City Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, Stone Crest. Today is Monday, May the 11th, 2026. The time is now 6:02. We will now call the meeting to order. Madame City Clerk, can you be so kind and do the roll call? Yes, ma'am. Mayor Jasmine Kbble present. Mayor Pro Tim Tara Graves here. Council member Terry Fi present. Council member Alicia Washington here. Council member George Turner here. Council member Carisha Smith present. We have a quorum.

Thank you madam city clerk. Council after reviewing today's agenda. Are there any proposed adjustments? Hearing none, I entertain a motion. Tim. Yes. Councilman Turner. Move for approval of the agenda as written. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilwoman Washington. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two. Yay. District three. Yay. District four, yay. District five,

yay.

District 1 is yay. The motion carries 5 to zero. The agenda has been approved. First item on the agenda is for discussion. March monthly financial update by finance director Kesha Franklin. Good evening. Okay, so the update for March 2026, you should have that in your agenda. Do you do you all have that? Okay. All right.

Thank you. So overall um compared to February, we are in a lot better net position for our general fund. If you looked at February's um net position, it was negative. It was due to an outstanding deposit from Georgia Power. We have since received that and so now we're on the opposite and we have a surplus of 1.4 as of March. And looking at the other funds, we're in pretty good. I apologize for the interruption. I can't hear Miss Franklin. Can you either speak to microphone or have communications increase the volume? You can't hear it on the audio call. Close closer. Can you hear me now?

That's much better. Okay, great. So, do you want me to start over? Yes, please.

Okay. So, in looking at March 2026, um financial update, we are actually in a better position, net position than we were in February 2026. The net position was a negative about 1 million in February. It was due to an outstanding Georgia Power deposit. We have since received that deposit and now we're at a net position of $1.4 million. And looking at all the other funds, um, we are in a good position. There is one typo on the note section, which I'll get that updated with the clerk's office where it says revenue be recognized upon reimbursement. Also, um, we have some budgetary items that we're monitoring that we mentioned last meeting. It was small equipments and building and improvements. Upon research, those were 2024 POS that somehow came over. We're working with our EIP vendor to figure out why that happened and get that corrected. We also can notice that there's a trend among unemployment expense being overbudget. So, we will address those amounts during the midyear budget adjustment. Some highlights from the department is that we worked closely with the city manager's office to get the opera report submitted on time. We also work closely with the HR department to get all the documents for the state payroll audit submitted. And we are currently working on submitting the information request for the 23 and 24 single audit. and we submitted the trial balance to the auditors for analysis for the 20 2023 audit. Any questions?

Council, do you have any questions for director director Franklin? Mayor Proam. Yes, Councilwoman Smith. I do have a question. So, um, hello, Director Franklin. I inquired about the $1,000 that was debited from my line item for um, initiatives,

district 5 initiatives, and I got your email. Thank you. How do we have that moved somewhere else? Um, just for context and clarity, there was a purchase under initiative for $1,000 that was for a gayla last year in February. However, for district 5, however, it was the PO was posted um 316 of 2026 with the limited initiative budget of $5,000. Um I would request that we find somewhere else for that $1,000 to be deducted from.

I can look into that and get back with you. Okay. Thank you. Okay. May pro Tim. Yes, Councilman Turner.

Miss Franklin, I'm looking at your report and it says through March 31, 2026. Um, is this considered a quarterly positive? This is a quarterly report or this still just uh your monthly and you just run it as summary up to date. Will that be a quarterly report? It would be each report would be up until that month end that prior month end. So you could view this as a quarterly report because it does end in March which is the first quarter but each so April will be from January to April. May it will be from January to May but with this ending March 31st it would be the first quarter.

Okay. And uh on here you speak of um fund balance and is this fund balance for FY26 to be added to the overall fund. How do you handle that when you say that's a fund balance or there is a um Yeah.

What page are you referring to? Um looking at your summary where it says the general funds uh have shifted to a positive net position compared to February driven primarily by the posting of utility franchise yada yada yada. Um I'm just trying to get a feel for how you measure the annual fund balance and when did you consider it a part of the overall fund balance?

So this isn't fund balance in the sense of fund balance. This is the the balance for this specific fund. Normally fund balance is calculated at the end of the fiscal year. Once you close out the fiscal year, it's going to take the net between what came in and what went out. And so if you had more that went out that came in, it's going to reduce your fund balance. And then the opposite would be true. If you had more that came in than went out, it would increase your fund balance. So this is just a balance for the fund but not fund balance.

Okay. I'm just trying to get a feel for the way it's flowing now as to we are spending slightly less than what is budgeted which means that if we stay at that rate there will probably be a fun balance at the end of the year. No, a lot of this is timing. Um, so what I can add to the report, I can add when things normally come in and when we normally expend items because you have es and flows of your revenue and your expenses. So, we're heavy on the revenue side at the end of the fiscal year, but I can add that to this report so you can get a better idea of where we are.

Okay. Now, I'm just trying to uh understand what's trending. you know, what do we we Well, right now it's looking good because we're 25% in the year, but we haven't spent over 25% of our expenses. That's when you would kind of worry if you're at 50% of your expenses, but you're at 25% of the year. Looks like we're at 18.0. Yeah, 18%. Correct. As of March. As of March. That's a quarter. And if it was even, it'll be 25% but So, it is 18%. So, we're looking it would appear that we're looking good, but I understand things are not always even,

right? Correct. We have a lot of projects outstanding. Um, which goes back to the highlights where we talked about the opera reporting. We do have um a lot of projects in the works for the opera reporting. So, as those projects start to come to an end, you'll see a a big increase in the expenses.

Okay. And um I'm just trying to understand how we calculate things. Um I get a little bit confused when it comes to the capital versus operating when you talk about the opera funding and um you talked about opera fund uh 230 uh year to date the half million dollars and re not not u recognized pending uh reimbursement. Uh what help me with that please? Well, that's the line that I said was a typo that I'm going to get updated and have that added to the packet if necessary where it says revenue to be recognized upon reimbursement. So, I'm going to have that line removed.

Oh, okay. That's what you were talking about. Okay. and the hotel motel fund. Um I understand year to date it's 200,000 but what kind of expenditure do we have in the hotel motel on a regular basis? Um we do have a lot of transfers with hotel motel that we give to the tourist authority but outside of that I can um provide a detailed layout of all the transactions that's coming out of hotel motel. Um, we really don't have much activity in hotel motel, but it it's probably minimal, but mostly transfers transfers to the tourist authority.

Tourist Authority. Okay, gotcha. I know. Yeah. And the name of that group is uh, sorry, drawing a blank, but I know who you're talking about. And our wonderful tree bank has a year-to- date revenue. Is that mostly in the category of individuals or should I be asking someone else that question or is this from the development um division? I mean for from zoning. Yeah. The funds you connect the funds you collect for the tree bank as $11,000. Is that from uh the individuals who are perhaps getting permits to cut trees or in violation and paying fines? Okay. Because you know, I've gotten a lot of inquiries about that and I just wanted to know exactly what are we collecting and uh how does it compare to what we've done in the past for individual residents? Not for developments. I know the developments that's a that's a biggywiggy but for this is just for the um tree bank for individual violations of permits.

It's both. I know I spoke with the Aubber not too long ago, maybe two weeks ago, and he did identify a business that was not in compliance. They actually cut down more trees and did not replace them. I don't want to misspeak in how the process works, but they were um due to a healthy fine because of not being in compliance with the regulations of the tree or

Okay. And I know I will deal with you separately on that issue, but when I saw it here, it just triggered my uh concern is that individual homeowners who are just now, some of them becoming aware, at least they claim they're just now becoming aware that they need to get a permit to cut a tree. And if they cut certain trees without a permit, they could they could face some heavy fines. And I want to know if that was being measured separately from the developments. So you're saying it's all in the same It's all in the same. Okay.

I think that Oh, you mentioned the observation and administrative review item. There was one about insurance premium tax. Correct. Is there a guesstimate as to when that comes in? I don't have it off hand. I can provide that. Um the insurance premium tax, I know it comes in around the same time every year, but I I'll get that detailed information. Okay, Tim, I yield.

Thank you, Councilman Turner. Any other questions for Director Franklin? Pro Tim. Yes, Councilwoman Spence.

Additional question. Director Franklin, I see on some lines it's has fiscal activity which is less than the period activity. Fiscal is the year. Period is the period that we're in. So fiscal should be more. What are those errors or what's the reason? For instance, you know, I'm looking at district five. Um, on page seven, actually, education and training for district 3 and district five. Seven of 10. Oh, it's in the packet as page seven. I can't see what's under it. And you said education and training or district initiative.

Education and training. So the period is for the the entire period that it was ran which was from January to March.

And so the fiscal activity is I'll have to look and see what that is but the fiscal activity I know the period is from January to March and then I'll have to drill down that fiscal activity because on the fiscal activity it could be some corrections that were made that made that reduced. Okay, if you can take a look. Okay, thank you. But more than likely, it was some corrections that would have been made. I think that's it, Mayor Pro Tim. Thank you, council. Any other questions?

Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Council Councilman Turner. Just a close out. Um, you mentioned the audits 23 and 24 and again I'm trying to keep us up to date. Uh, how do we stand? Are we pretty much on schedule with what we have predicted? Uh, where do we stand with these audits?

Well, we submitted um they requested the trial balance towards the end of April and we submitted the trial balance for their analysis. Um, when I met with them last week, they were still doing their analysis on the trial balance as it relates to the 2023 audit, but they did start submitting information requests for the 2023 and the 2024 single audit. So, we're working on those items for the single audit to provide to them by this Thursday. So, you're working on both of them at the same time. Is there projection as to when 23 will be complete? Uh, has that? No. changed.

I don't have a projection right now. They haven't started on 23 as of yet. Not the 23 regular audit. They have not requested any information as of yet. Just the 23 and 24 single audit. Okay. Perhaps I need to sit down then with you. Okay. I will. Okay. Thank you.

Also, any other questions for Director Franklin? Thank you so much, Director Franklin, for your presentation. Thank you. And Councilman Turner, um, she have open office hours on Wednesday at 3 p.m. for council questions. Thank you very much.

You're welcome. Next on the agenda is for discussion the preliminary tax digest and roll back rate review by deputy city manager Michael McCoy director Franklin and our finance advisor Mr. Wall.

Good evening madame mayor pro tier mayor council. Uh I dropped uh a couple of uh deck slide decks your seat so hopefully you have a copy or both. All right. And in the interest of time uh Mr. uh Wall will make the presentation but we're here this evening. Uh tonight's discussion is intended to provide a very high level uh overview of the preliminary tax digest and a roll back process and a statutory requirements associated with adoption of the city's millage rate. So uh as you know the city is required to adopt the millage rate uh by July 1 uh based on our current meeting or recent meeting with uh the CAB county tax commissioner's office. We have developed a proposed schedule. you have a copy of that and that's on a slide uh that that we'll review uh to ensure we remain compliant with the required advertising and public hearing timeline. So uh importantly tonight is not about recommending or setting a millage rate. Uh the purpose is to provide context and education so everyone uh has a foundational understanding of the process before uh future decision is made. So, with that, I'll turn it over to our financial advisor, Ed Wall.

Thank you very much, Mr. Cory. Good evening, Mayor Pro Tim and Council. How y'all doing? And, um, you all did have this memo that email that was sent out. I'd like to start with that one. They don't have a copy of that.

They do not have a copy. Okay. So u on Friday the tax commissioner's office sent out a new tax digest to all the cities and school board and jurisdictions in in the cab and in Stonerest you all would just listen to me and uh I I'll back up. Y'all just stop me during the presentation if there something you need me to recover. In 25 your gross tax digest was 3.1. Let's talk about what that means. All the property in Stone Crest is valued at 100%. That's called fair market value. This $3.1 billion figure is a 40% assessed value. So the 3.1 billion is your is your gross tax digest. It's 40% of fair market value. In 26 it went up to 3 bill220 million. It was a 6060 66 million increase. That's just 2.1%. We didn't go up very much this year. Inflation is right at 3%. And then it says the actual growth was $10 million and the that part that was due to re-evaluation was 55.7 million. So you all, some of you are old-timers, some of you new. Every year in the summer, we all cities, counties, and schools go through this goat roping thing called the roll back. And if you all remember, it's just so complicated. A lot of rigma roll over to it. But this $55 million figure that's a reevaluation, that's the part that Miss Franklin and her staff, and I'll help if they need me. We do this form um I think it's called a PT32 that goes to the Department of Revenue in the state of Georgia and goes to the tax commissioner and the tax assessor and we calculate what the roll back would be. So you all

on that 40% tax digest minus all your homestead exemptions um levy 1.257 mills. So remember that number 1.257 mills that's your military. 1.257 mills times that 55 million that was due to reevaluation is $70,000. So you will be asked this summer, do you roll the 1.257 257 mills back to a smaller number and not collect that extra 70,000 or do you leave the 1.257 mills the same and so you I think if you leave the 1.257 257 mills the same, you haven't raised taxes. But under this complicated roll back thing that Georgia makes us go through since 2001, if the tax digest goes up by part reevaluation, if you leave the millage rate the same, you've in fact increased how much cash you collected in taxes by 70,000. And so if you leave the millage rate at 1.257 mill, we'll have to have three public hearings and advertising. So, some of you all familiar with that. I always recommend to my clients that you leave the millage rate the same 1.257 mills and you go through the three public hearings. And you all have done that I think every year since y'all been a city since I represented you in 2017. But when we when Miss Franklin and Mr. McCoy and I come to you and I think that dates May the 18th, we will recommend the millage rate for you to advertise. And that millage rate is driven by the budget. And you all collected about $2,800,000 in property taxes last year. And so staff may recommend to you a higher mill rate in order to accommodate a 2026 2027 budget

27 budget. So we haven't crunched those numbers yet. But tonight, Mr. want us to just talk to you about the process and about the mill rate. We'll be coming to you on May the 18th with a recommendation. If I could do they have this one, boss. Yes. The city charter. Yes.

Could I get you to find this one that says my handwriting at the top Stone Crest City Charter? You all have a city charter that was approved by the Georgia legislature in 2017 when you became a city. You see that at the bottom paragraph 37 paragraph A I've highlighted in red ink. The millage rate imposed for Avalor property taxes on real property shall not exceed 3.35 mills plus the amount of any roll back or reduction by DIC cab county of his millage rate imposed for Avalor taxes on real property within the corporate limits of the city for services assumed by the city from the cab. So that's really unique. A lot of the other cities like Dunwoody that's new and Brook Haven that's new. In Fulton you got John's Creek, Milton they have a flat 3.35. They don't have that paragraph about the services that you've assumed from Dicab County. So you have a millage rate cap but it's 3.35 plus of stuff. You're at 1.257. So you're nowhere near your millage rate cap. I want y'all to remember that. Turn to the next page. And then the next page, this is your tax digest from 2022. It looks like this. Right here is the third page. In 22, would you look at the first arrow, the gross tax digest was 2 bill697 million. You had exemptions of 410 million to get to your net bond tax digest. And then you had exemptions of 503 million of exemptions to get to your M digest. That 1.257 mills is what you levy for maintenance and operations. You don't have any outstanding general obligation bonds. So we do not levy a milligate against the bond digest. I took those two circles of your exemptions and the two of them together

total 915 million. Turn to the next page. What were they last year? So last year you can see that the exemptions somehow they changed the way they did them and the bond exemptions were just 63 million but your M exemptions were a billion186 and so you total up the two of them together your exemptions are 1.25 billion. The exemptions have gone up about $350 million from 22 to 25. And you look down toward toward the bottom here, the M2 bill, 281 times 1.257 mills, you collected 2,868,000 in property taxes fiscal year 25. That' be December 3125. You may or may not have collected that exact amount because depending on when the tax commissioner collects this, send the check. and then they don't always collect at 100%. If you would look up the page, look at the difference in the various categories of your text ideas. Your agricultural 40% value says there's one parcel that's listed as agricultural and the 40% value of that is $131,000. And then you can see the commercial is $2,597 parcels, 2518 acres. And the value of that was a billion7 million. Industrial was 467,000. Residential were 36,963 parcels, 10,877 acres totaling a bill 900 million. So of your 3 bill468 in gross tax digest, what is that? 55 60% is residential. You are a residential community. So one of the things as you're looking at it as policy makers, your economic development arm

would push to increase the commercial and industrial. Turn to the next page. This was something Mr. McCoy put together before he actually had the specifics from the email on Friday. If you would in the red big red box, the gross tax digest for 26 is 3.482 billion. After the exemptions, it's 2.352 billion. That number in my handwriting times 1.257 mills is 2,956,000. So just a slight increase in revenue that you will experience from property taxes. I highlight that for you. your inflation on things that you buy, the salaries you pay to police officers, um, and I don't guess y'all don't have police, but the salaries you pay to employees, all of that stuff may have gone up more than 2%. And so this tax digest only went up, remember, 2.1%. So you may have to cut expenses or raise a millage rate. And those are the things that Miss Franklin and Mr. McCor will be rationing with between now and May the 18th to come with you with a millage rate recommendation. Next page. The next page is just the cover sheet for the 22 audit December 3122. If I could turn to the page after that. This is the balance sheet. I highlight the general fund. And you know Coca-Cola has one checking account. Coca-Cola. You and I all you and I all have maybe one checking account, but a city has different checking accounts. You have different businesses, general funds, splash, Urra, ARPA. Um, you have all these different funds and each fund has to stand on its own and has different sources of revenues. I'm concerned mainly with the general fund because that's the fund you operate the city out

of. It showed that you had $22 million in cash at December 3122. And then I've highlighted down here the unassigned fund balance was 25,132. And so um Councilman Turner, when you asking Miss Franklin the question, I think the question you're getting at is how much is that fund balance today? So we know we had by the audit 25,132 in December 3122. We've got 23, 24, and 25. So, we got three years that we have to determine is that balance the same, more or less. And I think that was a question you were trying to get to. And then if we could turn to the next page, here's the profit and loss statement, I call it. A lot of my clients get on me because governments aren't designed to make a profit. So, Miss Franklin calls it a revenue and expenditure statement. And you can see your revenues for the general fund total revenues were 16,420,000. The expenses for that year were 9,514. And so we had a excess revenue over expenses of 6,843 we added to fund balance in 22. So that the fund balance at the end of the year were 25 million. I had written down here you had 2.5 years fund balance. You had a 9,814 annual expenditure. But this morning, I got to thinking that just doesn't look right. So, I printed out the March numbers. Miss Franklin was great to put it actually on the city's website. And your expenses, your budget for the general fund for fiscal year 26 is 19.1 million. So, the expenses went from 9 million to 19 in the three-year period as you all continue to add services and do things as a new city. And so, 25

million into 19 million, you still had more than a year's fund balance, which is really great. You've accumulated it. You've done a good job of saving money, but we don't know what that fund balance is today. The number we have is 3 years old. And then the last page, that was it, wasn't it? I get confused when it's copied on both sides. That was the last no one. The last page was the January 31 numbers from Miss Franklin. Were you here by then? So, I ought to use the March figures, but y'all don't have those necessarily in front of you. If you would look at where I've circled it in red, what makes up your $19 million city? And so, you can see I've circled real property was about $3 million. That's your property taxes. Let's hit the big numbers as we go down the page. Title avalorum tax. Y'all know what that is? That's when you pay a sales tax when you buy a new car. Call it TAVT. Go on down. You can see the franchise fees that we get from Atlanta Gas Light of 429,000. Um I don't know what that is. You know what that is? Smc. Map shows. So that's the EMC. So that's the franchise fee from the EMC. Xfinity is a franchise fee. AT&T a franchise fee. Georgia Power a franchise fee 2.2 million. Business and occupation taxes are 2 million2. Insurance premium tax is 5 million2. You go down here. Building permits are

700,000. Let's go on down to some big numbers. Activity fees 250,000. Interest is 157,000. Other miscellaneous revenue 500. Transfer from the hotel motel tax. And just so we can answer that question, you all levy a 8% hotel motel tax. And Georgia law says a certain piece of it goes to a destination marketing organization. That was that tourism authority Miss Frank was talking about. Another piece goes to something called tourism product development, TPD, that's specific to tourism related projects. And then the biggest chunk goes to the general fund. And so the hotel motel tax fund itself doesn't cut checks to invoices. It transfers out money to those three big buckets. And this was the transfer to the general fund. And so you can see of your revenues, you don't have sales tax. Your sales tax goes to Splast. Some governments have local option sales tax like in John's Creek I think where you were y'all had local option sales tax split with the county and so you see what your revenues are when Miss Franklin is doing the budget she got expense requests from all the departments but these revenues just going to be whatever they are and there might be a gap in there so we might come to you next week with help on how you want to uh narrow that gap by either expense cuts or revenue increases and the only you can really increase in revenues use in this list here is property tax. Rest of it set by state law. Franchise fees 4%. Um your building permit fees are what they are. The insurance premium roll back tax that you get that's set by state law. You don't get to change that. And so, um, I'd hope this would help educate you about the kinds of things that we do so that when we come to you, um, on May the 18th, you'll have a better understanding of all the things we jump through when we make a millage rate recommendation.

Did I leave anything out, Mr.?

Uh, no. I I think you covered everything. I I would like to uh direct council's attention to page three of 13 in this uh slide deck. Uh so you can take a look at the uh the timeline. So tonight we're discussing the preliminary digest and roll back review and then a week from now the special call meeting to confirm the advertised rate uh rate and authorized uh notices. So we have to meet a uh prescribed advertisement schedule. Um and so those are some very key important dates that are um coming up that I wanted you to be uh mindful of. And so the first uh newspaper publication will be uh May 28th and then the public hearing.

One other thing is if all of this isn't complicated enough, I expected today the governor was going to sign into law Senate Bill 33. Do you know if he did or not? He did. So, Senate Bill 33 is a completely rewrite of a lot of this stuff. Everybody's opted in to House Bill 581. Y'all remember the rigomearroll we went through last year about it all. So, that means that the digest for homeowner property can never go higher each year in the reevaluation. It can't go any higher than 3% or inflation, whichever is greater. This year, you didn't have to worry about it. inflation was 3% and it only went up 2.1%. So this year you you that law didn't affect you. And the other big thing about Senate Bill 33, it gives everybody the option to have a local homestead option sales tax, which is another one penny on property owners to lower property taxes for homes. Um, you also have the option now that you're op everybody's opted into House Bill 581, that thing we talked about last year called the floating option sales tax that uh rolls back all property owners equally, not just homes. And so you all in collaboration with other cities and with Dicab County need to decide which one of those you might want to have an election for. You can't have it till after January 1 of 28. So this year we got a governor's race, lieutenant governor in every legislature, senate and house. So they we'll get a brand new state government on January 127. What are the odds they going to fool with Senate Bill 33 in 27? So who you know it was awful during the session. At one point they had it where if you raised your budget more than 3% you're going to have to have a voter referendum. And the state doesn't have that. And I was so opposed to it. credit ratings for all the cities and counties and schools of Georgia would have suffered it if that

had passed on sin die on the last day of the session. House Bill 116 failed in the Senate 28 to 24. So we thought it was dead and about 7:30 they took the marijuana bill, Senate Bill 33, stripped out all the marijuana stuff and added House Bill 116 to it without all that budget stuff. And so what we got the legislature approved. I had senators and house members couldn't even tell me what was in it because they hadn't seen a copy of it. But they did approve. Right. But the good thing is it other than House Bill 581 and opted into it, none of the other stuff takes effect until after January 128 if there's a referendum and it may all change again in 27. So, um, I apologize to you, but that was something you'd asked me to address and I forgot to talk about.

Yeah, not a problem. That's a part of the slide deck, the legis legislative update. So, you've heard that. And, um, so over the course of this week, we'll continue to evaluate the information we have collected and refining our analysis and recommendations. And uh our goal is to ensure the process is transparent, compliant, and gives council the information necessary to make informed decisions moving forward. And so at this time, we're happy to answer any questions. Council, do you have any questions for Mr. Wall?

Mayor Proim, I'll yield unless anybody else has anything. But just before you move on to the next subject, I do have a few things for all three of your speakers. Okay. Council, do you have any questions before I give the floor to Mayor Cobble? Mayor Pro Tim.

Yes, Councilwoman Smith. Um, so Mr. McCoy, I see that we'll have the special call meeting on May 18th. Are we This is a lot of information that you all gave us tonight. Thank you. So, I'm going to have to take some time to review, digest, and come back with questions. However, for the May 18th meeting, when you're going to come back and give us a recommendation, are you planning to provide any information to us prior to the meeting?

Uh, yes, that's our intent. Uh, we have a lot of, uh, information to review and analyze, and this has been a really compressed schedule even to get us to this point. So, uh, Miss Franklin and I, as well as, uh, Ed, we've been crunching numbers and reviewing, uh, all the the, um, regulatory requirements. And so, yes, we will, uh, meet with you. I think I think I sent an email last week uh asking you all to carve out some time between Wednesday and Friday to let us know when you'll be available to meet with us and we can discuss uh preliminary data that we have um that may help you uh inform your decision on uh Monday the 18th.

Okay. Just just let us know when you're available between Monday and I mean I'm sorry Wednesday and Friday and and that's a individual. Yes. Or you can do two. We can't have a quorum but we're we're we're going to be available to answer any questions or provide any the latest information that we have. Okay. Thank you.

Sounds good. Thank you. Any other questions? Council Mayor Pro Tim. Yes, Councilman Turner. This is something we have to work with our finance director on and that is to get a true feel as to what the fund balance is uh as of 2025 at least. I can run a report of what the current fund balance is, but the main thing that's affecting your actual fund balance is the fact that we don't have those closed audits. But you won't say that, but and run a fund balance report as of today. But of course, each time we close out an audit, there are going to be adjusted entries that's going to affect that fund balance.

Okay. And you've said it already and I'm just reiterating. Inflation if we don't do the roll back will probably take care of what's needed if the numbers don't change. Okay. Are you mayor? Yes. Councilwoman Washington.

Yes. I was trying to understand. Okay. So, you all recommend that we keep it at 1.257 mills, but I'm sorry. Okay. Hey, you got to talk to the microphone. We can't hear you. We're going to recommend something that fits the amount of property tax needed in the budget. Okay. But what I was saying for all of my clients, I don't recommend the roll back. I recommend you keep the mill rate the same city. Sandy Springs has a mill rate cap 4.7 mill rate since 2006.

Is that better? Yes, I understand that. So even in our consideration of the uh whether we're going to go up on the military rate according to the charter, we can't go no higher than a 3.35. Is that what you all saying? 3.35 plus all the services that you took over from the cab. Okay. And I don't know what that number is, but it's 3.35 plus something. Okay. Yes, ma'am. All right. Thank you. Yes, sir. Council, any other questions? Mayor Kbble, you have the floor.

Thank you. Um Ed, your final point um kind of resolved one one thing. Um, I think it's important that we continue to remind our folks when we're talking about millig caps that our three mill cap is above and beyond the millage to per to take over a service. So, as we continue to evaluate taking services over, if you pull that millage over from the county, it does not subtract from your three mill cap. So, it's three mills in addition to the millillage that you bring over for said service. Um, and that's important to continue to not just educate our council on, but obviously make sure that all of our staff who are working on the team understand the difference um between that because obviously that would affect uh whether or not you recommend uh moving the millillage. uh if there's a clear understanding that the three mill cap is above and beyond any millage that comes over with the service. Um the uh so I'll go backwards. Um the 1.257 257 as you all know we've had for quite some time. Um rolling back at any point regardless of what the roll back is would take us below 1 mil a mill right so we're probably at the lowest we should ever be and I know I say that every year. I'll just say that this one time and obviously you know the council you'll decide the the fate or the destiny of our city uh by when you evaluate that millillage but to go backwards to go below one mill would be dangerous um for providing city services but obviously

to roll it back forward in the future would mean u you're increasing uh that tax on your residence because you went backwards and then in the future you want to go forward even farther. Right? So just keep in mind that anything below we're already at one literally a 1.257 to go below that would be I think extremely dangerous um for the potential of city services. Um, but we do need to evaluate, and again, I'm going to leave this totally in y'all's hands, but if we do need to evaluate, what kind of city are we going to continue to operate at a 1.257 mill? There's only so much, as Ed has run down the numbers, that 1.257 generates in revenue. Um, we cannot build a city on a penny splashed and we cannot build a city on uh a department of grants. We have to at some point look at how are we going to get to realizing the potential the city has. And being the largest city in the county by square mileage and by population and still having one of the lowest millage rates in the state does not elevate our city. I'll probably say that until my time in Stone Crest is done. It certainly will be uh in your hands to make that decision. Last but not least, I just want to remind the staff that is working on the budget um that the charter does uh have a clause in it uh that states that the budget is to be um presented after input, review, and comment by the mayor, then submitted to the city council. Um, so if we're operating in a fashion where the mayor will receive the information

about the budget at the same time as the council, then after input from the mayor would not be executed. So I do want to keep that in mind. Um, Miss Franklin, Mr. McCoy, and Mr. wall. I appreciate all the hard work you're putting in to get the preliminary numbers and draft before the legislative body, but I do want to remind you that it does say it is submitted to council after input, review, and comment from the mayor. So, I just want to make sure that we make that distinction. Um, and that you're operating in that fashion as you put the numbers together. the recommendation you have before you council today I have not had any input comment or review on um and I'm not saying that I agree or disagree because obviously I saw in the packet when you saw it in the packet um so I may have some comment different or the same I don't know u but I am just making you all aware that that portion of the charter should be followed so staff will get with me on that once you finish what you think will be a good I guess final draft. Um do get with me before submitting to council.

So mayor this is Ed. I called you today so don't whoop me. Oh yeah you know no worries. I'm sure it doesn't count as uh before but

yeah and al also uh Madame Mayor uh Miss Thompson Alicia Thompson uh brought it to our attention uh last Wednesday and uh I responded to her. I'm not sure if you got the email or not, but I thanked her uh for sharing the charter provision and advised her that we're still in the early stages of uh the FY27 budget development process and are currently working through preliminary planning departmental needs, revenue projections, and internal discussions. Since the city operates on a calendar year fiscal cycle, there's still a lot of uh time remaining before the charter deadline for submission of the proposed budget to council. And so that'll happen probably around October, November.

Oh no. Yeah, I understand that. But the millage rate and its revenue has obviously a significant impact on the budget. So I should still be a part of the millillage conversations as it will directly flow and affect the budget. So if you all re recommend a millillage with a subsequent revenue that I have not had a discussion on or review or comment on then my comments or review about the millillage will be too late if you wait until October because you have to adopt the millage rate as we know now. Um, so that's why I'm mentioning that it ties to the budget. Um, so if you wait till October to to present a conversation to me about the millillage, which generates revenue, then I will have no comment or no opportunity to comment on that revenue line that does feed the budget.

Yeah. Staff will uh ensure the process remains consistent with the charter. And one thing I sound like you just told me we won't talk to you about the millillage beforehand. One thing, Madam Pro mayor, Miss Franklin reminded me to remind all y'all in conjunction with your comments, one of the homestead exemptions that y'all give, which is I've been in this business for 42 years, represent 200 governments all across the state. You all give a one mill equivalent one mill homestead exemption. So, your homeowners are only paying.257. That's correct. which is why it's dangerous to roll back.

Mayor Cabo, do you have any other questions? No, I'll yield. Thank you, Council. Any other questions,

Mayor Pro Tim? Yes, Councilwoman Smith. Just want to clarify I wrote this down properly. So if we don't roll back then the collection amount is 70k approximately. Is that what was So based on the digest that the tax commissioner sent on Friday the roll back amount if you did roll it back it would lower your profit tax collections by 70,000 out of a total of 2.9 million. So that's so insificant. I would like to see it not. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions before we move forward?

Thank you so much for your presentation. Thank you very much. Next on the agenda is for discussion, city manager office highlights by Michael McCoy, the deputy city manager.

Yes, thank you. Uh so this evening uh you should have uh this in your packet. If not uh we can give you a hard copy. So uh this evening I'll provide a brief highle administrative update on several key activities currently underway through the city manager's office. So, first staff has initiated the FY27 budget development process. Uh, department budget submissions are currently underway and millage schedule planning is in progress as we work towards upcoming statutory deadlines. Financial review and planning activities also continue. Second, several operational initiatives remain underway uh including um continued coordination of capital and infrastructure related projects and ongoing grant compliance and ARPA reporting activities. Staff also continues coordinating with partner agencies and departments to support operational continuity, public safety coordination, and day-to-day service delivery. Over the coming week, our primary focus will remain on advancing uh the budget process, primarily uh getting the advertised millage rate um adopted and uh continuing the budget process and uh continuing priority projects and initiatives and maintaining organizational continuity. That concludes my highlights update and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Mr. McCoy. Council, do you have any questions for deputy city manager? Well, Mr. McCoy, I guess your presentation answered all the questions. Thank you so much.

Next on the agenda is for discussion, a update on feral hogs in Stone Crest by Council Member George Turner and council Member Kamisha Smith,

thank you very much. I hope this is not my legacy to chase the hogs out of stone. Chris, but um feral hogs versus wild bo. These apparently are hogs that used to be uh domesticated and have escaped and just made a life for themselves in wow and they're all over the United States. Uh some states worse than others. I think Texas is probably one of the worst. Uh but Georgia has them in all 159 counties including the metro Atlanta area and they are for the most part nocturnal. You don't uh see them a lot in the daytime unless you see one that's been hit on the side of the road um or for whatever reason has been spooked to come into your neighborhood in the daylight. They're causing a lot of damage in the farmland. They have really, really destroyed crops and the millions of dollars worth of loss to the farmers in the suburban area. They have destroyed a lot of yards with um ornamental plants. Um, even with sod, they like to root and turn over grass and debris to find grubs, nuts, uh, roots or whatever they can find to eat and they will plow up a yard and it's causing great concern. Uh, they can grow to the size of 210, 250 pounds

and to see one on a dead run is a little bit concerning. I've been told, and I'll put it at that, I've been told that they are not very aggressive unless you mess with their piglets. Um, but they it is frightening to see a 200lb animal coming in your direction and that could cause someone to have a cardiac arrest or hurt themselves trying to get out of the way or to hurt someone else trying to put them down. And that's the last thing we need. our citizens out declaring open season on pigs because the state allows hunting of these pigs year round. They want them eliminated. But in Stone Crest, we are not allowed to use firearms. Period. I know you hear a lot of gunshots and there are a lot of people violate the ordinance, but we are not to use firearms for obvious reason. We are so compact. You're shooting at a pig, who knows who or what you might strike. So, we want to control this matter in a professional manner before it gets really out of hand. And there have been seminars and other workshops put on to give us some ideas as to what we can do to help mitigate this peril hog problem. So, Councilwoman Washington uh Smith uh and I were invited to a conference in Warrington, Georgia. We didn't make that one, so we said let's bring them to us. So, I'm going to let her tell you about what's coming to the city of Stone Crest

to address the federal hog issue.

Thank you, Councilman Turner. Um, so as Councilman Turner has stated, we u were invited to a workshop which educates us on feral hogs and we weren't able to make it. However, we spoke with and are working with the Georgia Association of Conservation Districts in order to put on this same workshop right here in the city of Stone Crest at our city hall. The workshop is going to happen um on June 2nd at 5:30 p.m. here. You have to register. You must register because the seating is limited. Therefore, we need you, if you're interested in attending, to register for the workshop by May 26. I've handed out a few paper flyers for some of the citizens in um District 5 who have identified having an issue with it and we've also posted this on our website. So, I I've sent out a um notification on social media as well, and we will will ask the same thing from social media here at the city of Stone Crest to send it out, advertise it where you can. Again, if you would like to attend, please ensure that you register by May 26 and you can find the QR code on um our website. If you want me to send it to you, if you need additional information, I am here. Please feel free to give me a call, give me an email, and I will get the information to you as swiftly as I possibly can. Allow me to also add that this is no small undertaking. It is very costly to trap these animals. But if we don't trap them, they are going to take over. And you just ask

your friends in the southern part of the state. A pig giving birth today, 6 months later, those pigs are able to reproduce. And they drop a litter anywhere from well about half a dozen in the wild and a dozen in captivity. So you do the math as to how fast these things can take over and they can do some damage to your yard. But if you run over one, it's not like hitting a deer. They can cause a car to have a serious control problem if you hit a pig. So be careful. A lot of our neighbors have already undertaken hiring trappers. I have one neighbor who has trapped over a hundred uh yes in their backyard and another one reports uh 75 and the numbers are growing but they're coming out of their pockets to cover these traps. There might be some assistance particularly on public property. So, we're hoping to set up a hotline. So, if you see one, you'll probably see more than one because they running, they call them sounders. They running sounders. Um, we just need to know where they are so we'll know where to concentrate the trapping. So, we get a hotline or website so you can send in your photographs. Uh if you have ring cameras, um any type of trail cams, uh we need that. Well, we will need that information if we are going to trap and eliminate them or at least chase them out of the suburban area. And that's

and education is key. So again, come out, get the education on it. Um, and there also will be a live trapping demo happening at the workshop. Yes. Hopefully on the line on the north side of city hall. And if you catch a pig, you can have it. Any questions? Mayor Pro Tim.

Yes, Councilman F. Um just wanted to well first off before I I ask um just wanted to say a wonderful thank you to both Mayor um Dank Councilman Turner and Councilwoman uh Smith for taking on this issue. Um I I envy the speed and efficiency both of you used to tackle that to tackle the wild hog issue as many residents mentioned in the pain. My only question for you guys is where's it posted? Lord, I cannot find it and I would love to get that information and share it out so that way you guys can be successful. I will send you the link.

Successful or excuse me, success successful. Thank you, Councilman Fi and Councilwoman Smith, if you can share that flyer with all council. I shall share with the district as well. You want an electronic copy as well? Electronic would be perfect. Thank you so much. We'll do. Thank you.

Any other questions for Councilwoman Smith or Councilwoman or Councilman Turner? Let me just add, just advertise, advertise, let people know what's going on and they'll know that we're trying to resolve this. So, when you get a copy of this flyer, I did see it on Facebook. Um, please share it with anyone particularly in the Stone Crest area. We're trying to bring uh Rockdale County in on this matter and we're talking with the um Commissioner Marita Davis Johnson's office and they're on board as well as um Commissioner Bolton. I've talked to them as well. So, and uh our CEO Lorraine Cochran Johnson's office, I spoke to them as well. So, they know what's going on and they have expressed support. But when it comes to financing it and helping to make it happen, we'll see how much support we get. I do believe that they are going to help us solve this problem.

Thank you, Councilman Turner. Next on the agenda is executive session. Is there a need for executive session? Yes, Mayor Prom. I entertain a motion. Mayor Prom, I move to excuse the council into executive session. Second, a second. Oh, for real estate security. Personnel personnel litigation real estate cyber security. Say litigation. Do I have a second?

A second. The motion has been properly moved and second. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three. Yay. District four. Yay. District five. Yay. District one is yay. We are now adjourned to executive session for personnel litigation, cyber security, and real estate.

Mayor Bro Tim. Yes, Councilman F. We live. Are we live? Thank you, Stone Crest. Yes, Councilman Fi. I move to come out of the executive session. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilwoman Smith. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three, yay. District four, yay. District five, yay. District 1 is yay. We are now um back into our work session. Mayor Prim. Yes, Councilman Turner. I mean, Councilman F.

Yeah, that's that's that's a bit of Actually, I will take that. Um, I move to approve the minutes coming out of executive session. Second. The motion has been properly moved and second by Councilwoman Smith. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor of the motion, please respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two, yay. District three, yay. District four. Yay. District five, yay. District one is yay. The minutes from executive session has been approved. Five to zero. May prom. Yes. Councilman five. I move to adjourn this meeting. Second.

The motion has been properly moved and second by councilwoman Smith. Are you ready for the question? All those in favor will respond with yay. All those opposed, nay. Starting with district two. Yay. District three. Yay. District four. Yay. District five. Yay. District one is yay. This meeting is now adjourned. Thank you, Stone Crest, and enjoy your evening.