[Music] [Music] [Music] Okay. All right. And so we've got Can you hear us now, Tracy? I can hear you. Thank you. Oh, good.
Uh, David and Andrew, I don't see your pretty p your faces, but I do see I now see David and uh, Andrew. So, can we all hear each other? Yes. Yes, I can hear you. Yes, we can hear I can hear you.
Okay. Um so why don't we call this meeting to order and uh the first order of business is the
pledge of the allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, liberty and justice for all. Okay, roll call. Um, unfortunately Sammy
uh took ill, so he's not here. Um, Amber will be in a second to assist me. I am Jeff Curts. I am the project coordinator and uh the staff liaison to the finance advisory
committee. Um, I will begin with seat one which is Sue Cassopa. Very good. Thank you. That doesn't happen.
We have a seat to Tracy Rafflewoods appearing by Zoom. Um, Frederick who is I don't see Freddy. Um, and
um, we have um I'm sorry. Your name? My name is Peter Lamudo. Lo. Yes. and and Peter is is appearing. He is um a proposed
uh member of the uh the fact he has not been formally appointed at this point in time. Um but we will sit and uh let him participate. If there is any vote um as of yet, you
would not be able to to vote on the matter. Um, so just wanted to make that clear. Uh, we do have a quorum because there are three members present. Um,
and the first order of business is uh the swearing in of those of you who are appointed. And actually the way it's going to work um Tracy and Manish even though you have
been members of this board before you are appointed by uh new council members or at least new council members to appointing you as individuals and so your um uh position
is tied now to their term of office. So, you are considered new and will have to be sworn in. Um, and Sue, you are new to the committee. So, if you could all um raise your right
hand and I think you have the oath of office uh in front of you and uh if you could I state your name. I Tracy Rowitz. Uh, do solemnly swear do
solemnly swear that I will support, protect, and defend protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States constitution and government of the United States and the state of Florida
and the state of Florida and the charter of the town of Lockache Groves and the charter of the town of Lockachi Groves that I am duly qualified to hold office. I am duly qualified to hold office under the constitution of the state of
Florida and the charter of the town of Loxeti Groves under the state of Florida and the charter of Locket Groves and that I will will that I will well and faithfully perform I will and faithfully
perform the duties of committee member the duties of committee member upon which I am now about to enter on now about to enter. Okay.
And Peter, you will have to do that again next time when you're officially there, but that was good practice for everybody. And the the three of you are now uh officially sworn in um uh several times for Manish and Tracy. Um and Sue,
welcome aboard. Okay. Um now amongst yourselves the the next order of business is um the selection of a
chairperson. And once again from a voting perspective at this point, Peter, you're not able to to vote. Um and I don't know if we want to take care of this now. Uh but uh if you're ready to um
um motion to appoint which is like a nomination um would be in order. I'd like to mo make a motion to appoint minut. All right. Are there are there any other uh motions hearing? Done. All those in
favor? I. All right. Manish, you are unanimously uh named the chairman and I will turn this agenda over to you. Uh the next item would be the appointment of a vice
chair. Thank you. I would like to propose Tracy to be the vice chair. She has experience with this committee. So with that, I would like to propose Casey to be the vice chair to
second. All in favor I thanks M. All right. Um, with respect to the the presentations that we have on the agenda, um, and I know you got uh these
numbers just over the weekend and I just recently discovered that the 331 numbers were not included. I think that's been sent to to you. Um, we had uh just received the 331 numbers on uh the
afternoon of of Friday. Um and with respect to the audit presentation, we do have Andrew Fearman here from our uh auditors. Um it is a draft at this point in time. he will uh reflect and advise
you that um I think he's going to advise you that uh there's not going to be a substantive change with respect to uh their conclusions and that they are winding down the audit process and expect to issue um in a uh in the next
week or so. Um but we wanted to uh to get that out there. Uh David Delina from Projected Point will go over the um quarterly reports and
uh be able to answer questions that you may have. We understand that you know it may be necessary or advisable um uh for you guys to to get together in the upcoming weeks uh to more fully review
these numbers. but we had this meeting scheduled. Did not want to uh miss it to get this year started off. So, with that, I'm going to uh turn it over to Mr. Fearman. Um unless you have any
questions or comments at this point in time. I just have one comment. If you could give us a 30,000 big picture and I think We didn't have time
to do this as you know today. So, but if you could help us with the big picture then we can go into detail subsequently. I see that you have computer and cash for the first time
which is very we can't hear him at all just so you know. Was his mic on or Yeah, we couldn't hear anything. No. Andrew, I I still see you as being muted. Are you It's gonna be Andrew's
presentation on this at this point. Can you? Yes. Yeah, I can I can start my presentation. Can anybody everybody hear him? We can hear you here. Tracy, you good? Okay. Excellent. Okay, great. Well, for the
record, my name is Andrew Fearman and I'm a partner with Gabayo Ferman Garcia or CFLG for short. I am the uh partner in charge of the town's audit and I'm here to provide a brief presentation on the town's annual comprehensive financial report uh for the fiscal
September 30th, 2024. As Jeff mentioned, this is this is a this is a draft. Uh we don't expect any significant changes to it. We are in the process as as you mentioned of of of completing the audit process, getting the final um items incorporated um getting the final reviews in and everything like that, but
we do not expect any substantive changes to the to this to this report, which is why we feel comfortable presenting this draft to you um today of our of the of the results. So, the first thing that I'd like to point out, and I'm going to go with the with the with the PDF pages, the uh the page numbers down at the
bottom that have been created for the for the uh for the agenda item. So, it's going to be the agenda item. Page 20 is the first item I'd like to point out within the document. That is uh the auditor's report. Um, and it is broken up into
into various sections. What I'd like to do is is just kind of point out a few of the sections, kind of what they are, and paraphrase a couple of things within within our report. The first section is the opinion section. It's the most important section. It talks about what we've audited as
well as what our opinion is on the financial statements and that states that we have audited the accompanying financial statements of the town of Lock Hatche Girls, Florida as of and for the fiscal September 30th, 2024. In our opinion, the financial statements referred to but present fairly in all
material respects the financial position of the town as of September 30th, 2024. Now, that is an unmodified or clean opinion. That's of course the only opinion that you want on your financial statement. So the town does have a clean opinion on the financial statements once again this year. The next section talks about under
what standards we performed audit. It states that we conducted our audit in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America and government auditing standards. The third section gets into what management's responsibilities are for the financial statements. Kind of making that distinction. It says the
management is responsible with preparation and fair presentation of the financial statements. The last section I'd like to point out is at the bottom of that page, the last section which is the auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements and that states what our responsibilities are as auditors. Our objectives are to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from materialis statement and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinions. The next section that I'd like to get into after our auditor's report there is I'd like to go right to the financial
statements which begin on page 24. That's that's 24 of the agenda item and that runs to page 32. So within this section here from basically 24 to 32 on this item six includes the basic
financial statements. This includes the the governmentwide statement of net position statement of activities as well as the fund financial statements for the governmental and the proprietary funds of the town. So the first part is basically the cons the consolidation of
the town's funds um and then the um the fund financials are the indivi the the financial names for the individual funds of the of the town. The one thing I like to point out within here is on page 26. Page 26 is the is the balance sheet
for the for the governmental funds and specifically the first column there in the balance sheet for the government funds which is the general fund which is the main operating fund of the town. And I'd like to point out the third line from the B or the second line from the bottom is total uh total fund
balances is approximately was approximately 2.5 million at the end of the year and approximately 1.852 million of that was unassigned um at year end. So that's where the that's that was a September 30th 2024 kind of shows where the where the where the
general fund stands at that at the end of the year. The next section that I'd like to point out begins on page 34. And that's page 34 of the agenda item. Page 34 that runs all the way to page 52. That section is the notes to the
financial statements. This section includes the required disclosures which provide additional information on the town as well as the numbers that are presented within the financial statements. Basically tells the whole story. It is suggested that you read the financial statements in conjunction with the notes because the notes provide
additional narrative detail to the numbers that are in the financial statements as well as additional numerical detail. So it goes into into further detail of what's within the financial statements. And just to give you an example of that, if you turn to page 41 in the notes to the financial statements that is I'm going to point
out note four of the capital assets of the town and there's a total at the end bottom right hand corner of that chart. There's a total for the u the capital assets which is approximately 9.7 million $9.8 million. Now, on the face
of the financial statements, you'll see that $9,762,000, but within here, you get to see the detail. You get to see the detail of the beginning balance, what the increases were, what the decreases were. So, kind of like a roll forward of of the of the capital assets. In addition to that, you get to see the
detail by types of capital assets. So, it gives you again, it gives you that additional detail of what's presented within the financial statements. And again, it tells the whole story. The next section that comes after the uh the financial statements is the required
supplementary information. Um that begins on page 54 and that runs um that runs to page 62. So that's 54 to 62. So that includes uh information that the government accounting standards board requires you to include within your with your
financial statements. It's not part of the basic financial statements, but that's what they call required supplementary information. It includes budgetary comparison information as well as information on the on the pensions. The one thing I like to point out here is on page 54, there's a lot of good information on this on this particular
page is the is the uh budget to actual for the general fund. is you have the opportunity to see what the uh what the original final what the original budget was the original adopted budget the final amended budget uh compared to the actual results. So you're able to kind
of see right there snapshot of the general fund and what the results were for the general fund. So again a lot of good information there on on page 54 within the required supplementary information. Now I'd like to move to the last section of the document which is the compliance section which begins on page 66 runs to page
69. This section includes the reports that are required under general accepted government awning standards as well as the rules of the auditor general of the state of Florida. We are pleased to report this year um that we did not identify any significant deficiencies in material weaknesses
internal control nor did our test find any instances of non-compliance. Um so overall uh clean reports in the back no uh no no findings to report to you u after our audit work this year um I know as as as many of you know the audit
process um takes takes takes a long time it's it's a long process that we go through uh we ask for information once we receive that information we process it we make selections we ask for more information then we get that and we process it then we ask more questions
and uh get more clarification. Um, so there's really a back and forth process and the the town uh really was really was up to the task this year of, you know, providing us the information that we needed to be able to be in a position to uh to render our opinion, to be able to to be able to present uh this draft
um to you today. Um to be in a position, as Jeff said, um to be able to cross our tees, dot our eyes, and you know, get everything get you know, get everything issued. um like I said sometime u sometime next week to be able to go and and final issue on the financial
statements so that the um so the town can be complete once again with the with the audit process. Um overall I'd just like to thank thank the team there um with Jeff and and Francine and and Chris and everyone else that that assisted within the town for their cooperation
assistance throughout the process. Um it was a it was a clean audit this year. It was a smooth audit. really is a really is a testament to the to the work that the town is doing to be able to um get the financial statements in order and get the and get the audit completed on a timely basis. So, um with that, you
know, I I'll leave it there. I'd like to I'd like to thank all of you as well for the for for for the opportunity to to to present this to you, present our reports to you this evening and and as well for the hard work that you do uh you know, watching over the finances of the of the
of the town. So, with that, I'll leave it there and open up to any questions that you may have at this time. Thanks again for the opportunity. Can you hear me? Okay. Hello. Yes. Sounds very low. Can you hear me? Okay.
Yes. Can you hear me? Okay. Well, it's very low. Yeah. Like with Jeff, it sounds very very crisp and clear. I I don't know if with those microphones. Find out. Yeah, maybe with one of those. Yeah,
we'll switch. Yeah. And and I will warn you that this experiment sometimes slows up and we get a lot of reverberation. Hello. Hello. Hello. Yes. Is that good? That was Yeah, that's good. Thank you. Um I
asked Yes. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Testing. Good. Good. Good. Good. All right. I would like to invite any committee members for any highle comments or questions. Maybe Tracy, anything. Honestly, I haven't had a chance to get through this. I'm out of
town. It'sund It's 126 pages. I got through 53. Got it. Anybody? No. About you? Any comments? No, not yet. Okay. Let me ask you this. Um, you I assume you do
similar audits for other cities. Yes. Other towns of our size. Yes. Yes, we do. Did you find anything different or unique at Lockxahhatche Groves um as compared to other clients of yours
from a from different different or unique? And many every in terms of accounting, in terms of controls, in terms of um processes, accounting processes, treasury management, financial controls, you looked at whole host of things within your scope. Did
you see anything different and unique as compared to other clients of yours that are similar in nature, similar size? your there was there was there was nothing there was nothing there was nothing out of the ordinary. I mean every every
organization has has it has its its its way of doing things but it was nothing nothing that was nothing that was out of the ordinary and and ultimately the the goal the goal is is to have those to have those controls in place. Um so yeah no nothing nothing specific comes to
mind that was you know very different or unique. Got it. And may I ask doesn't doesn't mean it was bad but just know nothing different unique. Okay. And uh may I ask who did you report to at Lock Sahhatche Grovestown?
Who do you report to for your project? I'm sorry. Can you repeat that again? I apologize. I said who did you report to? Who do you report to for this project auditing project? Who do you report? So we report we we we report we report to the council um for the for the audit. We
report to the council. Okay. And um when you said you received um uh accounting information, financial information that you requested, um who who is your point of contact to provide that information? So we we we received
that information from from from Chris Wallace as well as as well as uh as well as Francine as well as Jeff. They worked together to provide us to to provide us the information that that we that we requested and required. Okay. Did you receive all the information out of the
accounting system or was there any manual adjustment required um or or any additional input that was not in the accounting system? In other words, did you make sure that all this data that you are representing here is in our
accounting system? It will match with our banking statement and accounting system. Yes, that's correct. So, and we and we receive we receive uh access to to the accounting system to be able to make inquiries and run report and run reports as well. Um, so we were able to um
extract what we what we needed um as part of that process as well. And yes, the the answer is yes, the the the the town's the town's books and records agreed to what to what we have within ours with which is what's within the the financial statements. So just so I just so we understand
you're saying you verified that accounting system banking statement have the same data that you used in your audit. Correct. That is correct. Yes. And we we do look we look at the we look at the bank statements. We confir we confirm the bank accounts. We review the
bank reconciliations and ensure that what's in the what's in the what's in the system is what's also what we reviewed and also what what what agrees or reconciles to the bank. Okay. In terms of financial controls, you mentioned um that you find it to be
satisfactory. Could you um so I'm assuming you looked at the the various um you know how much check amount somebody can sign and what is the procedures for you know issuing um
payments and invoices and contracts and awards and everything. Is there any particular item within financial control that was concerning or that you would like us to look more into any areas of improvement for financial control or
treasury management? Uh no, I mean we if if we had something would have been it would have been reported within within the within the compliance section which we have had we've had a we've had had comments in the past which which have been which have been which have been corrected. Um
so uh nothing uh nothing this year based on based on our our obtaining the understanding of internal controls um walking through those processes um nothing nothing came up uh that we are that we need to report to you or to the or to the council.
Okay. All right. With that I think we all need time as you heard from our colleagues we really didn't have time to go through it. So we are going to uh review it and we'll come back with proper questions and thank you for sharing this uh detailed report. I'm
very happy individually speaking that this looks pretty comprehensive much better than the last year's report. So thank you for that. Good. We we will um when the final report is issued we'll
make sure to get you the um the actual audit document itself. Okay. And then we can Hey Jeff, we can't hear you. Talk about res. Yeah, Jeff, we can't hear you on our end. Yeah, we we were just discussing after the end of the meeting,
we will schedule a date to go into the detail when everybody have the chance to review the data. So, um Okay. Okay. The next item. Yes. Yes, please. Another report. Is there going to be any indication of changes? No, she wouldn't get a red line. We won't get a red line
from it. So, we have to essentially go through it and check it again. No, I think good. You think this is pretty accurate and won't change that much? Okay, thank you. Anything else? Tracy. Tracy, any other comments? Tracy's on the call. I think she um
Okay. All right. She may fall off the call. The next topic is the review of quarterly financial reports. Is that you you are going to cover that too or No, no. This is David. I guess I get to
Andrew would be released in this David Dulan. Um and it it looks like Tracy is um she had to to leave. So right now technically we do not have a quorum. we
can still continue uh the meeting but we've lost our our quorum at this point in time but uh I think at this time it's more information gathering so we are not going to vote on any particular matter so if you want to continue I'm fine
all right let's go ahead let's go over the quarterly please paint a 30,000 ft view uh as I said before we didn't have the time to go through the data but give us the big picture and we'll come back to you uh prepared. So, over to you.
Yeah. Hi. Uh my name's David. Can you uh hear me? Okay. Yes. Yes. Little low, but we can. Um so, I've I've worked in uh public uh public accounting for seven 17 18 years. and I've been in local
government for uh the last 12 and uh you know I work for a lot of uh municipalities there in uh Palm Beach Palm Beach Gardens or I'm sorry not Palm
Beach Gardens uh Palm Beach County uh including uh Highland Beach. David, is there is there any way that you think you can increase your volume? It's a it's a little low here. I don't know if that's your end or our end. Uh, let me
see. Uh, yeah. Can you uh can you hear me okay now or can you hear me okay? Let me see. It's still very low compared to everybody else. David, uh, let's see. I got this I got that maxed up there. That's off there. Let's see. This
is maxed up here. Let me see. Can you hear me now? Testing one, two, three. We can still hear you, but it's still very low. Okay, raise that up. See if it is all right. I'll just try to uh I'll
get as close as possible. Uh anyway, uh the financials here are uh you know, I I guess on page uh 72, that's where that that's kind of where we left off. you you you have I guess a list of uh of uh
the vendors and how much was paid right throughout uh from October 1st, 2023 all the way up through 2024. You can see that what we're going to work on is there are so many tools out
there that are great that we can use uh a tool called PowerBI to give you this data electronically and not only for one period of time but for multiple periods of time. Uh and so that's one of our
goals that that that we're going to try there. That way in case you have questions, you can see how much a particular vendor because really when you're looking at one number, one number doesn't really tell you anything, right? You have to look at well is that number
higher than last year, lower than last year, so on and so forth. And so uh we'll be we'll be uh automating this and putting this into a tool for the board to use in uh PowerBI. Uh so so after you
see that you you have several pages here. Uh it is a lot of detail. Uh matter of fact most of my other municipalities uh they usually get a very summarized
version of budget to actual and uh actual year-to date. And it's typically only three pages. It's grouped up. It's summarized and it's to the point to where you'll be able to tell how is the
town doing compared to budget, how is each fund individually doing uh overall. Uh the last I counted with the 20 new pages that they added, you know, we're
up to 73 pages. In my opinion, it's just a lot of granular detail. you always have access to the detail. But when you're trying to uh look at data, financial reports, for example, even the
audit with the with the notes to the financial statement that there was a total of of 70s something pages. So, we're going to try to slim this down. We're going to group things together that most other municipalities do. Uh,
you know, our goal as staff is to give you uh precise and accurate consolidated information, but if you ever want the granular detail, uh we provide that as well for you in the background. But
overall, what we're looking at here is we're looking at about uh six uh well, the first one here, we look at year end through September 2024. All this data here should already be itemized in the
audit report. So what we'll do as staff is we'll make sure that when the auditor is finished signed, sealed, and delivered his audit report, we will go through and we will tick and tie to make
sure that our numbers agree with what the auditor has. And so, uh, the audit report is, uh, is there's there's a lot there. You have many, many different funds. Uh, but if you give us give us
another quarter, you know, we'll be able to give you a consolidated threepage where's my cash at, how much cash do we have, how is each fund doing, and that's our goal. Oh. Um, David, if I
if I could interrupt for for a second. First, I want to note for the record that Tracy has come back on. So, we have a quorum again. Um, and uh, David, the the question that I've got for you, I
suspect that um, the uh, committee is going to want to reconvene in a couple of of weeks when they've had a time time to digest that. um and the the three-page report, the the synopsis, if
you will. Um do you think you'll be able to have that for us at the the next meeting in a couple weeks? Uh yeah. Yeah, we can we can pull I even have an example of it. Uh but I don't know if I can share my screen with you. Uh all I know is is that most other boards and
committees uh they usually like uh a much more succinct dashboard of where the town's at, where the town should be at, and is it heading in that
direction. And so, uh, it's hard to tell when you get 73 pages, you know, of, uh, of of detail. Uh, but when you get a
threepage succinct by fund where balances are, uh, you're able to tell that, uh, probably within the first 10 minutes of reviewing it. So, uh uh uh that's uh that's exactly where I think
we should go and uh but if but if the board members have any questions uh it it it's hard to disseminate uh from this, but we will make it much more succinct and we'll hit the ground rolling and we'll we'll get you a draft
uh and and see what else you you you would like to see. But the uh the the main takeaway for local governments really is how are we performing as compared to our
budget? Uh and and at the end of the day, uh that's that's vitally important number one because you passed a budget in a public hearing that basically says
that the town will not go above that budget. You can go below it, but you can't go above it without having a budget amendment. And so we'll look at that. And typically the snapshot dashboard type of view uh is
really the best and succinct way to deliver that information. Uh David, can I interject for a second? Um this is not complex to me. I'm very comfortable with this and I would not like you to condense anything without
discussing with fact first. In other words, you can add a summary to it. Uh that's your prerogative and I welcome that but not at the expense of the detailed item wise um data that we would
need. So before you condense these reports that's good but I would not compromise the details that uh we have to go through. Okay no problem. Anybody else have any comments? I I also would like to I also would like
to see the details but I think a uh a comprehensive summary would be useful on top of that because uh I think looking at the details would help us a lot. So but it's especially for the council I think they're better off with a a good concise summary but I would like to see
the detail also. Yeah I would like both. Thank you. Continue please. Let's go into the actual data. please walk us through the different quarters and give us some highlevel analysis. Thank you. Sure. Uh so again on the first uh I
guess it's page uh let's go up here. Let's go to uh it looks like well as I said on on pages uh 70 uh let's see
70 72 73 is basically what you've paid each of your vendors uh throughout the year. Uh and uh then starting in page
74 here is your general fund. Uh what you're looking at again this is all this data that you see here. Uh you just had the auditor report audited financial statements. So all of these numbers
should be summarized in the uh audited financial statements since we're looking at September 30th uh 2024. Uh so that's so so this right here is the granular detail by GL line
number. Now in the general fund you have departments. Now you won't see departments in other funds. The reason why is because the fund name describes the department. But in the general fund
it being general in nature you have uh you have for example all the different departments. So the first page there 74 and at the top of 75 is all your revenues that come in through the general fund.
Okay. Uh now when you start there on top of page 75, you have here's your town. Here's your council. Uh this right here is your your your council. Uh and uh you have obviously this we're still looking
at September data, but that's how the uh governmental accounting system is broken down. You have town council, you have administration, you have finance, you have legal, uh you have a bit of a building
department, you have planning, and then you have code enforcement, uh law enforcement, uh information technology, and then really your nondep departmental right there towards the bottom of page
77 is uh really those expenditures. that can be allocated to the other departments. Not very much. Yeah. And so and and that's fine, Tracy, as as as as you as you noted, right? Because uh the way you
want to allocate your cost is hey if I can't have a cost that is directly related to a department then what I can do is I can put it in kind of like an overhead category and then maybe allocate those costs maybe based on uh
uh full-time equivalent staff or some other measure to allocate that. Uh now you after the general fund you have a fund which is just for transportation. You'll notice that transportation
doesn't have any departments in it. Uh the the the reason why is is because it's its own fund uh and it doesn't need departments. So so here you see uh the uh the transportation fund. There you have the
revenues and expenditures in there. The other item that you have is the local option sales tax. Uh uh uh uh that that fund there is fund 103. By the way, uh we'll have to double check, but I think
that's coming to an end. The Florida legislature ended that uh I think uh December 2025. no longer that a local option sales tax will be uh will be collected and remitted and transferred to the
local governments. Um so that's that's something that's that's uh that's coming down the road. Uh you have your water fund, I guess a water control district and see really there on on the bottom of page 78, you can tell where you get the
money from that. Well, that comes from the road and canal maintenance assessment. So, you assess each of your uh residents for uh for for for some type of an
assessment that goes towards this fund. You'll notice that it doesn't go into the general fund. It goes into this water control fund. And the idea really is that we want to be able to match up
the purpose for what we are taxing or assessing our residents and we want to make sure that it's in the proper category so that we can track those expenditures. And so there below there you see we have salaries and retirement
and and rental all this operating stuff. See, what I technically do is you can see salaries and wages and overtime and special pay and all that other jazz. But see, I group that all up into salaries and related. And then what I do is I
look at that over time. I just don't look at it in one period in time. Uh so and and this right here is obviously a a big fund, but at the but at the end of the day as of uh you know at at at at the end of the
year you would refer actually to your audited financial statements to see hey did my revenue and fund balance equal that 83,000 83,200. Now you also have what's called a capital improvement fund. Now, what a
capital improvement fund is, it's just a fund to track your projects. How does that fund get money into it? Well, it gets money into it by transfers from the other funds. And that's why you'll see
up here uh at the bottom of page 80 is uh a lot of transfers. You have some FEMA dollars. uh you have some some grant dollars that come in, right? But at the end of the day, it's a lot of transfers and contributions from all the
other funds. Okay? And then below it there on page 81 through the top of 82 is a detailed list of all your projects that you have going on and uh the detail of of uh of
what the budget was versus what the actual was. And then you have your solid waste fund. Typically, your solid waste fund uh is uh is is uh uh your your your
hauler, your garbage company that collects it. Uh typically, you have an assessment that goes on the property tax bill for that. Uh and you can see there that the biggest the the biggest expenditure in that line item on uh page
82 is the solid waste contract. And uh that that's uh that's very typical. Uh now on pages it looks like 83 through man looks like 83
through 91. Uh it looks like it got cut off there. So I don't know why. So, I I I probably can't really comment on that on that page. Now, the next page is your
balance sheet. Uh it's the balance sheet uh through December 31st, 2024. You'll notice that it's un audited and unadjusted. Uh and so these are your items in your balance sheet. you know,
most most of the time your your biggest asset is cash and uh receivables. Sometimes your biggest asset is your your fixed assets. Uh but at the end of the day, um that's what that's showing.
Uh liabilities, uh it's showing what you owe at that particular time as of December 31st, 2024. And uh and then it has fund balance. Uh
fund balance is really the same thing as equity. Okay? It's what it is is it's just like if you bought a house and you bought a house and you're paying down the liability, the the mortgage company
or whatever. Uh what is your equity? And that's what really fund balance represents. Oh, and you have that and and the reason why we have so many different balance sheets is because we have different
funds. Each fund has to be a self-contained set of books. It has to have its own balance sheet and its own statement of revenues and expenditures. Uh and uh and then you
obviously have your local option uh sales tax fund in there. uh with their fund balance and you have the water control district with their fund balance and their liabilities uh and uh and then you also have your
capital improvement fund uh that that that we discussed. But this right here is more on the balance sheet of life. The revenues and expenditures are an accumulation over time for that fiscal
year. the balance sheet summarizes it as of that day. Uh on page uh let me see on page 97 you have again your solid waste. We talked about that. We talked about
that's that big contract uh with your with your with your hauler. Now if we go to page 98 well we have the first quarter of your revenues and
expenditures here for your first quarter. Now typically your ad valorum tax dollars you collect 80s something percent of that by January, February, March. You collect
such a big portion of that, but those funds have to last you the entire year. And so that's why uh that's why we make sure that we're always looking at budget versus actual. Now also all your other revenues
there other than your ad valorum uh those right there are are established by the state of Florida whether it be through sales tax, gas tax, uh you have certain franchise fees, municip uh local
governments have franchise fees with providers of utilities because the municipality can run their own utility. Uh but they're allowing a professional organization to
do that and in exchange they pay the local government a franchise fee. Uh but you know at the end of the day on on on at the uh page 99 you have here your revenues. You know, you have
your revenues uh through year-to date, which is October, November, December for the first three months. You have your budget here, and you have your balance uh and you have some a percentage of uh
through December 31st. And then you have FY24 uh that it compares it to what it was last year. Um um but I I think that we can uh we can definitely improve on that. Uh this
right here is uh again some more your now we're going into this is your town council. Uh here is what it was for the first three months. Um what the budget was and uh what's what's the balance.
Um, right now at this stage of the game, it's very early. Um, it's hard to distinguish what items are going to be going over budget, what items are going to be under budget, but it's just uh factual data that that comes out of the
system. Uh, we go into each one. You'll see there like for example on page 102, this is the finance department. Uh, this is their budget. This is their actuals and this is their
balance. Uh on uh on uh page uh 103 you'll have your legal fees. Now that is not all your legal fees. That is obviously just the legal fees that go towards the general fund. Okay? Because
remember legal fees they're going to be legal fees in in the general fund. There's going to be legal fees uh sometimes in your solid waste fund, sometimes in your transportation fund. So legal fees will be sprinkled out
through. David, if I might might interject and I know we're trying to to go through this and I know the um the committee has not had much of an opportunity to review things and we unfortunately um gave them probably the most salient
information uh that they would have to to review for the upcoming uh the the current year. uh just just uh this evening um at their places and and that is the March 31st um numbers and those
represent uh where we are at the midway point. Um and I apologize that uh the agenda did not um have them uh included. there was
a there was an apparent mixup um in us producing the uh agenda and ultimately that's my responsibility because I'm the the liaison. So, um, when you when you to look at the the budget to actual, um,
and as I indicated in my cover memo, there are some areas of concern that we currently have and are going to need a budget amendment on. Uh for example, with respect to to legal fees, um over
the first uh five months, we have expended uh the budget that was allocated for that. that those legal fees other than cost recovery which is a an in-n-out kind of deal and and doesn't
uh affect the the budget that much because uh when the attorneys do cost recovery uh we send the bills to um the folks that are uh developing in town and
and the uh who have applications in and they reimburse us for those costs. But aside from that, what we had budgeted last year was $193,000 in uh uh for general services. And then
there was about $33,000 that was budgeted for uh code enforcement. Um and those those funds have have been expended. I've talked to the the town attorney and that he anticipates
um that there's going to be about $30,000 a month for the remainder of the year. He also sent us a a bill um bills for $44,000 for March, which was the
um sixth month of the the year. um March 31st uh doesn't reflect um on on an issue like um uh legal services or where you're um looking for a vendor to provide you
services. That's generally five months that you see here because we get them the bills for the work that they did in in March. And that's just that's also why at the end of the year um September 30th uh is not the close of your books.
You have to receive um invoices for the work that was done prior to to September 30th and you pay that. And so those those things are generally paid by 10:31 and sometimes it extends a little bit over. So for some
for some of these things um there's a bit of a lag time for things like salaries and those kind of things those are uh up to up to date if you will that they're not a month behind. Um but in any any event with respect to to legal
services um we're looking at a budget um amendment of about $230,000 um dollars. Um so that is an area of concern. Uh we also are um the
council had directed in uh November for us to uh reconsider the the TPA. Um, and so we're going to propose a a budget amendment to our capital uh our capital
improvement plan um of another $100,000 uh for to cover those costs. Um, in addition on the capital side, there's uh some some good news in
that the covert um and drainage bid that came in um produced uh very good prices for us. Um so we're going to have some savings in in that area. Uh, one of the things that we're proposing to use the savings for
is the taking our in-house crews off of 161st um, and contracting for for those services to complete the the swale work there so that our in-house folks can uh,
get out to a-ro Canal um, and expand expand essentially the roadway um, area uh by stabilizing the canal bank. Um and that was all part of the the budget that
you all recommended or your predecessors recommended uh to the the council. Um but those folks, our in-house folks are going to move over and begin to do that work. Um
there is also, if you'll recall in the in the budget, there was work to be done in the Tangerine and Citrus area. Um there are some areas there that that flood and before you want to improve the the
roadways, you really have to take care of the the drainage. Um, I think we had budgeted $50,000 um to begin the planning on that. Um, and I think that number is
going to be somewhere in the area of $87,000 uh uh there's an $87,000 shortfall. Um so we will be coming uh to you um and to the council uh for a proposed
budget amendment there. Um in addition we're restructuring uh the way we are um providing uh community standards and community standards is um code enforcement uh planning and engineering
services. Uh we're revamping that. Uh and there may be a um I'm not sure that there's going to be a budget amendment that is going to be necessary to to cover the the those things or whether that's going to be able to be reallocated
um from the the general fund. Um when you look at the March 31st numbers, if you look at them from an overall standpoint, um it looks like we're uh we're doing pretty well. Um the the big area of
concern is on um engineering uh expenses and legal expenses to complete the work that has to be done. Those are the the two big areas of concern that I have in reviewing things. Um, and as I said,
those will be the subject of a a budget amendment um that uh will probably be ready for your review at uh the extension of or the continuation of this meeting that I anticipate you will want
to reschedu. Jeff, can you send that to me? I I I think that your email did you not receive it? Not the not the updated. No, I only got the uh the 1277 pages one.
The Mar the March 25th one was not in in it. I apologize. That's on me, Tracy. I thought I caught your email and sent it to you. I'll go and try it again. Okay. Okay. Thanks. My pleasure.
Okay. Um any questions before So far on the summary that the committee requested, will there be an opinion uh on that summary and not just information above the granular
accounting? That would be my first point. And a second point would be will that opinion also take into account information prior to you coming on board
and this committee starting up. In other words, uh backdated sort of expo facto back in time. Will that be part of your opinion? Thank you. Uh to to answer your question, no, we I
I don't render an opinion. The uh I give you I staff I'm basically an extension of your staff. Staff gives you suggestions. We give you data uh and we try to uh we try to paint a uh
bigger picture uh for you. Um one thing that that that we try to do as staff is uh we try to give you multiple year numbers. uh we try to look at certain growth rate of numbers and uh let you
know uh where we give you we give you recommendations but at the end of the day you get to uh make the uh you know the final determination based on based on the data that that typically staff
brings before you. Um I think I missed it. Who are you? I'm David. Um, I'm with uh a company that's called Projected Point. Uh, I'm a CPA. I'm also the finance director for uh the town of
Highland Beach. Uh, and uh, the the short version. Go ahead, Jeff. Can you hear me? I can hear you. You can hear me, right? Tracy, that his services are generally more automated and uh
Hey, they seem like they're slowing down, aren't they? Yeah, for some reason. Okay. Yeah, we're not hearing anything Jeff's saying. Yeah, Jeff, you're like uh um contract. He'll be it'll be on for uh
uh this uh May meeting for the council. Yeah. You've already brought I hear you but I don't hear them. Gracie, what's your question? Sorry. So, did we already bring them on? Were they not vote? Was this company not voted on
by the council? Um, David has done work for us in uh for the town of Oxahachi Groves for the last several years in a consulting role and he has um helped prepare our budgets um
and has been prepping for uh the transition. But he has um he has it will not be until the um the council hopefully approves his contract um that
he would take over and and his firm would become uh our finance department as it were. Right. Any comments, questions? Uh, no. I just like to thank since I'm a new member, I want to thank David for his
explanation because it helped me that. So, now I can run through the document. So, I want to thank you. Yeah. Thank you. You know, and and again, uh feel free to contact uh Highland Beach. uh those uh you know, we've we've turned
them around. Uh there it's it's uh it's night and day. Uh that town there is a full service town. I know the budget's probably a little bit bigger. Uh and uh but at the end of the day, matter of fact, today I just sent them they like
to have fiveyear budgets. So, I sent them uh a five-year forecast. So, that's the amount of planning that you get to do when you're not bogged down
with 120 pages of line item detail. You get to look at the bigger picture. Uh and you get to do some forecasting. Uh looking at rates of interest, looking at uh uh what's coming down the future. Uh and that's just
that's just what we do. We try to automate as much as possible. Uh but our goal is to give you data and make recommendations to you uh not for a one-year span of time but for
uh multiple years and uh yeah you know we're we're here to help and uh at your service. Thank you David. This is Manish. I have some questions here. Okay. So, may I ask uh who do you report to? Uh I report to uh Francine and Jeff.
Okay. And uh since you have this experience working with the city budgets, uh what's your view of our our city? Um what is uh do we so for example you talked about government effectiveness or efficiency
or projections. What's your view on taxes dollars spent per resident you know fixed versus variable cost of the town testing stress condition do we have enough money for you know if a flood happens FEMA is changing their policies
on reimbursement have you gone into any such high level performance because that's I think we would like to see um how we are doing as a town in terms of every dollar being spent and the value being extracted So I would if you
haven't done that that's okay. You are new but I would like you to think about that. Yeah. Uh so so on that note let me step back. How are how did we do in 2024 budget versus actual? What's your as a
CFO if you have to explain to us what's that summary? How did we do in financial year 2024 budget versus actual? Well, I mean, you you you you came down you you didn't spend all the money that you had
budgeted uh in that in that year. I think that if we were to look at the page I think so so just so wait a second. All right. We didn't spend the money. Why did we not spend the money? Why is it that we didn't build certain roads or we didn't spend money on
capital? We didn't hire enough people. Wh why did we not spend the money? Well, no. that I mean that has nothing to do with it. Projects take longer. Uh you know we we we try to budget for any open
positions. I'm trying to go to your to Okay, that's okay. You can answer these next next time. I don't want to put you on the spot. But I would I think on behalf of the committee, we would like to know what happened in 2024 budget versus actual. Did we overbudget? Understand why? What happened? All
right, let's talk about 2025 so far. So Jeff gave us some uh good news or a bad news. I think mostly in financial terms I would say bad news but we will deal with it. So in 2025 we are going to end our year in September few months from
now. How are we doing? Are we going to overshoot our budget? Do you have any um suggestions in mind so we can save some money somewhere? Do have you done any analysis? How are we going to do where are we going to land in 2025? No, budget
versus actual. You're right. Right now, we have six months worth of data, right? We have six months worth of data. Uh the next time I probably see you, I can probably give you that uh analysis. You know, we'll we'll look at uh you know,
it it it really, you know, your uh you know, your your revenues will come in. The reason why is because you're talking about ad valorum dollars, right? You're talking about tax dollars. So that money will come in a lot of times uh projects
uh whether it's supply chain issues whether uh it's uh material issues that are taking no David sorry to interrupt you I I understand I'm saying give us specifics not general uh generalities specifically okay these are the four
things that are delayed these are the five items that we are under spent or over spent okay next question Is our cash flow is our free cash well invested? In the last meeting, one of the findings uh was that we we saw that
there was some cash kept in the check in the simple account wasn't invested or acrewing interest. So did you take a look at our treasury management? Uh one of the roles of the town manager is also being the chief investment officer. So
have you gone into uh how our free cash is invested? How is our treasury management doing? Right. No, I have not at this point. Uh, okay. The state of Florida has strict rules and restrict.
No, that's okay. I I we understand those rules. I just want you to next time when you come, I would like to go over the free cash flow like at any point in time what's our free cash flow. Okay. And how are we making sure that that is invested in the best fund under the state laws.
So we are um making some money on the interest while everybody sleeps. We still collect money on the interest. Okay. Next question. Uh do we have enough cash reserves to meet uh you know some sort of a risk event like a flood
or a we have to extend some cash flow. I know last time we had just the bare minimum reserves in our funds. So I would like you if you haven't done it. I would like you to compare this year. I think this was the question of my colleague here. He would like we would
like to see how we compare as to the last year or the year before. How is our cash reserve doing? How is our performance as compared to the last year and so forth. Okay. Next question is um uh so you talked about next fiveyear projections. Uh we are very soon going
to start focusing on 2026. So based on the data that you have, are we in severe shortage or surplus or how are we doing for 2026? Any comments so far or you haven't had the time? No. No comments? No. Uh no
comment so far. You know, one of the challenges that Lockahhatchee Groves has is uh density, right? uh you have very large parcels and uh whereas the others in
Palm Beach, right, they're uh they're really packed tight. Uh so when you're talking about your ad valorum dollars are your biggest revenue driver, but you
got to be careful, right? You got to balance that out because no one everybody likes their property values to go up in in in value, right? But they don't like it when property values go up
in value and property taxes go up. Uh so that's that's the challenge that we have. That's where fiscal responsibility meet headon with political aspirations. Absolutely. And
and David, just sorry to interrupt, but I think that's the feature of our town. That's that's the core spirit. We we are an a town. Our minimal parcels are five acres. So I think you what you said is important here. We want to see the cost discipline, the physical discipline. And
we know our revenues are limited by our geography or our style or you can call it our rural spirit. But we would like to see how are we controlling costs. So we can't do certain things that other towns may do because they have high density, high-rise, whatever that may
be. But in this town, we love our rural towns. So we have to live within our means. So I think the point we are making is uh for 2026, we would like to tighten our belt. our if our costs are going too high and we we don't have
enough revenue coming in so we have to understand how we are going to create efficiencies there right okay so with that being said I think we need time to review next time we will go deeper into everything we will start with um uh
audit report and then if that's okay with all then we will go through each quarterly performance last year performance quarter till date there are three quarters basically so we will go through that uh with everybody can send questions in advance so being the chair
I I'll tell a little story so last year I was vice chair and I learned certain lessons this was new for me and I know you are new you are new so there are certain technicalities here if we don't do those technicalities we can't do our job so you can call it boring job or red
tape but unfortunately we have to abide by those uh technicalities so the first technicality is and remind us if we forget. Never end a meeting before setting the next date because if you don't do it then we are at the mercy of the town to tell us what the next date
did and as you can see last year the last date was August it never I think August or September that was it right so what is the let me ask my colleagues here uh what is your next availability I know it's a boring question but we
cannot adjourn this meeting unless we have the date for the next meeting Sure. [Music] I will be on 25th of May to June 5th. Okay. What about you?
8th of May to at least the 22nd of May also be other. Okay, that's all right. Uh Tracy, how about you? I'll be in town the next couple weeks. So, you're out. Okay. No, I'm No, I'm in
town next week. Oh, you are in town? Yeah, I'm in town Wednesday on and next week. The rest I just don't know yet. Okay. So, it seems to me May 5th. Next Monday. Same time. It seems that's open with you all. Yes. Yes. Okay. So, if I
may, is that okay with you, Jeff? 5th May. Next Monday. Um I think we we will be ready with our at least first set of questions with with this. We will not go through everything but we will start covering the ground because then may probably if uh people
are out it's a vacation month so we want yeah that's what I'm proposing I'm asking the town if they will be available because they have to be available for this. Can we also Mhm. Yeah. Can we also get these reports a little bit earlier so we don't have no
time at all to look at them? I mean, well, here's my first question. We're not prepared. We come here and but we're not prepared because we haven't had time to look. Well, here's my here's my first question. I don't know if you have advertising deadlines for this board. I don't know. We may they could continue
the meeting till May 5th. I'm not 100% sure on room availability. Um, we can do Zoom. Is that okay with you all if we if we dial in or if the room Well, first question I've got uh for you on on
scheduling things. Um, I think this is the I believe this is the first meeting that we have had um the two professional consultants come in both of them by Zoom. Was that an acceptable format for
for you? Yes. It's fine. And I have a little trouble hearing because it's a little low, but I think it's a better way of getting people together because yes, we don't have to be in the same place. I'm fine. Yes. Um just wanted to make sure that
that that's okay. Um and uh I'm not sure May 5th. Um we will probably still be operating off of the same draft audit that you have in in front of you. I don't think it'll be that they're
planning on issuing it around that time. But once again, I'd come to you with that's okay. We have enough to structurally if you're saying there not be any major structural revision. So we are fine with that. Let's get into the big big picture and then if something changes we'll deal. So is okay. May 5th.
Um I think that that's okay. All right. So the motion to uh have our next meeting on May 5th at the same time. I second it. Second. All in favor? Yes. David, are you available?
Sure. I'll uh I think because I have a meeting uh May 6th at Highland Beach, so I'll be in town and uh I'll try to get this data
um electronically so I can put it so I can just show you guys in in my opinion. uh what uh what a what a nice clean dashboard looks like in order to and then and then what else we'll do is we'll take the data that we
have and we'll roll it forward you know uh six months making some assumptions uh which line items will grow at a straight line basis which projects if we don't have any expenditures in the first
six months which ones are more likely and not not to uh get off the ground. Um, and we'll go and we'll go from there. So, we'll uh we'll we'll put together uh something for you that that hopefully using the same data uh that
hopefully will give uh you a little bit better insight. Uh okay, very good. Thank you. All right. The next topic which is again a technicality but important is we have sunshine laws and you all went through the training. In
other words, uh we can't talk about this uh without public being present. So but at the same time I encourage you and I personally do the same. You have been nominated by your respective council member but it doesn't mean you can't
speak to other council members. Please reach out to neighbors to residents to people ask their inputs. There are a lot of smart people in the town. So please as a part of this committee your job is or your responsibility is your voice but
also you you know voice of our residents. So I would encourage us as a committee to involve residents in these meetings. Uh there are a lot of experts here. So in the next meeting hopefully some good residents will come in. I invite I know a lot of good brains are
sitting here. We would love your inputs as well. Is that okay? Uh just a a note on on that subject. Um remember it is perfectly okay to talk to all those folks that Manish uh indicated. What you
have to be concerned about is that you end up talking to the same person and u Sue somebody tells you well Manish thinks that and at that moment in time you've got to cut the conversation off because that person probably
inadvertently can become a conduit to a Sunshine Law violation and that's problematic for everyone most importantly you. So, so I my point is we can't talk to each other other than when we are in public but in at the same time
Lord not this red tape coming your way reach out to you know you are all mature professionals so you you can't say what is Manish thinking or what is Tracy thinking but you are here to get to your council members and others and residents
and people and get their inputs um and finally I'm uh I think there was a paper provided here in your packet. This was the last meeting we had uh from the last year of the fact and you will see here a
lot of work was done. I haven't seen through it. This is the first time I'm seeing a summary of that meeting but a year whatever work we did and there were some great people on the previous fact. Uh and all that knowledge is in the in these three or four pages. Please read
through and um we'll put we'll put that back on the agenda for your approval next year. We will review it. Yes. So, but I I I think as a practice as a as a good practice, I would like to next year hopefully when new members come in, we
would like to give them a handover. So, people from the last year should hand over their knowledge, institutional knowledge. It would be great if the previous chair or you know could come in and say, "Okay, this is what we thought. This is what we thought were the areas to be focused on. So I will invite
uh previous chair or somebody who was involved in this good work, previous committee members to come in and share their direct knowledge with us as well. So with that being said, we have I think covered this particular item. Our last item
is there is another item on the agenda. Yeah, there's the the Bogue company uh here and they are going to present their analysis of the financial impact of uh the proposed paddock park on uh the
town's revenues. Um and they're going to uh so Jeff before we do that could you give us a little background what stage this pro without revealing any confidential information what stage are they uh their project is and is this
something we we should be looking at for other projects? What what is your view on that? Um this actually I think goes to something that um uh your predecessors
and and you being a part of the predecessor committee um had indicated they wanted to look at uh the financial impact of proposed projects. Absolutely. Yes. Um and uh the where this project is
at this is the the paddock. Um it is a proposed uh resort um RV establishment. It is proposed to be located off of Seaw Road um e uh I'm sorry, east of Sea Road
uh south of Collecting Canal. Um Mr. Bo is here. He'll probably give you a brief introduction, but he really wants to talk about um what they uh would offer to the to the town and their financial
impact uh to the town. Uh this is I think the first time uh that this is being uh presented and we'll see I mean not this is the first time we have had a
developer come to the the fact um it was based on the the facts previous indication direction um and they are proposing some significant revenues um
coming in uh aside from uh just the adalorm taxes and I don't want to steal anybody's thunder. No, but I what I the point I'm making is I welcome this because I think I am of the view and my previous committee members and I would love to hear the members now what's
their view any project uh first our first thing is to make sure it is not a burden on the town so it's not revenue negative and ideally speaking it should be revenue positive and but we are also limited in our scope we we we are not
the right people to decide the impact of the town for example the neighbor next door or the zoning or the traffic. There are many considerations. All of those things are happening and I I'm sorry to I wasn't uh more clear and direct on where they are.
Um I believe they are scheduled uh to go to the planning zoning. lost them again. Yeah, right. It just seems like it cuts out. At least it's not just board for review
application. Um it includes a a number of of steps. There's um uh reszoning down to uh site plan issues that are going to be presented. So um that's the
the current schedule. um at the council. It is not a situation in which the council could approve the project on June 3rd. Um at best uh for the development uh they would get approval
and then there are some comp plan issues which means it goes to the state. it takes about 90 days or so uh to come back. And so second readings um in a best case scenario for uh the applicant
would be in that September October time period and that's when actual approvals could happen. Um what can happen on June 3rd is denials um and that could uh end the project and I mean that's back in
October. Yeah. So I think what what I would suggest is that in the interest of our collective time and resources, it would be good that if a project has completed certain threshold and that universal standard apply to any uh project that is coming your way, we
welcome that uh presentation. uh but we want to make sure that this project has cleared that threshold so that uh we are not you know spending time into something but since they are here I welcome uh them to present
and Joe I know you've got a handout or did we get them the handout I used your ESI footing email should I be using a different one ESI footing yes yes did you receive it this Uh, let me look. I put this on as well
when I emailed it. So, well, good evening to the FAC committee. Can you all hear me? Okay. You can hear? Yes. Yeah. Thank you, Jeff, for the introduction and kind
of high level where we're at with things. So, I I'm mostly here tonight just to talk about the finance and how it relates to the town budget. Um, and so Jeff did a good job teeing up the, as I
said, the status of of where we are with our applications. Um, I've met most of you all, and again, I appreciate your time tonight. So to get into the core of
of this discussion, I'm going to and what you have in front of you is an analysis of the tax the nonadvalorum and advalorum um effects that the RV resort would
have. And before I get into the details on that though, this these are revenue sources and so these are are not related to some of the other benefits that do have financial
uh advantages for the town. And I'll just quickly go through those before I get into the numbers on the tax and other impact fee um benefits. And so the first on that is and um if if you've been to our workshop meetings if we've met before the
application is proposing to dedicate 8.75 acres of land for trail use and that is a dedication of the land. So if that were to be put on the town's balance sheet there's there's value associated with that and that's item
number one. Um in addition and Manish you raised a good point on how projects should not be impacting in any way the town and and only adding value and that is the case all the way through with with our project. Um to that
point for C road which is the project entrance we will be responsible entirely for those improvements which is town right ofway and an improvement that will be gained for paving seaw road and installing utility
infrastructure and also constructing a fishing pond at the end of seaw road in the right of way which can also So double as a drainage improvement basin for an empoundment source. And so all of
those things have real value and that's not what the analysis is in front of you which again I'll get to in a second but I first just wanted to start with those couple of things. um a you know we've had many meetings, we've had a lot of
outreach and so we've gotten to the core of of the town's comments on what it is that they want the project to provide. And I think in hearing tonight's discussion too on the budget, it's clear
that there a a source of revenue is is much needed. And this project offers and as I'm about to again get into those details, a very substantial um effect on
the overall bottom line. So to to start what's in front of you on the first page uh is some some information that you are already aware of but it's pertinent to the discussion. So I'll
just highlight that quickly. The first thing is that the total advalorum taxes paid to Palm Beach County is 19.27 millillage points. The town of Luxahi Groves receives three of those. And um so for the RV resort project, if
you go to the middle of the page, we had a 47 acre property and an estimated assessed value of $25 million. Um and and that is determined because our project budget is $45 million. Adorum in the county typically
assesses properties in a couple of different ways which I won't get into, but more or less 25 is a pretty conservative assumed ass uh assessed value for the future project and its tax base. So of
that 25 million on the assessed value that would result in $480,000 of annual tax bill and that's ad valorum tax total and again that is the total 19 mills to Palm Beach County.
So three millillage points of that is equivalent to $75,000 and and and so that would be the town's portion if you will from the advorum. I'll get into how that affects the overall budget here in a minute. So
to just continue um into the non-advalorum component of how revenue is given to the town, each property is assessed nonadvalorum by $200 per acre into the
road and drainage fund and $450 to the property's solid waste. So that means each each property in the town is assessed $450 for solid waste services annually and that that goes into the
nonadvalorum tax bucket. I believe if I'm correct some properties are assessed twice but um whatever the case that's that's how that math works. So in in the RV resorts case that would then result
in $9,400 of nonadalorum tax. So and that is because it's 47 acres. So that would pay $200 per acre into the roads and drainage bucket. and then um it would
actually not pay the 450 of the solid waste because it's a there's a a solid waste agreement which is a separate item below and I'll get to that in a second. So when you total the projected advalorum revenue and nonadvalorum
revenue from the RV resort that total is $84,000. Then um down below the commercial trash franchi franchise fee um that that figure and what that is the
town receives 10% in a franchise fee for properties that aren't residential in our case rural recreational. So, we would pay the trash provider that the town has an agreement with with the property demand and the projected
schedule of pickup. That would amount roughly to $50,000 or about $4,000 a month in in um trash service. Of that, the town gets the 10% the franchise fee. So that is, if you will, our contribution of the
$450 that the residential properties pay. And so we're we're covering that and some at 5,100. Sorry to interrupt. Could you accelerate, we have another 10 to 15 minutes. Could you give the big picture and then Yes, I can do that.
Okay. So that's that is a bit granular, but the the the total amounts um from the non-advalorum and such is is the $84,000. So why I'm here today and and really the
main point um of the discussion we've heard from residents as well as council that you know we've been talking about these financial contributions and there's been question as to how exactly what are the mechanics and how is that
going to get done and how can we assure the town that this is real. And so that leads then into these three options. And so we've been working with our attorney who has been in touch with the town attorney and each of these items are
getting uh put into an agreement and they will be contingent on on a couple of things which I'm about to explain. So the first impact fee structure of of um payment to
the town option number one would be that upon the certificate of occupancy meaning when the project gets its its completion and its ability to open the project would pay a onetime impact fee to the town of
$500,000 and that would go into likely the general fund. of the town. Um, and and then in addition at year three, the stabilized occupancy, and what I mean by that is year one would be the start of
construction. Year two would be the first year of operation and year three would be when the property has been marketed well enough where there's people and it's it's occupied at a level that we can then additionally fund source to the town
and at year three stabilized occupancy that would be $25,000. So option number one, if you will, is $500,000 upfront and then a recurring $25,000 in addition to the $84,000 for a
sum total of roughly $100,000 annually to to the town of Lockahuche Groves then and uh that is after the the onetime impact fee of 500. The second option would be rather than the 500,000 upfront,
125,000 recurring beginning at year three when there's stabilized occupancy plus the 85,000 roughly for the tax and that that totals over 200,000. The the third
option is would be a revenue sharing or a profit sharing configuration where there's more potential upside for the town over the course of a 10 or 20 year period. It would amount roughly to option two which is 200,000 a year. The
exact details of that and if council is is interested and I think you know seeking input from you all too that would be to be determined. So if I may and then I'll you know I won't spend much time on on anything further. Those were the main three points to present
but as it relates if you look on the second page to the town budget and as was discussed tonight the total advalorum revenue for the town currently as a whole all 7500 properties is
$1,727,000. And so what we're saying is this is the RV resort would amount for 75,000 or an increase of 4.3%. Which is substantial if you look at it as just one of the properties in the town. The second thing is the road
and drainage bucket the million and a half that the revenue that that is um on the budget and that is from the town's non-advelorum and that is where in depending on which option um would be
put forth option one of a one-time $500,000 contribution would be equal to 33% of that total budget line item. And so these are these are very substantial and impactful and we think that it
certainly should be of interest to the town. It's something that should really be given a a hardened um and further study and and you know hopefully acceptance of of one of those three. So, um, the last thing I would like to
point out is the reserve was mentioned tonight and as as I understand it because I've been studying this budget as well. The total sources that the town has is the 4.1 that's on your sheet and
there by policy as I understand is that there has to be 25% that is is the threshold that that essentially can't be touched of that amount and the town has roughly $1.5
million of that million. So, so there's 500,000, if you will, of of free funds that exist or dollars that could be touched if chosen to do so. And and but at the same time, that would then bring that to the total reserve. So the
point of all that is these three options can help contribute to the reserves fund and really build up the the you know minimal amount that that exists in place today. The 500 could be used up front for a
capital improvement project. It could be used for road infrastructure, any paving projects, canal bank stabilization, anything depending on on council's choice. And um and so then as far as the
annual um it was mentioned tonight too that the the local sales tax is coming to its um end its 10-year term of the 335,000 roughly which will be going away next year. And so one of these options
would also present the ability to just get 200,000 annual uh to the town. So, you know, the the the other couple of things on your on your detail, which I can leave for you to take a look at later,
uh those are just comparing the use of this property in its current form compared to the use that it is approved at or currently zoned for as a one per five uh acre, one unit per five
acre. um which would amount in 10 lots. The the impact uh the gain that that would provide to the town is $28,000 net from the existing. Uh right now the property only generates for the
town $9,600 because they're all bonafideed a or they have um cattle or whatever the case. So there's very little dollars that the town gets um as it currently stands at at a one per five it would be
$38,000 and so what what the rural recreation zoning offers and that being the RV resort is $579,000 off the net
204,000 recurring annual off the net or 175 179 excuse me um recurring from the net. So, I'm happy to answer any questions, but that's um really what I have for you all tonight. And I, you
know, I think it is very relevant to the finance committee and to the town budget. So, we um wanted to be sure to get it in front of you all and and share where we're at and and the financials. Okay, Dave. Any public comments? I have
a question, please. So, I'm looking Tracy, one second. Do you have any comments? Okay, please go ahead, Tracy. I apologize. I'm looking at the sheet.
Currently, that assessed value of all those properties is only $13,899. How are you coming up with an assessment value of 850,000 per 5 acres each which equals
79990. How are you getting from 13,000 assessed value to almost $8 million? Yes. Yeah. Good question. So the the 13,000 as you said is it is currently what it's assessed at. the um 7 million9
that would be in the scenario that the property is used for eight and actually it's 10 because it's 47 acres. 10 single family uh residential lots at one home per five
acres and and the assessed value per five acres being $850,000. But that's not So that's a hypothetical. That's a hypothetical. That's not what's being proposed. I'm sorry. That's not what you're proposing though. You're proposing correct how many units per five acres or
how many units per 40 of the 47 acres. Yeah, that that is not what's being proposed. You're correct. I just wanted to start from a a net net and look at what it currently is versus what it could be at the current zoning so that they're all being compared apples to
apples and that it's not we're not saying we're adding 85,000. It's the difference between the 85,000 that the RV resort would generate versus 37,000 if it were the one per
five. However, that's just for the taxes, of course, and then there's the additional impact fees that would be paid on top of that. But that's not apples to apples. When you build a 5 acre, say farm or home or whatever somebody's building on five acres, this is completely different. Your assessed
value, you don't have any infrastructure. Basically, you're having a lot where somebody could put an RV on or So, so are you are you saying that that the assessed value of the RV resort at 25 million is what you're questioning? Are you questioning the
850,000 on the hypothetical as if they were built as one parcel per five acres? One one property. Both. Both. Well, so land in Lockache Grove is is valued
at um anywhere from 120,000 maybe up to 200 depending on the location. So at 5 acres, 120,000 per acre is 600,000. And then um that leaves 250,000
if you were to build a maybe two or potentially three-bedroom home. But in addition, the assessed value of your home isn't, especially if you homestead it, it's not going to be the full. You might have a home that's a million dollar. You might be all in at a
million, but your property assessment is is going to be less than that. So that's how that 850 was figured. But, you know, it those could be again, it's a hypothetical. So if if if it were assumed that the value was more than that, if it was if that was to be a
million per five acres that the tax amount would be paid, then maybe you'd be looking at that that in that hypothetical that those 10 parcels would generate
44,000 in in advorum and nonadvalorum revenue to the town. But there's no infrastructure. They're basically assessing a pad for an RV. That's my confusion. Okay. Okay. So, so what I was just
talking what I was just talking about was was again the hypothetical that if you were to build take the property and use it current zoning and build 10 homes on five acres a piece for the roughly 47. That's that's what that those numbers were about. the assessed value
and how we're getting to the $480,000 that the RV resort would pay to the county and then the 85 that the town would get that $25 million assessment is is because as I said the the budget is
45 million and the the property appraiser looks at revenue. There's a couple of different ways that um the assessed value is is determined. One of those would be the the amount of revenue
being generated by that property each year. And this math was actually um given through a a professional market study that that we had uh performed. So the 25
million could be could be low. I it was that was more of a a conservative use for for the time being. So basically these numbers you gave us are just really hypothetical and not really actual. No, I wouldn't say that. I I would say
that that they are conservative in in the assumptions. I mean, this is the the and you know, that that's just we're talking about the the advalorum estimate, which is maybe a swing of of
$5 to $10,000. The real the real thing that we're saying here is that we're willing to pay to the town $500,000 upfront as an impact fee at CO and then a
125,000 annual recurring payment to the town that is that we're locked into that is is to be paid. That that is not an estimate. the 85,000 is an estimate and as I said that maybe is a difference of
five or $10,000. So that that's that's really you know on the smaller side of things. Thanks. But when we discuss the money talking about the 500 legal way of enforcing that and
there is an impact. Yes. Yes. So, yeah, it's a good good question, Sue. So, at some of our workshops, we we were showing or, you know, um it was that it was a 2% revenue
um that that 2% of the revenue would equal the 200,000. We've since and again because council wanted the assurance that that it would be paid and that it is going to be 100% contractual. Um the the better way to do it is through an
impact fee and that is what's being documented by our attorney in conjunction with coordination with the with the town attorney. So that in and ever which you know however it is um legally determined that the best way to
to do so would be that's what is going to be assured and papered and solidified uh prior to any approvals. There is absolutely there is a legal mechanic to do that and those are being
explored right now and have been further um to the point of of determining that you know way than um than at any point in time before that. I can't hear her. Yeah, same here. I think Tracy's having
a hard time hearing it. Is the mic on? Sorry. Uh, and that inflation kills those numbers very quickly. um even though it doesn't seem like today, but in 5 years it becomes very obvious. So I was wondering if option two uh should or
be recommended to council uh that they have a some sort of an inflation adjusted number in there though I'm not sure if that's not what you were trying to do with option number three but not sure. Yes. Yes. So option three it does
um increase each year and um up to 6% again uh and that's that's based on projected project revenue and so I I think that to just answer your question simply that is something that we can
consider and provide an option two is that it could be a 2% 3% annual uh increase or to be determined every 5 years as to what that percentage you know maybe should be to account for
inflation. Okay. And the other one is is sort of uh looking at revenue sharing and that's the third option. Okay. Yes. Thank you. Okay Dave thank you for the presentation. uh as we said earlier we
are we are going to wait on the the other committees to say to us that your project is a go so we can do a detailed financial assessment but we can provide some initial insight so here are some questions uh from me number one um what
what is the breakdown you said $45 million investment you're bringing so could you just a big picture-wise what is the investment in the land and in the infrastructure of that 45 million what what is the break up? Yes.
Um land about 20% improvements um vertical improvements at um about 10%. and the remainder being all of the
horizontal, the site work, the amenity, um the what percent is land and what percent is 20% is land? 20% land and 80% you're saying of 45 million invested in the town with with your
infra whatever you're going to build. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. Next question. So, how are you financing this 45 million? In other words, I don't this is none of my business, but from the town's perspective, what what is the assurance that you have the money to withstand um
stress testing, you know, economy and other so what's your what's your help us understand what is the financial stability of this 45 million? How are you raising it? Yes. Yeah. it it'll be recourse and so the loan there there's
no bank that will loan you money and allow it to fail. I mean there what is the equity of this 45 million? Can you share what's the equity? What's the leverage right now? LTV at banks is low to mid60s.
Okay. Okay. And and who who is is this your you are investing cash or is there a partner? Yes, we're a portion of the cash and we have partners. But you are the lead you are the lead investor. General partner. Yes. Okay. So you are the general partner. You have limited
partners. Yes. And they're investing 40% equity 60%. Um correct. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. All right. So help me understand all these all these projections rely on um certain occupancy rate, right? So what what is so help us
understand what is the assumption behind how many units of RV capacity are you envisioning and what percent of occupancy you're envisioning when it it goes live. What's your typical business plan assumption? How many units of RV? So we've broken it out into the three
different seasons in the RV resort world. That's um total capacity. What is the total capacity of the RVs? The total capacity at 100% would be 288. 288 RVs. Correct. The um average occupancy across
the year, so an annual average would be 59%. Okay. All right. This is not this is above our pay grade to comment on whether we can handle this traffic population. That's not our area, but it seems a lot. Uh okay. So, next question
is the following. So let's say there are you said the town is going to be net positive making lot of good money right that's our objective to make sure we do and we are not left with some unfinished project or halfbaked thing so that it turns into some worse situation for the
town so let let us understand let's talk about the cost so uh with these 288 RVs coming uh there is going to be law enforcement there is going to be traffic roadways is cost to the town. So how do
we um how do you accommodate for that additional cost? There is additional revenue I understand 500k or over a period of time. So how are we how is town getting paid for uh the additional cost that it is going to incur for um
this additional traffic management and additional people coming and so forth. Well, I I think traffic first and foremost, the property driveway is off Southern Boulevard. And as I said, um as far as the construction portion, that'll
be paid entirely by us. There will be no uh contribution from the town for the paving and improvements. As far as the ongoing maintenance, you know, I I can't see it being much on the 700 ft of driveway
that it's only to our property that um you will be responsible for for the maintenance or we haven't haven't determined that yet. Okay. But let's talk about the other cost, law enforcement, uh public safety cost, etc., etc. Who is
going to So, first I just want to point out that the trash is is covered and the town actually benefits on that because of the franchise. That's 10%. I got it. Okay, that's whatever it is, it is. Okay. So, at one point we did look at the impact
of the police and and deducted that from the uh the net revenue, if you will, to the town. I mean, I know that the town uh budget for police and and fire is roughly $650,000 a year. So, if you want to
assume that the RV resort would impact that by 5%. Then that's no I I would like from you since you guys are the expert in this uh segment you know how many um if RV park like
this what is the public safety how many calls get done and all that stuff you will have some point of view anyway so think about that all right so let's talk about a little bit about stress test so help us understand that point M if I could just the on the impact right you
It's hard to quantify exactly what percentage I think 5% as I threw out there is probably but you will pay. The point is you guys will pay. The point is it will get covered and our and just you know quickly our research we've called all of the RV parks and resorts in in
the town and looked at police records. It's minimal. We're having our RV consultant and property manager come to an upcoming meeting who has is very engrossed and has a lot of expertise and and will reassure and be able to speak
on how the the the local municipality um you know may may be affected and really won't is the point personally speaking this is not fact thing individually I told you if you assure
that every RV person coming in will be background checked like Airbnb does or correct if you give down that sort of a confidence then people will be open to listening at least I will be so but anyway that will happen nonetheless I
think uh uh those costs so public safety you will cover uh as per your discussions uh now let's talk about the town uh time right so my understanding is if they evaluate a project they get reimbured for the cost correct yes so
they will be having more code enforcement they have to go there to check for everything so that's their prerogative they they have to calculate something along those lines so I think what we what I I'm saying is that when we look at cost versus uh revenue
generation we have to look at all the costs so we can then provide a clear view like okay this is the net these costs are shared by RV company these costs are assumed by the town or responsibilities and hence this is the net right yeah I'm bond so let's talk
about stress test now what is your stress what is your how do you assure us that your company has the cash flow to withstand you know whatever up and ups and downs of the economy maybe first year there'll be less occupancy next
year how how are we not at risk of this project getting delinquent yes So, I mean, as I said, the the bank is very very strict and they run stress tests and we run our own and there isn't
a bank that's going to loan you money knowing that it's I listen I appreciate that, but I can't just go to our council members say, "Oh, yeah, Goldman Sachs trusted it." So, that's I don't know who your bank is, but my point is um yes,
that's good. If bank has validated all the business plan and you can share that that's great but point we are making is on the business plan whatever your stress test scenario is is if you are willing to share if it doesn't meet yeah if it doesn't meet our projections and we don't get the revenue that we think
we're going to get right then the property value is less than than what we project it ideally it's at least what we build it for and and I think that's that's so in your provisions if the project doesn't go as financially planned then somebody takes over the
control of the project. That's one way that it could be and that control is by whom? As per well it could be it could be from the bank. By bank it could be but the bank can you share the bank? Is it local? Is it national? Is it we've been talking to a number of different ones we don't have. Okay. You don't have
to share if it is confidential but at some point if it is the reputable bank. Yes. And we you know it's not our but it's the lawyer legal department and town they are experts in it. I mean the the thing what we are concerned with is if there is a stress scenario who takes
control over the property and then what are their rights in that case and what are town's right from the financial point of view that's our scope. Other things that's their expertise. Okay. Well, and then just to reassure too on the zoning piece, it couldn't revert to anything else and I know that's been the
top that's not what we're talking about tonight, but but that would be it will people who are listening or will listen it will go a long way. So please restate what you just said. What is people's worry is that we turn around and once it becomes an RV zone then you can make a
multi-ousing project on top. So what do you say to that? Yeah. So what I say is we in meetings with council that came up and they know that that's a a topic and we are going to put in our conditions of approval a declaration saying that that
the property is I'm not an attorney but stripped of the rights to build multif family. So you will you will in writing agree that you or your assigners whoever the bank is in the event that they take control whoever you your parties others
will never be able to build multi you will relinquish that right even though it's available or may be available in the state laws and so forth and we will also we will also write that the new Florida statute the live local act will not apply and cannot be used well that's
their legal job but I'm just saying that is a personal issue. All right, with that any other point, questions, comments? I've gone through this. Okay, very good. Yeah. And and and two, some of the the you know, things we didn't touch on are
are the additional effects to local businesses for the equestrian, any uh farms that give horseback riding lessons, the restaurants in town that would benefit from I was at uh dinner last night at Boonies and and that was
actually discussed. the waitress there agreed that it's good and and you know not to mention a lot of resources that would be used and and needed during the construction of the project. All of the
local nurseries that have material and the labor and and not just on the construction side but once um built in order to operate there' be job opportunities and other things. So those are things again
yeah if you have any statement like the secondary beneficial effects to the town how much increase in agro tourism or additional things can happen if you want to include that statement next time you could do that but I think you are here today to pitch for your venture and we
respect it but there are people who are going to be adversely affected for whatever reasons and they have to present their point of view so we today heard this and thank you for this you got our comments uh and then once we get
the green signal from the committees that are responsible this pro for this project then we will dig deeper but we have enough to have some opinion. Yes. Yeah. Happy happy to share anything else you'd like. All right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Jeff, what's the
process? We're done with this. if you have a if you have a a a recommendation um or with respect to which option um would be better or whether or not it should be
based on uh and and I know you don't that would be difficult but you could go with if you had direction to say um pick the one with the uh best present value or
um if you say no uh let's go with the big bang up front or we don't have a conclusion that would be the only thing I think because he presented three options um and if you're able to formulate an impression additional information that we requested some color
some comments you have some questions could you send through the town some additional information to review what specifically we we asked you some questions. You can re-watch this video. You will see some questions if you want to add. Okay. Otherwise, based on this
information, we will give our best advice. Yeah. If we ask you some questions, right? So, if you go through those questions, it will give you some if you want to provide. Can I ask one quick question? Have you anticipated how many
employees and where will they be housed? Yes, that's a good question. Sorry, if you could come up to the mic. Did you hear me? I'm sorry I didn't have the mic. Yes, the question was how many employees would do we anticipate and where will they be housed?
So, in staff comments, that has been a topic and we currently have the ability to house on site for quarters for um um
employee on a on a park-owned RV um site. Whether that is the way that that it would be done or not, we we can't answer that that at this time. We've asked our property manager and as I said she will be coming upcoming to a meeting
and can speak more on that topic. But I think overall to answer your question on how many people it will take um two workers two people in the welcome building three in each clubhouse
um and and simultaneous or kind of in tandem would operate on the maintenance piece too. So I I don't think it'd be any more than that. U six to eight people and we've accounted for parking and everything on site. That was
a staff comment too. So do you want to give some advice to him or we rather wait? Well, some of them will have to be housed on the property I would assume being people who will live there 24/7. Yes. Yeah, I mean maybe not the
welcoming committee but yes there security will be there all uh present at all times. So exactly how that gets arranged. Um. Okay. Yeah. Thank
Do you want to give some insights like what option you prefer or you rather absorb all the other committee? I want to absorb it. I can talk about we can talk about another time. Okay. So Tracy I think we need to absorb it because for
me the 500,000 upfront seems like a bribe. So I really want to absorb it more. All right, let us absorb if you want to send some more financial. You heard the committee comments. If you want to send something that we will collectively share our recommendations. Do you want
this item back on for the fifth or Yeah, if you sooner the you can send us as soon as you can. Okay. Sure. Are we having to vote? Thank you all again. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Are we having to vote on something
for this? No. Not at this time. Okay. With that being said, I think we are good. Motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjourn. I would like to. All right. All in favor? I
thank you as always. We are on next Monday. Right next. Okay. I'm going to terminate that.