Village Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We're going to call to order this meeting of the Wellington Village Council for Tuesday, September 8th. I'd ask you to please stand for the invocation by Deacon Payne from St. Therese, followed by the pledge.

No polling yet. Mr. Barnes, can we switch item 6A and 6B? One of our presenters on 6A is running late, and I think we'd like to do the first responders first.

Thank you, Deputy Camilleri, for your service. We appreciate you. I love that you grew up in Wellington and you're back here serving. I love the impact you're having on our youth. Raven, thank you for sharing him with us. We appreciate it. We know how much that means to you as well. You know, you're the top cop. When you were outside, we had the plaque ceremony that recognized all the prior recipients. I mean, you were already on an all-star team. Now you're on the all-star team of the all-star team. Thank you for everything you do. We appreciate you. We appreciate all you in the back on both

I think we'll do the two of them first, then we'll come down separately. We don't get up and down that way.

It's just such an honor to see you and to see what you have accomplished. And thank you to all of you in green here tonight. Thank you for all that all of you do. It's safety that counts. That's everyone knows. I ran on that, and that's just embedded in me that safety is top priority or one of the top priorities. And that's what each and every one of you here in District 8 do for us. You keep us safe. And for that, I really appreciate it. But I have to add that one of the moments that I really appreciated was watching your family. Is this your dad in the stripes? I saw a couple of you do this,

I'm just very grateful that you're here, your energy, your enthusiasm, the support of your family, the rest of the department. It's really terrific to see. You grew up here, and then you're back here serving. It's really tremendous.

You don't want to say anything? He says thank you.

Thank you. This is the first time we had an award winner upstage by their children. They're so excited. They're adorable. Again, same as I said before, thank you for all you do. You're the best of the best. We appreciate all the work you do and the hard work of you keeping us all safe every day. Thank you for what you do, and congratulations on the recognition. And your beautiful family.

Congratulations to you again. It warms my heart to see your family. They're all just so excited. Daddy got something. But thank you for what you do every day. I know it's difficult for first responders on your side as well, too, because you're on the road. You see a lot. And for that, very appreciative. I know that you give up a lot of time with your family. But know that we appreciate you very much. Thank you.

Again, thanks very much for your dedication and your service and the support of your family. If we could have your daughter wave again, that'd be terrific. Both of you. Both daughters. Both daughters.

Once again, thank you all. And for those who don't know, we had a ceremony before this presentation, and there's now a plaque in the lobby or the grand atrium with all of the past winners of the Top Cop and Top Firefighters on permanent display in the building. So go check that out next time you're here.

We'll lock it when you go. I know you will.

We're lucky to have you. We appreciate both of you. We were hoping for two checks, but we'll take the one. I know. One is better than none. So we'll come down and do a photo with the giant check.

Come on in. Otherwise, you'll have Christmas.

We should drive one back. All right, Mr. Barnes, while everyone's settling down, why don't you announce the next item?

Thank you, Stu. It's a great event, and it's a really important cause, and I think Mr. Levin might want to say something about it.

We all have to do that now. It's terrible.

Well, welcome to Wellington, Chief Garcia. We look forward to working with you. Quite a welcome out there tonight for the event. So you see what we're used to in Wellington and how much we appreciate our first responders. And usually this is always a goodbye, but this is nice. It's not a goodbye this time. It's just that you're staying with us. You're just changing job titles. So it's a double win for us. So we're excited to keep you both. Thank you.

You're going to tell me to open public hearing? Before we open public hearing, I want to say thank you to you and your team for putting together this budget. Every year, you guys do an amazing job. You've got sharp pencils, and you make cuts, and you make wise decisions. So we appreciate all the work that goes into this presentation that nobody comes out to watch. Yes. So thank you. So want to open public hearing, someone? Second. All in favor? Aye. Public hearing is now open. Madam Vice Mayor, I'm sure we have some cards.

Mr. Tillman, come on up. You know the drill.

Thank you. Any other cards? That's all. Any other public comment? Come on up. You can fill out a card afterwards. Name and address, three minutes. Good evening.

We don't do back and forth. It's just public comment, but we can get you a copy of all that information after the meeting. You can look at it yourself. I think it's probably online, but if not, we can get you a copy of it.

Thanks for coming, sir. Any other public comments? Seeing none, is there a motion to close public hearing? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Mr. Tooman, please keep it down because we can hear you up here. We're having a meeting. All right. With that, any questions for Ms. Quickle or any of the voices that are in the ether listening to us from our team?

That's all I have. Ms. Quigle, can you explain the importance of having reserves and what our policy is on setting our reserves?

Right. We hope to get it back, but we don't know that we will.

Yeah, I think it's important to note the slide you put up when you show the homesteaded property values of 450 and 650, which is your assessed value, not your market value. And you see that at a homesteaded property assessed at 450, your taxes are going to increase by 30 bucks a year, which is $2.75 a month. And if your home is assessed at 650, your taxes are going to increase $43 a year, which is $3.50 a month. And if you look at your tax bill, I mean, your tax bill, my tax bill is big. Everyone's tax bill is very big. We would all like to pay less in taxes. But if you look at your tax bill a

Right. But when you cut the budget like that, it'll save someone $2 a month, but it'll drastically impact the overall total dollars the village takes in every year. So you're not really – you're really – you're cutting the – you'll be cutting the millage rate, and you'll be saving someone $2 a month, and then we'll cut services that they appreciate to afford a $2 savings. That's like, what, a fifth of a Starbucks to save $2 a month. So, you know, what would you cut from the budget? What would that be? What would a two-point – what would that millage rate reduce the ad valorem by? If we went to the rollback rate from 2.47, because I'm sure you have that math already done.

If we want to cut the millage rate, what would you like to cut from the budget when we cut the money from the budget? What would you like to take out of the budget?

So I would look to clarify what those additional revenue streams are, what they bring in as we're at first reading. And we've been through capital improvement plans, budget workshops, and so forth. Your department has been extremely diligent in committing to not replace these positions in sharpening your pencil on the pathways and roadways, millage, the maintenance for the parks, and so forth. in finding the savings as costs for everything are going up. The village is not exempt from rising costs. And managing those costs responsibly and adequately get us to a balanced budget while maintaining

And with Amendment 3 coming, I'm not comfortable cutting anything because we might get drastically cut and we have to make some major cuts. To do a symbolic cut this year to really not move the needle on anyone's property values or their property taxes with what we're potentially facing in November is a massive loss in revenue. I think it's irresponsible to cut the to cut the millage rate today when we don't know what's going to be happening in November. Do you want to talk about it for next year? That makes sense, because we have to make a lot, we have to potentially make a lot of cuts. But j

I don't have a crystal ball. If I had a crystal ball, I would do a lot of things differently. For sure.

The other side is that we can't assume anything. We don't know if it's going to pass or not pass, so we have to focus on the worst scenario and the best scenario because we don't know what's going to happen. Ms. Quigley. Am I reading correctly? And I'm trying to understand the conversation we're having here to cut the budget. It says the proposed 2026-27 budget is presented with an overall decrease of 7.81 million.

Haven't we sharpened the pencil already enough for that budget for next year? Because if I heard you correctly earlier that the departments all went through their line items and they did their own cutting. to the best that they could to maintain Wellington what it is today and what will be for the budget next year.

It's different, and that leads to the decrease. $7.81 million is quite a bit of a decrease. Correct. And we all know where the decreases are coming from because you showed that to us. So at the end of the day, I don't know where the pencil can be sharpened anymore, at least for the budget next year. And I agree with the mayor that until we know what's going to happen in November, that's good. We have a decrease. We didn't increase. And that's the word we got to look at, the decrease that we did already.

I'm going to pass the gavel to the vice mayor, and I'm going to make a motion to approve the budget as presented with a 2.47% millage rate. You're in charge. Second. That's what you asked for. Yes. You say there's a motion to second.

Yes, that's what I just said. Is there a motion to second? Seconded. Seconded. Okay.

All in favor. All in favor. All in favor. Aye. Aye.

Thank you, Ms. Wheeler. Back to you, Jim.

And I bet we have a significant number of cards in the consent agenda.

Thank you. Mr. Toomey, you should read the agenda. We have meetings in March and April and May of next year. Well, you maybe need to work on your reading comprehension because you missed it. I run the meeting, sir. Sorry. Any other consent cards?

Okay. Is there a motion on the consent agenda?

All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, consent agenda passes 5-0. Mr. Barnes, what else we got?

Thank you, sir. Any other public forum comments? Anyone else want to speak? Come on up. You can fill out your second card after this comment. Yes, sir.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any other public comment?

And the reason that agenda review is on Thursday is because why? I'm sorry? The reason that agenda review is on Thursday?

With that, council comments? Vice Mayor?

performance and recognition for the top cop and top firefighter. They just, as I'm watching them and listening to them and the accolades that are being lauded on them, it's a result of their solid effort and all the things that they've done. Lastly, I just wanted to wish for those that celebrate. Happy New Year. May you be inscribed for another year in the Book of Life.

Thank you. Chief Garcia, welcome. Thank you for staying for the whole meeting. This was a short one, so this was not too bad. And with that, we are adjourned.