Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Good evening and welcome to the November 24th, 2025 board of water meeting for the city of town and country. I now call the meeting to order and ask everyone to rise and join me in the pledge of I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. I will now ask the city clerk to call the role for attendance. Alderman Friedman. Alderman Gerber here. Alderman Harter here. Alderman Hughes here. Alderman Canella here. Alderman Murphy

here. Alderman Sawyer here. And Alderman Square present. Mary is presiding. We do have a forum. Thank you very much. We have a couple sets of minutes to approve. The first is from the 11102 special meeting. I seek a motion and second to approve. Second. Any discussion or amendment? All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Thank you. Next is from the 111025 regular meeting. Seek a motion and second to approve. So move.

Second and discussion. Alman Gella. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to make a note on this particular minutes because if you look at Mr. Riley's comments on page two, he mentions that the subdivision created some runoff and he was concerned about that, but it doesn't say what subdivision. So, I think adding the words Stonemont Court in front of the word subdivision would add clarity for anyone that read these units later. Thank you. Is there a second to that motion then? Second. All in favor? Hi, Mayor.

Can I just note for the record um that in addition to that amendment, I will also be correcting a couple of scrers heirs. On the special meeting minutes, the date will be corrected. And then on the regular meeting minutes, there was an incorrect name under Alderman Murphy's report and an incorrect address to Ald's report. Those will both be corrected and reflected in the final minutes. Thank you very much. Thank you. And we do have here's time to hear from citizens. We have one who would like to speak. Um Lou, is it Mary? I'm so sorry. Before we go on to that, can we get a voice vote on the minutes as amended?

Oh, all in favor of the minutes as amended say I. I. Anyone opposes? Thank you. Mr. Salom.

Thank you. Salomony 319 Quinnmore in Baldwin. That's the deer capital uh management capital of the United States in St. Louis. So um I'm asking you to table the town of country's whitetail deer management. Maybe take a good look at it. Again it's from the former administration and there's a lot of you see falsehoods in that and um that's my opinion. review our proposal for whitetail deer management and also consider an open forum to receive facts and opinions about deer management. It's a course form. Uh the question was asked can bow hunting work for us and the people on the panel looked at each other and they made Aaron shank answer the question we don't have any data to support that there's plenty of data so that's false and we can supply you with all the facts which are currently going around the country one more page bear with me we are asking for 300 prorated deer removal up to the city's desired amount this is the proposal uh we're asking for 5,000 upfront for equipment utilization up to 15 locations for deer reduction maintenance and it's prorated at 300 per deer. So like after 16 deer we break even on our equipment. If you're a fly fisherman, if you're a bird hunter, you understand how expensive it is and we don't want to risk the upfront cost, which is a lot. A set is a stand. That's about 350 minimum. And if you put a couple cameras up, that's 450. Those cameras can be do your deer surveys for the rest of your all over the town. That's what we do every place else. We get so much information from cameras. Um and it's only a two payment plan after the final end of the season when the numbers total whatever it is that's what you pay out. The deer harvest reporting it's emailed to the city the date, age, sex, and age

class of the deer. and the harvest verification. That's important. Verification is important. So, we screenshot our map location, the view from the stand, the harvest view of the animal. It's a four-step proprietary verification. Our Facebook page has only one step. I have a Facebook page and it verifies we harvest deer. Um, we do a whole deer removal. I don't know about my buffalo when they put the bags over their head. They say it's so they don't throw up. Do they dress the deer? We don't. We don't have to put bags overhead because we kill them almost immediately. Not like when you get sharp shot in the back of the head, you're paralyzed and then they put the bags over have to suffocate. They have to. Sorry to say that, but it's the truth. That's another falsehood that they stated that it's more it's a better kill. It is not a better kill than hunting, especially when professionals do it. Um the sex class, and that's another falsehood or a flawed program of the U white belle. They're 50/50 male to female. We're 9010. Nine dos to one buck is what we harvest. That is will reduce your recruitment immediately. There's a reason why you've been tied to them for 12 years and Al's hair has grown that long in the last 12 years because it they're you're tied to them because it just you can't get away from them because they don't kill enough females and they're getting paid to kill bucks which is wrong. I know it's three minutes a little more. Go ahead.

Yeah. We we don't use bait, minimal city involvement, manpower. All we need is just the information like where they have hunted. And we would ask the people, "Do you prefer sharp sugar or do you prefer us?" Let the people decide. Back in the day, uh Mason Valley came to you and said, "Just give us a bow hunter." Well, that didn't happen. They put collars on deer and they sterilized them in that neighborhood. Um, we will notify all contiguous neighbors, all surrounding neighbors, um, with a mail notification that we're doing a procedure just in case if a deer goes off property, which is few and far between. Um, please consider it, have a discussion about it. Uh, we hope to um, not do the sharp shooting anymore. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thank you for coming up and presenting that. We will get to that bill in a little while and I'll see if there's an appetite for that or not. I have to say we have been pretty happy with what I love these last few years. But um I appreciate your time. It's flawed though. Everything that was told to you in the pre the previous administration, what was told to you by NBC, it's it's all false. You could read the recent u deer management report from uh Wildwood. The information they provided is tainted to make them believe that bone hunting is ineffective. The pair has done sharp tree for three years and we asked them not to. Um and they do it in uh Bitterwood Park in Fam Forest and then they have a managed hunt in there and a managed hunt comes up with no deer. They can't kill deer because there's no deer. But they say managed hunts are efficient. They use 5% of the deer harvesters in St. Louis County from managed hunts. They say that bow hunting is efficient inefficient. 5%. Managed hunts only account for 5% of bow kills

in St. Louis County. So everything they give you is flawed to enrich their associate. I think I get it. All right. Thank you, Mayor. For the record, uh, the proposal that was distributed to the board in advance of the meeting will be attached to tonight's minutes as well. Thank you. Um, no public hearings, I believe, no appointments. I will now recognize the board's opportunity to provide reports. Harter.

Okay. On the PF commission, just a couple of things as we're heading into the holiday season. This Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, is the annual Guns and Hoses fundraiser. Um, and if you've never gone, it is a great time. Do we have any uh contestants? No, sir. We have smart officers.

Hey, good thought. So, we can go and cheer. The other guys get beat up. Um, okay. On December 1st and 15th, uh, every year, Cardinal Glennon hosts a light up Glennon. Now, during these events, first responders from all over the area and members of the public surround Cardinal Glennon just after dark. The public brings flashlights and first responders activate emergency lights and all to give the children and their families a color for light show. And Town and Country Police does participate in that at least once this day will maybe twice this year. We'll see. Uh, so that's just another good event to help with the children during the season.

Thank you, Alderman Hughes. Thank you, mayor. The December 1st architecture review board meeting has been cancelled for lack of new business. The next scheduled architecture review board meeting is set for Monday, January the 5th at 5:30 p.m. And all are welcome. And I'd like to take an opportunity to thank all the members of the architecture review board for donating their time, talent, and expertise, not only to the board, but to the city. It's been a pleasure working with them. Thank you, Alderman Murphy.

Thank you, Chairman. Uh, in this season of giving thanks. I'm going to join the uh bandwagon here. The parks and trails commission really wants to express their appreciation to the sponsors of upcoming events. People's National Bank, Get Centric Counseling, and Missouri Baptist Medical Center are supporting our turkey truck this coming Thursday morning starting at 9:00 a.m. Full details are available on the website. I will add that we've got about 344 registrants uh for this event. That's up from 208. That's over 63% of an increase. Um communications will be going out to all registrants in the next day or so. Uh we are allowing and encouraging people to pick up their shirts, finish their registration process on Wednesday from 10 to 12 or next Monday. They can come in at any time during the day, 7:30 to 5:00 p.m. to get their shirts and all that. Uh in addition, our Winterfest team adds their appreciation sponsors of our December 6th Winterfest. The lighting ceremony that you mentioned sounds great, but it's going to pale in comparison to what the mayor and the board are going to be able to show on December 6th. Um Thank you. Thank you to People's National In uh Bloom Lighting, Missouri Baptist Medical Center, Jet Set, Modern Pilates, Al Dean, Heating and Cooling, Raising Canes, Nothing But Cake, Renewal by Anderson, and West News Magazine for all your sponsorship support. Wow, we got a lot of sponsors pulling in uh for our parks and trails activity, which was a big objective a few years ago. And applause Nixon and team for making all that stuff happen. Uh, Winterfest again will run Saturday, December 6 from 1 to 7:00. The last hour and a half, last hour and a half with lights, um, a river blenders choir and a special snow experience. We will guarantee light manageable snow that evening. Um, we have the magic of town and country behind it. Reminder to all that Santa will be cruising down Clayton Road from 141 to town square a little before 2

p.m. on that day. Again, please visit the website for full details. Thank you. Um, you said 344 people signed up. 344 in the church. Still four. And how many shirts did we order? We have 600 shirts. Okay, great. The shirts will look I'm showing this on camera somewhere. Um, if I could ask you to grab the other arm so you can show it to the public out there because they're going to be very envious of this when people are walking around the city and town of country uh dawning this beautiful um blue and gold. So anyway, I look forward to seeing everyone at the event. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. The planning and zoning commission met on Wednesday, November 19th, and took action on one item, a driveway gate at 1377 South Mason Road. The item was approved 7 to1. There will be no December meeting due to a lack of new business, and the next meeting of planning and zoning will take place on Wednesday, January 1. 21st. Thank you very much, Mr. Sh. I think you have a report.

Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, just to let the board know, our public works director, Todd Ray, received notice today from the Missouri American Water Company that they're going to be doing a water mane replacement the first two weeks of December in front of Principia and they will be closing the Clayton Road Trail for those two weeks in that section for that water man replacement. So, uh, Morgan will be sending out email and Facebook notifications just to let everybody know. Um, the only other item I have is to give thanks to the Mason Ridge Garden Club. Uh, as you all hopefully saw their report. Uh, Miss Nixon and I met with them. They put in more than a thousand hours this past year at Long View in the gardens. Uh, they're master gardeners, obviously. They do a fantastic job. Uh, donate their time and then actually some of their own money uh, to keep the gardens in Long View looking beautiful. So, our thanks to Mason Rich Garden.

Yeah. I think a real testimony to the job they do is that how many people get prom pictures, senior pictures, engagement pictures taken there. I mean, that is such a beautiful spot that they uh that really um they do a wonderful job and they're probably by the mayor anyway a little underappreciated. So, I thank them for what they do. uh is that in relation to their entrance? Correct. Yeah, they need to relocate the water main in order to put the new entrance in that the board approved. So, yes, that's part of it. Thank you. That will impact the traffic. No impacts on traffic,

but I think I'm talking to the folks at the actual constructions and the chains where the entrance is basically at the bottom of the hill won't start till the spring. Sounds like it. Yeah. Okay. Um, you're good. Good. Okay. Next, moving on to unfinished business. Bill number 25-49. Um, supported by Gerber. Without objection, would the city clerk read the bill for the second time?

Bill number 2549 is an ordinance approving a conditional use and authorizing a conditional use permit for an accessory structure, a permanent outdoor game court located at 13770 Stonemont Court in the city of Town Country. Thank you. I see a motion and second to approve. So move second Gerber.

As I wanted to make some couple comments on this. The um last week we had a couple of people from the neighboring subdivision come in and express some concerns about the water runoff and certain things like that. And that's something that's very dear to my heart is protecting residents against water runoff and construction projects. Now, these residents were not in town and country. They're they're actually in the county. Um, but what I I was very happy to see is uh the cooperation even though they're not members people in town and country. Cooperation from the uh owners of the new house. The fact they they're not here. Yeah. So, that was going to speak. I don't know. But um I went back and looked there myself and uh the way the burdens are and everything, it looks like the water is going to flow right down into this big 18inch pipe and right on out of it. It looked like it was a lot better than some of the other situations we've had around town. I also want to say I was happy to hear other alderman last week or last meeting, two weeks ago um questioning about that issue because we're all concerned about that and um and and I also am proud that we are concerned even though they're not in town or country. Um I think that's that's the right way to to do it to be concerned about our neighbors and um I think that uh I wish our neighbors were that concerned about us too. So that that's to say as long as we can tell.

Thank you, mayor. I I'd also like to thank uh the homeowners uh Mr. Mrs. Ser who attended the public hearing and having heard all the questions that came from the residents that were situated behind them. They were here to answer all those questions and put minds at ease and it certainly makes for a more civil discussion when the homeowners can be there and answer the questions and it settles things very quickly. Thank you. I completely agree with that. Any other discussion? If not, I would ask the city clerk for a roll call. Alderman Canella. Hi. Alderman Gerber. Hi. Alderman Schwear. Hi. Alderman Murphy. Hi. Alderman Hughes. Hi. Alderman Harter.

Hi. Alderman Sawyer. Hi. And Alderman Friedman. Hi. That bill passes unanimously. Becomes ordinance number 4720. Next. Bill number 25-50 supported by alderman Sawyer without objection with the city clerk reading the bill for the second time. Bill number 2550 is an ordinance accepting the proposal of Daniger and Markoff LLP to provide Gatsby 75 actuarial services or other postemployment benefits for retirees for fiscal years 2025 through 2029. Seek a motion and second to approve. So move second. Any discussion? Ask the city clerk for a roll call vote. Alderman Sawyer. Hi.

Alderman Harter. Hi. Alderman Murphy. Hi. Alderman Pella. Hi. Alderman Schwear. Hi. Alderman Friedman. Hi. Alderman Hughes. Hi. And Alderman Gerbert. Hi. The bill passes unanimously. Becomes ordinance number 4721. Thank you. Next. Bill number 25-51 sponsored by board as a whole. Without objection, the city clerk read the bill for the second time. Bill number 2551 is an ordinance authorizing a renewal agreement with Delta Dental of Missouri for participation by the city of Town and Country in a group dental benefit plan for its employees. Seek a motion and second to approve.

Second. Thank you. Any discussion? Alman Murphy. Thank you, Chair to Mr. Dolly. Um I know we sent some communications back and forth earlier. I just wanted to uh clarify. So in my quick research I found that dental insurance was going up about on average in Missouri upwards to 10%. So obviously this is about six and a half% um increase. What was the increase from in 24 from the prior? It was 8%.

8%. All right. So we're still kind of staying under that cap and feedback from the employees on the service itself. So um I had only one employee regarding dental who had requested that we look into orthodontic services to a higher degree because right now um dental plans in general don't focus on orthodontics much at all but his interest was for us to look into that. So for the next year, we will definitely look and have our broker look at it and see if it's if we can do it or at least if there's a possibility, maybe offer two separate dental benefits. One to employees who have no interest in that and then a higher benefit level for those employees who are

okay. Thank you for your investigation. You're welcome. Any other discussion? That's the city for roll call vote. Alderman Murphy. Hi Alderman Hughes. Hi Alman Freeman. Hi Alderman Sawyer. Hi Alderman Schwar. Hi Alderman Gerber. Hi Alderman Canal. Hi and Alderman Har. Hi. The bill passes unanimously and becomes ordinance number 4722.

Thank you. Next bill number 25-52 sponsored by the board as a whole without objection would the city clerk read the bill for the second time. Bill number 2552 is an ordinance adopting a voluntary vision care benefit plan through IMED for the employees of the city of Town Country. Thank you. See a motion and second to approve. So move. Thank you. Alderman can. Thank you. I guess this is for Joan question is do we have 10 employees that are looking for vision care? Because it does say that we need 10 to qualify. We have do we have that easily? Yes, we have at least 10 employees. Okay, I see three.

This may not be a representative. Just want to make sure. Any other discussion? I would ask the city clerk for a roll call vote. Alderman Carter. Hi. Alderman Gerber. Hi. Alderman Square. Hi. Alderman Hughes. Hi. Alderman Tinsella. Hi. Alderman Friedman. Hi, Alderman Murphy. Hi. And Alderman Sawyer. Hi. The bill passes unanimously becomes ordinance number 4723.

Thank you. Next bill number 25-83. Also sponsored by the board as a whole. Objection. Will the city clerk read the bill for the second time? Bill number 2553 is an ordinance authorizing the city of town and country's continued participation with Standard Insurance Company for group life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance and group long-term disability insurance for its employees. Thank you. Second motion and second to approve. Second. Any discussion? I would ask the city clerk for a roll call vote, please. Alderman Hughes. Alderman Freeman. Hi. Alderman Murphy. Hi, Alderman Sawyer. Hi, Alderman Harter. Hi, Alderman Canella.

Hi, Alderman Gerber. Hi, and Alderman Square. Hi. The bill passes unanimously and becomes ordinance number 4724. Thank you. Moving on to new business. This is resolution number R12-2025, a resolution granting the city administrator authority to extend a waiver of inspection fee incentive program authorized via ordinance number 4673 for a period of one additional year ending on December 31st, 2026. Seek a motion and second to approve. So moved second. Any discussion? Paul Murphy,

Mr. Shelton, uh we've shared some communications on that. Would you be able to give us a little bit of a perspective in terms of how effective this uh this program was this past year?

Yeah, it's a great question. We believe that the program was very effective. Um, we had several new businesses, new office tenants move in and what they're paying in business license fees in year one alone are more than the amount we waved in inspection fees. So, your inspection fees would have been about 27,000. Their business license in year one is 47. The 27 is a one-time. The 47 reoccurs for however long they're in this space. So I think it's been a fantastic program and encourage a renewal and we had a broker who represents a large amount of office who said they've uh been successful with it.

Now you're well you're very well known for your memory on detail and all that. So do you recall in 2024 uh what our license or our inspection fees were? I do not have that number. No, that's a that's a tough one. I don't know. Even Joanne probably doesn't know that one. might be in our budget. You need to just check on that. Yeah, we'll get back to you on that. Uh how did that affect the vacancy rate?

We haven't run the total vacancy rate, but um we've uh from business license, we have not Morgan had a lot of uh vacant businesses who are not renewing compared to these new businesses for the most part. Some of these are current businesses who've remodeled but we've not uh so I would say it has decreased our vacancy rate. Thank you. All in favor of this resolution say I.

Anyone opposed? Next, bill number 25-54, perhaps sponsored by the board as a whole without objection. Would the city clerk read the bill for the first time? Bill number 2554 is an ordinance approving the budget and authorizing budgeted expenditures for the budget year beginning January 1, 2026.

Thank you. I'm going to invite our finance director to the podium for a budget presentation. I did things for shut I'll pass some comments but I do want to remind the board this is the first reading so when they're finished it's not open to discussion go ahead good evening again it's so nice to be able to present on the budget this evening so the first slide that I want to show you here is just an illustration of a few of the major steps in the budget development and approval process and you'll see that I'm showing you close to the bottom in the November 24th which is tonight. Um and then of course the next meeting we'll have the public hearing and hopefully you'll adopt the 2026 budget. For this particular slide u I'm showing the 2025 end of year budget summary. All I want to say about this particular slide is that if you look at the very bottom, you'll see the general fund ending fund balance percentage um of 107%. And you might recall that our fund balance policy states that it must be at least 50%. So we're in a very good spot at end of fiscal year for 2025. You'll see this is the proposed for 2026. And if you look again at the bottom, you'll notice that is now 89%. And we would expect it to be as such because now it includes certain expenditures. And if you look in under the budget request expenditure and you look particularly and I don't know if I can um so if you look at the 7 million amount and the amount right below that of 7.636, 636. Those are the two um areas where we have large capital expenditures particularly under the capital improvement fund. We

have the facilities projects that are budgeted in 2026. And then we have um some projects in the parks and storm water fund as well. And I will um peel the the onion back a little bit um when we get a little bit further in the presentation. So I like to show this every year. This is the revenues by source funds. And so you'll see that the largest piece uh portion is of course sales tax again at 49%. We have three others that also help um support the city in a larger degree. That is the property taxes which we thankfully were able to have implemented in 2024. uh licenses and permits at 11% and then the utility taxes which are the taxes on gross receipts which are generally um nonres residential except for cell phones or bones and that is for both residential and non-residential. This next slide then is the total expenditures for 2026 and you'll see that number is much higher than it was last year and that is because it includes those um facilities and other capital expenditures. Particularly I want to note on this particular slide that we talk about how public safety is usually 50% of our budget of our all funds budget. That is not the case this year. And while their expenses did increase at a moderate level, it's because we have those other capital projects and facilities projects. And when you put that all together, then of course the percentages have to be reduced in other areas because of the larger expenditures tied to the capital and facilities projects. So if you'll look at the right hand side, and this is the last thing I'll cover on this particular um slide. If you look in the bottom right hand corner, you'll see municipal buildings at 25%.

That's substantial compared to last year. Last year it was only 13%. But again, that's where we're budgeting the facilities projects and so that's why it's so much higher. On this particular slide, I just want to show the comparison between the 25 budget and the 26 budget. And I also want to point out um on here this is just the expend expenditures. So sometimes in some of the slides you'll see where I put the transfer out under in under there for a trouble and sometimes I don't. In this particular one all I'm doing is the expenditures. So I wanted to try to make an easier comparison in this particular one. So you'll see for general fund and road fund that those are very small increases. And then again with capital and parks and storm water again it's the same reason as I've explained. So here are some uh details about the various items in the budget. Um, as I mentioned before with regard to sales tax and I think we talked about this before where um, we are anticipating diminished growth from prior years and we've seen that in the past few months and so the sales tax projections for the current year the estimated actuals as well as the 2020 2026 numbers are flat. Um the biggest issue with that is in the general fund um the retail sales tax that 1% what we call the countywide sales tax that's where we appear to be falling shorter than in the other two funds. And it's part due to um the distribution partially of that money in the fact that we have to do something called a redistribution where some of the money that we receive gets redistributed back to the pool. So most

of the money we receive as point of sale which is an A or classified as A. Um and then the smaller portion is pool or B. Unfortunately though, when it gets redistributed, that reduces the amount of money that we have. Um, for other sales taxes, we don't have those same sharing formulas and so we don't aren't impacted as much. Two other issues we have is that there is an increase in online shopping and with that then of course not a direct impact on the tax because then we don't receive the sales tax that generally would have been collected if it was purchased from a big box store or other other type of store within the city of town and country. And then finally, um I'm not sure if I had mentioned this before in any uh any of the reports I sent out, but the Department of Revenue is changing allocations for a from A to B on certain properties. For example, when the property owner changes and so we are challen challenging this and our city attorney is looking into that with the Missouri Department of Revenue and I'm grateful for his work on that. The only other item on this particular slide I want to talk about is the property tax where we had agreed that we would provide some of the necessary funding for the ongoing facilities projects from the general fund property tax and a majority of that actually is providing actually almost all is covering uh those facilities projects as are transferred into the capital fund. uh gross receipts, uh taxes. This way is where we're actually receiving increases in revenue. And you may have noticed this uh that the costs have increased. The the rates um for the the various

gross receipts on water and electric and gas. Um you of course don't get the gross receipts tax. Those are just um on the nonresidential, but I'm just speaking of the actual utility itself where you may have noticed increases and it's just the water treatment has been extremely high in this particular this past year and we anticipate in 2026 for it to continue to increase. I made some notes here also about business licenses. We collect business licenses in three different ways, but the one where we saw some um reductions have has been on square footage. If you look though, you'll notice in 2025 that our numbers have um improved and I think a lot of that has to do with Miss Bourne because she has worked on uh very diligently on collecting uh past news and so those numbers have increased um better than what we had anticipated. Um and the and then I'm also mentioning interest income. So for the current year 2025, we believe that we'll bring in about $729,000 in interest income by end of year. That won't be the same for fiscal year 2026 because we will be using some of the money that we have in reserves that we were using we were investing. Um we we will be spending that money. So we won't have that amount of money uh available to spend. And we also anticipate some of our investment rates to reduce. So um we still believe we'll have about 538,000 in total for all funds. So that's still a really good number. Uh on this particular slide, I wanted to show you the year infant fund balance for a couple of years and explain those just really quickly. Um particularly if

you look at the bottom at 2023 actual you'll see a large increase from uh the 2022 and that has to do with the American Rescue Plan Act money that we received from the federal government. We recognize that as revenue in fiscal year 2023 and that was $2.3 million. So that's what helped there. In 2024 um we received our property tax for the first time. So that was what helped those numbers. Same with 2025 budget. Then in the 2025 estimate, we actually received about $180,000 onetime revenues that we did not anticipate to receive. And so that had to do with um some um refunds from Slate and then the U WCDC. I suddenly forgot what the code was for that. uh our West County Dispatch Center. Those were the uh surplus distribution.

Yes, surplus distribution. Thank you.

And then so for 2026, we just don't anticipate to have the numbers quite as high uh as what we had in 2025 budget. So there's a little bit of a jump there. Here are more detailed information on the general fund revenues. I'm not going to go through all of these, but if you certainly have questions, you could please make a note of them and email the questions to me and I'd be happy to respond to any of your questions. One of the ones I do want to point out though is what I highlighted here. This has to do with video franchise fees and telecommunication fees. And um in 2021, we were um we received about $100,000 more than we're planning to receive in 2026. And that has to do with the um wfair legislation that was put in place um in around it was 2022 or 2023 and the state legislature put that in place to help move forward the legislation on the use tax. And so this we had to give up the $100,000 ourselves and this and other municipalities I'm sure have given up certain amounts. The downside to us is that we don't have anything to net against that because we don't have a use tax or something else to help us with that. And here's another slide I'm going to go through. This next slide shows um general fund expenditures. The only item that was above what I would anticipate to be slightly above average is administration department. That is only because our auditors now require us to put expense in called a bad debt expense. And that is for uncollectible property taxes. And so we have to put that in and report it as a current year expense. And so my estimate is $45,000.

But because our department is so small, it really um shoots that number up really high. So that is the only um one that is high that I need to bring up. Um but I do have one that's extremely low and that has to do with fire and ambulance with West County EMS and Fire Protection District. And you'll see it's less than 1% of an increase. It's only $35,574. And this is due partially to the renegotiation work that our city administrator uh took part in last year. Um as well as a reduction in the assessed values for commercial property because the mathematical calculation takes that in cons takes the assessed values into consideration and because of the reductions in that um they're impacted in that way. And so our increase was minimal. So for road fund um I just put this one in blue so that you can see the transfer from other funds. And you can see that without the transfers the road fund would not remain funded. It cannot survive on its own with the road and bridge fund tax that it receives. And then uh this particular slide explains in more detail the road fund expenditures. Um I'll just explain a a couple to you. The asphalt road um I'm sorry asphalt resurfacing 400,000 and that explains uh projected locations. Boke road 2.5,000 in engineering. I have noted at 65% grant funded. I did not put the math on here what that would be. And just um so all of you understand, I just put the

expense in here. I don't put what we're going to receive neted out because we have to pay the money for the expense before we get refunded that amount. And then the concrete slab replacements of $550,000. Next slide is the capital improvement fund. So again, you'll see some the transfer from other funds close to the top of the pres of of the slide and that's the transfers that are received from the general fund and from the parks and storm water fund. And then the transfer to other funds it I probably should have highlighted these to make them more easy to see. So I apologize for that. The transfer to other funds is reflected in the other slide. It's just the opposite way. So these are for the road fund and these are the projects that the capital improvement fund will pay for. One of the things I wanted to bring to your attention, it's at the very bottom of the slide, is that we now uh fund the ladder truck capital costs uh that's provided by West County EMS and Park Protection District to provide the services to the city of Town Country. And that ladder truck was here some months ago. It is just an amazing it is just fabulous. Um, I'm not sure who if any of you saw it, but I was just rather impressed by it all. This slide is parks and stormwater fund. Same thing where it shows the transfers in and out and it shows you a history back to 2021. And then this slide shows the various expenditures tied to that fund. I put in blue um the grant funded items. So

you'll see I didn't put particularly the ones but like topping road is um grant funded preservation park and then two construction projects under miscellaneous storm water. These slides I'm not going to go through. I'm just going to explain what they are. So these are our five-year capital improvement program items and the 2026 items are the items that we have in our budget right now. So this is for the road fund. If you see in the upper leftand corner, this one is the capital fund. So there are no this is not grant funded at all. There are no projects grant funded is what I mean in the capital fund. And then this is the parks and storm water. This portion is parks and trails. And then this portion is the storm water projects. Um, so that's all I have to present tonight. Um, I will provide this PowerPoint presentation. I can email it to each of you tomorrow. And please email me with any questions that you have.

Thank you.

Yeah, Mayor. Uh, thank you very much, Joanne. And we do have the public hearing advertised for our next meeting, December the 8th. And what we're asking the board to do is send any questions you may have to Joanne. hopefully early next week uh we'll put together all the responses and then during the public hearing we will address any questions you may have entertain any questions at that point and that will be again our advertised public hearing on December the 8th so appreciate uh the information jo554 is continued to meeting Monday December 8th 2025 the second meeting consideration and Joan I would comment for 1.5 million. The fire engine should look pretty dam.

Next is bill number 25-55 sponsored by the board as a whole without objection for the city clerk to be developed for the first time. Bill number 2555 is an ordinance regarding the rate of compensation for employees of the city of town country and repealing ordinance number 4666.

Thank you. Bill number 25-55 is continued in the meeting of Monday, December 8th, 2025 for the second reading in consideration. Next, bill number 2556 sponsored by Florida as a whole with the exceptions of all you and Gerber. Uh without objection, for the city clerk read the bill for the first time. Bill number 2556 is an ordinance approving a deer management plan and authorizing a wildlife management service agreement between the city of town of country Missouri and White Buffalo Inc. for professional deer management services.

Thank you. This bill number 2556 is continuing the meeting Monday December 8th 25 consideration. Next bill number 25-57 supported sponsored by the board of law without objection. The city clerk read the bill for the first time. Bill number 2557 is an ordinance authorizing supplement number two to the professional services agreement work order with HR Green Inc. for additional engineering design services related to the Long View Farm Park parking lot resurfacing project.

Thank you. This bill number 2557 is continued also to the meeting of Monday December 825 to second the meeting in consideration. I do not have anything else to discuss. I will open it up if anyone the alderman have anything you would like to bring to your attention. Mary, I just wanted to state for the record that the presentation that was done this evening by Miss Jadali will be put on our website tonight as well and attached to the minutes. Great. So the public will have perfect. I see a motion and second to adjourn. Any discussion? All in favor say I.