City Council - public_hearing

Mayor Desome. Here. Vice Mayor Cassandra Timothy. Councilman Burns. Here. Councilwoman Mary Estimate Irvins. Councilman Pierre France Charles. Mayor, you have a quorum. Okay, thank you. Can...

I'm sorry.

We'll have the Pledge of Allegiance by Major Raymond Maycock of the North Miami Police Department, followed by invocation by Pastor Geraldine Whitaker of the New Way Holiness Outreach Ministry. And then we'll get into the hearing for today. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

If you don't mind, remain standing as we do the invocation. Let us pray. Father, thank you for bringing your people together to plan and review the city's financial resources during this budget meeting. We invite your presence into this meeting to guide the financial decisions. Lord, grant the committee wisdom, clarity, and discernment during this business budget meeting. Let them look at their numbers with honesty, realism, and hope. Give them the foresight to anticipate future needs, the discipline to manage our resources well, and the courage to make decisions that honors you. Remove anxiety, fear, and confusion from this room. Protect from short-sighted mistakes and guide their spending and savings so that north miami operates with integrity fruitfulness and stability may this budget not be viewed just as a spreadsheet but as a stewardship Two, to care for the people employed and the community that's served. Continue, Father, to bless the work of their hands. Align their goals with your purposes and bring peace and unity in their discussion. In Jesus' name, amen.

Thank you so much, Pastor. I think we have everybody here.

Um mayor and yes ma'am for the record. I have Councilman here friends Charles uh here at 5 oh 4 PM.

Okay thank you and then we'll move to tab a.

TAB 8, A PROPOSED RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI FLORIDA ADOPTING A TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATE OF 7.4 MILLS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026 2027 providing that the proposed millage rate of 7.4 0 0 0 meals represent a 3.25% increase in property taxes when compared to rolled back millage rate of 7.1 6, 7, 2, providing for an effective date and all other purposes. whereas the City of North Miami, Florida has considered an operating budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 in accordance with the provisions of Section 200.065, Florida Statutes 2026, and whereas the tentative millage rate necessary to fund the city's operating budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 is 7.400%. 0 met mills which represents a 3.25% increase in property taxes when compared to roll to the rollback millage rate of 7.1 6, 7, 2 mills this increase in property taxes is due to the increase in the city's assessed valuation of taxable property on the 2026 tax roll where as in in accordance with section 2, 0, 0, 0, 6, 5, 5, 8, Florida statues as amended from time to time a two-thirds vote of the governing body is required to adopt the tentative millage rate of 7.400 mills and whereas it has been determined that the sum of fifty million five hundred sixty four thousand five hundred sixty three dollars and no cents shall be at amount of gross taxes for operations and or maintenance expenses of general funds for the fiscal year occurring from october 1st 2026 through september 30th 2027 must be raised by a tax levy on all non-exempt real and personal property within the corporate limits of the city of north miami and whereas THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FIND THAT THE ADOPTION OF THE TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2026-2027 IS THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CITY. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT DULY RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NORTH MIAMI-FLORIDA AS FOLLOWS. SECTION 1, ADOPTION OF TENTATIVE MILLAGE RATE THAT THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF NORTH MIAMI-FLORIDA HEREBY HEREWITH LEVY A TENTATIVE 7.400 MILLS Excuse me, 7.4000 mils on the total non-exempt valuation of $6,833,048,994. And the receipts from the said levy are to be deposited in general funds to be used for the operations and or maintenance expense of the City of North Miami for the October 1st, 2026 through September 30th 2027 fiscal year section to affect the date the resolution will become effective upon adoption.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much, madam clerk. Mister attorney, I'm sorry, madam manager. How do we move? Do we is a discussion on what we do open into public hearing I can't recall. Yeah, I'm not OK well. I think we already did yes, since we already know we did not increase the myth the military the property taxes went on with the property assessment of the city. Hello, vice mayor. For the record, I have and he's nice mayor arriving at 5.10PM yeah. So public hearing is open on top a public hearing this is just a millage rate. Seeing none public hearing is close since we already so motion to approves move forward will say it okay.

I have a motion made by Councilman Charles to approve. And seconded by Councilman estimate Irving roll call vote. Mayor does remain yes. Vice mayor Timothy yes. Councilman Charles yes. Councilman Burns yes. Councilwoman estimate Irving yes. Motion carries with the 5, 0, vote. Thank you to be.

I just have to.

Okay, tab B. A proposed resolution of the Mayor and City Council of the City of North Miami, Florida adopting and approving the tentative budget of the City of North Miami for this fiscal year commencing October 1st, 2026 and ending September 30th, 2027. authorizing the amount to be raised by taxation for the operation of the city for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, authorizing the expenditure of funds established by the budget, authorizing a return of investment transfer from the water and sewer utility fund to the general fund, authorizing the city manager to implement budget amendments, revenues, and or expenditures. To appropriate or unappropriate funds are as required during the fiscal year and to amend the prior fiscal year budget to facilitate the in-year closing process providing the for appeal severability and effective date. Let me read the rest.

Thank you so very much. Tab be there. Public hearing is open on tab be you mean to be the whole thing. Fixing them public in his clothes. Madam manager any.

Honorable mayor and Council. And I like the city clerk I'm pleased to present the proposed fiscal year 2026 2027 budget this balance financial plan reflects our continued commitment to responsible stewardship reliable public services strong neighborhoods and thoughtful investment in North Miami's future. The proposed budget was developed through a collaborative process that included community budget meetings, a mayor and council retreat, a virtual budget workshop, and extensive work by city staff. This process helped ensure that the budget addresses current priorities while preparing the city for future challenges. The city maintains the operating millage rate at 7.4 mills, generating approximately 50.6 million in gross ad valorem revenue before statutory discounts and allowances for non-collection. The city's contribution to the CRA is estimated at 17.5 million. The fiscal year 2027 proposed budget totals 238.9 million and an increase of approximately 4.9 million or 2.1% over the fiscal year 2026 adopted budget. The general fund totals $101.89 million, including an additional $2.5 million in reserves, while continuing to support public safety, general government, recreation and other essential services. The budget prioritizes our workforce and service delivery while recognizing rising health care, pension, insurance, and other operating costs. It provides a combined 5% merit and cost of living adjustment for PBA employees and 3% of merit and cost of living for general employees. It also authorizes new full and part-time positions primarily to support the new Cagney pool that is expected to open in this new fiscal year and expanded hours at the Galvin Center to support residents' need for the full use of the center. remaining new positions will be filled on a phase basis later in the fiscal year to balance operational needs with responsible financial management the proposed capital improvement program includes approximately 12.54 million for municipal facilities parks transportation water and sewer and storm water infrastructure projects have been prioritized based on urgency readiness available funding and the city's ability to complete them responsibly As we look ahead, moderating property value growth, rising costs, and potential changes to municipal property tax laws require continued fiscal discipline. The administration will closely monitor these challenges while protecting essential services and maintaining the operating millage rate. this proposed budget provides a balanced and responsible path forward it strengthens the city's financial position invest in our workforce and infrastructure expands community services and reflects our continued commitment to serving north miami with professionalism accountability and care i want to do a special thank you to our cfo angela angela reyes santana as well as our budget department our budget director arietta thank you so much

Thank you so much Madam Manager and now do we let me ask a quick question before we go to this is the proposed budget when would she do the CFO will do the presentation would it be after do we put on this Mr. Attorney and then we do tab C and then she could do that? The now and then we'll take on top seat with the in okay perfect. I'm really is it's all yours. Music.

Good evening, Mayor and Council, Madam Manager, Angela Reyes-Santana, CFO for the City of North Miami. Tonight we are presenting the city's tentative budget for fiscal year 26-27. This budget reflects several months of work by the administration, the Office of Management and Budget Finance, and our operating departments. Our focus throughout this process has been maintaining services, addressing our contractual and mandated obligations, investing in our facilities and infrastructure and continuing to strengthen the city's financial position. The topic for discussion tonight include the budget development timeline and fund types, historical operating millage rate and taxing authorities, historical ad valorem revenues and adopted budget, key areas addressed in the fiscal year 27 proposed budget and budget impacts to fiscal year 27 general fund revenues and expenses overview. FISCAL YEAR 27 CITYWIDE REVENUES AND EXPENSES OVERVIEW, SAMPLE RESIDENTIAL UTILITY RATES AND FISCAL YEAR 27 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS. THE BUDGET DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE. THE PROCESS BEGAN EARLIER THIS YEAR WITH BUDGET PREPARATION AND DEPARTMENTAL SUBMISSIONS FOLLOWED BY EXTENSIVE MEETINGS BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS, THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET AND THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE. We also held four community budget town halls in June, followed by the mayor and council retreat and virtual workshop in July. Tonight is our first formal public budget hearing. The final hearing is scheduled for September 15th, and the new fiscal year begins October 1st. fund types before we get into the numbers I want to briefly explain how the city's budget is organized the general fund supports our primary governmental services special revenue funds account for revenues that are restricted or designated for specific purposes. Enterprise funds operate more like businesses where charges for services support operations such as water sewer and stormwater and internal service funds account for centralized services such as fleet and risk management. That distinction is important because although we still we will discuss a citywide budget of approximately 239 million dollars tonight those dollars are not all interchangeable. Our historical operating military, the proposed operating military for fiscal year 27 to 7.4 compared to our rollback rate of 7.1672 mills for context one mill represents $1 of property tax for every $1000 of taxable value. The important point here is that we're proposing to maintain the city's military at 7.4 mills for the 5th consecutive fiscal year. taxing authorities. The city does not receive the entire property tax bill paid by a resident based on the distribution presented here the city of North Miami represents approximately 28.6% of the overall property tax distribution. The school board represents approximately 40.1%, Miami-Dade County approximately 28.5%, with the remainder going to the Children's Trust, state, and other taxing authorities. And even within the city's portion, approximately one-third of the city's property tax revenue is attributed to the CRA. Our historical ad valorem revenue. Although the millage rate has remained at 7.4 mills, property tax revenue has increased as taxable property values have grown. For fiscal year 27, gross ad valorem revenue is projected at approximately $50.6 million compared with approximately $47.4 million in fiscal year 26. However, gross revenue should not be confused with what is available to support general fund operations. These figures are before statutory discounts and allowances for non-collection, and the city's contribution to the CRA is estimated at approximately $17.5 million. OUR HISTORICAL CITYWIDE BUDGET. THE PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 27 CITYWIDE BUDGET IS APPROXIMATELY $238.9 MILLION. FOR COMPARISON, THE FISCAL YEAR 26 ADOPTED BUDGET WAS APPROXIMATELY $234 MILLION. SO WHILE THE OVERALL BUDGET IS INCREASING, IT IS IMPORTANT TO LOOK BEYOND THE TOTAL NUMBER BECAUSE THE CITYWIDE BUDGET INCLUDES THE GENERAL FUND, CRA, UTILITIES, RESTRICTED FUNDS, grants, capital projects, and internal service funds. Key areas addressed. There were four major priorities guiding development of this budget. First, funding our mandated and contractual obligations including salaries, pensions, employee benefits, and contractual services. Second, continuing to strengthen general fund reserves. Third, providing staffing and programming necessary to our new amenities and expanded park operating hours. And fourth, investing in existing facilities so that we can maintain and improve the services we already provide. Budget impacts. There are several significant pressures affecting this year's budget. Personnel costs continue to increase through salaries, benefits, COLA and merit adjustments, pensions, health insurance, workers' compensation, FICA and FRS, as well as collective bargaining impacts. At the same time we are preparing to operate the county pool and expand operating hours at the government center we're also seeing a slowdown in the rate of property valuation growth values are still growing but they are growing more slowly which means we have to be more cautious about assuming that the revenues the revenue growth of prior years will continue. Finally, our utility system is facing significant wholesale cost pressures. Wholesale utility costs are projected to increase by approximately $3.25 million from $17.76 million to $21.01 million. new positions the budget includes 18 full-time positions and 22 part-time positions a significant portion of these positions is directly related to operating new or expanded services particularly the cagney pool and the expanded hours at the galvin center the budget also provides staffing for prop for public safety building operations utility operations and public works These positions were evaluated based on operational need and the city service delivery priorities. While these positions are included in the budget, hiring will be managed strategically throughout the fiscal year to ensure that staffing growth remains aligned with available resources and operational needs. General fund revenues the fiscal year 27 general fund budget totals approximately 101.9 million dollars property taxes remain a a major revenue source, but the general fund is supported by a diverse mix of revenues including other taxes licenses and permits intergovernmental revenues charges for services and miscellaneous revenues. Our fiscal year 27 general fund expenses. On the expenditure side, the general fund is also approximately $101.9 million resulting in a balanced budget. Public safety remains our largest general fund investment. The police department represents approximately 40% or $40.7 million. PARKS AND RECREATION REPRESENTS ANOTHER APPROXIMATE 15%, OR $15.1 MILLION, REFLECTING THE CITY'S CONTINUING INVESTMENT IN COMMUNITY SERVICES AND FACILITIES. OVERALL, APPROXIMATELY $60.5 MILLION OF GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES ARE PERSONNEL RELATED, DEMONSTRATING WHY SALARIES, BENEFITS, PENSIONS, AND COLLECTIVE BARGAIN UNITS, SORRY, COLLECTIVE BARGAIN OBLIGATIONS HAVE SUCH A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON THE BUDGET. All fund revenues. Looking citywide, total fiscal year 27 revenues and funding sources are approximately $238.9 million. This includes not only general fund revenues, but utility revenues, CRA revenues, restricted revenues, grants transfers, and other financing sources, as well as available fund balance. Again the important distinction is that many of these revenues are legally or operationally restricted to specific purposes and cannot simply be redirected to general fund obligations. fiscal year, 27 all fund expenditures on the expenditure side, the city wide budget is also balanced at approximately 238.9 million dollars. The general fund represents approximately 42.7% of the total budget. Water and sewer is the next largest component at approximately $64.3 million, or 26.9%. The CRA represents approximately $28.8 million. The remainder consists of our building fund, stormwater, transportation, housing and grant programs, risk management, fleet, and other governmental funds. Here's a sample residential utility rate that you'll get next fiscal year starting in October. The increase, as we discuss utility rates, I want to connect back to the cost pressures mentioned earlier. The city purchases wholesale water and wastewater services and those wholesale costs are increasing significantly. For fiscal year 27, that increase is approximately $3.25 million. The rates represented here are intended to support the financial requirement of the utility system while continuing to fund operations, maintenance, infrastructure, and long-term system reliability. This is an enterprise operation, so the financial health of the utility fund must be evaluated separately from the general funds. Now on this side, this is where you'll see the amount that the water and sewer utility rates will increase, and this is a year they'll increase at 8.5%. OUR FISCAL YEAR 27 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS GENERAL FUND. THE FISCAL YEAR 27 BUDGET CONTINUES TO MAKE TARGETED CAPITAL INVESTMENTS FROM THE GENERAL FUND. APPROXIMATELY $1.27 MILLION IS PROGRAMMED FOR GENERAL FUND CAPITAL PROJECTS. THESE INCLUDE IMPROVEMENTS TO CITY FACILITIES, THE POLICE BUILDING ELEVATOR, CURB AND GUTTER IMPROVEMENTS, DRAINAGE WORK, MOCA RESTROOM RENOVATIONS, IMPROVEMENTS AT THE SUGARMAN TENNIS COURT, THE PARK OPERATION STANDARD ROOF AND PARK SECURITY CAMERAS. THESE ARE TARGETED INVESTMENTS INTENDED TO PROTECT EXISTING CITY ASSETS AND ADDRESS IDENTIFIED OPERATIONAL NEEDS. Our capital improvement projects from other funds. When we include our other funds, or all of our other funds, the fiscal year 27 capital improvement plan totals to approximately $12.5 million. This includes approximately $4.17 million in special revenue fund projects, approximately $5.96 million in water and sewer projects, and approximately 1.14 million in stormwater projects in addition to the general fund projects. Major investments include water main improvements, lift stations, lift station rehabilitation, sanitary sewer rehabilitation, roadway and sidewalk improvements and implementation of the city stormwater master plan. These investments are important because maintaining infrastructure today helps reduce larger and more expensive problems in future years. And with that, I'm available to answer any questions.

Thank you, Ms. Reyes-Santana. We do have, so this is the actual budget, and I do not know how my colleagues wants to do this this year um i mean we have extensive i have had extensive conversation with with staff in terms of and i know we had our budget workshop so i don't know how we'd um would want to do this um or do we just do we open it for and i'm looking for suggestion do we open it for public hearing and then we get into it. I think that might be best. So public hearing is open on tab B, which is the actual budget. So public hearing is open. And we have two mics. Guys, this is the actual, if you have anything you want to add or you want to say regarding the budget, this is it right now. Seeing, okay, Beverly Hilton.

Good evening, Veronica who's mom 540 Northwest a 127th Street. I just want to point out 2 things I think it's questionable that these specific meetings are held on holiday weekends when we know that majority of the people may not be available to I would have preferred for this presentation to be done prior to you guys voting on the items because they've already been voting. voted on I am not in favor of these budgets of these tax increases because it's questionable once again how the city is spending our money we don't have money for a failing water infrastructure for failing stormwater management we just had a water main break today again and yet we somehow come up with money to pay these exorbitant amount of salaries that people shouldn't be getting paid for so that's all I wanted to say thank you

Thank you. Ms. Hilton.

Good evening, Mayor and Council, staff. My question is, I looked in the budget. I didn't see anything about a water plant. There is an $800,000 festival. I don't know how that, where that, if there's something that's voted on already. I see where expenses for mayor council increase and where the water plant. Nothing here about the water plant. So I definitely don't support this, all these added expenses. Where are we getting the money from for this festival, Nomi Fest, $800,000. Is that something in the budget? beautification, $500,000, which is needed. But a lot of these expenses and increasing the taxes, the resident won't be able to pay their mortgages. Can I get some answer for that? Because I have parents who all work in two jobs. And if we're going to increase the taxes, what's going to happen to these residents? Those are my questions. OK. OK, thank you.

We heard you. Yes, sir.

Good evening. My name is Sam Van Leer, founder of Urban Paradise Guild. Over the last 13 years, UPG has been protecting the community every week at Ace Preserve, roughly 20,000 hours with minimal support from the city. And we've been filling the maintenance gap left by the city's systematic neglect. Unfortunately, my work without any compensation from the city was the thing holding all this magic together. And unfortunately, I can no longer do the work physically. I cannot handle the heat and the work. So fundraising has been very tough. We can no longer sustain our support for the city on this level. And I need to train somebody who can do the field work before I die trying. A year ago we came to you asking for support to keep us serving the community. You had our plans in hand when you voted, our detailed commitment for what we hope to achieve in the next phase. We thought when you passed the budget that this was primarily for UPG to serve AIDS. That's what the people thought too. Then our project was shut down with zero notice. Burns told us to be patient, that things would work out, and we kept working. But now the city refuses to pay our invoices. We're told that we have no written contract. And we need to know, was this the intent of the city council? Or did you want us to continue to work? We are very confused, and so is the community. We're seeking payment for our current invoices for the current year, a durable partnership agreement with the city to fund us next year, and obviously we will need this in writing. We ask respectfully for your support.

Chief, uh-huh. Good evening, there's members of the Council. One of my concerns is I've been in the city a long long time. I just hope we have enough money in the budget for infrastructure. Things like our pine trees, Australian pines around city property. They have to come out it's absolutely ridiculous a few weeks ago on arch on 16th Avenue. We had a tree come down take down some power lines we had I hope that's in the budget. Other things that I see, quality of life issues. I hope we put a lot of emphasis on repairing our streets and sidewalks. I walk the city, I see the deterioration probably a lot faster than most people do and most of the staff. I understand they're busy, but I hope we do put that emphasis out there. The other things that, it might be a small issue, it might be laughable to some people, But there's some streets I can't even walk down because of the Muscovy Ducks. They crap all over the place. You can't walk down 125th Barish. You can't walk down 16th Avenue. And they are detrimental to our environment. Their waste gets into the storm system. The storm system gets into the canal. We talk about our environment all the time, but we've got to put an emphasis on that. I think we should get a trapper and get rid of them. They're not nice. The federal government wants you to get rid of them, and the state government wants you to get rid of them. So, oh, they're so cute. So what do we do? Not in this administration, not with the city manager, but years ago on 125th Terrace, we put up a sign, cars beware, duck crossing. Well, get rid of the damn ducks. They don't vote, for crying out loud, you know. But my emphasis is please let's put the money where the rubber meets the road and you know you did a pretty good decent job, I think with the budget but I just hope that these infrastructure repairs are there I see fences that have deteriorated over the years that should be replaced landscaping my gosh we have trees knocked over and not replace thank you for listening to cheese and good afternoon Judy Brown 1100 Northwest 120 terrorists.

As I sat there listening at the summation of the budget, I said to myself, what is the top priority of the city? It doesn't seem like it's the residents, and certainly not the seniors. I'm a senior. And this budget is not senior friendly. We have seniors and families, young families that are really struggling with the prices of gas and the tariff has put everything up. So I ask that in every year that I have been coming to these budgets meetings, you get a COLA, a COLA, a COLA. I understand that. I was a public employee. We worked 10 years without a COLA. But the residents, the city services have really gone down. The equipment, the bug trucks and the equipment that the city employees are working with, they are old, hardly working. I will ask that you all will put this residence as the top priority in the city budget. Thank you.

Good afternoon, Randy Grice, 40 Northwest, 124th Street, North Miami, Florida. Just here to speak about definitely things that are important to me about the budget. I'm looking forward to the conversation this evening, definitely infrastructure. Hopefully we can find value in supporting the water plant infrastructure throughout the city. And once again, keeping citizens first and being as transparent as possible. A lot of times residents are confused with the budget process, even though obviously we've had hearings. Just making sure that citizens feel valued and knowing that you're putting us first and improving the life and quality for citizens here in North Miami. Thank you.

Hello. Good evening, everyone. My name is Gio Darter. I'm a resident. I'm a business owner. I'm invested in this community. And I, too, have to echo what the First Lady said, that I wish we'd be given more time to be able to, as citizens and investors in our community, know what we are up against and research, just like we can give our own personal opinion based on our actual day-to-day life here. it's important especially when it has to do with money budgeting because i too i have a non-profit i am an investor here and money is very important for me because i have to have transparency on my budgets throughout the year and i know what i do with the money that i get and i know how to make it work literally for months at a time. So I know what $40,000 means to a small organization, but I also know what $6 million means in an events project. I know that there's so much that could be done with that, and I know where the money goes. And many times I do go to city events, and I see that many of them are the same people. And it's extremely expensive. And it's a one day or two hour event, and then it's gone. Where programming is more important to me than just city events and parties, or what we call them. We are being, at this point, I think the party city of South Florida at this point. Everything's a party. But I'd like to see more education funding the arts. So bravo to the MOCA, what's going on with the MOCA. But listen. We have a foundation here that with $100,000 a year, we work all year with three exhibits, and we work really hard for our community. And now, we just said it, it's harder to get in a car and pay gas to go to another city or to see. So it's more important to do local events for our community where people could walk. share, and get to know who we are. That's why these meetings are so, so important, because we need time, because we're all very intelligent. Most of us here in this city, our average salary is 30,000 to 40,000 a year. For those that make more than that, God bless you and great, but we have to deal with $30,000 or $40,000 a year to get by. So we really have to look at the programming in our community. The arts is very important because it's what makes the city a destination, and we have to support our cultural events and our museums. Thank you.

Thank you. Good afternoon, good evening. My name is Eileen Bikaba, 13350 Northeast Third Court. I think it would really help if you have some of the discussions first, because although we read the packet, a lot of information come out that we may have questions about, and instead of having public forum first, before we kind of get an understanding of what you're going to talk about. We'd like to know about what happened with the WIFIA loan and the water plant. There is something in the budget about a transfer of, I believe I just read, $3 million from the water and sewer to the general fund. I'd like to know what that's about. It would have been nice to kind of hear the discussion about it first. I noticed that there was $800 million for D4 for last year. I'd like to know what that was for, if it was the park or something that was being developed. Throughout the year, there are problems, major problems with bid. I'd like to point out, I spoke last year about Redwood. It gets a sweetheart deal of $8 million from our general fund. And a lot of it, when I look at the lobbyists, it's the same lobbyists that are pushing this and classic friends and family in North Miami. If my roof was leaking, my number one concern will be to stop the leak in my house. That means that all the frills have to go. And I would like to echo what everyone said about infrastructure first and the quality of life of the people of North Miami. Thank you.

jim garrett 247 putney up in delray beach florida i'll be moving here on january 1st 2027. back in my own neighborhood since the states i'm going to address the state devonburg community athletic stadium i'm going to address that student athletes of north miami high north miami beach high and alonzo and tracy morning high yes you can roll your eyes Those students have to play their games at Miami-Dade North, Miami-Dade, at Travis Powell Stadium at Miami-Dade North Campus. Why we built that stadium was to bring opportunity for these kids to earn college scholarships, college athletic scholarships. It's been nine years since Hurricane Irma. We spent $900 on a track, on a nice track out there that's not being maintained, a revised track, and we spent, along with an artificial field, That might be questionable. About three years ago, we entered an agreement with Southern Stadium. I mean, Southern Stadium. We gave them $587,000 as a down payment. And what we got? No bleachers. No bleachers. Who is responsible for this? Who is? Because this city council, the only one I see that wasn't involved with this is District 4, District 3, and District 1. And the current city manager was back then, Spring Ferris. And I know Ross addressed with me about it because I had concerns. It's time for accountability in this city. We have infrastructure that's falling apart. We have lack of services. Thank you. Thank you, Jim. It's Mr. Garrett.

Excuse me?

It's Mr. Garrett.

Okay, Mr. Garrett. It's Mayor DeSomme. Go ahead, ma'am.

Hello, everyone. Jacqueline Bonilla, 12828 Southwest, 17 Terrace, zip code 33175. I'm here representing UPG. Most of you already know me. We work out of the preserve every Sunday. We've invested 13 years of service there. A not so fun fact, sea level rise one third every year. here in Miami-Dade County. That site is a speed bump for infrastructure. While I value the city's sort of commitment for great infrastructure, we must not forget our green infrastructure. And Mr. Mayor, I know you're a coastal mayor. You understand the importance of our work there. To others, it's just trees. It's just plants. It's more than that. It's planning ahead and looking ahead. We protect the community. We have been for the last 13 years. And our president and founder just said he might die trying. Do we really have to die to prove our worth? We're not just giving away things. We're planning. We're recruiting. We're strategically looking at events. where we can get volunteers. So volunteers don't just pop up there. There's a lot of effort for that. There's a lot of safety training. There's a lot of working with tools. There's a lot of educating people because we don't just believe in bringing people out for work. We need to change their lives so that they understand the importance of the work. And that's the core of our mission is to change people's lives, to save our community from sea level. And when we had our AmeriCorps funding, which unfortunately, climate is controversial in this administration, so we were defunded. when we had 1.5 million over three years and we were at ace preserve four days out of the week we were doing that so what we want to see is can you please help us to continue serving ace reserve we can't do this for free anymore that's just a reality it takes a lot of effort to protect this preserve thank you beautiful carolina matamoros my address is protected from public records uh exemption so

I see we already passed tab A. I had a couple of questions about perhaps adopting the rollback rate as opposed to the proposed 7.4 millage rate that is on the agenda. Had some concerns about some discretionary, on top of discretionary, on top of discretionary funds that is being proposed in the Mayor and Council's budget. Perhaps that can be discussed during discussions. I just think that the budget is a little bit tone deaf given the nature of what's going on in the community. So perhaps we can trim the fat a little bit and see what you all can come up with. Thank you.

Good evening, Brian jinks, 8, 6, 0, Northeast, 120 2nd Street. Let's take a moment and visit. What is the job of the government? The government is elected by the people to work for the people. I think the people want more As we've heard the songs tonight, infrastructure, safety, and less events. When I look at the parks and recs here, I want to revisit Miss Hilton with the North Nomi Festival at $800,000. That is a one day event for $800,000. When you do the intrinsic audit on a lot of these festivals, a lot of money, hundreds upon thousands of dollars is spent towards consultant and management groups. The next one on here is the centennial signage, infrastructure repair, city beautification. Where's that money being allocated? Then we go down to barbecue. We have a 30,000 one day barbecue. We have a Labor Day community barbecue for $25,000 and the vegan festival one day $45,000, which I went to last year and there was nobody there. That was very vacant there. So when we look at just these events right here, we're looking at almost $1.4 million. and where this money could be allocated towards everybody speaking out here today when we look at our residents and our medium annual income of 57, I think it was today. I don't know what the adjustment was going to the county. A lot of people struggling out there. A lot of people need help. A lot of people need fences repaired, holes in the ceiling, bus fare help, food, et cetera, et cetera. Please revisit a lot of these. I think they're a little stretched out there and a little overbearing. Thank you.

There's two mics. If you're planning on speaking on this item, please use the other one as well.

Good evening, or happy hour. Deborah Davies, 1165 Northeast 127th Street. I came in late, so I'm sorry it was hard to get here at 5 o'clock. I see that there's a certain amount of budget for the police, and I'm very concerned that in that budget, we are spending money on flock cameras. And I'd like to know if... you have signed a contract with Flock and how much money is going towards that. Because I really think that that's a very dangerous thing to have in our community right now. So many of our neighbors and friends are in hiding right now. We have TPS that has been stopped. And the last thing we need is Flock cameras that can be looked at all over the country by anybody. And I'd like an answer to that, if that's possible. Also, I'm just wondering how you can vote on a budget when three of the council people have been found guilty, and we're still wondering what's gonna happen. I know you're shaking your head, Cassandra, but I mean, I'm just wondering how that's all going to work with voting budget.

But no one was found guilty. To say someone was found guilty, that is incorrect. There was no criminal conviction. So if we were found guilty, we would be removed from office. So I just wanted to correct your statements because it could be defamatory.

Oh, I didn't mean it in that way. Okay. When I was sitting in the court, that's what it sounded like. Yeah. Okay. Well, maybe we can talk about that sometime. but i would like to know more about the flock cameras and what the city is doing about that i know there's a lot on 135th street you can go to deflock.com or deflock.org and you can see where all the flock cameras are in our city and i think it's really dangerous for our neighbors right now thank you okay see none public hearing is closed 26

There's a couple of things before we get into the discussion of the budget I wanted to address. First and foremost, there isn't any increase in terms of our budget. This is the same millage rate we had last year. What this is saying that there has been an increase in the property values. Countywide it's not that we there's an increase in Your taxes in terms of that it's it's been I think we've been having the same rate for the past three or four years Whatever the five five years on Thank You councilwoman, so there isn't no increase. That's number one in terms of and that all of us decided that couple weeks a couple months ago when we started but before I address the other points that was mentioned I I THINK WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT AND CLARIFY THE BUDGET PROCESS. BECAUSE BEFORE WE GET HERE, IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING, AND I KNOW I ATTENDED ONE OF THEM, THAT WE HAD COMMUNITY MEETINGS WHERE THE MANAGER AND STAFF WENT TO THE COMMUNITY TO SPECIFIC DISTRICTS AND ASKING FOR INPUT. I KNOW I ATTENDED ONE OR TWO. Not too many people showed up, and this was like months ago. So those meetings were the meetings when they were asking for community input, what you want, what you need, et cetera, et cetera. These meetings went on prior to them even coming to us and saying this is what we got from the community. So I don't know if we could do a better job at the education or letting folks know, but I know there was three, at least three meetings, four meetings that the administration had had. This budget is not ours, the elected official. This is the administration presenting it to us and once we adopted that's that's when it becomes our budget so there are things in here we all received this budget book last week so meaning that administration and I guess folks from the community has been working on this for months so when we get this budget and I received mine I think it was either Friday or of last week and kind of go into it and highlight and then talk to the manager back and forth. But prior to the administration putting this together and presenting it to us, there should have been or I know there was communication with the residents and that's when if you wanted you know I know a couple of folks talk about infrastructure and we're going to mention infrastructure but that's that's when that process which happened months and months before and then even the departments each department had to submit their budget months and months prior and then the budget department put it together and presented to us and tonight it's just us going over some of the i guess all of the SUMMARIES FROM WHAT DEPARTMENTS, FROM WHAT THE COMMUNITY, AND THE MANAGER PRESENTING THIS BUDGET TO US AS THE COUNCIL, AND WE ARE GOING TO GO WITH IT, YOU KNOW, ONE BY ONE TO VOTE ON THIS BUDGET. IN REFERENCE TO THE DATES AND TIME, I THINK ALL OF US WAS THROWN OFF.

If I can just address that so it's understood about how that works is that we have a certain timeline in which we can actually do meetings and that's set by the state. And there is also a start date. We were not able to have a meeting prior to September 3rd to have the first meeting. We also are not allowed to have meetings on the days that the school board has meetings and they get first choice meetings. and then also the days that the county has meetings. Additionally, the timing in between those meeting dates have a certain amount of days in which you have to have a minimum amount of days and a maximum amount of days, and then you have to have it submitted before the end of the month. So this date, which actually, as you all know, we originally were trying to do September 2nd to get out of those other dates. We had no other date available for the first meeting if we were going to make the timelines and also not use any of the dates that the school board and the county had. So unfortunately, that's happened. This has happened one other time about a few years before, but we generally try not to have meetings on the Friday evening, but that was the dates that we could propose for this year.

Yes, thank you for that clarification, and that just goes to my point. We don't want to be here on Friday, but there are certain things, and by law, we had to start the meeting. That's why I was the only one up there. Councilwoman was in her office, and Kevin was right there, and then the attorney said, just open it at 5 or 1. We must, by state law, state statute, start the meeting at 5 or 1. So that much I know in terms of that. So it's not something that I know that we did intentionally or trying to get folks to come. But again, it's my understanding and always has been, by the time this get to this point, you guys should have been at least communicating with me saying, or with your specific council members to say, okay, I ask for this, or I don't see this in the budget. So that's why when we hear to, like at this particular first budget hearing, the second one, that not necessarily to add stuff, but it's really to kind of go over what was discussed within the community, what the departments offered, and then we could give our advice, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, in terms of that. With the water plant, the water plant we all know that's one of the top priorities and always has been um that we feel long we could go down and talk about that it's a 350 million dollar project or plus so that's not something that we could afford not even with what's happening in the state we need the federal government to in order for us to do that, but that's a whole different process which has we wouldn't we would we couldn't budget is not even 300 million we would not be able to build a water plant. Even you know we could start doing certain things. But even with the states with the state of Florida, I don't think we could get the 350 million we would need the federal government which we've been um working on the manager i think um when we had our um meeting as uh god what is the thing called that um the works the retreat um thank you councilwoman um that that's our everybody's up here that that's the the top priority and i think people in the community knows that's one of my top priorities we are going to go back um to apply for this not apply but to secure this 350 million that we need from the fed in terms of um the the the we feel long that we need to build this water plant so that is still our top priority um from work workshops et cetera et cetera et cetera in terms of that yes street walks and all of these infrastructure we are a hundred years old as a city so we definitely we we understand it we know but because we do not have enough so we try i think there's a priority list and i spoke to the manager today when i realized there was a meeting um it's been on the calendar but it's friday again i did not even realize it until 11 o'clock oh my god we have our first budget hearing today thinking that on monday is labor day it's it's i'm thinking it was going to be tuesday and when i realized i called the manager i had some residents from I'm this year to not coordinated with with vice mayor's office in terms of some roads and some some but that came in this week.

Office no, I'm not aware.

No we went with your we we should be. I think you had the meeting you shared your notes with my office, but we didn't court name we didn't have that mean no no we I we had the meeting in terms of that in wheat what we're going to do on Monday all of the departments that need to be there and we invited Gabby in terms of the summary.

What we had the I'll I'll let my I'll I'll deal with that when you. So you want one you can have your well to the manager. Not include get be just make sure that I'm aware.

OK so perfect so we'll make sure that a manager we share with the vice mayor in terms of what's happened what what happened and it's some residents who contacted my office it's been months and I They've been working back and forth, and they actually scheduled the meeting earlier this week. And when we went out, obviously there were some other departments, some stuff that came out, we were not aware. So these things come on a daily basis as we try to serve the folks in North Miami. There is some questions, Madam Manager, that was mentioned, and before we open it up in terms of the the flat cameras miss Davies we are working on on on on that in in terms of on a legislative thing I believe the state kind of put them out but that's something we will deal with it but we are working on. I think you and I were on the same page with with that but so we will forgot working with the police departments because we and forgot how we best address that because that that that is a concern. But madam manager and we'll open it up with the the commissioners as well for the U P G think is I'm a little confused.

Yes, so just want to clarify just a few things first in terms of the question about the water plant not being in the budget. It needs to be understood that there is a there is a fund. But the amount of which it's going to cost and we're looking for other funding it has not been provided so I can't put into a budget. A NUMBER THAT WE HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE MONEY FROM THE GRANT. AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO APPLY FOR THE WIFI LOAN. THAT IS WHAT IT IS. IT WAS NOT A WIFI LOAN THAT WAS GIVEN. IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO APPLY.

CAN YOU SAY THAT AGAIN, MANAGER? EVERYONE LIKES TO SAY WE HAVE A WIFI LOAN THAT WE LOST.

and that the money is gone but can you please clarify that we received an invitation to apply because we do not know what type of water plant we would like to build we can't even apply right until you have um part of a design you can't actually get the funds for the wiffy alone so you have to decide exactly what you're building So just want to clarify, we don't have a WIFI loan. We had an invitation to apply. What this administration has done though, we have held our position for the opportunity to apply for the WIFI loan. We have also gone into studies about what we need. And as you all know, when we had our retreat, we talked about where we were with the with the water plant and how we'll move forward with that what we do have in our water fund which is not the general fund and it is separate is there are dollars for doing some of the repairs and portions of that will be used as far as engineering that will be needed to begin for the water plant so

And how much is that? Right. So where did this $200 million number come from in reference to the WIFI alone? Could you explain that $200 million?

Go ahead. So there is an amount you can apply for, but it actually depends on what you're actually trying to build. And we had an invitation to apply up to a certain number. That that there has been no application yet for it because the process requires to put in but what we have is we've held that invitation and in the you do have to apply to hold that invitation so that invitation stays open that is there we plan to apply for that but there wasn't a loan that was given that was lost.

No, no, no, Madam Manager, and I think we've gone into a gray area that I don't think you fully was here. I think to clarify some of these issues, yes, we know exactly the process that you explained. in terms of yes it is an invitation that we had to apply for the loan but I think some of them were in terms of where we were in the process and and how we got there and that's a whole discussion and I don't think this platform this is the right as we're dealing with the budget although that for us to even discuss that but I think we all remain committed in terms of making sure that we are going to fight as hard and do what we gotta do to secure the funding. And I think that we could move with that, go ahead.

And to answer that second part where you asked about UPG that has been doing work. So that group had been doing work that they have said was voluntary. I think what we've heard today is that they had some other grant funding and were doing that, but to the city they were providing voluntary work. They were going in there. Now we have never had an agreement even for the voluntary work for them to go in there. But the city had been aware that there had been work. There was a, then we received the correspondence, not saying I would like to now work out something with the city. We received a correspondence that said we've been doing this, now pay us this invoice. So unfortunately, we responded and said, that's not how that goes. You have to actually talk to us about the work that you want to get paid for, and then we can go ahead and look to paying them for the work. There is money that's allocated planned to be done in that area. And obviously, if we put it out, it's something that UPG would be coming. But now that they have transitioning from a volunteer service to trying to be a vendor for the work, there is a process. Their process in which they tried to do that was to send a correspondence and say, here's an invoice. So that's not actually how that works. We have not said that we would not work with them, but unfortunately, they're moving from volunteer to asking to become a vendor for the work that's going to be done in there. So in that, we have informed them there is a process for that. um and we've said let's see what you've done for the work because what we would have to do is bring something retroactive because they did work that we were under the oppression was volunteering because there was no discussion about it and then provided a later now today is actually the first time i'm understanding they were they were doing it under a grant that they had that they lost had that been the discussion we could have gone to a discussion to do that So it's not that we're not trying to work with that and there are funds in the budget for work in the area that they're doing I don't know if we could do it at the level that they've been asking because obviously they said they had a 1.5 million dollar grant but I just wanted to clarify what that is we do appreciate work that's been done in that area the city is mindful but that they have done work but that was not the way in which the relationship

um had begun with the city and so now we do need to have a formal relationship if they would like to be a vendor thank you for that because i was a little taken back also because i was under the impression it was um discretionary money that we we gave them and so i i didn't really know i think that the federal government took their money away or trump oh um so yeah please come on yeah no okay yeah i think this administration has taken away every you know yes We kind of especially with the you know doing the environment work, but I was not under the impression make some change and I think the man the manager clarify that you know that I was not aware. I thought it was just you are looking for discretionary money from us and that's what I say wait until the budget is done I could you know don't but I didn't know that you guys have been working all this but but

Just so that you understand, because we're empowered by the local HOA and community members. Which local HOA?

Acina.

Who? Acina.

Which one is that? Arch Creek East Neighborhood Association.

Okay, thank you. And in regards to the grant, that was, we were for a year and a half, so that was after our work. We started there 13 years ago. And the grant was a reimbursement grant. From who? From AmeriCorps for service to the community. But not us? No, not you. So I want to be clear about that. Got it. I want to show you guys that we have invested money in the preserve. That was the point of that conversation. That had nothing to do with the city of North Miami, just to go on record and to be clear. Got it. So that was federal funding that we found so that we can continue working there. We were defunded. It's climate. This is not a surprise to anyone. 50% of it was reimbursed by AmeriCorps. The other 50% we paid. So we've invested a lot. And that goes without saying. Now, last year, the community was under the impression, because there hasn't been any work done in 13 years beyond UPG, that if funding was allocated for parks, that some of it would go towards work for people. Let me ask you a question.

Which community? When you say the community. Acena.

Acena and other community members outside of it.

Arch Creek East Neighborhood Association.

One person, please. So... If the homeowners, so they approve it. And we don't want to have, I just wanted some clarification because we have a long meeting. But thank you. Thank you both. Thank you so much.

But if there was a formal process, we depend on guidance. But she spoke to you.

Yeah, she just said to you, we didn't know anything about it, that we'll work and we'll do what we do. Because we didn't know anything about it. you know, Arch Creek, you know, the homeowners authorized, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you so much. Excuse me? No, no, no, no, no, no. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, ma'am. Have a good one. Thank you. All right. So what we will do in terms of... I think I addressed the flat cameras. I addressed the quality of life. Someone mentioned the Nomi Fest, the $800,000. First and foremost, they talked about, I don't have nothing in this budget. I'm just going to say flat out, that's number one. Last year, we did not have the festival. For those who came and volunteered, that's the festival that we have in terms of all the money go back to help the people pay the water bill. So that is not, and a lot of the people who come are not from North Miami. So it's people from all over coming to help and support our resident in terms of that. We don't have to do it. We could take the money and put it in whatever cases. We could not do any event, but I want to be cautioned because a lot of times in terms of helping the community, you look at the budget, instead of focusing on this is a 238 million dollar budget and i've always said this because there was a year prior to covert it was like the same thing we were hearing all the the events the events the events and how you tell the community yeah you may think we have events but there are other things that you really need to focus and go into the budget we could really target and and and this and this and that so in terms of um that that is that and and if we want to ELIMINATE, DON'T DO NO EVENTS, WHATEVER, WHATEVER. THAT'S ALL GOOD AND DUNNY, BUT TWO POINTS. WE DID NOT RAISE TAXES. THE ONLY THING THAT WE DID TALK ABOUT IS AN ANNUAL, THE ORDER RATE THAT WILL GO UP. AND SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT AFFORD THEIR BILL, THAT'S A PROGRAM WHERE RESIDENTS, I THINK THEY GET UP TO $500 PER YEAR. and they're usually aligned and we don't have enough to serve the folks. And trust me, a lot of people don't even know about that program, but it's been five or six years we have the Nomi Emergency Fund that goes into that and the utility department could see it. So that's us trying to help the community in a way, and that's why we usually say, a party with a purpose that that one day whatever that we would return nobody the staff get paid whatever that they get police etc etc but whatever tickets whatever that we so does go directly into this non-for-profit which give $500 to residents anyone that would need something per quarter etc etc etc so that's I wanted to clarify those points and wanted to get in in the budget in terms of that So I don't know, because I have gone through it extensively. I don't know how my colleagues, if anyone want to take it any different. The departments, like I said, I received it last week and I went through it, highlight and did what I needed to do and I spoke to the manager, the finance, the budget folks who prepared this with specific question that I had which was, and so which is the same thing that you had. So meaning that if there was any changes, the memo that the presentation that you have would be on there and if we make Any other changes between now and the 15th, which will be our second budget, it will be reflected in a change memo in terms of what we do. We as elected officials have one responsibility. I mean, we have many, many responsibilities, but the main one as a legislator is to make sure that we vote, ON A BALANCED BUDGET AND IT'S THE ADMINISTRATION RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE A BALANCED BUDGET SO MEANING THAT IF THINGS ARE GOING OUT IT NEEDS TO COME BACK IN ET CETERA ET CETERA I MIGHT BE IN THE SAME A LOT OF THE RESIDENTS I DO ECHO A LOT OF BUT IT'S A WORKING PROGRESS. in terms of the actual budget. If there was something, you went to your council person or you came to me, we would address it like that. But not hearing it, seeing it like this, I'm assuming everybody had already made their concerns or their recommendation or what they would like at these meetings. It was incorporated if they didn't see it. So that's the point at least of the community or the council the comment in terms of that but we are here and I do hear streets. Repavement we talked about sidewalks obviously the infrastructure, but we'll start with vice mayor and we could go around. Thank you.

madam manager i do want to take the time to thank your administration for hosting the budget town hall meetings not only did we have them in person in every single district we also did it virtually and i know not that many folks attended i think i received one email as it related to the budget but i do periodically like to meet with residents to hear their feedback and so forth My first question, did your administration determine the fiscal impact if Amendment 3 passes? What is that implication to the city? I know it's not for this budget year, but for future budget years.

It's only approximate because we were focused on this year's budget, but for the first year it was about approximately another $5 million and then for the next year was going to be another $7 million adding to that would be like 12 million and then it kind of continues from there. So those are kind of what we think are going to be the impact.

with the impact is so that's going to be a negative 5, negative 7 that we will potentially lose if Amendment 3 passes. Yes. Okay. Thank you. My next question was, how many new positions were added to this budget?

I believe about 22 22 22 part-time and 18 full-time 22 part-time and 18 full-time mainly the full-time is and actually the full-time as we look at I just want to make sure we separate from general fund and from the other fund the building fund is separate several of the positions are in the building fund and others in the public works and the remaining are actually for the parks Department and that's because we have to do a new pool coming online. I want to pull this is for can't me yeah, Cagney Park has a new pool coming online and then secondly we added additional positions, mainly to support additional hours at the Galvin center.

Oh, because now we're extending it. Yeah, we're extending the hours.

We've actually finally opened the Galvin Center to hours that are, you know, that people can actually use. We've been promoting our membership at the Galvin Center, but we weren't open on Saturdays and Sundays. So folks weren't going to use the gym.

Or after five.

Yeah, or any of those after or after five. So we increased those hours and those included those. So those were the additions that were the main additions.

Thank you. The landscaping budget, this was one area where we, this was before you, we've had lengthy discussions about including additional services to whichever contractor we select. I think you have to put that out there. But in this budget, did you increase it or did you keep it the same?

We have a little bit, a slight increase. Like we've increased in each of those and we're actually working through some of additional areas to keep it clean. So it's almost about a 10% or so increase.

Okay, I mean and we have an amendment to that one for our next one. Okay, traffic circles, how much should we budget in this year for traffic circles. So it wasn't for traffic circles because remember traffic calming devices. Yeah, we're not putting the holes.

Yeah, so we have about a 675,000 total for the traffic calming. So they they don't turn out to all be traffic circles as you're saying because we submitted the full plan to the county and we got back all of the approved traffic calming devices and we'll starting the first set this month and then you will will have 675,000 for the next year which should get us through the phase 0 that we had. thank you um i know there was in the past issues with parks and cleaning cleanliness at our parks that um did park see any improved um additions to that airline item um so what so over the last few months we've had the parks more clean partially because we actually re-looked at what our the scheduling was having a a full schedule and so when there's needed we've put that in there so the parks has PARKS DEPARTMENT HAS WORKED ON SCHEDULING THE CLEANLINESS SO THAT IT MAKES MORE SENSE. SO WE DIDN'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO INCREASE, EXCEPT THAT WE INCREASED FOR WHAT WE EXPECT ARE INCREASED COSTS WHEN WE BRING, LIKE, JANITORIAL.

OKAY. THAT WAS IT FOR ME. THANK YOU.

VICE MAYOR, COUNCILMAN BURNS.

thank you madam manager um budget director cfo and y'all been working at this this for a long time yes we did have a lot of community meetings out there i think i went to three of the four and listened to what the residents were asking about Listen to what the residents did not want to have in our budget and where they thought our priorities should be. I have a couple questions for the manager just in general before I go on under the building department. There's the the the 2.6 million is that toward the purchase of a of a building that we've been talking about. That that's the fun that's been allocated to go toward that yeah under the C I P you have a dollar amount. For a property that. did not appraise out correctly, but you have it in there under the capital improvement. And a couple almost 2.6 or 2 million dollars in there to make the repairs and renovations are we still present pursuing that property even though they haven't been forthcoming and their appraisals way off.

We're we're pursuing several properties that is included but at a price that is within the appraisal. Okay because I guess and is that fun that will actually pay for that building somewhere else in the enterprise tucked away in the enterprise reserve or something so there yes, there was things that were put in the enterprise reserve and there was also additional dollars in terms of what we're going to make the changes to it that were earned in this year that still have to be calculated okay.

The question in the 6.18 the parks and rec. Community projects what what you can you go to the page number please it's it's throughout the parks, it's identified a couple times it's 6.18 parks and other community projects that's on page. One 20 of on page one 20 and then it appears again and another part. It's just that division is 618 and it pops up a couple places. And what does other community projects mean? Because when you... The young page one 21 20 is one of them I know and then there's it shows up again under 6.20, I mean 6.18 somewhere else.

So those are things that like come up with the parks like as we said we want to keep cut parks cleaner we want to exchange stuff out so sometimes those include other projects around the community for those how much is that.

You're on the one page is 650,000 and another page it has some money so that is like a catch all unidentified projects or identify, but we don't want the cost of them yet.

That that's closer to what that is is identifying, but we don't know everything is specific.

Okay. Thank you. In the reference to an item you have under centennial it has a $500,000 this past year we gave you the mission we budgeted a $1,000,000 for the centennial events and then 500,000 was taken out to do the new features with which most people very like them a lot. And then we had other events that took place which I'm sure cut into the money so is this 500,000 new money to that Centennial category or is it what the money was left over that we did not spend as a million dollars this year and what was that money coming from.

No, that's that's that's additional money. As you know, we have a we only were able to do 8 signs with that and we still have some other things for first like we're still going to be in the centennial year so we end the centennial year and we also wanted to do additional signage. Cost us the half a million for a their their beautiful signs. However,

in order to get all of the wayfaring we're trying to do that um piecemeal and have some additional signage right and that's where you're expecting that money to go okay to anything else that continues from centennial and for signage okay i noticed that last year and we've had this discussion but i want to get it on the record there's no money in this budget this year for the stadium bleachers allocated as a standalone item for the stadium bleachers. But last year we did allocate, I believe, $200,000 in there, but I don't know if we spent any of that and it just came back to the general fund.

Well there were other projects that went over and we in 200,000 was not going to put it and as you know when we had an item before us there was a there was a proposal to actually do the bleachers. But as that didn't go through so that was going to be unnecessary and we had other increases in projects that were continuing.

And some of these are for clarification for the public and just so everybody knows what's going on. before I get into it. Under public works, I think the format of this book is a little bit different than it has been in the past and so you got to look around a little bit and it's not as detailed as i i thought but under public works last year we would see street resurfacing streets striping sidewalk striping and at a time you would divide it up by districts i know you put it all in one lump sum and went to wherever the priorities were but where would i find the striping fund the sidewalk fund because i looked at the half cent because i i looked at the the half cents fund and some of the other funds where it usually comes out of and it isn't as clear as it has been in the past well then i'll identify it i'm not saying that's good or bad but i'm just saying it's it's a little more difficult to read

like to page 2, 40 tells your some of your projects which it has some of it and the other ones come from another fund to so these are separate out and some of the funds that it's going to get paid out of.

Are they at about the same level as last year or did they get decreased the what we're going to do on us resurfacing striping and sidewalk.

I'm sidewalk is about the same because we're at 400 something thousand for the sidewalks on the asphalting is a little bit less but as you know we still working on the ones from this year. So when those going will reallocate those we didn't allocate what we couldn't get completed.

Okay, yeah, so that this is new money that you're allocating yeah, this is new money that we're allocating to that but we're still completely have money left over from this year that if you don't get something completed.

Yes, I mean because of when I came back on I think we're at a better rhythm in terms of trying to get some of the projects on but we didn't we had about 675,000 were just able to get that we had issues when I got on in terms of the contractor that was not mobilizing and those things we've kind of cleared those up a bit and so we didn't put in what we wouldn't actually be able to do what we don't think we can do.

Okay, very good. What's the policy? I know sometimes when we do replacement vehicles, If you drive by the motor pool, you'll see lots of police cars damage and you'll sees a couple other utility trucks damage here and there. So if we allocate in the budget that we're going to purchase 4 new police cars for the year because of rotation and then 2 of them get totaled out within the course of the year and especially if they're brand new ones do we replace those 2 and then continue on replacing the 4 or you know, two damaged cars and we were allocated four and that's it. And the two damaged ones just ate into the new the new fleet. How does that work?

Generally, that does because it's money, right? So whatever money I have, that's the money I have to spend. Sometimes we've looked in for additional and tried to do that. I think we were doing that in this fleet fund. The fleet fund is The fleet fund is a contribution from all of the different departments, and obviously police uses up the most amount of the fleet fund that's there. So if we put for four cars, we do that. If we are down, we try not to have anyone down a car, but whatever we spend on that, that means I'm reducing somewhere else. It may not necessarily because they're still general into the fleet fund. Sometimes it might mean we looked for it somewhere else, but that actually ends up by a case by case basis. We would consider that like an emergency. So sometimes you have to move out of one project or not. So in some years it could mean all four get done and we were able to repair and other times it might not mean that.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Clean team. Is that funded at a CRA or just our general fund also?

So clean team is mainly funded by a partial of the, for the most part, because we also have like salary position that is more general fund. But part of our contract that we did have with WastePro was to assist us with additional cleaning and keeping it clean. And the clean team is mostly funded through that fund that's added in. So they give us that amount and we try to hire within that number. uh we go a little bit over because we do need a manager over and some of those but that's how that's funded and you know when you send the emails and say hey this part isn't cleaned up or there's the piles here and does that that's technically outside of a lot of the public works unless they need machinery the clean team does go out to do a lot of that work okay because they i think we keep them busy um we keep them very busy they are very busy

And whether it needs to be enhanced or not, I don't know. I'm going to jump over to the traffic devices, the common devices. I know you have a plan. I know we're getting ready to install some now. You have money for next year, $600,000, about that. My thought is that the more we can do with the humps, because that's the majority of the ones that are in the plan, the calming devices, the black rubber things as opposed to the circles, If we tried to knock out more of those humps over a larger portion of the city, because those circles eat up $100,000, they eat up about $100,000, $200,000 a circle. You do two of them, you've wiped out your fund, where those other more neighborhood street ones, you could probably get more bang for your buck as far as...

immediate impact for the for the next year that's just there there's very few circles that were put into the plan and as you know we sent it to miami-dade to do that and phase zero is um mainly all traffic um are mainly the speed tables and there are a couple of the speed signs um for that so you'll so once we complete the that phase you'll see significant amount of tables that will be put in great thank you across the city um

All right now let me go I'm going to we're going to jump into the an area. Under the parks under special events city events is just my opinions there's going to be consensus. I I find that. 3 million dollars just in general for special events is a lot but a lot of very worthwhile just casually looking at it. um my opinion there's about 1.2 million dollars that or maybe even more that i don't find necessary and again it's my opinion and i will um like to talk to you about that or your conveyment We were special events we have the fireworks were under contract we have the celebration expenses for 40,000 the fireworks are 40,000 celebration expenses for 12,000 the turkey drive is 97,000 spring 8 on a kind is 25,000. I am June Juneteenth holiday is 6500 and you'll tree lighting 15,000 special in this and initiatives are 5th 10,500 i don't know what those are um and maybe at some point we can answer that then it says brew fest which we're contractually obligated to do for 135 000 page 154 154 154. marin council initiatives for 25 000 under special events i i don't know what that category covers um veterans day supplies 5 000 memorial day supplies 5 000 and then dance class for five But then some of the things I'm concerned with father's day event for $30,000. No me fast for $800,000. The Senate 10 year-old was 500,000 you've already explained that it's it's signage and all that to to me it makes sense the back to school 12,000 makes sense. Earth Day makes sense tree planning makes sense Mother's Day, I know that. Several of the council people have their own within the different districts. I know that there was talk that you were going to try to consolidate it, but I think $50,000 for a Mother Day event is exorbitant in this particular time. A Memorial Day barbecue at $30,000? Oh. I have trouble with that. A Labor Day barbecue for $25,000 has an issue. The appreciation dinner at breakfast at $25,000 is exorbitant. Government week activities at $60,000 It's exorbitant again this is me speaking. Vegan festival at $45,000 is tough. Winter wonderland amazing event but $58,000 empowerment lunch 20,000. Lights and traffic security 5000 not too bad. Winter National Parade $250,000 Winter National Parade is $250,000 and I would never thought that I'd be the one to say and that maybe it's time to look at that and see if we should even still continue that if the price is going to be $250,000 the community band $10,000 you know is a great thing concert band that's great but between know me fast i know it had been a fundraiser if if any department can tell me how much those ticket sales what's the dollar amount that we give to go to the water fund do we know if it's a hundred thousand or

I believe it was about close to $107,000. Okay.

I would rather write a check to the water department for $100,000 or $150,000 and not do the festival, but take a line item because we'll save $650,000 over... spending 800 000 to to raise 150 000 for a a one one-time event i can't get bleacher seats at you know 800 600 a million dollars but a one-day event as a that could pay 75 of it or 80 of it as opposed to bleachers that are going to last for the next 30 years um i i This category is writing the ad for why people should vote yes on property tax reduction. I'm not in favor of it, but this type of spending, people are going to say, why am I spending $2 million, $3 million on these type of events? I would go as far as you keep the 4th of July the Memorial Day Veterans Day one or 2 other things if we had to do away with everything else I would have no problem with that including the winter national parade and even though it's 80 years old at $250,000 for a. 5 hour event to take place you know it's the only one itself Lord I'm not for that. And these are numbers that really don't show the true costs because there's other things involved there's other and kind there's other stuff that gets written off to other departments and i would seriously ask my colleagues to to look at this uh if a father's day event is is balanced at thirty thousand dollars if we cut it down to fifteen mother's day events you know consolidate them and and cut it down to twenty thousand dollars i don't put on a mother's day event i don't put on a father's day events they're great events people like them but If you look at the number of people who show up to these events. It's disappointing and the effort and time that the staff puts on to it. And taken away from other duties. It's a lot of money and it's getting out of control and there is. I just think we could do a better job and I would just probably cut $1.2, $1.3, $1.4 million out of that budget on those particular items because I just cannot look at the people in the audience and say, We're going to have a festival or we're going to have a Mother's Day thing or any event and that's more important to have a one day event rather than getting you more calming devices, getting you bleachers, getting you more solar lights, getting you more whatever more sustainable substance planted in your community. And I went to most of those workshops i did not hear one person say oh my gosh we need newer and better and better events and again if the fundraiser for nomi festival contributes 150 000 to the emergency water fund i like i'm going to repeat it i gladly put that item in the budget to go ahead and write them a check so that the residents had that emergency fund as opposed to spending 800 000 on that I'll be wrapping up in a second and I would like to come back but madam manager you were able to answer quite a few of my questions I appreciate it what's community oh I have a question what is community update workshops $60,000 it's on page 195

So we do a number of initiatives. Either we do addresses to what's going on in the community, we do the budget workshops, we do all of those things. Those things are all part of our cost, so when we do community updates. And what we found is that I'm taking people out of time, I'm paying additional overtime, I'm doing all these things whenever I have any of those events that address the community about what's happening in the community. So that was this time was actually put in there. and i do just want to you know say that we did take a lot of time into this budget and when you look at our overall 238 million dollar budget we spend less than one percent on that in terms of the events and i do get a lot of responses from a lot of people from different events and it's really hard to capture which event is more important than other events because we have such a diverse community so that is kind of why we see some of these things reflected because While one person might say I don't like this one, some others might say I like this. People celebrate one other thing. And so we did make a concerted effort that it was about a 1% of the budget because we did hear, hey, there are events, but we also had a hard time differentiating between what's an important event to which part of the community and not leaving any of them out.

Okay. I'll come back to that that comment is actually I'll touch it now. It's the perception and I do the shamrock the block. I take sponsorships and I take it out of my discretionary money and I don't really use any city staffing or or But I don't have anything line item out in there. But if you take the events one by one and look at it and what is your return, your number of people that participate, do we need three Mother's Day events by three different individuals or do you have it as one that is one that is put on by the city of North Miami and not any individual council member if it's coming out of your funding or the parks departments funding. That's my point the luxury is not here anymore, especially with what's coming up that again. take the Winter National Parade away. You know, it's been here for 60, 70 years. Take away Nomi Fest, take away some other stuff. It's lean times and we have to look at it. Also under non-department, contractual services is that just general contractual services because it's a pretty good amount of 130 000 um is it what you're anticipating from contractual services um throughout the city or or what were you thinking on that particular part yeah it's usually throughout the city okay and then this year there's new line item for the miami-dade beacon council is that a a fee or a

It actually, so it was already in this year, so it's not one, and that's one of the ones that we use for our economic development initiatives. We've been actively trying to use the Beacon Council to help us push out North Miami, and as you've seen over the years, when I was here before, before I returned, we started to have a very active conversation with the Beacon Council about how to bring development here, how to bring those things, so we continue to have those conversations. they have agreements with pretty much many municipalities including miami-dade county as well and that that's what beacon council is but it's not new um it was already here in this year in this year's budget so it's already been in the budget somewhere yeah so so they actually help us yes so wouldn't that be better to come under the economic development category rather than it was but as we were developing the budget it actually we had to put it in a place because that was actually um that was actually unintentionally left out and so when we realize that we did that that's also an obligation because we did this this body approved an agreement with the with the Beacon Council drew out so it's an approved agreement and as going through the budget we looked at that and because we had already started printing we put it there.

Okay that makes sense. I think I'll be done one more item I think You have a $171,000 in the for the for the for the the mocha bathrooms. Which is great they need to be renovated but at the tennis courts we have $260,000 for the bathrooms and if you ever been to the tennis courts and saw the size of their bathrooms and been to the bathroom situated here and mocha they're they're totally 2 different mochas much nicer and larger and so forth um but the discrepancy of almost a hundred thousand dollars of what it's going to cost to renovate them it caught me by a little surprise 260 000 to renovate bathrooms at the tennis courts and 171 000 to renovate mochas i think mochas is more in line with what that may or may not cost i just find the the tennis courts at 260 000 for bathrooms really needs to be looked at

Well, I think that when you're talking about renovating bathrooms, it depends on what you're renovating right because if you have to get into pipes if you have to get into those things are different so I don't compare any of them exactly the same. One bathroom just because it's larger doesn't mean that it has the same problems as the other from generally what we do is we put in what we can estimate from internal and then after that once we get bids back will know what the actual prices.

That's all I have for now right now Mister mayor.

Okay, thank you Councilman Burns and Councilman Charles.

Thank you very much Mayor. Madam Manager, thank you. Our CFO and the whole budget team. Just want to say thank you to each and every one of you. Bear with my voice. I see that Mr. CA, you're looking at me. I am not 100%. So I'll be better for our second budget hearing, but I didn't want to stay in bed and not come in to do my job. I had a procedure on Monday, so just bear with me. So I'm okay. Now, quickly, Madam Manager, just want to say thank you for the hard work. I said it to our CFO. I know it took a lot of time, sleepless nights to put this budget together. And I just want to thank you all for that. I will start with last year. into our budget for District 4, I had some items that are still in the work. So I don't have the tree trimming, the tree planting, street resurfacing, lighting on 125th. So I just want to quickly get a little overview so that I don't get lost in the process, because I know we are at the end of the 2526 season so where we are with those.

So I think we we've done like a little bit of an update as you know the the we're not able to get sometimes we can't get the projects going as there are at the same thing and including further resurfacing when we first got here we didn't actually have a contract that was actually really ready to move an employee so we spent some time on that um there has been some things that have been done in that district we have now a full tree trimming program so we're kind of trying to move people into that to be able to take advantage of the city-wide tree trimming program it took some time to put that together but if there's specific tree trimmings we're putting that to there and we've contributed about a thousand dollars towards trimming the trees that they can come and apply for to do that But it took us a few months just to set up the tree trimming program. I understand it happened before I came. There was a talk about it, but we actually have it set up. We also have been working with Public Works to set up the actual driveway approaches. Haven't done all the lightings, but we have done some of them. The tree planting issues came about because originally the tree planting ideally was going to be with the grant but of course we looked at what was being approved by that and that wasn't and so we had to redo that so I understand that's not what you wanted originally and should have been the case but that that took a little bit more time to get us to where we need to be with the with the tree planting but they are all in the plan works for your planting.

Yeah, with the tree planting, I've been trying to fix that like four or five times. The money was not about the grant. It was money budgeted for our tree planting because every time, you know, the kind of trees and everything with the grant, you're like set to some type of trees and trees that I don't want to put in District 4 because those are the trees that are killing our sidewalks and everything, give us all kind of works and goes into our... residential Residents house and everything they've been complaining. I don't want to see them That's why I want to some like more trees out being beauty to the to the area instead of those are Big old tree that we have that are causing a lot of form So I think I try to clarify that three or four time and we have a clarification now But now we have to kind of mobilize for the tree plantings. Yes. All right. Thank you Also heard um councilman burns i just don't want to go back to the total line on page 154 and i think is uh is a concern it's a concern i think uh with everything that we're going through if everybody can you know just just slow down and i say if we just put like about 80 percent of that fund just on page 154 into street resurfacing for the city we will see a lot done like 250 000 for that parade i don't think is the right way to go and um also if we're going to uh spend eight hundred thousand dollars and get about 150 000 or two thousand dollars back that is a problem That is the problem because the math and mapping. So we just basically do that for the fun of it. And we're not getting anything in return. If I'm going to spend $100,000 as a businessman, I expect to get at least $125,000, $150,000. So I know or break even. Anything lower than that is a loss. and with everything that we're going through and look at what is in the pipeline to come. We need to be mindful of how we spend our tax dollars. So I think Councilman Burns, I'll say that's the proper way to go. And again, it is the first budget hearing. We have time. We can go back and look at those numbers and realign because they don't make sense. Because coming to the budget, everything that i heard we have to cut back we have to cut back we have to cut back but if we're going to cut back and then get into those uh festivities the way we are moving is like we're just doing one plus one and then we subtract two get us to the same place or sometimes we subtract three because we get into the minus so that i think we need to go back and take a deeper look because i am not going to be able to um support our budget with this kind of numbers because they don't reflect what we need at the moment so that um it is something to uh take into consideration the other thing i want to thank you for was those uh budget meetings um i was so lucky to attend all four of them the first one in District 4 at the Scott Galvin Center, we only had one resident. I think that resident was a resident of District 2. And the second one was the library. I was there. We had about three or four residents of District 2. And then the third one was at Griffin Center. We had about six, roughly six or seven. But when you come to District 4, and I am going to say kudos to our resident HOA, we had a large audience and there were a lot of questions those questions were about to keep District 4 clean we had questions about the entrance and exit and the side of I-95 which we made a challenge up to now We had questions about safety, which I know you've been working very hard on to put those calming devices that we cannot wait for. We had questions about our district for being in the dark, lighting issues. We had questions about the water treatment plant. We had questions about street resurfacing. We had questions about . All those were part of the so many different level of questions. We had questions also about code enforcement, boats, two boats in one yard, boats in front of the properties, RVs. Even with the RVs, I think we need to have a wider conversation because it seems like what we hear here on the dais when all the residents are here is not the same conversation that we have when they are gone. I think we have to be honest on how we're going to move with those RVs. We cannot wait for something to happen, and this is when we're going to react. They had a lot of questions about that in District 4. In District 4, We also talked about Sassopul. Sassopul is still pending, and we're still waiting patiently. And District 4, we also talked about Sunkist Community Center, see what we can do with that facility. So the traffic circles. And that was notes, more like basic notes that I took from that meeting. And the residents of District 4, they came out and they spoke. And this is what I would like to see in this budget. We're not there yet. I know tonight is our first budget hearing, but coming back to the second budget hearing, I would like to see some answers to those calls.

So, you know, I want to respond to a few things like Sasso pool. We already worked through getting our what it's going to cost and moving forward on it. However, we allowed because there was programming in the summer and that's when they do the do that. So in fall we're already starting to work on sasso pool we've already had the discussions into on to the lighting so we are working with the group in terms of trying to bring the additional solar lighting to some of the areas where there's not the lighting i've also had several conversations with fp l and some of the issues that we're having is not necessarily that it's not reflected in the budget but there's also an issue about actually the project being able to move forward for other reasons So they are reflected in the budget, and they're planned for in the budget. It's just timing in terms of moving them forward.

Thank you. And Madam, I am not going to only bring my grievances, which are not just mine. Those are basic notes that I took from the meeting at the JCC when the residents were there. I am going to tell you that I also want to be thankful for all the work that you and your administration have done in District 4. For example, looking at Pepper Park, we're not exactly where I would love to be, but I just want to say that You guys have been up to the challenge. Paper Park has been clean. Guys keep it up. The grass looks very nice. And working there just give me kind of the push that I need to do one more lap. Also sidewalks. I've seen you guys very active and you've been doing a lot. And I know street resurfacing, as you said, you are working on it. I just want to say thank you to all those. For the alleyway cleanup, I know we have a Bueno Initiative. I just want to say this. Is there any way that we can do it by district? Because what I'm seeing is that by just the one, two, and district four, three, and district one and everything, it is not give us the look that we want. Let's say this year, we just want to clean everything that we have in district one. And then we're done, and the resident will take over. And then we move on. I think that would probably work better instead of the

the 2 and 3 and there and everything so we did all the we don't know your D 4 was all done one time the issue is people came back up but they're all separately done so D 4 was done as a group D 2 is done as a group. We're still on D 1 and I think we're still on T 3 I'm not I could be incorrect about the districts, but they've been taken during that time now with T 4 we came back for a few because those were missed.

yeah yeah yeah now we'll talk about that so that is that is my um my advice as i said uh i am not going down the list tonight and everything and a lot of pointers that i have they've been already raised there's no need for us to go to that i know it's going to be a long night but um as i said uh if we go back and revise um our page 154 of the budget And, you know, I look at this money just into street resurfacing, sidewalks and everything. I think it would be a better way to invest our money than everything else that I saw in here. And with that, I'll stop and take a little break for just a word that I need.

Okay, Councilwoman Irving, everybody stay put. We are going to be here for a long night. It's my understanding. But go ahead. Yeah, no, he just announced it, because we have to give them direction and go. Because second budget, it's... By the time we get to the second budget, it should already been... We got to... LEGISLATED AND TELL THEM WHAT WE NEED SO WE HEAR SOME OTHER STUFF SO IT'S NOT GOING TO BE AS EASY SECOND ONE WILL BE VERY EASY WILL BE IN AND OUT BUT TONIGHT IT SEEMS LIKE WE HAVE SOME STUFF BECAUSE THEY HAVE TO HAVE A BALANCED BUDGET THAT THEY PRESENT TO US I'M SORRY GO AHEAD COUNCILWOMAN MY INTENTION WAS TO COME IN AND OUT BUT IT WAS ALL DONE BUT GO AHEAD WE HAVE SOME

Good evening, everyone. Again, I want to echo a similar sentiment by saying thank you to the administration, to the finance budget department for taking the time to educate the audience and the effort that was made to get everyone to come out. I know on top of your effort, I made additional effort to get folks out. but like you've heard tonight and about the water plant off obviously that's very important and i understand that right now we do not have the funding for that but can you tell me what dollars or are set aside to maintain the water plant now what's that amount in the budget to maintain our existing water plants

The entire enterprise fund is used to do that. It pays for the folks that keep up the water plant and to purchase the water, so that fund is what we use.

and okay, I'll move on what about for a drainage in in particular what is the dollar amount that's been set aside for sewer and and and and and stormwater.

So stormwater has about a budget of 2.4 million in terms of new drainage projects, I'll defer to the CFO.

Right, so let me be more specific. It's a District 3.

I would have to ask the public works director to if he has the specifics for district 3 as far as stormwater.

Well the stormwater is not separated by the districts, it's by projects it was not separated by the mention all the drainage is not some of the major areas that you have like Northeastern court that's been put out for thing and that's part of the budget, but it's not separated by districts.

Okay, when so there's money in the budget to address and the same yes, that's already an ongoing project. All right for the senior program. We are now at 3 days to is there an extension of days for senior program.

No we've extended last year from 2 days to 3 days a week so it's included for 3 days a week now so there's an extension for that in the budget.

Also can you just give it an update on and Cagney Park and where we are and where we are with that here. And in terms of what fundings are still available or or what you have put in this budget for so Cagney Park.

Dollars are going to be rollover dollars from dollars that were held off for what the cost of the project is. As you know, Cagney product has gone over budget. by significant amount. And so those are going to be there we should be done we're well. Do you want to I wasn't planning for a full Cagney Park update, but we are at the but you could you just give the dollar amount that we have in this budget for Cagney Park. There's not, well, 21, we've spent, it would be what is left of what has not been spent yet. So it has cost about $21 million. It's like a rollover fund for that in here. So we had already allocated like the original $17 million, and then as it came up in this year, most of those additional funds that had to be spent on Cagney were spent this year. So we have rollover funds for it. So we expect it to get to 23 million, but we've already approved a bunch of those change orders already in this year. Now we wouldn't have paid that out because we have what we have like a retainage and they haven't gotten to the end. We expect we'll be at 75% by September 25th, so we'll probably have paid about 65% of what we need to pay for that project. And we hold back 10% in retainage.

Okay have another question in human resources, there's a salary study of 25,000 is that something that we put in the book every year or is just this year we're trying to do a salary study.

I usually comes in a one or every other every few years that we have to you know keep up into a salary study. So we hadn't had one in 2 years so we do in every couple of years.

Oh can you though the waste pro scholarship. Is this I don't know why this is the first of them catching that.

BECAUSE THE WASTE PRO SCHOLARSHIP IS APPARENTLY AND THERE'S A REASON WHY IT'S STILL IN THAT BUDGET IS BECAUSE WE HAD GOTTEN THE FUNDS AND IT WAS ACTUALLY PAID OUT OF THAT ACCOUNT AND SO IT WAS PUT BACK INTO THAT ACCOUNT.

AND WHAT IS THAT SCHOLARSHIP USE WHAT DOES IT GO TOWARDS? It's a scholarship.

Oh, so I've never heard us. Yeah, they pay two scholarships out. Okay. Yeah, it's part of their community benefits. You just see it as an expense out because it was put in that, it was put on that department, because they paid it out of that, from that department. No, so I've never, I mean.

It's in our community benefits agreement. Who's been a recipient of the wasteful scholarship in the past?

So waste pro contributes a community benefits to the city every year we collect over half a million dollars. And there's $2500 allocated for 2 scholarships said $1250. To the was the number 2,500 North Miami's North Miami education Foundation.

OK that's what I wanted to know so they they and that that those dollars go to the North Miami Foundation, yes, OK and it's part of the way for the scene always go OK got it. Oh so the tuition reimbursement for employees that's that's $50,000 period right for all of the employees. Yes.

that's that's all my question for now thank you all right thank you so much councilwoman um estimator irving and all of my colleagues um some of the issues that i've heard today and i wanna the reason i say you know it wasn't the intent to go um department by department um i had that was not the intent but obviously some of my colleagues had different things and i did not expect that because i i do think this has been a long budget process and being out in the community folks um you know would say whatever they needed from the council person and or they they may they may say it at these budget hearings and then we incorporate it if we don't see it we see what we have to do so us being here tonight is to reflect that and um as i stated in the first um my opening remarks yeah if you if we're doing first of all i i have a rule um the the past 10 years which i think um when councilman galvin was here we got to be very respectful in terms of we're here to represent the the residents um we do not agree on everything and we will not agree on EVERY PARTICULAR THINGS. THERE WAS ONE TIME I REMEMBER AND I THINK I WAS ONE OF THE FEW I THINK COUNCILWOMAN IRVING WAS HERE WHEN THEY WERE THE RESIDENTS WERE EVENTS AND ALL THIS AND ALL THAT AND AGAIN I SAID IT I ALWAYS SAY OKAY IF WE FOCUSING ON THAT WE COULD LOOK AT IT BUT YOU HAVE A BUDGET OF OVER 200 SOMETHING MILLION DOLLARS IF YOU'RE GOING TO FOCUS ON um two or three percent less of the budget and you think that's gonna make you know that that we could do that and we didn't have events for many many years during covent and we talked about the services so again it's everybody's um rights and responsibility um in terms of what we do um going after you know different line item um particularly but i i would suggest if A COUNCIL PERSON WANTED TO PROPOSE SOMETHING FOR THEIR DISTRICT, WHATEVER. WE COULD DO IT NOW, BUT I WOULD HAVE ASSUMED THAT IT HAPPENED THROUGH THE MANAGER, ET CETERA, ET CETERA, ET CETERA. BUT WE'RE HERE. WE COULD DEFINITELY GO OVER IT. I HEAR FOLKS TALK ABOUT the the nomi fest events we could cut this event the states already cut some events so if we want to cut all events and we we saying all let's do that we it it wouldn't make certainly i i would not you don't mind and someone talked about um and and again that's what i say we we have to be a little bit respectful to um you know to talk about individuals event no yes you would need some money in terms of what's happening now with the economy to get the acts that you need to get to get the money that you need to get to help the folks. Yes, it may sound better, oh, you're spending X number of dollars for X number of people. There's two things with the Nomi Fest events, and I think we might be at a point where, since I'm one of the founders of this event, where I said, you know what, let's forget about it. It's not something, for me, that's number one. The purpose of it was in terms of the community, but I found something when we first started. There's something about the staff here that... the feedback that we get from the public, those who come to North Miami. And if that's something that we decide not to do to promote our city or promote North Miami in a different light, then that's fine. Residents does not come, but the money that we do get does go and help out some residents, some residents in need. Jazz in the Garden costs the city of Miami Gardens $6.3 million. every year, and some even higher. But they decided as a culture promoting their city, bringing folks in to help the business and stuff, that's fine. But in North Miami, if it's this person, you don't like this person, you're going to go after this and this and that to talk about events and this and this and that, the events. You know again if we're going to really really talk I'm targeting the budget and there are a lot of stuff that we need to talk about then we could do that we could go through all every departments in in in in reviewing but to sit and talk about we don't want thanksgiving day paraded across too much money to for everything is going up if we're not going to have one I don't think we should have any. We could talk about, okay, you know what, let's see what we could do to cut to fund this. I think that would have been a better approach, more respectfully, okay, maybe we don't need to spend 800,000 or 50 or this, but let's see what we could do as a city to get the same result or to serve more people You may not like it, but we have over 60,000 people in our city. We're never going to please everybody. Some people like this and some people don't. Some people may hear this. I get all of it. I do understand the priority. I would like to see all of the streets resurface. So if that's the goal, we could say, okay, where do we find more money to do more resurface? Then we could look at, okay, maybe we could cut from this one, from this one, and see what we do. I do not, and I've shared this with staff since, I think we are a lot of, people you know heavy in terms of management um the staff you know but it's it's growing and and that's one of the concerns that i have but i'm not gonna come here doing this meeting just to show folks i'm i'm trying to do something no i don't operate like like that um i know that if this thing do pass next year um commissioner respectfully Folks gonna vote on the amendment based on what they think is good for them. So they're not thinking about the community when they vote for amendment three. Okay, they're gonna vote because they think that it's gonna do something good for them and the next year they turn around, we're gonna have to cut police, we're gonna have to do whatever and then they're gonna realize what they do. So that's the bottom line. So we are a community of 60 plus thousand people. How do we serve the community? We have a beautiful museum. Some people love supporting the museum. I'm a big supporter. Some people don't. Some people love education. Some people don't. We all have our strength on here. There's different things that the vice mayor do. I'm not a specialist promoting the business, but as part of the mayor, that's part of my thing. I support some of the activity that they do. The different council person, the events that they do, I support some of the events. that they do. Maybe we could look at, hey, let's see what we could do to cut the cost. The state already, like I said, eliminates some of the events that we would cut, we would have in terms of this DEI thing that they have. So again, I think as we're moving forward, I think cutting events, unless we're saying we want this number for resurface. I called the manager. I said, I met with the folks in this particular block. They would like the streets to resurface. How can we get that money in there in this budget? They would like to see a little park, which it's my understanding, and I haven't met with the parks director and the administration to see if there's money that's going to go towards this particular park in North Bayshire. So those are the specific things that we could say, OK, where can we take money? Where can we cut? We are adding 18 full-time position. That's a lot of money. But we do need that because we have a new pool. So how do you balance it out? And I think that's the challenge that we see, we have. Because we need people to implement and do what we do. Some of the things that we do. Now, how do we find common ground? to see we serve North Miami the best way. We may have our differences here, but I will tell you one thing. I think all of us have a passion to have something for North Miami. We may not have the same approach on how we do that. And my job here, and some folks may like the approach or don't, because I get it all the time. Oh, man, I like you said this. I don't like this and this. approach is trying to see how do we get it all together despite us may have differences but once we are up here we are here for one goal for north miami and that's how we're going to do this um and i let's let's start with um and and we'll do the cut um councilman um sir i know you mentioned some some stuff you would like to see for your district this is the time let's put it out there let's see what we could get and then we will figure that's what we used to do by the way we never used to come here i remember um we have um councilwoman keys galvin the mayor the former mayor myself and vienna man and we would talk about okay this is what we want for our district These are the priorities. I thought that the manager, which I know she had asked me for my priorities, we talked about it, so that's why I was not under the impression there was some issues. We could have came in, but if there is some line item somebody asked, that we needed to fund it, that's what we are here for. To see what, do we need more money for this, for the side road, for resurfacing speed bumps, all of these different things, we could do that. And we could find ways in terms of giving the manager and the administration direction to come on the 15th with a balanced budget. Let's look at page 4 out of 320. Mayor, are you proposing that we go department by department?

Well, I don't want to do that, Vice Mayor. But who's requesting it up here?

He made some comments, Councilman Charles made some comments. So what I think we could do, Vice Mayor.

Because I know normally what we do is we'll come back, we'll give our changes to the man and manager, she'll prepare a change memo, and then if we need to vote it up or down at the next budget hearing, we vote it up or down. but this is the first time we're seeing that.

That's what I thought that we were going to do, but they had specific line items and specific things that they would like to see in terms of cut. If we're going to do that, then I wasn't open to- Can we do that through the manager? i mean we can but they would not they wouldn't well no the manager normally comes back with a change memo that it will be available to the public so either way we could do it tonight or on the on the 15th i'm i'm more going towards the 15th but i would like to if what i'm asking and i i probably will take your lead on this not necessarily to do it department by department but maybe councilman charles instead of

um you you councilman um burns madam i think were you going to say something about it i've taken in you know the notes and obviously there's different ways i will look at some of the areas that we spoke about and see if there is a change orders memo that can be a consensus that i can bring back based on some of the things that we said here

I think that's proper. Which is fine, but I wanted to hear the specific because last time we did that and I started getting texts, oh, I didn't know they did backroom deals. But the change memo is posted on the agenda, is it not?

Yeah, no, we posted on the agenda. We posted the Thursday before.

Vice Mayor. This was even on you know we had the workshops we had these in all I'm saying I'm not asking that we do line by line, but if they are you clear on the specific the councilman talked about because I could talk about some specific to and then we call it a day.

So I think there's a you know, I think there's a conversation about. The events. And I don't know that there's going to be a consensus about like what all of the reduction of the events, but I think like looking at a specific number and saying, okay, all the events went by this number and maybe that goes towards something. Okay. Percentage wise might be something.

To make it more easy since Nomi Fest is one of my stuff. And I did propose if we're not going to do it, I don't think we do all of them, but I don't think that's the fair way. So let's just say we have $600,000. So you've got $200,000 on the side to do that. So that's the type of back and forth where the public knows. We kind of know what's going on instead of... Because I don't want to... You do the memo with us and we come here on the 15th or you post it and people don't have time to read it. A lot is going on in the world. And then you're like, well, you know, you guys did this. So those are the specific, at least we would have the generic in terms of that. I don't think we should cut. do we want to cancel the the the parade no i don't think we if we're doing my manager what i'm with the bang is 100 years i think whatever that we could yeah whatever we could you know we could leave that up to staff in terms of we see um councilman burns said it's a little bit too much we get it and i think you get it and i'm saying that what we can do but I have specific that I was not going to mention because I thought all of the districts put in their priorities. The street resurfing that I talked about, you indicated to me you had to check out and see how much it would cost. They also talked about the little park thing. I don't know what that could be, that would be included. So I don't know if my $200,000 that I just allocated, if that could go, that's... taking from the nomi fest if that could go on part of your resurfacing so i'm not only cutting but i'm giving you you know how to balance it out so that you know so once we see it we'll have what we need to have i'm not going to suggest you know this event or we cut this yes i think we see there's a reduction if you could work with your staff i think that's what the vice mayor is profiting and i'm in agreeing to it um but if we If that's all we want to discuss tonight, I'm good with that any other colleagues if those were the main I can come back said anything you want it for this.

Okay, I don't know what I said from the onset of the meeting when I you give you the Mike is that I am going to waste myself. get ready for a long night out of second budget here that's uh basically that was my point because uh you're healed yes uh because i'll be i'll be fully healed and and i can get a long night but my only point was that let's see if we can do more in terms of um our infrastructure and everything in this budget. I know it's a tough year. We basically cut everything, cut here, cut there. But let's see if we can do something for, you know, for the city. It's our centennial. Yeah, we need events. But I don't think $250,000 for the parade, I think that's a big number. That's fine. uh you know those are the things that we need to look over it's not gonna it's not gonna happen one two three because we need to give it sometimes and make sure that the numbers make sense you know and then they come back and here i am gonna have like about 25 to 30 questions until we get it right okay i i okay i'm gonna let you go ahead councilman mr mayor um but

Since I kind of started some of the conversations off some of the events that are stables of the community 4th of July Memorial Day.

I'm perfectly fine cutting every single event.

CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING, YOU NAME IT, EVERYTHING ACROSS THE BOARD, TAKE THAT $3 MILLION AND PUT IT SOMEWHERE ACROSS THE BOARD. WE'RE ALREADY CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED FOR BREWFEST. I THINK THAT SHOULD BE UNDER A DIFFERENT CONTRACT, NOT PART OF OUR...

I THINK WE CAN ALSO CANCEL THAT IF WE NEEDED TO.

Yes, okay fine and and the or that that's one concept across the board or go back and see how much you can actually slice and dice on some of this stuff and here's another strange thing. Allocate an additional special event. dollar amount to the individual council member and mayor whether it's 50,000 or 75,000 they pick and choose if they want to do 4th of July that not for the time now Father's Day Mother's Day barbecues whatever as a separate thing if to get together. or three of us get together and and and put a bigger program together that's fine but yeah so we can either wipe out every single thing and not do anything or we can cut cut cut but three million dollars worth of special events a million dollars worth of special events would be more than more than than enough but see if we're going to have a forward conversation yes all of those discretionary all of that is still the same pot that's what

it's all the general fund um so we're still spending like general fund right and then so even if you say i k i spent this on my on my discretionary from my discretionary that's still coming from the same pot we just actually just don't add it in so WHAT I'M HEARING FROM THE WHOLE DIAS HOPEFULLY IS LET'S LOOK AT THAT.

NOT THE WHOLE DIAS.

SOME. WELL, I THINK YOU PROFERED A REDUCTION. LOOK AT THAT AREA AND SEE HOW WE CAN REDUCE.

But it's not only that area, and that's not fair. If you're going to cut the events, which is fine, we've got to look at everything. So this is what I'm saying. We cannot come here and then we have $230-something million, including the enterprise and everything, so whatever the case is. And you're talking about, oh, let's cut $3 million because that's going to make me happy, and then you have $100 million. I mean, we've got to be...

If that makes Mister marriage yesterday to counter what you're saying I'm not going to tell public works how much because I don't know what a storm drain I don't know what a what whatever the storm I'm not going to tell it what they need and don't need because that's not what what I do because they know the crux there the professionals being paid to work with the departments, the managers being paid to work the departments. The thing that we have a lot of say in, because a lot of us are encouraging, great showing off the city, which is amazing, some people enjoy it, but That's the easiest things for us to oversee, and that's the most visual things that the residents see. I'm not going to tell Public Works to or tell a manager, cut stormwater drainage projects because that's not my preview. I don't know anything about stormwater, but I do know about spending money on a one-day event. Because that sounds good. That I have. So I'm fine with cutting a whole lot of events. But leaving the departments that have to do their job. I'm not going to the police department that she says listen. I need X Y Z great. I'm going to be supportive of it because they're the professional okay, and that's where we get into a professional on a special event see it's kind of stuff that's all know where they go.

I think an easier part is we're at 2% of the budget right like the

The thing that was not to interrupt, but that's a false, that's a false narrative because $76 million of it is the police department and the water plants, all this money. But when you come down to the crux of the little bit of money that we actually can play with, it's a very, very, very little amount that we have discretion because of the salaries and the pension, all that's built in. And that's $200,000 before we even look at the pages. And so that's all I'm saying is that, so yeah, the budget overall is massive, but guess what? We don't really have discretion over the whole. You do, you do. We have a little, a very, very little bit that we actually can govern.

So I think the two, are we... It would be helpful if we just, I think I'm hearing a reduction in that area and then figure out how we can do some other stuff.

It cannot be, and that's not right. If we're going to be honest, if we want to do political stuff, that's fine. But Councilman Burns and you, our former mayor, you do have rights to do that. Your rights, if you think that this department is true, we could do that. You don't have to be an expert. The folks voted you in, and that's the purpose, to guide this budget. proposed the budget to us. We are the final, once we voted on it, it's our budget. This is her proposal. So if you think something is too high, you don't have to be an expert. We're not asking you to go into public works. So IT could come here and say I need $100 million because the expert will say, oh yeah, IT said it, the police. No, it does not work like that. So if oversight as the council member is for everything in the city, and I think that's been part of the problem because

Like like I said that we could have we haven't you know, no events or whatever so you still have a 200 million dollar, but you can continue with that on her budget and what the Department of the they're doing amazing things they've done a lot of stuff in the department you can see the transformation or a parks evasives are coming and it's amazing what the managers been able to do so far with what she has good, however. I went through every single budget line and what's appropriate from from an educated guess and stormwater and and community planning and housing and so forth and how they're spending the money you know what I think they're doing a pretty good job where it's it but it's off is the again and I had said when I spoke that it was my opinion my my thought on these expenditures because I'm I. Am I going to go tell Public Works? Yeah, I could. You need to cut $2 million or $500,000. But from what I saw in those departments, I think they've allocated their resources. I just think that the resources under the city event tag are not being spent appropriately and wisely as opposed to if it was taking money from here. And again, the purpose of the Nomi Fest and... Please don't mention that. Councilman, just talk about it. You mentioned that you're giving us $200,000 from it or cutting $200,000 from it. Again, if we're going to do an $800,000 event to give $150,000 to the residents who need help with their water bill, like I said, I'd rather write the check for $150,000, do that, and not have a party.

Councilman, we did that last year. We gave $300,000 that we allocated because we didn't have it last year.

We're still ahead of the game today. No, we're not.

Let me tell you what's happening and what's going on in terms of outside. Yeah, but like you said, when I said the folks who actually does the event, the staff, so obviously you said some folks care about that or promoting North Miami, that's not you. Like I said, we all here, we all have a priority. We all have what we think is important. And we could do that. And we could have that conversation about everything. But if we're going to do that, we need to be fair. I do not want us to come in and say, oh, we're going to cut this event, and then the administration could do whatever they need, a blank check, and it's OK. That is not the problem. The root cause of our problem is we are There's a lot of people working and the salaries going up. Everything is going up. Cobra, you know, you may call it. So that is part of some of those we could help and some we can't. We just added a million dollars to our budget that we did not have last year. And it's a beautiful pool that we needed to operate. So if we're going to be fair and i think part of leadership is you know you do take some some of these things i did get some calls in terms of um you know talking about specific with the budget um but if they someone has a particular issue or your street needs to let's talk about that and and say mayor how do we find money for that that's a whole different um different ball game but if we're gonna sit here again which that was not the intent to go over line items and line items But you know, but councilman, go ahead.

But I agree. I think at least the requests that were important to D1, the manager was able to do some of them. And I see some things that other districts have wanted. They're in the budget. It makes sense. But other things, not that she told me, listen, you have to wait till next year. I'm not getting, not me, the city's not getting bleachers to restore the high school. We're in violation of our joint agreement with the school board because not having the bleachers. And remember, we've already spent $1.2 million and have nothing. If it is to have $800,000 for a one-day event or $800,000 toward the bleachers for something that's going to last 30 years, that's not a question. And so that's what is the more benefit to the community is all I'm saying. We share stuff with the manager, but she's not going, just because I suggest something or you suggest something, she'll try to work within our district, but she's not going to change policy until she has a consensus of three or four people on the dais, because none of us can just tell her, I don't want this in the budget. She's worked with and pays attention to our district needs, and she's been very helpful, and so is her staff. And so that is why I'm not going... I don't want to tell the District 4 Councilman what his priority is in his district, what he thinks trees or plants or whatever. You know, that's his district he's responsible for, and I'm not going to cut in that. Same thing with District 2. But when it comes to city all over... overall massive events. I'm not even going to go into that the fact that we allocated or previously councils allocated $1.17 million or $17.5 million to Cagney. We had a certain percentage of cost overrun and now we're hitting $21 million. overruns or total, that's pretty scary, but it is. We've committed to it and, you know, at the taking away from something else because the money just didn't come out of nowhere. So all I'm saying is that where it's easy to cut and it's not painful, Then that's what we what's going to make a difference in somebody's life is the roads are working, the police protections there, the toilets flush, that the sewers don't back up. That's the main thing. And unfortunately, the state, not just if this stupid property thing passes, hopefully it doesn't. or dictating that your money has to go to police and fire it's got to go to infrastructure it's got to go to natural resources and some administration and they're cutting out they're they're going to try and take over our job and all i'm saying is that you know we just need to be wise and start doing it and again i would love to be able to have do everything if the manager can cut it half or three quarters or whatever it's and i don't want to pick and choose and so that's why i ponied up you know

take everything for you know that we need to do but that's it but yes sir um you know to that i don't foresee like we just sitting here and go department by department for example police what are you going to say you know they even even they have all that money they need more money because they've been doing a great job keeping us safe we need to make sure we take care of them code we need to find a little bit more money to add into code because we have uh especially in district four i have a lot of um elderly residents who can even no longer cut their um grass so when that happened if we add more money into code instead of issuing them a ticket that a citation that we know they cannot pay so we have the money that we can help them out and cut their grass something that we have not talked about and by the manager and just gonna sit put it in there and see if we can find some more money for housing and social services we have a lot of residents over the holiday they can't even paint their houses minor work inside of the house they cannot support because they are on a fixed income so those are the things housing and social services is very very important for us in the city and i would say especially in district 4 where i have a lot of elderly residents some of them living by themselves on a fixed income so Please, those are the things that we need to fight. I don't mind taking a break this year, not doing any event, as long as we can support some of those services. And that would be the best thing to do. I don't mind. That would just give me a break. I don't have to... go and get ready for an event. So even the winter parade, so we can take a break from that, that's fine. That's fine. As a city, we just basically take a Sabbath and then we do something else and then we come back and see exactly how it's going to be nice and And it is going to look good on all of us. So I don't mind. So cut and cut. But add some money to social services. Housing and social services. Add some money to code. Those are going to be the real impact. There we go. The real impact.

Thank you so much, Councilman. I think you made my point. And Vice Mayor and I was trying to get out of this. And yes, we could do that. But unless we're being specific in terms of what he just talked about, I met with housing maybe six months ago. And we worked on different programming that we would like to have. Hopefully, it's already in here. and yes i think it was um miss brazil i think it was the day before this week i said please resend me the the budget that we talked about so those programs um councilmen that you are mentioned those are the things that we need to talked about I think there's three programs that I mentioned to housing that does include part of the seniors increasing, not necessarily the days, but programming. But I don't come wait here and do that. I ask them to do it. If we're going to do that right now, code enforcement, if there is something that you'd like to see, how much more, that's what I was suggesting, how much more are we telling the manager or are we leaving it? So Madam Manager, it's my understanding you have $3 million to, to do these things, but we need to know, and I'm not in favor of that, but if they're all voting for it, I'm okay with that. But we need to give her guidelines in terms of we need X number here, we'd like to see resurfacing, we'd like to see this, because what's gonna happen on the 15th She's going to talk to us. She's going to have the change memo. She's going to put it out. People didn't see it and they're going to come here and then we back to square one. That's what I'm trying not to avoid. At least we could say we're going to focus on code enforcement. We want to increase this amount of FOR PUBLIC WORKS. BLESS YOU, NIKKI. YOU KNOW, WE WANT TO DO THIS, WE WANT TO DO THAT, ET CETERA, ET CETERA. SO THAT WAS THE DIRECTION I WAS GOING FOR. YES, I SEE THEY WANT TO CUT. But where is the cut coming from? Is it for more people? Is it for salary increase? For what? What are we seeing that we don't see in this budget? We like to see a reflection. Like I said, I'm always there for the people. If we're gonna do that, let's do it.

you know if we're saying code enforcement there's a is there a program how much that program going to be you know and and manager i think we have to give it some time mayor i think if we're going to give the manager direction maybe we give her a dollar amount to stick with them but i think um i think the madam madam manager i think you're aware you're going to cut this page and you're going to come down with the change member from it

But let me ask this, Vice Mayor, because it's... Because I don't think we're going to find the consensus now.

I think the Madam Manager, if she can, you know, she'll have her discussion with all five of us and we'll, you know, we'll all say what needs to be cut and she'll say, hey, this is what it is.

Yeah, but once we get here on the 15th... We'll have a change memo a couple of days prior. So... Let me ask you this. Let me ask this question. So are we all in agreement that... into cutting all of the events so at least she'll know and then that's that or are we telling her to cut some of the um you know dollar amount from the event so let's just be clear on that and i'm good if where you know if it's three million she has then i'll know when i'm when i'm talking to her the reason i i want more direction so that i'll know if i'm talking to her i could have a i don't think i don't think you have consensus to cut every single thing i don't think you have other folks have other thing i don't have anything on that page that you guys are talking about so i just want to put that but that would This but this one page that we're talking about we're saying to cut we don't even know where we're going to allocate it and

So if we all identify Madam Manager where, you know, like I know I said landscaping, some people said other things. I think she took notes. And then from there, she's going to present a change memo. But I think we have to give the manager and the CFO that ability to do so because the 15th will be the meeting where we say, hey, yay or nay, up or down. And that's what it'll be. Okay.

because I was trying to make that fast, but I think her suggestion you got him out of that. So it's it's consents that we are not it we in consensus we got to not a man.

Yes, sir, good with a overall cut percentage wise and that city offense as you know it eliminate it all together. One way or the other, I don't care. If you cut everything there by 50%, that's a start. That's a start. But whatever, I'm just saying, we're looking for reductions or re-reduction across the board. you get the gif like the councilwoman said and you talk to all of us every other day uh and so you uh kind of get the the direction that we're we're going and so what's the scenario if on the 15th we uh don't agree on the budget can we schedule a third budget

No, no, no, no, no. We're going to pass it on the 15th. We'll be here to file it.

No, sir.

If you don't pass or buzz it, it goes as is. Yeah, we had three. I remember I had three also my first year here as city clerk. So I think we're good. And community members, this is your time to reach out to your specific council members or me if you need things to be added. So it seems like we might have a little bit of money. But I'm opposed in terms of that. So My right to prove to know. Yes, I'm so moved. Thank you are the other Council members here and I know. Yeah, we are we on top of you we got to get to the top seat, yes, that was the week to the other one moment do we not want to call the other Council members in.

First time there there's 2 people there know they'll they'll get to come out of that they they need to be here to vote that they will get that they will get their vote yes please is going to read it yes.

Happy a proposed resolution of the mayor and City Council the city of North Miami Florida adopting and approving the tentative budget of the city of North Miami for the fiscal year commencing October one 2026 and ending September 30 2027 authorizing the amount to be raised by taxation for the operation of the city for the 2026 2027 fiscal year. authorizing the expenditure of funds established by the budget authorizing a return on investment transfer from the water and sewer utility fund to the general fund authorizing the city manager to implement budget amendments revenue and or expenditure to appropriate or unappropriate funds as required during the fiscal year to amend the prior fiscal year budget to facilitate the year-end closing process providing for repeal severability and an effective date i have a motion made by vice mayor timothy to approve the item at tab b motion was seconded by mayor desolme Do you still want to wait. No go ahead okay. She can come back and vote yes, nice to hear Timothy, how do you vote, yes, Councilman Charles, how do you vote, yes, mayor doesn't a how do you vote, yes, Councilman burns, how do you vote reluctantly, yes. Councilman estimate Irvin how do you vote. The motion carries with a 5, 0, vote. And so my manager you work with us and we'll get it that in the second time see tap see a proposed first reading ordinance of the mayor and City Council, the city of North Miami Florida authorizing the city manager to make adjustments to the total fund allocation amount in the reserve fund account as part of the city's fiscal year 2026 2027 budget process pursuant to section 2 dash to the city code providing for an effective date and all other purposes to see.

okay um thank you type c um public hearing is open on type c this is for our reserve But I have a question about a manager now what I would like to see now that we we do have this you my biggest at ask is you put something in. This in the next in the reserve which was not on the table but since you're going to have about 1 to 2 million dollars but a little bit not not all I'm not saying all of it.

I'm not saying all of it which was not what it is 2.5 that you're adding here that was a 2.5 that we do we all remember which we know I know, but I know it was a million at the retreat.

Now what you asked for 3 million and we were going to put 2 million in the reserve and now you're putting 2.5 that's good.

No, that is good. No, no, no, we said 2.5. It wasn't 2 million. It was 2.5. No, what I'm saying is, now that we have a...

A million let's just say so if it's a 100,000 whatever at least what we said first we would determine you know and we said code and some other places and so forth so I guess that the discussion could yeah, I was going to get every day don't go nowhere matter manager put in the reserve. I say if no one gives you suggestions where to yeah, we put in the reserve for in a reason that sounds good, but I know I have some landscape request just as we do to meet about this one's for the 2.5.

Yes, but what we saying yes, so it's been moving second and so. I'm saying we have money so that's reason let's put some in the reserve since.

I have a motion made by councilman Charles to approve the item a tab see second by Councilman SMA Irvin may or doesn't may how do you vote.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Timothy, how do you vote? Yes. Councilman Burns, how do you vote?

Yes.

Councilwoman Esteem Irvin, how do you vote? Yes. Councilman Pierre French-Charles, how do you vote? Yes. The motion carries with a 5-0 vote. Okay and.

The other reading thing else now I think it wasn't Roger most to adjourn and I'll see everyone on the night and then on the 15th.

I have a motion to adjourn made by councilman Charles seconded by mayor doesn't may on all in favor. Any of those motion