Village Council - Special Meeting

We're going to start the council meeting. Gentlemen. They can talk. So this, are we good? Full moon, how are we looking? We're good? All right. The special council meeting for Tuesday, July 30th, 2026 is called to order at 6.03 p.m. We're going to have a moment inside of meditation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. VERY MUCH. MADAM CLINTON, PLEASE HAVE A ROLL CALL, PLEASE. MADAM CLERK, ROLL CALL, PLEASE.

ROLL CALL. MAYOR NICKERSON.

HERE.

Vice Mayor Martin is not in. Councilperson Erbom's not in. Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward? Yes. Councilperson Winters?

Present.

Also present for the record, Janice Jacobi, Village Clerk, Joseph Geller, Village Attorney, David Roseman, Village Manager. You have a quorum.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Appreciate that. Motion to approve the agenda. Moved by Councilperson Michael Ward. Second? Second. Second by Councilperson Winters. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Hearing none. Moving on to Good and Welfare. This is a time where any resident can come up. You have three minutes. Name and address for the record. And you can speak.

Hi, Noel Pace, 206 Northwest 91st Street. Good evening, I know this is a special meeting, early start time, not too many residents are here. With that being said though, I did hear about the securing of county funding for septic to sewer for the entire village. With that, I hope that the prioritization plan of work is re-looked. I strongly suggest that instead of starting, I think, where they had planned, I guess, on the west side, that, you know, obviously tonight is a discussion about the budget. and about our tax base. And as we know, there's potential legislation that could erode our tax base here coming up in November. With that, I strongly suggest that the county and the village look at reprioritizing Septic to Sewer to probably focus on the Z5 area first. First of all, there's no roads to tear up right now. Second of all, the sewers could go in real easy since there's no roads. And third of all, that will enable our tax base to grow more quickly than starting with residential homes. A sewer will enable commercial development, will enable higher density housing over in Z5. And then I also suggest the next is on Northeast Second Avenue so we can exponentially increase our commercial footprint there on Main Street so businesses can expand. Obviously, one of the constraints for restaurants, for other establishments is the fact that we are still on septic in those areas. At the same time, looking at the overall picture, I think if you look at El Portal, Miami Shores, and Biscayne Park, one of the reasons why we haven't really had a windwardization here yet, especially in some of our residential home areas, is due to the fact that we still are on septic. So for all the great things that sewer could do in terms of protecting the Little River, in terms of the environment, At the same time, it may welcome in a development that may change the character of El Portal, especially in the residential bedroom part of the community. So that's why I especially recommend that we start that project and that funding should go toward where there's no roads right now and we can do commercial development rapidly and easily, as well as on Northeast Second Avenue. Now, residents said, oh, well, septic to sewer, we shouldn't spend money on that from the county. in Z5 because that will come with some development agreement. But, you know, not, you know, not every, I think that that, you know, we always, we have to stop counting on developers to fund everything, right? I mean, you know, they are great partners, but at the same time, I think we need to look at a proper prioritization for this. And that's all I have to say. Thank you very much.

Okay.

One last thing. One last thing. Sometimes you'll see veterans saluting the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem. In 2008, the National Defense Authorization Act authorized all veterans and military, in uniform or not, that if they choose to salute the flag versus putting their hand on their heart, they can do that. So I just thought I'd mention that to you, especially to Dr. Ward, who is a veteran. I think I saw her getting ready to whip out a salute, but, hey, I'll be with you next time, okay? All right, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, everyone, board members, council people, mayor. My name is Ian McKenzie, 8950 Northeast 4th Avenue. I've lived in El Portal for over 23 years. And when I first moved in, I heard these grumblings or rumors about septic tanks. TANKS BEING ELIMINATED IN THE NEAR FUTURE. WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ACTUAL SEWER SYSTEMS INSTALLED AND SO FORTH. AND I HEARD THAT WE HAD A GRANT THAT WAS OBTAINED TO PAY FOR THAT. ANYHOW, AS THE YEARS WENT ON, THEN LATER ON I ASKED, I GUESS AT THE FRONT DESK HERE, WHATEVER HAPPENED, THEY SAID, OH, I GUESS THEY LOST THE GRANT OR THEY DIDN'T DO IT BECAUSE NOTHING GOT ACTED ON. THEN I HEARD THAT MIAMI-DADE COULDN'T ACCOMMODATE OUR village because they didn't have the capacity to process our waste, I guess, if that was the issue. So I have no idea really what happened. But now here we come again. So the only thing I want to know is how this, I think it's a great idea. I mean, I think it's really necessary. I fully support it. But the question is, is how is this being funded? Is this a state grant, a federal grant, or a federal pass-through fund, or is this just a gift from somebody? Is this the Dade County that's being generous from our taxpayers or coming out of our taxpayer base? How is the money coming through to pay for this? And it will pay for everything? Will it pay for each homeowner to hook up, too? Because there's also putting in the sewers, but there's also hookup, and you have to hookup. Will there be a hookup period? for that. These questions we need to know up front not after the fact or sudden things that you know as they just happen as bombs dropping off on us. So that's one thing. The other thing is I want to address the millage rate which I guess we're discussing tonight. The proposal is eight point two I guess. That's an eight point six percent eight point zero six percent increase based on the trim notice. So, what I see, I mean, I have no idea where our money's been going anyhow this year, so I have no idea, but I think we need to go back to the rollback rate and keep it that, keep it steady. We don't know what's going to happen with the vote on November 3rd, I guess, for the uh... the uh... property taxes anyhow so we need to practice you know conservative fiscal spending i think and we need to really look at all our lines carefully uh... determine what's a priority and that should be shared and discussed with uh... villagers because it's really important to know that uh... and have some steerage. After all, it's our village, and we're concerned about it. Thank you very much.

Greg Sear, 120 Northwest 86th Street. One of the questions you didn't answer at the last meeting on Tuesday, Mayor, was the same one I've asked at the previous meeting and the one before that, so I'll just keep asking it again and again. Where is the independent audit of the budget that the State Auditor General mandates be completed by June 30th? SIMPLE QUESTION, WHERE IS IT, WHY WASN'T IT DONE ON TIME? WHAT IS THE BALANCE OF THE UNASSIGNED GENERAL FUND OR OUR RAINY DAY FUND WHICH WE COULD REALLY USE IF AMENDMENT 3 PASSES IN NOVEMBER? I KNOW THE CFO WAS HERE LAST TUESDAY, BUT YOU DIDN'T LET HIM SPEAK. WILL HE BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK TONIGHT? Why are we scheduling budget hearings two weeks before the deadline instead of now? Why are we waiting six weeks to talk about a budget that starts in eight weeks on October 1st? The sewer project. What exactly is this new septic to sewer project that you claim you personally brokered the funding for? Where exactly is it going to begin and end? When will it start? How long will it take? What role will the village manager play, if any? And who's paying for it? You said you knew the location, but you didn't want to share it, even with your fellow council members, much less the residents. Why not? You said WASDE would have a definitive map of phase one by August. Well, that's the day after tomorrow. So I'd like you to commit tonight to posting that map on the website. I HOPE THE COUNCIL WILL AT LEAST CONSIDER ADOPTING THE ROLLBACK RATE OF 7.8. WE COULD ALL USE A BREAK FROM THE EVER INCREASING COST OF LIVING IN SOUTH FLORIDA. People need to understand that even if we do adopt the rollback rate, our taxes can still go up because assessed values go up. Even homesteaded properties go up. But new owners in particular are especially impacted. My neighbor who's been here forever pays $3,000 a year. I pay eight. But the guy across the street who just bought his house two years ago pays $26,000 a year for the exact same services. The total assessed value of all the property in El Portal four years ago was $300 million. Today it's $400 million. That means the village has been getting another $800,000 in revenue and yet claiming that they haven't raised property taxes because the millage rate has stayed the same. That's a 33% increase in four years. SO THEY MAY CLAIM THEY HAVEN'T RAISED YOUR TAXES, BUT THEY HAVE BY DOING NOTHING, BY NOT ROLLING BACK THE RATE TO ADJUST FOR THE STEADY INCREASE IN PROPERTY TAXES. PROPERTY VALUES, SORRY. AS THEY SAY ON CAYOCHO, BASTA YA. ENOUGH ALREADY.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Counsel. My name is George Alvarez. I live at one six five Northwest 88th street. Hello. Um, I want to, uh, again, I want to commend the mayor and the council for Taking on the millage at this point, as we remember last year, it was a little bit later than this, so I have to give you guys props for getting on it. I won't make any commentary on the arithmetic, but I will occasionally applaud when I hear a diligent fellow resident of mine doing some good work. So thanks to all those diligent fellow residents of mine. I do hope that the mayor and council and city manager will share the name of the program that is funding this sewer system. I think it's very important. The mayor mentioned last, a couple nights ago, that it's not Connect to Protect, which is a service which may become relevant to those of us who live in the areas where the work will be done. Eventually, it's a service that helps you, a discount service. Perhaps the mayor or council can talk about that, or perhaps Manager Roseman can mention it. Secondly, I'm gonna reiterate the fact that the only water and sewer ticket that's open right now, and I'm gonna beg your forgiveness with regards to my using allegorical terminology, but the ticket that is open right now for sewers is the one that would connect a theoretical proposed structure at raider church to 97th street in miami shores by way of the alley that is parallel and due west to northeast second avenue other than that um no tickets but i am looking forward very much to hearing where and when um I like a lot of what my neighbor Mr. Pace said, but there's a couple things that I would try to like nip and tuck, because I do believe the devil is in the details. The idea of doing things to lay the groundwork for some development in the commercial zones of El Pertel is important. But it's just as important that it take place in a prudent way. I could go on and on about this, and some of you probably fear that I do, or can, or will. But one of the major threats to El Pertel is overdevelopment in the region in South Florida. Right now, we are bordered by Miami Shores, we are bordered by unincorporated Dade, AKA Miami-Dade County, and the city of Miami. Any of those entities could approve any number of development, and it doesn't matter that it's live local or not, because all the live local is 120% AGI, so any market rate discount is kind of a joke, and it doesn't matter. The overdevelopment, it can be live local, it can be luxury, it can be market rate or Section 8. If there are 5,000, 6,000, 10,000 new units around Del Pertel, it behooves us to do the things that we've talked about in the past, and I gotta give the council props for considering things like a master road plan, but having a master road plan having an emphasis on green space and doing the little things that we can do so that we don't do to ourselves what nearby municipalities may do to us because a thousand units across the river is gonna impact us in terms of flooding, in terms of traffic, in terms of public safety. But if we don't get that extra commensurate tax base from whatever new development we do have in El Pertal, how are we going to pay for the police, the public works, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, to deal with the extra impact that besets us from the planning, or lack thereof, of other communities. I look forward to great new ideas coming from this council ASAP after the business of the millage and the other things are done this evening. But this is something that I think all residents need to be aware of. What may happen two blocks outside of our limits can happen to us, can impact us very greatly. Thank you for your time. I'm 55 seconds over, I think. Cheers.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Hi there. Ashley Lucio, 127 Northeast 90th Street. I'm with Dr. Ward. I just want to ask that maybe we table this millage rate discussion until after we know what's happening with the property taxes later this year and... once we know what our actual budget is, current and projected, which I don't believe we've seen yet. So I think we need to have facts at hand before we can make adjustments to our millage rate. That's it. Thanks.

Thank you.

Good afternoon. I'm actually following Ashley's proposal to push this decision to a later date. Maybe not until we know the results of the property taxes because that may not be feasible. do a couple of workshops where we can have an informed opinion of what's going on with the budget that we have been asking for and we promised since October last year and we have been asking consistently in every single meeting. We were supposed to have a report hanging on our doors last week or the week before. I do appreciate, Mayor, your effort of going door by door, although I think that your time would be better spent maybe conducting the committees, especially the budget one. One thing that we still don't know anything about the results of the conversations with the police agreements, which is the biggest part of our budget. So, yeah, thank you for... taking our time, you know, they are considered in consideration or input. I did see that your note about restricting the comments during welfare to just the agenda items. But sometimes we need to ask the questions that we need to ask. That's that's all. Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Also present for the record council person or bomb.

Daniel Rojas, 16 Northeast 86th Street. So I want to piggyback on all my neighbors and everything that has been mentioned. It's extremely valuable. As we're speaking about the millage rate today, I just want to bring up the issue of budget transparency, how we've been asking since last year. for workshops. We wanted to get this started a lot sooner. And this will be our first true mention of budget items for our village. And it was mentioned there's going to be two meetings in September. But there was no mention of any workshops. So I believe we need to make sure as a resident and as somebody who has been asking for this for a while, we want to know before any decisions are made. We want to ask why. We want to try to, you know, make sure our heart and body is spent wisely rather than after. And so if you guys can commit to any workshop dates, it would be really appreciated. That's it for me for right now. Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else?

Hello. Good afternoon. My name is Thomas Pulliam. I live at 205 Northeast 86th street. Um, I have several points here. Um, and I will be quick. The first one, um, who at the village processes business tax receipts? Who is that go-to person? And is there specific guidance for short-term rentals in El Portal? Thirdly, El Portal's current business tax receipt application, which is from June 2022, seems to list erroneous information for short-term rentals and seems to neglect other information that I think is required. Who is the point person in El Portal who can guide me through it? Different subject, point number four, on July 1st, HB 803 came into effect to streamline the residential building permit process, reduce bureaucratic delays, and eliminate unnecessary costs for minor home improvements. That same day on July 1st at the village council special meeting, I asked for the updated building permit fees and processes that comply with this change in the law. To my knowledge, this is still pending. Where's the village on this matter? Next point, number five, regarding Florida Amendment number three, which is about the property taxes. It's on the November 3rd ballot. I think everyone knows that. Don't forget to vote, of course. If passed by 60% of voters, this will slash the non-homesteaded assessment cap from 10% down to 5% starting in 2027, which is a benefit to rental properties specifically. So I would like to know how many properties in El portal are homesteaded versus not. What percentage of revenues do each type make up? How does El portals estimated revenues for next year look like if amendment three passes and if it fails. And then my last point, number six, uh, I've been making a lot of FOIA requests recently around the county, and it seems like everyone besides El portal uses a software portal to service this and keep everything organized. Why does El Portal continue to operate only via email or paper forms for public records requests? And what is the cost-benefit analysis of each of these approaches? Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Merlin Brooks, 400 Northeast 90th Street, short and sweet. My question is, when did we stop giving the budget? I've been here next two weeks, 43 years. And we used to give that. Every time you came to the meetings, there were signing ins and budgets. I haven't been coming to the meetings very often. but that's why I didn't know about this. So that's one of my questions, as to why have we stopped doing so? Thank you.

Last one, I think. Edna Edelman, 301 Northeast 88th Street. I basically want to reiterate what's been said. I mean, I'm not really understanding how we can talk about a millage rate when we don't even know what the budget is. Also regarding the sewer project, the map and the plan for phase one at least is posted on the miamidade.gov website. And it seems like in that stack of flyers, perhaps a link to that could have been provided. So, again, I don't know what our budget is. As Greg mentioned, we have new housing in El Portal. The tax base is moving up, and yet we're discussing raising the millage rate. I'd like to understand how we're doing that. Thank you.

Good evening.

I'm sorry I'm late, and I probably missed a lot, but I'm here anyway. Denise White, 173 Northwest 88th Street. As I was trying to understand, I'm always trying to understand, my whole goal in this whole thing is to learn more about everything. But as I was trying to understand, my question was, Are you trying to raise the millage rate because you anticipate the tax bill passing? And if so, are you trying to You know, the last meeting you were talking about moving things around. If that passed, you're going to move things around. So is this part of your moving things around because you anticipate that to pass? And maybe it's just a little premature because, but maybe you have to do it at this time. I don't know. Like I said, I'm learning, so I'm not sure. But I was just wondering if that was a thing. As for the sewer, I really love Mr. Warner, I promise, and I do want him to have a solution to his issue. But afterwards, that's a lot. That's a lot of money. And I know it must be frustrating to you, Mr. Mayor, because you try to find solutions for people and then we come up and we go, hey, but why it got to be so much? Anyway, that's my, that's my, I do want to find a solution for Mr. Warner. I think it's important to find a solution for the residents. But again, why is so much? And especially after somebody just did something. And like Councilman Erbom said last time, if they broke it, why they can't fix it? But okay, amen. Hi, everybody.

Anyone else good in welfare? Okay. I'm going to go ahead and start answering. You want to speak first?

Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Lightfoot Ward, I appreciate very much you all coming with thoughts and concerns about what's in the village and what's not happening in the village. I appreciate that. I really do. At the same time, there are five of us.

Is it five of us up here?

Five? There are five of us up here.

If there's five of us up here, I have had nobody come to me and say, Doc, just call me Anna. I know who I am. I know I got a Ph.D. Just call me Anna. Nobody has said anything about what they want, how they want it, and, yes, they'll be a part of it. We don't have little, Mayor, what was that? We had little circles at one time. Did we not? People didn't come up here just to, why did you do this, or why haven't you done this? They've always said, I'll be happy to bring together something that would help us. Not one person up here is doing anything wrong. But what I'm hearing, and this is just Anna talking, What I'm hearing is you're not satisfied that things are not moving forward. I can appreciate that. I really can. But to not have situations and circumstances. When I came on the council, people would meet right here. I wasn't even on the council. They would meet right here and say, I got an explanation to all the things that you all think that we know what to do. Well, I can't tell you that we do know everything what to do. But when I came here, people were anxious to say, let me be a part of a committee that would allow A, B, C, and D to be taken care of. I keep writing every time, the military facts, septic to sewer. Miami-Dade, and we are the smallest, if you didn't know it, we are the smallest village, the smallest one in Miami-Dade County. And last but not least, tax rates is moving up. That's right. All over the United States. Why? I'm asking the same question. Why? All the big babies are already grown and old. How do I know? I'm one of them big babies. okay that had y'all know what i'm talking about right all those people born at one time at the same time and everybody going what we're going to do with all these children well these children are now adults when you come here to talk to us i've heard it too many times you don't come with solutions you come with arguments what are you what would you like us to do how would you help we're not the ones to do it we have to hire the people I've been in this system for a long time. Those of you that know that I'm part of five cities where I was the city assistant city manager. I know what cities do. I also know that people get involved and say, what can I do to help us move forward? From listening to y'all, thank you. I hear, raise the millage rate, facts. Accept it to sewer, what we gonna do about it? Miami-Dade, generally speaking, and tax rates are moving up. We're not making them move up, but they are moving up. And I'm not happy with that either. Why have we stopped financial recordings? All those things are not what five people can do. WHAT HAPPENED WAS PEOPLE WOULD COME IN AND SAY, LISTEN, I WANT TO BE A PART OF WHAT YOU ALL WOULD LIKE HAPPENING. IF YOU CAN'T PUT TOGETHER THE GROUP, I'LL PUT TOGETHER THE GROUP. JUST TELL ME WHAT WE HAVE TO GET DONE. I HAVE NOT HEARD THAT. I HAVE BARELY SPOKEN. AND I THANK ALL OF YOU THAT CALL ME PERIODICALLY AND SAY, DOCTOR, YOU DON'T SAY A WHOLE LOT ANYMORE. I SAY, BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT ASKING FOR QUESTIONS. YOU'RE GIVING EXCUSES FOR NO ANSWERS. THE MAYOR CAN'T DO IT BY ITSELF AND NEITHER CAN I. WHAT IS SAID TO US, WHEN WE GET IT FROM OUR ATTORNEY OR ONE OF THE OTHER PEOPLE LIKE THE, WHAT WE CALL IT NOW, SHE USED TO BE A WOMAN, NOW IT'S A MAN. RIGHT HERE. THE MANAGER. UNLESS I GET SOMETHING FROM THE MANAGER, OR WE GIVE SOMETHING TO THE MANAGER, OR YOU ARE TELLING US, LISTEN, WE GOT SOMEBODY THAT WE CAN WORK WITH. WE ARE REGULAR PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU. YOU VOTED US IN HERE, YES OR NO? YES. AND SOMEBODY SAW ME GETTING OUT, AND 27 PEOPLE CAME TO MY HOUSE AND SAID, DOC, WE DON'T NEED YOU OFF THE COUNCIL. WE NEED YOU ON THE COUNCIL, BECAUSE YOU DON'T PUT UP WITH FOOLISHNESS. AND I DECIDED, OKAY. BUT ALSO, I'M VERY QUIET. YES OR NO? I'M VERY QUIET. BECAUSE I'M LOOKING FOR SOLUTIONS. YOU ALL COMING UP HERE WITH PROBLEMS. YOU'RE NOT TELLING ME SOLUTIONS. WE ARE ALL NOT THE PEOPLE. WE ARE WORKING FOR THE PEOPLE. WE JUST HAPPEN TO BE IN THE SAME CITY AS THE PEOPLE. EVERYBODY UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING? So all of what I'm hearing is, you ain't done this and you ain't done that, ain't, and I got a PhD. You ain't done this and you ain't done, how do you know what we're not doing? We ask you, now correct me if I'm wrong, we ask you all to come with a group who are interested in millage rate facts, septic to sewer, Miami-Dade County in general, and how it can help us, and tax rate is moving up. We're not doing that. The people are doing that. We asked you all to work with us the way they used to. Am I telling the truth, Mayor? People out in the, like you all, would come forth and say, I got five people who live here and we'll be glad to be one of these. Militaries, Septa Tessua, Miami Dade General, tax rate moving up. You ain't asking for how you're going to help us. You're trying to tell us what to do when we don't even have no one coming forth and say, I'll be the committee person to make sure that we know what we want to do. And I just want to be able to tell you all, you know I don't talk a lot. But everybody knows who I am. Maybe not here, but in other places. I've been the manager, the deputy manager of more than five cities. I know what's going on. You all brought me back here. You all told me not to leave because of the way I'm speaking and the way I tell you. We are human beings too. Give us what you want. If you got people out there that know how to do things, and they got their own business, talk to us. If you know folks are not doing what they're supposed to, and permanently. You know what I saw? I saw part of our people here living, digging up the doggone sidewalks and the roadway. And I stopped and said, why are you doing that? Well, ain't nobody else doing it. I said, you're tearing up Miami-Dade County inside of, what do we call? El Patel. You're tearing up stuff so you can come to the council and make it look like we're not doing anything. You're tearing up stuff. You haven't told me one time. I appreciate you. I tell you I do. You haven't told me one time what they used to do. The group would come together and say, we want this. and this, and we got this company. We want this and this done. Right, Mayor? Long before you were mayor, right? Things were already on because the people understood that five people up here, five people can't make the decision by themselves. We got the best attorney in this whole county. Everybody knows this attorney. We have a city clerk Didn't know nothing, am I right or wrong, when you started out? Didn't know nothing, right? But now she is keeping us in place. Then you come back to argue about it. I like the man that said, I got a solution. I like that. I like the woman that said last time, and I'd be happy to form a committee. You haven't said to me or us anything about how you want, what you want, and who you want, where before They were, am I telling the truth, Mayor?

Yes.

They were telling us, we got a company that can do ABC. We got so and so, so we talk them, I'm telling you, we would talk them and see which one we wanted. Three people, three at one time, I remember three times companies came to us because people came from outside like you all and brought something in. Look at that, you remember that, I love you. yeah help us we're just like you the bit the difference is you voted us here doesn't mean we have all the answers but what you did to make me come back because when i tried to get get out of here we had already done everything we needed to do and they said no doc state so i stayed but now you come with stuff as opposed to explanations what will help this do this how can we do this we got most of this stuff tell me tell me mayor if i'm telling it too fast we had people come to us and say i've got a company that can do abc thank you sir you remember that don't you because we had that where people would come to this you know this is the tiniest city in miami-dade county So we have to know that people, know people, come to us and say, I got so and so, we need to do X, Y, Z like you all talk about. We never said no, right Mayor? We never said no, did we? We never said no. Five people up here, we are five, aren't we? Five people up here can't do it all. The way we were doing it when I first came is because people came together with people and said, I got the company, All I got to do is introduce it to the, what are we?

Yeah, the council.

Council, give it to the council and then we decide. We decide on what we need to have done and we did it with the opportunity for everybody that's not looking around for us to do it, but for the city. This is the smallest city in Miami-Dade County, period. We did things because of what? Am I telling you the truth? We did things because you all made decisions of how we can get this done.

Thank you, Council President. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Thank you all.

Okay, so when it comes to Septa Seward, anything that's on the website, I'm not sure if that's the confirmed version, because once it's confirmed, they'll put out the map for the phase. So if there's anything on the website now, it might be like an older version, or it might be something that's not confirmed, it might be a tentative. But once the confirmed comes out, they'll put that out. When I said that the confirmed was coming out next month, I meant by September, since we were talking about this on Tuesday. So I meant like a month from then, basically. So that was that. I never stopped anybody from talking here, so I don't know what that is about. When it comes to the... The dates, so the hearing dates, the hearing dates that you see on the resolution of September 10th and September 22nd, and people saying that we're late. Biscayne Park's dates, ours is the 10th and the 22nd. Biscayne Park is September 8th and September 22nd. Miami Lakes, first budget hearing September 9th. No, September 10th, the same day as our first one. Cutler Bay's first one is September 8th, two days before our first one. Virginia Gardens is September 8th and September 18th, Virginia Gardens. Key Biscayne, 1st is September 8th, two days before our first one, and 2nd is September 22nd, Key Biscayne. North Miami, their 1st is September 4th, 2nd is September 15th. Hialeah, their 1st is September 8th, their 2nd is September 22nd. Hialeah Gardens, their 1st is September the 1st, 2nd is September the 15th. So we're not anywhere outlandishly outside of what everybody else is doing throughout the county as far as their first and second budget hearings. When it comes to details about the sewer, maybe I shouldn't have put out anything, but I'm putting out confirmed information. Had a meeting with them earlier today and confirmed information. They're going to bring it out as soon as they possibly can. Again, they reiterate it within a month, but I told them to speed that up if they can, but they don't wanna rush and put anything out that's gonna change or be adjusted, so they wanna put out confirmed information is what I'm gonna give to you guys. As far as the millage rate, well, as far as tabling this particular resolution tonight, and then I'll get to the millage rate and kind of clear that up. As far as tabling this, we can table, but this has to be done, I believe, by August 4th. Everyone has to have it turned in by August 4th. And so the thing about it is because I don't think you guys want the millage rate to go up, right, at all. Okay, so once this goes in, we can't raise the millage rate, we can only lower it. Okay, so this is more of a, the resolution tonight is more of something to be in compliance. Everybody has to have it in by August 1st, I mean August 4th, excuse me, August 4th. But once we put this in, like for example, we were gonna raise tonight, if we were gonna raise it, we would have to raise it tonight. All right, so right now our military rate is 8.2. So if we wanted to raise it before this passed tonight, we would have to make it 8.3 or 8.4 or whatever. But if we keep it 8.2, we can only lower it once this passes and goes in. We can't raise it. Okay, so we can lower it down to whatever we wanna lower it down to once this passes, but we can't raise it once this passes. The good and welfare, yeah, so when I was talking about good and welfare, you guys can talk about anything that you guys wanna talk about. What I was saying was a council up here. You can't introduce new items that wasn't on the agenda previously. That's what I was saying about that. what else mr pulliam we'll try to get the answers to all your questions uh appreciate that the business tax receipts the short-term rental information um and the various questions that you had okay so thank you for that um never want to say that anybody's wrong or incorrect i do remember that when it came around budget time for the workshop and the hearings, that we would have the budgets back there on the pianos. And I've been for a long time, but that wasn't every meeting, you guys. That was just when we got to the budget hearings and the budget workshops, okay? And so yeah, and so the last question, again, we're not raising the millage rate at all. And by passing this, this is a compliance thing, we can only lower the millage rate. All right, you guys. Councilperson Irvine, Councilperson Winters. You good?

I just wanted to say I'm glad you're here, Mr. Manager. We missed you on Tuesday. Hope you're all right. And I'm glad to see the CFO back there in the back. Don't hide. You can come forward. We have a great discussion today.

Thank you. All right, bring it back to the council. Do we have any other questions or comments about the resolution?

I'd like to read it out loud.

Attorney Geller should be the one to read it out loud. Councilperson Lightfoot Ward. You can go ahead and read it, Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward. Just read the dark part, the resolution part, the heading part, it's what we need to read into the record, please.

You want the resolution G?

Yeah, let's do the resolution G, then we'll go to the agenda item, because that's much shorter.

Okay, because the other one is something else. A resolution?

Yes, so read the resolution for us, turn it together, then we'll come back to the agenda item.

Well, we have F1 first, ma'am.

Yeah, read the resolution first.

Yes, sir, F1 is just approval of the Village of El Portal Title VI program plan. Discussion and possible action is presented by the manager. So I think the manager can present the details on that and vote that up or down, then we'll get to the millage.

Okay, well, we've been discussing the millage rate, so the budget. Yeah, we're just doing this. So I want to continue the discussion. All right, Mr. Manager, would you please talk about Title IX? Title VII, I mean, or VI. Just please discuss Title VI for me, and we'll read it in a second.

And we'll put the rest on record as soon as we move to that item.

What is this about?

Mr. Mayor, council members, this is a requirement for all of the municipalities that accept CITT dollars, pledging that the use of those dollars will be done according to the principles and the restrictions of Title VII, which says that no one who benefits from those proceeds should be be discriminated against, be limited, etc, etc. So it's just a standard pledge that all of the municipalities that use CIPT dollars make to the state saying we will be using those dollars according to Title VII. IT'S JUST A REQUIREMENT TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND FOR US TO FOLLOW WITH REGARDS TO HOW THOSE DOLLARS ARE USED.

I'M GOING TO LET COUNCILPERSON IRBAUM JUMP IN. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE TO DO ALSO EVERY YEAR. I REMEMBER DOING THIS WITH MANAGER ALOU. COUNCILPERSON IRBAUM.

ARE WE ABLE ESSENTIALLY TO TAKE ACTION ON THIS ITEM TONIGHT AND INSTRUCT THE MANAGER TO KEEP US IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS TITLE?

ABSOLUTELY, COUNCILPERSON IRBAUM. Any other questions or comments from the council before I go to the audience?

Yes. So you're talking about item G, yes?

No, we're talking about the agenda item.

We're talking about, yeah. Village of Elkhartel title six.

F1, council.

I got it. the it says village of Albert Hill title six program plan discussion and possible action that's where we are now right suppose to say title seven that's why when I was reading I said title seven because I knew it was about but then I saw the number title six that's what I don't seven another one are we ready for the question

So we're gonna go to the audience real quick. Anybody in the audience have any comment about this particular item, questions or comments? Hearing, seeing none, back to the council. Do I have a motion to approve?

So moved.

Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward. Do I have a second? I'll second. Second by Councilperson Irvine. Madam Clerk, may I please have a roll call, please?

Well, hold on.

Yes, Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward.

I wanna read to you what we're doing, okay? Because I know you all don't have everything we have. And we only have two things. The Village of El Patel Title VII program plan discussion and possible action. This is what we're about to vote on. You have been talking. We've been hearing you. And this is the day that we're going to do the Village of El Patel Title VII program plan discussion and possible, didn't say that it would be actually happening, and possible action. once we get started.

Thank you very much, Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward. Madam Clerk, we had a motion and a second. Madam Clerk, can I get a roll call?

Roll call. Councilperson Winters?

No.

Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward? Yes. Councilperson Erbom?

Yes.

Mayor Nickerson. Yes. Motion passes three to one.

Item F, item G1, Mayor. Thank you. Resolution on proposed millage rate. Resolution of the Village Council of the Village of El Portal, Florida, of Miami-Dade County, Florida, determining the village's proposed millage rates as required by section 200.065 Florida statutes, and setting the date, time, and place of public hearings to adopt the tentative and final millage and budget for fiscal year 2026-2027, directing the village manager to file this resolution with the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser, authorizing the village manager to change the budget hearing dates, if necessary, providing for incorporation of recitals and providing for an effective date. Now, Mayor, as you pointed out, we are required to read certain things from this resolution into the record, not just the title as we usually do. So I will read those into the record per your request and direction.

Thank you. Thank you for that clarification.

We received from... THE PROPERTY APPRAISER OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, THE HONORABLE THOMAS REGALADO. ON OR ABOUT JULY 1ST, A CERTIFICATION OF TAXABLE VALUE SHOWING CERTIFYING THE VILLAGE'S 2026 TAXABLE VALUE IS $399 MILLION. SORRY, MAYOR. $399,711,719. Whereas the village manager and staff have prepared a tentative budget and have computed the proposed millage rate necessary to fund the tentative budget other than the portion that comes from non-advalorum sources. And we're required, in answer to some questions, by law, to furnish this proposed millage rate to the property appraiser within 35 days of the issuance of that certification on July 1st. And are therefore, we are required by law to furnish this proposed millage rate no later than August 4th. The declaration of the proposed millage rate for this year, and again, as you said correctly, Mayor, this is effectively the maximum in order to raise this rate. I mean, practically speaking, it's virtually not able to be done. This is the maximum. It can go down, but it cannot go up. And that rate is declared to be 8.20 mils, which is $8.20 per $1,000 of assessed property, based again on the property assessments within the village based on the total assessed valuation, which I read a moment ago. We are required to read into the record the declaration of the rolled back rate. The rollback rate, as defined in that section of statute, 200.065, is 7.7818 mils. And that's the same again as $7.78.18 per $1,000 of value on property based on the assessment in the village. Looks like this is cut off, Mayor, because there is supposed to be a place here where it says the percentage that the rollback rate is higher. I'm not seeing it on the resolution. Looks like it got cut off.

I can help you out. The percentage is 5.37% more than the rollback rate.

Okay, thank you for putting that on the record, Councilman Erbom, because it's cut off on this copy. Can you, 5.37% higher than the rollback rate. In addition, the dates and times and locations of the first and second budget hearings per this resolution are declared to be, the first budget hearing is September 10th, 2026, which is a Thursday. By the way, note there was a typo in an earlier version that went out. Some people said Tuesday. It is not. September 10th is definitively a Thursday, and that's what this resolution in front of you says. at 6 30 p.m here in the village hall and the second and final budget hearing is september 22nd which is a Tuesday. It is also the night of our regular council meeting. So this is set for 645 that night prior to the regular council meeting. And at that time, the final millage rate and the final budget, will be adopted the 10th September 10th is the proposed millage rate and tentative budget and September 22nd the final millage rate and the final budget 6 45 pm also here in the village hall and of course this resolution is to be transmitted as said on or before August 4th and the manager may change it only if necessary if you know because of some kind of public emergency or something like that the county or the school board reschedules their hearings that is the resolution before the council tonight mayor thank you very much going to open up to the audience does anybody have any questions or comments about this particular item this resolution

Hello, Thomas Pulliam, 205 Northeast 86th Street. I remember being here last year when this was being discussed. And at the time, the council decided actually our taxes are too high. We need to roll it back. I think you did a 0.1 rollback haircut with that. And there was a promise made as well to be looking into the future to continue that rollback, hearing that what's on the agenda tonight is 5% over the recommended rollback. I think is a total miss for us to approve that. I would like to see what goes forward being 7.6, which would be the same haircut that was given last year based on that rollback rate. Thank you.

Thank you. Could I just add something for clarification real quick? So when I first came on the council and went through my first budget hearings, the concept of the rollback rate was completely alien to me. I had not been a homeowner before I moved into this neighborhood and so I didn't know what rollback rate meant at all. I thought it was the rate that it used to be. That is not at all what it is. Rollback rate means if we want to have the same dollar value for our revenue generated from taxes from last year to this year between new assessment values to have the exact same dollar value budget that we had last fiscal year, we would drop the rate that is currently 8.2 down to 7.7818 to achieve an identical dollar value budget to last year. that is what roll back rate means. So it's not explicitly prescribed or recommended. It's a marker to show essentially what the overall increase in value of properties in the village has been from year to year. It gives you an idea of that. And 5.37 is, fairly large i think historically in terms of a year-to-year jump so we certainly are uh clearly witnessing increased property values from last year to this year i just want to make that clear as we have this discussion thank you very much next for a public comment about this particular item

Mayor, while they're coming up, if I could just add to what Councilman Erbom said. When you produce the exact same revenue, if... General prices and costs, et cetera, are in a period of decline. That's all well and good. But when you're suffering from inflation, where everything costs more, the idea is that if you go to the rollback rate, you have nothing additional to deal with any of the costs of inflation. When things cost more, That's one of the purposes of having some additional dollars above the previous year. Other than that, of course, Councilman Erbom's explanation is entirely correct.

So like, oh, you're right. Denise White, 173 Northwest 88th Street. So when you take into account what Mr. Geller said that there is inflation when you take into account the fact that I'm not because we didn't finish last year's, but at least I'm not even sure what we finished last year's budgets. I know we started to break it down and we were supposed to finish it, but we didn't finish it. But this year's budget's up for, or I might be wrong. Please correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not sure we finished examining last year's budget completely and now this year's budget's up for review now. You're correct. Right, okay. So if we didn't finish last year's budget and we don't know whether that was balanced or whether we have a deficit, because I remember when I started coming and we started looking at the budget, there was this big thing. Mr. Gregg said, hey, there's a deficit, $500,000. Now, we would like to clear that up so that we are not a village who owes money. So if the raising of this helps with that, then let's say so. If we're afraid that, hey, again, if this tax thing passes, we're going to be at a deficit and we're going to have to move money around, then let's say so. We know that there's inflation. We know that... Even up here, quite possibly, you know, there might be a need for, you know, things to be put more in place because of the fact that people have to spend more nowadays. Like, I don't know about you, but gas at $4 is making me scratch my head. I grew up at 97 cents per gallon. So I'm confused. Maybe I'm telling my age. I apologize. But... Yeah, if we have to raise it, and there's a reason why. And now, Mr. Mayor, you did say, well, we have to turn this in by August 4th, and we can lower it. Our only problem is, oh, we be a little skeptical about whether things get lowered or not. But anyway, we're not going to talk about that today. We're going to act like everything's on the up and up and we're just trying to figure out why. If it has to be raised because of inflation, because of gas prices, because things need to be paid off from last year. then explain that to us. I'm sure we would understand that, you know, and there would be no problem. But I think what we're unclear about, because right now we have a slight, you know, we've been punched in the face. Somebody tore down our church. So we're a little sensitive. If you could just kind of explain to us, well, Because of these issues that might come up later. We're gonna leave it here And then we'll have a meeting later on to say hey, you know, let's lower it because you know We had to turn this in August 4th. So we wanted to make sure we had enough but just explain it to us I'm sure we would understand if that's necessary.

Oh, they kicking me out y'all Next for public comment for this particular item Okay, going once. Very quickly, because we really don't do this.

Yeah, so point of inquiry, I'm just trying to understand. If you guys said that at the rollback rate, we're still getting more income than ever before because of the total property valuation, That's incorrect. That is incorrect. Please clarify.

So I'm in my eighth year on the council. When I first came on, the rate was 8.3. It's always been 8.3 until last year when we lowered it to 8.2. So keeping it at 8.2 would result in an increase in our budget because we have an increase in property value. If we want to maintain the exact same identical dollar amount that our budget was last year, then we would roll the rate back to the 7.7818 that is there. The rollback rate achieves the previous dollar amount.

Yeah, that's exactly my understanding. So that reinforces my exact understanding. My thought is the same, that it should be reduced to 7.6%. which is a trim on the budget for this past year.

Let me just say what was done last year was not a reduction to or from the rollback rate. The rollback rate was exceeded last year and the year before and the year before and the year before. But as Councilman Erbom says again correctly, after adopting 8.3 as the proposed, the council did come back and reduce the proposed millage rate from 8.3 to 8.2 but that was not in the rollback rate is about 7.8 not quite 7.8 it didn't go from 8.3 all the way back to 7.8 because that would have been the dollar amount as the previous year but more people move in and everything costs more but so the reduction last time even though it was hard for the council to do they cut the proposed the rate that's being set tonight the proposed they cut a 0.1 pretty big one off that rate from 8.3 to 8.2 it was not a reduction to the rollback rate or a reduction from the rollback rate, the reduction last year, I'm not saying it's good, bad, or indifferent, just what it was is it was a reduction in the proposed, which is the rate being set tonight.

Yes, I understand. And the rate proposed tonight is 8.2, the same as last year, is that?

Yes.

Okay, so if we follow the same trajectory, then it would be 8.1 tonight. based on last year's precedent, not the rollback rate. Thank you for the clarification.

Anyone else probably comment?

Daniel Rojas 60 Northeast 86th Street. Just a quick question. Mr. Geller stated that there was a tentative budget created to plan this military. Will that budget be presented to the residents at any point. And I just want to clarify something. We do want to come up with solutions. We do want to work with the council. We do not like surprises. I mean I like some surprises but not when it comes to my taxes when not when it comes to big projects. So we just want to help everybody make informed decisions and that's why we come here and ask questions. Thank you.

If I might Mayor Stirk. The answer, Mr. Rojas, is that at both the first and second budget hearings, there are two separate resolutions. First, the entire proposed budget is presented and that's a public document. It's made available in advance of the meeting and it's open to public inspection. And then once that is adopted at that first meeting as a tentative, then the exact millage rate, not the cap that's being imposed tonight, is presented to fund the budget that's adopted. If the budget is reduced, then you can have less tax revenue to fund it. If somebody wants to increase the budget, you may need more tax revenue, but you can't raise the rate. And then at the second and final hearing, again, the budget with any amendments from the first meeting is presented. everyone gets to see it, that's voted on as the final budget and then you vote kind of to backfill it by setting what the final millage rate will be to fund the proposed budget that's just been adopted and that's all presented in detail and it's in advance of each meeting. So yes, it certainly is reviewed and reviewable by any member of the public.

Thank you so we're gonna get to see that budget prior to the meetings and are we gonna and so no workshops or are we gonna have some workshops?

I'll respond yeah.

Noel Pace 206 Northwest 91st Street also have a business property at 8661 Northeast 2nd Avenue. I've been listening to the dialogue and the public comment. And, you know, I sometimes review financial information for private organizations or companies that are seeking funding and, you know, getting ready to do. Normally they present. the last few years of the budget, right? So there's this year's budget, I would ask this council to also have it where it is like one for one, line item to line item, compared to last year's budget, and then maybe even the year before that, right? So we can, It's not just a snapshot in time, but we can sort of see the trend here and see, you know, because obviously we've talked about inflation and other issues or whatever. And so it would be good to get the totality of the circumstances. And so if that's possible, I know with... with modern techniques in terms of Excel and AI and Gemini and all those things, like you can produce data now in a flash. So hopefully these workshops and other things we're talking about, we'll be able to compare the budgets from year to year to see what the trend lines are. Does that make sense, everybody?

Ashley Lucio 127 Northeast 90th Street.

Louder OK.

So I want to thank you for your patience and the clarification that this is a compliance item, pretty much, right? So thank you for that. And I think one thing that might be helpful, and I don't know how you do this, but maybe it's through, you know, the website or what have you, is just kind of explaining that stuff to residents so that, you know, we're not coming in here, like, hysterical about a potential millage rate increase, right? The other thing is I want you to consider the amount of very large-scale homes that are about to be opened up to buyers. And it's not just those three, they're all around the village. So I want you to consider that that is an additional increase in tax revenue for next year, right? So for the rest of us that aren't building these many mansions and who might feel very pressed by inflation and not so sympathetic to businesses or even governments about their inflation issues, because we have our own. And having our own inflation issues can be life or death. It can be us losing our homes. It can be us losing ability to buy food. The consequences for us residents is much higher than for the village. So I would encourage you to think about, number one, the number of large-scale, multimillion-dollar homes coming online this next year, and two, how squeezed current residents may be. And yes, there is inflation, but I would say middle-class residents are feeling it the hardest. Thanks.

Velvet Connelly, 355 Northeast 87th Street. I'm more concerned about the way that information gets to us as residents in the village. I know, I'll speak for myself, I come here almost every meeting. So I put forth the effort, Ms. Anna, to be involved, to try to understand what the issues are, to try to present solutions. And I can tell you what my experience has been, that when I've presented solutions, and I've done that since I first started coming to these meetings five years ago, and every single time, ideas that I've brought here, things I've tried to organize, have been shot down. They have not been welcomed. They have not been well received. They have not been met with, oh, let me help to facilitate and organize that. That has not been the experience. And I've heard other residents constantly come up to this podium and ask, can we be on committees? How does it work? And we're constantly being told that's not how it's written in the charter. That's not allowed. It has to be the council. But now, as far as I understand, even the council is not having their meetings, right? As far as like the, when I came here, there were committees. on the council and we could sit in for those meetings and those meetings haven't been happening and that just keeps going on and on and nothing is said and nothing is done about that and so I know it may seem like when we come here there's just a lot of complaining and I can acknowledge that maybe there's not as many solutions being presented as could be but I think the complaints are coming from the fact that people are trying to move forward with progress and are not being met with the facilitation of Yeah, how can we get involved? How can we get more information? Then when we even come here, a lot of these things that you guys are talking about, even like the millage rate, there was a lot of misinformation that went out before this meeting saying, oh, you know, we're going to, this is going to be raised. A simple email could have been sent out to say this is just a compliance issue, right? We live in the greatest technology time generation and we can't get information to a small village? So, I mean, I think those things are valid concerns, and I think that they keep being asked and addressed, and people keep asking for more information, including myself. I know there's a lot of information that I ask for that I have not yet received, that a lot of times I'm told, oh, I don't know, or this person knows, or that person knows, and I'm not able to get to the bottom of it. And so I think that there's a lot of capable people in our village who do take their time out to come to these meetings. Our time is not valued to make sure that when we come here, time is not wasted. We're not able to get the information we need so we can bring better solutions to the meeting ahead of time. And we're not being encouraged to participate in the civic process. So for me, I just want to be clear, even on these issues, I'm confused. I want to be honest about that. I'm here because I'm willing to contribute, but I'm confused a lot of times at what's being said. I'm having a hard time following it.

Thank you.

Anyone else for public comment? Okay. Hearing, seeing none, let's come back to the council. Any questions or comments from the council before we talk about motions?

Yeah, so taking a typical inflationary rate of 3%, that would put us at, let's see, 8.78. So 8.78 would be the, in my opinion, would be the bare minimum millage rate to accept to cover historical inflation at 3%. So in light of Amendment 3 being a potential reality I would think that if we survive it by the skin of our teeth and it does not pass, that we would be glad to have almost any budget we were left with in the face of having potentially lost the entirety of the budget. So to give our CFO the very best possible chance to present to us the most accurate budget for the following year, in comparison to the budgets in the previous years I think it would be worth discussing on the council what we think the millage rate should be so that our CFO would have the most clear possible idea as we head into the first workshop at the end of August or the very first days of September ahead of the first budget hearing out of the two budget hearings so I would I would want to set the rate at 8.1 tonight and feel good about it with a 3.2% pad for year over year inflation. to arrive at a budget that would be equally functional to the budget that we've had this past year. And, um, it has been beyond frustrating not to have had mid year budget reviews, consistent admin and finance committee meetings and so now instead of having been able to have this discussion over the past six months to a year technically we're gonna do a cram session once again and the last cram session we had resulted in a budget that was unclear and we still don't have clarity on today so I would like to i would have liked to have avoided being in the same situation this year as we were in last year and we have not been able to avoid that situation but i would like to see the council be a little bit aggressive on this in light of the potential loss of everything essentially and just say 8.1 feel good about it uh feel comfortable we've got our inflation our inflationary cost covered and uh and be able to be able to go from there i mean one of the one of the goals of developing some commercial business in the villages so that we would be able to continue to lower this rate over time and just a reminder that that while While we're not talking about huge jumps in numbers here in terms of the millage rate or the cost to the homeowner, over time, this is how you lose tenured residents. This is how you lose residents who've been here for 30, 40 years, is by not keeping track of this reality of the creeping, creeping, creeping increase. The new homeowner is frustrated because they saw what the previous homeowner paid, and now they're going to pay more because they bought the new construction or what have you. So the new homeowner has that, oh, man, kind of feeling, right? But that's not the same type of dread that a long-term resident feels, watching that number creep up year over year. The resident who's been here a long time is wandering into a fixed income reality, so they're not going to be able to earn their way out of that hole. So there is a very real risk to losing residents who you would hope having been here so long with would be able to continue being here as long as they would choose and so that is a very tangible reality for a lot of our residents

Thank you very much. Anyone else from the council?

Yes, sir.

So I guess we're approaching 7.30 here, and we had a meeting that was supposed to start at 6.30, so I will be brief as I can. Last year, we talked about lowering the millage rate, obviously, and we did by 0.1, and we were assured that we would have information to be able to know how much further we can go the next year I didn't get that information I'm not sure if anyone else did I know that we've had some projects finished parks and trails and I know there's some places of cuts I don't feel I don't feel confident in raising it I feel that the rollback rate is still too high And I'm hoping that maybe the CFO can come up here and tell us how our millage rate that we kind of blindly voted on last year to lower survived this year and how we're doing.

Got anything else? All right, you guys. Yes, Councilperson Lightfoot-Warren.

Please inform what our millage rate is right now. I keep seeing 7.7818.

Yeah, millage, you wanna say something?

Well, the millage rate for the last fiscal year was 8.2.

I didn't ask that question. I asked what is the rollback rate right now? Is it 7.7818? Yeah, yes. And if it is, how did it go from 8.2 to 7.78?

No, that's the rollback rate, Councilperson Lightfoot Ward. The millage rate is 8.3. Right now, currently, you guys know we're about 75% through our year. You know we're 75% through our fiscal year. Our spending, we've underspent this year. Our spending, and you guys will all get this. If you guys remember on Tuesday, I said that I have a whole budget breakdown going out this weekend. I said that on Tuesday. I don't know if you guys remember me saying that. So you'll get the entire breakdown. And so we're under, we've underspent so far throughout the year. We've underspent so much that right now we're looking at a surplus of $85,000 because we've underspent. Doesn't even include revenue. Revenue we're looking at, we're bringing in more revenue. We're looking at a surplus in revenue, $116,642. So we've underspent, we've underspent. We've underspent, looking at a surplus of $85,000. We brought in extra revenue, that's the money we bring in, has nothing to do with the spending. $116,642 is where we're at currently in revenue coming in over have an entire budget breakdown it's really easy to understand when you guys see it this weekend i spell out everything every page is separated and then there's an explanation with every page throughout the entire budget okay As far as tonight with the millage rate, I would just say, I'm not necessarily against it, what I would say is, you guys, up until September 22nd, in the evening of September 22nd, we can lower it. we can lower the millage rate up until the evening of September 22nd. So what I would say is, my suggestion would be, is that let the information go out. We have a workshop at the very end, beginning of September, I believe September 1st. we have the first budget hearing also okay so with the information going out then with the workshop workshop you guys we go line by line you guys remember last year at the workshop we were here we started at i believe it was 6 30 or 7 maybe and we were here till past midnight Two in the morning. We were here till two in the morning. So anything you wanna go through, any question you wanna answer, we go line by line. So there's gonna be multiple things starting with this weekend when all the information goes out to you guys. Any last questions or comments from the council? Hearing, seeing, now we have a suggestion by Councilperson Erbom or do I just have a motion with the resolution as presented?

I will make a motion to accept the millage rate as the rollback rate this year.

Point of order.

Yes, .

I think we need to read the proposed millage rate. These people didn't just come here for nothing. And we read what the idea, what we really want to happen. Proposed, it says proposed military. We didn't say we completed it, we said proposed.

So it's not done, it's not done and written in stone until the second budget hearing, which is September 22nd. And so what I would say is, what i would say is that we pass this through because we can always drop it we can drop it to the rollback weight we can drop it to 8.1 we can drop it to whatever we want to drop it to after today but we need to look at because i know for example i know there are um are things that will be coming you know into the budget this year that we currently don't have right We have the historic preservation board. We have the tree board. I know you guys were looking for arborists for the village. So if we're going to roll it back to the rollback rate, then there's going to be a lot of things like with those type of things that you guys just won't be able to do. So I would say, you guys, we can drop it to the rollback rate anytime by September 22nd. So as we pass it through the information about this weekend, through the workshop, through the first budget hearing, you look at these things and you consider these things. And then you come out of that and say, all right, we look at what we need. We look at like what we wanted this year. We look at the priorities that we want for this year. And then we say, all right, you know what you guys, I think this can go back to, you know, 8.0. I think this can go back to, but if we lower it now, we can't raise, so if we lower it now, and then we go through the process, and we say that we want these things, or we wanna implement these things, there's no way we can raise it. So I just think the most responsible thing to do, since we can lower it up until September 22nd, okay? So I think the responsible thing to do is to pass the resolution, and then we look at the information, and we can lower it up until our second budget year.

But there is a motion on the table, is that right?

There is a motion to roll it back to the rollback rate.

The rollback rate says 7.7818 mils. That's the motion. For 1,000.

That's the motion from Councilperson Winches.

Everybody understand what that is? Okay, we got people out there that knows what it's saying.

That's the motion from Councilperson Winches. Is there a second?

Mayor, I don't think the motion's been made.

Councilperson Winches made the motion.

He did?

Yeah.

Let's do it again. Anybody hear the motion? It hasn't been seconded yet.

It hasn't been seconded yet. Councilperson Winters made a motion. Councilperson Winters repeated.

He's going to repeat it right now.

I made a motion to adopt the proposed millage rate using the rollback rate.

So the rollback rate will be the new millage rate, is his motion. And what's that rate, Councilperson?

And the proposed millage rate.

Say it, say it. The 7.78 mills.

It's 7.7817, I believe.

It says 7.7818 meals per 1,000.

Thank you for correcting me, Council.

What it says, so everybody will know, we're not speaking in some other language. This resolution says, you got a problem with it? Now it's when you talk. A resolution of the Village of Council of the Village of El Portel, Miami-Dade County, Florida, determining... IT SAYS DETERMINING THE VILLAGE'S PROPOSED MILLAGE RATES AS REQUIRED BY SECTION 200.065 OF THE FLORIDA STATUTES AND SETTING THE DATE, TIME, AND PLACE OF PUBLIC HEARINGS TO ADOPT THE TENTATIVE AND FINAL MILLAGE. That's what we're doing tonight, a proposed millage rate. Directing the village manager to file this resolution with the Miami-Dade County property appraiser has to be that way. Authorizing the village manager, everybody know the village manager?

Yes.

Okay, I just wanted to say, y'all, yeah, okay. the village manager to file this resolution with the Miami-Dade County property appraiser. This happens every year. Authorizing the village manager to change the budget hearing dates, if necessary, providing for incorporation of recitals and providing for the effective date. The rollback rate is 7.7818 mils per 1,000 value.

anybody got a problem yet no we're good thank you Thank You council person like foot where we appreciate the clarification so that's the motion you guys to roll it back from 8.2 where it currently is back to 7.7 and that's the motion and do we have a second

To roll it back to eight point when the rollback rate is 7.7?

Yes, it would go from 8.2 to 7.7. Okay. 7.78, but 7.7. 7.7818. We have a motion. Do we have a second? So moved. So we have a motion. We have a second. Madam Clerk, may I please have a roll call, please? Yeah. She said so moved.

She doesn't, Mayor, I don't think she really understands that it's not as is. She might think it's as is. And I think the CFO maybe should say what the fiscal impact might be on that. That's not being fiscal responsible. I'm sorry, I have no place in this, but I think that.

Madam Clerk, I understand what you're saying.

I don't. Anybody understood what she said? See, they understand what you just said. We're here for the people, by the people, and with the people.

So what she's saying is from 8.2 to 7.7, what would that be? Let me just say from 8.3 to 8.2, when we did that, that was a $41,000 drop. So that's from one, that's the point one. Point one, the 8.3 to 8.2, which is gonna be in your thing today. I'm looking exactly on the notes from the thing you guys are getting this weekend. The 8.3 to the 8.2 was minus $41,000 from the budget, from a point. So that's where it kinda equals up.

Which made the rollback rate be 7.1.

So if you're talking about 8.2 to 7.7. 818 Mills.

PER THOUSAND.

WHICH MEANS WE'LL HAVE THE SAME BUDGET AS LAST YEAR.

YEAH. SO ESSENTIALLY... OKAY.

Does that mean we're not raising the millage?

Yeah, so you're talking about anywhere from, anywhere from $164,000 to $205,000 would be the deduction from the budget.

My motion was just basically keep the budget the same as last year financially.

but are you asking for the role or are you asking for a direct deduction of the military

Harry Taubenfeld, Chief Financial Officer. I think it'd be important just so everybody get an understanding of what is being asked to potentially move the rollback rate, move the millage rate to the rollback rate today. What the mayor estimated is actually somewhat correct, pretty close to the number. You're looking at somewhere between $175,000 to $200,000 of potential lost revenue. Yes, you would be maintaining the same revenue that we received this year. However, it's $200,000 of lost revenue, and it doesn't factor in. Council person member urban mentioned as far as any inflation. One thing that hasn't been mentioned that I want to add as well as an item that's up and coming for next year that needs to be discussed is the new contract with the police department. So that's something that also needs to be factored in. I think the mayor's direction quite honestly is the way to go today. It's not a lock on a number of where nobody's proposing and saying that the number needs to be 8.2. But if we effectively want to run the village properly, we need to have the revenue to support it. And I think right now to start at 8.2 is the way to go. And then we could always work our way down from there. Thank you.

Go ahead. Just a point of order. There was no second. Dr. Leifert Ward was... I was referencing the as is. My point of order is that there was no second.

All right, for clarification, if there was confusion that there was a second, Councilor Slattery, are you withdrawing your second? Okay, make your motion again so we can see if we get a second. Make your motion one more time with the number, please.

My. motion is to adopt the rollback rate, which is 7.7818 mills, rather than the 8.2 mills, which is an 8% increase from last year's revenue.

Thank you very much, Councilperson Winters. Do we have a second for Councilperson Winters, dropping it to the 7.7818?

Did everybody understand what he said?

Yes, we understood. We understood, Councilperson Lightfoot Ward. Thank you very much for the clarification. So second time we got, do we have a second going twice? Do we have a second going three times, you guys? Okay. Do I have a new motion of any sort?

From what I heard, the rollback rate would be 7.7818 mils per 1,000 value.

Do I have a motion?

I move to go forward with as is with a mind to lower it in the budget hearings. I motion to go forward as is.

We have until September 22nd to lower it down to whatever you want to lower it to. We have a motion. Do I have a second for the motion? Do I have a second? Do I have a second for the motion going once? Do I have a second for the motion going twice?

Mr. Mayor, I don't mean to be rude, but my rollback rate, based on what I've heard so far, was 7.7818 mils per 1,000 value. Now we're going back to 8.2.

We have a motion on the table for 8.2. That's where it is currently. Councilperson Erbaum wanted to remain as is.

The reason I haven't said anything, and everybody knows I'm talking for us, that the rate is 7.7818 mils per 1,000 value. It was 8.2.

Yes.

Are we on the right track? Getting lower? Or are we messing up?

Yes, so it just depends on the way you see it, Council President Blackfoot Ward. Like I said, it was my suggestion that we can lower it up until September 22nd, the second budget hearing. So it was my suggestion that we keep it as is for now, and then as we go through the budget workshop in the first hearing, we can see what our priorities are, what we want, and then we can lower it as we go through that process. So that was my suggestion, to keep it as is. I have no problem with your suggestion. From what Councilperson Erbom suggested,

So there was a lot of communication after I made my motions. I want to make something really quickly. The council does not have a good track record when it comes to lowering the millage rate over the last 10 years. And though I would like to believe we will do it in September, I'm just a little hesitant.

yeah understood thank you very much council person which is we have a motion on the table um do we have a second for the um 8.2 uh leaving the military as is for now we have a motion we have do we have a second going once do we have a second going twice Do we have a second going three times?

We have a failure of a- Mayor, just for the record, you are privileged to second if you so choose.

Can we get some kind of discussion up here? I'm open to seconding something that's a little bit lower, but I really would like to see something change.

So here's the risk, as clearly outlined by the CFO and the mayor, of moving forward tonight with reducing it to 7.8. We cannot get above that headed into budget season. So if we get into budget season, and the CFO's telling us what the cost of the police department collective bargaining agreement is, and it goes beyond what we can cover off of the rollback rate, then we will be locked into a deficit for next year.

And we don't want that.

While I want a lower rate, Dr. Leifert Ward wants a lower rate, Councilperson Winters wants a lower rate, I imagine the mayor is not entirely opposed to a lower rate, we would be absolutely handcuffed to the exact dollar amount that we operated with last year. And when Councilperson Winters proposed that each Councilperson gets $67,000 a year, The argument for that was the unbelievable inflation. And now the same. I'm very frustrated. So advancing forward as is allows us to lower it. I was clear in my statement that 8.1 I'm good with moving forward. I don't mind going lower than that possibly, but I think that the inflation discussion is valid. It's 3% outside of the insanity we're experiencing now. You self inflicted just, I mean, you, it's like an AR 15 to the foot. Like it's 30 rounds. It's 30 rounds every 15 seconds, right into the foot, what we're experiencing economically right now. And so, um, And so we know we're going to have at least a 3% increase in costs if we do nothing different. If we do exactly the same thing, exactly the same way next year from this year, we're going to have a 3.5% increase in costs doing that. That is reality, it is measurable reality. So I will move to move forward at 8.1 if that would satisfy people's desire to at least be guaranteed a reduction because we would not be able to go above 8.1 in the budget hearings. But announcing 7.8 tonight is guaranteed deficit next year.

Guaranteed deficit.

So is there a motion come in? Anybody who made a motion, you can make a motion again.

I'll move to move this item forward with a millage rate of 8.1.

We have a motion on the table. We have a second for 8.1. Madam Clerk, when you get a chance, please have a roll call, please.

We're waiting.

Roll call. Councilperson Winters.

With the intention of motioning in September to lower it again, I'm gonna vote yes right now.

Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward.

Yes.

Councilperson Erbom.

Yes.

Mayor Nickerson.

No.

Three to one.

Thank you very much. It passes 8.1. Congratulations, Councilperson Erbom. All right, you guys, do I have a motion to adjourn?

So moved.

Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot Ward, second by Councilperson Erbom. The special council meeting for Thursday, July 30th is adjourned at 7.49 p.m.