Town Council - workshop

Being so, I declare this office of the council open. Secretary, please make a call for registration. Good evening. Councilor Fernandes.

Present.

Councilor Quadra Garcia.

Present.

Councilor Garcia.

Present.

Councilor Sanches.

Present.

Councilor Hesburgh, who is with Chinhata. He is arriving now. Vice-President Mora and Vice-President Diegas present. You have a quorum.

Please stand up for the oath and the flag that I will lead today. I promise fidelity to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic, which represents a nation under God, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all. Please stand up for the invocation. Led today by the Vice-President.

Thank you. We ask for your guidance while we prepare to start this undertaking. We ask for wisdom to know what is of the best interest of our residents and to adequately plan the next fiscal year. We also pray for Dolly Parton, who passed away and was benefactor of one of our programs of great success here in the city. We pray for your eternal rest. You can sit down.

Having said that, we move on to public comments. Secretary.

As I always say, if you are here for public comments, please approach the pulpit, declare your name and address for registration. We will give you three minutes to speak. And if you are online, I see that we have some online participants, the only thing you need to do is raise your hand by pressing the hashtag 99 9. We will allow you to speak. Please, all comments and questions from this audience, present or remote, should always be addressed to the mayor in a very courteous tone, without applause, wavers, interruptions or any verbal support or opposition to the speaker. Thank you again. This is the moment for you to speak in the public comments. If you are here in the Council Chamber and want to participate, please just get close to the pulpit and declare your name and address for registration and...

Anyone present in the Chamber wants to speak? No one? Secretary, is there anyone online?

I'll start as I see you. Mr. Abel Fernandes is with his hand up. Good evening, sir. Please activate your microphone.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Council, Municipal, Secretary, Municipal Prosecutor and Municipal Manager. My name is Bel Fernandes, according to Chapter 119. I would like to talk to you about some things. And I already mentioned this before, regarding the three minutes that are only allowed to speak. And with all these items on your agenda, I think it is a disadvantage for the entire community to be limited to this. I still haven't seen anyone take any action about it. Let me first start by thanking the member of the council, Stephen Hesburgh, who always takes time to get in touch with the city's formal communication after people speak. Every time I spoke officially, I received a follow-up letter from councilor Hesburgh. And this is the kind of councilor we need, representing the city that values our opinion, even if it is completely contrary to the council that is there. I sent you an email at the last meeting and the secretary should have sent this email again today and I would like you to consult. Our biggest expenses are with the police contract. Having said that, I think we failed to renew this contract until 2029 and with the new sheriff we have, this only increased the suffering in relation to our expenses. If you check it out, they had to transfer 165 thousand this year to cover expenses with vehicles. What exactly was that? The painting to reflect that says Sheriff's Department instead of Miami-Dade Police. The new five-point distinctions instead of the previous one. I don't know. This is for you to find out. But I talked about it last year and we keep repeating these conversations about the police contract. And I and the mayor, Angelo Garcia, also talked about it. I'm not sure if you have in the contract a formula to explain how you pay the license when people retire. You can have two individuals ready to retire, a sergeant and a policeman or delegate, as is the new word. And they may have worked in another place for 25 years and then come to the city. And then we are charged with paying for their hours. If it's 600 thousand, 700 thousand, 1 million dollars, because it's a medical license, holidays, annual holidays, you know, all these items are accumulated. Are we paying for that? Or do we have a formula that subtracts the other 25 years that they served elsewhere, so we don't have to deal with this expense? I'm asking this to you, as the people who should be taking care of our budget. And with 51 cents of each dollar going to the police budget, I think this is more important than any other item here tonight. Mayor Angelo Garcia mentioned once that maybe we should bring new police officers and I tend to agree with that.

First, we are paying for... Excuse me, Mr. Mayor. No, the clock ran, but I'm just saying that I'll give you 10 additional seconds to conclude your observations, sir.

So it was 3 minutes including the time I used for the initial greeting. So, that said, Mr. Mayor, we need to analyze the expenses. This is not to be against the police or to cut the police funding. It's about the money we put in our pockets. I would also like to ask you, Mr. Mayor, if I may return for another three minutes, in case there are no other speakers, because this has never been clarified, besides the three minutes for conversation. Thank you.

I will present a motion, since you are the only speaker, to give you three more minutes, but you have already spoken here many times before. You know these rules. You know that the greeting or any other part of the speaker's observations are counted within the time limit. So keep that in mind for the future. But again, you should know that. Having said that, my motion is to grant Mr. Fernandes seven minutes. It was seconded by Mayor Fernandes. All in favor say yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

What I'm trying to resume is not that I exceeded the three minutes, but you know when you used to sit on this side of the room for three minutes for a big talk and don't charge for everything. I'm not trying to be difficult here. I'm trying to tell the truth about what's going on. And I invite you to adopt what the mayor, Angelo Garcia, once mentioned about police officers with less service time. It's going to cost us less. Number one. Number two, look at the payment formula. This is a big factor. Because if someone gets retired, as I mentioned, $500,000, whatever the charge, I want to ensure that Miami-Dade or the Sheriff's Department only charges us for the percentage of the years they've been here. Regarding the money you are raising, I saw the money coming from the tax on public services. Remember that, due to global warming and climate change, we are facing temperatures never seen before. Our electricity bills are much higher and the 3% that are charged to us affect the total amount of the bill, not the kilowatts per hour we consume, which is generating a much higher additional revenue. Finally, Mr. Mayor, I disagree with amendment 3 without a concrete plan, so I want to register this officially. But, having said that, I believe that amendment 3 will be approved on time. I hope you enjoy this opportunity with your colleagues tonight to start dealing with the budget in a way that anticipates possible cuts in November when it is approved. Now is the time to assess which cuts are acceptable for this community and show what this would mean instead of just approving a larger budget with expenses that will then have to be reduced when the residential exemption is approved. I know you know what I'm talking about, Mr. Mayor. I think we're on the same page on that and I ask you to address this issue tonight and that he be your guide for this meeting. Thank you for your time and for giving me another three minutes.

I appreciate it. Thank you very much, Mr. Fernandes, Secretary of the Orators.

I don't see anyone on my screen. I have, yes, public comments by writing, the email I shared with all of you last week, April 18th. For today, seriously, at the ordinary council meeting, I shared, again, Mr. Albert Argar, and it is a public comment written by email that I shared previously with all of you, referring to the police contract, and that's it. I don't see anyone on the screen anymore.

Thank you for being here. With that, we move on to item 5A, which is the work budget workshop, a presentation on all funds. For that, I will pass the floor to the manager. Yes, our budget manager will make a brief presentation for you, and then we will have the discussion.

Good evening, Mayor and Council.

This budget workshop is to prepare us for the September budget hearings. What we will analyze are all the funds in this budget, starting with the general fund. And to be clear, I am Melissa Hernandes, budget director of the City of Miami Lakes. What is the general fund? It is the main operating fund used in the city. Where does the money come from? It comes mainly from taxes on value, state revenue, sharing of franchise rates, licenses and transfers between funds, So that these dollars can be used, they usually support the city's operations with the police, parks and public works. And what are the restrictions? These dollars are mainly flexible. They don't have many restrictions unless they are oriented by port, subsidies or contract. Now, in the general fund receipts, as you can see in the graph, the value add is our main source of revenue. We plan to receive around R$ 11 million in revenue. As for our expenses, the main sources are those of the police, which, as you can see, are R$ 13 million. Our value add-on does not cover our expenses with the police, our expenses with public security. Now, what are the main significant changes compared to the previous year, compared to our adopted budget? Our value add-on increased by R$ 504,000. We don't have a single revenue source or a transfer from our capital fund to the MMOAP. We don't have a single transfer of title interest. This budget, as well as last year's, is adding the surplus of the FPL franchise rate to Portaria 1924 to allow this funding to be in the total amount of the general fund. Therefore, we will not allocate funds on the side of expenses for the need for infrastructure. We did not finance this last year and, once again, it will not be financed this year. However, what we are doing is using a single transfer of the balance balance of the 431,000 fund. Of these 431,000, we are using 426,000 to finance the amortization fund, which was also not fully financed in the last fiscal year, and then 5,326 for some committee events that this Council approved in other public hearings. To observe the balance sheet reserve, the R$ 431, we are using this because in the budget amendment that this Council approved in April, the Council made the decision to keep R$ 593 in reserve to keep the balance sheet. So, of these R$ 593, we are using R$ 431. However, the difference that will be available will be of only R$ 7,000. Now, when you do the math, 593 minus 4 is 0.1. That doesn't make sense. The difference is about 154 thousand dollars. These 154 thousand exist because we must keep a reserve of 15%. As our budget changes, it is based on the budget adopted. This is the difference between the budget adopted last year and the budget proposed for this year. Seeing that there are no changes, if there are changes, this value will change. Now, moving on to expenses, we benefit from not having a US$500,000 judicial payment. Last year was the last year we made the final payment. Our police contract, not the police budget, but the contract with the Sheriff's Office increased by US$1 million. Our health insurance, in the last proposal you had, was 8%, now it was reduced to 2.5%. This is what the current proposal contains.

Our civil responsibility insurance has increased. Before you move on, I just want to make it clear that, in the health insurance estimate, you see an increase of 2.5%.

But our current supplier, Sigma Dec, without making any changes in the plan, agreed to show an increase of 2.5%, but give us a refund, so that for budget purposes, it will end up being a zero increase from year to year. I will continue to discuss with them why I prefer that they do not give me the credit and only keep the awards the same as last year, because otherwise next year the starting point will be 2.5% higher. So now they are showing 2.5%, but there is a credit and at this moment the effect on the budget is a zero increase in health.

As for the Civil Responsibility Insurance, this budget proposal foresees an increase of 10%.

It has just been sent to RFP. At the moment, I believe it is in secrecy. It has not yet been presented to the manager, but we hope that the value is less than 10%. Therefore, if I have enough time, I will make an amendment to the budget audience. And this budget also includes a 3% adjustment of glue for all employees. And as I mentioned in the revenue section, there will be no surplus of the FPL franchise rate for infrastructure needs, since last year we also did not finance it. So here you have the budget adopted and the proposal from the previous year. You can see the difference, the variation between each department and the percentage change. For the most part, for example, the mayor's office, these three percent of glue also affect the two and a half percent, health insurance. All of this reflects in the 18 thousand. The 90 thousand you see in the municipal secretariat has to do with an increase for elections. Yes, that's not what I was going to say, but yes, it has to do with the statute revision schedule. But what I was going to say is that it has to do with advertising, legal announcements were also items that we had to increase. As for the information technology, you see a considerable increase compared to the previous year. Every year we should be renewing our server or one server per year. The value has gone up, so this is reflected there. Administrative transfers. What you see is this 744, these are the 426 with which we are financing the amortization fund. Remembering that last year we raised it to 106. What the team recommends, and it is a recommendation, is that it should be much more. What the team recommends at the moment is R$ 366,000. Therefore, the R$ 426,000 finance the total value of this fiscal year and a part of the previous year that was not financed. The non-departmental section, where you see the R$ 372,000, doesn't have anything orçado because the council decided to leave some money in the fund balance. So I didn't need to reserve money in the contingency reserve to compensate the difference from one budget to the other. So I didn't need to reserve any funds. And that also includes a discount for the elderly. Municipal lawyer, this is very self-explanatory. It's the litigation payment that we don't have anymore. Code zoning and compliance are very small variations, mainly related to the adjustment of cost of living. Police, as you know, a million dollars. School bus guards. Last year, as part of the budget process, we did not finance the bus guards for the general fund. However, what we are doing this year, instead of transferring all expenses to the PTP, we are transferring the revenue to the general fund so that we have a consistent history of all the years of the cost of bus guards. Now, just to clarify, what will be transferred to the general fund is only the real cost. So, if we raise 143, if we don't spend 143, what will be transferred will only be the amount we spend with the crossing guards. Public works have a small variation. Just to record, we made a small change and divided the salary of our public works manager into 50% of the general fund and 50% of the rainwater fund, because she deals a lot with this fund.

Yes, before you move on to the next topic, I just want to be clear and ensure that everyone understands. We did an evaluation of some different things. One of them was this one, in which we analyzed the Department of Public Works, and some of the salaries in Public Works are divided between the General Fund and the Floodwater Fund. For example, the director and certain people within Public Works who deal with floodwater issues, their salaries are divided between the Floodwater Fund and the General Fund. Our Public Works Manager was previously fully financed by the General Fund. Let's make an assessment. Many of its functions involve supervising rainwater items. Therefore, we are recommending, in this budget, to also divide your salary, half of the Rainwater Fund and half of the General Fund. This is why you will see this reduction and how we got to it.

So, as I mentioned about the FPL franchise... Sorry.

Let me finish this. The other thing we analyzed and evaluated was the amount of money that is paid by different departments to the general fund for the administration of this building. One of them is the construction fund. The construction fund was paying and the way we allocated this percentage or this division was based on the square footage. But previously, the only square footage used to calculate the value of the construction fund was within the four limits of the construction department. But what we determined and decided and are recommending is that not only the limits of the construction department, but also, for example, the area of ​​the sink, the corridor and part of the bathrooms, all these areas are used for functions of the construction department. So, we redistribute the square footage so that a little more comes from the construction fund to the general fund to compensate for some of these expenses here in the building.

The surplus of the FPL franchise rate, as you can see in the budget, in the second budgetary hearing, we managed to leave R$ 1,800, but this was really not financed, as you can see, for R$ 26, R$ 27 is at zero. In recreation parks, you see an increase of $196,000. This increase is mainly attributed to a new cycle of tree pruning that begins, and the cost of this has changed. I mentioned the committees to you at the extraordinary meeting on June 4th. This council decided to keep the committees stable, with the exception of two committees that came to you and requested the repassage of verbs, which is the increase of $5,336 that you are seeing. And then the promotion and community engagement, as in all departments, this is reflected in the salary adjustments and in the health plan, but we also increased the July 4 event. Moving on to the special receipts funds.

Mayor Sanches has a question.

So, regarding this page specifically, the budget adopted from 2025-2026, why is this budget used instead of the amended budget that shows the real expenses? And I ask this specifically because when it comes to the total expenses of the general fund, the budget adopted by the amended budget, the adopted one shows expenses in the amount of R$ 23,215,915,979, but the amended budget is about $1.3 million higher, at R$ 24,563,000,

I can't look at what you're looking at because I have a presentation. But to answer your question with a general view, the amended budget includes things like contributions and donations that we do not anticipate, which are then allocated to each committee. And not only that, but what is amended is also what we use in our April budget amendment. So it's not necessarily how we started the year, it's just money we had. And this council decided to transfer it and finance things that we didn't fully finance at the beginning of the year. That's why I use the budget adopted.

Thank you. Mayor Fernandes. Thank you. I have a question about it and I know that, although the funds come from the PTP, we are not going to give the transit guards a salary adjustment, or is that something that we...

It's included. They are included to have a re-adjustment.

It's just that the number doesn't seem to have a variation, so I thought there wouldn't be... Also remember that

the minimum wage has also increased. Therefore, it includes an increase in the minimum wage and then a 3% re-adjustment.

But it is included there, sir.

There was a state determination at a certain moment. They had to reach a certain minimum wage and now this is the last year in which we have to make extra adjustments to their wages to comply with the minimum wage statute.

Okay, perfect. The other question I had.

I'm very sorry to clarify, because you said you adopted a zero and the proposal is 143. Last year, we transferred the expenses to the PTP. What we are doing is transferring the revenue from the PTP to the general fund. So much so that the adopted budget shows zero. But it's not zero.

What this does, Mayor, is that since the period in which the transit guards have always been financed by the General Fund, this allows us to follow from one period to another, instead of, you know, until this year they will be here and then they will be in a different section of the budget. This is easier for us to monitor and follow year by year.

Just so you know, the projection for the year is 137.

Está na página 7 do Orçamento Grande, que está na mesa.

Aí o final.

I'll take a look. Now, another question, and I'm almost sure it has already been answered. I'm just doing the math. I know how much we receive as a council, and I know that the mayor receives a little more, but it seems that there is a big difference between what the mayor's office and the council need in the budget to finance this, and what all this includes, in addition to the salaries.

Can you repeat that question, please?

So, just by doing the math, I know how much we, as Council, and Council members, have earned. And as I mentioned, if I may try to answer, I think what he wants to know is exactly what constitutes the operations of the cabinet of the mayor and the council. Obviously, it would include my pocket and salary, the salary of JVT. This also includes, for example, the allocation of verbs for proclamations. You know, because he wants to know why 475 and the council expenses are much lower in general.

So, the budget adopted for the current year is R$ 450,000. The amended budget is R$ 486,000, which includes the mayor's gala. And the end-of-year projection is R$ 470,000, which also includes the mayor's gala. So, what was allocated for the next year is R$ 450,000. This does not include the mayor's gala, because we allocate as the money is received. So, as soon as we receive the money, we allocate this value.

Do you have any other questions, sir? Any more questions about the general fund? I shared emails with the city manager. I think you answered.

Honestly, I'm still a little confused. So, remember that superavit amendment where we put money in savings, so to speak, right? I think that was our idea. You can remind me or we can share the discussions we had by email. This money is being used to finance the reserve fund, or because I thought we wanted the money to be in a separate account, but you are using this money now for the general fund. Correct. We are recommending that it be used in this year's budget. His R$ 431,000, the other R$ 107,000 or whatever the value was, were used to guarantee the fulfillment of the 15% balance of the fund requirement. Therefore, the four trends of 31 represent the allocation of R$ 366,000 this year to the reserve fund and part of the deficit of last year. Last year we did not put the R$ 366,000 as we should have, we put only R$ 366,000. So we had a deficit of R$ 260,000 in the reserve fund. We managed to compensate part of this with this recommendation. So yes, the amount that was left at the end of the budget amendment in the middle of the year, we are recommending that it be allocated in this budget to finance the reserve fund.

The confusion is over for me now. I just want to make sure that everyone else knows where this money is now in the budget.

Vice-Chancellor Quadra Garcia, then Vice-Chancellor Garcia.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Page 12 of the book.

The big one in the center of the page, right? 2024, 2025, machinery and equipment. 18 bits, 88. Then we move on to the next year. 2025, 2026, almost double, 42,000. Then we go to 2026 again. Then we go to 2020. So it increases. So why this jump? I mean, why do we need this? Is it a new equipment?

I think that's a good question for Edman.

On which page are you?

On page 12 of the big book that was delivered to us. Center of the book?

The big book.

He is referring to the fact that machinery and equipment increased from the changed budget. The adopted and changed budget was 42,000 last year to the current proposed budget of 88,000. 8 in 20. When? and I assume that it is due to the partial update of the network infrastructure for 46,020. Correct.

So the purchase of another server, or the purchase of another server, are the 46,000... This server.

No, I'm sorry. That's what you're saying, the 46,000 are for the update of the network infrastructure.

At some point, I think we need Mang to clarify what exactly that means.

I understand that this is not your area. She says, but wait, there's more.

We don't... Correct me if I'm wrong, we didn't replace a server last year because of the budget. I remember it was an item of discussion. I wasn't there. I think there are five or six different servers and some are more important than others, in the sense that, for example, there is one dedicated to tracking, right? This is very important. dedicated to MUNES, which is our financial system. This is very important. So these servers need to be replaced. We did not replace what we should have replaced last year. Now there is an allocation here, a server to be replaced in this budget.

So I'm going to read because I had another member of the council who asked the same question and I answered by writing.

So I'm just going to give an explanation.

These expenses include the annual renewal of computers and peripherals, which is about 10% every year. In other words, we renew this equipment every 10 years. We have seven servers that we replace in cycles once a year. The network infrastructure, which includes three large network suites and more than 30 points of access to our Wi-Fi system, is reaching the end of its useful life. They will no longer be supported or corrected for cyber security by the supplier. All of this will be replaced by a single expense and must have a useful life of about 7 to 10 years. So, what you're saying is that next year we shouldn't have 88,000 in expenses for that.

I'm going to ask a probably stupid question, but is there any part of this that can be covered by the technology rate of the Department of Construction? That would mean saying yes.

For example, the replacement of all their technology. What is it?

Any part of it that belongs to the construction department. I would love if it could be financed by them. Is it doubled?

My question is, is it really doubled?

The expense should not be this value in the next year.

Thank you, Melissa.

But it's a good question, sir. Any other questions about the general fund?

Mayor Garcia. Thank you, Melissa. Quick question. Could you review again the value that is being recommended to be put back in the reserve fund? Is this in administrative transfers or is it in non-departmental?

If you look at this presentation, the previous page, not this one that has all the departments, but the previous page has a value that shows $400, that shows $436, $6. to go to the reserve fund. This is the allocation of $336,000 this year, plus a part, not everything, but a part of what we didn't put there last year.

Now, let me ask myself, if we, as a council, do not decide for a value lower than 426 or any value, we will still reach 15%. I mean, we are still

So what the council decided in the April budget amendment was that instead of transferring all the money, we used a part of what was left over, it was 593,000. That's what I'm talking about. Of the 593,000. I used 154 of that to reach the new 15%. So we have... And after that? No, you can stop. I'm using two computers. Give me a moment. After that, what's left is 439,000. Of the 439,000, we took 426,000, which are used to finance the reserve fund, which we should be financing is 386,000. We are financing a little more because we did not fully finance it in the previous year. And then the two requests from the committees, which are 5,836,000, which leaves a balance of 7,771,000.

Therefore, as a council, we still have this flexibility of how much money we are going to put back in the reserve fund. We could decide to do everything, or we could decide not to fully finance it. This is the criteria of the council, to take this money and reduce our tax rate.

But understand that this will bring consequences, right? At some point, because the reserve fund serves to pay for the replacement of necessary capital improvements. So, at some point, something is going to fail, like an air conditioning, or a roof, or whatever, and let's look at the reserve fund, and there will be no money there.

No, no, I understand that. I understand. We have the ability to decide, based on what you just said.

This council has the capacity to make any decision that it considers appropriate for this budget. However, the reason why we use this money and include it as part of the budget is that it is a single capital expense. It is not for operations. Now, when you mention reducing the tax rate, this would be for operations. This is a reserve fund. It is only for single capital expenses. I will not jump straight to the reserve fund, but since we are here now, I will take this opportunity. About the reserve fund, if we don't finance the 426 and just leave the current value, we have projects in a list of items that need to be replaced periodically. We have a list that our public works director maintains, as well as our parks director, and even our CFO also participates in this. This list, we would then have to add the items that are in it. But going back to the reserve fund, if we don't fund the reserve fund next year, it will be available at the end of the year, they are US$39,000, US$39,000. In the reserve fund, which means that if something happens, we won't have money. We have a list of the next projects that need to be... We have, sir. We can forward this to...

I would appreciate it if you could forward it to all the council, only for the case options.

Yes, we have, and we will also send it to you, we have a complete list of all our assets. And we did an analysis of the asset, the useful life of the asset, the expected reposition value, in what year it will reach the end of the useful life, all this. It's a complete spreadsheet and that's how we got to 366 thousand a year, you know, to ensure that we are properly financed for any reposition.

I appreciate it. Thank you.

Before we move on to Mayor Sanches, let's move on to the Vice-President to complete the first round, and then we'll move on to Mayor Sanches.

Thank you, Mayor. You mentioned, when I was passing through that slide, in fact, the unique transfer and the unique transfer not coming from the title interest of 86 thousand. Can you explain to me what exactly are the title interest? See the item on the large budget, which is the transfer between funds of the 2010 series.

This is a subsidy that we received for the construction of the City Hall as part of the Build America program. Uh, right.

This building.

This building, but it was us who built this building with the money from Build America or something like that. You're right. So, taking this hook, why isn't this reflected this year?

Or... that there are no interest rates to transfer this year. These interest rates had accumulated over several years.

So the money was there stopped year after year. As we reserved money to make the payments, it accumulated interest rates and little by little it was accumulating, then it accumulated. So we withdrew it from there. Last year, with the opportunity to use it in the general fund,

And again, I will mention that it is not the best practice to use specific receipts for operations. That's why I wanted to say... And these 86,000 were a specific receipt for operations?

I thought it was something else. I thought it was in interest that we were making from our investments, which would not necessarily be, like, that we were investing in titles or something like that, and that in this case it would be a non-specific continuous income. I just didn't understand what it was.

All our money is mixed, right? Although, on paper, we know that a large part of the money comes from the Floodwater Fund, both from the ARPA Fund and from our General Fund, all this money is mixed, so when we rescue a CDB, we allocate the interest to these respective funds. That's it, clarifies.

Mayor Sanches, regarding the new servers, as it is a capital improvement, they should not leave the Reserve Fund instead of the General Fund. Os 9 servidores de 88 mil.

These ones don't, because it's a recurring thing. It's not something like a roof that will last, you know, 20 or 15 years. The servers are not... That's a good thing to say. But they are not one of the assets listed in our spreadsheet. So if we deviate from using the reserve fund for an asset that is not on our list, then our calculation goes crazy. And if we use this for the server, we won't have anything else on the list in the future. It is something that we will re-evaluate, but this re-evaluation ends up costing us money, right? Let's review the asset list to see if it is complete, because there may be things like the servers, I'm not sure if they would qualify to be there, but let's analyze the asset list to see if it is complete. So we will make a recalculation if we need to add some assets, but all this will do with this 366 is increase it.

Now, regarding having another server in the premises, I know that there are many cloud-based solutions that can be very economical, that eliminate a responsibility and can actually create more physical space inside the building. We analyze solutions that, instead of installing and spending this value on a new server, opt for a cloud-based solution. Yes, what we do, and I'm not a technician, right?

We have a lot of our backup information, because obviously we have our servers, we have all our information, but a lot of our backup is based on cloud. So that's how we do it for security reasons, you want to ensure that everything is in different locations, in case we have a fire here or something like that. So, Ermang is not here today. He is the one who can answer. Better this and we will elaborate this answer, find out for you and we will send it to all of you, you know, in the next few days. Thank you. Anyone else in the second round? Mayor Herzberg and Mayor Quadra Garcia.

Thank you. I can't find it here. And I'm a little confused again with my contingency number, but I think you said that the contingency we created is being applied.

So, what is the balance to be transported estimated from this budget?

So, the end-of-year projection, remember that it is a projection, it can be more, it can be less, but now it's 4.83. This is our end-of-year projection.

And the projections have been quite accurate for most of the years, right?

Yes, I'm just making it clear to everyone that there is a projection of a balance to be transported from the S4 to a suggestion of $83,000, and that this balance projection, because it is very good at its job, has been accurate in the last 5 to 6 years. So, you know, if we are going to make changes, don't get me wrong, but if we approve this budget now in March, unless there is any, no, it has to come back to us. We approved this budget now. By March and April we will be talking and doing the same thing we always do, which is to keep this in mind. For example, Vice-President, I know you want to finance the refund of taxes for the elderly. Yes, there are numbers there. Let's take a look.

About the discount for the elderly, historically, this has been financed in the April budget amendment. Last year was the first year it was included in the budget process.

It was about 75 thousand dollars, if I'm not mistaken.

For this next fiscal year, it would be 85 thousand.

Obviously, this surplus money, the budget amendment has nothing to do with closing the previous balance sheet. But I agree with Mr. Herzberg that this will be something that we can have as a guarantee for anything we do and it will also be very important to keep an eye on what happens with amendment 3 and everything else. But with that, Mayor Garcia.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Basically, page 10, in the middle of the page, health insurance. There is a significant increase of 90.

Nine dollars.

That's a lot of money. I know that the city administrator has declared that we will receive... some kind of credit.

Excuse me, sir. Are you looking...

He is looking for health insurance and life insurance in the city administration. Health insurance and life insurance.

Where are the ninety thousand that you are referring to? Well, if you take two hundred and twenty one, five hundred and thirty one, The proposed budget.

Let me clarify something for you there. If you note the line right below, there are 77,000 in that item. So, when we bet on health and life insurance, we bet everything together. Now, when the year starts, some people opt for help. So, these two, if you note on the side line, that 210, the line below is zero. So if you add 131,000 and 77,000, you'll get right below 210,000. So it's still 77,000 dollars more. No, it's practically at the right point. Yes, the two together add up to 209,000.

And the budget was 210,000. So there was still an increase from 2025 to 2026, it jumped significantly. Or my calculator is not there, the increase in health costs was 2.5%. But Sigma is offering a return credit that would make the increase 0%. So that's what we have on the table and that's what we recommend to move forward. The expenses to maintain our current health plan without changes in the benefits would have a fixed bonus.

So you're saying it went up by 2%.

shows an increase of 2.5%, but Sigma, the health insurance company, will give us a credit of almost $20,000. This will lead to this increase of 2.5% to zero. But what I need to deal with them is that I don't want to do it that way. I don't want them to increase the price and then give me a credit back. I prefer that they do not increase the price, because next year the starting point will be 2.5% higher. So this is the conversation. In the worst case, if they do not agree with this, we will have a zero increase, with a slightly higher bonus, but a return credit to make it zero. But in the end, the impact on the budget is an increase of 0% of the health insurance bonus. someone else in this second round, because with that you need the special revenue funds. Do you want to clarify?

I want to clarify something that goes into the special revenue funds. When I mentioned about the parks and having a new cycle of trees in our special revenue fund, we have a port on trees and last year we received about 149 thousand dollars that we used to finance the pruning of the trees Now, we won't have this $149,000 entering this next budget cycle. That's why you see an increase of $196,000 for the new cycle of tree pruning. So, I wanted to clarify this for the record.

Yes, that great contribution to the tree fund came because of the reurbanization of the golf course. So, all the trees they had to cut to do the reurbanization, they ended up having to pay and that compensated for many of our expenses within the tree fund. This year, obviously, we don't have that great flow of contributions. Thank you, Matt. You may continue, Ms. Budget Director. Thank you, Mr. President.

Now we move on to the Special Revenue Funds. What is a special revenue fund? I won't go into details about it here. You have the documents in front of you, so you can see what each one is. But, in general, they are restricted funds due to any contribution made by the developer. It is agreed in the contract with the contribution of the developer, state statute or any municipal law. Therefore, these funds are restricted based on these items. Now we have nine special revenue funds, with two that have subsidies. We have a brief overview of each of them. Our developer contribution is 240. It is a remaining balance from the previous year. It has to be used specifically for a large park. We have the tree removal law. As I mentioned, we had 190. Now we are transporting 61 million. Our local gas tax came, smaller than last year, about R$16,000. Our PTP. We don't have a transport subsidy, or transit subsidy, I must say, for the freebie this next year. However, our subsidy department will expose this for the next year. They are already in the process. That's why you get minus R$279, because this is the subsidy that we are not receiving now in this fiscal year. PTP 80 has a small variation of 46 in the general scheme of things.

These estimates, Melissa, we received from the County, from...

Yes, we received this from the County.

Many of these are estimates that we received from the County or from the State. These estimates are dynamic, right? They keep changing until we finally approve the final budget.

We usually receive only one of them. We don't usually receive an update. And the stable?

One for the PTP specifically.

But others, others?

Others, us, this year, have been a little strange compared to other years.

But stable, right? Less days.

I usually receive several estimates. I received only one estimate for each and it was now in August. Usually in August I receive an update. I don't know if they are just giving away and providing just one, so I don't foresee that they will provide another update for the ones I received, because I usually receive one in July and another in August, but we only received the August one. It's practically the end of the month. The mobility rate of 474 is a balance of what we received in the current year and these funds will be transferred to the transportation capital fund to be used in part for 59th Avenue and in part for a subsidy counterparty. I don't remember in my head, but I'll let you know. So, we have our impact rates, which include public safety, roads, improvements in parks and open spaces. Public safety, you can see that it's a big jump from 17 to 175. These 175 will be used for LPRs in our city. The impact rates came from 1.8, this is the money that we are reordering and transferring again. What this means is that as soon as we start the construction project of 59th Avenue, this money would be, I would say, reimbursed, and then... Yes, and then... All this is for 59, sorry, yes, 1897, 1897.

This is a prize that we receive. This is a value to receive, right? In fact, we still don't have the money. It is the commitment to give us this money for 59th Avenue, but almost all of them are made through reimbursement.

Our improvements in the parks, if you see, we have 24. We transferred all this money to the parks capital, right? Our open space. We transferred 205 back because this council decided not to have a subsidy counterpart for, I believe, a linear park in the fiscal year. Past. So we had to transfer these 205 back and we received some more open space money. So now it's at 1.9 million. This is also restricted. It can only be used for a new park, maybe like a par 3, and an open area.

And a center for the elderly. Center for the elderly. I just wanted to clarify that it could only be one thing.

Our construction department did a tremendous and wonderful job to ensure that we receive what we seek. And they increased their budget by a million dollars. Our special tax districts, as you know, we had to increase some of the evaluation rates. So, our tax revenue from public electricity services, this money was used to pay the debt service of this building. So, any questions about the special revenue funds?

Mayor and City Councilor Herzberg, I'm confused with the construction department fund.

What is the big increase there? And how are we projecting such a big increase in revenue? I look at the history and see how it has grown.

For fiscal year 23-24 it was 1.3. For 24-25 it was 1.5 and my end-of-year projection is 1.9. I forced 1.6 for the license fee.

This number is the balance. The balance plus the projection. So, since they haven't spent, this is the revenue plus the balance. I mean, still 30%. I don't think it makes a difference. So, you're projecting that the revenue goes up by 30%, the construction fund.

Part of that is the remaining balance that they didn't spend in the current year.

So, you're projecting the remaining balance as well.

The remaining balance is 1.1 million.

Okay, that's it. And this amount has been accumulated year after year, little by little. All right. The irony there in this part can continue. Anyone else before she continues? Casey, no one can follow.

Debt service fund. As I mentioned, the tax on public electricity services is used to pay the interest and the main of this building. You can see what the value would be for next year. This is also restricted, and you can see that it is in accordance with the Municipal Regulation 2010-07, Resolution 2011-855-ET, Resolution 2011-855, and what applies to the agreements of titles and notes. Our Fund for Capital Projects. Any questions about this before I move on? What is the tax on electricity services?

Is it different from the franchise rate? And this value, if I'm not mistaken, you know, when we launched these titles for this building, they dedicated them to be special receipts, special obligation titles, right? Instead of general obligation titles, they dedicated a source of financing specifically for this. Once the debt of this building is liquidated, then this electricity tax that will continue to enter will be available for other uses. Any use, you know? I'm not sure what the restrictions are. We had, you know, two years. We haven't got there yet. It's been a long time since this building was built. I think it's still there.

It's been 15 years or... So come if I believe in 2040.

So we have a time.

Forget it. Don't start salivating yet.

You may not be sitting here at this time. You won't be. Any more questions about the Debt Service Fund, Beirador Quad Garcia?

Mr. Mayor, I don't know if I'm in the right moment to talk about my last item, which is the letter that Mr. Aguar sent on page 15. I'm on the right or precise subject.

I still have permission to ask the questions you want about the budget, but I understand that we haven't got there yet.

Well, we've already talked about this. You're the general fund. You're right. So now would be a good time to ask about this, but he's asking about the police budget, referring to Mr. Guiar's e-mail that the secretary mentioned before.

I don't read the e-mail, sir.

But why don't you continue?

I'll read it. Can I read it for you?

Well, I wouldn't read everything. I would only summarize for her benefit. Do you know what he's asking for? And if I...

Thank you. I respectfully request that the Municipal Chamber provide a clear and detailed explanation of the significant growth in the city's public security budget for the fiscal year. Closed on September 30, 2022. The total public security expense was R$ 10.65. O orçamento recém-proposto é de, vírgula sessenta e oito, oito vírgula quinhentos e sete. Aumento de dois mil, chegou. Cash oito vírgula zero quarenta e sete, ou quase vinte e cinco por cento. Quero dizer, então vou ler o último. During the budgetary process of last year, residents were informed that there would be a single increase, which is on page 15. The increase was approximately $800,000. It was necessary because of a previous arrangement in the police contract. If the increase was really a single expense, Why does the budget proposed now include an additional increase of almost $1 million more? Please explain the specific reasons for the increase this year and identify which part of the recruitment and which part of any single expense. Now, this conclusion is what is happening here. So, if we look at page 15, at the bottom of the page, year 2025, we are at 11,130,000, 129,000 and until 2027, let's go to 1,354,000, 192,000. If it is an increase of 25%, if it... But even so, I could see 3%, you know? 5%. My question, so I can finish. My question, so basically, normally the team negotiates the contract and when you finish give me five I'll give you five minutes to explain exactly how it happens and then we bring the contract negotiated here for the council to consider jumping very dramatically.

Of you answering, let me summarize what he is saying and also add my contribution so that you can answer everything at once. And this is about if we have a police contract. A criminal contract. No offense. And he wins in 29, I think. 2029. I must understand that increases year by year, obviously in a contract based on certain formulas, But these numbers should not be more predictable from the beginning to be able to determine, hey, these years are years of reference under this contract and we can start planning in advance, you know? Because I remember exactly, oh, he left. I that the mayor Guardi Garcia was mentioning about last year we said something like yes it is a reason for this increase of 800 thousand dollars you know but this is this year and now we are seeing an increase of a million dollars so I he is not wrong in that And again, if we have a contract, in theory, we should be able to calculate these things with a lot of precedence, based on any formulas or criteria that are in this contract. So I didn't really have a chance to analyze this contract. Maybe this is my next stop.

But yes, I just wanted to add this before you start. The way we pay for public security services is by paying the real values, right? So if you have a Brian Moreira police officer and the police officer's hourly rate is 20 dollars per hour, we pay 20 dollars per hour, plus your health plan, plus your contributions to the insurance and all things, right? We don't pay 21 or 22, we don't pay anything extra. We pay whatever the rate is, Brian Moreira police officer's hourly rate and for staff services, right? This is the most part of the contract, right? Therefore, we pay the real values. The only extra thing is that there are some categories, right? So we pay our fair share of some of the general expenses of the department. For example, training, right? They have a training department. And what they do is that there is a cost to maintain this training department. and let's say they have 3,000 policemen in the whole department, and we have 50,000, we pay 50 of 3,000 as a percentage of the cost of the training department. We do the same with professional conformity, which is like your internal affairs, this kind of thing. We do the same with all these things. If you look at the spreadsheet, probably, I don't remember, it's been a while since I've seen it, maybe from half a dozen to eight categories. There are some that don't apply to us, right? So we don't pay because one of their categories is facilities. We don't pay for this. This is zero for us because we provide, the city provides facilities for our policemen. So we pay our fair share of the administrative expenses and we pay the real value to the police. So, if we were to negotiate, what we would end up having to do is ask the sheriff to say that the police officer's hourly rate is 20 dollars, but make it 18 to reduce the impact. Well, that's how it happens, right? Most of the changes, well, not most, 100% of the changes are based on collective work agreements, right? And we have an incredible relationship with the Sheriff's Office. We benefit from the fact that they have all the resources in the world. They have world-class homicides, dogs, helicopters. We have all of that, right? We enjoy it as a community. We have access to it. In addition to fantastic policemen, the best in the field. And the only thing that is a negative point in our current relationship with the Sheriff's Office is that we don't have a voice in the collective negotiation, right? The collective negotiation is between the syndicate and the Sheriff's Office, right? So really, everything else is positive. The only disadvantage is that we don't have a voice. But we have to trust that the Sheriff's Office makes fair and adequate negotiations with the syndicate, because they are also paying. They pay for most of the policemen, right? And therefore, it comes out of their pockets. So, that's how the situation is. We pay the real values ​​for the policemen assigned to us. And this concept of, let's just fill everything with novice policemen, I think we've had this conversation before. Practically coming from someone who has worked in public security for 33 years, this is absolutely uncontrollable. I don't want a department full of newbies because there is value in the experience that these guys have. So the ideal combination is to have some newbies, some guys with an intermediate career and some veterans, right? And this combination is what leads to the reduction in criminality that we have seen here over the years. And this is the best way to provide law enforcement services. May I repeat, sir?

We all know how much I support our police forces, but it is fair to say that, last year, the initial value, I will never forget, I already told you that, Mr. Manager, the initial budget increase was presented to us when we were in Tallahassee at 1.2 million, but we managed to negotiate for 800 thousand due to a single collective agreement. But considering this increase, a general average of 7.01%, year after year. You negotiated with the other two municipalities, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay, which also have a contract with the Sheriff's Department for a lower cost. They are also paying a general increase of 7.01%.

Yes, before the three contracts were different and we had different winning dates and everything. Last time, not this one, but the previous one, when I was here for about two years, we, the three cities, got together and aligned the three agreements to be exactly the same and with the same deadline. So, yes, the answer to your question is that all three contracts are identical and pay the same, obviously, for different police numbers, right? They have some of them. I think Palmetto Bay has less, Cattle Bay has more. I'm just looking at the percentages. So, they are going through the same thing as us. Now, the only thing in which we have more flexibility, yes, and more control, is about the amount of extra hours, right? We dictated, but this council said that this proved to be effective. The special details, the traffic details, the theft details, all this contributed and played an important role in helping us reduce our crime rate. So there is more flexibility, right? There are some things that we cannot avoid, such as part of the extra hours that are used to ensure that we have the minimum effective, so that we do not have less than five policemen in service at the same time. There is also money for policemen who need to go to court, for policemen who need to participate in training. Some of these things are essential, right? There are some things that, you know, are up to you, such as special details and other issues in which we have more flexibility, but these are decisions that have already been made in the past and have proved effective.

Because I'm going for this, for example, in the patrol service, the second item of that budget is an increase of 7.157% in salaries. Being that at the moment we are predicting an increase in cost of living and things like that in the range of 3.4%. So, as I said before, I totally respect our office and everything else, but we also need to keep fiscal actions responsible while we're here. The extra hours are increasing 7.14% compared to the previous year. Cell phones are going up 7.62%. This is a lower value. The cost of the copiers of the police are rising 16.68. A difference of 500 dollars, but still 16%. LPR maintenance. Just other things that are rising more than twice what the IPC indicates. So that's why I know that with a collective work agreement, how often does a collective agreement expire when the terms contained in it remain? Three years. Every three years, by state law, public collective work agreements cannot last longer than three years.

So it could be three years or less.

So if last year we were, based on the new collective agreement, that increase of 800,000, you know, I think I need a better explanation about why we're going up 7% if it's still the same collective agreement.

And I'm not totally familiar with the PBA collective agreement. But I believe they had a cost of living adjustment that was granted at the end of the last fiscal year. So this is the first fiscal year they had this, but they also had... What was the name of that... Everyone in the whole state received this rent.

I forgot, you already told me what was the name of that...

Yes, that increase was state-wide, referring to an increase for police forces throughout the state. So, this was separated from the collective labor agreement. And what was the name of the... I have this in my notes.

Me, but it was something that was implemented...

Yes, but it was implemented at a state level. It's not something that was part of our collective labor agreement. And I think it was an increase of 3.5%, with the adjustment of cost of living. And if I'm not mistaken, you told me that they are now in negotiations, that the collective is beginning to expire. So the new one would come into force. So they are starting negotiations now for the new collective agreement. And remember, many times they can't negotiate until the expiration date. So they get into what is called the collective negotiation of status quo period. So the existing contract simply continues. until they can negotiate a renewal. But then, if they negotiate a renewal, many times they have retroactive payments, as if, let's say, it took until October 1st, which is the expiration date, or it should have been the beginning of the new one. Let's say it takes until January, February, to negotiate a renewal, then they will say 3%, 2% in October. So they will receive unique payments and will continue with the new value.

So I think my question to complement this is about that value that the State added now, I assume it is through the State Statute. Yes, from what I understood it was through the State Statute.

Yes, because this was also part of the FHP increases. So all of this ended up spilling over.

From the FHP to the municipalities. Is there something in this statute where they can reimburse the municipalities that are being affected? I don't know.

We'll find out. Let's ask the question.

So let's ask and let's send the answer to all of you. Because it's very easy to say that we want you to pay them more, but we need more funds to do that. It's like they're literally putting their hands in our pockets. That's not the position.

Talk about non-financial mandates.

So, I mean, if they want, if they demand, I hope that there is something in this statute that says that funds can come from this state-level fund. We hope so. I'm just looking for a solution.

Mr. President, can I finish my reply and not talk anymore? Well, wait. According to the Vice-President, it was my opinion that Mayor Sanches had the word, so we would go to Mayor Garcia and then Quadra. Mayor Quadra Garcia.

So basically two things, and I'm going to finish.

Basically, one of the residents just sent me a message saying, hey, remember that from 2026 to 2027 and 2026 they said it was a single payment of a million dollars.

And then we came back in 2027 with another $800,000 while we were sleeping. This can't happen. So I'll practically give you my two sentences. My recommendation is that we always say, let's do a study to do a study. Are we going to get money to do this? I don't know.

And it may be that our mayor and our manager are both specialists in contracts, they can negotiate this contract and maybe get something much, much, much better.

I think you should try. Or, if not, hire someone who can negotiate this contract, if it is available, if possible.

This is my recommendation.

Thank you. So, in my answer to this, I would like to remind that resident who is watching that I would be shocked if he had made that comment that it was a unique increase. We were talking about a final payment, unique in the PIS agreement. And obviously, anyone who has been following these procedures for a significant time knows that it is never a single increase, right? There have been increases. The size of the increase is what has changed. Now, I also want to reiterate the point you were raising and... And look, I don't have any problems, as Verador Garcia asked us last year, in asking him about the renegotiation of the contract. But in the end, you need two to dance the tango, right? This doesn't require experience in contract law, it's just common sense, right? So, the reality, and I know clearly that people think it's excessively easy to say, we just need to negotiate a better agreement, but that completely ignores that we are also dealing with a government body. We are not dealing with contracts of the type of company to company or something like that. And almost when people just throw it like that, if we negotiate a better agreement, it seems that we could just shake a wand or do some mental trick or Jedi on them so that they can move on and start doing what we want, right? And it's not that easy. But again, just like last year, I have no problems going to the manager or working with the manager to try to see what economies we can accumulate. Obviously, we will always want to generate economy for our residents, but we also need to be realistic, you know? I thank you for the compliments, for believing in my capacity and the manager's capacity in contract negotiations. I thank you for the vote of confidence that you, that resident, have. But you know, I just want everyone to be realistic, right? And don't try to look like it, once again, which is simply easy. But I'll keep going, you know, make the request as always and see what we can do. and remembering that ideally we would finally finance the police study we are talking about, right? This would give us concrete numbers of what would be necessary to start our own police department. Obtaining these real numbers, in fact, would solve, once and for all, whether it is better to stay where we are or, at some point, transition to our own department. And alternatively, it would also give us concrete numbers from which we could negotiate. Otherwise, you know, simply saying, ah, there's a better deal we can do negotiating this contract, we have no advantage at all. In my opinion, right? You know, so I just have that in mind and you mean... I don't remember. Edson, do you remember the price of that study? It was like R$ 100,000 or something like that. I don't remember, but I can check. It was six digits and, you know... I don't think we ever published an RFP or something like that. I think we kind of looked for other municipalities that may have done similar studies and tried to get an estimate. I remember saying something around R$ 100,000, more or less. You know, at least something in the six-digit house. Isn't it cool? And that's why this is still being hated in favor of other tangible priorities that we can realize now. And because, in the end, we are satisfied with the service we are receiving. So don't worry. I'll talk to you again. But you know, I just want to have a broad answer because it's easy for people to get around and say, it's just negotiating a better agreement. It's just negotiating a better agreement. But it seems almost that they have no idea what that really implies. So I just wanted to clarify that. You know, obviously, as you know, in contract negotiations, if you really want to put pressure on your advantage, you need some kind of influence, right? Without that, you really don't go very far. So, and you know, in the end, any governmental entity won't, I'm not saying that other groups don't negotiate in good faith, but in the end they will take care of their own interests, right? But keep going.

I agree with you 100%. We have a police department at Rolls-Royce. I agree. Not Ferrari, not Bentley. Rolls-Royce. I believe. Excellent.

Can you tell us why you say that and why you agree? Because I watched the transit metro years before you were born until today and I have always admired their service. I think when I was born, when Metro Dade, or actually you're right, it was when we moved from Metro Dade to Miami-Dade County, but I was definitely born when we moved to Miami-Dade. You were a baby. Yes, I was. So basically, yes, an excellent police department. But what I recommend is that you two try to negotiate this contract. Exactly, let's do it.

Exactly, let's do it.

And I think this is a compliment to you, Major, that you are the Rolls-Royce and that you provide the service of Rolls-Royce. So, thank you. Mayor, can I just add one last thing? I do not believe that the increases we are seeing are aberrations. That's right. Certainly. About the question from Mayor Sanches, we, Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay, who also have a contract with the Sheriff's Office, are we seeing similar increases? But what I'm going to do is research the other cities in the Miami-Dade County to get an idea of what have been the increases in police budgets year by year and see if there is any correlation with the increases we have experienced. Now, obviously, in recruitment, in collective bargaining, each department tries to be competitive, Their competition, the competition of the Sheriff's Office, the city of Miami, the city of Hialeah, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, these other departments are with whom they compete for quality candidates, right? So I would risk saying that other departments, especially the big ones, right? The biggest, the ones I just listed, we are probably seeing similar increases, especially post-Covid, where everything went up.

Well, first Mayor Herzberg, I saw that he raised his hand, and then we will move on to Mayor Sanches. Thank you, sir. My question about the police budget is, first of all, the Rolls Royce races cost a lot of money, right? So, this is just the sad reality of the situation, but I also want to know exactly where, obviously, I'm sure the sheriff's office has a budget for the Miami Lake station.

I just want to see exactly the items, what is increasing. I assume they are salaries and we want to know... You asked for it and I think we sent it to you.

We sent it by e-mail to you.

I haven't received it yet. I haven't seen it yet. So maybe share it with everyone. But the same thing we sent you, we will share with everyone else that contains an explanation of some of the key points about the reason for the increase. And it's really more detailed than even that. It really goes to the minute, line by line, exactly like the... Did this come from the sheriff's office?

Yes. Why?

So I didn't see it. I'm going to take a look. But I would like to know specifically about the other two cities hired. Honestly, there are so many variables in all the other cities. It is good to extract them, but I would really like to see the other two cities hired and then compare with the general budget of the sheriff and see this budget. Our sheriff is going up more than their general budget. What's different? It's changing. The sheet. Diogo, I believe it's a point to ensure that we don't have many senior officials, right? I'm sure some districts have a lot more juniors than others and things like that. But I also don't think they should all be juniors. There has to be a midterm. And I don't want to talk about the major, but from what I've seen, I think they have a mixture of different officials in different stages of their careers. So I'm going to take a look at this Excel, but yes, it would be good to share with everyone. So that's where the real details are.

My understanding is that the only thing you could potentially negotiate, really, would not be like an administrative fee, something that they add on top.

I mean, the administrative fee is built from scratch. It's built from scratch, right? So they have, as I just explained, they have these different categories and we're just paying our fair share. So we only pay for the number of police officers in service. Let's round it up to 50. It's 50 out of a total of 3,000. This percentage of any cost of training of the department of professional compliance, of all these things, we are only paying our fair share of these administrative areas.

So, the last question about the budget, I've heard several residents ask this question before, but I don't remember.

Maybe I don't have the answer now, but it's a response that I think we all want. For example, when a policeman gets retired and has 500 days of medical license, do we pay that or is it distributed? I'm not 100% sure about this question, but I want to check and I will send it to you if there is any kind of division or if the district where he is on the last day is who pays. I don't know the answer to that, but I'll find out. I think this is an important distinction.

It's not an event that happens all the time, but it's something to think about.

Remember that this also works the other way around. So someone who spends 10 years here and then goes to the airport is promoted, goes to homicides, goes to other places, on the day that this person gets retired, they will look at us because of the 10 years, right? So I think all this would balance with time. So, in any way that happens, I think it will balance. First, if I may, Mayor Sanchez, before we move on to you, Major, you can come here for a second to address this point that you just raised and that Mayor Herzberg just discussed about seniority of police officers and the mixture you have in the department. Would you say there is a mixture?

Do you prioritize veteran police officers?

No. So, to be completely fair, it is 100% correct. I have a very, very wide mix. We have people here with two years of employment and also people here with 20 years. Not many are on the retirement plan. Probably about three. So, most of them are, let's say, on average, in terms of service time. I agree with him. I mean, Having a seniority distribution is very important. Do you understand what I mean? It's like you don't want the blind to guide the blind, basically, right? Right? So that's why it's important to have old, intermediate and new people, because obviously you want to cultivate the best and... And, besides that, something that we have access to and many other districts don't have, is that in other places the guys leave the academy and are sent to where they are assigned. On the contrary, here we have the luxury of being able to choose the police department, which we have here, which, in essence, is exactly why you have a first-line police department here, as an agency, to be able to help and do what we do. we don't bring problems to the city, we bring excellent delegates and that's exactly why you receive the service you receive because of that. Thank you, Mayor Herzberg. Since he is here, as you were, who followed this line of questioning, would you have any more questions of follow-up for him?

No, he answered.

I wouldn't be surprised if we had a little more seniority than the average person. I really wouldn't be surprised. But I think it would be something bad, right?

In addition to the cost. I say, mostly, to be honest, lately many of the boys, the most recent police officer we have, just left probation for a year and a half. So I... We are also limited by the people we interview. Obviously, we try to make the best decisions, but we also try to be fiscally responsible. And again, it depends a lot on their resumes, on how they leave the interview and what they have to offer. Obviously, this last police officer we brought has more than 20 years of experience in the county and in parks, which for us was a great change to be able to bring her. So, I mean, again, we try to do the best we can in relation to the type of officers and agents we chose to come here. They are chosen by hand. But, again, I'm not just looking for people with more than 20 years of experience. I mean, people with more than 20 years of experience also bring their good points and their bad points.

Thank you very much. Mayor Sanches.

Are you leaving? About the extra hours, it's a fixed rate, it doesn't matter the patent. That is, someone who is two years old in the department,

No, it's based on their salary. So if they earn US$20 per hour, they get it once and a half. And if they earn US$40 per hour, it's once and a half on that. There is no fixed rate for that.

It's the same for out-of-service jobs.

Out-of-service jobs are something completely separate. And out-of-service jobs are not paid by the city.

Now I have two points to follow. Well, thank you Major for the information. Gentlemen, I found the statute that the city administrator referred to, if you want to write it down. It is the statute of Florida 943.2, programs of salary incentive for full-time officials. Just for you to keep. The reason why I asked to talk again was about what the administrator pointed out, about comparing us to other municipalities, like the city of Miami, the city of Hialeah, Last week, we had the great privilege of participating in the concessionaire award ceremony of the Miami Lakes Auto Mall and a gentleman who was there. He was the police chief of Hialeah, George Fuente. I talked to him for a few minutes and congratulated him for what he said to be a historic wage increase for police officers in Hialeah. He laughed a little and told me that we are trying to achieve and reduce the difference for our policemen in Yalé in relation to what the county offers. Therefore, by his response, I understand that the agents of the county earn much more than the municipal agents. So I just want to make sure that we keep in mind that the significant increase they had this year was just to compensate for the difference. I can tell you that

or the application of the law, as well as the firefighters. Hialeah is the exception, and I don't want to say anything bad. It's a fact. Hialeah, Hialeah is both the police and the firefighters. They hire people, train them, give them experience, and then people move on. But the county is just a stop. The city of Miami, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, these are the heavy weights. But then you're competing, right, with all these heavy weights for quality candidates. And that's why I only mentioned the city of Realé, based on what he gave me. They are an exception, right? The county is not an exception. They are competitive with the other big names in the city.

I mean, to be completely honest, there was...

I recently had an interview with the sheriff, I don't know if any of you saw it, with one of the county commissioners. In fact, we are technically poorly paid compared to the city of Miami and even with other sheriff departments. Again, I don't want to talk without authorization, but you know, this is also very important. And the law had, I think in the 20 to 30% range, right? I'm not sure what's the difference for us compared to other departments, obviously, and other agencies, but we're losing agents to other departments and other agencies, like Praia, the city of Palm Beach. We're losing them en masse, too. So, essentially, as an agency, we're trying to keep ourselves, obviously, at the same level as many other agencies and not lose good policemen, because it's the same thing he just explained, which is... We bring them, we hire them, we train them, we lose them. Obviously, this is also a big part of it.

Yes, that's all I wanted to mention. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Mayor Código Garcia. And I'm going to end with this. I said I would end it last time. But this is a closing, basically. Basically. Just for reflection. I know that one of your patrol police officers on a bicycle just retired and there is only one left, right? No, I mean, we had one who retired, but we're replacing the others. My recommendation is that I think we should bring a motorcycle. Have you ever thought about bringing a motorcycle? The point is that the department doesn't have motorcycles. In fact, we had one.

Motorcycles or motorcycles, because I call a motorcycle policeman. Harley. Yeah. But I don't call it a motorcycle.

To be honest with you, I can say that the residents, for any reason, believe in the stereotype that motorcycle policemen are worse than us normal policemen. So I don't know how that would work. I know it's a stereotype, but I've been listening to it all this time. And I want to say that the truth is that it should, correct me if I'm wrong, I think there is also an increase in this. Some police officers will not only have a vehicle designated to them, obviously, but they also have a motorcycle designated. So now you're paying for an extra vehicle, maintenance, gasoline, all the other training, you know, these things also accumulate. In South Florida, with the climate, these motorcyclists probably spend half of their time in their cars instead of in motorcycles anyway. So when I arrived here in 2019, we had, I think, two motorcyclists and then we made the transition and created the traffic department. So they are trained policemen, you know, mainly with a focus on traffic, obviously they can do anything, but the main focus is traffic, but they work in a car instead of a motorcycle.

Obrigado. Muito bem. Mais alguma coisa?

Algo mais? Não, não, desculpa. Obrigado por isso. De nada.

Muito bem, senhora diretora de orçamento, pode continuar.

Finalmente.

Estamos quase terminando, pessoal. Então, agora passamos para o Fundo de Projetos de Capital. E ele é dedicado à aquisição, construção e melhoria de grandes ativos de capital e infraestrutura The money comes from subsidies, any restricted funds, maybe as a mobility rate or impact rates, or any money that has already been, or a developer contribution, or any money that has come from interest receipts, would be used to finance any of these capital projects. We have four capital projects funds. Our installation and equipment improvement fund. You see that there was a zero budget last year and there are 12,500 for this year. This value is a remaining balance. This project is specifically for the lighting of the City Hall. The improvement of transport. You see an increase mainly due to PTP funds being transferred, mobility tax being transferred and any interest receipts that we may have acquired in the current fiscal year. and the rest is just a remaining balance of the ongoing projects that are happening at the moment. The same goes for the improvement of parks and our infrastructure synchronization fund. As I mentioned earlier in this presentation, the budget is US$ 837 because we have a transfer of US$ 426,000 for the fund itself. Finally, any questions about capital projects funds?

Finally, we have our business funds. And our business fund consists of the rainwater service in the titles, in the ARPA, and in our maintenance fund of installments, our internal service fund. These are property funds that operate as a company, usually through fees charged by the user. Therefore, our rainwater service fund This year, in our floodwater service fund, we also have capital projects within this service. The reason you see this variation in the increase is because we have subsidies that we will receive in the floodwater service fund. Our floodwater titles and ARPA are coming to an end and in our internal service funds we have a very small variation of US$ 1,000. Any questions?

There, Mr. Vice-President. Any questions about the business funds?

The title of pluvial water, when it... I say, we are only in 2021, I think you just want to understand the dates of when these things will be paid, or if there is an opportunity to remove these titles with the surplus of pluvial water rates.

Repeat that. Two questions when the title wins, that is, when the payments are expected to take place. And these titles can be paid in advance. I think it was something like twenty-something. Twenty-something years. Reward schedule.

Two thousand and fifty-one.

30-year title.

And as for the projects, Omar, correct me if I'm wrong, both are almost completed. The ARPA and the water projects, right? Exactly. Anything else? All right. Well, thank you very much. Great job. Now it's 20 to 11. There are no more topics to discuss, we are closed.

And thank you, budget director, for your hard work.

Thank you.