Afternoon. Hi everybody. Welcome. So nice to see everyone here. Uh today is June 17th. It's now 1:30 and I'd like to call uh the meeting to order. We're here at the Town of Highland Beach Town Commission meeting. If we could have the roll call, please.
Commissioner Janowski. Present. Commissioner Goldberg present. Commissioner Peters present. Vice Mayor Stern present. Mayor Moore present. Town manager Labidy present. And town attorney Ruben present. Thank you. If we could all rise for the
pledge. I pledge to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with justice for all.
No invocation today. Okay. All right. Just want to make sure. And are there any changes to the agenda? Uh, mayor, I would propose we move 11 A to 6B and then 6B becomes 6 C and 6 C becomes
6D. Any other suggested changes? If everyone's okay with it, if we could have a motion, please. Yes. uh motion to uh uh to move the um agenda in
accordance with Marshall's request as as amended plan. Perfect. Second. Anyone? I second it. Okay. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Okay. Uh the first item is the fire safety recognition award.
Um, and who will be presenting that? Fire department. Okay. Thank you. Afternoon everybody. How's everybody doing today? Good. How are you? Good. Good. How are you? How's it going? So, um, anyway, we uh
we're here because we're happy. We've been in business for about a year as you all know. Uh, we started working on uh inspecting the buildings. Uh, Joe Brooks who was leading that that up. Um, Inspector Brooks been doing a great job
with that. Uh, and we have now um, we got there a little little while ago, but we um, were finally able to show some recognition to one of our buildings, the first one to get done. And ironically, it's where Mayor Hillman used to live.
So, um, the Dalton uh, was our first building to complete everything they needed to do from our inspection program, and we wanted to present them with an award. Jane Benjamin who's seated. You guys can come on up. Um is the uh property manager there. She's been doing a great job getting this
done. Uh Mike who's with her is one of the board members. And uh so we uh we came up with a fire safe fire safe building certificate which is this. And this is the first one we're going to present. We have probably another Joe could probably a little better, but
another five or six buildings that are right there. And uh this is what we plan to do is uh issue the certificates to the buildings that comply um with the program. So congratulations. That's excellent.
Anyway, thank you very much. Thank you. That's really excellent. I know um it has been a a a challenge to to get these buildings, you know, because we haven't had the rigor that we had in the past that we do now. So, that's really um a
huge congratulations to you and want to recognize the effort that that you all have done. So, it's really it's fantastic news and uh it's for the safety of all the residents. So, that's excellent. Yeah, that I know that I think you
reached out to me early on and and um yeah, so that really is impressive and it's fitting that it's Mayor Hillman's uh building. Isn't that cool? Very cool. Yes, his legacy continues. Really excellent. Okay, moving on to item 6B,
which is the resolution number 2025016, a resolution of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach, Florida, authorizing the mayor to execute amendment number 10 to the state of Florida Department of Transportation District 4 landscape inclusive
memorandum of agreement on behalf of the town providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date. Hey Ingred, hello. Good afternoon. for the record in Gre Allen Town Planner. Uh so as indicated, this is an amendment number 10 to the Florida Department of
Transportation's landscape inclusive memorandum of agreement. Um this specific agreement is regarding landscape improvements on State Road A1A. Um on page 67 of your packets, I provided you the nine previous amendments. Uh so you'll see a table
there with the location of each of those amendments, the corresponding FDOT permit, and the execution date of the amendment. Um so the town um in the amended agreement, you'll see that the town is required to maintain additional
landscape improvements. However, and I've mentioned this with all the other uh memorandum amendments that you've seen, uh section 28-10A of the town code requires that the property owner maintain all landscaping, even that landscaping that is adjacent to the public right away. And we provided the
applicant, if the um amendment is approved today by the commission, will go ahead and provide the property owner with a hold harmless. Um, so on March 13th of 2025, the planning board granted an amendment to a previously approved major modification to an existing building. Uh, that was a development
order number 24-00002. Um, for this request, they were adding a 21 square foot balcony to the west side of the residence and a landscaping plan. Now, prior to this March 13, 2025 approval, they went before the planning board on April 11th, 2024, and they were
doing um adding some additional square footage to the building. They were changing the roof line. They were changing facade, some of the facade, and all that triggered a major modification. Now, at that April meeting, they were not proposing any landscaping improvements to the ride ofway, but then that changed, and that's totally fine,
and that's what they went before the planning board on March 13th for. Um, now at the March 13th meeting, and I indicate this on page 68 of your packets, um, at the time of the meeting, their FDOT approval for landscaping in the rightway was pending. Um, and I did
talk to Mr. Labidity about it. He gave me the authorization to bring the request to the planning board. Um, and put some conditions of approval. Right. first condition, again it's in your staff report, that they get FDOT approval and that they come before the commission to get an approval of this
amendment to the maintenance agreement. Um, so on May 23rd of 2025, just week or two ago, uh, FDOT provided me with that amendment number 10, uh, which starts on page, uh, let's see, it's on 74 of your packet. So that actual amendment
paperwork actually comes from FDOT. Um so the landscape the landscaping they propose on that um FDOT application it does match the landscaping in the rightway that the planning board approved on May on March 13th. So I made
sure everything matches. So with that said I'm happy to address any questions. We also have the applicants authorized agent here to address any questions that you may have as well. Anybody have any question? I do not have any question.
No, planning board approved it. FDOT approved it. The project is looking amazing. Um, so, uh, looks like we're all in consensus of approving. Ready for a motion? Yep. Yes, please. I move to approve resolution number 2025-16.
Second. Do I need to ask for public David? Commissioner Gober. Yes. Vice Mayor Stern. Yes. Commissioner Peters. Yes. And Commissioner Chanobski. Yes. Mayor Moore. Yes. Thank you. Motion
carries. Great. Thank you very much for attending. Yes, of course. Yeah. It's a great budget. Thank you. Thank you. The project is looking incredible.
That was A. I don't know what was B. Okay. Item 6 C, resolution number, which was formerly 6B, now a 6C. Resolution number 2025-015, a resolution of the town commission of
the town of Highland Beach, Florida, ratifying the selection, appointments, and term of office of members of the planning board, and providing for an effective date. Uh we have three candidates um for one vacancy. Um so the first
candidate we have is Greg Bobby. If you could please come to the podium and state uh where you live and a few things about yourself. Thank you, Mayor Moore. Greg Bobby, 1092 Bello Drive, Highland Beach, Florida. Um
give you a little background on me and why I'm applying for this. uh educated as a civil engineer, uh former chair of the FAB, uh former vice mayor, former original chair of the Highland Beach Police Foundation. So, I've kind of touched it all. Um I was part of the
working group to modernize the town's uh marine accessory ordinances when I was the vice mayor. So, I got to spend a lot of time with uh Ingred Allen and Jeff Remis and the marine consultant Mike Jenkins. Uh, I used to own a marine construction company, so I'm familiar with uh, uh,
marine products. Um, why am I applying? Uh, my good friend and neighbor Roger Brown is on the planning board, and I think he's done a really tremendous job with marine construction, marine ordinances, single family home representation, but he's coming off
later this year. So, I thought it would be a good time to throw my hat in the ring and uh, see if I could help fill the spot. I certainly have the single family home knowledge, the marine construction knowledge. Um, and uh, I'm hoping to fill that void. I'm here to
serve. So, if it uh, works for you guys, it works for me. Um, so we'll go through each of the commissioners to have an opportunity to ask you a question. Um, Commissioner Shamasi, I'm familiar with the history. Um, I believe the candidate is extremely
wellqualified. Uh I'm sorry to hear that Roger Brown's coming off because he's uh an outstanding person to work with. I just came off the planning board myself and uh obviously you have my support. Thank you. And it's always uh you know I have such town has such gratitude for
your service and and I note um that in the vetting it was significant input and masterful job. I mean that's that's the um should be the title you know in every every aspect of your contribution to the town. So I thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Yeah. And I'll go
back. Greg, I know I know you gave me a lot of information on the marine studies when it was going in there. So, uh, and I like that you're a resident single family home and you're a place and you represent the home. So, uh, yeah, I I support you. Thank you.
Hi, thanks for applying. Um, we go back a long ways. I was the vice chair in the FAB and he did a phenomenal job and a great job as the vice mayor and thank you for applying. We support you. Thanks. We also have a nice long history. Uh I attribute me being on the commission to
you of course. Uh thank you for all your guidance. Um you obviously have uh uh quite a bit of knowledge about how all this all runs and I I'm very grateful to your volunteerism and all the work that you've put in. I also think it's really
important to have at least one single family homeowner on on the board. Uh we have three very qualified candidates. Um but I think for me what sets it apart is how important it is to have at least one
single family homeowner um on the board. Um I also noticed um uh the chair also of all three very qualified candidates also helped us out by making a a recommendation as well. So um I hope the
other two also uh continued their volunteerism. There's no it's not any kind of poor reflection on anyone else. It's more that number one you're excellent and number two you are a single family homeowner. So, I think uh we all are in consensus.
Uh well, I guess we need to uh talk to each of the other candidates, but thank you very much for stepping forward and uh let's hear from the other two. Thank you. And I'm very touched by all of your comments. Thank you very much. It means a lot. Yeah. Good.
Uh the next is I think Barry Dolmston. Are you the the next candidate? Yeah, Barry, come on up. Say where are you? Mayor, vice mayor, members of the commission. Barry Donaldson, 3700 South Ocean Boulevard, Island Beach. Uh
appreciate the opportunity to uh pursue an appointment on the board. Uh I have had the pleasure of serving previously on the board of uh rules and appeals uh the planning board and had a short stent as a commissioner. Uh also worked hard
on some of the last rounds of resolutions uh for the city relating uh to charter changes. Uh and uh have great greatly enjoyed living here for the past 22 years in Highland Beach. So, it's always good to have an opportunity uh to
step forward and have a chance to participate again. Thank you, Barry. Um you want to go ahead uh Commissioner Chidoski to with your comments? You know, it always comes down to the amount of time someone has. Uh and um
I think volunteerism is at is at a shortage right now and it's great to have candidates like yourself applying for this. My question is this. What are you doing now in staying active? What am I doing to stay busy? Yeah. Yes. Well, after after my last round of endeavors
uh with the city, uh I had to go back and pay attention to my business. Uh I was extremely busy. So, uh finally have found a good window of opportunity to again to engage with community. So, the timing was good. Thank you. Thank you
very much. So very much. So very impressed with everything that you've done and uh your commitment to our town. It's continues a broad experience. Thank you so much for coming up today. You're welcome. Thank you. Yeah, Barry, thank thank you for all your volunteer work. I
know you uh and I hope you keep on trying again if uh you don't get the position uh uh for another board. Thank you, Barry. Thank you. you did a terrific job in all those other positions and commissioner and so forth and really
appreciate you applying for this. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. Thank you so much for your volunteerism. And the other thing I want to mention, Barry designed the entry entry signs, the very beautiful entry signs that won an overwhelming amount of
votes, more votes than any of us up here obtained to become commissioner. So, um I just want to I want to put another plug in for that. I think the signs turned out fabulous. I can't wait till the one on the north end gets installed.
And uh it really I I thought it um captured all the facets that we want, you know, a little a more contemporary sign, you know, a little bit of the the blue, you know, you know, the what we're about basically the understated elegance
that we were really going for. So really appreciate your time and effort in submitting that winning sign design. I you know I I do think um all the work that you've done has really been for the the benefit of the town and we really appreciate it. So yeah the next time
there's an opening please come forward and uh yeah regarding this sign congratulations actually to the commission. I mean this was a wonderful community building exercise. Uh the response from the community was incredible. You had so many applicants.
It was so much fun to go through them and see the ideas and the inspiration behind them. I hope you do more of that in the future. It was really really exciting. Thank you. Thank you. So, congratulations to you guys on that. Thank you. And we hope to see you again soon. Yeah, certainly. Thank you. Thank
you, Barry. And the next applicant, Robert Lassoursa, if you want to come up. How you doing? Hello. Lorsa, 119 Bale Air Drive. This is for one position, correct? It is. Save everyone a bunch of
time. I check all the boxes, but I'm putting that I I'm happy what the commission does for this town. I like our city attorney even. Everything's going in the right direction. I've been here 26 years and more. Keep it up. Thank you. Great.
Well, thank you for volunteering and and please consider a future um a vacancy. He's on a board already, I think. And he's he's perfectly on the Yeah. Right. Right. So, excellent. Excellent. Great. Great people on this, Tom. So, if we
could have a motion, please. Yes. I uh move to approve resolution number 2025-15. I second. Appointing Greg Babby to the appointment. Thank you. I second and I second. Commissioner Peter second
and we'll have a roll call, please. Commissioner Goldberg, yes. Commissioner Peters, yes. Commissioner Chanobski, yes. Vice Mayor Stern, yes. And Mayor Moore, yes. Motion carries. Congratulations and welcome to another
appointment with the town of Beach. Yeah. Yeah. Great to have you back. We're in good hands for sure. No Barry. Yes. And of course, we hope Barry considers a a position as it comes up. Absolutely.
Item 6D, the preliminary fiscal year 2026 operating budget presentation. Europe. So, uh, our exciting time of year, putting gloves in the room vacates. No. Um, so we're excited again. I I like to preface and I I'm proudly to
do it again for the seventh time that our financial health continues to remain strong. It lays the foundation for a bright and prosperous future for our three three miles of paradise. Um, also it aligns with a couple other documents. So, this is kind of a living document. It's not just a dead document. So, it
goes with our strategic priorities plan. So, basically it addresses and funds projects and initiatives around organizational excellence, public infrastructure and resiliency, community safety, community enrichment and sustainability. It also ties in, if we
recall back from May, our five-year forecast. So, it really builds on that and then it also is a true reflection of our values as we move forward as a community. So, uh David and I are excited. This is our favorite time of year uh where we get to go through the
budget, present to you, but again uh it continues to be strong. So, rest assured tonight when you go to sleep and you're thinking about the budget like I do every day, we're okay. We're in a strong financial condition and what you're going to see the biggest part of our strategic priorities that are going
to be addressed this year is capital. So when David goes through this and we talk about special projects, special initiatives, things that we're trying to accomplish, it's heavy on the capital side. And when we get into some of those projects, I'll preface that we're really working on timing. So, some things that
are budgeted this year and some things that are budgeted next year. The timing is so close for that uh late summer, early fall, that's we may have to do some uh budget amendments and budget adjustments to reflect that based on
when the design is done, when we hit the streets to bid things and bids come in and we award. So, there's some timing issues. Uh we'll try to get around that. But again, we're addressing, as we remember back from May in that five-year forecast, we are hitting those major
capital projects. Marine dock facility, which I'm glad to say, uh our resident Peggy got us in the budget again. If you could believe this, that woman is amazing up there. So, um, they couldn't get a budget down until last night at 11:19, but our appropriation made it
through the entire process and we got, uh, dollars to assist us in building that marine dock facility. So, kudos to her. Yeah. And her team for bringing that through for us, uh, yet again. So, we got another appropriation. Uh, time and effort and energy is well spent in
keeping Highland Beach uh, front and center. We're also talking about uh, the the police security center. We're going to be able to address that. Basically, the new entrance and the security center, getting those things in place. Uh the old fire station, the ability to get those things in, and then the
sanitary sewer lining project. All those will be are basically concurrent as we speak. Some are a little bit more advanced in design. Some are ready for contracts, waiting for Len on those. Um so, it's really the timing and with the sanitary sewer line, remember, you know,
EP DOT's got to get out of our way. They were supposed to be done at the end of May. They're looking like maybe August is what Pat's saying. Uh so we're still doing our projects. So we'll start on the side streets and work our way out, but some of the timing on those issues are are are a little bit difficult. And
then the Belo Bridge for the Belo folks in here, we haven't forgot it. We just got done with the engineering. We speced it out. Everything's in place to to fix the structure and the new cap on the bridge and repaving it. So that's going to also happen this year. So a lot of capital is what you're going to hear
about in here. and also maintaining operations. We're not losing sight of that. Our excellence as it relates to public safety, finance, the clerk's office, the managers, the library, all that stuff is funded. Clean water, award-winning water, in case Pat's in here. He always wants me to make sure I
mention Highland Beach's award-winning water. So, all those things are funded and maintained. Um, but capital is the the main driving force. And with that, David, I'll stop talking and we can hear from you. No, no, no. Thank you. Uh yeah, you know, when I was here in April and I did the five-year, I actually I
just looked back and uh the if you recall my five-year plan, I wanted to kind of stretch out uh some capital projects, right? I had uh I had our capital project kind of going over three years, you know, and then I indexed the cost of today's dollars. If we did a
project in year three, you know, that's going to cost about 7% more and and things like that. And so, you know, but in reality, we're tackling a lot of capital projects. You can see here we just got back. So, what starts this
budget season off is when the uh property appraiser gives us our initial uh valuation. Uh, and you can see there that it came in at 67% increase in property values. We had anticipated a a 5%
increase. And I have a chart in here that kind of shows the history and we'll go through there. But as Marshall said, this year for 2026 is going to be about capital, which which we we actually think that no, no, no, let's tackle as much capital as possible to shorten any
risk about the future, right? You know, we have the reserves. We have the dollars. You were successful at at building the that the the beautiful fire department. So, let's keep that momentum going. Yes, David, when when Masha says capital, are we talking about raising
capital? No, no, no, no. I'm sorry. Uh, capital improvements. Uh, you know, Yeah. Yeah. The the town has all these assets that it's responsible for. You know, when when the town buys something, a piece of land, a park, or whatever, Yeah. it has to maintain those. And and
you've all been to other communities where those assets don't get maintained very well. Highland Beach is obviously the exception to that rule in everything. So anyway, so so you can see here, right? So we had we're uh one of
our always our goal and this is our third year in trying to get to achieve that goal of maintaining our current millillage at 3.5875. Okay. We're going to try to tackle, as Marshall said, the timing of these
things is is going to be different, right? but we're going to put it go ahead and put it in the budget now. We're not going to be spending any additional funds in interest expense. Um, and so we're going to try to tackle these all on ourselves. We later on,
keep in mind this is a preliminary, right? We're going to go through through the next uh several months, we're going to go through and we're going to we're going to uh get a little bit clearer vision, right? Our first clear vision was what the property appraiser came back with, right? The next the next uh
and then we made some assumptions. We made some assumptions here of of health insurance staffing um increase. Uh we have uh uh we have a general insurance for property, you know. So, so we still have some things that we need to get
clear about before we hit September, right? But we need to we need to go ahead and and and get a budget in process now. So these right here are the preliminary overviews. If we look here, these right here uh are your great
accomplishments that that you as a commission and the town have uh successfully went through, right? The fire department as we just talked about were we're with the marine accessory structures, uh the water treatment upgrade and replacement, lift station
one, the Belo bridge repair, as Marshall just said, with the engineering, right? A lot of these capital projects start with engineering, right? We got to know what we're working with. David, can you go back one slide? Absolutely. Okay. What are you basing your
assumptions on as far as a uh 10% health and 5% compensation based on history? Yeah. So, uh you know, most of our compensation as far as most of our labor dollars, the cost thereof is uh with uh
union contracts. Not all of our employees are that, mainly in public safety. So, so we know where those are at, right? And so, basically what we're looking at is we're looking at, okay, uh uh we have we have some public safety
that we know what their next round, what their next step plan is going to be. Uh and so we bake that in. And then you have other non-union employees uh in an effort to be fair what we thought what we thought their compensation would be.
We're anticipating recall now that inflation just kind of came down. Right? We were in the 10% there. Right now it's starting to come down. We're assuming about a 3.7% increase in in general inflation, especially in this area. You can't
compare the rest of the world or the rest of the United States to this area. They have their own consumer price index for the pricing in this area. So yeah, so so we kind of look at historical. We we take into consideration the consumer
price index. Um and so and also other surrounding communities we also look at. What about health? I'm sorry. Health. How did you how did you come up with well health insurance you know health insurance is interesting right because uh some years it'll go up you know 15%
other years believe it or not it'll be flatline right health insurance is obviously one of those costs that are tremendous that by the way you provide 100% of that cost and that's phenomenal. What that does is that attracts the
right people. I always tell people all the time outside of here, if someone voluntarily leaves the fire department, whatever, I mean, it I don't know where they're going to go. And so, you guys provide every benefit at the best, your goal of being a tier one employer to
attract the best help for your residents continues and that continues with health insurance as well. So, and that's what we've been seeing. So last year out of the last four running years, last year was the first year where we saw really an increase. If we recall, we had a couple zero years and we had one
decrease year. Y uh last year we were around 7% 6 and 3/4 7% increase. So we're imagining we picked 10 to be safe. We'll probably be that 7 to 10% is what we're guessing. Uh Mark, our broker will start seeing and having those
conversations next month with all of the providers to see, you know, how it shakes out. But uh we've been doing pretty well of maintaining uh that those cost structure. And then health uh property insurance, right? Yeah. Um reinsurance
market got a little bit better. Um we didn't get hit with sovereign immunity. Remember I was like really nervous that they were going to change that sovereign immunity cap. That did not get changed. So that's going to keep us from growing around 3% of just legislative increase. We're not going to experience that. So,
uh, property insurance should come down a little bit. Replacement cost is driving up some of that. Um, but you know, workers comp and stuff will tweak a little bit now that we've truly haven't become a full service community with two public safety branches. That usually hits workers comp a little bit. Right. Right. And and these right here
the at this time, you know, we look at historical two to three years of actual, right? We look at our our first six months of of actual data, what we have for our revenues and our expenditures, right? And so, and then what we do is we
kind of anticipate. I've always told you I would I want to be wrong on the right side, right? I I want to understate your revenue and overstate your expenditures, right? And so uh but certain items unfortunately during the timing uh we have to make these assumptions for now.
This is preliminary and we're bringing it to you to make sure that we are all locked that staff is in step with what the commission wants to do. It's always that way. This is uh staff's idea and this is our first opportunity to present
it to you. And so that that's what a preliminary budget is. And so, you know, as we as we look, we said we here here are your accomplishments and this time next year, you'll have even more accomplishments after this year is done with as well as halfway through next
year. But again, just a list of outstanding accomplishments so far. Uh here, if you recall, this was our strategic uh projects and initiatives, right? you went through and these are things that that you planned of all the list of strategic projects and
initiatives that you wanted to do. You ranked them. You took the time and you ranked them and this right here was your list. And that is always in our forefront, right? And so this is just a reminder that hey during the budget season we always keep this in mind,
okay, of of what our strategic initiatives are. And some of those you you'll see in here the S sanitary sewer lining. You'll see the old fire station, you know, uh uh the the real time security center uh in
the in the police department. You'll start to see these as we talked about before. This is our goal and it's been our goal. This right here, we're going on three years. I I put this in here. We started that in 2023, right? And our goal really when we
first did our first five-year pro, our first fiveyear uh uh budget forecast, our goal, staff's goal was to maintain that millillage at 3.5875 and we've done that. Yes. Yeah. So you
say this is the fourth year at that level, right? Right. The fifth year was higher. So Right. It was it's actually a reduction. So I mean it's almost a better even better story. you know, not only have we kept it steady, but five years ago, we actually did drop it a bit, and that was because of the
elimination of some of the debt that we had, right? Yes. Thank you for reminding me that some of the water funds and and and I'll show you I have another chart in there. Uh there used to be a time and we'll remember back in the day when the general fund had to contribute money, right, to the uh to the to the to the
water fund because that one there still wasn't out of the nest yet. You know, we were still trying to get it on his feet and things like that. And so we're summed and I don't know if I'm recalling correctly, but I think even the history before that was either we held steady or it's been dropped. So I don't think
we've raised the millillage for first year we had a it was a rough budget go in October of 18 I uh coming late September and you guys just well not you guys but the commission at that time was forced to just throw money into the
budget because no one knew where anything was uh because of all the departures. So, uh, that budget year was a little ran a little bit hot around 3.8, I believe. So, we're, you know, we've brought it down that 3/10 and then we just held it flat. And again, the
idea was on good years, a little bit of money will go into the rainy fund for the years where our costs, now that we have public safety, which again, costs continue to escalate, we have dollars to to bridge gaps. So, we don't have to fluctuate that millage rate year in year
out and go through that exercise, right? uh is just to hold it, be steady, be calm, be consistent is kind of our goal. So since 2018, it's either been drops. Yes. Or steady, which I think is very good news. No, no, no. Absolutely. And and again, you know, we'll I think one
of these charts here, third lowest in Palm Beach County. They're third, right? Right. But but but you'll see here, this right here is what our millillage used to be. This is when when we talk about millillage, we we talk about uh the value of a tax dollar and how that gets
allocated, right? We you know, we used to have operating down here, right? If you recall, that was no fire department that was well, we had a fire department. We just outsourced that, right? And this was the amount that we had to send to the uh to the water fund for their for
for for their for their debt service, right? And so we gradually, as you can see, that our our total millage, you're absolutely right, madame mayor, our total millage went down and and now we're trying to stay safe right here. What you're seeing is you're seeing Yep. Okay. Our operations is is relatively
the same. There's a a minor increase there because your property values have increased again uh at 6%. One more slide and I'll I'll I'll get to that. But and here is your fire department debt debt service millage, right? as property values go up uh debt service millage
goes down and so how how much is needed to cover that and so that's what that chart there represents uh let me go to the next one here all right this is what I wanted to talk about right this was the this right here
was the steep increase right the steep uh the steepness of what was happening with property values double digits prior right it was four 2 3% % right changes in property value. Then we went up right
here. This right here, I mean you went up 10% here, over 10% here. You went up another 13% here in property values. What I like about what's happening and uh at my convention, the uh GFO, the
Government Finance Association, it's actually happened right now in Hollywood. When I talk to the uh Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, Yeah. They're happy that it's not a drop off the cliff, right? Let's let's just let's just everyone settle in,
right? And so this is actually a good thing. So you can see where it's not one of those scary roller coasters where you reach the top and then you just dump. But right here, and you know what, we're probably anticipating in the future years this right here to kind of kind of
straight line that. That's the best case scenario. You know, your area is unique. You constantly update it. Your your your commission is constantly reinvesting its funds, its excess funds into the assets that it has. And that's what we'll
currently show. Your full service, full police, full fire, water, sewer, your own library. It's it's it's a miracle. And uh and it's and it's a beautiful thing. But anyway, you know, over the years from 2020 to 2026 in this budget,
right, seven 7 and a half, you know, percent was the average annual increase. When you take all these numbers here, that's that's that that's what it's doing. You know, David, this totally is supported by what Ingret handed out to us by Inspire. Everything that they say
in their report actually goes along well with what we see happening on your charts. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they really sync out well. Yeah. Yeah. Right. What I like about this and every year before budget season, that's why we sit there and we go, I wonder what the property appraiser is going to come back with,
right? Because think about it, the property appraisers function is to be independent, right? And so it's working. And so they're supposed to be independent, give us what the evaluations are, and then hand that down to us. So that's why when Marshall and I talk, we're always like, "Wow, I wonder
what this number here is going to come back to. And here's the reason why that number is important. 73% right of of of our general fund, right? Revenue comes in here. But do you
know why this one works? Most other communities are split 25% might be property taxes and and this they might get a lot of gasoline tax and and they might get a lot of sales tax, right? We don't we don't have that in this in in
this island. The reason why is because this is the perfect setup and the perfect model for this area. And here's the reason why. 70 73% of the revenue coming in is from the users i.e. the community who are using the services
that the town is providing. Right? And so at the end of the day, this is the proper proper mix. Sure, we get a little bit of funds from from the state of Florida, some franchise fees, right? A little bit of charges for services, right? You'll see this year here, we're
we're we're pulling money into we're going to we're going to pull money out of our reserves to cover some of the capital as we discussed in our five-year plan. And so, but you can see there, that's that's the mix of it. Yeah. Yeah. So, that's that that's where all your
revenue comes in for the general fund. Now, so now we'll go into So now let's look at this right here is the changes. So these right here are all the individual line items, right? So what we're looking at is we're looking at if
2025 budget was about $18.5 million. We're looking at about a proposed budget here, preliminary budget of about $19.5 million or about a 5.6% increase. Right? Think about it. inflation, right, we're
is going to be at about 3.7%. Okay, right right now in this area. And so we're looking and we're saying, okay, right now we're we're anticipating that our revenue is going to grow probably about five a little bit over 5%. Again,
very conservative, you know, uh and uh yeah, and so you can see there the bottom line there. We're going to pull more money in from our appropriation from reserves. And the reason why is because we want to now start focusing on capital improvement
uh maintaining the assets that the town currently has. So that's our goal. Does that excuse me does that include um the anticipated work to be done in the old firehouse? Yes. Yeah. Is that sufficient amount? Yeah. Yeah. You you'll see this
right here is the revenue to to to cover that. Okay. So this right here is the revenue. Now, when we talk about the expense side, right, when you talk about a lot of the expense, see that capital outlay? See, that's where that those dollars are right there, right? $2.6
million is for the marine uh the marine u uh the dock. Dock, thank you. And and working on the new the new fire station. Now, remember, we haven't gotten to the sewer lining. The reason why is cuz sewer lining that's in another fund,
right? that's in the water and sewer fund, right? Statutoily, we have to keep these funds separate. And so that's why you see that. But you can see that uh of of our major expenses, you have uh uh salaries and related right here, right?
You have operating expenses. There's capital outlay. You can see debt service is all is about the same. You can see that we've added additional dollars here to contingency. And you can also see that you remember in the old days we
used to take this right here is a very good example. When you see appropriation to reserves that means we're taking that money and we're going to sa keep keep it safe. It's going to the reserves right and so and so at the end of the day this
right here you'll see that instead of having excess reserves we're going to be pulling money from that. So, and and we'll see that because the reason why is because we're on the the the expenditure side, but here's a dollar, right? This right here shows you how we're stretching it. You know, in some towns
it's a dollar. In yours, it's a hundred. You know, we use we use the 100 here. Uh and so, right, you can see what percentage here is going to uh salaries related pension, payroll taxes, health insurance, all that all that other
stuff. And then you can see how how much larger the dollar here is for your capital needs for for for for maintaining your your your items here. So I have a quick question about this one. So appropriations to reserves the budgeted amount was 635,000,
right? But you're thinking it'll be 200,000 more like No, no, no. So what we're thinking is is we're thinking that we're going to take any excess that we have this year and we're going to put it into capital improvements. See the c see that? See how big the the capital
improvement is now? $2.6 million here. No, but I'm just saying um this time a year ago, you were thinking what was going to be put in the piggy bank to save was $635,000. We're still holding. I'll jump in,
David. Uh we're still holding. We have not touched those dollars in this current fiscal year. We are not. But I guess what I'm saying is it's turned into 83 833 instead of 635. So didn't it go up 200,000? David's estimating there's going to be some extra spill over beyond what we currently have in
there. So in the if I go into the GL into the general ledger and do it, we have not touched that line item at 636. David's projected out if if we keep on the same track, right? We're actually going to be more money into that. So when you go to next year where we have
to take out of the checking account to cover the capital, we have it. I'm just saying that's a good thing that it it turned out to be $200,000 more than what we anticipated a year ago. Is what we were able to set aside. And um I I just
want to point it out. It was more than what we expected. Yeah. A year ago. Yep. Absolutely. Oh yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. The between the six and the $800,000 here. Exactly. No. And is that that I'm assuming is your best estimate today?
Yes. That we will be be able to set aside $200,000 more um based on last year's budget. Yeah. You know, talking about $18 million and $19 million, right? No, you're you're you're absolutely right. To be able to to squirrel away, you know, and again,
that's why we have the contingency here sometimes, too, right? we have we sit there and we go hey how do we uh how do I make sure I error on the right side right and so and so you you're absolutely right madam and it's by yeah so it's by design I think is what you're
trying to say and I think we all at least I so I guess I can only talk for myself I support your uh conservative assumptions that you build into um the uh budget and I guess the other thing
I'd say is They're not like super excessive. I think the fact that it's $200,000 more on such a large budget is is an appropriate amount. I wouldn't want that to be $2 million more. Um I
think it is a an appropriate amount as we reflect on this. I would say that is an appropriate amount of conservatism. It isn't excessive um but it is going in the right direction. So, and I'm glad that it's
being put towards David. That's a safety net. Yeah. Right. That's a proposed safety net. In reality, I'm only going to hit one of all the numbers that I'm showing you, right? And and that and and that and that's pretty much the uh the the the advalor property dollars because
there's a calculation for that. I know what the property taxes come. I know what the millage is going to be and and things like that. And so and so that dollar there, you know, I I don't know how much uh franchise fee dollars are coming in. I I'm not sure about the Sands Hotel h, you know, how many
burgers they're going to they're going to flip out that that we're going to get the sales tax dollars for or what have you. And so we look at historical, right? And we sit there and we go, all right, what's what's a conservative estimate? And so if you think about it, I only have a couple of levers, right?
If if you think about the town of Highland Beach, we only have a couple of levers of what we can pull. We can adjust the millage rate, right? That's a lever, i.e. taxes, right? We can adjust the lever for how much do we need to
pull from reserves from our savings account. And and to be honest with you, I love the fact that you don't have such huge barrels of money in your savings account that you're hoarding. We're planning on using that right in in this
fiscal year just like we did with the fire department. So if we go to the next slide, we'll talk about the fund balance. Yeah. Exactly. This is just one year's contribution to the fund balance. So in the next slide, we'll see the cumulative as to what we have. Right. Exactly. Right. Exactly. And so and so
at the end of the day, what look at look at this. This right here is kind of cool. you you you've you've almost perfectly matched everything here is structured in a way that says, "Hey, we have almost a third of of of our dollars in disaster relief. We have almost a
third of our dollars in budget stabilization." Listen, if everything goes south quickly, here's what I want you to think about. We still got budget stabilization funds in there, right, that we can pull from. Mhm. So the idea is to have that safety net for if look
at here if if in the future years this really starts to approach you know this level down here you know what I mean the property taxes where do you get 75% of your money coming in you get or 73% property taxes so so with the fund
balance I may propose or ask for you guys to consider David if we go to that fund Um you'll see the the level of unassigned dollars. Uh we may want to look at uh moving or modifying our uh policy to add a few more dollars to that
fire syncing fund for future equipment purchases. Yes. Which is another safeguard about outer years. If we have a revenue issue yet we need a big a new ladder truck or a new rescue, we have dollars kind of set aside to take a a chunk of that. So, uh, I might as we see
what the health care costs propose or ask you to consider, maybe we add some more funds, take it out of unassigned and assign it to that syncing fund which is currently at 250. We'll look at those numbers. We could talk about where we want to move it, but it might be a good idea to take it from the unassigned to
assign it to that uh, fire syncing fund just for those big uh, apparatus purchases in the future. Do you have do you have an idea of um, a number in mind? I'll probably say double it up. So go to 500 250 doesn't seem to be that great. Yeah, we we want to get over a
period of time. So within that life cycle, I'll talk with Chief a little bit of what we could see those life cycles. By the end of the life cycle, I'd like to be able to acquire a new rescue per se and have enough dollars for that for the direct purchase or close to that number. Yeah. I have a question.
Historically, let's go back five years. Uh has these uh percentage allocations uh been uh the same? They've been the percentage is same but the dollars have grown with the budget so they increase. Yeah. Well, I think there's a little point of clarification there. So the
budget stabilization and the disaster Okay. The budget stabilization is based on what the government accounting office recommends, which is they they um publish a general guideline for
municipalities as far as how much you should put towards budget stabilization. And budget stabilization is is like to make sure you have enough cash to meet, you know, the timing of your expenditures because you obviously get the bulk of your revenue at one point in
time, but you have to, you know, pay your bills, you know, 12 months out of the year. So the budget stabilization and so you wrote percentage of total here. Y is that percentage of total of the total um fund balance or percentage
of total of the budget? No, percentage total of the fund balance up there. Right. You might want to put another column that is percentage of the budget because the budget stabilization is supposed to be um I think it is a third of your
annual budget, right? I forget what the budget policy says, but it's in there. The percentages are in this. It's 16 It's 16% of your budget budget. Yes. Now, what we It's It's 16% of operating expenses. It's not capital, you know
what I mean? Let me give you an example. We spent about $10 million, right? And and just establishing the build, you know, $6 million for the building and whatnot. So, behind you, right? So, you wouldn't include that. So, that's capital work, right? But, but we like to have budget stabilization and disaster
recovery. your uh resolution, you you adopted a uh a fund balance policy. That's what the board did. And you and what you did is you uh you mirrored kind of what the uh governmental financial advisory committee says that yeah, you
should have that. And Madame Mayor is correct. We get most of our money early on, right, in the calendar year, right? And so, matter of fact, yesterday was the last of the of the dollars that that we're going to get in for property
taxes. That's it, you know. And so, now that's why that's why they say two to three months of of of of backup dollars that you need to have because that spot is turned off, right? You got it ahead of time, but you still have to continue on. So, you're absolutely So maybe next
time add a column that says percentage of budget because just so that we if we ever wanted to look at the policy we could easily see that we are complying with the policy. Yes. And then the disaster recovery um policy was also
also 16.7%. And that is based on an analysis of um what our self- retention is for all our um insurance policies. So, you know, you always have some sort of deductible or some sort of retention that when you have a claim that that you
have to pay for yourself and then the rest insurance policies pick up. So, we estimated that that needed to be that disaster recovery bucket needed to be 16.7% of the operating. Um, and then we we have in there 250 goes to fire
rescue. And I I would support increasing that um because I think that 250 was established a long time ago. And then and then unassigned is everything left over which fluctuates which we don't want to see that get too big because then we've got money that's taxpayer
money that's just sitting not doing anything but you want it to be enough because you know you always want to make sure so that fluctuates and um that's kind of more a uh how how we what we think is the right uh amount there and I
think you know 2.8 aid is probably okay. I don't think it's excessive. I don't think it's too low. Um I think that's that's probably about right and helps to give a cushion when maybe we don't get as much revenue that we're hoping for.
Um, so yeah, I think the fund balance looks good and um I I support all the capital projects that we're doing and and um paying cash for instead of financing because we have the money and
um you know I think the benefit of that is it also helps us to save any kind of interest expense. Yes. You know which you know really doesn't benefit us. So Yep. Yep. That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. So this is where we draw from. You can see here, right? You know, we're in 2025, right? We're anticipating that we're
going to add some more money to our fund balance. But in this 2026, I'm anticipating that we're going to pull a little bit of money, right, from our fund balance, you know, and i.e. when I say fund balance, that's also synonymous for reserves. That's what that
represents. David, the fund balance overall shouldn't affect our entire budget, though. No, not at all. No. fund balance is your uh it's it's it's the equity, right? It's it's the revenues minus expense. It's it's in business
terms, it's your retained earnings, correct? Right. You know what I mean? What you've retained as as a company. And oh, you want to go buy uh buy this, buy that. And so, we're just trying to in government, we try to say that, hey, let's say, for example, you guys wanted
to do something that was that was going to cost $3 million. Let's say you wanted to sidewalk light every square inch of your sidewalks, right? Well, okay. I would come to you and I'd say, "Well, we can't touch budget stabilization. We can't touch disaster recovery. We can't
touch uh fire rescue, but I do have $2.8 million." You know, let's see what the project comes back at. And again, what are those levers? Well, we can raise taxes, but we're not doing that, right? Or I can pull money in from reserves. That's another lever that I have, you
know, things like that. Or we can take out a loan. Yeah, exactly. If we're ever faced with a real problem, I think the other nice thing about being in a strong cash position, if we are faced with some project where we do need significant more amount of monies and we all deemed it to be necessary, we're in a good
position to borrow because we are not heavily leveraged right now. No. And so we're, you know, all our fund balances, you know, are good. So I think we would if we needed the money, we needed to borrow the money, we would be in a good, very good position to borrow money. And
you need and you need cash, right? Because god forbid a a disaster recovery, you got to pay that out first and then hope three years later that FEMA may or may not reimburse you, right? Well, our insurance policies are kind of and and the broker has assured
us many times that we will get paid and she has explained to us like how it how that they pay. So, and I I don't think it would be 3 years. I think it would be a much shorter based on what the broker says, it should be a much shorter time frame. Sure. Um, and so that's what that
disaster recovery that's why we have that 2.8 million sitting there. It's both the deductibles and the, you know, that type of thing. So, at the end of the day, we're done with the general fund, right? So, the general fund's focus is capital improvements, right?
About $2.6 million of capital improvements. the uh the old fire station here, the police dock there, and some other little ancillary stuff. But but that's what the the budget is saying, plus increases in normal operating expenditures. We're we're
we're properly staffed, so we're not looking to to hire a bunch of staff, which which would which would obviously change that mix. But so that's the general fund, and and this is where we're at. Uh the next fund is our discretionary sales tax fund. Keep in
mind this gets ready to end December 31st, 2025, right? So that one there comes to an end. So historically, you know, if we've gotten $450 or $415,000, I'm only recognizing about 25% of that because we'll get it all the way up
until it ends, right? But after that, you know, it goes to zero, right? The goal is to have that fund balance there go to zero. So So we're going to be again spending the money. Here's what we're looking at. The Axiom cameras, the the the the flock, a lot of a lot of
police, public works. We're going to spend money on the crosswalk there. Right. So, these funds are designated for uh capital improvement projects and we've spent it down. We've we we've done a good job of spend of spending that down. Uh but that this right here will
will go away this time next year. Uh the building fund, right? The building fund continues to do well. 73% of the of the revenue comes from charges for services. Right. Every time I think that I'm not going to see another building
uh go under renovation, I'm always surprised every time I every time I drive down here. Uh but anyway, you know, and it also it also continues to benefit smartly. Once again, you you continue to benefit from your interlocal
agreement with GFream. And so again, what what this one here is, you can see here, we're going to pull out a little bit more money from appropriation from reserves. I'm sorry, we're we're contributing more money into appropriation from reserves, but we've adjusted,
as you'll see, you we adjusted the expenditures here. So, so the biggest one is the transfers. Historically, since I've been here, I think the that has increased, but we're doing an additional increase. This right here is
a transfer from the building fund to the general fund, okay, to cover those overhead type of expenses, right? As our expenses grow, the building fund should continue to pay for its proportional share of those expenses. And that's kind of what what we've done here, right?
They're going to do a little bit more capital outlay and we'll and we'll go into that. But but you can see here overall what your expenses it has a nice balance. Look at the look at the $100 bill there. Has a nice balance of personnel cost operating expenditures,
capital outlay, and transfers. Once again, from this side, it's very well balanced as far as the allocation goes, right, of of of these of these funds. And so that's really what we're looking there. So, so with this on before we get to the the fund balance or if you want
to just turn over to the fund balance, uh some of the things uh that we're going to be doing again, you're going to be seeing uh the building department execute some capital projects which they've never done in the past, never paid for any of the building they occupy, things of that nature. So, they're going to be paying their fair
share as a continued mantra here of some of the capital improvements we need on this site. It's their turn to contribute a little bit. Also with that, which you're not going to hear anywhere else in the county, we're going to lower building permit fees by 12.3%, Jeff. So
about 12.3% reduction in our permit fees. So that's good. So we're going to reduce our fees, spend some of the capital out to to kind of regain that balance, that healthy balance within operations. Another thing
that uh David didn't allude to when you see that capital um incre uh the transfer increase from 500 to 700 to 700 it's recognizing GFream uh you know they got to pay for us doing some of this. So
that that increase really is uh predominantly the Gulfream starting to contribute to the general fund to manage that operation and uh for us to uh get some of those dollars back. So, um, that's where you see that. The 12 1.5%
reduction, is that also applied to permits for, um, golfream as well? Yep. Yep. Across the board. Oh, it's the same. Okay. Yep. Across the board. So, you're not going to hear it anywhere else in the county that I could think of, Jeff. So, we're reducing our fees 12.3%. So, yeah. What led to that idea? We're I
we we our our fund balance got really healthy and the under the state legislature we we can only carry so much fund balance and as much as we keep on thinking it's not going to be another great year we have another great year.
So it's time that we have to do this forced rebalancing and it's also time that they pay for a little bit of capital. It's just so I think that's going to put us back into that balance where we're uh statutoily compliant uh transparent and and and it's good for
everybody. Great. Right. Yeah. And and oh, by the way, this is why this is not included in the general fund because statutoily I got to keep those funds separate. The reason why is they said, "Hey, you can't carry uh you you can't just charge
anything you want and build up your your reserves in the building department fund. Uh you have to go ahead and take that next step and reduce your fees even though things might switch years down the road, but we have to remain
compliant with with with the Florida statute." And so that's why that's why we're sitting there. We're saying, "Okay, we're going to start bringing down some of this, right? We're we're going to start dropping this down." Right now, they got 513 days of operating cash available to
them, right? They they can run without getting another penny in, right? For 513 days, right? It used to be 624 days, right? They can just having a party over there. But at the end at the end of the but but at the end of the day, it was a
concerted effort of not only Marshall's management but also Jeff's expertise as well as the interlocal agreement and uh it it's it's local government helping other local government and and it's a it's another example of of why Highland
Beach is so successful. Jeff runs a tight shift. No parties. It's like a marin. So anyway, so these right here are some of the things that that we've identified that that they can start paying their their proportionate chair. There it is. Yeah. Right. So roof
the entrance. Yeah. Roof, chillers, other uh computer up upgrades and things like that. Entrance. So yeah. So these are the things that we've identified. I think a really good use of funds. Yes. Um lowering the fees. Yes. And
looking at capital. Yep. Um, are we comfortable that the balance is there? Yeah, we are. Yes. Okay. 100%. We're comfortable. I probably I think for the first time I somebody reeled me back from, you know, wanting to cut even further. Jeeoff was like, let's not go
too far. I was like, well, maybe we look at 15%. But we might get to it too quick and then have to come back to you and say, "Hey, you got to raise the fees." And then sudden you're like, "I don't want to do that." So, we're kind of balancing that and taking this first step. We think it's a a good landing spot. Jeff did a lot of analysis and
looking back and projecting forward, you know, inspection obligations, things of that nature. Right. Great. Well, I I think it's terrific. It's terrific because the service uh is maintained. Um capital improvements are made and you're able to reduce the uh permits and the
cost. Yep. Yep. Excellent. And again, why is that? Because, you know, 73% here comes from charges from services. That that that that's how they bring in their money, right? And so we're sitting there, we're saying, "This is growing. This fund balance here is growing too
rapidly, right? We we need to start bringing this down." And so we looked at that and we said, "Yep, let's go ahead and do that." Uh our favorite, right, the water fund, right? And so and so overall, we know that uh we know that it's going to have
a 5% rate increase. Overall, you know, we're going from a $4.9 million budget here to a $5.2 million budget here. Uh we can see everything is is hey charges
for service, you use more water, right? You you pay for your proportionate share. And so uh this one here is is we're we're going to again reinvest money here into capital. But before we do that, let's just look at some data.
So here what I'm showing you here is on slide number 18. This is our uh usage. So this is gallons. By the way, I want you to remember that these numbers here have three more zeros to the right of it. All right? So we're talking, you
know, you're you know, you're you're you're doing, you know, 40 60 million gallons. Okay? And so that plant there is pumping out a lot of water. uh probably one of the best water anywhere, right? And so and so and so what I've
done uh Excel has this program that is called uh uh it it it's called forecastaster. And so what I've done is I've I've just inputed all of this historical dollars here by these dates here because really alls I have is this
line here. I have actual data up to period up up to billing three. We have six billing cycles. Okay. So, so far we've done up through up through uh billing cycle three. So, the forecaster says, "All right, this is where I think
it's going to be based on seasonality." Well, you can see the seasonality here, right? Same thing with irrigation. But overall, when we compare the first three cycles of where we're at now compared to the first three cycles in 2024, you can
see we're up almost 3%. Or just in just in consump just in gallons, forget about the dollars we we we pay for. That's just and oh, by the way, that has nothing to do with irrigation. Irrigation is down here. Same thing,
gallons, you know, we're up almost 7 and a half%. Comparing our first three cycles last year to the first three cycles this year, we're were we're were up. So, you know, we encourage people to get new lawns and irrigate those. Uh but
anyway, sorry. Right. Right. Yes. But be conservative. Right. And so, and so when we look at that, when we look at consumption data, right? And then we and then we we we send that over to the dollars. Now we're looking at revenue, right? Now we're
looking at revenue. A portion of your costs are fixed, right? When you get your bill, you have a fixed comportion. And then you also have a uh usage component which is capped. Okay? It depends really because we have
different rate structures for the predominantly uh uh condominiums that we have around here. We have very, you know, we don't have a lot of single family resident homes, but we look at and what I mean by capp is we count how many units are in
each building. And so that's where we get those numbers from. But again, so revenue-wise, wow, we're up 11 and a half% the first three quarters. I'm sorry. The first three cycles of this year versus last year and irrigation
were up 16 almost 16 and a.5%. Now some of that also comes from changing out meters right because as I keep on the mantra is in the water and sewer industry you have to change out your meters. technologies come a long way where the advancement of technology, you
don't have to change them out so much, but remember they used to be that little dial, right? The the the spinner would spin as water's going through and that little dial would change, right? Well, now they've become digital. Now there's a light source that that doesn't wear
down. the spinning unit in the meter doesn't wear out, so we don't have to change them out so often, but we we do get more accuracy and and that's always important. So, aside from Jeff reducing the permits, we're not capping any other revenue streams. That uh that's true.
Okay. Except for that. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and so the water funds the water fund's doing well. Uh when we look at what their operating expenses are, you know, we're going to bump up a little bit of their capital, right? They're going from $543,000
in in uh this year to about $675,000. That's their capital. We have uh personnel. Personnel is is we we we anticipate 5% for for our our raise in uh compensation plus insurance
plus uh plus uh FRS. And so, but you can see here where here's the mix, you know, here's personnel services. We're at about 30%. We saw this with the building fund, right? Operating has a nice mix here. And then you have your capital outlay and your debt service. This is
the one that has the debt service. And I'll show you what the next debt service is. So, this is our debt service. So you can see where our debt service in 2223 was stable and then we we had we we
paid off some debt here in 2024. We paid off another another in 2025 and that'll continue on until 2029 when we when we pay off another I think it's the Bank of America one, right? Comes off. But check out these interest rates, right? We
haven't seen those in a while, right? I boy, those are the good old days, right? But but anyway, so really that's what that's what fluctuates a lot of this. But debt service is the same, but the next the next uh benefit we get from that is when when we when we pay off
another line of debt service. So So again, this fund uh when we look at what we're doing capital-wise, now here's what I want to show you. Let's look at our net position. Our net position we look at and we say, "Okay, our net
position is at 144 days of cash. We're going to drop that down to about 54. I'm comfortable with doing that. We'll rebuild that later on." But think about it. The the water fund always has the
general fund as a as a back stop. Do you know what I mean? No one's going unpaid or anything like that. We just want to what we're trying to look at is we're trying to look at, okay, we have capital needs here that we need to address this year. Let's let the let's let the water
department still do that, still carry themselves, but they're not going I think you can only go seven days without water and then that's so but at the end of the day, yes, you can only last seven days without water. So, listen, we're at 54
days, okay? you know, of of operating expenses where we can where if people all leave, we can still pay staff and things like that for for a total of 54 days, including debt service and all that jazz. And it probably goes up next year, right? It will go this is probably
the low point and then next year. Yep. Yep. This is the low point. We're we're going to be doing some capital here, but this is definitely the the low point, but we're comfortable. And again, I I don't think we'll hit there. And the reason why is we do budget for emergencies within the water fund. But
as we invest more in capital each year, the things that we're worried about breaking are not going to break, right? So we usually carry cash over year over year because we don't use all the renewals and replacements. Kind of the oh my god fund that we have. You know, we keep a couple hundred grand
in there, 300 grand. We don't always get to that. So that's a good thing because we're investing in the capital. So if we didn't and the asset tank breaks then you know you're you know 300,000 on the spot. So as we keep on investing we can slowly start lowering it but money falls and those days of cash on hand does
increase. Right. And this is no surprise. This was in your 5-year forecast. We knew there was going to be a low point and that's this year and then next year it starts to build back up again. So I am comfortable with it. Exactly. So, so we're trying to we're
trying to knock out the capital here. That just gets more expensive the the later we we drag the later we kick the can down the road. Right. So, what do you anticipate the cost increase uh will be to the community in water? Uh well, right now we're at 5%.
Right? So, right now we had assumed that there would be a 5% rate increase. Think about it. If general inflation is at 3.7ish, right? you know, we're we're running it very tight and we're managing it very well as and we want we want our
residents to keep on consuming, right? You know, I'm sorry. Uh so, but it's the it's the meters I think is why I mean you can only I mean you don't want your lawns to die either. I mean so I mean
that's costly to replace those. So it is it's the meters and the irrigation that you you just you can't turn off the sprinklers otherwise everything dies. Yes. Yes. No, that that is very true. But I will tell you that a 5% increase,
you know, you remember back in the days 3%, right, was the new norm, right? I think we're at 5% now. And part of it, too, is the area that you're in. I mean, South uh South Florida is is extremely expensive. And so, well, we had annual
increases of 3% when we had no inflation. So, now we have inflation of around 3%. So, I mean, I think it makes sense that we have 5% annual increases. I mean, your water rates aren't high. No, they're not in the region. If we go back, remember the refell studies? We're right in the middle. We're not in the
high side. And a lot of these communities now are going to pop. So, you're going to see Delray pop. Riviera Beach is going to pop because they had to fund two $300 million water plants, right? So, their water rates are going to go. So, we're going to slowly start falling back to that lower third of rates or so, right? Not charging too
much. No, no, no. And not only that though, but obviously there's seasonality, right? You know what I mean? And so and so when when when our our great neighbors leave for the summer or whatever, we still have bills here to pay, right? And so and so yeah, there's
definitely seasonality in everything here. And so this is just one of the other seasonal seasonal things. So that's what we had put. I think in our early forecast it was at 8%. we were able to to to settle that back and so this this fund will be fine. Uh we look
at the sewer fund kind of the same idea, right? But the sewer fund, here's the the revenue. We said that we were going to go up 5% here with the rates, right? Uh you can see that we're we're we're going to be pulling money. We're going
to bring it back into the checking account appropriation from reserves. for pulling it from our reserves about $1.7 million, right? Because we know what that's going to be going for. Uh we've we I tried to look at oh the grants. So
our grant dollars went down. The reason why is because the good old days of ARPA are done, right? You remember the remember when we got the the the ARPA funds? Well well that's done. We fully spent them all and so no longer but we are thankfully Peggy is getting us more
money into this right here for for our uh for for our our capital projects. That's that for the lift station. Yeah. For uh for the lift station projects, the sewer lining and lift station 2 improvements. So this right here, we're going to be spending $2.1 million on
that. Uh but anyway, expenses uh the the same idea. You'll notice that there's no labor in this one, right? because uh the water fund has the labor that also checks out the lift stations, manages the lift stations. So, there's that
transfer. We kept that the same. Okay. But this fund um yeah, this fund, you can see where the fund balance is going to go. Look at we're going to drop this down instead of having about 417 days cash, right? We're going to drop it down
to about 125 days. Okay? So, as long So, so that means no one can flush a toilet if they don't flush a toilet within 125 days we'll be but no uh so but anyway so this right here right it's still a healthy net position where these right here are
the projects that that we're going to we're going to do obviously that sewer lining is is our is is this funds number one priority right and so and that that's what we're going to tackle and that's what we're going to be successful at we should have a contract for your
consideration July 17th okay so we'll be able to start moving uh that forward. That's great. So when you look at the last few pages, these right here are all the revenues for the general fund, discretionary sales tax, building,
water, sewer, total. Right? So overall to run the entire town, every fund, every department, right? It's almost $33 million for the for the year. Okay? And so these right here are all the sources
of our revenue, right? When when when one fund needs to give money to another fund because of of of of shared expenses, you can see that that's line 15, intragovernmental, right? Now, when I flip this is the revenue. So that's why we call it source of funds. So when
we have an expense, let me go to the uses of funds. This right here is the uses of funds. when when when we have an expense, you know, we make sure that we match up the expense with the sources of funds. Where are we getting that money from? So, that's what we look at. And
so, that's why you'll see 32 million uh $32 million here under total. Our next one is is our expenditures. $32 million here. And this is what it's going for. And you can see where capital, look at line 24, capital is about $6.6 $6
million. Right. And you can see also well these right here are the are the services that that your town provides. And you can see that public safety. Yeah. Public safety is the number one is the number one. And and this is common throughout all all municipalities,
right? But you're a full service. Matter of fact, you're a concierge full service. Let's let's face it. And so now what we're doing this year after we had successfully completed on time and under budget the fire department building
behind you and standing that up. We're going to tackle these other things. And uh we're and you know what? We're going to do it without taking on debt. We're going to do it by keeping our millage the same. And in later years, if
property values don't come back at at what what we think they will be, then guess what? That extra reserve balance will be there to carry us through. And so that's the idea. Now, this is the most important part of what I do for
you, but also as what what one of your responsibilities here, right? So, right now we're here. We look at a preliminary budget. We'll have I'll also present the same data to the FAB uh in June 25th just to
get some just to get some feedback, right? Uh they may want to go line by line, whatever, that's fine. Well, then what we'll do is we have some hard deadlines that we have to hit statutoily. So July 15th, the we will
give the town uh a resolution which will set the maximum millage rate. So what that is is that tells the state of Florida and the Florida Department of Revenue and the tax collector that we're not going to go above this. That way you can get that beautiful green and white
and yellow piece of paper that says, "Hey, this is your proposed taxes." Uh and then what we'll do in August if needed, if we need more uh meetings, we can have that. If you change your mind
and and and you're like, you know, we've reviewed this, we want to make some changes here that affect the budget. We'll we'll be able to to plug those in in August. In August, we'll have F FRS uh changes. Hopefully, we'll have insurance. We we'll get a little bit
clearer sign of what insurance, property insurance, health insurance with those numbers are coming back and then we'll land on these two dates here. September 2nd at 501, we'll present this to the
public and uh September 18th at 501. That'll be our second public hearing to when we uh potentially adopt a $32 million uh all-in budget, but you'll see all
these numbers here on the bottom. So, um let me go to the last page here. There's everyone there. Any questions? I know we hit a lot, but aside from statutory possible changes, yes. Um you could assume that we are recession and inflation proof.
you. I mean, if you're looking at it from a business, not like a uh funeral home or the waste industry. Um, but we're pretty close. We're pretty close. I mean, 70 73% of your revenue is coming in. I agree. Which is beautiful because those are the users, right? All of your
residents use the services that are here and that's why it's a proper mix, right? Very nice, David. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, uh again, I I think next year at this time we're going to have some pictures
of sewer lining, you know, which will be they won't be as nice, but sewer lining and also some lift stations, mezzanine walks. But now what we're doing now is we're reinvesting in the other assets. So this is preliminary. This is subject
to change. We'll find out as we get more clarity. Madam, any other questions for David? Oh, thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. Very thorough, uh, good explanation. Thank you very much. Great job. Great job,
David. Thank you. You never disappoint us. No, that's right. Put that on the dolls. Okay, moving on to public comments. Any public comments? Okay, come on. Uh, Greg Bobby 1092 Belo Drive. Am I allowed to ask two comments just on the
budget questions? Okay, great. Uh, for you, David, or for Marshall. First of all, that was really impressive. I remember when uh, Commissioner or Vice Mayor Cern and I started in the FAB and the budget process was completely different. This is a that's things are really strong. It looks good. Uh, first
question, known unknowns. I remember in the past we had um, union employees. We would renegotiate those contracts. When's the next one coming up? uh 26. And to jump into a later comment, I'll just do it now. We'll probably have
two in 26. The uh fire department has uh requested that they begin that process working with the labor attorney. We'll be bringing a resolution uh to you for consideration. So, we'll have both of them probably in 26. Great. Uh next
question. uh what's sort of the framework on where you set the not to exceed millage rate above the current mill rate because you got to give yourself some operating room, right? Just in case something changes. Thank you. Yes. Um you know, as as we said, we uh
our goal three plus years ago was to not have this constant swing of of millage. uh uh in the good years we'll set this millillage here based on our operating
expenses. It was a multi-year plan because if you recall our millillage also included transfers to the water fund, right? But well, so we were trying to balance that. Hey, eventually that water fund needs to be self- sustaining, right? And so we'll need rates there. uh
eventually debt service on the water fund will drop off which will give that fund more uh more more power or to to stand on its own. And so when we looked at it, we looked at oh and then by the way in between all this let's just build
a fire station and by the way we're going to balance two fire departments. We're gonna have Delray while we also have ours while we do that transition. So when we look at all of our expenses, uh we and then not only that though, but
the the fourth thing that the commission wanted and that we were successful doing is we like to do annual five-year forecasts. We want to see, hey, when when does this not work at holding the millillage? And obviously, uh there's a
very strong correlation with how property values increase or decrease. And so we kind of put all that together and we then knew uh if the millillage was going to be set for this and we knew that the property values were going to
come in at this, how much and how much capital work we're going to need to do. Uh those those those things there are are what contribute to us setting the millillage. And so uh you know the the 3.5875
works for now. it works for probably the next three I think we did our five-year forecast it works in that time period but beyond that we'll we'll have to we'll have to relook at that so and again put it a different way um there's a lot less uncertainty because of the five-year forecasting you know maybe
than when you were more involved um and you know he's putting in more conservative um assumptions for cost increases and and we still have uh you know appropriations we're transferring two
reserves. So um by the time like there's so much conservatism built in there and and there's a lot more certainty because we're doing a lot longer forecasting that we feel very comfortable with
keeping it steady. I mean, we know what what 73% of the revenues is going to come in at because we got the you know, so that's like like you said, it's like a big portion of it. So, good good content, but my question was not clear. I apologize. I asked a very poor
question. Um, you have the millage rate you're planning. You have to give the state a not to exceed millage rate. You're not going to give them the current mill rate because that doesn't give you any Yeah, we will. That's what I'm saying. There's so much conservatism. We there's so much more certainty than we have in the past. Have
we done that in the past? Yes, we've done we did that last year years. We just said that's our commitment. So, we're not going past it. Yeah. Yeah. Really impressive. Yeah. we feel that confident about what the budget exercise is and there's,
you know, half a million dollars clearly, you know, um, conservatism plus all the other contingencies plus there he's putting conservative assumptions for the increase in the insurance and all that kind of stuff. So, um, and we know what 73% of the revenues are going
coming in at. We that's that's a for certain. So, what was really impressive and Dave and I, you know, hit our head against the wall a couple times that we're going to be able to do all of this capital. I didn't think we were going to be able to do it. I thought we may have to borrow money or put it off or space it is. We're going to get it done. Like, we have the ability to get it done
without jeopardizing our financial health in that position. So, um that that's really impressive that, you know, we're sticking sticking to our guns to that forecast to that five-year forecast. It's really working because we're working that plan, right? So it's
really delivering uh and it's great and plus we have good amount in reserves. We we did you know we know what the we have the budget stabilization so that we have the disaster recovery and then on top of that we still have close to $3 million
in unassigned. So we feel very confident in in the budget. there'll be things that you know as as Marshall said when we start with the uh union talks right in 26 well that's going to affect us for 27 and beyond and and we'll see but that's part of
management's uh plan right is to sit there and go well all right what what else do we have to man maneuver around to keep that and keep that safety but again I it's beach is just an
exceptional extraordinary three miles that that I that we see very few uh communities achieve all this success and uh and they're doing it on their own. So, it's it's fascinating. Any other public comments? No. Okay.
Moving on to ordinances. There are none consent agenda. Um any discussion on the minutes that were in there? If none, we could have a motion for the consent agenda. Yes. A motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. All in favor say I. I.
Uh motion carries. Uh moving on to the next item. Uh update on Milani part. Yeah. I just wanted to uh for potentially folks in the public that haven't uh seen it. Uh June 3rd, um the county commission and its uh matters of
the public uh had a discussion, a very thorough discussion of Milani Park driven by the Milani family's public statement to revise or not do the park changing of their position. So they made that case
which uh ensued a compelling argument by a handful of county commissioners that maybe it should be revisited. Now before we get excited and you know run you know to to Palm West Palm and let's let's see where this really goes
because we've we've tried in the past to no avail. So let's see if this holds and has traction. Uh, but I just wanted everyone to know that they are discussing or had discussed it on the 3. Um, again, if you do watch it at home, it's at minute 4 through 12 and then
again at 47. So, just note at minute 47, it picks back up for another 20 minutes of intrigue. And um, so they they they had this discussion. Uh we're not really they're not banging on our doors coming with offers or anything like that, but
interestingly enough, the county is still talking about it. And I believe they concluded with to bring it back to the county commission. What we'll have to see. Um I think us playing patience and just being open, we'll see what
happens. Uh but that's really what I just a real quick brief. I just want people to not know that the county had a conversation. Uh, I think we have a newspaper article that came out on yesterday um by Mr. Diamond. It kind of went over this, presented, you know,
some of the commissioner statements. Um, you know, maybe they're finally getting it. I don't know. So, um, they're having that conversation. That's really all I have. I just want to make sure we're all being transparent that this this is happening. We know it's
happening. So, if you call your town commissioner, they know what's happening, but they're not presenting or proposing or doing anything with us yet. So, we'll we'll wait and see. The article was in the Coastal Star before it was in the post. Okay.
Yes, we appreciate the Coastal Star keeping us informed. You do a fabulous job. Thank you very much. Okay, moving on to new business. Um, introduction of amendments to town's comprehensive plan based on evaluation and appraisal
review. All right, Ingred. Ingred, guys. Okay. Well, good afternoon once again. Um so as indicated this is an introduction or I would say uh conceptual consideration of proposed
amendments to the town's comprehensive plan. These amendments are based on an evaluation and appraisal review that was conducted by our planning consultant um inspire placemaking collective. We refer to them as inspire. Um I just wanted to
state for the record that these proposed amendments uh were routed to the commission on June 4th. uh we wanted to give you ample time to uh review them. So I just want to make sure I I indicated that. Um I provided some little a little bit of background on
page 140 of your packets. Um so every seven years or at least once every seven years, Florida statute requires every municipality to evaluate the comprehensive plan uh to make sure you're in compliance with Florida statutes. Statutes change and comprehensive plans sometimes need to be
updated. Um and uh to also look at local conditions because local conditions can also trigger amendments to the comprehensive plan. Um I also wanted to the commission to be aware that our consultant actually did a kickoff meeting with staff. Uh that was on
December 9th of 2024. We had all the department heads present. Um I want to let you know that what you have before you these documents, this was a collaborative effort. uh you know various town departments came together to to come up with a lot of this
information. Um now regarding the town comprehensive plan, it it's always been available on the town website. It's under the building department page and then we have a little tab that says planning and zoning. That's where the comprehensive plan is located and has always been there. Um so we have nine elements in our comprehensive plan. I
broke them all down for you on page 140. We have over 200 goals, objectives, and policies. And then we have a map series. So, um, all of those have been amended. Um, just again a little bit more backup. Um,
on December 19th of 2024, staff prepared a letter to the state land planning agency, which is Florida Commerce, to let them know that yes, we are going to go ahead and amend our comprehensive plan. Florida statute requires all municipalities to advise the state land planning agency whether you're going to
amend your comprehensive plan or not. So, we let them know. On that same day, they responded back confirming the receipt of our notification letter and just gave us a friendly reminder that we have to transmit these amendments within one year of that initial notification date, which is December 19th. It would
be 2025. Um, so what do the amendments include? Uh, we have a new data analysis section. Uh, the town's current comprehensive plan has no data and analysis. So now we have a new we have a data analysis section which the consultant advised me that's now a requirement. Um I came from
larger municipalities and larger municipalities always have a data and analysis or they used to call it David uh sorry data inventory and analysis. Sorry. Um there's also changes to the map series. We have some maps in our current comprehensive plan that are from 1988. They were never updated. Um and
then we have obviously the amendments to those goals of ductus and policies. And um I'm sure you all notice in the goals of directors and policies where you see underlined text that means it's the proposed additional language right that's underlined. Uh the strikethroughs
are proposed deletions to current comprehensive plan or current goals objectives and policies. Um so we have a town ordinance process flowchart which is on page 239 in your packets. When you look at that flowchart, it tells you that any ordinance and these are
amendments to the comprehensive plan, they are via an ordinance that they have to have the introduction with the commission, which is why we're here. Um, in that ordinance flowchart, it says that that the commission at the introduction will approve concept well
hopefully, you know, to your desire uh to conceptually approve uh the documents that are before you. Um and based on that conceptual approval, we didn't have the consultant here today. Um but I wanted to inform the commission that when if you all do give the conceptual
approval, the next step is that these amendments will go to the planning board, which is our local planning agency. Um and then once the planning board gives a recommendation, the amendments will come back to the commission in a transmitt hearing. Um if you approve the transm of the amendments to the state land planning agency and
there's other reviewing agencies, other state agencies that review it. Uh then staff will transmit that and then we will get an ORC report which is an objections recommendation and comments report from the state within 60 days. Staff along with our consultant will
address any objections and comments and then the amendments will come back to the commission for an adoption hearing. So the consultant will present their propo all these proposed amendments at the planning board hearing as well as the both hearings for the commission both your transmitt hearing and the
adoption hearing. Um so that's pretty much it in a nutshell. I'm more than happy to address any questions. We've been obviously working with the consultant for six months on this going through various revisions and so on and so forth. So I have a comment. Sure. Um I thought it
was a great report. I'm not sure how many people have read it, but um I tell you what jumped out in me, Ingred was on page 14, the impacts on transportation. Um with everything, all the conversation about Milani and everything else is happening. Um they make a statement that
says State Road A1A is the only roadway in Highland Beach with the adopted level of services and projected to maintain this level of service through 2045. Transportation plays a critical role in shaping new residents of Highland Beach
that live there, work, and enjoy the community. The town's transportation system is essential for supporting economic growth. I'll tell you why it jumped out. Uh we see safety being an issue in A1A right now. I see a petition going out uh from Beachfront Condo
Association to three different communities. Um and we hear the debate that's going on with the county commissioners. But I think if um anyone that would read the report and really understand what they're projecting in the future um any additional traffic on
A1A would not be considered a positive. Uh and that's why I thought this report I don't know how many have read it in detail but in reading it I said I wish I had read this many months ago before I became a commissioner because I'd have a lot more information. They did an
outstanding job in putting this together. Uh, and again, thank you. I guess one thing that strikes me is I I kind of feel like um the structure is for um maybe a typical larger municipality.
Like I feel like we have a lot of um you know, we're very just narrow focused. you know, our community here. Um, and we our median age is 70
and I feel like the structure of this report is is it more typical um more useful for like a larger municipality than because I kind of am am I reading that right? Like I feel like we're kind
of our special town is kind of being into this structure report that structure is somewhat dictated by the legislator. All the stuff you got to do and you do it laid out is a very it's a best management practice look. Um I know
when I went through I did a lot of strike through to reduce some of the stuff that was we had a lot of fluff if you will, right? Stuff that we weren't really that really didn't apply that was in there. Ing and I looked at each other like I don't know how that got in there, but it's been in there since, you know, the 90s. So, we're hard to read. Yeah. I
think it'll get better when we get through and we can start taking and cleaning it up. Um, but a lot of it is prescribed and how you have to have these things. Yeah. Like I kind of read it thinking this is like very boilerplate and I don't know how
beneficial it really is to, you know, Highland Beach. I I I had a hard time reading in. I mean, I thought some of the statistics were really interesting, like Mayor, um, do you feel in David's report, which was outstanding, Yeah. that he put together, um, did you see a
parallel between the report that they've done and exactly what the outcome of David's budget report is right now? Because as I read as I read the information, I felt the balloon was the same, but some of the balloons are a lot larger. But as they started actually
reviewing the different structural changes in different commun as they looked at Highland Beach, it seemed to match what David was putting together. Uh whether it was pricing and that's that's the way I viewed it. Um es you could apply this to a larger
organization but usually the basics are usually the same but the blooming changes in size. So that's where I said wow uh was it worthwhile reading the report? Um the answer is yes. Is it a discussion piece? I agree with you amongst in a private in a meeting would
be but I thought it was um something that um it gave information uh that otherwise is not known by many. Not to say it shouldn't be applied to a larger group. Yeah, I would I would agree. There were a lot of references in
here to affordable housing for example and that seemed to pop out as something in relation to this kind of a town would be. So that that was a question I thought. Um, and then I had a another question when I read this as it relates
to uh beach beach uh renourishment and maybe you can just remind uh us of the fact that based on public beach and amount of space what would this town be entitled to to apply for for government paid me beach nourishment? Yeah, I think
we have uh some policies uh that talk about it, but remember that beach feasibility study that was done I think it was last year 2024. Um the consultant gave you know two or proposed two projects right like a dune tow and beach nourishment but the commission you know
didn't want to move forward with that. Uh basically the direction that you gave or the consensus was really to give if if you remember there was like a whole property assessment right sight specific at the back uh you wanted the natural resource preservation advisory board to really educate residents about what the
current situation is of their I understand that I'm talking about from a government cost for example if if and when Milani Park takes place and that becomes public
beach. How much are we entitled to? Are we entitled to government paid beach nourishment that what kind of mileage within Highland Beach? I don't know that that would be in the goals of justice or policy. So what how that works? Um there's a minimum number of parking. So that's, you know, careful. Um but I
think you have to have 50 parking spots, maybe a little bit more. Well, I'll I'll double check with the county. Um, and it's only they only pay for the public beach and then like 1,200 ft in each direction. So, it's not it's not like it's a boon for that concept because
that may change your mind. If all of a sudden they had a public beach, they'd do all three miles. That would be a game changer in our conversations. But, it's just that and then 1,200 ft each direction. And that's basically all they'll do. But in order to even qu pre-qualify for that has to have two
restrooms and a certain number of parking spots to to get those dollars and it's then you got to do some other submitts and you got to match grant dollars. So it's not like they just throw money at it. You you have to do it part of a bigger project. So they would
pay you know 7% 6% of a $20 million renourishment. Okay, that's you know at least it's 6% less. How are we going to pay for the rest when it's all private property? We have to get each property owner to pay. It's going to so be a little bit trickier. Thanks a question.
I I mean I'd be in favor I I mean I don't know like I feel I guess my own personal preference is to collapse this down. To me it's too lengthy. I don't know you know how many people would actually read it and uh make it a little bit more um focused for
Highland Beach. I don't know. I don't know if I know I know why it work for you guys. I said the same thing to Ingred and she's like, "Well, we got to be careful because we're obligated to make a whole host of statements on all of these topics. We can't just because I did the same thing. We're never going to do that." I was like, "Get rid of mobile
homes. Why the heck are we talking about?" Well, the state wants you attention of it. But so I my you know brought down a little bit that we do have to meet all of these random statutes that apply not. So I guess a suggestion I would have and maybe for us
to discuss is can you take another pass at it about condensing it even further while still meeting the statutory requirements so that it's that is what our consultant did. So we have the right you're looking at it instead of you have
this is the state statute which tells you what's has to be in each element. So they're looking at this it's very tedious which is why we brought on the consultant looking at the statute and they're looking at our goals objectives and policies. Okay, this reference to 9J5 is no longer applicable, but let's
add this particular. So, they're this is what they've done. This is why we brought them on to make sure that we're now in compliance. Um, if I may ask, so you say your concern maybe about the structure. Is it specifically the goals, objectives, and policies, or is it also that and the data and analysis or I'm
just curious where you find that frustration with So, I love the charts. I love the charts. It's the um it's the goals, the uh strike of all the verbiage around
um things that don't really apply to us. I is is the general concept that I'm trying to convey. I don't know, maybe I I might be the only one of the five of us that feels that way, but um I found
it very difficult to read. I don't know that any other resident would ever read. What we could do is when you kind of make a a casual motion to move this to the planning board, ask the planning board to see if they can't condense and re eliminate or reduce language and put
that task to them to see if they have a similar view and could take it down a little bit. Or can we add like a onepage like abstract or something? I I don't know what you know our own our own little variation to this that has maybe
some of the key things on like like a like a summary a very brief summary and then you would have the rest of it that um complies uh with everything. I don't know that's just a suggestion. I mean, if you could maybe do an executive summary on on the
data and analysis, but again, the goals, objectives, and policies are really dictated by um the statute. Again, every element has to have certain policies that you can you can look at any comprehensive plan, they're going to look very similar. Exactly the same. I
was going to say yeah, because even the cities I represent, it's a big range in size. They look very much the same. Yes. It's just the state really ties your hands. And I agree. I I went through everything too. In I kind of went back and forth. I'm like, why do we have this? This doesn't make any sense. Oh,
well this the consultant says this statute was chang. Oh, okay. I mean, but I agree with you. It doesn't seem to make sense, but this is what the states require, the state requires. Well, if we want to I guess I don't know. I don't know if we've do we want this to live as a document that the only sole purpose is
to satisfy these requirements or do we want to make this a more usable um result that that has an executive summary that is maybe a little bit more user friendly. I like that idea. Maybe a summary. I mean no one's going to sit down and read no say no one but it's
unlikely. 95 pages. Um I found it um I like the information, you know. I like the clarity, the comparisons. Interesting. Uh but it is 94 pages. Yeah. So perhaps we can discuss today or another time the um what is the usage, right? Who's going to see it? How is
what is the the need? So if it's for a new resident, the a current resident, I mean this tells a nice story and um it compares it compares housing cost to other areas. Um even the mean income. I
think it those types of things would be interesting. the housing stock. Um certainly I agree with the charts. I found that very interesting. Right. Right. And um and informational. It's supposed to be um but what who's going to use it? How are they going to use it?
But in any event, even if we keep this something like, you know, 84 to 94 pages, I think a summary of what the salient information that we want to portray. Uh, and like you said, the the feeling of the town, the specialty of
the town. Yeah. The kind of services that is so unique to Hunt Beach. I'd like to see that right at the beginning, like, you know, easy a good lead paragraph. Did you find it helpful in any way in reading the entire report?
Yeah, I Yes, that's information. That's the I found it helpful. Uh, and I agree with the mayor is does it apply specifically to a a town our size? But did I find it helpful as far as additional information? I wouldn't
expect this to go out to um 4,000 residents. I mean, this is something that I think behind closed doors uh is able to bring the conversation that we're having. Are there specific points in here that we would actually say these five points is something that we should look at or would we negate the entire
presentation? I felt um a lot of information in there. I agree with you may there's a lot of stuff. You got a lot of crossouts too. So be view pages. View pages. Uh if I can just add um
there was some inquiries about well when do we use this um as a planner? Um I I mean we are a small town but I I'm trying to recall as you all were talking because I know I've referenced different compl policies. Um I believe it was possibly for the sea turtle ordinance
because I think we had some policies like with environment or maybe I think there's a reference to sea turtles. So when that came before the commission you know I go back to the comprehensive plan and reference well policy such and such helps to justif or justifies a particular project or there may there's
a lot of cons well some consistency between our goals of ductus and policies and your strategic priorities plan. So if there is a connection and we're moving forward with a project on the strategic priorities plan, you can bet that I'm going to reference whatever goal, objective, and policy again
justifies it. So um as planners, we do reference the comprehensive plan quite a bit. Again, this is a smaller town. We don't have commercial development. We don't have industrial development. But um I know since I've been here in five years, I've gone to the comprehensive plan documented in my staff report when
it when it is applicable. So again, this is the you know, I like to look at that this is the blueprint. This is the vision of the town in a very general sense, right? Goals, general, objectives, a little bit less general than policies. Um, so when I've been giving a document like that, I usually
would form a fivep person committee behind closed doors and roundt it and we would take it apart. It's very difficult for one person to assess all the information that's in there. But before I would even go to a planning board, I would actually have a round table with
five people uh and actually go through the document because there's so much that can be cut out. But there is so much that can be used and then I would go to a planning board. But I'm not sure what the process would be in something like that. Well, I we we do our strategic planning exercise and I feel
like that is very useful and very specific for you know our town and and it has you know I like I feel like our time is better spent on the strategic planning exercise. Um and then I guess we can look to see if there's any
conflicts you know between this comprehensive plan and the strate I mean did anyone see any conflicts between this like in all your work and looking at have you seen any conflicts between the I mean this uh there's some policies now about the density initiative you all
have it on your strategic priorities plan so um when that does ever come back before the commission this does get adopted I'm going to reference those policies that are in here where It should be something that the commission should address. Um, and let me also say when we have development applications
come before the planning board for new single family homes or we have the special exceptions for excessive marine facilities or seaw walls, those regulations typically say that it has to be in compliance with the land development regulations, the town code and the comprehensive plan. Now, the comprehensive plan maybe, you know, the
comprehensive plan doesn't really get into the nitty-gritty of a dock. there's not going to be anything in there, but I will typically put in my SAP reports it's compliant with the comprehensive plan. Again, the comprehensive plan doesn't have the nuance. It's general. The nuance, the meat and potatoes, as I like to put it, is in the land development regulations. That's where
the height is, the setbacks. This is again more general, but um I know for sure in the like site plan review, it says in our code, it has to be compliant with the comprehensive plan. So, it's something that you know I will document in my staff report. So as right you all
aren't dealing with it on a daily basis but as you know planner planners do so maybe it's good to keep it as general as possible so that when we work on the more specific well I think we can I mean it's again that that meet the details
are in the in the land development regulations and the zoning code and in our strategic planning exercise and more broader take right yeah I find that you know it's It's almost kind of uh brings
a smile to my face. So you have a under projected population. So it's two paragraphs and and a table and there's one um a sentence that says it all. The um let me see under the where this
sentence starts very long sentence but the salient part is it is anticipated that an additional 23 people will move into the town over the next 20 years. Please see the carrying capacity analysis in the next section.
So, you know, it's over half a page. And there you have the density, right? Density is how it all comes back. I love it. Okay. I mean, I'm fine with sending it to the planning board at this point in
time. Um, I don't know that I don't know that we need to spend a lot more time on this. I'd rather spend more time on strategic initiatives or specific ordinances or personally, that's my opinion. I don't know what everybody else thinks. Do we have to take a motion
or Yeah, these are just a just a quick motion direct directing the uh planning comprehensive plan to the planning board for review. Recommendation. Okay. I move to uh move this matter, the amendments to the town's comprehensive plan to the
planning board. Second it. Do you want a roll call or um No. All in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Good discussion. Um, Commissioner Sidnowski, your any comments? Any additional comments? I
think we've summarized all comments in the last 20 minutes. I appreciate it, but thank you, Maya. Commissioner Goldberg, anything additional? Well, I I just think it's, you know, just so terrific that we have such a robust financial uh presence and future. Um um
great commission, great town, financially secure. We have great weather and uh That's it for today. Excellent. Thank you, Commissioner Peters. Yeah, I just want to thank David for that. That That's a great presentation and I'm always glad to see our town's in good
shape and got have plenty of reserves. Uh also, I just want to remind everybody turtle season in front of our condo. We got 15 nests already. So, uh which are quite a few. So, uh uh just want to remind everybody, you know, lower those lights. That's it. Thank you. Have a
good summer. Good reminder. Nothing additional. Thank you. Nothing additionally from me. Um, town attorney. No, ma'am. Thank you. Okay. Town manager. Uh, just quickly said, uh, Sendai, so the, uh, session is over. Uh, so they came to a budget, now it goes to
the governor's desk. He's got two weeks. Uh, but again, our appropriation. So, thank you again to Peggy. Thank you. Uh, I was talking with her late last night, so everything looks good. Um, I really proud that we made it through the process. Um, and one of the things I didn't say about
the budget, we still have the fine grand and some of these appropriations. We'll time all that out, uh, when we get to the budget, but, uh, very excited that that got done. Um, there's some other late minute, uh, laws that'll be signed
in that Len usually will do his thing. Astro turf or artificial turf, you we can't say anything about it. Stuff kind of oneoff type stuff like that that kind of had to wait till the last second. So, we'll get our get our arms around that for you. Um,
the uh back to the county. The county today is going through a process. I watched some of it this morning to pick their next administrator. Today, at some point in time, they may have selected they did. Who did they select? As uh you want to repeat it? So, yeah,
Joe Abbruso, the comproller, clerk comproller, is now the county uh administrator. So, uh, I was watching all four of them. They all did a really good job. So, kudos to my colleagues out there. And congratulations to Mr. Abuso, our new county administrator. So, we'll
be hopefully building relationships and uh, moving forward. So, they did that quick. I guess they didn't have the second round of questioning. 245. So, not not too long ago. But again, back with the county, the transportation master planning, a lot of those conversations are going. They've selected a consultant.
um they should be awarding that and that starts to get into you think the comprehensive plan is you know you know nebulous and kind of goes on to you wait till you see a comprehensive county master plan and all of these incorporated plans. So that process is going uh to kind of figure out the
future of the county for transportation. So uh that's forthcoming. And lastly, Madison, you made it a year. Congratulations. Didn't scare you away. So um that's good news. And uh that's it. Thank you. Thank you very much. Just
a few more announcements. We um have a few uh board vacancies. One for the code enforcement board and one for the natural resources preservation advisory board. Upcoming meetings and events. Uh the town hall is closed in observance of Junth on June 19th. Uh the next
financial advisory board regular meeting is June 24th at 11:00 a.m. July 4th, the town hall is closed in observance of Independence Day. July 8th at 1 PM is the next special magistrate hearing. July 10th at 9:30 in the morning is the
next planning board regular meeting. And our next meeting of the town commission is July 15th at 1:30. And there are no uh board action reports. And with that we can adjourn. Thank you very much everyone.