to the May 6th, 2025 meeting of the St. Pete Beach Finance and Budget Committee. Will stand for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have a roll call, please. Member Pollinowski here. Member English here.
Chair Samurai here. We have a quorum. I'd like to introduce Kathy English who is a new member of the Finance and Budget Review Committee representing the Passa Grillil area. Welcome. Thank you. Thank you for coming.
Are there any changes to the agenda? Anybody proposing any changes to the agenda? No. No changes to the agenda. If not, we will proceed with the agenda. Thank you,
board members. So, uh, my name is Francis Roastell. I'm your city manager and today I did want to start off by introducing our new city clerk, Renee Rose. Warm welcome. Today is her second day, so um she's in transition with our
deputy city clerk. So today we have the first of five presentations for you and you um as you most most of you know I'm relatively new to the city. I started last July and uh Devin Schmidt is now our new finance director. And so we've
gone on a journey of starting to pull together all of the assets in the city and expenses and really want to start telling the story of what does it cost to run a city not just in a a year one budget but from a 10 20 year perspective
of capital infrastructure and other needs that may exist for whatever reason. So today um you we're going to start to lay the foundation. You may get a little bit of sticker shock um because we have managed
to pull together all the costs to um essentially replace maintain and invest into our our into our capital programs is where you're going to see quite a bit of um a picture of of what um our true
costs and operations of the city assets are. So this is not a final budget. This is the beginning to start to get a sense from you all where your priorities are as we bring forward recommendations from you to the commission. This also will
probably be all of your first time going through this much this intense of a process. We we the finance commit finance um committee did ask us to engage more than last year. We had quite a bit of staff transition. So, there was
only one meeting with this committee prior to bringing um the recommended budget. So, we're hopeful that this process this year is more engaging and that um that you find it meaningful and we appreciate your time in advance. With that, I'm going to turn it over to um our finance
director. Thank you, Francis. Sorry, was just trying to figure out how to work the microphone. Um so, could I have the presentation, please? Um, and while we're pulling up that presentation, um, I'm Devon Schmidt. I'm the finance director. I've been here almost two
months now. So, um, pretty new to the city of St. Pete Beach. Happy to be here. As Francis, uh, laid the foundation for you, um, we're going to walk through these the budget and steps this year. So, we're going to start off with looking at um, a calendar and
planning for the committee. So, what our expectations are and what our hope is for the finance budget review committee. Um, we'll show you kind of staff's role, commission's role, your role as part of this process. Um, we're going to walk through some of the historical financial overview, talk about some of the reserve
analysis, um, look at the initial capital uh, improvement plan presentation, um, which Francis uh, shared that there is some absolute sticker shock on the ask, um, or the requirements that are needed. Obviously, when we bring forward this budget um
later on for commission approval um in the coming months, it'll be a balanced budget. So, um just wanted to reiterate that piece. And then what we're looking from the committee is just a committee recommendation for commission um moving forward off of this budget workshop.
We'll take them through the same budget workshop after um yall's review and um we'll just keep doing that throughout the process this year for 2026. So with that, um just wanted to kick it off with um some calendar scope and
planning for the finance budget committee since this is our first uh meeting together. And so um I like to just lay the foundation about um the budget and um it's more than just a financial document. It's one of the most important things that the commission
does approve every year because it's uh defining and setting our spending limits. Um, it's essential for us to be able to perform the services that the community expects. It's showing what our capital projects are for this year and the years forward. Um, it's reflective um or it should be reflective of the
commission's goals and the community priorities. Um, it's really a storytelling and a and a one-year plan of what the city intends to accomplish with program services and capital projects. Um, and it's the foundation. um you know if we don't have the funding
for a project or service um it it's not going to carry forward. So it's really the starting point in planning for implementation for any year that we're looking at that process. So with that um this is the changes that um we were talking about. So staff has initiated
the budget process. Um we're at the stage for this first budget workshop and we'll do this five times as Francis said. Um so we'll bring forward what staff has put forward and then the finance budget review committee has the opportunity to review it and can provide
a recommendation um to the commission from this committee. Uh the commission will re receive the budget workshop format in a very similar fashion, but with that they will also have your recommendation um as a committee and then um anything that the commission
provides for recommended changes or that this group provides for recommend changes and staff will implement and and uh bring those recommendations. And so we'll do that through each one of those workshops until we get to that final commission approval later in September.
So, I don't want your eyes to glaze over too much with what our staff calendar planning is, but I think it's important for the commission and the community to understand that the budget process um requires the department heads input for
operating capital and personnel. Um they're the ones that are responsible for carrying out the operations of each department, each department, each capital project. And so, um, you can see throughout here that as, uh, staff has different deadlines and completion dates, then that's really what triggers
us to bring back more information to this budget review committee and then onto the commission. So, I won't spend too much time on this slide, but you can see kind of our end goal there is when we're submitting this um up to uh the trim for final after the final approval
in September. So, what we're hoping to accomplish here is just a reflection and what we're hoping to model this finance budget review committee um based on the information and feedback that we got from the commission. Um so, the
commission agreed, you know, that the purpose of this team is to provide recommendations to the city commission on financial budget matters um in accordance with the city charter. um that the committee's responsibility is carried out through budget workshops and reviews and that uh we have that
advisory role offering recommendations um without that regulatory or policy oversight. So our objective is to by having all of these different workshops that we're ensuring that the budget process is transparent, efficient, and aligned with community priorities. then
this gives opportunities for the public um to have this as an avenue for um hearing the presentation on the budget but then also at the commission meetings as well. So just in laying those additional areas of opportunities for
community engagement in the budget process. So um this is the calendar that I believe Jenny uh sent over out to this team. Um so we're here today looking at the um budget workshop number one with a focus on the historical financial
overview reserve analysis and the initial capital improvement plan. At the next meeting um we'll bring back an updated capital improvement plan and position position listing and benefits. So what positions are we going to be asking for in the 26 budget process?
What is our benefit projections and what are the costs associated with that? and then an updated capital improvement plan um based on anything any new information that we have or any of the areas where we're looking to balance a budget. After that in July, you'll receive a
preliminary budget. Um so that will have the operating the capital, all the positions um and all of those pieces and parts together. And then um later on we'll go into the ad valorum tax analysis and the preliminary budget book
with any summary of changes that have occurred. And then finally we'll have the tenative budget book and any summary of changes from the previous version. So um again we're going to take this piece by piece as we're working through the budget this year and so appreciate the
opportunity. So, I won't spend too much time on this because it's the same information that you just saw, but after each one of these, um, the commission will then have the ability to, um, go through the same content that we did, but with that, they'll have your recommendation as part
of that. So jumping into our historical um financial overview, I did want to lead with just some challenges um that make this year and this budget process a bit unprecedented. Um we are obviously
experiencing hurricane impacts related to property tax revenues and our parking revenues. So, um, from October to December, the parking, um, participation or that traffic that we would typically expect was less. Um, so therefore,
that's going to reduce those revenues. As it relates to the property tax, um, the unknowns around, um, any vacant homesteads, um, those folks would not be, uh, contributing that property tax. So, therefore, that creates an unknown
for us at this point. Um we experienced um a lot of damage from the storms where the city um paid for capital projects um and for recovery. And the unknown that we have currently is when we'll receive some of those FEMA reimbursements. To
date, we've received $3.8 million. And that was related to um the initial response to that. But beyond some of those areas and some of those projects that we would expect to receive reimbursement for, sometimes those can
lag 5 to seven years um for example. And then the tariff impacts, this is something that um our team has been looking at. So just understanding, you know, if we have vehicles or equipment that we need to purchase, what are the impacts going to be there? if we have uh
capital projects that include steel or concrete or things of that nature, how are those impacts going to create an additional cost? And then the general fund subsidies um to the enterprise fund. So this this particular one we'll
take a deeper dive into later in the presentation, but just wanted this group to understand that the general fund subsidizing those enterprise funds, which I'll explain what those are um in a few slides, but that's not in line with best practices. Those enterprise
funds, wastewater, sewer, storm water, should be able to operate like a business where they have the funding that they need. We're getting the correct fees that we need. um in order to sustain those. So um that'll be something that you'll see throughout this
presentation. So started with the bad news and now the good news is that um we do have some long-term considerations and some strategic um plans as we move forward. So um first of all is we're undergoing a fee and impact study for
our enterprise fund revenues. Um, so that's for us to be able to understand um, what those fees and those impacts should be. Um, we need to get to a point as a city where we have good 10-year financial forecast. So that's looking at operating personnel, the capital
projects, and what is that long-term plan um, for the city from a financial standpoint. Um, we are going to be looking um, to implement reserve policies. um our funds currently do not have a reserve policy where it would say
we need to hold aside this certain amount for emergencies or we can hold aside these other amounts for um capital projects as they come down the line. So that's another piece that um we'll be looking at. We're also working on just doing implementation of best budget
practices by the government finance officers association. Um, so you'll see in this budget process where we're looking to have strategic plan alignment with each of the funds that are being put forward. What that does is it's able
for us to showcase back to the community and the commission that we understand what your priorities are and here's how those are being funded. So that's that's one example. Um, and we will be getting our budget into a place where we could submit that to the government finance officers association for their annual
distinguished budget award. So currently we're not there today but that is where we're headed. Um revenue diversification. So there's certain revenues and we'll take a deeper dive into this in the next slides but there's uh revenues that we have a lever we can
pull at the local level and then we have revenues that are controlled at the county or the state level. And so with that um it creates um opportunities where we could say we're going to go out for grant funding for a specific project or what do our fees look like? in those
enterprise funds versus our advalorum taxes where that's at a higher level of control. So, um just wanted to kind of share some of those strategic long-term considerations as we're building out the budget and as um we're working through
those 10-year financial forecasts. So this um revenue slide or this pie chart is a breakdown of the advalorum taxes uh that Penelis County provides to the city of St. Pete Beach. Um so you can see that 38% of that is from single
family homes, 24% is from condominiums and then 13% is collected by the hotels motel. Um what we don't have the data on yet and which we will be bringing back at a future presentation is how many of the single family homes or the
condominiums are homesteaded versus not homestead. So we'll bring that forward um for this uh group to see as well. But since this is the largest bucket of funding that we have in the general fund just wanted this uh committee to be able to understand how that revenue breaks
down. So this is a listing of all of our revenues in the general fund over $100,000. So you can see there that that ad valorum tax is um the largest largest bucket of funding that the city of St. Pete Beach receives. Um that column
that's listed as 2025 is what we have collected to date. So you can see um our intention and what we were budgeting. We're uh short on that currently. Um so that's where we're saying we have some unknowns as it's related to uh the hurricane impacts. The
parking facilities um is another area where we're showing um a a down um from what we expected to collect. And then some of those other ones like the county EMS reimbursement. Um that particular one we expect to receive full
reimbursement for. That's um for our EMS that the city of St. Pete beat provides and the county covers the cost of that. Um some of these other areas um you can see um like that half cent sales tax. That's not an area that the city of St. Pete Beach could say, "Hey, we're going
to go out for a sales tax," for example. Um that's controlled at at the higher uh state and county level. So, um as we're walking through some of these areas, I just thought it was important to kind of share um some historical um revenues that are some of the bigger fundings
that we receive in the general fund. some additional options for um opportunities for revenue diversification. So we do um there is an opportunity based on the ballot language and how the bed tax is collected by
Penllis County um that we could receive some of that for beach maintenance. Um I talked about the fee and impact studies other grant opportunities. So, um, looking to see if we have a project that, uh, would be considered shovel ready and that we could submit up to the
state or the federal government for grant opportunities and then other fees when we're thinking about areas such as, um, our recreation services and things of that nature. So, there are some opportunities for um, additional revenue divers diversification. Um, but just
wanted to have that as a as a slide for you guys to see. So earlier I was I mentioned that um the general fund subsidizing the proprietary funds also known as enterprise funds or utility funds. Um that is certainly not
a best practice as those should be self- sustaining. They should operate like a business. And so to date um in St. Pete Beach we have wastewater, reclaimed water, storm water and multimodal. All of those are currently having a subsidy from the general fund um to cover
operations and capital projects within those funds. So the fee study and the impact study would provide us analysis to understand are we charging enough for operations? What does that capital picture look like? Um and what
opportunities do we have there? So um just wanted this group to understand um that component. So, as we're diving into the general fund, um you can see here, um this is just a year-over-year actual. So, on
that top section, we have our revenue, our expenditure, and then the net. Um you can see what we have historically budgeted compared to the actuals. Um with the actuals, you can also see that that net of the revenues we receive
compared to what we spend. um we are retaining funding and we are building a fund balance within the general fund. So that's a positive um piece there and showing a healthy picture for our general fund year-over-year as we look at wastewater.
So um just so everybody understands kind of the operations that happens within wastewater. So that is where we're able to maintain any of our city-owned wastewater collection systems um which consists of our 2.8 8 mi of forest mane,
41.5 miles of gravity lines, manholes, pump stations, all of those things that um make the water um run through the city. So here you can see on our planned expenditures for our revenue for 2023 on
our budget um you can see that we uh planned to have a net of 897,000. what actually occurred was an increase to the fund balance of 194,000. And then the same thing as
you're looking at the 2024 budget, um that large expenditure amount would be capital projects that were put forward as part of the budget process. Um where we ended up, we did end up putting in 1.874 million. those capital projects
still need to occur and um we would expect to see those as part of the 25 budget. Um I think it's important to note too that as we're moving through this um you'll see some areas where our actuals and our budgets um seem to be uh
very off from each other. And so that'll be a goal that we're working through as a finance department and as a city is how do we how do we bridge that where our actuals are a lot more in line with what we plan for in our budget process. Did you want questions after the presentation or let let's just do them
through cuz you said that we uh had to put in $1.8 million but as this looks like it's reading 9.2 was in revenues 7.3 is in expenses. That means that we had a surplus. Yes. Correct. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Correct. But what I what we were planning was to um have a deficit of 1.6 or 5.6. Excuse me. Yeah. Please I'm sorry. I should have led with that. Please stop me and ask questions. It'll be more engaging that way. Okay. So, reclaimed water. So, this
uh fund is set aside to operate, repair, and maintain the city's reclaimed water system. Um, this is with a contract that we have with Penllis County Utilities. Um, so we service approximately, uh, two 2,900 customers, uh, 2.8 millions of
gallons of water per day. Um, and so you can see here when we're looking at the financial picture, um, that our planned budget was to have a net of $900,000 for 2023. In reality, we had a net of
$414,000. Um, so in 2024, a similar picture where we were planning to um, have a net or deficit in our budget and in reality it was 216,000. So again, with these enterprise funds, we should be able to have the revenues
that we're collecting and the expenditures offsetting each other running much more like a business enterprise fund would um and storm water. So this fund is set aside to operate, repair, maintain the storm system um for our drain and our
inlets, our manholes, um our conveyance system. Again here um you can see that in 2023 um in in actuality for both the revenue and the expenditures um
we had a positive net increase to that fund balance um in 2024. The budget was planned to go into the negative 432,000 and the actuals around uh 395,000 was what actually occurred. So,
um, again, as as we're moving forward as a city and as a finance department, you'll see us getting those budgetary numbers or what we had planned for and the actuals a lot closer. So, looking at the revenues on this, just strictly revenues, we're looking at 4.69
uh million and we've only received revenues of 1.3. Um just for forward thought why why is there such a deficit in budget budget versus actual in the revenues? So without having that information
directly in front of me my sense is that um there was a transfer or an offset from the general fund that probably didn't occur because it wasn't needed. Um but I can certainly follow up with an answer on that because that's a great question.
So in our building fund um so this has everything that contributes uh for all of our building codes and our city ordinances. Um again you can see in 2023 um that we are bringing in enough revenue to sustain the expenditures that
we have in 2024 uh we had a planned um a planned deficit of 240,000. In reality we retained $2.2 2 million in revenues, 1.2 in expenditures, and we
put back 984,000 of the fund balance. So, our fleet fund, um, this is just a a fund that's really has an accounting mechanism behind it by which all of our governmental funds make contribution for any planned future vehicle replacements. Um so you can see
here in 23 and in 24 um that the planned if we were planning on going into the net for these expenditures um that there would have been a fund balance from prior year contributions from the general fund departments for that. So, the resiliency fund. So, this was
created in 2023 with the intention to help position the city for um long-term infrastructure improvements related to sea level rises. So, this includes 50% of the fiscal year's 2023 estimated increase in property tax growth um as a
transfer from the general fund. Um and so each year and thereafter um the plan would was to have that additional estimated increase of property tax growth um come into this fund. Um you can see in 2024 there wasn't a planned
uh revenue into the fund. Um and you can see what the result was as far as expenditures and and budgets there. I hope you can see the 2023 CIP. I apologize for that being small. Um what
we're looking at here, um and for the committee to understand is that this has uh the penny for penelis. So the penny for penelis is what the city receives to pay for these capital um projects. And these are anything um from seaw wall
maintenance to playgrounds to uh fire station parking improvements, IT improvements, any resiliency projects. Um so I just wanted to show um what the budget and actual was and what we were able to accomplish and complete in 2023.
Um that total bottom line there, you can see that we had expected to spend $22 million. Um in reality we completed around 4.8 million in projects. So similar picture for 2024. Again that penny for penelis is the
primary revenue source along with any other grants receivables um or a transfer from the general fund if needed. Um again you can see a similar picture here where we had planned to complete $25 million in capital projects
and in reality we are at 7.1. So the multimotal fund um this fund is set aside for our impact fees um that they're intended to recover the cost of servicing new development. Um so you can see here that our revenues um in 2023
and 2024 um are budgeted to be very similar. Um you can see on an actual basis though that we have some room for improvement on how we're budgeting for those collections and what the expenditures are compared to um what we're bringing
in. Okay. Any any other additional questions before I jump into the next section? uh the bed tax. We don't get anything from the bed tax. Is that correct? That's correct. All right. And there's a possibility we could get something from the bed tax. That is what they're
discussing at the state level right now. Just to be clear, the bed tax doesn't come directly to us, but on average over the last 10 years, the county has contributed about $1.2 million annually to do the beach reourishment. Have we um set up anybody for grant
looking at grant opportunities? The history of the city uh has been bouncing back and forth from someone that had that official responsibility to no official responsibility. Do we
plan on effectively having someone responsible for grants? We actually have a management analyst now in public services that one of her primary responsibilities is grant. Okay. Seeking an applications. The commission also authorized us recently to extend
our contract with our state lobbyist and to engage in a new contract services with a federal lobbyist for two years. So those teams now are collaborating with the city team to make sure that we're looking for every grant opportunity we can and if needed for
grant writing assistance we we could contract out that service for a more complicated grant. Great. Thank you. Okay. So to end of this next section um this is talking just about some of our reserve considerations. Um, so the city
is working uh with our financial advisor as well as bond council to determine whether or not an emergency bridge loan to backfill operations would be a good opportunity for the city of St. Pete Beach. Um, that is only for operations, so that won't cover any of the capital
needs that the city currently has, but um, should that come to fruition, that would come back, um, to the commission at a later date. Um again those FEMA timing for reimbursements um the initial storm recovery was very expensive and so how are those backfills going to change
our reserves in the in the long term in the near term? And then um just the fact that we don't currently have any reserve policies or an investment policy um as far as how we're doing some of the the management of the reserves and what that looks like. So that'll be something that
we'll bring forward at a later date for um commission and uh potentially committee recommendation on some of those policies. At one time we had a bridge loan agreement with Wells Fargo Bank. I guess that no longer exists.
I'm not aware of that, but we could certainly look in. So your understanding was maybe it was like it was an open similar to an open line of credit 10 million. Yeah. Okay. We'll definitely check into that and follow up with Wells Fargo at one point. Thank you. So, this slide is showing um our
2025 budget comparison um by fund and by fiscal impact. Um so, what's up at the top there is that you can see our 930 2024 um beginning fund balances. Those beginning fund balances are currently on audited. Um we're working with our
auditors to complete our 24 audit um by the June 30 deadline for the state. Um you can also see uh as far as revenues what we have for budgeted um any amendments that we would put forth and then that transfer in of that 4.9
million is uh the ARPA revenues um the American Rescue Plan Act funds that the city of St. Pet Beach had received. Um you can see the expenditures and then that large 1.8 8 million is the transfer out that's going into the other um
enterprise funds or the fleet fund um for usage. So um wanted to highlight some areas where we have um some changes in that estimated ending fund balance. So that FEMA reimbursement I spoke about the 3.8 million that we um
received for the initial response. Um, in wastewater, we expect to receive uh $2 million for pump station number one, um, which was a grant. And then, um, if we needed to, we do have we we are exploring the opportunity to, uh, utilize that emergency bridge loan as a
as a lever to pull for some of these other operational areas. So, okay, any questions before I jump to the next section? Okay. So, in our capital overview, um staff has put forth a capital
improvement uh plan and the projects are currently prioritized as repair, restore with resiliency or an amenity or an enhancement. Um this presentation is going to outline all of the capital needs. Uh the staff will not recommend
obviously to put forward all of these capital projects given our funding constraints. Um historically many critical infrastructure projects have been off the priority list due to funding constraints and the result is just a very large list of unfunded capital projects. So
um this is looking at 2026 through 2030 all of the capital improvement projects and any of those necessary projects to restore the aging infrastructure and includes community amenity enhancements um that will be delayed due to the priority of infrastructure. So that's
how staff is looking at these capital projects is um to consider repair and restore first and then look at any amenity enhancements. So in our general fund, I talked a little bit about this, but you can see um for 2026 um we looked at a couple projects
that would potentially have FEMA reimbursement. um the likelihood of us receiving that in 26 is low but that does contribute to the financial forecast in the picture. So we did include that in there. Um you can see we have some project specific grants. So uh
one of the projects we have in here is around um our IT infrastructure. So $100,000 for a grant potential. The fire the one that's listed as fire grant that would be for fire station 22. Um, and then public services has about 1.5
million in their projects. Um, and then you can see in 2025 we had a $6.1 million transfer from the general fund for revenue. So this is a this is a picture of what we're showing for the next um few fiscal years obviously with
the focus on 2026. And at this point, it would be helpful to note that we do have some of the department directors. So, if you have any project specific questions, um they'll they'll probably be uh more equipped to answer those questions for you. But, um I'll take you through the
presentation and feel free to just stop me and we can pull them up here as needed. So, as we're looking at what is included um for the general fund, we have this broken out into different categories. So, beaches, um we have some projects in here that are looking at
things like dune and beach restorations, uh dune walkovers, and then um in our IT category. So, we have um some items such as IT innovation, citywide camera security, disaster recovery, infrastructure resiliency. Um we have
some software uh applications included in here as well. And then in our parks, um, we have the Bella Vista mini park improvements, Egan Park site improvements, and the fishing peers rehabilitation. Um, the items that we
have in orange are projects that could spec that could potentially be pushed out in a future year if they needed to. So, you can see that uh, prioritization. Question about the citywide security cameras. Yeah.
Um, is that a what does that entail? How how how big a project and what are we going to take pictures of? And yeah, Galloway, director for the city. Um, so the intent behind uh the camera and security system is is initially and and
the priority is replacing the existing system we have. So we have we do exist. We do we have a badge security system that allows us access to most of our buildings and facilities. Um some do not have they're not badged. Um so they don't have the same security system
installed. So one is going to be to to remediate that and have the same system throughout and ensure that we have those uh those systems in place for every building um so that everyone coming in in and out is secured supposed to be there and that we're managing that
access effectively. Um the current system is is aging. It's very old and it needs to be replaced um regardless of how far we go with the cameras. So currently that system does not have cameras um baked into it. So the intent is to replace the security system and
expand um the solution to include cameras. Um and we haven't laid out all of the entrance and exits at the facilities for the cameras, but that's something we would do as part of that uh scoping exercise. Thank you. Yes, sir. May I ask for more
clarity around the fishing peers rehabilitation please? Yeah. Uh fishing peers rehabilitation. I can try to pull some information which ones they are. There's a lot of those safety issues going on out there right
now. First street first first and that has not gone out yet but I've got the But that's all we got. Okay. Um if if that's accurate. So first street pier.
One of the things we're wrestling with is because there are so many needs the peer some of the peers may fall down on the list as far as what staff's recommending. So this is why it's important for you all to have the conversation. Um but we can certainly
clarify that too on what exactly those peer projects are. Yeah. My concern is there are a lot of tourists that are fishing from peers that are missing boards and things and um it's a safety issue in my opinion.
Yeah, we can make a note to follow up on that. Thank you. Yeah. Do we own that pier? I know there was about two years ago, I think it was there was a we didn't know if we owned the pier or if I think the state or the county owned
the pier. I think we get a res here is different. We the f the first street here. Yeah. First street here. We rehabbed that whole thing because it it had been So that is ours. Well, we went through a process of determining who owns it, right? And we found out that
the I think the county owned it. Then we I as I recall, we took possession and completed the repairs. Uhhuh. And made it a viable fishing pier again. Spent spent the bucks. But then the storm came along. So, we don't have a fishing pair.
At least it's not the same as it was. So, it was rehabbed and it's now damaged. We'll follow up on that too and just confirm for you. Yeah. Okay. The presentation, please. Thank
you. Okay. So, moving on. Um this is our large list of public services projects. Um so within here you can see that um we have projects such as the 80th Avenue living shore wall. Um we have the
community center seaw wall replacement, the Don Cesar uh boat ramp replacement, um the facility emergency backup power generator facility HVAC system, um LED lighting conversions, um fire
station 22. Um that's a a very large project and they're at $12 million. um some painting projects, mechanical tools and equipment, passive grill, uh seaw wall replacement at $8 million, public restroom improvements and public
services building improvements. Um as well as the shoreline protection improvements and the public services operations yard expansion. Again, the items that are highlighted in that um kind of salmon orange color would be ones that um in order to balance the
budget, we could push those out to future years, but wanted to include the full list as we've discussed. So, any questions on some of these public services projects? Yeah, Don Cesar ramp placement can probably be I know it's a very controversial
topic, but you know that's one thing I think that could be push pushed forward. Um it it works as a boat ramp now, but I know it's there have been meetings and discussions, but it's in my mind it's
probably something we could put off. Fire station 22. Um, does what's the plan until this is complete? Sorry, you weren't talking. So, Adam Per, assistant city manager. So, um, we did have a temporary facility that was
down uh just south of the Don Vista um, uh, center. Um, that was procured by the state. So, that contract ran out and then the cost shifted to us. Um the the cost was astronomical for for that structure. Um so you probably saw that one go away in the last couple of days.
We have a new structure that's coming in the next couple next week or so. Um probably by about the 15th or 16th of May, it'll be operational. It look more like a double wide uh trailer. It'll actually be a much nicer facility for uh fractions of the cost of what the old
facility was. But again, a lot of those costs are also being submitted to FEMA for reimbursement. And so our hope is that even the monthly cost for that temporary facility uh would be eligible for FEMA reimbursement. Same same place. Uh it's going to be in the same place. Yes, sir. Okay. Do we have to rent that?
Do we rent We we do. Yes. So that's one of those things that the the money's coming out. Uh we're we're expending the money ahead of time and then we're we're uh submitting that for reimbursement through FEMA. So we've already done all the paperwork to do that. But but uh once the cost shifted to us, Yes. Okay.
And um are we including that in the numbers that we have at the rental while we're or that that would be included on the operational side. So you'll see that in operational budget. Okay. And because FEMA is supposed to reimburse us,
they're supposed to reimburse us for this, right? Or it is an eligible project by FEMA standards and and we've done the the process to submit it for reimbursement. Yes, sir. It's just basically going to be a pass through. So, well, I think that's only for the first two years following the storm.
Yeah, again, it's all about the timing of when the new station would come online, but we'll, you know, obviously we're trying to maximize the amount of time that FEMA would reimburse us. So, we're trying to speed the process up as quick as possible to minimize the cost of the taxpayers. Okay. So, that obviously cannot be
pushed back at all. And the existing facility has not been demolished yet. Uh, it has not. And that's again um the FEMA process is pretty challenging. So it has been approved for demolition by the commission. We do have an approved contract, but we can't demo it until
FEMA gives us a thumbs up that we can demo it. So hopeful in the next month or so, but um there's quite a process for that. Okay, understood. The 35,000 for that is that is I'm sorry. I know you just sat down. Is that
part of the um the AR architect fees and the or because I think it's like 35,000. Oh, can we have the presentation back up please? Thank you. 35,000. Is that basically the design of it?
The 35,000 you see is actually the demo of the building. So that's the cost for the demo. Yep. And just to make note, even if it's in the white category right now of not being shaded by
salmon, these are this is just our beginning of prioritization of how we might have to cut some of the projects that are actually shaded in white. We've just started that initial prioritization exercise. And um on the fire station 22, it's
important to note that we are work the reason we can't demo yet is because we're working on a replacement project request with FEMA because it can't be replaced like for like and that's how they determine reimbursement amounts if we're approved. We could get we're
hoping to get more funding. So that's why in this instance it's good to be patient and wait a little bit longer until they make their final decision. Can we can we do the um architectural the uh planning of it now? Yes. So we can do all the planning. We're hiring a
construction manager. So we we're moving that project forward in hopes that started architectural work last year. It did. Correct. Did that be in 2025 though in here? Is it just does it go to um work in construction progress get
bundled together and then all go to 2026? We likely need to increase this dollar amount once we get that construction contract management bid back. Okay. So, looking at streets, um we have Bokea Drive reconstruction um at $4.8
million. That is highlighted in green as the as a priority project um for the city. Um and then you can see we have other items in here including uh bridge reh rehabilitation, Corey Avenue signage. Um we have the Gulfway rehabilitation, Gulf Winds drive
reconstruction, hurricane damage rightway rehabilitation and roadway rehabilitation as well as Shell alley improvements. And then we have the Vina Delmare bridge lighting replacements as a potential that we could um look to
push. Yeah. and also the Cory Avenue monument signs I think would be in salmon. Um, may I ask what the Shell alley improvements are? I believe those most of our Shell alleys
are actually in uh the uh Passag. Yes, that's what I was suspecting. I was checking. Yeah, they are. And it's an annual maintenance issue that's been going on for years and years and years and years and years. Yes. If it's annual
and it's it seems to be repair maintenance, should it really be cap capital item? So, the items that we're including in here is anything over $20,000 um that we would have as a capital consideration. Um, depending on whether it ends up
being an asset at the end of the day, that likely isn't. It would be an expense, but we include it as part of our capital budget. Okay. I know this is a crazy question, but is this the the new thing they're doing down there with the new boards, or is this just
replacing Shell? Do we know? We'll have to follow up. Controversial. The former public works director had found a process that the Army Corps of Engineers used some place I think in
airfields where they they laid down something under the shell and it increased the life of the shell alleys. I remember the discussions and they actually implemented it in some of the alleys. Now was it effective? I
don't know. We'll follow up. It's not on my street. Okay. Okay. So, this is where it's good that we're all sitting down. Um you can see the amount of um change in ending fund
balance if we were to put forward uh this total capital budget. And this is just in our uh general uh 301 uh fund. So you can see total revenues we're showing at about 13.3 million with expenditure total of 50.4 million. Um
with those future years obviously this continues to compound. Um and that fund balance continues to go into the negative. Obviously this is not a budget that we would put forward or recommend but just wanted the committee to have the understanding of the needs. If we don't do something, this is it. If we
don't take some action and put forward some realistic budgets, we'll be faced with this. So, moving on into our reclaimed water fund, um you will see here just a a projection as we're looking at the operating and as well as the reclaimed
water service charges. So, um you can see that's the primary revenue generator for this fund. Um in 2025, we did do a $400,000 transfer um to cover the fund so that it was not in a deficit. Um that
operating expense forecast is just a forecast in nature with a with a escalator on it. Um so that'll change when you get the operating budget, but just wanted you to be aware. But we do have two um capital projects slated for
2026 at $500,000 and and $200,000 for a lateral service pipe replacement as well as a pigport installation. Um, and you can see there that, you know, we would require at least a $321,000 subsidy to this reclaimed water
fund since we do not have enough revenue generating um to even cover operations without the investment income. So, um, just wanted to provide that picture of how the revenues are not enough even sufficient to cover the operating
expenses that exist in this fund. There was a plan at one point put forth by Penllis County Utilities to meter reclaimed water. I don't know if that's proceeding, but that would be another expense we'd be faced with. Okay. So, looking at our storm water, um
we have two revenue streams in there. So, just wastewater charges for services and the storm water tier 2 assessment. Um at $1.2 2 million approximately of revenue generation um with an operating expense of around 500,000 to 600,000
depending on the year. Um we do have some larger capital uh requests in this uh 26 budget. So you can see the Don Cesar Bokea area resiliency adaptation at $30.1 million, storm water system
cleaning and inspection at 800,000 and wershed management master plan at 125,000. So um while the revenues for the operations are sustain self- sustaining um there's not enough funding to do the capital projects that are put
forward. This is our wastewater fund. Um so you can see primary uh revenue source for that is the wastewater charges for services. Um and and here you can see that we do have that grant for pump station 1 in
2025. Um as well as a transfer fund of transfer of 3.8 million. Um so with our operating expenditures at about 5.9 million to to 6 million um and our revenue is around 7.6 um though you can see that there is
enough here to cover the operations of wastewater but again we have a lot of capital needs. Uh the ones that are listed in green for pump station one rehabilitation and the wastewater system cleaning inspections are ones that staff is putting forward as absolute
priorities. But you can see that there's um a lot of different projects through here that have pump and lift station rehabs as well as wastewater collection system improvements. Um so any questions on any of these projects?
A lot of them are priorities. There's no doubt about it. So again, I know I covered this earlier, um, but these enterprise funds and these wastewater funds, this is why the city is doing the current fee study and that impact study. Um, they really should operate like a business and they
shouldn't require a subsidy from the general fund. Um, when we're looking at enterprise funds in the 26 budget, you will see that the parking fund will be um, pulled out as its own enterprise fund. Um, that's for all the parking revenues that we receive. Um, this is
often a a revenue generator and there's no restrictions on the use of the revenue. So, we'll be able to utilize that as we have in years past. But the wastewater, storm water, and reclaimed water are not generating enough revenues currently to sustain all of the capital projects and needs and in some cases
operating as we uh showed in the prior slides. um with that wanted to provide just uh services that often do require subsidy. So transportation um a lot of times is not a revenue generating enterprise fund. It operates more of like a
nonprofit if you will. Um so you would expect that the general fund would cover those. Obviously all of the general fund services um fire, EMS, uh recreation, all of those common activities in the general fund, roads, um and amenities
and programs. um those are typically your your tax based items and um you wouldn't expect those to operate like a business. You'd expect them to operate um how our general fund currently is. So just wanted to provide just that educational opportunity on these
differences within the funds that we're looking at today. And so with that, um staff is looking for a committee recommendation um that would align with completing our fee studies as quickly as possible. and then looking to implement them and then
just our approach and see looking for alignment with our capital projects prioritization so that failures restorations are addressed first and then other projects. Um so that's what staff would be looking for as a committee recommendation um from this
team today with our upcoming next budget review committee. Um just wanted to let you know what's coming down the pipeline. So on 64 we'll um have an updated capital improvement plan. Um we can inlay and have our responses back to
you about some of the questions that came up today. Um we'll also have our position listing and any benefits overviews um for the committee to consider. And with that I have a couple questions. Okay. um
after the well after the the bulk of the hurricane work is done, how many um inspectors are we planning on having uh working for the city? So that is something we're actually evaluating right now. We have funding
right um we have funding through this f for the next 12 months. We have funding coming out of the building reserve fund to essentially pay for seven additional full-time staff that are working inside the building as well as I believe four
additional plans examiners and four additional building inspectors by contract. That's not sustainable. But what we need to what we're watching for is how many more permits are coming in. We do believe it's going to extend beyond the next 12 months. So, we'll
make that evaluation and um because we that's the purpose of building revenue, we'll be using the building revenue to offset the need, but our hope is I I can tell you 100% we will not go back to the staffing model we had pre-storm. Okay,
good. Good. We always evaluate and change. Um, have we ever thought about um having a uh long-term rental permit for houses that are renting out that they would have to be required to have a permit, pay a annual fee, and then that
would contribute to the inspector's work because one of the issues that we had before the storms is we didn't have enough work to have more than one inspector. Um, and that could be a downtime work, but it what what it also does is it protects our community from the bad actors that are renting their
house out Airbnb for weekends, which we know happens sometimes and it's hard, but if you pull that permit from from them, then they can't rent their house out anymore. I'll definitely add that for us to look into. Did you want from us today a
recommendation on priorities for capital projects? So I think on the recommendation um a general recommendation that would be great is that we're that staff is looking at this as restore repair and
then look at those amenity efficiencies. Um when we bring back the next rendition of the updated capital improvement projects um we'll be able to go through we could go through in more detail with the committee but what we're looking for is just that financial picture um of
what we could put forward the process that you described those priorities I fully support um comments. Yeah. The only thing I would add to it is last session we came up with a number that is an
emergency response reserve number, right? That we would have to keep on the books in the bank and in case something like this happens again, we have to make sure that we can fund ourselves while we wait for FEMA or whoever FEMA is going to be. I think that's part of Dvon's
plan that you just talked about is we need to formalize that We talked about it in the past and we actually built it up. Yes. But we haven't set a policy in place and I think we I agree we should. Absolutely.
Do we have a a process for how we decide what falls into each of these categories of restoration failures etc. You okay? Um so when we were looking at this as staff we um Francis had asked us to come together with all of the capital
needs that the city has and whatever what is our infrastructure. So when we were going through it we were looking at whether or not they were um related to the storm and uh a restore or whether or not they were an amenity um or an enhancement. So when we bring this back,
we could put on there. So you can see this is restore, this is restore with resiliency, and then these are amenities or enhancement projects that are included in the budget. If that would be helpful, that would be helpful for me not knowing. Yeah, historically I'm
familiar with a lot of these projects. uh but and we also uh used to meet as a committee to discuss among ourselves what we think this priority should be.
So, we might want to schedule a meeting just other than the these meetings on the schedule just for this team to discuss what we think the priority should be and maybe numerically rank those
uh but following your direction which I agree with. So, I'm hoping the next meeting you're going to get more detail on capital. Okay. Okay. And we can incorporate maybe some of that process for you. Okay. Staff will use their
expertise and the situational analysis to tell you what we think it should be and then I think we'll have you react back to us fine based on this sort of overarching policy direction and then we can go from there. And it it's certainly helpful even on the amenity side to
understand if we had the money what's important to you because we can't do all things at the same time. So understand what's driving the need to make a decision on this second bullet point today. Um so what we were going to do is we
this presentation will go to the commission next. Um and so the thought was having this finance um budget review committee acting as an advisory role to the uh commission. Um whether you agree with staff or don't agree with staff is is typically um just the understanding
and the and the format that helps them understand that you know you you all have gone through this presentation and you might say we agree or you know we'd like to see this different and so it's just providing that opportunity for you and for the commission to understand um what your role was in it. Well, I
appreciate the level of detail. It's Do we Well done. Do we as a committee agree with the direction the city has proposed to take forward with this budgeting process, including the direction for capital improvement projects?
I I agree. Um it's hard for me based on this to say yes, I agree with it 100%. Oh, I I But the direction as far as the direction, yes, I I definitely support the direction. Yeah, I do as well. Okay,
that's generally what we're seeking right now so we don't get so far ahead of you and then we find out we were off track. No, do what we need to do and look at those things that we have to do
and things we cannot don't have to do right away. Thank you. Can I say I second that? Is yes. Any audience comments? No audience comments. Uh I I believe I
do we have any audience or is this this is all staff? They're all city employees. Can I ask uh Miss Smith um how do you feel about your uh policies and procedures in the uh finance department?
Um, well, that's part of the reason why we have a lot of opportunity for us moving forward is that we we need to set forward reserve policies. We need to set forward a good investment policy. Um, and we need those 10-year plans with operating and capital. Um, because right
now to date, we don't have those pieces and parts for our policies. So, um, that's that's an area where we're headed. Um, and we we absolutely need to improve upon those. what kind of uh approval like if you're getting to the point where you have a contractor um
receive the invoice, who approves it? I'm I'm assuming all of them approve it. And then is there a secondary approval? Because I know in the past there was an issue there's been issues that Okay, there wasn't that secondary approval. Um and there was really no way to catch it.
There wasn't a secondary approval. Like what's the approval process of paying invoices? Um so the approval process today is yes these department heads or their administrative assistants will put it forward a director will sign off on it then it comes to um our procurement
team and then it comes to myself and then Francis so there's a lot of approvals currently and how how does your um software handle that is is it all it's a workflow yep so we have an audit trail
and Yes. Do you scan in the invoices or is it uh the invoices are attached? Mhm. Okay. I'd say you're giving me an opportunity to publicly recognize Mr. Taylor out in the audience. Um he's our procurement manager who was hired about two years
ago, maybe maybe a little less. Two years. Yeah, I got it right. Um those are probably our most solid policies in finance right now. So, we've seen significant improvement and feeling pretty confident on on those policies. So, thank you for asking and I want to
thank you very much. Give him um accommodations for helping us get it straightened out. Questions, comments, nothing from me. Okay. Meeting adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.