the renewable energy portfolio standard or reps charge. Uh and so uh this is to meet some North Carolina compliance obligations. Uh it is a pass through. uh it's on our fee schedule, but you know, if there's any changes, we're kind of directed. Here's what the fee is going to be, and we make that update accordingly. Uh in public services, there is a fee removal for cemetery openings and closings. Uh this is currently being offered uh via a contractor through funeral homes, and so it's no longer being offered by us. And so, uh if we're not offering service, we don't need to offer have a fee for set service. And so, uh the proposal is to remove the fee from our schedule. Uh in parks and recreation, uh you see those kind of five kind of function areas, if you will. Um at golf courses, uh specifically, uh there's a couple uh golf carts, there's a proposal to increase uh golf cart rental fees at both golf courses by $1. And the hope is any revenue that could be generated from that would enable Parks and Wreck to potentially add GPS uh technology to golf courts, golf carts. Um, if you're not a golfer familiar with how the GPS technology works, um, if you take the golf cart somewhere where you're not supposed to, it will shut down. So, um, you know, can help with that with maintenance, but also, uh, he folks with pace of play, things of that nature. And so,

so it's not easy to find your ball.

So, and you know, if you, you know, Mr. Ty looks what other golf courses are doing, and that seems to be uh, I don't want to say it's a standard, but a direction that a lot of courses, including municipal courses, are are heading in. Uh, other golf course fee changes. Uh, currently there's kind of a split on if you're renting the entire course, depending on what time of day you start the rental and things of that nature. Uh, the fee change is to simplify it and only have kind of if you rent it a certain day a week, here's the fee. If you rent it on Friday, it's a different fee. The reason being for uh the Friday difference is um just trying to have the fee align with uh what revenue the golf course might make on those days if it were just open to public play. And so uh Friday along with the weekends is usually probably some of one of the most popular days for usage. And so uh aligning that fee uh to get some additional cost recovery. Uh and then there's also a discount card uh if you're a frequent user of the golf courses. Uh it's currently $50 and you get a discount on every round. uh and also a free round of golf. Uh those that are using it uh take advantage of it. Um and so it's just increasing it because uh it's coming a little bit cost prohibitive for the courses to have this. Uh at the indoor tennis court rentals, uh there's two fees based on uh time of day and so they're just consolidating into one consolidated fee um and also going with uh one rate instead of a different rate based on time of day. Uh the multi-purpose room at the center for active adults. Uh it's a planned facility opening uh later in the fall. Uh the multi-purpose room uh recreation kind of said similar to uh the event center at Sale Park and so they have structured their fees uh for residents and non-residents alike uh similar to what is being charged at that facility. At recreation centers uh you can currently rent the gym uh but some teams

or you know groups or whoever is using those facilities uh may want to use the weight room. And so it's just kind of a digital add-on um that is not captured in our current fee schedule. And then also uh football teams track teams are using the outer hole track and football field. And so just a slight increase for cost recovery uh and also you know maintenance of the facility uh for you know football track and also use of track lanes uh for practice. Uh the next area fees are with building inspections. And so these are divided into kind of four categories uh two per slide. Uh we have fee removals, simplified fee structure, fee changes and then new fees. And so uh fee removals u you know eliminating multi inspection related fees, site visits, evaluations and permit assessments. Uh what does that mean? Uh well example with site visits and code compliance. Uh that's something that uh the department is providing at no cost. And so uh they see it more as a customer service than something to charge uh users for. And so you have that fee being proposed to be removed. Uh also with permit assessment permit assessments uh department seeing it more as a customer service as opposed to a revenue generator.

Um also removing over-the-counter fees for fire protection. Uh these are not currently offered. Uh and also uh commercial plumbing fixture replacements. Uh this is no longer required per statutes. And so uh you know it's not required for statutes. We're not going to have a fee to collect it. Uh looking at simplified fee structure uh we have consolidation of different permit types into broader categories and also streamlining uh some of our residential commercial permits into kind of unified areas. So what does that mean? Uh currently there's a separate fee for a deck and a separate fee for a screen porch. So there's no change to the fee. It's just consolidating into one called deck and screen porch. And so just a way to simplify the fee structure and make it a little easier to read for those that might be trying to figure out all right what fee do I need and you know where is it in the fee schedule. When we talk about that second bullet uh you know you may have four or five fees for over-the-counter residential electrical. Well it consolidates that into one you know over the counter electrical instead of you know the specific uses that it could be. you know, it gives the examples, but uh there's just one over-the-counter electrical fee as opposed to, you know, one for this instance or one for this instance. And so, again, just trying to simplify the fee structure, um through consolidation or just make it easy to understand for those that may be needing to use these fees.

Thank you. looking at fee changes um aligning select residential and signed permit fees with comparable standards and service costs. So that's just a way to say you know comparing to what others are doing what's our cost recovery what's our cost to provide these services and so uh something like sign compliance this is a way to match what our uh minimum commercial permit compliance is. So again you know changing some fees so they align so there's some consistency instead of well all these for commercial are $100 why is this one 75 well so let's make them all 100 uh you know either way up or down. Um, and then updating several permanent reinspection fees to reflect uh costs as also also workload. Uh, so currently the fee schedule uh if you need a reinspection done, you pay $50. If you need another reinspection done, another $50, so on and so forth. Uh, so um kind of creates a tiered kind of fee schedule based on what you know re if it's a reinspection then you failed your inspection. So, you pay $50 for that first one, $75 if they've come back and do a second uh reinspection, $150 for a third, $225 for a fourth, you know, kind of and so on. So, uh there's an incentive to not, you know, fail the inspection again. And then on new fees, uh adding some new minimum over-the-c counter and zoning fees and then some new required commercial fire protection fees. And those fire protection fees are to align our fee schedule with the North Carolina fire code. And then introducing uh ABC compliance as well as commercial stocking permit fees. Uh so the ABC compliance is really to match what the cost of a plan review and an inspector visit would be. And on the commercial stocking permit fees, an example of this is uh allowing, you know, a business to put furniture in before they necessarily have their certificate of occupancy. And

so, um, just a kind of better user experience with regards to that. Um, all in all, uh, I think the first change is building inspection fees since I've been with the city and so fairly comprehensive. Um, if there's any specific questions, we can provide, you know, each individual one of what's going on um, up or down or removal or staying the same. Um, and as part of the budget adoption package, we do show the fee schedule with every change. you know, if it's going away, there's a strike through. If it's changing, we kind of have the new one out. And so, um, there's there's a lot with these. And so, you know, we don't go so in the weeds that, uh, we're going through 51 ft changes, but, uh, we can provide it if there are specific questions. And then lastly, with solid waste, um, we have a proposed $2 a month increase to the solid waste availability fee. Uh, this is for solid waste collections. And also at our Engleside composting facility, uh we currently uh sell different types of yard debris per ton uh for engineered soil, wood mulch, compost, and leaf mulch. Uh so we are increasing those uh also on a per ton basis. Engineered soil uh a $3 increase to $25 per ton. Wood m wood mulch, a $3 increase to $20 per ton. Compost a $1 increase to $23 per ton. and leaf mulch a $3 increase to $20 per ton. Um, and this still keeps us, you know, I'd say competitive, if you will, with others that provide it both publicly and also on the private side.

This is still cost driven and everything you're talking about still cost driven.

Sir, uh, and so talking about that that first bullet there, the $2 proposed increase to the solid waste collection fee. And so, uh, this is solid waste just collection. So, this isn't the landfill. This isn't the MURF. This isn't Engles side. This is uh you know sanitation collection, environmental services. Um so we've kind of shown you know how that particular function operates since 2023 uh whether at a surplus or a deficit. And so you see you know deficit 1.8 million then down to 1.4 about 1.3 uh last fiscal year. Our current projections have us at 1.9 and then our projections for 27 factoring in this proposed increase you know about level and so you know this is an enterprise fund now you know there are other functions that help subsidize some of the services uh but we feel that the the revenues for this particular function are not keeping pace with the growth and expenditures u clarification these are all deficits

yes okay

and this includes the day-to-day operations but then also overhead uh any capital that may have been related to the function. We tried to capture everything uh in showing these and so uh talked with public services and said all right how many new customers are you adding per year and it can it can fluctuate but they said a good average number say about 200 new customers per year. So at $17 per month that generates about $40,000 $4,800 in revenue. 1% growth in this function is $109,000 and uh we're not growing at 1% growth. Uh salaries and benefits alone, you know, 3% fuel, you know, cost of goods uh expenditures are uh significantly outpacing our growth in revenues. And so, uh while other areas like the landfill are able to subsidize some of the other functions in solid waste, uh the landfill function is also growing in costs and needs. uh and outpacing our growth in revenues in that. And so uh you know even if you're you're subsidizing the subsidy needs to be greater and eventually you're going to run into some fund issues long term. And so um some things we're also looking at we're talking about you rate study on water sewer water resources. Um solid waste and public services have gone undergone a feasibility study the past few years. Uh but we are thinking to expand upon that in the new year looking at also the rate structure and also start thinking about very long-term what happens to this fund when the landfill closes because uh these services that may be being subsidized maybe there is still some subsidy in the way you know the landfill closes and is set up u but we want to be prepared for that and that that's pretty long term I think 2040ish uh that's an estimate we can confirm that of you know when the landfill may

be scheduled to close. And so um while that's several years away uh we want to at least start you know planning for what that may look like because there could be some u significant fiscal challenges with you know what that may show. So that's another thing that in the new fiscal year um staff will be working with consultants to develop um and also present some findings uh to council. Has the city started looking for the next site for the landfill even if it is 15 years out? Any kind of preliminary discussions about

I think the preliminary thought is uh a transfer station would be built and uh any waste that's collected we brought to that transfer station then brought uh to wherever uh there's there's room that we would transfer it to. I guess where's the wherever is that either it would still be within the city limits or like nearby or it typically wouldn't be a city operated facility at that point. Yes. Okay.

I'll be 75. So before we talk about the calendar and you know kind of open up for questions, I do just want to take a point of privilege to recognize the budget evaluation team. Uh they are here in the back. Um Roslin McNeel, budget analyst. Uh Don Scales, budget analyst. Uh Don has a mustache now. Carla Huggin, budget analyst. And Meredith Martin, our strategic initiatives manager. um that they are vital to getting everything together for uh development of this budget, working with they're the first line of contact with departments or asking for things, saying, "Hey, we need this." And they're saying, "Well, let's talk about whether you need it or not." And so, uh just want to thank them for all the hard work they've done leading up to this point. And so then the next steps were the calendar. And so, uh, our plan for next Monday at, uh, special meeting or management briefing, depending, uh, what it is, having, uh, the market authority come and present on their budget. And then our public hearing is scheduled for, uh, next Monday at the city council meeting. We have a scheduled budget work session for May the 20th, uh, planned, you know, items, any responses to questions, and then also visit High Point and Downtown High Point will be here to present on their budget budgets. And then our schedule also has uh May 27th, a work session uh if necessary and tenative budget adoption scheduled for Monday, June 1st at the city council meeting. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you all may have.

Thank you. Any questions?

Yeah, I remember what I was going to ask. The fire um apparatus financing it over 10 years. It seems to be long. you know, I wouldn't I mean, I know it's not a car, but there's, you know, you don't want to finance a car much more than three, four years. So, is that common practice? We've done that before. We have um really looking at the useful life. Um a ladder truck is uh much more than 10 years. Um I don't think Mr. John would let us finance something if it if the useful life was. Um Bobby, any insight into you've been a little bit more directly involved in some of those financings? Yeah. So we we have one instance where we've um where 10 years has been an issue and that was uh an extraordinary event uh where we had to total a truck. Um so that doesn't happen very often. Uh I would say your average truck is lasting well beyond 10 and then in a reserve status um you know if we we keep it beyond that point. So we're we haven't run into any problems. Uh banks haven't had any issues financing um at 10 years. We we certainly wouldn't do that with a you know an everyday vehicle, but something like a firet truck that is wellmaintained by our fire department and will be driven well past that 10 year mark doesn't cause any issues on that end.

Okay. And and I'll just note the ladder is kind of the uniqueness to this. You know, we generally replace an engine every year. Um we have more engines in the fleet than ladders and the ladders are, you know, $2 million plus versus the 1.2 million. And so, um, when we knew this one was coming up for replacement, that's, you know, some internal conversations that we started to have with financial services and the fire department to come up with a funding strategy that made sense. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? I got two minor ones.

Yes, sir. Um, so and this is this is question I guess to staff and you don't have to have obviously have to have the answer today but um and I'm pretty sure this has been asked before and answered. Um the equal payment plan for electric is that still in play or is that stop? It is. Okay. And what I wanted to know was like um how how does that affect it or if it's minor affects when it comes to revenue on the electric? It doesn't affect revenue per se. It affects timing of revenue, but it's not a it's not a significant issue at all.

Okay. And the other one is um I remember we used to go it's a couple of years um we had kind of a a letter grading option for u traffic calming of neighborhoods where you know if someone says you know it's bad through here people are running through um that it we would take a look at it and if it was really bad we would score them high then there would be funds to help assist with bringing in is that still is that still around? We do still have that program. That's still Mhm. for traffic calming measures and and um our transportation department will do a study in neighborhoods. That's still available.

All right. Okay. I I I try to I I'll try to run through this and find it or something and fell asleep a couple times, but I just wanted to kind of get an idea of like what like what the amount of Yeah. Well, that you brought up a good point about that traffic calming in neighborhoods because I recently had actually um a child uh sent me a letter um about about that. And in in her letter, she said, "Why not in some neighborhoods instead of it being a 35 mph just change it to 25 mph?" I mean, I know that's not necessarily a budgetary question, but it may save money in the budget if we don't have to use traffic calming. Have we discussed that or is there anything about residential changing to 25

folks can petition right if it's 80% or something or something? No, I'm into change of speed limit to look at speed limit. There's a process where neighborhoods can petition for that. It's not so much a budgetary issue um as much as it becomes an enforcement issue um in that neighborhood. And then um typically what we find is you have your neighbors that are then getting caught. Um oh I got I got one more. Any truck drivers in the room? No. Okay. We were talking about like parking

charges fees. Um I think it was 50 bucks we went to some time ago. like for just parking fee. Parking fee parking where illegal parking in Oh, you mean like Well, I'm gonna get to the truck parking, but I was just saying I think that we increased it from It was real cheap at one point and then we increased it up to 50 bucks, I think. So, when you have When you say increase, you're talking like a monthly parking pass or something like that. What you talking about? No, no, no. illegal parking. Like if a car parks the ticket is 50 bucks. Okay. You're just saying if you get a parking ticket,

right? But what I was thinking is um is could it be possible to I'm going to get beat up for this but it could it be possible to increase like an increasing fee like if you're going to increase the charges for reinspections because it be have can we have an increasing fee for reinsuring yeah person that continues to every year for the vendor

your last conversation jo um no but I'm just saying but for repeated event because we do have that quite a bit. We you know um I have I don't know how many times um um people recognize my car when I going down Dylan and we had a couple of trucks that loves to park right outside that apartment complex and cars can't see around it when they try to pull out to the road. I've had some of them to pull up beside me and blow a horn rolling you going to do something about that kind of stuff and I know it's the same group of people that's doing it. It's like a probably about four or five drivers that's doing the same thing parking there and we'll call the officer, reach out to them, they'll move. However, I'm just saying if it's a continued thing, I don't would that be a potential

change of policy? Let us look at that. Um, we we've had some success with our civilian traffic investigators and neighborhoods helping with some of the trucks that are parked illegally. Um, now the ramps are completely different. I'm not getting into that, but but let let us look at that piece. Um, and also look at the fee schedule and the last time it was adjusted. Okay. Told you mine's mine. Madam manager, with the um the position at the library for social work, I saw where our contractor who we were using originally was Muff Associates and they're no longer here and I think now that switched over to caring services.

They're currently working with caring services. Is is there any budgetary impact at all on that position in terms of No, they assumed um the existing contract that we had in place with Mental Health Associates and that program seems to be working and one that we're continuing. Awesome. Tell the folks there how much we appreciate them helping us out with that. Any other questions for staff from council? Any comments?

Um just in general as I'm going through this and preparing my questions. anything that's uh an increase year-over-year above 15 to 20% I'm going to ask why. So that's going to be um a question and then um yeah I think that's fuel related is you already got your answer. Well, yeah, but but there's some other things that are not fuel related that just you leaped out to me as I was going through. I'm like, "Okay, there's there's probably a good reason why, but I want to know." Are are you saying you're going to send them email about that or you're one? Okay. All right. I have a few more as well.

Tasha, um you guys were talking about the transfer station for the landfill. Do you have any preliminary numbers on what that build will look like? I do not. Um, I do not, but I can follow up and see if we have anything from the department. I know it's a ways out, but Mhm. Um, always have to plan for those types of things.

Any other questions or comments? Uh I just have a comment to share from being down at the U league meeting the other day uh that came up that I think it's a relevant to maybe bring up because of of the timing of us coming off of trigger revaluation and it's a discussion and I don't know all the answers. I did share with Tasha um that I thought it was something to be considered but you know I think we're normally on a fouryear reval schedule uh four or five years but it got upped because of unique circumstances. I don't know the cost and I know it's a county function, but I would like to have a discussion with this council about making that revaluation depending on where those elements fall more frequent. So that in times of exceptional growth whether forest or or natural like we have seen that the citizens including me aren't caught with a rebal. that's jumped 80%. You know, because of time and if you're going to do it, I think it it gives the because we fund a big part of our budget off property tax having a four or five year window sitting there where you don't have any change to that. If if that's going to be our primary source of funding, then I think a more frequent update makes a lot of sense.

Would that be a conversation between us and um county? Yeah. That have to be okay. Yeah. And if it would help um council, I think um having some initial information of what is it cost and what does it take for them to be able to do that that process. Yeah. Um I can reach out and at least get that as a initial Yeah. conversation council to have that information.

Well, and and it goes back to what we were referring to earlier. It's fair, you know, it's a historical fact for over 400 years that property tax funds municipalities predominantly and that's unique compared to a federal situation or state situation. And then that places I guess the all all government's local government. Any other questions or comments? All right. In that case, we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. So move.

Second. Motion's recognized to protect to council member Moore. Any discussion on that motion? All those in favor please signify by saying I. Yeah, Hey, where are