City Council - workshop

Good evening. I'd call this meeting to order. Budget review session August 10th, 2026, 4 p.m. I'd like to inform the public about the location of the Open to Meeting Act posted in the Council Chambers, 309 North 5th Street, Norfolk, Nebraska, and it's accessible to members of the public. Can I get a roll call, please?

Cranquist.

Here.

Arns.

Here.

Webb. McCarthy. Here. Beckman? Here. Jensen?

Here.

Lenge? Here. Hildebrand? Mayor?

Here. All right, I guess we'll start with item four, budget overview. We have any questions on the budget overview? John will be leading us to discussion.

Thanks, Mayor. As you recall, two weeks ago we had our previous budget meeting and we kind of went over that cuts and adds discussion. There weren't a lot of adjustments made at the meeting. I know that transit certainly was one of the hotter topics and we have incorporated that. If you look, what page are we on with the cuts and add sheet? We included a cuts or additions sheet, I think it's towards the end, right? Page nine of your packet. So that's the result of the last few weeks of minor changes including that transit addition back. So with that, just as a reminder of where we are with our general fund, we're anticipating an increase of revenue year over year, budgeted about 2.62%, and expenses up about, I'm sorry, 2.77%. And then expenses up about 2.69% against inflation hovering somewhere north of 4% right now. Varying a little bit over June July, but was stronger in the late spring months so Anticipating as you as you suggested last time mayor kind of a pause for this year in Spending and growth and in just trying to re-establish or reevaluate all of our income and expenditure matrixes in preparation for next year because it'll be a continuing discussion over the next eight months as we prepare for next year's budget of needing to still overcome challenges as we've discussed this year for sure. So other than that minor adjustments sheet that we had on there, we don't have a lot of additional information for you today. So unless there's any questions or thoughts that we wanted to discuss, the budget packets are in the agenda and we're prepared to start rolling through those today. It's a couple of minor thoughts is that just as you remind yourselves as we look forward over the next few weeks, the county assessor's actuals will come out next Thursday or before on the 20th of the month. So we're anticipating that. And then the public hearing to finalize the budget for the year is September 14th. So there is still some anticipation for next Thursday. Making some adjustments possibly depending on assessed values finalization But other than that we're looking forward to the 14th and getting ready for that meeting so We're happy to take any questions or thoughts from from you to make any adjustments as desired Well, I think you John I

I think I was trying to think of a name that we could call this year's budget. I think we should call it a budget bridge. Essentially, I know you've worked hard putting this together, and the services Norfolk residents depend on while we make these adjustments moving forward the next eight months, like you stated. What I mean by that, this budget will get us from where we are today and where we want to be financially. It gives us a time to keep providing services Council and staff work together to strengthen the general fund before we can build next year fiscal budget During this time we can take a cool clear look at staffing needs wages benefits operating costs one-time expenses and revenues available to support them I Also want I know staff and department heads and what don't want you to assume that positions affected by attrition are permanently lost We should first understand what Norfolk needs and and then work together to determine how we can substantially fund those as we move forward. So for all the residents here tonight, our goal is simple, continue to provide city services, be responsible with taxpayer dollars, and put Norfolk in a stronger financial position going into next year's budget. This budget is a bridge and it's gonna provide us the opportunity to work together. Just thought I'd put that out there, and it's kind of what we're trying to do this fiscal. And I did get a letter. We do have a letter I got from Corey. I'm sorry, Corey O'Brien. I'm just going to mention it because I know he's not here. One area that he feels that we need to support is with streets and the adding of an individual in that department. He understands where we're at with things and how that's going to look. I told him, well, We still have funds within this fiscal that can support positions within city government or different departments. It's just going to be, Scott's not just going to be able to hire those individuals this year. It'll have to come before council. And then council will then approve or not approve that hiring of that position. And as we move through, there may be some opportunities with MPPDs. not their lease, but just with the growth of their use of electricity and where that looks like for us within our budget, and then just where everything lands with the assessed values coming in. So there could be some difference there that we would support. So it's not out of the question that that will happen. It's just that we're kind of trying to figure out how to make this work. I know you said 2.5% increase this year. Well, there was a 2.5% COLA So I think by looking at operating costs and separating those from one-time expenses and really getting down to the heart of the matter, I think that's what we're going to be looking at this whole next year and discussing different ways and revenues that are available to keep moving Norfolk forward. So I thought I'd just put that out there on my end and then from the rest of the council here. Any other questions for John?

I don't know if mine's directed towards John, but is your thoughts to have another, say, work session before the September 14th meeting? No. Okay. No.

All right.

So the position that Corey was talking about in the street department, is it vacant now or not?

It is. Yeah, it is vacant. It is being affected by attrition right now because it's not being filled. But it doesn't mean it can't be filled. That's what I think we want to make that statement clear. People can come forward. Departments can come forward. But it's not going to be filled like traditionally we would have just filled it and moved forward. We'll be having to look at those situations as they come forward and do what we need to do, I guess.

That would be the same for the police and fire as well.

Yeah. I think, what, John, $290,000 is $280,000?

Yep. Last budget meeting, you'll recall on the spreadsheet of the cuts and adds, we left about $280,000 in there as council priority dollars. So you already have that cushion built in as long as revenues and expenses are coming in against budget accordingly. So that cushion is there as potential.

I think, too, you've got an opportunity looking through each department's budget as you would doing your own internal audits, I suppose. With every department, we've got around $631,000 worth of overtime in our departments right now, if you break that out from looking at your budget. There's special one-time expenses. I guess there's 5.9 million in this year's budget. But of that 5.9 million 4.6 million is the police station and that's being supported by the hats and sales tax. So you take that out of there. There's Not a whole lot of them fix one-time expenses going in this year's budget Just because that's what was cut that's how we got to that 2.8 million dollar reduction this year so I Think well, but we will have time to look at some of those things and maybe some of those one-time special expenses and Above the four point six million. Maybe there's some adjustments there.

We can make maybe there is an opportunity to look and see how we're running an overtime and Find some other dollars out there, so anyway Because I guess that was my point was one we need to be able to look at what overtime We're running and to the other thing that scares me particularly about the street department stuff okay last winter was fantastic Probably didn't need need so much, but depending on what falls in on us, we could run into an awful lot of either overtime or outside contract or expense happening in the fourth quarter is coming up pretty dang quick.

Right. I talked with Scott and kind of told him I would address that because I know there's a lot of department heads here right now and I'm sure there's a lot of staff listening. right now, or maybe if they're listening, they'll hear about it later. Anyone else? Questions for John? Okay, that was the budget overview. Now we'll move on to the recommendation of the general fund revenue budget. John, you can discuss that. Or I've got you on here to discuss that.

I believe that's what we just did, right? Reviewed the general fund revenue budget or general fund budget?

Oh, yeah. We're not going to present each one then. Okay. So I guess then... Okay. As I go through these items, 35 of them, I'm not going to read through the entire budget, but we will ask for questions and then we'll ask for public input. So that's how we'll move through them and then we'll make the motion to approve. So I guess with that being said, we're done talking about the budget overrule. We're on number five. Are there any questions on item five, recommendation for the general fund revenue budget? And if so, direct those toward John. Okay, so there's none from the council. Anybody from the members from the public can come forward now.

Jim McKenzie, I just wanted to address the city electricity tax as that was highlighted in that budget document. The city tax or lease on citizens' electricity use is 14.5% as calculated directly on the NPPD bill, not the 12% as is used in most discussions. It's because it's calculated on top of itself and on top of the other taxes. So it's actually 14.5% of the citizens' actual electricity usage. The city also gets 2.4% in sales tax on citizens' electricity use because the sales tax is charged on electricity, also on top of the lease tax, and also on top of the gross revenue tax. The city also gets approximately .725% of additional revenue on the electricity in the form of their portion of the gross revenue tax, also called the in lieu of tax, on citizens' electricity. for a total tax on citizens' electricity of just over 17%. So the city gets just over 17%. If you add state sales tax and the remainder of the gross revenue tax, citizens pay an astounding 29.5% tax on their electricity. 29.5%. If you tried to implement an occupation tax of 17% on anything else, it would not be very well received. And yet we do it on electricity, something everyone must use. To raise this tax even higher, in my mind, is inconceivable. Raising the tax will not lower property taxes. We all know government will spend every dollar in revenue that government receives, and then some. Raising more revenue will only result in more spending. For example, in 2002, the city put a question before the voters to increase sales tax from 1% to 1.5%. The stated purpose was to lower property taxes, reduce our dependence on property taxes, as well as fund the new fire station. The voters approved that increase in sales tax and it went into effect in 2003. It initially decreased property taxes, but for a very brief period. In fiscal year 2005-2006, property taxes budgeted for the general fund were $238,724. In fiscal year 2025-2026, property taxes budgeted to the general fund were over $6 million. Property taxes for the general fund increased 2,437% over this 20-year period, despite the half percent sales tax increase that was approved to lower property taxes. And I say this because there was mention that increasing the gross revenue, excuse me, increasing the NPPD tax would lower property taxes. It certainly hasn't worked in the past The analysis included in today's budget agenda for the NPPD rate increase leaves out The additional increase in sales tax the city will receive on top of the increase in lease tax If you include the sales tax increase with the lease tax increase the city will collect an extra seven million dollars of revenue from our citizens on their electricity bill over the next five years without lifting a finger or changing anything. Seven million additional dollars of taxes on our citizens electricity bill just by virtue of NPPD increasing their rates. I think that's enough. Higher taxes lead to higher spending. It doesn't lead to greater efficiency or greater scrutiny over spending. The net result of the NPPD rate increase, proposed increases, combined with the current city electricity tax, city and state sales tax, and gross revenue tax, is that the citizens will see their electricity bill rise by 47% in five years. That's a hard pill to swallow for many citizens, 47% in five years. Enough is enough. It would be a slap in the face to our citizens to pile more taxes on their electricity bills in this environment. I ask you not to increase the city electricity tax. In fact, maybe even a reduction should be considered. Thank you.

It's not included, Jim.

Well, it was recommended as from the finance director.

Yeah, it's not in this year's budget. There's no increase to it. Stay in the same. I think we got that. That's why we didn't do it. All right. Anyone else?

Yeah.

Yeah. So the goal tonight is to recommend each budget to move forward. So if no other discussion, what we would like tonight is a motion and a second and an ultimate vote to recommend these budgeted these budgets as presented to move forward.

I just have a question. So like talking about Will and his need, if we move these forward, where does that come into play?

So if there's any suggested changes, once we get to those budgets, we'll have to discuss those changes in those individual budgets.

Gotcha. OK, thank you.

No, right Scott made a point good Scott Yeah, my just for for a councilwoman Beckman's comment Nothing would preclude us from doing that tonight at the next between now and the next meeting And for taking action before the final approval and at any time during the next fiscal year so you know at any time we want to stop the pause and reflect on any of these issues and the division head could come forward with a recommendation to come before this body and say, hey, here's my situation, here's my need, here's the justification, would you be willing to do that? Assuming the revenues are there and we can afford to pay the bill, that's a consideration the council could entertain at that time. So nothing would preclude us from doing that any time between now and going forward if it's the wishes of this body.

Thank you, Scott.

I do think we might have to add a new chair into the I think we had him in last year's budget.

We said no.

Well, you got the bad one, Jeff. I used to have that one.

Freshman city councilman got the worst chair.

It used to sink on me as I sat there.

He's just trying to keep up with me. I don't know if we're looking at anybody in the audience now.

Do we want to grab Jeff a different chair or do you want to just switch with Corey quick?

Don't let him know.

He said he might show up so we could just have a little fun with Corey. Okay, so we need a motion to second on the recommendation of the general fund budget.

I would move that we pass the general fund revenue budget as presented.

Second.

Motion second. Any further discussion? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

On to number six, re-reclamation of the police budget. I'll make a motion. Any questions or comments? Second. Oh, sorry. Okay, we've got a motion and a second. Any questions or comments on the police budget?

So two questions. One, we have the attrition thing. Is the position vacant at this point in time?

At this time, yes.

Okay. And do we have one or two officers deployed?

Mayor, Council, we have one officer that was deployed. He has returned home. He will start working in about the first week of September. Another one is going to have a year deployment. I don't know if it's out of the country or overseas, but he will be gone at some point. I don't know when he takes off yet. We do have one resignation that starts September, so that opening, plus we had one vacancy, so that's where we're at.

So what are you looking for, Chief? Are you looking for one or two when you were talking about staffing?

We have one vacancy that would be part of this budget attrition thing, and then we'll replace the guy that's going to the border patrol.

Do we have any candidates at this time?

We haven't opened it up for applications yet. I was kind of waiting to see how many we're going to hire and stuff.

Thank you.

I do want to make the point too that our department heads aren't exactly excited about the attrition part of our budget this year and They're probably holding back a little bit from saying anything tonight, and I think they're doing that out of respect for the fact that Just but letting us focus on this next year getting a chance to focus on our budget with our new finance director and Him making some suggestions and us looking into things a little more in-depth as we move forward to get ourself where we can get those positions filled. So anyway, just thought I'd put that out there because if you guys are listening, they're standing up for them. It's just kind of where we're at. They understand where we're at, and they're respecting that. Anybody else? All right, with that said, please vote.

Do we have a motion?

Council members present voting the affirmative motion carries All right, we're on to item 7.

I need a recommendation for special the cardex of Bruce abuse reduction effort fund or snare budget I'll make a motion to recommend the snare budget We have a motion a second any other discussion Any discussion from the public All right seeing and please vote Council members present voting in the affirmative motion carries All right, we're on to my item number eight recommendation of the wireless 9-11 fund budget I'll make motion second. All right. We have a motion to second the other discussion any discussion from public All right, see none, please vote

Council members present floating in the affirmative motion carries.

I know I had number nine recommendation of Norfolk Madison dispatch fund budget I'll make a motion to recommend the dispatch budget second All right, we have a motion second any other discussion All right, please vote

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. We're on item number 10, recommendation of the fire budget.

I'd move for approval of recommendation of the fire budget.

Second. All right. Well, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? I see none. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Right. We're on to item number 12, recommendation of the administration budget. Region 11. All right. Sorry. You even put 11 as a Region 11. You probably tried to help me with that, and I still messed over it. Okay. Recommendation of the Region 11 Emergency Management Fund budget.

I'll make a motion. Second.

I'll make a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Discussion from the public? Nothing, Bobby. All right. Please vote.

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. On number 12, recommendation of the administration budget.

I'll make a motion to recommend the administration budget. Second. Second.

You have a motion, a second? Any discussion? Does the budget include one new chair for in here?

Yes, they'll be coming.

We do have in admin's budget, we have $380,000 in special one-time fees. What was that for again? I believe we have $380,000 in the budget for one-time. You know, there's a one-time expense in admins.

I'm not sure but the 380 that we just recently changed I guess we so we added Norfolk public transit back in for a hundred thousand Okay, and we added that two hundred eighty thousand council priority. We added that as a line item Okay, so that's what that is.

All right So that's the that's the one the 280 at the end of the year and then the 100 for the I just saw it I was questioning that okay All right. Anybody else? Anybody from the public have anything they want to question or ask? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. We're on to item number 13, recommendation of the group insurance budget.

I'll make a motion to recommend the group insurance. Second.

Motion to second any other discussion Members of public have any questions I'd see none, please vote All council members present voting the affirmative motion carries I All right, on to the street budget. Or, wait. Sorry, I keep getting ahead of myself. I'm checkmarking ahead of myself here. All right, on to item 14, recommendation of engineering's budget.

I'll make a motion to recommend the engineering budget. Second.

The motion is seconded. Any discussion? Members of the public, have any discussion here? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. On the 15, recommendation of the street budget.

I'd move for recommendation of the street budget. Second. All right.

We have a motion to second any discussion. I do see we still have $622,000 in one-time expenses in the streets budget. Is that just a transfer out? Is that the transfer out to the chaff there? Is that left? I don't have it as a line item. I just typed it out.

Do you know?

Hang on, between Sheila and I, I need to find the line item, then I can explain it. In her office, oh, the $500,000? $500,000 of that is, that's the path the sales tax goes to, so it goes in there and then it gets transferred over to Chad. Yeah, okay, all right.

All right, thank you for straightening it out for me. Any other questions?

Hello, council and mayor and staff. I'm Ty Wozniak, as you know. One of the questions I had didn't know where the proper place to ask that is. Per the police station project, we put on the half cent sales tax increase to fund the police station by cash and then the remainder of that to be used towards the roads, given the last city council meeting and how thrilled Some of our citizens are with the streets and all that. Based on current projections, will we still be able to have funds after the police station is paid off to invest into our streets to help our engineering and city departments out? So just where are we at that project? Are we within budget? Are we within expectations? I thought probably in this meeting would be good to have that answered. Thank you.

Yes, the project itself is is moving along well We've got that budgeted nine point two million. That's all in all the engineering costs furnishers furnishings equipment and the construction project itself That again that's moving along in budget And actually I expect by the end of the budget. I currently projecting. We'll bring that down a little bit and We're also projecting in sales tax to be bringing in pretty close to about $16.5 million. So we're currently projecting within our city highway allocation budget, there's $7.5 million in sales tax initiative dollars built into that, and those are identified within the CIP or within the city highway allocation with the designation ST for sales tax. So if you're interested in digging into the CIP and the CHAP portion, again, where you see an ST designation, those are the sales tax dollars.

So essentially we're on track to what was voted on. I think initially you guys were told 16 mil, 10 mil, we'd go to police station, 16 mil, and you'd have 6 million for roads. We're on.

Yeah, we're currently projecting seven and a half.

So it went up a little bit. Got it? Everybody? Anybody else? So we have a motion to second. Anybody else? All right, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, we are on item number 16. Recommendation of the fleet budget.

I'll make a motion to recommend the fleet budget.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, we're on to item number 17 now, recommendation of parks and recreations budget.

I move for recommendation of the parks and rec budget. Second.

Okay, any discussion? We did take a few things out of there kind of late on you in the game that you had budgeted. So you still have the $279 roughly in there for one-time expenditures moving forward. Do we want to let the public know what those items are so they know what's included in this budget quick? Do you want to maybe just make those what we still have in on some projects that you still are looking at doing? Because I know we cut out the bumper cars and there's a couple other things. Sorry, I was running on the spot there. All right.

Okay, so a few items that were removed, or I can mention the items that we are going to complete.

Just the ones we left in, yeah.

The ones we left in?

Just the ones we left in, yeah.

So we'll be doing some scoreboard replacement for 19,000. Our scoreboards are aging out. The maintenance is very high on those, so it's good to get some new ones. Berry Hill Irrigation, we've got a new playground going in up there. It would be really good to get irrigation in there for, have a good turf around the new playground. That's going in this fall. We're getting started on that very soon. Four Street Tennis Court fence, it's falling apart. We keep putting it back together with pieces, and it's aged out, so we need to get a new fence.

So on that, what are we doing on that for, I think it was down at $30,000? Yeah. So are you doing pole replacement and everything, or just mesh replacement?

Yeah, the quote was $30,000 for full replacement. Okay, it's a good quote. It's a good quote.

Sure. Yep. You know Liberty Bell ran $30,000, and that was a considerably smaller amount of fence.

Yeah, I was just going off the quotes that we got. So they were ready to go at 30. We tried to do it last year as well, but we had to pull it out because we had some equipment go down this year, and so we weren't able to get it done. But we were ready to pull the trigger at 30. So we go with the lowest quotes that we get.

I understand that, too. I'm just awful surprised.

Yeah, I'm also talking with the school as well, because they're talking about wanting to repaint, and so maybe we can do some sort of partnership there, because it is time to repaint probably in about another year as well, that court. Repaint? The courts. The 4th Street tennis courts. Were we just resurfacing those? We haven't resurfaced those. We haven't repainted those. Central Park we did.

Central Park we did. Yeah, that's 4th Street, yeah.

And then 7th Street and Passwalk roundabout, we have trucks that are making U-turns there and putting ruts in and breaking the sprinkler heads on a regular basis, and we just need to get that concreted in. We'll keep the flowers in the center and everything. It's just that outer edge. The camp post pad, we have a little gravel spot, but we'd like to get that paved for the camp post. That is a volunteer position. We're grateful that they're there. We want to make it a little more comfortable for them. First Street put-in, we're working on that right now. and we need to do some improvements there. We're leasing the property right now across the street, and we wanna do some improvements, but we're gonna bring forward purchasing that with a grant that we've received for that coming in the next couple of weeks. So there'll be more information coming as we go through that process. Ice rink liner, we gotta replace the liner at the ice rink. On a every couple of years. There's a liner that goes down and we need to get that replaced and then We are doing some more field conditioning we've done several fields so far at Taha and I know that I know this is going to go towards one of we're doing one of the soccer fields at North Pine right now we're getting that leveled and and more of a playable surface, and we're going to do the other field as well out there. So we'll continue working on those projects as those funds allow, but these are mostly one-time expenses.

That's all I wanted to bring up quick. Thanks, Nate, for bringing those to our attention or letting Council know it was still left in there anyway.

Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody have any questions for us here? All right, we have a motion and a second on Nate's budget. Seeing no other discussion, I would please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Item 18, we need a recommendation for planning and development's budget.

I make a recommendation for planning and development budget.

Second. Any discussion for Val? Okay. Seeing no discussion from the council. Anybody from the public have anything? All right. Seeing none. We have a motion and a second. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. We're on to the recommendation of the library's budget. Make the motion.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion for Jessica? Yep, she's here. Anybody from the public? All right, seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, we're on to the recommendation of the housing budget.

I'll make a motion. Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. I see Rita's here. Anybody have any questions for her? Anybody from the public? I see none. Please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

We're on to item number 21, recommendation of the community development block grant fund budget.

I make a recommendation for the community development block grant and learning budget.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Anybody have a question for John or Sheila? Anybody from the public have any questions on that? All right, we do have a motion and a second, so please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Right, we have on to item 22, a recommendation of the vehicle parking district budget.

Move for recommendation. Second.

We have a motion to second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, we are on to item number 23, recommendation of the airport authority's budget.

Move the recommendation of the airport budget. Second.

We have a motion, second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? All right, seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Item number 24, recommendation of capital projects fund budget.

Move for recommendation of capital projects fund budget. Second.

Okay. Move motion to second. Any discussion? Lyle's ready to go. Got a question for him. Anybody from the public? Any questions for Lyle? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, on to item number 25. Recommendation of the City Highway Allocation Fund Budget, or commonly known as CHAF.

Move recommendation of the CHAF budget. Second. Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. Any questions for Steve? Any members from the public have any questions for Steve? When I see none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

On to item number 26, recommendation of the water fund budget.

I move for approval or recommendation of the water fund budget.

All right, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? All right, seeing none, Chad, you don't have anyone asking questions, I guess we can vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

Alright, we're on to recommendation, or item number 27, recommendation of the sewer revenue budget.

Move the recommendation of the sewer revenue budget. Second.

Motion second. Any questions for Steve? Yeah. Any other discussion for the public come forward now?

Jim McKenzie. I just have a concern with the increase in residential sewer rates over the next 10 years to fund the expansion, which is mostly for one customer. It looks like over the first five years it's going to go up by, sewer rates will go up by 37.5% and by 10 years we're up over 63% for sewer rates. And it appears that that expansion is for one specific customer. I think we need to take a look at that and adjust the specific rates for the Suspended solids for that specific industry so that they carry the weight of that increase rather than residential customers.

Thank you Thank you Jim any other questions

Well, yes, I take exception to the idea that this is for just one customer. It's also for the future that way. Is there one customer that's driving this a little bit? Yes, but it also does something that we should have done many years ago.

Yeah, and if you do want to mess around with AI and you happen to type in what's the best way for Norfolk, Nebraska to grow economically, it'll focus right in on that particular project.

Well, it's that project and the industry in itself that way. So the classification or the justification that it's a single element is inaccurate.

Right. But sometimes AI likes to tell you what you want to hear, too.

Yeah, AI tells you exactly what you want to hear.

So I apparently wanted to hear that, I guess. All right. Anybody else? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right, we're on to item number 28, recommendation of the sewer maintenance budget.

I make the recommendation for the sewer maintenance budget.

Second.

All right, we have a motion to second. Any questions there? Any questions from the public? All right, seeing none, please vote. Council members present voting in the affirmative motion carries on to item number 29 recommendation of water pollution control budget With water pollution control budget Right we have a motion a second any discussion from the council no well any discussion from the public Right see none, please vote

All council members present voting in the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. We've got a recommendation of the solid waste management budget.

I'll make a motion for the solid waste management budget.

Second. Second. And Taylor's here to discuss. We could really get him up here for the first go around.

Might as well break him in.

Anything?

Yeah. We might as well break him in. I just want to make sure you get enough in there for your uniform budget. Just my understanding as I was out there last week and the employees indicated they actually had to buy their own gloves. And I thought, you know, maybe we should take a look at increasing that uniform budget.

Well, yeah, I agree. I'll have to agree with you on that one, and I don't know exactly where it comes from. But, yes, we can work on doing that and definitely help out the guys and get them gloves. Just wanted to get you up front and center.

Anyone else? All right. Seeing none, please vote. Council members present voting the affirmative motion carries All right recommendation the stormwater Am I right? Yes recommendation the stormwater utility budget All right any questions for Steve Any questions from the public All right, we have a motion second, please vote Council members present voting the affirmative motion carries All right recommendation of the debt service budget Make a motion to recommend the debt service budget Any questions Anybody from the public have any questions here All right seeing none, please vote

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

Right. On to item 33, recommendation of the special assessment budget.

I make a recommendation for the special assessment budget.

Second. Motion and second. Any discussion? Any discussion from the public? All right. Seeing none, please vote.

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. Now we have the recommendation of the LB 840 budget.

I'll make a motion for recommendation of LB 840 budget. Second.

We have a motion, second. Any questions for Brooke? I do. When are we going to stop talking about LB 840? I thought it was...

Okay.

Right, unless we want to redo that. It's been out of the works here for a while now. All right. Any other discussion? Anybody from public? Please vote.

All council members present voting the affirmative. Motion carries.

All right. We are on to item number 35. recommendation recommendation of the economic development operations budget Right any discussion for Brooke from council seeing none any discussion from the public All right seeing none, please vote All council members present voting the affirmative motion carries I All right, with that, I'd like to just say that members of the council and public, if you could keep one of our fellow councilmen in your prayers, his family, Justin Webb, keep them in your prayers, that would be great. So anyway, that being said, we are adjourned.