We have a quorum. One, two, three. All right. Today, we're about to start our fi our second budget hearing for Monday, September 29, 2025. Madame clerk, can you please call the role? Commissioner Shernoff,
here. Commissioner Fimmon here. Commissioner Smith present. Commissioner Smuckler present. Commissioner Sue. Vice Mayor Daniel Ljan here. Mayor Michael Joseph I am here. You have quum. Okay. Um let's do pledge of allegiance.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay.
Before we open up for public comment, I'm going to say that I'm going to take a point of personal privilege of doing an October 7th resolution because we're not going to have our meeting to the 21st, but I will read it after we finish our legislation. But that was because of you know just and young Cooper is next
week and I just wanted to I felt propo and I spoke with Commissioner Smuckler and she said it was the right thing to do. So we're going to do that when we finish the legislation. That being said, um madame clerk, can you please open the floor for public comment?
Good evening everyone. The mayor and commissioner of the city of North Miami Beach has opened the meeting for public comment. At this time there is a threeminut time limit for each speaker. Speaker, when you're called to the podium, please state your name or the name of the organization which you are representing. The mayor and commissioner
of the city of North Miami Beach recognizes the importance of civility. The city of North Miami Beach request that all in attendance to exercise civility towards each other and and please speak only on the subject matter that is being presented. Our first
signed speaker is Karen Harold. Hi, Karen Herald, resident of North Miami Beach. When I looked over, hi to everybody and welcome. Thank you for all the service and what you do for us. When I looked over the proposed budget, I don't see a whole lot for the residents. Oh, yes, there's beautifification,
improved and cleaner roadways, but we've been hearing these same promises for years. Looks nice in writing, but you can't tell in action. Even coming here, the speed bumps on South Glades, I think they were replaced only two, three years ago. One broke right away. Was supposed to be replaced, never was. The one at
the beginning towards Miami Gardens is broken and only really one good one that was put in recently closer to the park. Um 171st coming over from 15th. The lines on the side of the road are very faded. So you know anyway um
more money is put for it when our city is decreasing population. Why does this item keep going up? Can't we make better what we have already work more efficiently? Um I noticed what I look like a good part of the budget going for increasing employees. Why? We aren't growing and at any rate to warrant this.
Why not see what issues are occurring in the department and make them more accountable to our elected officials who we look at to have the wheels of our city government working efficiently, not just adding more wheels to keep the same size vehicle moving forward.
Why are we allotting almost $200,000 for two events? Does this represent our diverse city and looking out for the residents in a fiscally responsible way, especially when we have our 100 years coming up? Why is so much money going to the city manager's office? We need accountability, transparency, and our
financial reports done on time. Are you trying to reward what appears to be mismanagement from the top? Maybe put more into picking the next city manager who's qualified to run a city like ours, not create a larger office with more positions so more items can fall through the cracks. Please don't increase our
taxes when the budget is full of areas that could be trimmed. The top rectangle of the manager and commissioner area in the budget graphic is the residents of North Miami Ramy Beach. What are we getting? Raise taxes. Some promises said each year and not followed through on
larger employee payroll with falling population. Population in 2024 was 43,269. In 2025, 43,14, but our government is growing. H Community development budget for salaries and related expenses looks like
exploding. I sure don't see the residents being looked out for. What you're doing by approving this budget is just taking our city further into debt and open to more areas of mismanagement with e ever growing city government. Whatever programs you start or new
positions you fill, remember these will have to be budgeted in each year. Please put a budget together that will work help us dig us out of the hole we were in and not just dig it dig us in deeper. Thank you.
Okay, next speaker, Nancy Dingu and then Susan Sadness. Good evening everyone. Good seeing all of you again. One of the first memories I have of my father speaker, excuse me. One, one of the first memories I have Speaker, Can you please state your name
for the record? Nancy Donahghue. Thank you. North Miami Beach Public Library. Okay, I'll do that again. One of the first memories I have of my father was when I was about five or six years old. Hand in hand, he and I walked to the
local library in Mount Vernon, New York. This was my first time inside a library. When we returned home, I was carrying several library books. I remember the tactile sensation of handling those books, and it was my first introduction
to literature and to the written word. My parents would remind me that when I was in high school, this time in the Bronx, I would go to the library every week and come home with an armload of books. I do remember that my favorite genre was the biography. I was always
curious about what turning point, what fork in the road altered the trajectory of a person's life. My point is that for most of us, the library is such an integral part of our lives that we don't think about it that much until we
realize that we can no longer take our precious library for granted. There are several reasons for this and budget restrictions is one of them. The concept of a library has itself been at a turning point, at a fork in the road.
Just based on my observations whenever I'm at the library, there are the requisite borrowing of books and DVDs, classes for kids and adults, including seniors, art exhibitions, well-being programs, book sales, citizenship
classes, and cultural celebrations that commemorate our diverse community. It's an all-around refuge for people from all levels of society. As a kind of community center, the library is the great unifier, the great equalizer.
The support of our library is one of the most important important investments we can make, the effects of which will continue to unfold well into the future. Please consider this as you negotiate the allocation of this year's budget.
maybe while hearkening back to your own first visit to a library. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker. Wow. I wish I wasn't such a shorty. Susan Sandis. I'm with the NMBB library friends and uh book club and was the
director there for 21 years. Not the director. I was there for 21 years in a variety of tasks and uh programs, adult services, reference work, and for a few years as the manager. And I would like to say that uh my best times and they
were never work. That old saying, if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. Where when I actually worked the reference desk and got to handle a wide range of questions from children to teenagers to young adults struggling to find the job of their dreams or how to get a good education to
grandparents looking for information about a grandchild who was born out in Montana somewhere and has a serious health problem and they needed information so they could understand. But uh I'd like to say to you all of you and many of you have supported the
library over the years. You've given big pushes and little nudges and you've been there for events. You've made our presence additionally known in the community to the people you work with and talk with frequently. And when I glance over here at my side
and I see how many people in city hall we had a chance to work with, it was truly amazing. There have been some very very talented people and very giving people. I hope that you will keep in mind the values that public libraries
have for people of all ages, for families to make this a community that's really attractive to young families and they want they see that they can get what they need for their children and uh for themselves. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Next speaker, Norma Fuentes. Norma Fuentes. Adir Galvin. Briana Galvin. Norma Fuentes. Adir Galvin.
Briana Galvin, you can't hear me. Carmen Rantis, Luis Hognesses. [Music] Hi, Louise Harkness, North Miami Beach. I'm uh with the friends of the library and
I'm not really going to talk about that because I sent an email to everybody here and only received one reply which is the norm. Everybody says email us, we'll answer you. We're going to address your issues,
but we never get an answer. So, if you decide to read my email, you see you'll see what my issues are. Yeah, that's all I can say. Next speaker, Irene Pellinger
and then Bruce Lamberto. Good evening. Irene Pillinger. I'm with Friends in Library. I'm also on the library board. Um, I've written I've written and met with each one of our elected officials um this year to
discuss my concerns regarding the library. Um, more recently I wrote to all of you about the budget, but the response for the most part was disappointing. Our representatives tell us that of
course I support the library and I'm sure each one of you thinks you are supporting the library but when it comes to budgeting limited city resources the picture gets murky since there are so
many varied demands on the funds. Remember that a library is no longer just a place to get a book. It is so much more. Each person who goes to the library may be going for a different reason, for a different resource. All of
them are valid. The library is an equalizing place. Those who don't have Wi-Fi at home could hop on our free trolley and access the internet at the library in order to do school work, apply for a job, or simply connect with
faraway friends. Those who want to try something new can find a class at the library while meeting new friends and learning from each other. I could go on and on about what our library offers, but I only have three minutes to speak.
I've heard for months about the need for new shelving for the children's room. This seems to be missing from the CIP projects. Perhaps it's under something else. I couldn't find any message, any listing of this, but it is a desperate
need and the renovated bathrooms um is an absolute necessity. It does appear on the C CIP list. I did briefly speak to the manager. He said the the number is being corrected because the
cost of the bathroom is more than what was listed on the presentation. Um, and I just want to tell you I had the pleasure of uh working on arranging donated books uh with a new volunteer
one recent rainy afternoon. But how I wondered, did my new friend access the bathroom while in a wheelchair? There are two doors to go through before even getting to the stall door. How did we already spend $8,000 on city permits and
now we don't have enough allocated for this in the CIP list? Is the city in trouble? Have our funds been mismanaged? Turnover in the city manager's office can be a sign of trouble. And we've had so much turnover
these past few years. I'm so proud of the hardworking library staff. Each member goes above and beyond as you saw downstairs. And um can I just have another half a minute? I have full confidence in Dr. Hernandez to lead and nurture and
develop her team. I have full confidence in her experience, leadership, and understanding of the needs of the community and how the library can best cater to those needs. Out of all the city employees, I hope that she is the one looking at the budget and
prioritizing the various needs of the library. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, Bruce Lamberto and then Jeb Hanwa. Good afternoon, Mayor and Commission, Bruce. Lambertto, Eastern Shores. I'm
here tonight uh because I'm echoing what uh the first speaker mentioned, but about this budget. I've never seen anything like it. You know, I've been involved in the city for 30 years or so, and uh I've never seen it get this bad. We had a couple managers back when we
had Mr. Scott as manager. We had Jacobs take over our water plant. We had $38 million in reserves when they when they took it over when they started and we had zero two years later. I see this commission doing the same thing. We had a bunch of reserves built up. Now we're
using the reserves to fill the gaps in the budget. We're we're spending more than we're taking in in revenue. And uh it's it's very irresponsible to do that. Um again, this hiring spree that I've heard about that uh I don't get it. I
mean, you know, this is not the friends and family plan. We're we're an employment agency for all your relatives. We can't keep keep on that pace. So, I wish you guys would knock that off. And every one of you know who I'm talking about. So, it's more than just one or two people. It's a bunch of
people. Promotions, raises. This is This is not what this is supposed to be about. is supposed to be responsible fiduciary uh responsible people for our money, our taxes. Mr. Mayor, I I talked to you about this issue with this uh 10% senior
discount that you're given. I mean, you do this all on your own in a vacuum, and I'm really surprised the commission allows you to do it. I mean, nobody thought this out to how are we going to give discounts to apartment buildings and condos where we have one water meter. Half the people are over 60 and
the other half are just like our audience here. How are you going to give th those people that discount? And what about the financial impact? You know, several million dollars, you know, of of this. We have the issue with the we just got rid of our water restriction justifiably so,
but it cut our our revenue another million and a half. So, here it is. 3 to4 million already gone out the door. Nobody thinks about this. And then you go over to Miami Gardens by yourself or with Commissioner Smuckler and uh Excuse me. I wasn't there so things
whatever and and just beain don't please not singing out if you can. Thank you. Okay. All right. You you went to to speak to Oliver Gilbert and and company the Miami Gardens over there by yourself. You know, you should have you
you run this you you completely circumvent the PUC. That's what they're there for. We are seven people that sit up there just like you and we vet anything that involves the water and we're getting bypassed all the time. You guys are you're making these decisions. You don't have the financial information
to back up the decision. And that's why I'm I would really appreciate it in the future any more items like this, you run it by the public utilities commission for recommendation. After you receive that, you'll have the you do what you want with it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next speaker. Jeb Hanwagger. Yeah, we did. And then Trish Miller. Hello. Jeb Hanwer, Montichello, resident north of Amy Beach. Um I'm concerned about the budget. Uh I'm cons I'm
concerned that we're not lowering the the millage rate. Uh especially with today's time. um because there's a lot of families and permanent homestead residents that are dealing with ex uh
the the economy and that money could provide a lot of relief for them. Uh, so I'm I'm asking for maybe us to reconsider and to lower the rate. Not really for the Airbnb investors or the
commercial developers, but if there's a way that we could specify homestead residents that we could provide relief to them. It's not a lot um because you're getting the bulk of that revenue if you look from the commercial properties and the air and the invest
and the investment uh investment properties and the commercial properties. The real relief that we're looking at um is for the uh the residents and you know right now there's a lot of concern about um the spending
and the increase of the budget since co um we we're up to like 72 million. We before co our budget was like 49 million and there's too many people making salaries of like 250,000 plus.
um at the city level. Um it's just too much of that top heavy. Uh there's definitely ways that we can cut. Another question I have is the the mayor and commission had a budget before COVID of 500 of under 500,000.
Now it's close to 1.5 million. So where is that extra million dollars that the mayor and commission where's it going for? Is there more employees working with the mayor and commission? It it would be nice for the residents to see a line item. Also, there's a a section
government non-dep departmental. We see a huge increase over the past 5 years and that we don't really know where that money is going. There's no sort of line item. Uh and and right now we're just concerned the residents that you know
these there's you know the taxable values have gone up so much um and there's been such increase in budget and you know they are going to give their you know the city people that are working for the city they have an agenda okay they have a conflict of interest
their job is to get higher salaries and better benefits but you guys have to work for the residents and the residents right now are saying you know seconds. There's too much uh there's too much waste. There's too much budgets increasing and our
population, as Miss Harold spoke before, is is declining. So, we have to think about why is the budgets going up so much? Why is employees like our full-time equivalent employees have gone up so much, but our population's declined? Thank you.
Your next speaker, Trish Miller, and then Diane Douly. Good evening. My name is Trish Miller. I was thinking back about Kenan Thompson who was on SNL and he had a skit and in the skit he
basically said, "Fix it." And I keep every time I fall into a pothole and every time I go into the bathroom in in the library and you can't even get in there. It's an old nasty bathroom that needs to be
refurbished. Every time I get on the senior bus and the people can't get onto the senior bus, uh, and it's rickety and it's old and it takes 60 people at a time on a field trip. This is these are people that use the facilities. These
are the citizens that live in North Miami Beach. These are the ones who pay and paid for years um into the system and they deserve to be taken care of. We need to fix it. We need to get a better bus. We need to fix
the restroom. We need to go where the people go. And unlike some of my friends, I like to see the trolleys. The people use the trolleys. If you need a trolley, there it is. I mean, I think that's a good use
of money. But we have other things that need to be done for the residents. And I just like to see the money being put in the hands of the residents for the things that they use. I love the bicycle program when it existed. And I know it didn't work out that well, but it was a
great program, you know, where people could, you know, pick up a bicycle and then put it back. The one that Tony had, I thought that was great. I just want to see the money used where it's needed. I need to see the money fixing things and being there for the people. And we have
some great programs. Our library is phenomenal. Our senior program is phenomenal. And I think credit where credit's due people do wonderful job in in certain areas. Um, but that's that's where I
want to see the money and having it all go to one thing or having huge budgets that we're we're not seeing line item. I mean, I'm on some other committees. We have a line item breakdown. Um, and we see where the money is, but a lot of
it's just like an I don't know that they don't call an O2 fund, but where it's discretionary. I don't know. I don't not comfortable with these discretionary funds. And we thank you. Have a good evening. Thank you. Next speaker. Hi, my name is Diane Duly and I'm a
North Miami Beach resident. I just wanted to see I know we're taking some funds from our emergency and putting it to cover line budget items that we had. We had a surplus last year. You're taking those emergency funds. They're supposed to be for emergency. If you ran
your household like that and didn't keep your emergency fund well funded, you would be in trouble in your own private home. I presume each of you have a home that you are responsible for. Well, you should think of our community as your home, too, and you should budget for it
like you would do for your own home. I got my property tax bill and although I've been here a longtime resident, my taxes are not that great. But I understand some people's because of their value have very expensive taxes.
But I see if our tax rate was 6.1 mil and that's what we had last year also and that's what you're proposing this year but the value of the properties have gone up. Now, if you rolled the um to put no changes to the budget, our tax
uh millage rate would go down to 5.69. That would help people tremendously, not just with a water credit of a homestead property of $20 one time. That's not going to help anyone and it's not going to help evenly across the board. As um
they've pointed out with, you know, people who live in condos, it's not going to help at all. and somebody hand me a $20 bill, it's not going to make a whole lot of difference to my budget either. So, I would just like you to think that, you know, that you think about all the excess that could be cut.
No one likes cuts. I don't like it in my own home when I have to get some substitute one thing for another because of the price. But we all have to think about that. We want a good place for our employees to work. We want to retain good employees, but at what cost is what
you have to figure out. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Leslie Sardinia and Mr. Kazan. Leslie Sardinia, Eastern Shores. I had a big weekend. My sister had a party at my house and I really didn't
want it there. So, but anyway, I'm here. Um, when it comes to the budget, I kind of I I agree with uh with Bruce Lamberto. I agree that we should have a full
public accounting of the city budget, our priorities. I feel that police and library, those are important things for our community, but I feel like the mismanagement is like we don't know where our money's going.
And I do feel like when I read things, it feels like there's money here and yet when we need it over here, it's there. It's here. It's there. It's everywhere. It's wherever we need it. It seems to be that's where it is. I don't know how we're doing everything
with the city manager to be able to have interim all the different things going on with that. So, I feel like that's a true mismanagement. I believe city attorney there's a lot of things going on wrong with that. I think we're not listening to Lin Sue
enough. I know. I've listened to her and I think we need to pay attention. She is smart. She could be she could be the ci the senator of of Florida. She's got it that going on and I feel like she gets passed by.
So, I just feel like there should be a public accounting of what's happening here. We pay a lot of money. My neighbor pays over $100,000 a year in taxes. And yet, Eastern Shores, potholes,
everything like they're saying, I just feel like it's going to places that it shouldn't be going to. It should be going to parks, it should be going to libraries, it should be going to our police, and we know, we see it, we see the line
items. So we're we're aware a lot aware but not everybody can appear here every time but we are aware. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker
Mr. Kazan Good evening everyone. My name is Mabar Kazan. Um, to get a good bang for our buck, we need to bring back the city attorney's office in inhouse. We need to bring back sanitation inhouse
and we not need to outsource the library as some of your planning. We do not need to outsource the theater as some of your planning for years now. Outsource the theater. So that no bid ordinance that you came up with that suits some of you
really well. However, I've been looking February 2022. I came to the sanitation presentation that you had and it says this coming year coming year you'll be paying we
would be paying $15.6 million for coastal. I looked in the budget display that we have on the website and you're saying 6.15 million that comes from the public works
that public works controls that. Who are you fooling? That is a full $9.5 million. Our budget for this city coming up for 2026 over a4 billion dollars. That budget is
larger than many countries around the world budget. Many countries, think about it, a quarter billion US dollars. And what you people are doing, you're pretty much mismanaging most of
it. You're not here for the people. The renters are punishing. Even though we don't have the renters coming and complaining, they're mill rate affects them a lot. And with you increasing the mill rate or
not carrying it down, they're suffering, but they're suffering silently. But I want to remind them, they're voters as well. So come next year, speak up. If you like the budget, vote,
vote them back in. If you don't like the budget, vote them out. Um, we've had the unrestricted funding, the unrestricted balance fund. Okay. We started off at 18 a.5 million
and then we gone down to 16 something million. Now we're down to 4 something million. Listen, I know some of you want to make the mayor looks good. You You want to make the commissioners look good, but you have to be truthful. You
have to be truthful with your presentation. Last presentation, you zip it through in seconds. That's more than a quarter billion dollar you zip through in seconds. We want to we want time to be spent on this budget here tonight in
depth. I'm leaving this spreadsheet that I got from public records of the 15 something million it would be costing us in the year coming up. This is for the commissioners and this is for the CFO. if you can
print that out and let him see 15.6 million, not the 6.15 million. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you, Mr. Gazan. Any any more speakers? That was the last fine speaker. Okay,
now we're going to legislation resolution 3.1. Um, Mr. City Attorney, could you read that? Yes, sir. Oh, do I have a Did he Did that just make it worse for you guys to see because I see you all
going since Mario was there and never changed it. Okay. Um, yes, I have a motion that that hasn't been changed in a while. I have a motion to introduce um motion and second. Okay, then 3.1 resolution a second.
Okay, go ahead. 3.1 resolution number R2025-145 adopting the final millage rate for fiscal 25 26 fiscal year uh brought by the budget administrator a resolution of the mayor and commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida establishing
and adopting the final levying of outdoor armed taxes for the city of North Miami Beach for the fiscal year 202526 commencing October 1st 2025 and ending September 30 2026 6 in the amount of 6.10
mills which is 7.18% higher than the rolled back rate to balance the general fund establishing the rolled back rate to be 5.6914 mills. Establishing the debt service
millage rate at 0.2000 mills, providing for implementation, providing for conflicts, providing for scriveners errors, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Okay, this is second read.
So, we're this this is the part of the mill rate. Last time we voted on it um initially before we got to the budget because it sets the it sets the the platform. So, I don't know if anybody has a discussion on uh I I'll say one word. I It was a 6-1
vote. I voted against the millage rate and I'm going to vote against it now. I don't understand why this city isn't tightening up their belts as every single household has to and giving a break to the residents. I don't understand when you look at what they
get in other cities and what their millage rate is. Shame on us. Shame on us. So, I just want to explain it. My answer to this millage rate is going to be no until I see it going the other direction. Thank you.
Okay. To be clear, we're not raising. We're just keeping it flat, following the standard of the county as well and pretty much everyone. Uh there's consensus between all like not raising them. So like I said before, um any thoughts? All right. Do I have a
motion? Motion. I second it. Madam clerk, can you do a roll call? Commissioner Shernoff? Yes. Commissioner Flory? Yes. Commissioner Smith? No. Commissioner Smuggler? Yes.
Vice Mayor Jean? Yes. Mayor Michael Joseph, yes. Passes. Thank you. Next item is uh do I have a motion to introduce 3.2 resolution 325 3 2025146? So move. I have a motion to introduce. Do I have
a second? Second. All right. Um Mr. Manager. Oh, no. Read it to the record. Sorry. City attorney. Read into the Thank you, mayor. Item 3.2, two resolution number R2025-146 adopting the final budget for fiscal
year 20252026 brought by the budget administrator a resolution of the commission of the city of North Miami Beach Florida adopting the final annual budget for the fiscal year commencing October 1st 2025 and
ending September 30th 2026 authorizing the expenditure of funds appropriated in the final budget acknowledging the levy and collection of taxes on real personal property and other revenues necessary to meet the expenditures provided in the
final budget. Providing for the authorization to reappropriate capital outlay lines and encumbered release uh purchases in the 2024 2025 fiscal year to the 2025
2026 fiscal year. providing for transmitt by the city clerk, confirming additional powers and conditions, authorizing incumbrances and carry forward, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date.
Mr. Manager, good evening, Mr. Mayor, vice mayor, commissioners. Andrew Plum, interim city manager. Thought I'd take this opportunity to present the um second hearing of the budget. Um
we're going to go through a presentation. A lot of these presentations were part of the uh the first one. However, we do feel it was important to uh just uh go over that and then view some of the um changes uh that we made from first to second.
Okay, as we can see our advorum revenues are 34.7 million. Uh general fund overall revenues are 75 77 75.8 million um in revenues. Um our
property taxes 46% of that u make up the uh general fund. budget adjustments after the first hearing. Um, as you can see in this slide, uh, we found some savings, some reductions, um, in the mayor and commission office. Some of these are
just, uh, transferred over. We thought it would be better to have it all located in one spot um, under the manager's office, but I'll go through it. Professional services was decreased, um, shifted to the manager's office. Uh, special programs was decreased by
10,000. uh travel and auto decreased, promotional activities uh decreased um and overall uh I would call it a decrease by 250,000 but uh uh some of uh
260 was shifted. Mr. there. I have a question about why we're reducing the um amount to the Chamber of Commerce. Do you want them want to finish up the presentation? Yeah, just maybe.
Well, I I want him to address that. Yeah, I'll have um Good evening, Mayor Comm. So during the exercise of identifying through different departments what opportunities were available either to create
reductions or to um add light items that didn't previously exist. In this case it would be the Haitian chamber. You guys tend to support annually but there was never an allocation for them. So instead of increasing, we moved over some of the funds from the chamber to do that as
well as recognized the um partnership that we established last year for Mocha Museum. Okay. But that still doesn't answer why did we remove it from the Chamber of Commerce who's in our community and been
supported by this commission for as long as I've been on the commission. That that is the justification. um instead of adding additional um funds being pulled from general fund, we use that line to create new lines for
organizations that you also support. Okay. I'll put on the record that we should put it back to the Chamber of Commerce. Okay. Um excuse me, Councilman. Just to point out, I mean, and I'm sure you know from your long service to the mic, it would become a record for
the rest of our lives. Um, Mr. Kazan, please, with all due respect, thank you. All due respect as well. I've been saying this for years. Go ahead. I'm sure you know this from your long public service. Just let me point out that of course you or any of
your colleagues are privileged to make a motion to amend what's in front of you should you so desire to do that. So, so we can you can hold that point and we'll once the presentation is over, we can have further discussion of this. I'll make the amendment. Okay. We can add. Okay. Please, city
manager. Okay, moving on to the uh manager's um office. We see that uh we increased contingency um by 50,000. Um our lobbyists increased 260,000 but didn't really increase. It was just a shift
over from the mayor and commission's office. Um, and then, uh, contingency for the lobbyists, another $140,000 was an increase. Um, as we know, we're going into another, um, I wouldn't say battle, but, uh, we're going into some
some trying times uh, coming up. from our IT department, we were able to identify a savings uh 75,000 in data processing equipment, salaries, and part-time 30,000. Um so there was a uh decrease
um overall of 105 that we were able to identify from um from it. Those were some of the most of the departments. Um, we're going to go into our general fund, the 87.8 million and
how it's spent. As you can see, salaries and related overall is 53.6, our operating expenses are 18.6, uh, capital outlays uh, 65, non-operating contingency 4435,
and inter fund transfers 15 uh, about 15 million. So ten total general fund expenses um add up to the 8 87.8. Um the majority of this um obviously we know uh is is uh due to uh salaries
and just a small graph of the uh workforce trend um over the last four years and uh increase about 12%. So balancing our 87.8 8 million in expenditures with our
revenues of 75.8. So you have the general fund revenues of 70.7 the general fund expenses of 87.8. Um so the operating uh recurring uh difference we call deficit difference is a 5.5 that we're using in our our um
fund balance unrestricted fund balance and obviously the CIP use of uh non-recurring reserves um of 6.5 to uh fund the uh CIP uh projects. So that's a total of the $12 million um covering the
gap with the reserves. Uh this next slide is basically the same information. You can see the expenses, the revenues, um and then the uh the balance uh remaining balance of the 12 million covered by the uh unrestricted
reserves. Here's a graph that just shows you the recurring gaps between the revenues and the expenditures. Um, as you can see that it since 2018 all the way to 2000 where we are today, there's always been a been a gap except for 2024. Um, and we
we continue to strive to to uh tighten that gap, maintaining the city services as well. Here's the key factors driving the reserves. Uh, pension contribution requiring us to keep it at the 70%
funding level. Um that's 2.5 million. Uh the we had to move some beautifification employees over to the general fund that was 1.3. Our increase in economic economic development division. Um so we can have a a real and this is going to this is going to benefit us uh moving
forward, but we can have a real econom economic development um structure of 900 um and our increased cost for debt services. Um so those are those are the driving factors as long uh as well as um ARP but not long uh no longer being um
available for the CIP funds. Here's our uh these are key capital projects. Um these items right here represent the 85% of uh the uh 6.5 million in the CIP projects. Um we went over these before. Um the restrooms for
the the library are on there um at 350. There seems to be a a question about the difference in uh in about 100,000. However, as we move forward, we will we will address any differences. Obviously, we all know and through your direction that the li library bathrooms and the
library is is a priority. [Music] Um, next slide is just a breakdown of the uh 54 million fund balance. You have the general fund balance. Um,
you have the restricted impact fees. You have the committed disaster recovery, meaning these are these are restricted. They cannot be touched um unless there's a disaster. Um, and then we can tap into those. uh you have assigned which is the CIP claims workers
comp um and subsequent appropriation that we're doing and then unassigned um which is the 17 million and then we also have 16 million that are restricted that's the 20% um well the restricted is the 17 uh 17
million restricted meaning we don't touch we can't we don't touch that um and it can't be touched I mean it can be touched through your whatever but that's not that's not what we use 20% % uh we keep that uh for a rainy day. So here's how the uh the the
unrestricted fund is dropping from 16 to 17 to five. Um you can see the the the 12 million and we've talked about that before. That's just between the um the gap in the fund balance. I mean the gap
in the uh general and then the um oh sorry you can keep up the gap in the uh fund balance with the 5 million and then the uh CIP projects. Now in fiscal year uh we have an
estimated um 4.8 8 million unrestricted u moving forward if if uh the accounting uh ends up being as it is today [Music] we can uh close the gap stronger. We've talked about budget controls. Uh that's
just a little slide uh reminder. We'll move on we'll move on from this but this is uh something that um we can uh that we can work on um in the future to to help close uh close gaps moving forward. And we will do record we do uh reporting
and enforcement on those controls. How the 87.8 million is distributed across departments. The police department at 32 mil. Governmental non-EP departmental 21 public works uh 10 six parks and recck seven library uh
just under three finance just under three city managers uh under two mayor commissioners 1 five planning and zoning one human resources under a million economic development the new one we're just uh
kind of putting together 900 legal is contract 870 procure Procurement 850, city clerk under 800, code compliance 73, communications 700, and our BTR is
at 400. [Music] Building fund balance versus state limits. This is the building department. We talked about that them being um um over in their reserves. Um so there's basically 5 million above the legal
limit. Um and uh what the state code says what we can and can't do. Uh reduce or re uh re rebate permit fees, facilitate construction on improvements only for code enforcement, technology and equipment upgrades, and training for inspectors and code officials. What we
can't do with those um monies is used for general government purposes, police, public works, planning or and planning and zoning. NMBB water fund is stable uh but reserves are are slowly declining. Um
you can see that FY25 was 9.7 FY26 just under 17. Um we're using 2.8 and reserves um for the uh water fund. So January 21st 25 ordinance was adopted
uh search charge repealed. This is not the outside the 25%. August 25 billing system was corrected. Um and FI26 moving forward your annual revenue about 2 million to be molded into the rate study. So this is something you guys
adopted earlier. Uh took the the team a minute to cancel it. So we had about $2 million um that we need to through your direction. Uh we'll find out where we we refund credit and we put that that 2 million. We talked about the water relief act. Uh
two relief programs, the 10% on uh bill discounts up to 100 annually per qualified customer and the auto up to 50, the auto pay up to $50 annually. Uh funding commitment up to 1 million each. That's 2 million. Sewer fund is stable today. Uh it might
be pressures ahead. If you look at those numbers, uh, ending fund balance FY25 is 12, ending in FY26 is, uh, 10.8. Um, we can keep the system stable. Um, but we we do make to we we do need to make some
adjustments and and we will be bringing that to you. Now, this is important because this is uh something that uh, North Miami Beach does not um, control, the county wastewater rate pass through. um that's going to impact our our residents. Um so
through code we adopt Miami Day's wholesale water rates. Um FY26 increase is 19%. The customer impact will be obviously higher bills beginning in October. And the most important point about that this
is county driven. Um NMBB has no discretion over this. the county sets the rate. So, final slide, the citywide budget 253 million for FY2026. Um, we can go through that. I went
through most of the lines, but um you know the general fund about 87 million. That's the uh that's the bulk of it. Um you can see um the overall bottom line 253.386985.
Um and you all can see that and I'm going to go over line by line with with you. But uh that's our citywide budget 253 mil. All right. Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and commissioners.
U I I again I apologize. A lot of these slides and information uh was presented uh during the I don't want to apologize but was presented uh during the first uh hearing and and and a lot of it through our workshops. Um but it was important to just re reay it again.
Okay. So before I'm um gonna go I'm going to go left right because I know you have major thoughts. Um Commissioner Smith. Well, I see a lot of doom and gloom in this budget. If you look at the bottom, we're doing things that we shouldn't be doing. We're doing things that are going
to cause more problems in the future. The building fund is over the statutory gap and must be corrected. I see a lot of doom and gloom. Uh, I have to tell you, Mr. Mayor, you mentioned that I vote no
for the budget. Not all the time. Well, here's the thing that I if I could share with the public my feelings on this whole thing with the budget. You know, we wanted to be transparent. We wanted to pass something that was
transparent. And we're waiting months to pass it. Waiting months. uh we finally get a hold of it and it doesn't apply to here. Uh we're hiring more people. We went from 450 to over 500 people in a couple
years. We're not a rich city. We're not. So the fact is when you hire somebody, you have to let somebody go. You can't when you come to work for
government, you start maybe when you're 28, maybe you're 32, and every year you get an automatic raise, which is right. It's the right thing to do because the cost of living goes up every year. But if you're here after year after year, at
the end of 10, 20 years, does your salary compensate for what you do in the city? Maybe that person needs to be moved to a greater responsibility so that we don't have to keep hiring.
What I see here is once you hire somebody and you say, "Listen, their salary is 62,000." No. Plus pension, plus their vacation, plus their insurance.
So, I don't mind being the bad guy. I don't mind it at all. I know one thing. All my years, the budget's kind of a pretend. If we need it, we'll just grab it. If we need to move money, we'll move
it. Who even knows? And now I think we are out of control. I think we're out of control with the number of employees. I think we're out of We have more employees and we get more complaints. I've been here 17 years with a two-year break. We get more complaints how bad
the city looks. You're correct. How could that be? How do we keep hiring? How do we keep paying? Wait a minute. We're not competitive. We have to pay more. But then if we're paying more, could we see the results of the work?
So, I have to tell you, my whole thing about this and the library, I apologize if I didn't email back. I've spoke to many of you about the library. I give personally out of my contingency to the library. I get personally, but you know,
people come to the theater maybe twice a year, maybe three times. People come to city hall because they have a complaint, maybe once a year, maybe twice a year. Maybe they want to pay their water bill. They come every three months. But the
library, people go day after day after day after day and they bring their friends. And if you go to the functions and you see 200 250 people, you recognize what what took so long to realize the bathrooms are disgusting.
What took so long? What took so long to say that we can't fix the the door that we have to have cones and people say, "How do you get in?" Look, this is my call. This is this is
my call. This is important to me because I know when you run a household, you recognize where it's important. If the washer and dryer breaks and you have four kids, you're in big trouble.
If you have a spouse, unfortunately, that has to use a wheelchair and you don't have a ramp and wide enough doors, you're in big trouble. We're we're in trouble because where the money needs to be spent, where we need to see it, where
we need as residents to feel it, it's not happening. It's not happening. So, I'm not on a soap box. I'm just telling the public how I feel and I'm going to explain to the mayor, which I respect, why I'm voting no. Correct. Thank you.
Thank you. Um um Commissioner Flormont. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to ask about the um library because this is not the you know first time that we've seen this um uh you know in the budget but yet what I'd like to know is
how are we planning to accomplish the construction this fiscal year for the uh restroom remodel this director what what is well not only from the dire I mean um yeah from I think uh is it public works and and and the director So under
we'll bring the Dr. Hernandez while he's out. Well, this is well construction construction related. Well, can I say one thing? This has been going on for a long time. I think a lot of times we put money into the library
capital improvements and we all support the library. That's that's been very clear. I think um getting to that getting to the point of actually doing the construction and everything else that's taking time but we're trying to do a full force full force effort
and really doing it and not waiting as costs have continues to go up. That's why we we want to be a little bit more aggressive and and Dr. Dr. Hernandez, this has to be explained to a lot of these residents that feel very confident that they're that that feel that we're
not doing enough, but I need you to take a leadership so you can explain to them that we're doing a good I mean a full force effort because I think a lot of times they feel that it's not being done, but it we're trying to put money to this as quickly as we can and so
please explain to them if you can. Thank you. M no because I just that one question right because it says because it says construction here and so you know um Commissioner Smith uh echoed the same sentiments I just want to hear one minute of your
time Mr. Mayor, could I just want to add even if I vote no, could I please have the shelves? I want the shelves. Even if I vote no, could we put that in the budget because I've been hearing about the shelves for 5 years. Could we have the shelves, too? Understood. But director, please. Because the thing is, we we get this a lot.
I'm actually seconding that the shelves. We we get this a lot. Seriously. We we get this a lot that we're not doing it enough. We get the emails and I'm trying to understand where the confusion is. um that we're not we're not really full for like we don't really
love the library. It seems that it comes across every year but we're trying we're putting a lot of money and resources library and you know and you see this for yourself. So can you please educate the the community? Thank you. Well, first on the bathroom,
ARPA funding for the bathroom uh was for $100,000 and it included design the design and architectural plans for it. Y um no. Yeah. All right. Cool. So, we have been
hearing the the complaints. Oh, sorry, Gregory Christian Public Works. So, we have been hearing the the complaints and we went on an aggressive move to get that um that project designed. Um we're working with a company that completed
the design. So, we're 100% completed. Uh we're going through the permitting process and public works as well as the building department. We're putting our resources together and the library department to make sure that we get that done as quick as possible. So that's
where we are and now moving into the new fiscal year. We are trying to get the funds to get the construction done and that has been budgeted for and um city manager's office made it clear that no matter what we're going ahead with that
particular project. Um along the way with construction there may be adjustments that will be made but we're going ahead with that project. Director Hernandez. And I want to say um like Gregory said, we have moved ahead. Today I paid for
the Miami Dade permit. That means we already have our building permit for the city. And today I paid for the county permit. So that is in process. Um we have chosen finishes. Uh we have done uh
the leg work. Um I I think the concern was uh the bottom line because on se the beginning of September, we received in writing because before it had only been verbal, uh a higher cost for the building.
That being said, the city manager's office is uh willing to support that item. Yes. I would say because of you choosing to support um the building grant that we're going for, the larger amount in
writing would be better because that may mean that if we do get the building grant from the state, then they will match what we're saying it cost. So that's a recommendation based on the bottom line which would allow us to do more
and that and what is that number? Um, well, go ahead because that's 500,000. So, that's why we're trying to get a matching fund. So, so I want, like I said, there's a lot of confusion. Like I said, we've heard a lot of residents in regards to library saying that we're not fully doing the best we can in funding
the library. Director Hernandez, do you I mean, if what is your assess? Because you heard the you I mean, these individuals volunteer their time, their precious time, their their um their resources, but it seems that it's this disconnect that we're not doing enough. Okay.
Um so yes, what happened uh is that our budget was cut for books and um programs and things like that which are things that help us serve the community. However, the city manager's office is
going to work with us to put those funds back and have the reductions from another location. Yeah. it um to the point, the library um obviously is special to this commission. I've been here seven years. I've heard about I've heard it not in my capacity
as interim, but just over the seven years. Um so there were some reductions made to a lot of departments because obviously we see the the gap that we're filling. Um the library had some adjustments uh made um and working with uh the um the department head um to uh
realign those those adjustments but overall the libraries budget has increased. There's not a when I say cut we're talking about cuts of of an increased library budget. So um we're we're arranging with the uh with the uh
with the dana to shift those dollars where uh where they need to be. Commissioner. Yeah. So, uh, thank you. Uh, so that 500,000 number, you're working right now to assure that we get to that number. Is that what you're saying? 50 is done. The the four the the number we need, um,
with the updated quote that was uh, received earlier this month is 450. I think the grant was up to 500,000. The grant is over 500. So, we if we show something like that. So, so we would we would be uh coming back or asking whatever if if you're going to make a motion today to increase that line item
by 100 100,000. Um yeah, I I I I think that's something that we as a commission need to um need to iterate. Um no, I I when we vote, we can actually certain amendments that that So, aside from that, uh thank you so much. Um aside from that, I wanted if you can
uh for um you know, for the for the public, just go over this uh county uh wastewater pass through. um if you can elaborate on that as well. So the the county passed an increase to their um wastewater uh let me get it
here. So the county's waste water which um which our uh whoever's on sewer that goes through the county from us. So they they increased through through the county um an increase in their wastewater by 19%. Um so that's the
county um increasing their their rate which our sewer whoever is on sewer that passes through and goes through the county. Um so having said that that's uh that's a county rate uh the county's uh sewer system that uh we pass the water through. Um so that increase um is a
county increase um that uh will uh gets passed through to the residents. Okay. Um and um I know that I know that uh Commissioner Turnoff had brought up the chamber. So I also echo that as well and support that. And um uh so that's it
for now. Thank you, Commissioner Smuckler. All right. Thank you. Um, I I want to apologize for not responding to the emails for the library. I was away, then I came back for Roshashana. I cleaned, I
cooked, I cleaned, I went away, and then I vegetated for two days. And I just came back to work um today after almost being gone for two weeks, having closed my office for almost two weeks. So, my apologies for not getting back to those emails. Um, the library has always been
important to me. Um, I remember um I was in like I think it was in elementary school and uh I was on the and maybe I've said this story before. I was I I was like I would volunteer at the library and my father had a clothing
factory and I and I made him poor guy. I think about what I made him do. Um he came home really late. He he made us all like banners. Um he he had a a clothing factory. He made all the the the children volunteers and we had a a thing that said library and it was really cute
and we were so proud of it. And I always took my kids to the library on on Saturday in the summers. We we always participated in the the reading programs. We always got free tickets to the Marlins games uh because of it.
Always. In fact, my my granddaughter the baby shower for my granddaughter was like library themed. We and every person who was invited um was asked to bring a book as well. So library has always been important. Re uh reading has always been
been important to to my family and um this thing with the bathrooms like it's been so many years but like we have the same problem with Washington Park. How many years ago was that promised? 20 years ago. Okay. The bathrooms the bathrooms are not going to
take 20 years. I I that I think I promise. Um but I I don't know if just to I I just I always respond with the answer government is slow and and it shouldn't be like that. And it's not just our city. It's it's like that in
everywhere. And the bathrooms down here, that was the one of the very first things I voted on was the bathrooms down here. And it that was seven years ago. And now it finally got built. So, um, let let's just please let's let's do these bathrooms. There they're there are
little kids here in going to this bathrooms as well. We need we need safety. We need security. And we need them to be ADA as as well. So, I I'm always everything for the bathrooms. And how much are those shelvings? I I wrote it down here. 35
$35,000. Yeah. Okay. So I I I added it in the my notes and I was going to bring it up when you all um but thank you. Okay. All right. So if I guess we have I would have to make a motion.
Okay. Okay. All right. Let me write that down. Okay. So um All right. So I I just want to and I also not only do I give to the library my contingency account but I also been giving for the
last year or the year before to the friends of the library as well. Um the someone had mentioned that there's a few people making salaries higher than 250,000. I think it's just two in total.
One or two? Uh, not me. Okay. I don't know that there's anybody. I don't know that there's anybody. Uh, so, right. 50,000. Okay. So, it's one person. It's
not several. Okay. So, one person is making 200,000. One person is making about 200,000 and not several are making more than 200,000. So, another thing that I wanted to point out that I know there's always that rumor that we want
to outsource the library and we want to outsource the theater, but that has never come up. It's it might from up here. It came from up here when before we were here. Maybe maybe did I say it? No. Did Commissioner Smith say it? No. Did
Commissioner Flormont say it? No. Did Mayor Joseph say it? No. Did Vice Mayor Jean say it? No. Did um Commissioner Sternoff say it? No. So, six people, and I'm sure Commissioner Sue didn't say it as well. So, these seven people have not
said it. So, if there was a previous commission that said it, oh well, they're not here. So, too bad. So sad. Um, another thing that I wanted. Okay, so we got the shelving.
Okay. So, I'm I'm That's it for now. No, I said no one up here has ever been up here and said none of the seven of us. Maybe a previous commission said it, but
we have not said it. Do I think do and I will be very clear. Do I think that that maybe outsourcing the the theater might work out? Maybe it will, maybe it won't.
But I'm not saying that it is. No, I want to be clear because I' I did have that conversation with you that I don't think it's the worst idea in the world. But but but I'm not saying that I'm doing it, but No, no, no. I I
No, no, no. But I want you to be clear please clarify. I did have this conversation with him and I do want to clarify it because he's going to come back and say that I said it. So um but but I'm not saying that it's going to happen
and I'm not saying that seven people are going to agree on it and I'm not saying we're going to talk about it today or tomorrow and I'm not saying we're going to talk about it in my next year. So I'm not bringing it up. Okay. Okay. You know, cuz um seriously, like
sometimes you're just so full of it. I I really don't care. I'm I'm just sick and tired of his BS. No, it's it's I I He's accusing me of not taking his calls and stuff. I'm just really sick and I'm just sick and tired of him. I'm just sick and tired of
Can we get back to the budget meeting, please? He's full of it. Okay. So, anyhow, so back to the budget meeting. I am not outsourcing the library and I am not outsourcing the theater. Thank you.
Commissioner Smuckler, Commissioner Jean, thank you so much. Um I don't know if I'm going to be able to support this budget either. Um I have a couple questions. What What was the carryover from Was there a carryover from this year to this ne upcoming year? What was
that number? our carryover amount 7 million. Okay. So even with the carryover amount, we still are tapping into unassigned. Correct. Okay. So when we get to the economic
development division, um I'm looking at the housing services. I know a lot of cities who are entitlement cities usually have federal funding, state funding because of that entitlement. um designation. How are we funding? What
kind of programs are we going to have under these particular the housing social services? I thought when the economic development division was going to be formed, it was going to be a little conservative and we were going to grow it. But when you when
you talk about housing, how how do we plan to implement those without having certain grants? Um, there is a line item for a $250,000 home rehab to continue. That would fall under the housing. So, we're going to have full-time folks
handling $250,000. I mean, I'll continue my questions. The the h the almost a million dollars to create a new bud a new department. I'm I'm all things economic development, right? But I think that
we need more clarity here to to have a division that's going to have eight or nine employees. I think my I know for the BTR is that being switched over from community development? I actually wanted to state that on the record. Um business tax is identified as
423,000 um and economic development is listed as 934. That would be an error because the 423 is coming from community development to economic development. So what so it's more closer to a 500,000 in this
fiscal year. So that need that's a huge um oversight, right? Yeah. Instead of it costing because it's move it's being No, I'm understanding that. But what I'm saying is so what's what's economic development's budget and what's this new
develop this new department's budget overall. If you give me a moment I can get that number for you. Okay. So ne nevertheless ex again with the housing how do we justify these two
full-time roles with uh a quarter million to you know to spread over the whole city. How do we justify these roles with with the funding that we have in place in our general fund for these programs?
In addition to home rehab, there's also financial literacy and workforce training programs that would fall on that side. What are the line items for those? I'm not sure if that was provided to you, but it was presented to finance. But I mean, when we're when we're approving an entire new division, I
think it's fair for us to justify what kind of programs we're hoping to implement and what the funding sources are for those programs. So, if we're going to have a housing program and you have only a quarter a quarter million to
dispense across all of our residents, how how is all these full-time positions justifying that? Okay. So, what was presented to finance was um several programs like I mentioned uh for workforce training. I didn't do
the math. I apologize, but I'm going to read it off of the update that finance provided. And I'm still also waiting for um economic development and the the total budget for them and the total budget for the our development
our community redevelopment um division. What was the last part? I'm sorry. Community community development division. Okay. So what was proposed
um are quarterly business lunchons which would continue at 10,000 for the year, workforce training program at 25,000. Um that would be opportunities for our residents to engage in some sort of
technical um field or uh program. Uh there's a literacy uh sorry financial literacy and homeowners program. um that would be implemented at $10,000. There's a s summer job fair at 7500.
The Miami Dade Beacon Council um renewal which is something you championed at 42,000. Um there was also a marketing/business development series that would be initiated at 15,000. Um, there are some
minuscule items such as travel for conferences and summits that have been approved previously. Um, as well as printing, binding, postage, etc. And you mentioned the $250,000 for home rehab.
Where do we find that? This was provided to me from finance. I'm not sure what document you received, but was that provided to us to to the commission itself? That would be a question for finance. Sorry, I'm not provided.
So, what was the two totals for those two departments? Um, economic development and community redevelopment. I'm doing the math right now. All right. So, I just put that that concern on the record that I'm not
voting yes for this budget, but in economic development, we have so many of these new roles that you have all these full-time positions, but it's not justified. In my mind, it's not justified. So, I just wanted to put that on the record. Um, the second thing is
the water rate information. How are we notifying the residents about um the increase the 19% increase in the county side and how it'll uh impact their bill? Well, that's a county um, right? But it's going to
Yeah, when we get the the the counties, we're going to I mean, we're going to we're going to blast. We're going to start uh disseminating that information. I know their uh budget was just passed last last week, but we're going to get that information out um quickly to uh to um as many people as we can through our
channels. Right. So, that would be my ask is that we find a way to disseminate that information to the residents um even though it's not our our you know, our decision per se that we that they're aware of what's happening. Absolutely. We're going to inform them.
Right. And then and then in comparison to the unassigned fund balances, you know, the reserve is going down by four 4.5 million. You know, that's that's a a a hard pause for me and that's why I'm voting no because there's areas that I
haven't had a chance to really dissect and I've asked for more time or more um one-on-one that never came. But again, are we really being responsible in what we're doing with the amount of employees
programs that we're adding on? A lot of these programs are duplicated. the library has there. There could have been more ways to condense this so that it's more of a collective other than adding more roles to the the role where where
um from a global perspective, we're going to have a lot of things coming down the pipeline that we might have to make more cuts in the year to come. Right. So, I'm just putting that on the record and let's see how the rest of this night goes. So, if you go because I know your thoughts, Jay, because I haven't Yeah.
and then we can go to the amendments. Um so for me uh thank you uh everyone uh look uh typically when you look at these types of budgets and because I want to give everybody a a more macro approach is that the total amount of
reserves that we had prior to the fact that we're going to the surplus reserve because I consider it to be that because the unrestricted reserve that we the restricted reserve that we have is about 17 17.6 6 I believe or whatever that amount is around that that ballpark that money
is typically for on average other municipalities around 10%. We're at 20% even though we're going into the uh unrestricted reserve. So sometimes people get this confused that we're dipping into this um fund that normally that um you don't dip into. But we've
been because of what happened last year and the years prior, we've been collecting more and more and more and putting it into that fund without doing capital improvements and certain projects being fallen to the wayside like beautifification, road improvements. A lot of that's been not happening. People are not seeing the
work get done. This budget is a little bit more aggressive. So, we're trying to get a lot of stuff done, a lot of these projects from the bathroom. The CIP, a good chunk of that is going to our police people, I mean, if you look at it, the CIP is mostly police. And, you know, at the very least, the the it's
not my I'm going to be very careful because last time I said that's my the most important program. It's one of the most important programs cuz I love parks as always and I don't want to have to buy pizza like to make the mistake like last time. So, I'm not going to do that. That being said, um you know, security
is very important. Without security, you can't really enjoy this city. So, CIP, if you look at the budget, a lot of it is police. It's police and that's um that's certain improvements we have to do and there's beautifification, but the majority of his police and we need to, you know, we we're not we don't have the
staffing needed. Uh and we're and we're trying to like change the course and we're giving them as much possible. And I talk to the chief all the time said, "Do you have everything you need? Cuz I want to give you everything you need." and and he can speak to that because I've had that conversation with him a lot and his deputy because I want police to be fully funded. Now, in regards to
our beautifification, that's something that we need we need to do a better job. I know that um we have to hire additional people because at the end of the day, like costs have gone up and and re and from just not from the manpower, but just cost of goods. And I'm I'm glad that we're being more very aggressive
now because like we don't know what's going to happen a year from now. I want to get these projects off our table because a lot of these things have been going on for years and years and years and I want to the longer we wait the more it's going to cost more. So that's why I want to see this move forward and actually get something done. Uh and also
to do it in our come our 100year centennial because I want to have these I want to be able to show to the community because we're going to have a lot of eyes on us cuz we're going to be celebrating that we're actually putting you know uh um rubber to the ground and really making good faith effort. So I'm supportive of this budget. Uh nothing's
perfect. You know, we you know, I wish we could give uh we can do a lot more, but I don't want to raise taxes. Nobody wants to raise taxes. Nobody on this commission wants to raise taxes and and this budget is cognizant of that fact. And so, at the end of the day, it's like, you know, it's a catch 22. There
has to be a balancing act and this is the best balance given the circumstances that I feel we can get. Now, I understand there's certain amendments and I'm looking forward to those amendments or what have you and that's part of that role. So, um, Commissioner, um, Chernov.
All right. Um, first of all, thank you Tariq, thank you Andy, thank you Marlene, thank you everybody who did go to their department and sharpen the pencil and try to get the numbers down and try to work with it better. I mean everybody did put a lot of effort into
it and that but in that effort I want to say that these last changes should have been brought to us first. So we should have seen it before tonight or before we looked at the email yesterday or something like that. some of us were on
Jewish holiday and didn't look at the, you know, our emails and so on and so forth and that maybe then it would be easier and we wouldn't be criticizing and so on and so forth. And remember at the beginning of the whole thing I told you that I wanted to reduce not to be
status quo. But every time we did reduce when I was on the commission before um we do a quarter of a percent and it would be nothing. Nobody would nobody would realize it because the county would increase and then we wouldn't see anything. So, it's a catch 22 when we do it, but we're we're getting closer to
the cap, which is 10, and we have a state legislature who's on top of us saying they're going to take the whole thing away. So, we've got to be very careful and be be very frugal and try to be more frugal. And I think that that with the CFO position, we've been doing
that and we're holding people to task and we're coming up with better ways to save and really what our picture is and I appreciate that cuz um you know I didn't understand last week some of the numbers and I sat down with Tariq and Tariq,
you know, really explained it to me. So, I do appreciate that. And let's move forward. And I do as amendment. Yeah. As amended, I would put the $15,000 back to the Chamber of Commerce. Do I have a second on that? Okay. So, we're going to vote on amending it.
Um, I'd like to add but do we add an amendment each one? Because I want to add I want to see this before we do that. I know Commissioner Smuckler regarding the shelves. I was going to do the shelves amended regarding this. Go ahead. Go ahead. What? just I make amendment to
you adjust you have to adjust somewhere else so it still stays in balance. No, no, that's what I was going to ask. Where's the money coming from? For the shelves and it comes to $50,000. So where's that coming from? And also for the chamber. Well, chamber's 15 and the
but can we get to to the what we're trying to men and then work on I'm still waiting for answers to the the question that I asked as well. No, I understand. But like this so we can so we Okay, we're adding the shelves and additional $15,000. Right. So, no, not 50. 15.
No, 15 15. I'm sorry. So, um I have Do I have a motion? I have a second. Second. All right. We're going to vote on ad on amending the Hold on, Mr. Mayor. Yes. Because my understanding was it wasn't it was the uh taking it from 350 to 450.
Was that not the for No, that's for the bathroom only. It doesn't include the shelves. Right. So, we're adding the shelves. That's why we're we're include in inclusive of the shelves, right? I just wanted to make sure that's also part of this motion. Yes. Is that what you're saying, Commissioner? No, but we can add that for sure. I
mean, I thought he already changed that in this what we're he changed it. Yeah. To 450, right? No, no, no. We We haven't changed it yet. We would we would we were going to Okay. So we want to add that to we want to add I suggested
35 for the shelves right and then 15 for the chamber I think the total is 150 150 additional but then the attorney saying you have to tell us where we're going to No no we we have to and then have that regard so so let's just how can we vote on something if we don't know where the money is coming from
no but we're adding we're amend first we're we're seeing if we can vote on the amended and then have a discussion on the funding aspect so like you should amend it first and then amend it. Well, I have to give them presentation. Let me just go go back to the city
attorney. Maybe you can vote right now to give us the direction and we can make this amendment and come back to you in November um for the budget amendment that I mean I think that's the cleanest possibly the cleanest way to do it. Um Joe, Mr. Attorney,
certainly privileged to amend your budget throughout the year following the processes to amend the budget. If you do anything, remember the staff does not have the authority to change the budget. The staff can propose the budget to you,
but you've already passed a budget on first reading. Right? That is your document. The staff has been working and they can present to you, you could do this or you could do that, but only you can change what you've done on first reading. And you
cannot do something that puts the budget not in balance. So if you deduct something over here or if you want to increase over there somewhere that has to balance out. You more money for one
thing means either less money for something else or you do have the privilege to adjust what your expected revenues are. Keep in mind those expectations are only estimates too. If you have some reason to be more
optimistic about a source of revenue funding, you can increase that estimate. But in adopting your budget, it has to be in balance. And when you hit the end of the year, you must still be in balance. There's no deficit spending in
the state. No, no. Okay. So just to be clear, just so I can be on the same I want to I just need to know what the to what the total amount that we that's in contingent, right? So it's the shelves the shelves and the increase
$100,000 more for the So how much is that in total? Like shelves are 35,000 for the chamber and another 100 is 150,000. 150 or 155 150 100 135 and 15
155 right or 150 I'm sorry 150 150 lawyer I'm a mathematician so that being said so that's what we're we're we're all second I have a motion and a second all in favor say I I any oppose okay now as the budget as amended
move to approve do I have a second not yet I have my concerns that I need answers to I would like to ask a question if I could. Okay, I'll second that. But like we'll go into discussion. So can you answer those? Uh one answer comm um answer those questions.
Motion to second based on those development. Okay, go ahead. 100K is coming from the CRA. Um 450 would be used for programming and 286 would be used for pro um salaries. I
apologize. Real quick, what was the comparison between the economic development and the planning department? Those the two overall budgets. I don't know if cuz you said it was not it was not 900,000, right? It was below that.
Yes. 450. 450 for um programming and 286 for salaries. Thank you. I have one more quick question. Do we have a CIP manager currently or no? No. Are we interviewing?
We're in the process of interviewing. We're we're actually interviewing right now. That's still in the budget. And then the 1.3 million um for the beautifification. Why were we moving it from why why are we adding it to general fund?
Which 1.3 can I? Well, just Yeah, hang on. Let the managers So, was moving uh was moving those employees from the storm water, which was in a negative, uh into the general fund. The finance uh department uh
thought that would be a smarter move. Um At the moment they added three to the freed crew. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, Commissioner Smith had the motion just Yes. So the amendment we passed.
Yeah. Before we haven't gone, we haven't moved forward. Commissioner Smith, but go on. We amended the the budget or to have an increase of those three items by $150,000. 000. March.
From my understanding, we're going to direct the city manager to um I was going to ask you as part of that, there's 120,000 put away for annexation and there's a moratorum with the county you can't annex. So why why don't we use
that 120,000? That was addressed um in the second phase. It was it was it was deducted. It was already added. My question still, what is it that you just to add this these additional um costs which is which is about 100
contingency that's going to happen in November. No, no, no. Say contingency. That's why I'm asking. Okay. So, a question. Can I ask a question? The unrestricted the unrestricted um res unrestricted reserves, right? It's still about 4.8,
right? Correct me if I'm wrong. So can we not utilize the 150 to utilize take it from there? You can. Yes. So then that's that'll be up. You have money in the budget. The four point says it's it's unrestricted reserve. You're funding
what you're voting to do from that. Yes. Then you're in balance. To be clear though, what you can't do, you can't vote to add expenditures now and say we'll fund it in November. This budget
tonight must stay and that's why we're we're going to pull it from there. If you're if the just you should really revote and state that and correct it on the record. What you've done is you want to add the things you listed, restate them, and say
that it's coming from from the unrestricted reserve the 15,000. That's my why I rose. Okay. So, I'm going to wait for Commissioner Smith to return um to have that. But like basically that's what we're going to amend. So, Commissioner Smith,
and then you can further amend it as you move forward. If you find some other cut, some other revenue to restore reserves, you can do that. But what you pass tonight must be in balance. So, what I'll say is that what I'll do
is this. I I I'll make a motion to to to say that we'll be um funding the additional 150 from the unrestricted unrestricted reserve to list what it's for and then that that will um complement his uh commissioner um turnoff's motion which would balance uses out. Correct me if I'm wrong.
If you if the if it's even yes it's even the amount you had and you you balance it then it's in balance. So, I'll make I'll make the motion that we will balance the the amount that that was amended to the budget. State it, please.
Okay. I make a motion to um balance the requested amount or at amended amount from the No, but list what I'm saying is clear. Okay. The items are the chamber for $15,000. the shelving for
$35,000 35 and $100,000 for the bathrooms bathrooms and those that $150,000 additional please please commaz with all due
respect go on city attorney please please he doesn't know what civility is yeah, I'll get you back. Um, so so I understand what you've just said, ma'am. Yes. The motion is to add $15,000
back to the North Miami Beach Chamber. 3515 15 F I F. Yes. Yes. City attorney. $35,000 to fund shelving for
the library. The library and $100,000 to add to the funds that are budgeted for the library bathrooms. and that that total of $150,000
is to be funded from the unrest unrestricted reserves so that the budget remains in balance. Yes, that's my motion. Do I have a second? Yes. Okay. All in favor say I. I.
Any opposed? Okay. Passes. Now we're on the budget as to approve the budget as amended. There was already a motion question. I I'll second it. I'll open up for um allow you to have your point. Um commissioners, I just wanted to bring something up. I folded a lot of pages um before you
passed the budget and then adjourn. And one of the pages I folded was that you no longer can use ARPER funds. So getting back to the bathroom, the bathroom was approved with Arbor
funds I think four years ago. What I wanted to bring this up because could we not only approve it, could we not only find the money, but could we be on top of it so we're not talking about it next year again? I think that's Well, and that's what I would love%. We
do not hear it again that those bathrooms are built. But but I'm I'm telling you, it was in the ARPA funds when it was probably half the price. It was probably half the price for design. It was not for construction. It was only for design in the ARPA. Just just one
but we just heard that the design is done three and a half years later. One quick point, Mayor. I just also want to just be for clarity because there's been questions about clarity and I know the commission's desire is to be clear.
There were some proposed budget amendments that the staff has been working on. I want to be clear that you know if those are satisfactory to the commission you can adopt them but you have not that at
least that I've heard you have not voted to adopt the additional amendments that staff has worked on and recommended. No, we have we have that's part of part we've we've amend okay coaster sir I'm sorry all right you have let me say again
you passed the budget on first reading yes that is your budget that comes to this day tonight the staff was asked to find some savings and they've recommended a
number of what someone called I don't know belt tightening whatever they are they have recommended things to you, but their recommendation does not mean they're in your budget. What's in front of you is the budget you passed on first
reading. Only you on the deis can amend that budget with staff's recommendations. Unless and until you vote for those recommendations, they are not in your budget. So, just city attorney to be clear,
right? Yes. from my understanding that they we we're on second reading. They presented a budget. We have they presented their um um proposed budget tonight, right? Let me let me finish. Okay. No, sir. They did not prepare.
They the budget in front of you on the deis is what you passed on first reading. They've recommended certain things that you directed them to look for, but for their recommendations to
take effect, you have to vote to adopt it. But we we but we have a right. We will once you let us finish speaking and then we're going to vote to adopt it. You can't just not I'm not being clear. No, but city but but city ten. Okay. So, so
you have to amend the budget you passed on first reading with these recommendations. Okay. Okay. So, then you can have a functional vote. Okay. So, this just to be clear. Just to be clear. So, so hang. Okay. So, I understand what you're saying. This is what we're going to do. This what we're going to do. We have we voted on a
couple amendments um to the to we we were basing those amendments on the proposed budget. The the what? Not the the proposal they gave us. Not the budget. The proposal they gave us. Now I don't want to un like to we just did this now how do we so what would be what would be your recommendation knowing
that what we voted on currently to work this through very simple you simply all you do I'm I'm with you on that I was just going to make a suggestion the proposal Mr. Attorney, give me one second if you don't mind. We've already made our amend our amendments that came from this deis
in the past hour. Right. Right. The amendments that we need to make now are based on the new information that we've received from staff. So, if we can just have a motion to accept the recommendations from staff this evening and add that to the budget, then we can move forward and vote on the budget as
well. Yes. Okay. I make a motion. Okay. I second it. All right. All in favor say I. I. So I that was it was it was um um just to be clear that was a motion to accept the other recommendations that
the manager put forward for clarity of what you're voting on. Okay. So retake the vote I would suggest may but I want to ask a question. I just want to ask okay so and we got a no from commissioner um vice mayor um Jean and a
no from um commissioner Smith. Now, that's a motion to amend the budget on second reading to accept the other recommendations from the staff that are in addition to the ones you just adopted. Yes.
And the vote was um 44 42. Now, we're on the actual budget. Correct me if I'm wrong. We already did it. You now have the budget as amended. We have two amendments. Yes. the amendment that of the staff
recommendations and the amendment that you just voted unanimously for $150,000. Those are the two things that amend your first reading budget. Okay. So that's where we are. So I so commissioner
make a roll call on that. But I wanted to ask is this for the final thing already? Yes, this will be the final. This would be final second reading approval of the budget as amended two amendments. I just wanted an opportunity to ask a question may not necessarily be about
the budget. Okay. But there's a a narrative out there and and maybe Karen, I'm not sure if that's what you were alluding to, but there was a narrative out there that there was like 180 90,000 spent on a town hall meeting on on Junth. And if can someone
please because I think something was maybe misleading in the budget in the book about that commissioner. So that number that was given was 197,000 was for the total mayor and commission and board uh committees um events. That
was that was the totality of it all. There was a reduction from there was a reduction of $10,000 in total from those two. So yes, it that is not for two events. That is the totality of all mayor and commission and board um
events. Thank thank you for the clarification. Now we are do roll call. Can I Now we're going to do a roll call. We have a motion and I don't think Can you clarify that the clerk got motioned and seconded the previous? I motioned I and I second it. Okay. Okay.
The amended um Yes. the staff recommendation. Yes. including coming. Now we're going to vote on the full budget. Madam clerk, can you please do a roll call? You had a motion from um Commissioner Shernoff and who I second. Commissioner Fimmon,
yes. Commissioner Smith, no. Commissioner Smuckler, yes. Commissioner Shernoff, yes. Vice Mayor Jean, no. Mayor Michael Joseph, yes. Passes 42. Okay. So, now we're going the
next item is I did I didn't I know it's for adjournment, but I have a moment of personal privilege. Um I I just wanted to to let the public know there out there that um the the police department does have in their um
budget uh buoys and the ring lines um that you all had spoken about uh previously. So the ring buoys that go around the waterway that we presented that was brought here as presentation and uh and and buoys that is in the
police department's budget. Is that with or without my contingency thousand? It's in the budget not no contingency. Well well you can always add the question. Um I do have a do you have the proclamation? Yes. Okay. So I have a proclamation is a point of personal privilege for regards
to October 7th. Um, our next commission meeting is not till the 21 um 1st, but I but I I I'll leave I I spoke with um Commissioner Smuckler um through staff uh in regards to um doing our proclamation in in leading up to it. So,
Commissioner Smuckler, please. No, we're going to read it. Yeah, of course. And then we'll adjourn. Thank you. I have to tell you all the most serious. I think we they were ready for this. Of all the proclamations we've ever
given in North Miami Beach, this is probably one of the most serious and the one that I hope not just as North Miami Beach hears, Dade County hears, Florida hears, United States hears, and the world hears. This is such an
important from all of us to every ear that will listen. Whereas on October 7th, 2023, Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization by the United States Department of State, launched a
brutal and unprovoked attack on Israel, killing, injuring, and taking hostage thousands of innocent men, women, and children. And And whereas the October 7th attack marked the deadliest assault on the Jewish people since the Holocaust,
leaving families shattered, communities devastated, and a nation mourning. And whereas in the aftermath of this tragedy, Israel declared a state of war against Hamas in defense of its people, while Jewish and Israeli families around
the world, including many in North Miami Beach, faced a heartbreak of loved ones lost, missing, or still in harm's way. Whereas the city of North Miami Beach with its significant Jewish and Israeli
population stands united in condemning terrorism, anti-semitism, extremism and violence in all forms while reaffirming reaffirming Israel's right to exist in peace and security. hand.
Whereas nearly two years later, the memory of October 7th attack remains an urgent call for justice, resilience, and global solidarity against terrorism as the people of Israel continue to face threats to their safety and sovereignty.
Whereas the city of North Miami Beach honors the lives lost, prays for the safe return of those still held hostage, and affirms its unwavering support for Israel and the Jewish community both locally and aboard. Now therefore, we
the mayor and commissioner of the city of North Miami Beach, Florida, do hereby proclaim October 7, 2025 as Stand with Israel Day in the city of North Miami Beach and call upon all residents to join in remembrance of the victims of
the October 7 attack to honor the resilience of Jewish people and to commit ourselves to building a future rooted in peace, justice, and human dignity. And I want to thank Mayor Joseph for originally bringing this forward. I appreciate it. We were the one of the first ones.
Yes. The first one you can speak. And um as a proud daughter of a man that left his country of Cuba in 1948 to go fight in the Israel War of Independence. Um I I thank you all for being proud
part of this proclamation. Thank you. And I have to say I didn't have a father. My father died when I was one, but I my aunt served in that war as well. That and I just I just saved our hearts break for all those. It was on
last night's news. The man that was released as a hostage after all those over a year and he came home to find out his wife and two daughters had been killed. So I can 500 and something days he was in really
in a cave with cockroaches and rats and it it's not one individual. It's every one of us have to live peacefully together and thank you Mr. Mayor. No worries. Go ahead take a picture. Oh we are going to take a picture. I want everybody to say some more. Go ahead. Wow. Well what I want to say is this is
the time for us to really keep the nation of um Israel in our prayers. those that are still in hostage, those that are still mourning the loss of loved ones, for us to keep our hearts and prayers together, um especially across the world where it's a time of
war in so many places. So, our prayers go out to the families and we'll stand in solidarity with you. At this time for our Jewish community who is now celebrating the high holy days, it's so important that we realize
in the days of coming up of Yonipore that we keep all these soldiers um hostages and Israeli in our prayers. There is no question that it's an unjust thing and
we need to bring the hostages home and the rest of the world needs to understand that as long as those hostages are still hostages there is going to be no peace that Israel is not going to lay down the arms and they
shouldn't until those hostages are returned. God bless America. Thank you so very much. And also we're gonna be we're gonna be doing other Oh, so Commissioner Flora M sorry come on I don't want to um Mr. Mayor No, Mr. Mayor. Um just want to also
thank our um police department because we know that during this time of year um with the uh high holidays um that our police department is always front and center. So we thank you so much and we stand in solidarity with our Jewish community. Yeah.
And and one last thing, we have um we have Haitians and Jews here and um we've always Haiti and Israel have always uh stood together. So, not only did they stand together um by Haiti voted um the sighting vote in
the UN when there was an earthquake in Haiti, Israel was the first one in and last one out and now we stand together here on the deis as well. That's it. So that's it. Just uh just to close, we're going to be there's other aspects um in regards to, you know, the
remembrance. We're going to do something on our Facebook page as well. Um the lighting outside and and um recognizing this um October 7th. And like I said, we are one city. I love this city. I love this community. I know we're diverse, but I know we love each other as well. So, thank you so very much, everyone.
Let's take a picture. Thank you so very much. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? No. No. We have two announcements. Where's your microphone? Oh, yep. Here it is. There it is. If anybody don't for tomorrow night state attorney will be here right here in North Miami
Beach a representative from the state attorney I think 6:30 is that the time 6 to 7 6 to 7 6 to 9 or I think 6:30 to 8 or maybe 6:00 to 7:30 something like we're going to find out the time for you. So, if you have something that
you're questioning, if you have something that's bothering you, 5 to 7, it's from 5 to 7 tomorrow night right in the yes center. And the second thing is very important, get out your whites Saturday night centennial. You must
RSVP. You must go cuz I'm going to be out of town. You have to go to represent me. Don't forget that's going to be our first breaking exciting event to start our 100th anniversary Saturday night
right here. What time? Six. Six. Okay. They're saying six. If it's wrong, don't blame me. Okay. Wear white and RSVP. And now I make the motion tojourn. Second. All in favor say I. I think it's at 6:30, actually.
6:30. 6:30 for the whites. Yeah. 6:30. [Music] Thank you.