Almost had to get up. >> Oh my gosh. Really? >> Sit there. Does it wake you up? No. >> All right. Good. >> Do not touch it. >> Do not touch it.
>> Thursday. >> Here we go. Okay. All right. Good everyone. I'd like to go ahead and call tonight's meeting to order. It's 6:00 p.m. June 15th, 2026, and this is our first budget workshop. Lori, can we get roll call, please?
>> Mayor Young >> here. >> Vice Mayor Painter >> here. Council member Brandon >> here. >> Council member Sartorii >> here. >> Council member Stone >> here. >> Thank you. And the one and only agenda item tonight is to review and discuss
the fiscal year 2026 2027 proposed budget. And Jeremy, the floor is yours. >> All right. Thank you, Mayor Council. Um, this is kind of I think I've defined this early as like the all too early budget um proposal. So, this this budget
proposal is June. We haven't got our final tax um uh revenues yet. So, we we're not sure those will be July 1. So, what you have tonight is a is a a draft budget that u we're providing to council to see if
we're on the right track, if there's anything we need to dig deeper in. We do have another meeting scheduled in July that we'll get a little bit uh deeper in the weeds or or some different details if council gives us direction. Um, with that and and I know most of you guys all
know some of this, but I'm gonna um just kind of I guess reiterate some of this that u for anybody that's watching online, but you know each year we are required to balance a budget. Uh we need to make sure that uh we set it at maximum adorum tax rate. Um we will do
that um in July at the July meeting. Um and so all of our revenues have to m match our expenditures with that. That's in the general fund. We do have several different types of funds and some people uh get some of these confused but the general fund is the one that funds all
the services such as police, fire, parks, planning, finance, IT, administration. These are driven by adalorum, state shared revenues, investment, interest, income, charges for services are all examples of revenues for this fund. Taxes are the
main revenue source for this fund. Then we have the enterprise funds. Enterprise funds should be self-supporting. Um I say run like a business, but you set those fees so that way you can u they can be self-funded. Um this is the water utility fund, the storm water utility,
and the refuge and recycling. We also have an internal service fund which you guys helped set up last year which is the vehicle replacement fund. This uh establishes kind of like a smoothing of our vehicles, establish our um how often we replace those vehicles
and and hopefully it's consistent so we don't have the peaks and valleys when cars would need to be replaced. Capital improvement fund. Um this is funded by the water utility tax. In the past, this was funded also by the 1 cent uh
infrastructure sir tax that did sunset. December was our last uh payment that we received for that um the previous December. So um we no longer receive roughly about $670,000 that we were getting that we don't we no longer have to to support those capital
projects. Um out of that 305,000 that we get for utility tax that we put into this fund, we also transfer currently 135,000 is transferred to storm water to help with some of their improvements and uh set that budget straight.
other restricted funds, the capital projects fund, and I'm going to go into what that 141,480,000 represents, but the capital fund is the funds typically that 303 fund that you see is typically we're taking general fund revenues and putting into that fund
for those capital projects. Um really the the projects that are in that um for this particular year is roads and sidewalks. That's $970,000. I think there's $570,000 for the old Dixie project that is transferred in
from uh our unassigned fund balance. The building fund, as you guys know, and we do have a meeting scheduled um a special meeting to relook at those fees, but typically the building permit fees um we charge on a valuation by project and
those fees would help support the building fund. We no longer can charge by valuation. So, we have to um reconsider how we're doing those fees, but every all the fees that we get into the building fund for permits need to be able to support the building fund and their operation. Special law
enforcement, we get those funds. The revenue for that is um through um forefeiter funds and we have specific a specific statute that governs how we spend those funds but they got to be basically uh funding um law enforcement activities.
Still outstanding items certified ad valorum our final health insurance final property and casualty insurance and then uh our non-union salaries. We do have 3% currently in the budget um for non-union. we kind of waiting when we
established this um this budget. Um that's what we felt like the the CPI was was 3%. And so um that's what currently what we're planning on spending unless council gives us different direction. Decision on operating millage rate
6.4595 is our current that is what the staff is recommending to move forward um is to keep the millage rate the same. Little extra that I put in the budget this year. Uh there's a great quote in the movie Hitch, one of my favorite ones, basically says you can't really know where you're going till you know
where you've been. And so a little bit of just history of where we how we got here because there's a lot of narratives out there about increased revenues and some some different expenditures and just so people know where where we've typically spent money um the last
several years. I just wanted to kind of give a couple a couple slides just to summarize some of the things. So, uh, a big thing when I was here, when I was when I first got here was tasked with just community involvement and and making sure that we're very transparent with what we do. We've done community
surveys, we've done annual budgets, independent audits, strategic plans, vehicle replacement fund, sidewalk improvement plans, road improvement plans, capital improvement plans. Like, we've done these things. They're all documents. They're all available. They're all on our website. If not,
can't access them, you can submit a request to the clerk's office. they'll give you those those that's been the kind of the road map that we've had for the village. So, starting back in 201920, we were $1.3 million under our two-month operating. So, we had we started out when I got here, we started out in the
hole. We we transferred $865,000 from our reserves to cover the budget just to balance the budget that year. Um, and so budget projections showed that we were under the policy is if we're under our two-month operating, the village manager is required to advise
council. and I have to we had to recoup that within 3 years. We were able to do that in two um previous councils indicated they weren't aware of that but we it didn't matter. We we made that that choice and we move forward during that same period right before I got
here. So like April of 2019 we also uh switched from six-man uh firefighter shifts to sevenman rotation sevenman firefighting team. we had some I guess reserve officers that we were filling
the spots for and so during that time the council decided to move to seven man. So um some and then we also reverted back to our defined pension plan for police officers. So that did increase the village's pension contribution at that time. We've offset some of that with the 185 money that we
received from the state. 2021 we were still the second year we were $666,000 under our two-month operating. We did spend some of the infrastructure sir tax money on roads and sidewalks. That was the first project road and sidewalk
project that we did in over 5 years previously. So we hadn't been doing a lot of road and sidewalks. We had $60,000 annually set aside for road maintenance. And that's how we were filling potholes and doing those types of things. So council did request at that time we did
a long-term road and sidewalk funding strategy which is what we have in place. We've been working for this is our third year now. We also began the rec center planning design phases $28,000. We had a building that uh was basically condemned over at the rec center. So we needed to
do something for our citizens for the rec center. 2122 um projected we were $58,000 above our two month month operating. At that time council said we need to shoot for three months. So, um, while we did finally meet our two-month operating, we were
fine there. The village council also received co COVID funding, and in that time, we invested in a storm water or a couple storm water projects. We um, uh, took care of the fire department vehicles. We had two trucks that were past their life expectancy, and so we
spent that CO money wisely on one-time expenditures. U, we did start, we did have a groundbreaking for the for the rec center at that time. So, our annual debt service uh that we took on was roughly $450,000. We transitioned to Northcom. Um there
was some upfront cost, but we expected to recoup our our investment over a 5year period. We did we recouped that investment within three years. Um again, our vehicle replacement for the for the police department before I got here, we borrowed money for police cars and and
bought them that way. As you guys know, we have a vehicle replacement fund for our police officers now. And so every four or five years, we're replacing those vehicles on a regular basis to give our officers the tools needed to do their job. Oh, we and we also started the planning
for Remembrance Park, which was roughly around $100,000. 2223, we transitioned to an eightman fire department shift. We hired one additional firefighter with the intent that every year we're going to hire one more additional one. Uh we and we uh completed approximately
$773,000 in road projects. Um, and we also at this time, and I believe it was mayor, our vice mayor Stone at the time, but Kyle Stone, council member Stone, uh, thought that it would be a good idea to take the money that we get from Palm Beach County and set it aside for a
vehicle replacement fund for large vehicles. And that set us kind of on this conversation of why don't we do this for all vehicles? And so uh we take we take our Palm Beach County. So we did basically took our revenue 124,000 and started u plugging that toward a vehicle replacement fund
2324. We did reduce the millage rate um from 6.629 to 6.4595. Um most of our revenue at that time was was really restruct uh resulted from new construction. we had the sealass that came online and um and then we
established ongoing infrastructure policies. So we we established a policy that our road and sidewalks would be funded from our general fund moving forward. And so we were able to set aside some some of that new revenue from seaglass to make sure our roads and sidewalks were taken care of for you
know period of time for the for the village. Um planning for future exp you know expiration of the s tax. At that point, we were we knew we were going to be losing the $650,000. Um, we did establish the community development department. Um, you know,
the RZ NZ consultants had switched companies. The quote that we got was going to be more than what we could do it in-house. So, we brought an in-house um development department and then we continued eightman fire department. Instead of hiring one firefighter the next year, we went ahead and fire hired
two of them so we can go ahead and get to the eightman shifts. And then we started incurring those uh recreation expenses and then we made an investment in remembrance park. Uh 2425 we established the vehiclewide
um vehicle replacement fund um allocated matching funds for sequesta park improvements through that appropriation through the state. Um and then we obviously maintain competitive salaries and benefits. We had the public safety union negotiations and so we matched some of those contributions, health
insurance costs, competitive wages. Takes us to where we are today with uh with with our current year that we're in. Uh 202526 highlights. You know, we have remodeled the village hall, our village annex. Um supposed to be completed this year. This was split
between the police department, the building department, and the general fund. Um we we do have our our code enforcement building department is over there as well as we do have some you know classes for police and then our general fund uh did take on some of those expenditures.
Street improvements and sidewalks was funded. The village clerk's office started using AI for to supplement minute creation. I think it was more of just a whole initiative that the village taken on trying to figure out where we can be more efficient using AI for different things and I think the clerk's
office been kind of a leader with that especially on our website and with amendments um finance began uh doing that to help with some um some staff time and then field maintenance uh we removed the ADA compliant dugouts out at Tquesta Park. Um we we've been slowly
kind of chewing away at Toquesta Park with some projects. Um not owning it before. It was always kind of a you know it was a tough decision how much money we were going to spend out there. Uh as we move forward you know we'll see that's obviously going to be a different conversation with the with the taxes but
um I think it's every dollar we spend out there is our is our dollar and it's our part now. So other successful things we've uh migrated to 365 here in the village. Uh we had that mobility planning effort that kind of got halted a little bit
because of Senate Bill 180, but um part of part of that was funded by a grant. Um we established a vehicle replacement fund in in our second year and then uh the new K9 unit came aboard. Not a lot of cost. Still a highlight for us though. uh PD computers, new community
programs such as the gun safety course and uh the boater safety course. The PD does a great job and I think most of it's usually funded by grants or or others. So they we don't have a huge expense for those electronic knock boxes. Those are where the fire department can go into a commercial
building, grab the key, go in. We were able to do electronic knock boxes, so we don't have to have, you know, 100 keys laying around. they can go in go right to it with a with a fob. Um and then a fire department trailer. And then uh starting after July 4th, u the bridge
maintenance program will start. That was infrastructure sir tax u the sales tax minus $950,000 investment to fix fix that bridge. We haven't done any maintenance or very little maintenance to that bridge since it's been since it got u installed um back in the day. So I
think it's like 17 18 years old with very little investment. So that gets us to kind of where we are tonight. So I just wanted to kind of set that tone a little bit. We're in the 26 27 budget process. Our budget process for staff, it goes all year round. So we we're
always monitoring every month, you know, department heads and most time in the staff mean they're reporting where they are with their budget, where they are with overtime, where they are with their expenditures, anything coming up. And so we're monitoring all those things. And then in January, we start the new budget process. So we're really working on two
budgets at the kind of the same time. And so in January the budget calendar send March and April meeting with department heads finance. Starting May we start getting into some deeper conversation. Then you know here we are today in June submitting our proposed
budget to the village council. Um really July is where we'll probably give you guys the you know kind of more the closer to official version because we'll have our revenues um from the ador or from the ad valorum revenue that we'll have that and be able to provide that to
you guys. Um and then we have the two public hearings. I think those dates are already set for September. We will have to set the maximum tax rate in July. So we are proposing to keep the military the same 6.4595.
We'll highlight this a little bit in a minute. Um this is the slide showing that we've been consistent over time. Total millage rate has went down over time, whether it's the county or other entities that have lowered their millage rate. Um we've lowered our millage rate
back in 23 24. Um but you you've seen the millage rate t typically has went down our total millage rate. Um and while the village has stayed pretty consistent along the way. So with a with a current millage rate if it stays the same the average homeowner
will see a $9 increase per month um for their taxes if the CPI is at 3% CPI or 3% or whichever is lower. Um, and so with the 3% increase, that's what the the millage rate, that's what the average home payer would pay at
$618,000. I love this slide because it shows that, you know, the village, we we're right in the middle, uh, you know, our our our total millage rate is right in the middle of Palm Beach County. Um, but we're one of only one of nine, I think it's 10 now because I think Highland
Beach now has a police and a fire. We're one of one of only 10 municipalities that um have their own police, fire, and water. One of 14 municipalities are own their own fire and police. So, um very proud of that. And if you look at like the blue, those are the ones that have their own fire and police. And we're
right in the middle of those as well. So, we've stayed pretty consistent. Really tried to give the best value for our residents. Um and I think this slide shows that. Estimated revenues. You'll see a majority of our revenue, 66% comes from property taxes. You got the inter
intergovernmental uh revenue, which is kind of your municipal sharing revenue, your alcohol beverage, your sales tax. Uh you got your other taxes, which is your utility tax, communication services. Um charges for service is your JIC, Palm Beach County, the money we
receive for those uh for providing fire service. So um you'll see that a majority the highlight of the slide majority of our our revenue comes from property taxes. So these next three slides are really slides kind of sh showing the same thing
but kind of a different different way. So this first one is the percent change or the the number change from year to year per department. So you'll see um you know several departments have either went down or um have stayed pretty consistent. you know, most of our you'll
see the the biggest, you know, increases is, uh, is fire, uh, police, information, technology are kind of the the big ones. And I'm going to go a little bit in depth with that. The highlight on this slide though is really the the 483,486
on the other nonoperating. That is the money that we are we're we're recommending put to unassigned fund balance because it's not allocated for any expenses in our budget. However, that would be the money that you could lower the taxes and that was kind of our
plan. That's what the council has been working toward, really setting ourselves up for the future with vehicle replacement fund, the road and sidewalk money, you know, the investments that we've made, it was always the plan to continue down that path so we can lower lower our millage rate. So, we're at
that point. However, with all the property tax stuff, staff's not recommending that we do that at this point just because of um you know, the impacts of that that property tax is really going to hurt and we're going to have to make some tough decisions. Um and so by lowering the millage rate at
this point, we'll only I think add to that. But we serve uh we serve the council and whatever the council side, I think tonight be the first time you guys really get a chance to discuss any of that future property tax implications. But u just wanted to highlight that that
particular that's the number that we have not assigned to any any budget item. Next slide just kind of shows the the adopted of 26 versus the adoptive of 27 very similar your relative percentage.
So really most the percentage stayed the same. Police actually dropped in their relative percentage of the budget and fire went up a little bit. I think it went up a little bit, but for the most part, those are your percentages, and they've been pretty consistent um over time.
This slide represents what the average homeayer pays for the services. So, if you look at the very far right column on this one, you know, the average taxpayer is paying, you know, $153 for finance. Just pick one. I mean, you can
go down the line, but roughly you're paying $839 for police, uh $1,000 for fire. So, it's just broken out by what you pay per department. What I like to do, and some of you guys that have seen my uh presentation for the residents academy,
I like to kind of show and put a comparison to it. So, I've I've extended it and look at some of my favorite drinks um at one of our local coffee shops. Um, you know, Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino right off the app is 625 and just a cup of cup of coffee is
2.95. If you look at our services compared to that, our police service is $2.35 a day for the resident with an average response time of 1 minute. So that's I mean fantastic. Uh, not too many municipalities I think can can do
that. We do a very good job of of keeping the cost down but still providing a high level of service. Look at fire service. $2.9 91 cents a day. So, and they have an average response time of four minutes, which is below the national average, I think, or or the
whatever the NAPA standards are, 4 and a.5 minutes. If you look at all the other departments, admin, human resources, village, clerk, general government, finance, legal, comprehensive plan, information, code compliance, um public
works, that same caramel ribbon crunch for appuccino. Um we provide all those other services for 377 a day. Um and then so the public safety combined is 526. So for roughly $9 a day, you get
all the services of the village. Um, and so I think we do an excellent job of providing those services. There's another little look at them. Most of your expenses are tied up into really your your four big departments. Um, and and that's fire department is
28%, police department's 22%. Um, public works uh with with some of the expenditures they have. And then you guys just got a presentation from from Greg and Leisure Services and applauded the job that he did. But I mean their
job their budget is u 6% of of our total budget. Expenditures you'll see and there's a common theme. There's a couple more slides I think we'll highlight, but a majority of our of of our expenditures are really caught up in either recurring
costs like utilities, things like that. um utilities, roads, uh just off the top of my head. But the other big part of it is salaries and wages, employee benefits. So you're looking at 60 64% of our total
expenditures are are people. Another look at really the same thing. Uh twothirds of our cost are personnel cost and the other part is is the operating. Um, this is broken down by the actual funds.
We'll get start getting into a little bit of the other funds like building and and water, but this breaks down the the total uh total budget uh total per fund. Some of the highlights for the 2627 budget, uh, property tax revenues up 6%
mainly due to sales and new construction. Major changes to the homestead benefits are proposed. the voters will be asked to ratify during the election this November. TPD was awarded a $100,000 stipen from the feds for immigration
uh to work with im work with our with the feds on immigration. Um and so they gave us $100,000 stipen for the vehicles. We're using that that money into our vehicle replacement fund to help purchase a couple of police cars or a police car and a half. Um they also um
have planned and we did not have in the budget now because when we were developing the budget we hadn't got the official word but we're expecting a quarterly payment u for our officers uh to help offset some of our costs for that. We're expecting $35,000 a quarter
um for from the feds. We don't know how long this will last. We don't have uh you know a long-term agreement in place but for now it's a good source of revenue for our police and help. We have a major um upgrade to our radio system that has
to be done in the next couple years in in the amount of 300,000. So the the recommendation is to take that $35,000, hold it aside, and use it toward that expenditure. Per council direction, staff has included $570,000 in reserve for the old
Dixie beautifification. I think we heard that in May or maybe it was April. Um 70,000 of that 570 is the planning part and we we've already initiated the plans. Palm Beach County has agreed. I don't know if it's been ratified yet,
but they've agreed to do pay for half of those costs. The other 500,000 is construction. My recommendation, even if the plans come in tomorrow, my recommendation, we don't start construction till after we find out what's going on with uh with the property taxes in November. So, we won't
bring you guys any kind of construction contract until after um we we find out what's going on with property taxes. We're proposing uh increasing our system maintenance um to to upgrade our ERP system with BSNA. This is kind of the
the hub for finance and building um and customer service billing. Uh we use that system basically the it's an onremise system just like even like our Microsoft system. they're basically stop stopped with any kind of upgrades to that system
and over time they're going to phase that out. So we are recommending going to the cloud we'll we'll have some savings on an annual contract because we are going to the cloud we roughly have 2 or 3 years probably before they just discontinue it. So we thought it'd be
best to have that savings but also start to lean that forward so we can have a smooth transition into that system. We are proposing increasing uh the m computer maintenance $17,000 to upgrade our laser fish to the cloud. Um there are some additional benefits to laser
laser fish, but we've you know over the last year or two we've had some licensing issues. We we're only limited so many um we've had some some online um issues people being able to get online. So we feel like this will this will help um and so we we are proposing to upgrade
that system to the cloud. I think there's even some AI features that helps you with some search search things. I didn't do the the actual uh the demo for it, but I hear that that that's the that's really the way to do it with LaserFish. If you guys don't
know, Laserfish is our software that we keep all of our records, all of our meeting records, all of our contracts, resolutions, everything is housed in there. Any resident, any point can search through Laser Fish and find what they're looking for. And if they can't, they can always contact the clerk's
office and clerk's office can go through that and help them. Um, we are proposing to continue with our street our street program, $710,000 um for that program. And then we we are proposing to move our $170,000 that we
typically put aside for sidewalk improvements to move to $200,000. With the cost of sidewalks going up, we're getting less for our less for our dollar. So, the $200,000 we're trying to, you know, make sure we can kind of stay ahead of the curve, stay up with
maintenance of of those sidewalks. And then we're we are proposing to continue with the concert series. This last year, we put $50,000 in the budget to kind of celebrate the 250ear celebration. Um, and so we had a concert series. Uh, it was very wellreceived, a
lot of good comments. So, we are proposing putting that back in um and and continuing that on an annual basis. As you guys know, we used to do the food trucks having a lot of trouble, you know, getting the food trucks to show up, show up on time, have enough food. Um, and so this is probably a little
easier path of resistance for us um to to do it this way. We do have a 9% increase uh for health insurance costs. This is a placeholder. We are unsure at this point what that looks like, but we feel like 9% is the is a reasonable placeholder. We hope to
get that under, have some additional savings at then when we get to that point. Um, per contract, we do have a 6 and a half% increase for PBA in the second year. And then per contract, the firefighters have an 8.15% in the third year of the contract.
Uh, we propose increasing non-represented salaries um by 3%. And then um move to Civic Plus agenda software. As you guys know, we use eye compass. Now, um, the biggest benefit to Civic Plus Agenda software in my mind is
we we have to make all of our documents ADA compliant and I think we have another year to do that or two years to do that. Um, this software allows there's software that's incorporated into this with with Civic Plus that allows us to uh help check to make sure
our website's ADA compliant. All of our agenda, meetings, minutes, all that's ADA compliant. So, there's an additional benefit there. Every year, we'll probably see the difference between I Compass and Civic Plus is about a $4,000 difference. Uh, so we will see a little
bit of a recurring cost increase, but uh the cost that we're going to have to pay to bring a lot of our documents ADA compliant is far outweighs the $4,000. So, we are making that recommendation to bring that. Um, and then also included in this budget, I think, is $54,000
for improvements to or to replace our AC for the public safety building. Um, and so that's a pretty large cost that um that I think it's past its useful life. I think it's been the the same AC since we built that building um and opened it.
And then we do have some expendure. I think it's $29,000 in some Constitution Park playground maintenance. We have several fittings and things out there that are rusted and and uh need to be replaced. So, we're we're taking kind of a small couple pieces um try to replace.
You guys will see in the 5-year capital plan, we do have and it started a couple years ago. We have a million dollars set aside or not set aside, but planning for a million dollars in inquesta park renovations. Those playgrounds are 19 or
20 years old. um never been replaced. And so we need to really start looking at the useful life of those playgrounds. And it's a estimated at a million dollars to replace those two playgrounds out there. This slide just shows kind of a
comparison of where we are with village employees versus uh you know the national average. And I think the two one the two worth highlighting is the police staffing. We are 3.26 officers per thousand. Uh the benchmark is 2.4.
So, we're above the the average for the number of police officers. Part of this is is that we have a minimum uh you know, we're we're a small department, so to be able to put you know, we need to have at least three and a boss on on a shift. Um and so you'll see that we we
typically have that or even above that, but um there are days when people call out or or whatever, you know, whatever the duty is. U we need to be able to provide that that service and that minimum staffing. fire staffing. We're kind of right where we need to be. We're 1.14
duty firefighters per thousand. The national the national raise 1.75. So, just under that. But, um I think for our department, it seems to seems to work and that's been kind of the the the number that's worked for us in the last two years since we went to the eight
eight eight firefighters per shift. This slide just shows kind of where our expenses have been trending and over the years. U you'll see the salaries is kind of the biggest one. I don't think that we're alone in this. I think you know after the you know when you start
hitting that postcoavid times everybody in Palm Beach County and not even just government but a lot of municipalities a lot of private business started seeing salaries start to increase. Um you know we've we've never led that field. We always we always kind of follow and so
our salaries are very competitive. We're not number one. We don't but we also have always strive not to be the last. So we try to try to be competitive in that market. U general operating costs have went up. Um you I think we can highlight some of those but um and then
of course benefits everybody has seen those increased benefits as well. some of the development history. You guys, I think have seen this slide before. Just some of the things that have have caused that revenue to go up with some of the bigger projects, um
large projects. This is kind of the the negative to the other side. We don't really have a lot in the hopper as far as big projects. We have a couple out there. Nothing projected for 26, nothing projected by uh 27. We do have a couple under consideration. I say consideration
cuz they have not been vetted by council, haven't been approved per se. Hawk Cove has obviously with that development, that annexation, but they have not submitted any uh building plan. So, it's still under consideration that side of it. Preserve, they they may have some additional buildings come online.
Um we don't know if they're going to make the make the January 20 uh 27. So, we're projecting them for 28. And then of course the BOA is still working through that process, that consideration. Country Club U has been vetted through
council. However, they're still working through building plans and um established timelines. I know they've had some, from what I hear, they've had some permitting issues through South Florida Water Management District that has slowed that that process down a little bit.
So, this is where we get in a little bit of the projections with with everything that we got in the budget today. We're projecting well, we talked about, you know, probably lower taxes as we move forward, you know, with with our increases. This does show, if you look, and I don't have a pointer that'll
that'll show up on that screen, but it does show a ne Jeff will do it for us. Does show a negative $186,000 negative. The reason why it shows a negative this year because we're using $570,000 out of our unassigned fine unassigned
fund balance for Old Dixie. So, we're actually positive, you know, the $486,000. But just wanted to show that's why it's shown a negative. And then we're also trending well the next the next several several years.
I did want to talk a little bit and I don't I don't you know, obviously we'll give it to council on whichever direction you want to go with this. We we we kind of hedged a little bit against the property tax stuff with not put any new initiatives or even some of the strategic initiatives in there that council had talked about and previously
approved in the strategic plan. However, I did want to talk a little bit about the Florida property tax and maybe this is an opportunity to just make sure everybody has the facts of what this really is and what it really does. So, it does expand the homestead exemption for non-school tax. So, your schools
will not be affected. school taxes, you will still be charged your full rate u for the school taxes that you are today. It is supposed to go to um by 2028 it'll go to $250,000. The part that also is not said and not some enough is that it
will continue to go up through for inflation. And so in our you'll see in one of our next slides and when we project you're going to see that we continue to kind of sink into a hole because we're going up 3% or CPI whichever whichever is higher at that
point. Um and so it is pretty significant. So the if you just look at the tax bill for toquest a residence most of these are on there. There's a couple that may not be, but it is going to affect your library services, your children's services, find Jupiter inlet
district, healthc care district, the county fire, which you know we don't have that one per se. However, it might have an impact on the money, the revenue that they pay us because they are going to have less. So, um, that contract is up in 2027 that we're going to have to
renew with them for them to pay us for fire services for the unincorporated area. um general uh the county general operating south Florida water management district and then of course our toquesta operating budget new Florida residents
generally have to wait 5 years for the larger extension what what I'm seeing as and they'll also be able to bring portability what I'm seeing is there's going to be I think there's a general consensus there's going to be a trend of people that are using Florida as their
second properties to make Florida their first properties and and they're going to homestead those. So the we're at 60% homestead. There's going to projection that that that is going to rise that that num percentage of homestead will go up which in theory will affect our revenue even more. We didn't really
project that in our in our tenure because we we don't know what that number looks like but there's just a general feeling out there that it's going to continue to to climb. Um does lower the annual assessment growth cap from 10% to 5%. your multif family or
commercial properties, you know, if if their value was under uh what the assessed value, they could actually go up all the way up to 10% or a new owner or a change out. Now, it's capped at 5%. So, when we look at, you know, the the
increases that we've seen in our ad valorum, that number is going to be lower. The those commercial properties have helped drive our increased revenue in advorum. sealasses, the ostray buildings, things like that. That's drove those are going to be capped at 5%
now instead of 10%. And so we're going to see basically a lower uh adalorum increase. Um it does restrict county and municipal properties. Um so during the and this is a long- winded version of summarizing this, but during the
legislation process, you could only use that revenue from Adalorum. This was proposed in the bill for only like five different reasons. So they limited that you can only use it for police, fire, um I
forget the other ones off the top of my head because at the end of the day they took that out and they said you can use it for all of your services as long as it's it's allowed by law and your governmental entity approves it. So basically the same thing that we're
doing now we can use continue to do the way that we're doing it the way they rewarded it. However, be prepared in the future because they said by allowed by general law it means that they can change the general law through a statute and they don't have to go back through constitution amendment. So I think what
they did is they tried to kick the can down the road. All right, you guys want to have concerns about the specific uses? We'll just allow everything by general law. Now they can come back by legislation and change the general law. So they may come back and restrict what
we can use those funds are. Um there is a a misnomer out there that you can you know police and fire is protected. You won't be able to touch those. Absolutely not. There's nothing in there that protects police and fire. There's no replacement funding for police and fire.
It is all tied up in the same revenue loss that we're going to be losing when when this happens if it happens. Um, and so that that one when I look and scour like the social media and things out there, there's a lot of people say, "Oh, they they they won't touch our police and fire." Well, I mean, they're going
to be affected by revenue just like just like the rest of the the services. And so, we'll have to prioritize th those funding efforts. So, what that means for the village and you guys I've seen you guys I've sent you guys probably 20 emails because
there was a whole bunch of different stuff going around but this is the one that we're projecting we're using um the appraiser district appraisal district uh the county appraiser sent this to us. Um and so with 2027 we're expected to lose $1.9 million um from the homestead
exemption and then by 2028 we're going to lose $3.2 million. Um and so the percentage of expenditures that we currently have right now is about 62% is personnel cost. Percentage of police, fire and debt service is rough more a little bit more than half because debt
service has to be paid. We can't not pay debt service. So um it's pretty significant. Um the other one that's kind of eyeopening for me was that 746 properties will fall under the $250,000
exemption. So, there will be 746 out of 3,400 that will pay zero taxes. We will still show up and provide police services. We still show up to provide fire services. We still pave their roads. We still have code compliance, but they won't have to pay for those
services. Um, so just something to something to I guess ponder. um the amount to recover loss expenditures if we you know I know we'll have some budget tightening conversations but if it was to pass if we w were to raise the millage rate to cover those expenditures
that would be the the difference and the the proposed millage rate to cover without any any adjustments to uh reducing expenditures. So taking that number and projecting those numbers onto our five-year Jeff
will you be a finger again and show that you know we're still showing the negative for this year but as you move forward you get into that 2027 number this the first year is 600 and I can't even read the numbers on >> okay and then so the next year you're
getting to $1.6 million then 1.9 2.4 four and then 2 point it continues to grow because of that inflation number that's on there. Uh we continue to to see see the negative on that and we we there's not really an end in sight at
that point and so we staff has some recommendations um but that those conversations will will obviously lead into some future workshops as well. Where are we sitting our unassigned fund balance? Uh, as I started this presentation talking about where we've
come from. I mean, you know, back in 2019 we're $1.3 million under, we've done some good things. Um, and every year there's less expenditures and we get some revenue that we didn't anticipate and so we're able to every year to put a little bit of money into
this into this pot to to grow this. U, we are expecting end of 27 to be at $2.5 million. If property tax does pass, this will help, I guess, smooth it out. But we got to be careful that we don't use these expenditures for recurring cost.
It one-time expenditures. If you start using this to to cover your recurring cost, at some point you're going to run out. Do you want to take a break and ask questions on the general fund? You me just fire through with building and water. >> I say keep going. What do you guys?
Yeah. >> Okay. So, building fund, pretty easy. You >> need a break. >> No, I'm good. No, I'm good. Um, the building fund's a little easier. A couple slides. You know, we we have uh a budget of $1,360,000.
Permit permit fees, $586,000. We are looking at how we're going to what our revenue will look like with the new fee structure. I mean, we hope to still recoup 100% of our costs for this. We have um a proposal for you guys. Um so and we do uh plan to expend some of our
our fund balance reserves for that. As you guys know, if we don't spend those, if we have carry too much, we have to get back to developers um or uh look at how we expend those. Um so we feel like we're in a good position still. Um even
after we go through and we spend $622,000 of that fund, we still project that we're going to be $287,000 to the good. We do we will look at this especially this year um and make sure that we're recouping those costs. Back in 2019 we
were at we were doing a 2% valuation and we lowered it to 1% and then we changed our land development fees. Our plan coming back in the future was to raise those percentages back up to the 1.5 or 2% to make sure that we were balanced
and balanced budget. Um but we've done we've done really well every year. We seem to come in over our projections for revenue and always seem to be under on our expenditures. So, u we feel good about where we're at and we'll continue to monitor it every year.
Uh enterprise funds, water utility fund, refugees and recycling and storm water. Uh the highlights and I don't know if it's a highlight but our proposed increase per contract for uh waste management contract is 4.71%. That is a nonadvalorum assessment.
refuge and recycling. The what we're projecting um at the end of this year, as you guys know, we were down to like $14,000 or or what our projection was. We feel like we're trying to build that net position just back up just a little bit. Um and then hopefully as we move
forward, you know, we we'll take Waste Manage's contract rate or or even under or as we negotiate other rates, hopefully we can we can make sure we're trying to find some savings in there. But at current rate, we think our net position will be well at at the end of 27.
Water fund um completion of three large capital projects. The water filtration uh water filter rehabilitation, the reverse osmosis membrane, water treat water main number one on Quest to drive, which you know, one of these days it's going to be over. Um I think they're
going to start putting some saw in I think tomorrow. Um, so I I I cherish that day where it'll look it'll look better. Um, but great project as far as, you know, the future of the village. Hopefully, you know, we put those pipes in, we won't have to worry about them
for another 100 years. Um, uh, imple implementation of the hydrant maintenance program, tracking, documentation, the hydrant conditions, some portable, reliable firefighting service, and then, uh, development of water treatment master plan. you guys
got the the whole um draft presentation from Allison and the consultant uh at the last meeting. That was a a highlight of getting that done. I think one of the initiatives that Allison brings up on these slides, which you know I just love and warms my heart is that she's really
taken a data decision u making process uh when we were rehabbing our wells or um any maintenance to it. In the past, we'd be like, "All right, at 20 years, I think we probably should rehab our wells." Now, they're really looking at performance and and making those
decisions on which well is getting rehabbed based on the performance of those wells. So, I think she's done a really good job of the data decision uh data driven decision-m process. Uh increased technology utilization. We are
modernizing that SCADA software um and upgrade. I think that would be really big for our system just to bring us into the the you know the modern age. Um she is doing a good job pursuing funding opportunities. You know some of this funding that we're getting is the SRF
funding which is very low interest rates um for for doing some of these projects. I know she's you know scouring for grants and other opportunities. I think the next biggest one is really some of the some of the loan forgiveness SRF funding. Hopefully we can get some of
that because we do have some major projects still coming for the water treatment plant coming uh coming up. And then increased customer outreach. I think she's done a really good job. The water department as a whole has done a really good job reaching out and trying to do as much as they can on just
education. You guys saw I mean just the darling kids that were at the council meeting. You know, just seeing the education and some of the new things that they're doing over here. I think it's been great projecting that position. Um, and so starting 25, we were at $15 million. We
used uh some some um some of our capital um to fund some of that. And so we when we hit 26 or when we projected at the end of 26 to be a little bit under that, $14 million. And you look at our use of uh our revenue versus expenditures and
the use of our our fund balance there. Um we're we're right about where we project to be right about where we are at the end of 26. Um we do have some large projects. So you somebody sees like, well, you have $14 million first. It helps us with some some interest and be able to get some um some investments
in there. But we do have some major projects coming that we hope to be able to pay go instead of uh issuing debt for revenue projections. Um you'll see that this slide matches the next one which is the expenditures but it's kind of broken
down on how where those revenues come from and then the next slide will be kind of where those expenditures go what you know administration production distribution customer service renewal replacement and then the capital pro project capital improvement fund. So, we
are expected to get some debt proceeds, some SRF funding for the water treatment plant and water main project and be able to um we'll also have those same expenditures for that for those accounts. The ongoing projects and I know
Allison's been out and her team has been I keep saying Allison, but I know her team does does a lot as well. Um doing presentations for that that's coming in the next month or so. uh the Beach Road doing that water man replacement. Jupiter and the Pines is a is another large water main project that's coming.
Um that has not been funded. We are going to the August meeting for inclusion to hopefully get funded for that project through the SRF funding. Um if it does, we might we'll be mobilizing March or April, February, March, April next year. We'll have a couple of
decision points for council to approve that contract that'll be coming like November, December. Um and then the surficial well rehabilitation, the water raw main, the pigging and then the water treatment plant efficiency upgrades,
storm water fund. Um we did complete the do ditch um living shoreline in partnership with Jupiter. Um and then we lined roughly or approximately 318 ft of storm water drainage pipes. And then um
we did regrade approximately 3,270 ft of that. This next year the initiatives are to imple implement the asset management platform to improve system tracking and maintenance, pursue funding opportunities including grants to support major capital investments. We are planning on aligning 153 linear feet
of storm water pipe. Um, and that's over in the Golf View Drive area. And then 615 ft of linear feet swells from Beacon Street to Evergreen projected uh unrestricted net position for the storm water. Um, you'll see at
the bottom line at the end of 27, we are projected 316,000. We are holding back some of our some of our expenditures so that we can try to build up this reserve a little bit. As you guys know, this was always the one and still is uh the concern for the village. We don't want
to have to, you know, implement any kind of capital charge or really raise the fees fees, you know, more than the CPI or the the normal uh increase that we do every year. So, we've been we're trying to hold some money back to try to build up reserves. So, if we do have an
emergency expenditure, we aren't using general funds to cover those. We'll have some funds in the storm water uh some some monies in the storm water fund. Uh you guys have this in your backup might be easier to read it, but these are our capital projects that we have
lined out. It's our capital improvement plan. You'll see in the very top section the total general fund revenues. Those are all of our our our expenditures that we're funding with the general fund. Um, so you'll see, you know, the the $710,000 for road and the $200,000 for
sidewalks. We do have the Lucas compression device for fire department. And we do have a under the equipment purchases um a trailer for public works. Um, as you get into the second category, you have that infrastructure sax and
utility tax funding. As you guys know, that infrastructure sir tax is we no longer receive revenues. We still have some funds built into there. Um, and those are our estimated expenditures. We don't feel like we'll have much money after those. Um, but you'll see the
$300,000 that we have set aside in there for the for the radios that we that we we're not touching. So that way we have those those funds available. If we do get that $35,000 per quarter or roughly $140,000 a year, we'd set that aside and
that would help us release that $300,000 for some other capital expenditures. Um the next category is is the what we're using from reserves to fund some of those projects. And so you'll see old Dixie and then you'll see those other
building improvements. So those haven't been a priority for us. We do have them in our 5-year plan. Every year we we put those projects in our ML what is it? What what do you call it Doug? LMS um for some funding. So, if there are there
is some funding available, we can get some of those building improvements done like impact windows. I think there's generator in there. Uh I don't remember all the projects, but those projects are not uh critical to the village. We'd love to be able to do those, especially if we can be a part of that program and
get some funding for them. So, um and then then you get into some of the storm water fund. Um the the storm water fund expenditures through the capital are are next. Um and then going into the last page, you'll see some of the the water
treatment or the water the utility fund um and what their expenditures are. So our vehicle replacement fund or proposed purchases proposed purchases. Um the vehicle patrol vehicles, we typically try to replace those on a
5year cycle. The police pickup truck is is 10 years old. We do have that. Um the police coop's vehicle we have 30,000 set aside for that. I think one of our our plans is to um take the building vehicle that we have for the building official
that is replaced at 6 years. We will have to um depreciate that value and pay the building fund. So it may not be $30,000. We just estimate because that was the purchase price. But we we plan on giving the coops uh an SUV that the
that the building department is. And so we'll be able to get that at a discounted rate. And then the two water utility trucks. This next slide is kind of the start of what I always do every year is is matching our our budgeting to what we've
strategically planned for. And I promise I'm getting close to the end. Um budgeting strategically. So there is four categories that we have operated physically responsible government. The only one that was in this category was what we talked about
was a non-advorum assessment for fire. We talked about it and we we we decided we were going to hold off on that until after we decided what was going to happen with property taxes. Well, now we have a pretty good idea where where we're heading with that. Um I do think
that we should really consider this um as kind of the future um the future of the village and what we look at when we're losing revenues. we should be able to recoup some of these costs through a non-advelorm assessment. Then if property taxes doesn't, you know, do
what it it it need that we think it's going to do um we don't have to implement or we can reduce we can reduce the millage rate by the same cost of the non-advorum assessment. And so I do think uh we should really we should consider this in the near future. Um I
do uh I am looking at having a consultant come in and and just give a presentation on what non-advorum assessment would mean for us and for the village. Um and so that was priority eight on our uh strategic um plan. Um
however I'd like to see us or or at least entertain the idea or have discussion about moving that forward. Um some of the other priorities so protect community parents character and identity uh council priority initiatives was request a park redevelopment. We
still have not got a probable cost. He sent me an email saying that they are having trouble getting their v their subs to give them final cost. Um he did he did estimate that it's you know it's going to be more if we when we break it into phases. He did tell me this and he
said he's probably estimating $4 to5 million per phase. So, similar to what we had talked about before, we just don't have any solid numbers. There's nothing budgeted at this point for Tquesta Park redevelopment. Um, consider Remembrance Park phase three.
Um, we talked about the developer matching $125,000. We'd match $125,000. We have not put anything in writing with that developer. We have not budgeted for it. However, if we do move forward with this, we can pull that from unassigned fund balance. Um my recommendation was
would be to see if we can further develop that conversation with developer and we'll bring that back to council for consideration and then you guys could decide how we want to fund that that project beautifification Dixit that that is included in this budget with using an
unassigned fund balance consider remember it's park phase two that's priority six in in our in our strategic plan however uh we didn't budget for this we put in the strategic plan last couple years. The next step is really the planning stage, which is estimated
$125,000. The estimated project u cost for that is $1.2 million. We have not budgeted for this. Uh any and all of these items council can consider. Um my suggestion would be figure out what happens in November and then come back
in November and if you know if the property tax you know maintains stays the same and doesn't doesn't get passed then we can consider some of these items and and how we fund those in a in a future conversation. Consider tree planting phase two. This has been in our
strategic plan or our capital plan for the last 5 years and it's kind of shifted. So we still have this funded phase two. It was always uh to be funded after the water man um water main one project and so we're getting close to that and so the next year in theory we
would fund that uh the planting of trees along um to Questa Drive and kind of that second phase. I do know there you know there's been conversation about considering that or even holding off on that one at this point. Um and so I didn't you know might
be one to bullet point for us to discuss tonight. um and how you guys want to move forward with that, but it is planned uh to get paid for out of the infrastructure sir tax um that we have available and infrastructure sir tax and utility tax. It's it's kind of a a mix.
Um county line beautifification, that's the one that we're working with Martin County. Um this has been put on hold obviously because of property taxes. Um they were working on a conceptual design for us and so currently we're this is kind of on hold. So, I don't know if we'll be able to pick this up back after
November or not. FEC rideway beautifification. I know this one was was also added after we talked about the medians. Also continuing with the ride ofway beautifification. I think for us, we we haven't funded it yet, but I think we'll continue to try to move forward,
get a maybe a rendering in place, um and then even look at having more in-depth conversation with FEC and those costs. But um my recommendation we wait till after November for that as well. The last one deliver sustain high
quality municipal infrastructure and services. You'll find the first two are are kind of our invest in critical infrastructure reliability high quality water system. Those systems um you'll see that we've made some investments with our capital improvement plan. Storm water resilience through funding. We
we've made some investments there. I think we still have a ways to go but I think we're making some strides there. the mobility plan, the connectivity projects um is priority seven. I I know that there was a desire to, you know, even if we don't do one of those major
projects in the mobility plan is look for connectivity projects. Um we we have put together a connectivity project or a sidewalk project. um with Dover Road and the the three streets funneling in that um we estimate the cost for that to be
400,000 um with an estimated engineering cost of 30,000. I think the biggest the biggest challenge with that, you know, if we decide to move forward with that is really just educating our public, you know, we do have to take back some rideway over there on do and so that's always painful when you talk about that.
But um that if council wants that project, you know, we're looking at $430,000 in cost for for that new connectivity project. Um and then mobility assessment because of Senate Bill 1A, we are limited on that. Um but we were expecting if we wanted to
initiate a mobility uh impact fee, um that estimated cost is around $100,000. We have not budgeted for that at this point either. And then there's some safety enhancements that were part of that mobility plan we had, you know, like Willow. U we still have to work on some
estimated costs for that. Um if if council wants to move forward with that or wait um some other items that are not part of the not including the budget. We've been doing that $10,000 for either adopt a tree or tree giveaway project. We did
not fund that. That neither one of those projects has been very successful. We are talking about doing a tree giveaway project. our plan in the next month or so because we have those funds budgeted. Um but currently we don't have them budgeted in the 26 27 budget.
And then obviously just wanted to show and highlight that we still do have uh over a million dollars in expenditures for Constitution Park coming and just be mindful of that and really try to lean forward on that because if uh we're using uh general fund revenues to fund
our some of our capital projects, we will have to consider that. Next steps in the process, um Palm Beach County property appraisers certify our taxable values by July 1st. Uh we will need to set the maximum set the rates for storm water solid waste annual rates
at the first meeting in July um for submission to Palm Beach County appraiser. Um the deadline for each is the end of July. Village council will set the maximum millage rate to be used at the first meeting in July. This rate cannot be exceeded and must be filed by
the early August for the trim. So when we get to the July decision, you can set the maximum tax rate from there at the next meeting. You can always go down. you just can't go up. So, you know, if we set the maximum tax rate at the current rate, 6.45, and then through
discussion, you guys decide you guys want to lower the millage rate, we always can. Um, but it would be uh recommendation to to set the millage rate 6.4595, but you know, the council can decide what you guys want to do with that. Continued consideration. These are just
kind of some of the things. Obviously, the economy uh we are it's performing pretty well. We do we have been doing extremely well and I say Jeff and the finance department with investments. So we have u been receiving a lot of um revenue from from investments is as the
economy kind of cools off um just be mindful of that. Uh health insurance cost continues to rise and and the state says we're going to see some property or some uh some property insurance relief. Uh only time will
tell, but uh hopefully as those prices continue to rise, uh fuel prices has remained high, hopefully we'll see some um some relief from that soon. Um salaries and benefits um we just continue to be market competitive. You
know, we never we're kind of like lag in the field. We never want to be the leaders. We love to be the leaders, but um you know, from the budgeting standpoint, we always just try to make sure that we stay competitive. property tax, the legislative process, and the property tax that's obviously on
the the forefront. And then uh capital needs with that sunset of the sir tax. We just be mindful that most of our expenditures we're paying for capital moving forward are going to be from the general fund taxes. Um and so that'll be significant. Um don't need to go into it. I have it
available, but I mean a couple of slides. This was just showing that the the do road connectivity project. um and then the the the side roads that go with that. But with that, uh I turn it over to you guys for discussion and any
future direction you want to give council. Said this is very preliminary. This is kind of the first the first step. If you want future discussion teed up, we can do that. If you want some additional information, provide that. But at this point, we're turning the
budget over to you guys. >> Thank you, Jeremy Council. I'll open it up for discussion. >> Um, not a whole lot of of feedback. I mean, I am in agreement with where we are and your recommendations. Um, so, but you
answered any of my questions when we had our agenda review. So, I don't really have anything. I mean, it's a tough position to be in. Um, Jeff's done a and the village has done a great job, you know, putting us where we are. Um, and we've got a little bit of wiggle room,
but uh I'd like to see us take that 438 483,000 and add it to the unassigned reserves just for you never know and then if depending on what happens and maybe somehow we can figure out how to get it back to the residents some point.
So, but I like what I'm seeing. >> No comment right now. I'm good. >> So, I'm going back to back to when I was managing a concrete pipe facility in Oklahoma during 2008 2009.
I really wish I had a year and a half leadup time to make decisions about a a financial impact. Um I probably would have done things differently than having to terminate positions and so forth. So, with that being said, um you know,
when you think of that we potentially have a revenue decline coming our way. Um I think we should do anything we can this year to address that or try to get ahead of it. I don't know what that is, but I do
think we should try to do something um as much as we can because I feel like this will pass and you we will have to come up with another what was it 600 $700,000 next year and almost 2 million the following year. So, it's kind of
like eating an elephant. You got to take a bite a little bit each day. Um and I think you've done a good job and we we're headed in that right direction. Um, there's no doubt that we are, I think, pretty good stewards of our residents money, but I do think we need to do more.
>> Yeah. Know, I think you guys did a great job. Extremely thorough. I do 100% agree with Kyle. It's like we're planning for something that may not even happen, but um there's also a very good likelihood it does happen, and I I agree. I don't
know what those things are. Um, but just doing whatever we can to prepare for that. Um, otherwise no no questions. I'm sure we will have more as we continue to dive in, but I think you guys did an awesome job. >> Um, but so if the property tax reform
passes, is that revenue loss felt next year or the year after? Because on that chart Oh, you have the Can you go to the next? It's really >> So it's really going to >> It's showing 2028, >> right? It's going to it'll it'll everything will be captured. It'll be
captured as of starting as of January of 27. That's when property values will be captured and that's when the tax rate that'll be used. So it will affect next year's budget process. >> Next year's budget process, not the budget we're not the budget we're
approving. Correct. This year, >> correct? Not this year's budget. So which is what we you know what with staff and as we went to the drawing board and obviously talking to other cities is you know the the general consensus and even what we felt is really trying to address this budget.
We've been very conservative. We haven't included any really new initiatives and you know could we not do the tree program? Could we not do a couple of those small Absolutely. We can we can even cut back a little bit further. Um, and then as we get to where we're
talking about, you know, 7 $800,000, we're talking it's a lot deeper conversation that I think we we all need to have. I think, you know, the the conversation about fire assessment, you know, would be a conversation that I think council needs to have and if we're
willing to take on that, I still think that there's still going to be some cuts that we'll that we'll still be looking at. I don't I don't think that we want to take a 60% voter, you know, voter that they pass this thing and still not give some kind of relief on the property tax side, but I think ultimately when
you look at, you know, four years three, four, five, like um there's not enough expenditures to to cover that in our budget. And I and I say that pretty confidently without start talking about people. >> Yeah. I think I mean it's really disappointing the position we're in,
right? Because like the manager said, we've been working towards setting oursel up for the future and being able to lower the military and we're there. We could have lowered the we we still could I'm not till it's over until our September budget hearings cuz who knows
what happens with litigation with property tax reform. Um there there could be an opportunity maybe to lower it depending on on how things go between now and September. But you know that's a difficult decision to make. Do we give relief for one year knowing that the
reform could happen and then we'd have to >> raise the miller rates again after that? I mean, we're in a we're in a really tough position right now and it's just it's really disappointing. So, I was really excited to potentially be able to lower that miller rate this year, >> but you can explain it based on 100%
permission. >> But like it's just, you know, it's disappointing for us because we've worked really hard to get here. Um, but like I said, who knows what happens between now and September. Um, I have just some miscellaneous comments and they're in no order, so I'm kind of all
over the place. On the the building fund, those projections account for the fee adjustments that we're going to be making in July. >> Yeah. So, >> okay. So, that's per what we're going to be seeing next month. >> So, our plan is to set our fees to cover
100% of our expenditures in there. I mean because you have to set it by a formula and we've we've we've done that. We found one, but we're setting those so we recoup 100% of our expenditures. >> Okay. And then um I I do want to pause
on the tree canopy enhancement of 75,000. I think if we continue to move forward with the old Dixie project, there are uh plan to be trees in that median. I think that can kind kind of count as tree canopy enhancement. Um I
would really like to see the funds um again not knowing what the future is right now. You know that 75,000 can go towards roads down you know in the future if we need to sidewalks. So the fact that we are moving forward with old Dixie for now um and that will um be
trees with that I I just think we should not include that 75,000 tree canopy enhancement this year. for the roads and sidewalks. Can you tell do you know what they are for this upcoming year? Can you tell us? I don't that wasn't on the agenda and I know Jeremy and I talked about it and we we
met today so we didn't have much time to get all my answers before the meeting so I apologize. >> Absolutely, Mayor. Um right now uh the plan is to move back to Quest Pines. Um their locks has some lining they have to
complete and then we're looking to melon pave to quest pines west and at the same time go back into the country club community and possibly uh country club circle and or uh toquesta circle
and as we move forward we'll we'll see what those roads look like but that's what I have on on the plan right now. And what about sidewalks? >> Sidewalks, we're going to continue on Willow. Um we have a lot of um non-compliant sidewalk throughout that
entire community. And then staff will continue throughout Questa Pines through our operating cost uh repairing sidewalk and grinding with our grinding machine. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> But no new sidewalks. >> What's that? >> No new sidewalks. Just maintenance.
>> No connectivity at this point. Right. We did have Doitch in there if if we were going to move forward with that. >> Yeah. >> I don't think that was in our back either, was it? >> It wasn't because it's not included in the budget. Um, and I know that um Mr. Sartori asked me for it in our
one-on- ones and so I thought, let me throw it in the backup just in case the question comes up and he prods me again in front of everybody. So, I was ready for it. Um, but this is this is the pro. So, there's only been two sidewalk projects, new projects that have been
talked about since I've been here since 2019. One was the let me get my bearings. The toquesta drive as you go westbound is going to be on the north side kind of in that unincorporated area. And at the time,
council decided we didn't really want to spend money in the unincorporated area of Palm Beach County. So, we decided we didn't want to do a sidewalk there. So, we put in the kind of the buttons so you can cross the street. The only other sidewalk project that's as a new project that's been talked about since I've been
here is Dover project, which will help connect, you know, this this street cuz it it stops at Constitution Park and then um there's no sidewalk there. There's also several streets that, you know, that connect to that and even on the other side of Sequesta Drive,
there's a couple places that just have a sidewalk and just stops to nowhere. So, I think this is kind of the first step the project to add a sidewalk if we're going to. Um, we have not funded it at this point, but if council wants it in, we can put it in um in the budget.
>> Are the residents on do requesting it? >> Next question. >> I we have had a couple to that end. Um, you know, I it's not because I live on Dover, but living on Dover and you know, we now have people
that walk, run, we've got ebikes and we have cars all sh all fighting for space on the road. >> And it stops as you go from my house toward it stops right at Norfolk and then it doesn't pick up again until you
hit um the park itself. So, it would get a lot of people. That's a very very busy street and it that's my that's why it's my desire. It just it's I I think it's a health, safety, and well-being of our of our residents to try to connect that.
>> Yeah, that's been on the radar for at least three years, especially when uh they redid the park, provide that connectivity. So many uh parents are walking with their children and strollers and so we've been looking at that. It's just to realize it's more than just sidewalk. Yeah.
>> Right. Because we just place sidewalk out there. There's no place for water to run off. So you are talking about taking back rightway and building swailes first and then adding the sidewalk. That's what's going to drive the cost up and that's the biggest impact to the
residents that live on do. >> Okay. Thank you Doug. And then uh speaking of swells, since you brought that up, but this might be more Allison question. Um looking through the storm water fund plans for next year, the three swell projects we did this year,
are they complete? And if so, were they successful? >> They actually are not complete. They're about to be completed this year. They're we're scheduling the work with the contractor right now. >> They'll be done before the fiscal year is over. >> Yes. We typically try to wait for the
the lining and the swale regrading. It's like a special sweet spot before the rain starts too bad. Um but also a little bit later in the fiscal year to make sure we don't have any major um failures of storm water pipes that we would have to pay for and not have money
in the budget to pay for those failures. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, when it comes to AI, I know that um, there was I think mostly for the clerk's office, you guys have been great in utilizing AI and I think that is fantastic and we should keep moving
forward in that. I am curious um, is that saving us any money like what are what is it's making us more efficiency but what benefits are we like garnering from using AI? at this point the efficiency although you know in finance we may
>> and and this is a conversation we talk about hedging a little bit um you know we we're doing kind of a say a light hiring freeze we had a finance position that just left or is leaving tomorrow we are going to hold off on hiring that
position until at least November which put us short but because of what Jeff has done with AI and being able to utilize AI to help reconcile some of the bills and some of that we are able to uh probably should be able to absorb some of that work at least for a temporary
period. So, um it does make us efficiency in that situation. It's going to save us some money. >> Okay, awesome. I mean, that's what I like to hear. That's the point of AI, right? It should save obviously make us more efficient, but hopefully save some more money as well in the long run.
So I when I when I I want to just go back and say that, you know, we're we're going to do a a hiring freeze. You know, it's not going to be like ironclad hiring freeze like, you know, we lose a police officer, we're not going to fill that position. We're going to really look at those critical positions still,
but you know, some of the some of the some of the work that we can absorb, even though it might be tough, we're going to try to do at least until November just to see because there's nothing worse than, you know, hiring somebody just to fire them. >> I mean, so >> that cost us money, too, that a that's
just >> bad morale, but then it it costs us money, right? Um uh just so council knows, I did request the manager to send the general fund operating cost history um line graph adding a revenue line
item. I thought that would be good to see on there to see how that's trended, especially for public transparency with all the rhetoric uh that's we've been hearing from the state. I'd like to really see where that lands. on the reserves. Um,
I know I've brought this up in the past, 3 months is our target, but I think it's, you know, if there's a catastrophic event, we're going to need more than 3 months of money to front before we start seeing any relief from FEMA or other sources. So, um I know there's been past um council members
that has said we, you know, looks like we're hoarding taxpayer dollars, but I just want to throw that out there again that a well a we have capital projects that we're going to want to get done. even if property tax relief doesn't um pass, we're probably going to use reserves for some capital projects. But
um yeah, we're based on, you know, um what happened on the West Coast, you know, the past couple hurricane seasons, they I'm talking and I Jeremy had reached out to some of the city managers over there. I mean, they they blew through their three months like in a month like >> so we're going to need that money. And
then I don't know, I know FEMA was talking about raising their threshold for reimbursement. Did that happen? >> It did happen, I think. What? >> So that's official. Yeah. >> So that was my other concern because if there's again a cat catastrophic situation, the county is going to, you
know, exceed that threshold. But if there's a smaller event, which we've had in the past, or there's like, you know, a tornado in Delray or Milton maybe would have made the threshold, but we've had some damage and we've had, you know, um, uh, activate the EOC. we might not
get reimbured for that now because a threshold's been raised. So, um I I would love to know is it is it official? Is it >> Yeah, it did it did pass. I know when we looked at the number and I can't remember off the top of my head, you know, most of the stuff like when we had those tornadoes last year and even the a
couple of these programs have all, you know, exceeded the the county threshold. some of the smaller stuff. That's the concerning part like you're saying is that if we activate and we, you know, we don't really get hit by a lot, especially a lot of like debris clean up and things like that, we're not going to
be reimbured for those overtime cost or any of that. So, we'll have to front those and not not receive any recoup those costs if it's if it's minor, >> right? >> Again, another reason that, you know, having those reserves in more than three months um is is wise. And I again I'm
just throwing this out as a refresher um from last year. It's all it's all things we need to consider especially if the property tax reform passes. And um other kind of minor things that we could consider I'm curious about too um if we have to pivot with the tax reform. You
know right now we're budgeting for like credit card fees and charges because we pay those. Um, a lot of businesses of course, you know, charge that 3% convenience fee or whatever it's called if you use your credit card. Um, you know, anywhere we could save money, we
should be looking into, but I don't know what's common practice like do other cities always absorb that cost or some cities charging a convenience fee. be curious on that if um staff can look into that because again like we might need to be thinking where we can save
money anywhere. And then um my last comment is if staff hasn't already um I had I think you all know I'm on the board for Florida League of Cities and we had our a board meeting two weeks ago and um they really
reviewed again the grant assistance program that FLC offers and they've um it's really grown. They've really enhanced it and I don't know if staff's looked into it in the past but I just want to read some statistics that they um gave to us. There's been uh 221
million in grant funding applied for by FLC member cities. 100 million is currently under management and over 10,000 grants are accessible through member uh to member cities through the expanded access. So, if staff hasn't already, um, I think it might be
beneficial to look into the FLC grant assistance program, um, and get familiarized with that sooner than later. Uh, because that might be a tool that we'll should start utilizing, um, more to help us find find grants. I know
our staff is great at it. I know we have some grant writers that we use as well, but I just want to throw it out there because I think any resources that we have at our disposal uh will be really good to use to find other funding sources. All right, that's all I have.
Is there any other council comments or questions? >> I'm just thinking out of the box. I'm thinking of Northcom and how we kind of joined other municipalities to consolidate a service Is there any other services that we can think about consolidating into other
municipalities coming together in some aspects or another? So, just continue to think out of the box of what could those things be? >> Well, our two, you know, just just for discussion, our two major ones would be police and fire. We, you know, we do have in our charter that they have to be
it has to be approved by voters for us to contract that out. uh I don't think they're you know unless citizen has changed I don't think there's ever been a desire to contract those out. So those are our two biggest expenses. I mean if you start looking at you know code
compliance is a is a popular one that sometimes gets shared. Not not a lot but I mean our costs are $100,000 total for for that department. It's not um and so yeah we can look at those things. I don't think there's going to be a lot of meat on the bones for the rest of them.
But I I I I hear you. We'll look at anything we can. We got a lot I got a lot of things in the notebook that if this thing happens, we're going to bring back to council for consideration. So >> I think everything's on the table. >> Yeah. >> I'm assuming at your manager meetings you guys are talking about this stuff.
>> Yeah. We have the same panic as everybody does. >> Start thinking of solutions. I think, you know, our our discussion has been around there's a lot of cities that are going to be considering, you know, that that special assessment. I
know North Palm's going to they're going to pass three of them if it passes. I mean, they're waiting um which I don't know that we want to wait, but they're going to be we already have two of them. We have the refuge and recycling. We have that as a nonatum. Now, they talking about storm water. some of those
things are already built into our general fund and they're also going to consider a fire assessment and I think so I think generally along the area fire assess assessment is the topic of conversation because you have the ability even if you pass that you have
the ability not to charge the whole thing and you can charge by a percentage you know you can you can move that around with your millage rate lower your millage rate and so um there's quite a few advantages to doing that especially with property tax reform. That's a big one. So,
>> all right. And then people are are paying for the service too that they might, you know, be receiving where the way it's set up now, if the, you know, the 700 something plus homes don't um pay taxes anymore, they're not paying for the service. So, that kind of makes
it a little even across the the board for something like that. Okay. Anything else? No. And there is no public here, so I am not taking public comment tonight. With that, can we get a motion to adjurnn?
>> So move. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All righty.