Everything is >> uh I think if you said can I hear you? >> I cannot. Very light. >> Hold on. Stand by. That's me. >> All right, let's try now.
>> Yes. Okay, Patrick, can you hear us? >> Yeah, that's much better. >> Perfect. Okay. This is when we need the elevator music. waiting for >> 10 more minutes till 6 p.m. So you're you're being in person at the
um back meeting, but next month's when you're zoom here, right? I fix the move >> for July. Yeah. >> Yeah. You pushed it back a week. >> Just for you. >> Yeah, we did it just for you. >> That worked out. That was I was so happy
>> about that. Yeah, that whole issue went away. >> Good. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Help with a couple people's schedules. Summers can be tricky. >> Usually they have another meeting. Keith >> Yes, >> Keith wanted to be halfway home tonight.
I don't think that's >> Yeah, >> Julie. I like the new pictures. Julie, thank you for >> Oh, those are by you. >> She was here today and I saw her saw her sneak in today and put some new pictures up. So, >> I'll finish off the other wall tomorrow.
>> Lovely. All right, it is officially 6:00 p.m. So, I'd like to go ahead and call tonight's meeting to order. It's June 29th, 2026, and we are starting tonight with a special council meeting. Lori, can I get roll call, please? >> Mayor Young,
>> here. Vice Mayor Painter >> here. >> Council member Brandon >> here. >> Council member Sartorii >> here. >> Here. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda? >> I'll make a motion. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I >> I right. Are there any communications from citizens for items that are not on the agenda tonight? >> Okay. And on to the one and only agenda item one, resolution number 10-26,
which is a resolution adopting a revised building department fee schedule to meet new state law. Wayne, >> as Wayne's on his way up, just uh say there was, you know, several bills that have passed um that have an effect on what we do. We typically go through this
process after legislation, you know, passes and legal provides us an update, talks about all the things we need to change. We usually have a little bit of time to to make these changes. This one takes effect July 1. I know that Wayne has been working for the last
month or so to try to uh work on a new way of of doing our fees. Most municipalities charge by valuation. So, we had to come up in a quick amount of time, come up with another way uh to do that where we can capture our our
revenue and still provide services in the building department and try to balance that budget with our with our permit fees. And so, uh I know we looked at several municipalities um and building departments and how they do it. I think we came up with a very uh good
solution uh currently um to try to recoup our fees. I I will say that we and I'm sure Wayne will cover too will be monitoring this closely to to check our revenues and make sure that this is appropriate for our department to make sure we recoup our our fees. And so with
that, Wayne will give a presentation. >> Uh good evening, mayor, uh vice mayor, council. Um as Jeremy says, uh yeah, we didn't have much time to uh uh move on this. as soon as the legislature says that hey July one it's going to be law
and the governor signed it we just uh had to full speed ahead. Um so basically a lot this is the direct impact of um house bill 803 uh in which uh fees that are presently
collected in the building department are done based on the value of uh the contract value that's been put on the permit application. uh the uh House bill um a little bit of history uh 310 on the Senate side, 1090
on the House side and with an effective date of July 1. So basically what we try to do here was address those statutory requirements which prohibits the building permit fee to be based on the cost of a project. So
it's got to be based on the cost incurred by the village and that's what we've tried to do here um and and are doing here. Uh one more change that is also applicable just for your notice um
is what new permits um which are valid on the 7500. That was another significant uh new item that was um introduced uh for items that does not include structural, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, gas. Those jobs still
require permits and if they're in a flood zone, it requires permits. So, we're expecting that there's going to be a request from residents and I just want you to be aware that that stuff will be coming, but it's it's there are limitations and it's an exemption. So,
they have to apply for the exemption and we have to put a process in place uh for that. So, moving along to the building permit uh uh proposal that we've got tonight to discuss. So the new permit that we're
going to um how we're going to be calculating it uh will be based upon the cost incurred by the village and that is the cost of labor personnel providing such services clerical and supervisory assistance as required by
law. We're also going to have the not just the valuation permit but also a fixed fee permit system depending upon smaller permits like water heaters and air conditioning and stuff like that not just new homes. I'll go through those
examples as we go through uh the the presentation. Um but other disciplines which is drainage, landscaping, uh engineering, flood plane management, fire protection, zoning compliance right away, those are not included in in in
the in the bill of uh 803. That was just directly related to building fee permits only. So here is the uh new fee multiplier. What we've taken here is uh the national standard which is the ICC international
code council standard cost of construction uh multiplied by the gross square footage of a project and then the cost multiplier of 0.0217 0217. That's the cost multiplied at the village uh it
cost the village actual cost to to to produce the permit and that equals to the fee. The next slide is going to go into how do we come up with let me go back a notch. I want to talk about the cost multiplier. How do we come up with a cost multiplier? Um and that's what this slide is doing.
What we've done is look at our actual expenses for last year. Every year the by December 31st the building department publishes through it's on our website what the department actually cost to run. Uh last year that number was 1.1
million. Um that also that translates to how much square footage of development that was done in the village and that's how you get your multiplier of 00217. Um uh the evaluation system is what was
being used. Uh the other part of the code says 109.3 Florida building code the final building permit evaluation shall be set by the building official. So we use that uh line to determine what this multiplier is going to be and then
that's how the valuation was set up. The standard that's being used as I said is an industry standard national standard um which is the ICC building code valuation and basically if you look at the highlighted number what a cost of a
single family home would be is 194 67 I think that is uh but that's that's that is a factor that's being used to come up with this number that's for the ones 194.67 67 cost per square foot
comes from. This is an example of uh a new single family home 4500 ft² u multiplied by that cost multiplier which is the one highlighted right here in orange
gives you the new permit fee. This will be a little bit less than almost 25% less than what we're currently using right now. So, we are expecting a little bit of a reduction, but that again is reflective of our actual cost to run the department. Um, the number below is what we're
collecting right now currently. Uh, the the permit fee for a 4500T home, it would be a cost of 1.2 million uh by a 2% multiplier gives you $24,000 uh when you're using the cost of construction
number versus uh the valuation number. Um the fixed fees which I mentioned, these are examples of some of those fixed fees that's going to be there. You've got an AC unit, straight number, $16,4.30. Uh shutters, garage door, just basic
fees and that's already calculated based as again on what the actual cost for the department to start to finish uh for a a a permit. Any questions? >> Thank you, Wayne. Council council open
up for discussion. >> Thank you, Wayne. I know it was a short fuse on this one. So, we think overall that our building department is going to see a 25% reduction. Is that a fair assessment? >> That's what we're looking at. >> So, 25% reduction.
>> So, can I can I let me interrupt that? And I don't think Wayne touched on it. So, we have the 2% valuation, but we've been charging less. So, we've been charging 1% the last several years because we reduced it because our building department was recouping. We had some big projects. So, we haven't
been charging a two a full 2% valuation currently. So, going using that 2% valuation, it's pretty comparable. So, we'll we'll obviously have to look at that. We were already looking at when we were going to have to move that back to
2%. So, it won't cover the whole 2%, but we haven't been we haven't been needing the whole 2% anyway. So, you know, I I don't know if you have anything to add to that, but I I think we're going to be okay, but we're going to be monitoring very closely for the next several months.
>> That one figure of 164 and change. >> That is what we think it costs our that's our personnel time. That's the That's the personal time, the processing, the phone calls, the emails, actually doing the review, getting the permit out, and doing an inspection
>> for for an average >> for an average air conditioner or or garage door or water heater. Um, when it gets a little bit more complex, um, then like with shutters or additional windows, then it has, uh, an additional
cost if you have. So, we we did not we wanted to be fear um and and and relative to the type of work being done. >> So the time to and that takes to review a new construction or renovation is not
the same time it takes to do an AC change out with inspections or plan reviewing. And so these numbers are reflective of what the actual cost looks like. >> So all the time and effort time and material >> and you're as comfortable as you can get. This is
>> this is this is what it is >> before we're getting Yes. Yes. >> Okay. Thanks. >> So, talk about those numbers. Just for curiosity, what is it now? >> Because when I had my AC changed out years ago, I didn't do it. The contractor did it, right? >> Is that comparable to what it was?
>> This is comparable to where it is right now. Yes. >> Okay. >> And that's what we try to do. We try to keep the numbers on our boat or to where to where it's going to look like in the future. And again, we're we're planning on revisiting this in the future. See
how this works out and then we go again. But it gives us a like a baseline to work from. Secondly, it was based on what last year's numbers were. And then we'll see what this looks like. Every year we are looking at what the department does. Um and after the fiscal
year, we'll see what the actual expenditures came in for versus projected. And then by year end, by December 31st, uh we report uh our utilization report. >> So that comes out. >> I'm looking forward to those numbers.
>> So explain the 7,500 exemption number. Does that have any impact on like changing out a hot water heater if it's >> So 7500 on these items still require a permit because it's plumbing, electrical, so that's still on there. 7500 would be um for those items
um and I'm going give you an idea would be a a a driveway um or a fence. Those don't necessarily need a building permit anymore because it falls on that exemption. They'll let us know what it is. However, it still needs zoning requirements. So, there's
still a requirement for zoning. Um, and then wherever that driveway touches the rightway, there's a there's a look for that, too. >> So, it doesn't have a a building permit cost. It does come through the building department because we're the the main conduit that that will funnel where the
various departments where this ends up at, but there is no building permit fee for those projects. >> And then the other rate that the 02 or 0.2 two something. Um, and that's based on total square footage of the previous year.
>> So the the multiplier is based on previous year. That is correct. >> And what if one year is larger than the next? I mean, obviously you got you'll recalculate annually, but do you look at it midway through the year and make an adjustment as necessary? >> What what what we'll what what we will end up doing is because it's actual
cost, we will see by the end of the fiscal year, which is October, where we are. And that gives us a chance by December to see if we need to tweak that multiplier for the for the next year. >> Okay. Okay.
>> Vice Mayor, anything to add? Is he still with us? Zoom might be gone. Okay. while we wait for that. Um, so with the permits that are under or no permit required for certain work under
7,500, >> we're still going to have work towards those because I'm assuming your team is still like code enforcement will still have to be out there to make sure whatever is being done is um meeting codes. So, we're never going to recoup those cost. >> Okay. What about I mean you brought up
driveway as an example, but of course that will go into a rideway. So, do they need to pull a permit or will they pull a permit just for the portion of the driveway and the rightway? Like, how does that work? Same with landscaping. >> We still have to pull a permit, but I can't I won't I can't charge a fee for
the building permit side for the driveway itself because the driveway still impacts the imperousness that impacts open space because then someone could just basically concrete the entire front lawn. So, we have to regulate open space. we have to regulate um the zoning
component of that. So the zoning will be charging a fee just building charging a fee. >> So zoning will charge a fee for that review for those items and obviously the rightway component will still need to be looked at as well.
>> Okay. So we'll recoup some fee but >> some fee but it's not going to exactly not >> and they would still need to submit for permit. We just don't charge a fee. >> That's correct. >> Okay. But >> from the building from the building department site. >> Okay. So is that for all work under 7500 or just certain work under 7500?
>> Just certain work. Um that's for 7500. I use fencing as another example. Um again the fences are there but from a zoning standpoint making sure you don't put a fence encroaching your neighbor's property. So it's a zoning inspection. It's not a building department inspection. So the
zoning person will look at that component and there's a a minimal fee would be be be for that we won't be we'll be losing money um because we're still involved in the process uh but we're not going to be able to charge a fee for that. So those are the those are
the things and the changes that we're looking at that we would just normally be charging a percentage for but we're not going to be able to do that um anymore. >> Okay. So it's definitely a little convoluted. So, if there's consensus with council, I would like to do some
kind of public campaign to educate on what these changes are. Um, cuz I know even now, um, under the current system, like I've had, you know, work at my house and the contractor's like, "Oh, no, you don't need a pull a permit." I'm like, "Yes, you do. I know you do. You pull a permit." And so, right now, it's
even confusing, I think, for residents on what do we pull a permit on, what don't we? So, I think it would benefit everybody to do some kind of just educational campaign on these changes like throw some out in our, you know, maybe do it on our quarterly smoke signals, do it on our Friday. Um, you
know, keep it simple. It is, it's confusing. It's already confusing and this is going to make it more confusing. >> I'm already getting a new phone call, so I know exactly what you mean. Yes. The 7500, what they're hearing is the first part. Let's say 7500, no permit. >> You're not reading the exceptions. Well,
I'm going to change the door. my electric panel. I don't need a permit. Yes, you do. So, stuff like that. You know, my electrical panel is only 2500. Why would I need a permit? It's under 75. So, we're already getting the phone call. So, you are 100% correct. >> Uh so, the intent is to do some outreach
um uh through smoke signals is to get that message out because the 7500 is very confusing. >> Okay, that'd be great. >> So, yes. >> Okay. And then um I know we get our uh balance sheets for all the funds with
the managers report uh monthly at our council meetings, but is this something maybe it' be good to bring back to council like 6 months down the road just to give us update on how it's going and you know if are we you know recouping as much as we thought based off this calculation and what the fund's looking
like and then also how like is the public education working? How's like how's that? >> I'll come back for an update. So maybe Jeremy we can just put like on our workshop running list a six-month update. Perfect. And do we have vice mayor back? >> No. >> No. Okay. Any other uh council comments
or questions? >> Not for me. >> I have not. >> Nope. Any public comment? >> Nope. All right. With that, can I get a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> I. Thank you, Wayne. >> You're welcome.
>> And can we get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. All right. Now, straight on to our workshop meeting. It is 6:18 p.m. June 29th, 2026.
And as soon as Lori gets back, we'll get roll call. Or Jeremy, do you want to do roll call? Can you do it? >> Never done. >> Uh, >> no rush. You're fine. >> My name's Kyle. >> I can just shout out my name. I don't
remember the order. Does she start with the mayor? She start with council members. >> I'm going to take notes now. Next time. Got it. >> Mayor Young >> here. >> Vice Mayor Painter
>> on. We just can't get him right this minute. Council member Brandon >> here. >> Council member Sartorii >> here. >> Council member Stone >> here. >> Thank you, Lori. All right, moving on to our first agenda item, overview and discussion regarding property and casualty and benefits health insurance.
Katherine, good evening, mayor, vice mayor, council. Thank you for having me this evening. So, this afternoon, we've invited our consultants with Garing Group to provide us an overview of our insurance programs. Similar to previous
years, we felt it would be beneficial to bring them here to the workshop so that we would have the opportunity to review and discuss um what is to expect as we prepare for renewals that will be coming in July and in August. So, first I'd
like to invite Christian Burkin. He is our senior benefits consultant. And uh without further ado, he's going to join us. And actually, we do need Lori so that we can have his PowerPoint. So, just need an extra second.
Well, I don't I didn't I have the backup, but I don't have an actual PowerPoint presentation on here so I can show you what's on the backup. Should I don't know if the PowerPoint was submitted or not. >> So, we can run through it that way. But
I don't know if we have a PowerPoint. >> All right. Good evening, mayor, counselors. Uh Christian Burkstrom with the Garing Group senior benefits consultant. Uh so the village uh in your current benefits program, you offer a comprehensive employee benefits package
uh that is fully insured for all your insurance coverage options that include medical, dental, vision, life insurance, and accidental death insurance as well as some voluntary coverages uh where employees are able to buy additional life insurance and
>> recording in progress >> as well as you offer an employee assistance program. And we can just go on to the next slide. I don't think I have control of that. Your current medical plan is uh has traditionally had less than 100
employees and therefore um your claims are blended with others to determine your premium rating. Um, if you were over 500 employees, then you would be using your own claims experience to develop your actual renewal.
Um, with the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust and the Florida Governmental Health Solutions, those are carrier pool claims in different segments which you were in prior to this current fiscal year uh with FMIT. Um so right now you
are considered a um large group. So because you do have right on the cusps of a 100 employees. So um you under 50 employees you're considered small group. And I'll go to the next slide please. So, we did a comparison and of all the
benefits that you offer and most other municipalities do have a comparable benefit benefits package to toqua. Um, there are others in the area that do offer employer paid short-term disability and long-term disability. So,
that is those are two products that the village does not current pay for for its employees. Uh benefit designs um do vary widely uh within the public sector, but public sector tends to offer richer benefits,
meaning less out-of-pocket costs for employees and their dependents. Um, so with lower deductibles, co-pays, and out-of- pocket expenses, when we do a comparison of the village to other municipal clients in Palm Beach
County, um, and we look at the employer contribution. This is how much the cities pay towards the cost of dependent coverage or all coverage. So for employees only about 96% of the coverage
is paid for by the government entity while five out of nine of them cover it at 100%. So you are at 100% for employeeonly coverage. For employee plus spouse 61% for employee plus children
61% and for families about 66%. So medical and pharmacy costs continue to increase at rates significantly higher. And we've just had some new publications just uh released uh that
the primary drivers of cost trends over the past 2 to three years and that we expect to persist into 2027 are broad economic in broader economic forces which is inflation and the labor
market within medic medical delivery. the additional inflationary and labor market impacts. Health systems will continue to battle significant financial challenges since the onset of the COVID pandemic driven by the increased cost to
deliver care. Provider burnout related to the pandemic and increased turnover has led to increased expenses for labor. These increased operating expenses for labor, supplies, and infrastructure have outpaced reimbursement rates, leading to
providers to seek historically high increases in their contract negotiations with uh insurers. prescription drugs, the GLP1s in particular, along with bioimilars are um
are still raising costs. Um in 2025 alone, we saw prescription drug claims increase over 20%. And then other key factors include behavioral health. In 2025, behavioral
health claims increased 17%. increasing volume of large claimants. So, what that means is that the volume of individuals having claims over $100,000
uh each increased 14% in 2025. the No Surprises Act implication. While it was intended to protect patients from unexpected medical bills, CMS has encountered a significantly higher
volume of payment disputes from a very small subset of providers. And these providers are typically winning these disputes and plan sponsors, the health insurers are ultimately paying fees
three to four times the typical reimbursement rate. We are also having issues with health system revenue cycle management. So with hospitals finances are being strained. For the last several years, hospitals
are working to optimize revenue streams under existing rates by leveraging technology to streamline administrative and billing tasks. And also what's driving health care costs is new medical treatment and drugs coming to the
market. Cellular and gene therapies are increasingly providing innovative treatments for growing number of rare and previously untreatable diseases. While the incident rates are extremely low, the cost for these treatments can
be in the $2 to4 million range. So other consider other projections. So for example, the business group on health is expecting a 9% increase in costs before any plan changes. The
Kaiser Family Foundation has reported that insurers are raising premiums on public exchanges by an average of 26%. CMS, which is the Center for Medicare, announced that premiums for Medicare Part B coverage would be increasing by
9.7%. And the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans anticipates a 10% increase in health care costs coming in 2027. So, we do expect to receive your initial
renewal from Florida Blue this week. Um, and then we will begin uh negotiating with them and uh bringing it to staff uh for the upcoming council meeting in August for your approval.
>> Thank you, Christian. Council comments, questions. >> Yeah, thank you very much. Very thorough. >> No questions. So, we're kind of having to be in a mandate to reduce amount of money that we're going to be receiving from potentially property tax um in the tune maybe around 10%.
What if I asked you guys to lower your cost somehow? I don't know what that solution is that you guys would know better than I would to reduce it by 10% from last year's number. Is that an exercise you guys can do? >> Yes, absolutely. Um, so this year it was decided that for the 26th October 1st
effective date since we went to bid last year, we were not going to market this year. So more than likely that would involve a market check of course uh because all other municipalities will be pretty much in the same boat. And um that will be looking at you know
different types of funding methods uh if that makes sense um in terms of how you fund the healthcare. maybe possibly taking on some more risk, self-insuring some of the risk. Um, also then, you know, the tough decision of whether or
not you pass along costs to employees and increasing deductibles, co-pays, and out-of- pocket expenses. >> That'd be my recommendation. At least see what that looks like. >> Yeah, I actually had the same exact question written down was just more in
light of what have you been I'm sure you've been presenting to other municipalities, but probably not your first. So, I was curious, have you been seeing any discussions or trends of um from other cities or or counties um that you're working with on um other ways to
fund or like you said, maybe um the cities aren't going to um pay 100% for the employee cuz that's that is common in the government and I've you know always understood that you want to remain competitive to retain um the
amazing employees we have, but at some point if the reform does pass, like we're going to have to look at other options. Um, so I was curious what you've seen other cities ask you of or what they're doing and other options that you're providing to them. I I would
like to see the same as well. >> Absolutely. So for this coming fiscal year October 1st it seems to be a pattern of everybody is wanting to keep a status quo because everybody is concerned that you know the next year
for 27 is when they are going to have to make changes. So, it seems like for this coming fiscal year, everybody is is holding the line pretty much and maintaining the benefits as is um because they know that they're going to
have to disrupt the employees and their family members in potentially the upcoming fiscal years. Um so, there are new products that have come to market, different types of um insurance, ways of
purchasing insurance. Um there is now a the Florida governmental health solutions which is a now another pulled product. Um there is a new carrier here in Florida that has a unique way of um delivering health care. It's very
different. Uh we have some customers with it already. Um but we are experiencing higher than expected renewals from that product. Um and then of course just uh a complete you know look under the hood. Um based on your
size we don't get a lot of claims detail um but again looking at different funding options we might be able to be able to see more detail um underneath that. >> And is there I can't uh Jeremy are we is this going to be on our August or
September council agenda for approval? So would there be time to workshop it again so we can see some of these other options? But I mean even if people are maintaining status quo like I'm always of the mindset if we can prepare and if there is potentially going to be impact on employees can we lessen the impact if
we plan a year in advance instead of waiting till you buy one of the other agenda items is on our agenda tonight. So if there's time to workshop it again I think that'd be beneficial if council agrees. >> Yeah. Anything we can do to not surprise the employees to give them >> absolutely
>> months and months and months the better. >> Yeah. And yes, we do plan on bringing this to you or the renewals for approval in August. >> August. So we could potentially workshop it in July one more time. >> By the way, this is our July work. So it be the August workshop. So it be like a week before our council council meeting.
>> I'm I mean I'm no expert. I defer to them. But I mean we've already we've already got Florida Blue. We're bid out. So really the options we'd be looking at is reducing you know our potential share for employees or their spouses. Those types of things. Uh reducing the
deductible. those types of options. Um, >> that's what we'd be workshopping. You know, we obviously we typically get those, like you said, the 1 of July there's a negotiation. We have a safety or health committee that looks at it. We
could workshop it, but it's going to be very limited on those options as far as you're looking at reducing those benefits for the employees. Um, so, uh, we'll have to work with them on a time frame, but it'll might be a special special workshop that we have to call for it.
>> We just well understanding what other potential funding options are because I it's not this is not my professional background. So, I don't even know what those potential opportunities are. >> All right. >> So, so what you just said, but then also any other uh professional expertise you can provide for other ways to fund and
just again think outside the box. All right. Absolutely. mayor >> might have to be doing a lot of that. >> And the other part is to remember that this will be for non-UN because we have union contracts that are in place that we can't we won't be able to affect. >> But I do think it'd be good to know this year as we go into union negotiations
next year >> knowing it prior to >> we can have a workshop. >> Vice Mayor, you back with us? You have anything? >> No, the uh this conversation just answered most of my questions. I really appreciate it. I'm good though.
>> Thank you. All right. Any other comments or questions from council? >> Ma'am. >> All right. Is there any public comment? >> Nope. Right. With that, Christian, thank you for your part of this presentation. It's It's nice seeing you in here once a year. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Christian. Next, I'd like to
welcome Rodney Lewis, the director of risk services. Good morning, mayor, council members, and vice mayor on the line. Uh, is this the PowerPoint? >> Yep. You get to drive up there. I think you have. >> Uh, so today, I know we've had, uh,
quite a bit of talk of with with insurance. And while I get excited about it and enjoy it, uh, I oddly most other people don't. Um, I'm going to try to get through this and and hopefully be as uh detailed while um
uh educated as possible and make it a little bit of fun as well. All right. So, we're going to be talking a little bit about where your current program is right now for the village of Tquesta where it stands. We're going to talk a little bit about some of the trends and what's going to be happening in the property casualty market. uh workers
compensation as it stands right now for where the uh village is and what we can expect moving forward and as well as some renewal program discussions about what it is that we're going to be move forward and doing. So first let's talk about your current property casualty
insurance program um where it is a general overview is the village has its property casualty placements with the Florida Municipal Insurance Trust. It's a risk pool created by the Florida League of Cities in order to provide uh
liability property workers compensation coverages specifically to public sectors. Uh considering that over time, years before they created this program, it became very difficult and very arduous and very costly for municipalities to seek and identify uh
insurance in this area. So this is where the village currently has its property program placed in a pool of public sector uh uh members. The current look of the program is above
here and it's a lot of lines. It's a lot of it's pretty daunting but as you can see the top section is your property coverages. Uh right now you have about 38 37 $38 million in assets covered under property under the uh FMIT
program. Um that includes your inland marine which is what we call mobileite mobile equipment. Anything that can be moved on a trailer or moved on its own but does not have a road rated registration. So, um, riding mowers,
um, ATVs, those kinds of things, all would be lumped in here under in Marine. Those assets are about 1.1.5 million. And the total property coverages that the village is paying for that is $410,976.
So that incorporates windstorm, that incorporates fire, any other damage that you might have. Your deductible for that windstorm right now for all other perils, meaning everything except windstorm is $100,000 and any windstorms
damage that you incur would be at a 5% deductible. But the coverage is for the entire $37 million of your property locations. And it's under what's called a blanket. Meaning if you've got one
building that's worth $7 million and another building that's worth 10, but on this and it changes slightly on the schedule. It showed that it was 9.6. The carrier is not going to care. We have 37 million overall. So, it's just going to use the limits and cover whatever is
taken care of. Obviously, we want our values to be accurate, but you have blanket coverage on all your assets. The next line uh is your liability coverages. That includes everything that would fall under the sovereign immunity tors uh any responsibilities that the
village would have for causing physical bodily injury or property damage to a third party public. It also includes your professional liability, things like law enforcement liability. And of course, you have auto liability and physical damage. Your liability
coverages are $2 million for the $2,500 deductible. On your auto side, deductibles changes slightly for physical damage. So, anything that you have to repair that's yours, that deductible is $1,000 for every vehicle that you have to repair. Any responsibility you have to a third
party, your deductible for that is 2500 and you carry a $2 million limit. Uh workers compensation, obviously, it's statutory um and it is set by rates published by the state of Florida each year. Um, so that covers all of your
employees, no matter whether they're law enforcement or um, clerical. And finally, you have some what we call ancillary coverages. You have you have a crime policy, storage tank liability, which provides you responsibility for any environmental damage you cause or third party damage
you cause, which things like your storage tanks, that diesel and gasoline fuel, and finally your statutory coverages for your uh, fire department. All right, that was the overview. This we did a comparison somewhat of
other entities in the general area that carried what's called guaranteed cost coverages. Now the difference between guaranteed cost, the alternate would be self-insured where you are carrying all of the uh liability and you're paying it first dollar out of your own pocket.
Sometimes you carry an excess over it. The village does not self-insure its risk. Just like with your home, you're paying a a premium to an insurance carrier. They charge you deductible and whatever damage occurs, they're paying
out of their pocket minus your deductible. That's the structure that you have. That is called guaranteed cost coverage. These are samples of all other entities within the area that we work with who are also under a guaranteed cost program. And as you can see on the
far right, the prices that they're paying for their general coverages and the PS and NPS stands for those that have public safety and those that do not have public safety. And obviously you can see the significant difference um in premium costs for the different
entities that do carry both uh police and fire uh versus those that just have police or just have fire and those that have no public safety whatsoever. So just to give you a snapshot of where the village of Tquesta stands in relation to
other entities similarly that are guaranteed costs in the area. Now a little bit of the market trend. So without getting to me this is really fun but without getting into the weeds with you here basically what we're looking at with regards to the market and this is
the property market. Um we've seen a lot of capacity uh over the last couple of years which is a breath of fresh air from say three years ago when they were just throwing 80% increases 100% increases after those myriad of
hurricanes that we dealt with. We've been knock on wood hurricane free for the last 3 years and this allowed them to be able to increase their coffers especially after raising those rates so significantly there hasn't been storms to deal with. So, what we're seeing is a
large softening in the uh property arena. They've also added greater capacity. Greater capacity means more investment in the area and opening up coverages from different carriers coming in and also participating. So, we're not shrinking the market, we're actually expanding the involvement of carriers
coming in, which helps reduce the costs as well. Uh we've had large capital influx. Uh they've seen premium surpluses over the last couple years. So that's helping to put pre uh lower um the costs of the market. Uh we've also
had some enhanced CAT modeling which has been great. We've normally worked with two and they've redesigned and um restructured those CAT models so we're getting more accurate numbers based off of what expectation on our seabboard or within our areas would cost us and we
also have more accurate valuations. So making sure that you know during the pandemic era we had a real big problem with distribution of materials and shipping which really caused cost to spike up because there was a shortage of
materials and a shortage of getting materials. So those cost increases. Now that we've had our distribution network really uh go back to what it normally was, we've seen those prices come down as well. Alo helps when we're dealing with reconstruction or repairs.
That being said, all those factors pretty much get us at a projection of about5 to a potentially 5% increase depending on claims that you've had over the last couple of years. We haven't seen really claims into quester. So, we're very very
encouraged about seeing maybe a reduction uh in our property coverages, which would be, you know, great um for the for the village. So, liability trans and that first one, HB 145, what that was was the House passed a bill that was
going to be increasing our uh tort cap limits, meaning as a public entity, you can only be sued for up to $200,000 per in uh individual, $300,000 per incident. They passed a bill in both um chambers
of the House that was that was increasing that to 350 and 500,000. It's not a bad increase considering the last time there was one was 2011. Um last week the governor indicated that
he's going to veto that bill. So we won't be seeing that rate increase which initially actuarily was creating an adjustment. That's a little 20 to 25% um was an overall we seeing about a 10 to 15% increase just because of that torque
cap increase but now we can normally say that's going to be going away since they're not going to be doing that at least not this year. The downside is they've been knocking at the door on this issue for the last 3 years. At least this was a small incremental step
that we could all live with. Uh some some bills were talking about 1 million 2 million which would be a significant change. Um now they get to go back to that drawing board and start tapping at other numbers. Uh so while we're not dealing with it now which is the positive
next session's going to address it again and they may be looking at something different um that we may that may not be as favorable as the last bill that was passed. But as of 26 27 um that
adjustment is not going to be quite 20 25%. So you now be looking at more of a 10 10 to 12% increase on the liability which is uh extremely uh beneficial especially as we head into what may be a unknown uh consequence of the the
amendment uh the bill amendment that's going to be on the uh on our ballots. Um let's move on to the cases line trends all across. So obviously as you can see the biggest trends that we always have in the state of Florida um and with
municipalities is auto automobiles. So auto liability these are vehicles that are constantly moving, constantly driven being driven about and so they create the most uh liability incidences for us and if we have police and fire that
tends to increase a little bit. Autophysical damage. People think well you it's a fender bender. 10 years ago fender bender was 800 bucks. You replace the fender. Now, with all the backup cameras and all the technologies that's embedded along the bumpers and the sides, that $800 fender better is now
$4,000. So, you can see the increases that happen in autophysical damage and auto liability. So, it's always usually the largest um sync premium with the largest uh the premium with the largest increase um perom. Uh then you have the
uh nominal increases that we anticipate in the other areas, crime, statuto limits and other liabilities. Cyber has been relatively stable and with you being a public entity uh who is no longer authorized to be able to provide
any type of extortion payments. It's it's statutoily uh prohibited. it really takes down a lot of what the costs be because in the private sector that's the biggest expense they're they're concerned about. Uh so what we're
dealing primarily with is notification. We're dealing with um uh forensic uh we're dealing with repairing our systems or getting our systems back up online. So that's why you'll see these increases are are nominal 0 to 2%.
Workers compensation in the state of Florida. works compensation is uh rates are published by the state and every single job class code has a certain rating um applied to it and that's multiplied per every $100 of payroll. So
as you can see in some areas which have some of the higher limits fire and police those rates have decreased uh 17 cents uh per $100 and 25 cents per $100 um respectively. uh clerical which is
your office staff it's usually a very low it's about 12 cents per $100 and there is no relative change to that however for the village over the last couple years there have there are a there have been a couple things that have happened that will be affecting the
premium for workers compensation you have about a 4.3% increase in payrolls coming up and with workers compensation since payroll directly affected affects the rates when you have payroll increased then your premiums will also
increase commensurately. Um and over the past in 2025 we experienced two significant workers compensation injuries that to at this point have incurred about $480,000 $490,000 and $219,000
respectively. Again these are unfortunate that they came in the same year. Village has been traditionally very very effective in how it in its works comp stationation to the tune that you're going to be seeing your mod rate going from a 0.80 meaning that you're
20% safer than other entities similarly of your size to now because of those two significant claims being added to that modification factor. You're going to 1.09 09 which is a 9%
increase versus the 20% credit that you've been getting. Uh so there is factor unfortunately that that uh factor will remain with you for the next 3 years. But as you continue the trend that you've always had with being a real
safe workplace and uh lot large safety culture, we expect that that will start to creep back down and get us below the the 1.0. zero very very soon. And uh so our renewal strategy uh last
year we went out to the market for uh the village of Tquesta and sought alternative proposals for its program and we and saw adjustments and enhancements and modifications that uh kept us with the floor municipal
insurance trust. So, we are going to be reviewing, continuing to review uh assets that you have, making sure we're covering the right assets. Um, making sure that those coverages are accurate and that we are placing the right
deductible amounts and are reviewing those uh same costs as well for us. We also have favorable package coming up on the liability portion or the property portion of it that should offset some of what we're seeing on the increases on the liability side. There are the
ancillary markets have been very nominal. So, we're anticipating a very nominal um overall uh premium for the uh the village and we should be having some numbers for you probably toward the middle to end of July that we'll be
presenting to staff and then staff will be presenting to you as well. Hopefully, I didn't make that too >> nauseating, but if you have any questions whatsoever, I'd be more than happy to answer them for you. That was very informative. Thank you, Rodney. Council, any comments or questions?
>> I love your enthusiasm. >> I don't have any. Thank you. >> No, no questions. >> Back to slide six. >> Back to slide six. Okay. If >> you don't mind, >> not at all. >> So, same question. Um, we have to come
up with maybe a 10% uh decrease. So, a million dollar worth of um premiums. Can you find $100,000 somewhere? Um, can we find a $100,000 reduction somewhere? I think we can. Uh, the one thing that's great about our ability to
work with the different trusts that we work with is the ability to leverage. We already um have been tremendous putting a having conversations with them on the renewals and where the property market is going to be going and where we can
find savings for our entities. $100,000 would represent about a 10% decrease for you. And while that's not while it is it is um a sizable decrease, it's not well outside of the realm of possibility. The only challenge we would
have is where the workers compensation numbers are pushing you um that might offset any other savings that we might be able to get on the liability property. But we can certainly uh work do our best to try to see if we can identify uh about $100,000 savings for you.
>> Can you go back to actually to slide five? I think it was five. Yeah, that one. >> Um couple things that that come to mind is again thinking out of the box property. Um you said that we've got um a blanket type of coverage on 27 or 37
$38 million. >> Mhm. you know, we've got a pretty good sizable emergency fund now than we used to not have one. So, it would make sense maybe to re can we reduce that blanket a little or not reduce the overall dollar amount that we're covering. Is that possible?
>> Well, yeah, we to uh you can um what the carrier prefer to do, what they like to do is make sure that they have the total valuations that your properties um where they're accurately valued. Um, and that
way they can accurately price them. So, in order to reduce your coverages on those, you would actually be saying to them, "All right, instead of covering this building at 100% of the value, I want to cover it at 80% value, and I'll run the risk that the other 20% never gets um >> destroyed,
>> right? Never gets destroyed." Um, >> is that common? >> Is that common? >> It seems like a very reasonable risk. We've had a couple We have We've had a couple clients pursue those avenues and it's not outside of the realm of uh expectation. We even have one client
that decided that they just don't want to carry wind. They're far out west enough. They're like, "We're done. We're not carrying wind coverage. That premium is no longer going to be a portion of us." Now, obviously, you're being you're being a lot closer to the coastline than they are. Um I would not advise that but
we can absolutely talk with client the carriers about an 80% um coverage limit for each of your assets and to which they would uh give us a determination of the pricing for that. We also want to factor in whether that's going to be worth it cuz
sometimes what they do is they don't see a significant benefit to you by reducing that 20%. It's not be a commensurate 20% reduction of understand that. >> So if they're gonna give you a 5% credit for it, we're not going to take the risk. >> Right. I understand that. And then the other things that are that are movable
and you put them on a trailer or whatever that don't have in particular an engine or whatever. >> Yep. >> Can we selfinsure that? >> Sure. >> To me that seems those are some like ATVs. >> Yeah. And we we can stop we can get with staff again. That's part of the things we talk about the asset management. get with staff to try to identify what it is
that we want to continue to provide coverages for and what else we can self-insure. Right? >> Those are absolutely um methods that we can utilize. >> So that's just on the surface of things that I think that we should absolutely be doing. >> Thank you. >> No problem. >> Vice Mayor,
>> Vice Mayor, you there? >> I am. Sorry, I couldn't find the unmute button. No, I'm good, Rick. Those were some great questions. I'm glad you asked them. Um, no other questions, though. Good job. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, so yeah, if
there's any any other options or food for thought you can provide for us when we workshop this again before the August council meeting, that'd be great. >> Great. Any public comment? >> All right. Thank you, Ronnie. We appreciate both of your time this evening. Thank you.
Just want to thank you again for your time and we'll get everything prepared for the special meeting. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Right. Moving on to agenda item two, fire assessment feeformational presentation. Jeremy, >> thank you, mayor. Uh so Sanders with
Accenture. Uh as you guys know, we we brought this up in the strategic plan to to discuss a fire assessment fee. Most of you hear and a lot of uh chatter around Palm Beach County around the state about a nonadvalorum assessment. We do a non-advalorum assessment with
storm water as well as uh refuge and recycling. Now um just to help educate um obviously our council and as we have this recorded anybody else that just to get an understanding what a fire assessment will cover because it doesn't
cover everything in our fire department. Um Sandy has asked Sandra has asked or has volunteered to come and give a presentation on a fire assessment. And so without further ado, I invite her up. >> Do we have a PowerPoint?
>> I have the backup. I'm going to have to do the same thing. We're going to have to find the the presentation because it wasn't. >> Good evening. Uh Sandy Newbart with Accenture. Um just so you um I've been doing this for over 20 years. Um I work right now um I've worked with um seven
cities in Palm Beach County on different non-adabalorum assessment programs. Um so um we used to be we were acquired by Accenture about three years ago. So we used to be known as government services group. So that might be what you know us
as. So just so that you understand that. All right we can go to the first slide. The next one making you work tonight. Um, so what is a a nonadalorum assessment, a fire assessment? It's um a
charge imposed against property to pay for fire protection services. These are home rule revenue sources. So they're not statutoily not um legis um legislative or statutoily driven. So it's a home rule revenue source. They're
case law driven. And um there's two uh primary prongs that you must meet in order to have a legally defensible um fire assessment program. Um the case law says first and foremost it must have a special benefit to properties. The courts have said fire protection
services up to the level of first responder does benefit property. EMS does not. So if you have an EMS component, if you provide ALS um or BLS, we would have to remove the EMS um cost
and calls from the analysis. And then the um second um is that it must be fairly and reasonably aortioned to properties. And so that would be the study that we would do. >> The next one, >> I have a presentation up here.
>> Pull it up. So, if you don't you want me to continue? >> Hold on just a second. Let me um Okay. >> Get you over here to the >> There we go. >> Okay. >> You got the You can drive now.
>> Oh, >> okay. So, um what um are nonadalorum assessments attacks? No, there's similarities. Both can be generate revenue um to pay for the services and facilities and both are mandatory and
can be collected on the tax bill. However, the differences are again special assessments must benefit property. Taxes do not. You have to pay schoolboard taxes whether you have any kids or you use the school board tax. You have to pay taxes. Um special
assessment we have to show that benefit. um it's authorized by your home rule revenue sources where taxes are general law and you set the rates. So you you determine what level you want to fund the fire assessment at whereas taxes are
prescribed by legislature. So why use assessments? Cost effective and financially stable means of funding fire services. Um it's not fluctuating waiting on the revenues um on the taxable values. um you set the rates and
it's usually on a per unit basis so you're not fluctuating the revenue that you're going to get in. It's a dedicated funding source. It provides diversification um preserves the level of services that you provide for fire services and it's accountability. It's restricted funds
that can only be used for fire protection services and it's a tax equity tool. There are a lot of inequities in um the tax base, save our homes, this new property reform. Um and so there's a lot of different um
um things that go into h how much a parcel is taxed, how much their taxable value is versus what the actual market value is. So this doesn't look at that. This looks at what's the value of the benefit and the value and the cost of the services that each property gets.
It's also an annual decision. It get the the rates get set annually. So you reook at it every year. There's two primary court approved methodologies in the state of Florida. Um the first and the most widely used is
called the historical demand methodology. We look at um the um the way that you have pres been been sorry who's been demanding services from your um fire department and we project out for the future based on that. This is um
most widely used. It's easy for lay person to understand. I would say 90 to 95% of the programs in the state of Florida use a historical demand methodology. Um the other methodology is the availability methodology. This was
reviewed by the Supreme Court in 2015 and upheld. This is a two-tiered methodology in which you look at how the services are um provided the time and service versus the um the protection
from loss. So the time and service would be on a per parcel charge. So every parcel would pay the same regardless of the size or the structures on it. And then the second the protection from loss would be based on the value of the
structures on that property. Um and it's predominantly implemented in cities typically works well when you have a large a large number of parcels because you have to be able to dilute that per parcel charge. um you need a large
number of parcels not land area but a large number of parcels um which helps to spread those costs but it can be more costly because um it is recommended that you do bond validation for that which can cost more money.
So the data components with whichever study that we do, there's four primary components. We look at your service delivery, what level of services you're providing. Is there an EMS component? We look at your benefit area, who prov who do you provide fire services to. Um, and
then we look at your square foot cap to see if there's um if we need to limit the number of square feet that we charge for non-residential. The second is we develop an assessable budget. Um, we usually look at a three to five year budget. We split out the
cost between fire and EMS um and only fund the fire protection portion. Now, you may say that, well, um, but 80% of our calls go to EMS, so really it's not worth funding only 20%. Well, the courts
have recognized and the methodology that we used to um to separate out the EMS cost from the fire protection cost um was looked at in the Desidario versus Boon Beach case and upheld. And that's the same methodology that we use because
they realized that it costs more to provide fire protection services than it does to provide EMS services. You can put two guys on a truck and run EMS all day long, but in order to have fire protection services, you need at least four for two in, two out, and a lot
more, excuse me, a lot more resources. So, usually depending on how you're staffing for fire versus how you're staffing for EMS, usually you can get anywhere from 50 to 70% of your fire department budget into the fire
protection bucket. The third is the cost aortionment. We look at your call data and um and your availability if we're doing the availability and we split out between um fire. We only look at the fire protection. We remove the EMS and we only look at the fire protection. And
then the fourth is your parcel development. We look at the parcels. We look at every property in your village and we look at what kind of uses it's being used for and what kind of structures are on the property. So the historical demand, here's a
little bit more of a picture of what it is. We look at one to three years of call data. Again, only the fire protection calls. Now, fire protection doesn't mean flames. It's up to first um responder level. So, it can be service calls and things like that, stuck in an
elevator, um things like that that um aren't necessarily flames cuz people always think, "Oh, fire, there's flames. How many of those do we have?" Um so we look at that and then um we look at the demand. What percentage of demand went
to residential versus um commercial versus industrial warehouse. The categories that we develop would be based on the makeup of your village. Some will have a single family and multif family because it makes sense. Some don't. Some just have a
residential. Um, non-residentidential typically is commercial, industrial, warehouse, and institutional. With institutional being those things that are you would think of as a public purpose, government, schools, churches, nonprofits, hospitals, things like that.
Um, and then whether we charge land or not. Um, the non-residential is again based on your makeup. Um I know there's some areas uh Oyola County has a um transient occupancy for hotel motel and
Airbnbs um because of the demand um and so we look at each each program that we develop is is based on the unique um makeup of that area. So then we um then we utilize the net budget um and then um
the total billing units per each rate category and calculate the rate. So once we know the percent breakdown um then we know how much um we need to fund by that category divided by the number of units.
Usually residential is on a per dwelling unit basis and um non-residential is on a per square foot basis. Um, and then we develop a rate per unit. Um, and again, like I said, it gets tweaked depending on your makeup and what's going on in
your area. The availability methodology, what we do is um, again, it's a two-tiered methodology. So, to get the per partial charge, what we do is we look at the time in service. So the time that um your fire department is in
service and unavailable to respon respond versus the time the manh hours that they are available to respond. Now most departments it's usually a 6040 7030 because in order to have enough resources to respond when they're needed
to respond you have to overlap. And so um usually the breakdown is uh usually the highest we can get it is 60/40. So 60% available and ready to respond, 40% in response. And that would be we would also look at report writing
time, training time and things like that. Um and then you would have a per partial charge. Now, depending on how much that um tier one budget needs to be funded, that's where you may create more. Um we see a lot of times if you
don't have enough parcels to dilute that per parcel charge, we see that it usually shifts the burden from the non-residential to the residential and the vacant land because vacant land would have to pay too. So, the Walmart would pay the same as the quarter acre
vacant lot. um at the per parcel charge. Um the second tier is loss from protection of structure. So what that is is we look at the structures on every property in your um benefit area and then we look at the
values. Now these would not be the taxable values. These would be the market values and we would create an equivalent billing unit or an EBU based on those values. And then we would create a per EBU rate um based on that
percentage of the budget that's not funded by the tier one bucket and then divided by the EBUS to get that. And so all the depending on the value of the structures on your property, you would get that the number of EBUs times that
rate. So then you would add the tier one rate and the tier 2 rate to get the per parcel charge. um pros and cons. Again, historical demand most widely used, lower cost to implement, logical and easy for um
property owners to understand and you may not have to charge vacant land parcels. Um cons is we're relying on the call data and typically there is a flat rate fee for residential which is not what people like to do. Um if there's a
reason why a flat rate fee for residential in your area, we could look at that and see if it's justified. We just helped the um town of Jupiter implement a nonabalorum assessment there in which we did use um tiers um resident
um square foot tiers for that program um on residential and non-residential. Um, but it was because their makeup of the sizes of their houses. They have they have probably 20% of their houses are
more than 10,000 square feet. Um, and then you've got some that are really small and it's just a they're not all uniquely the same. So, we didn't feel like a flat rate fee was appropriate for that situation. Um, the availability. Um
the pros are you do get varying rates for um residential properties um based on their values of their structures. Um and then when there's a large number of parcels, it helps to dilute that per parcel charge. The cons are when there's
not enough. Uh we've seen a lot of our like I say, we work um I work in the state of Florida. I've done over 150 fire assessments and when this methodology came out, everybody wanted to see what it would do for them. Uh, a lot of the Broward cities had us looking
at it and so we'd look at it and what we found is a lot of times when there weren't enough parcels that that per parcel charge was actually more than based on the historical demand methodology, the residential rate charge. So, they're already starting
paying more. And then you also were charging land which a lot of the um Broward cities do not charge land. Um so it's really reliant on how many parcels that you have. Um and then the structure values and um and then you have to
charge land. Now collection options. Um most likely you would want to use the tax bill but you do not have to use the tax bill. There is a higher collection rate with the tax bill. usually 95 to 98% and that
is because they sell a tax deed if if um if they don't pay their property taxes. Um people cannot pay um a partial property tax. They can't go in and say, "I'm going to pay this, this, and this, and I don't want to pay any of the rest." They'll say, "Keep your money. We'll sell a tax deed, and we're going
to get the hole." Um but with the cons with the tax bills, you're on strict deadlines. you have to certify your role um before September 15th every year. Um so and you can't use the tax bill if you want to charge government properties.
You can also do it by separate bill. Um you then you do not have the deadlines. Um you still would use the the property appraisers um tax ro information and you can also charge government if you want. you'd send a separate bill, but it's a
lower collection cost because and then you'd have to the expense of actually collecting that revenue. You if you have a utility bill that is villagewide, you could use that. You again are not under the um the 197 tax bill collection
method um dates. So, you would set your own dates. Um you uh you could charge you could charge exempt properties, you could charge government properties if they all are getting the utility bill. Um cons are if you don't have it
villagewide and you don't and and you want to charge vacant land and if it's a water utility and they're not you don't charge water for land. Um there's different things like that. Um, and it's also uh difficult to
uh you would have to set up processes and procedures for how they collect the money in order to cut somebody's utilities off if they didn't pay the fire assessment. So um you would have to set programs like that up. So implementation
um again with the tax bill collection method there are strict um requirements. Um, so even this though this is a home rule revenue source um you would have to um have an ordinance if you don't have an a master service assessment ordinance
with your storm water and your solid waste you would um do a fire assessment ordinance. Um but in order to collect on the tax bill the year before you collect a new assessment on the tax bill you have to adopt what's called a resolution
of intent. has to be adopted before January 1 of the year in which you want to put it on the tax bill. So, if you wanted to use the November 2027 tax bill, you would have to adopt that resolution of intent prior to January 1
of 2027. And basically what that does is it puts the property appraiser and the tax collector on notice that you're considering implementing a fire assessment. And if you do, you want to use the tax bill. It's foot in the door. keep the door open. Keep that option
open. Doesn't require you to move forward with imposing a fire assessment. Um if you don't move forward with it, it goes away and then you want to try and consider it for the 28 tax bill, then you have to do it again until the first year it goes on. Then um then it then
it's assumed that you're going to continue to use the tax bill. And that is because the property appraiser and the and the tax collector have to get um the Florida Department of Revenue to approve their trim notices and their tax bills. And so that gives them time to be
able to plan for it. Now, with consent from the property appraiser and the tax collector, you have until March 1st to adopt that resolution of intent. Now, that resolution of intent also requires a strict publication requirement. you
have to publish it in the newspaper once a week for the four weeks immediately preceding the adoption of the resolution. So, there's a process and you have to plan for it. You can't just say, "Oh, let's put this on this agenda that's coming up tomorrow or anything like that." So, you do have to plan for
it. Then you um you get notice to proceed. You do the assessment um study. You look at the rates, public education. Um, a lot of times people want to start doing a lot of public education before they know what the rates are.
That's fine. A lot of times people don't pay attention until they know how much it's going to cost them. That's just been our experience. Um, we've been to several workshops before for other entities and it's the same three to five people that are always at every meeting that show up for them and till they get
their notice and they know how much it's going to cost them then they come in and and then they want to discuss it. Um, but then you adopt so you have your home rule revenues um your ordinance then the ordinance is a procedural ordinance. It sets out the procedures that you have to
follow and authorizes you to impose these. doesn't require you. You don't even have to impose it. You could just have the ordinance in place in case you ever wanted to, but it doesn't require you to actually implement it. It just authorizes you to implement it. Um, and
it doesn't have the rates. It doesn't have the methodology. It doesn't have any of that. It's just procedural and authorizes you to. Then you would adopt what's called an initial assessment resolution. That resolution that is the meat of your assessment program that has
your methodologies, your definitions, sets the maximum rates for that year because just like with TRIM, you set the maximum rates at the initial rate resolution and then you can come down from there, but you can't go up. Um, so you would set the maximum rates, you would set a public hearing, you would
direct um staff to mail um first class notices to property owners and to publish it in the newspaper. And those are all requirements. of 197.3632 is doing that. Those notices would need to be mailed um and published in the
newspaper at least 20 days before you set your public hearing um to make your final decision on the final rates. Um then you would come back and you would have your you would adopt your final assessment resolution that would be adopted before September 15th because if
you're going to use the tax bill you have to certify the role to the tax collector by close of business on September 15th. So you would have to adopt it before September 15th so that you could finalize it and submit it timely to the um tax collector. Um, and
then it would go on the tax bill and then you would get your revenue um the same as you get your other revenue. The separate bill and the utility bill, you don't have to go through all of those 197 requirements. You you would probably
still have an ordinance. You would still adopt a resolution that would set the rates. Um, but if you wanted to notice people, you could. If not, you just send them the the bill and um and the same with the utility bill.
Uh strategies that we use for um to have success with our programs is usually the first year you're not funding at 100%. When people aren't used to seeing a separate line item on their tax bill that says fire assessment and you throw $600 on there. Um, and I'm not saying
that's what it's going to be, but I'm just saying at the 100% um they it it's a shock. Um, so maybe not funding at 100% earmarking it for certain budget items. You have another um thing with the tax reform. You don't know what's going to happen once we find out what's
going to happen in November. Um, then you may have to have some other strategies that are going with that. You need to plug a 10% um hole in the budget or or whatever. um flexibility with the methodology again uh designing it that
fits that meets your goals yet stays legally defensible. Uh briefing you guys um individually or at a workshop um identifying stakeholders looking maybe at the top rate payers um getting out ahead of it and um letting them know
what you're doing. um public meetings and education. Again, like I say, usually they're more productive after um the notices go out and they know um what um what it's going to cost them. Uh we've had clients that instead of mailing them out 20 days in advance like
the statute requires, they mail them out 30 days in advance and say, "Hey, and by the way, we're going to do um some neighborhood workshop meetings if you want to come before we have our public hearing to answer any questions or concerns people have. Umformational
brochures that go in with the um as an insert with the uh notice that goes to property owners explaining what what the village is doing and why they're doing it. um exemptions. Um so unlike taxes um non-evalor assessment um you can't shift
that burden from those who aren't paying to those who are paying like you do with property taxes if they have a zero taxable value. You still set your millage rate to generate the total revenue that you need for the general fund. Um so those people who aren't
paying um anything in taxes, they're not contributing to it. So everyone else is picking up the um the slack for those and um but with non-avalorum assessments you can't do that because that would if you um charge somebody more um than to
make up for the lost revenue they would be paying more than their fair share. So any exemptions that you um have would be a policy decision and those would be paid from other unrestricted funds. So, we would tell you what the impact is, but I'm not saying that you shouldn't
exempt them. I'm just saying that this is a process that you have to go through. Um, ex uh exemptions, policy decisions might be an institutional tax exempt. So, those would be properties that have an institutional um building on them. So, they're a public purpose
building um and are 100 wholly tax exempt um and so maybe it would um make sense to not charge them. um create a hardship exemption um for those people who p who um who can't afford it. So
sometimes since it's going on the tax bill, if somebody has a zero tax taxable value and they pay nothing into the general fund and they're on a fixed income and they've lived in their house forever and ever and ever, um it might create a hardship that that there may be
a tax deed sold if they get a $250 charge on there that they're not they've not planned for, they don't have the money to pay. um you can create a hardship exemption for those um unique situations um because you wouldn't want
somebody's house to be foreclosed on if they couldn't pay the fire assessment if it was just because of the fire assessment. And then other economic development strategies um that you could work with. This is just a little bit about
Accenture. It used to be government services group. Um, we have over 145 clients. We've been I've been doing this for over 21 years. Um, I left off Lakew Worth Beach. Um, and that's where I was born and raised. So, I don't know why I
left it off, but I've also worked in Lake Worth Beach. Um, so you can see we work throughout the whole state of Florida. um and on on these fire and other types of non-avalorm assessment programs and I'm available to answer any
questions if you have any. Um this again is just forformational purposes. Um just to give you information as you go through the process and figuring out how to fill the gaps and things. >> Great. Thank you, Sandy. Council, I'll open it up for discussion. >> Uh two questions at this time. Um, did I
hear you say that if say this this measure passes the ballot measure passes and we were to lose 700 properties from our tax roles because they'll be above the 150 correct or below that. >> So they'll be so we they cannot be included in this. >> No, no, they are included in this. What
I'm saying is the hardship exemption is um it's a two-prong. They have to their house has to be homestead and and they have to meet an income requirement. Um, but no, that's why a lot of people do the non-advalu assessment because they have a lot, you know, I don't know how
many you all have, but they have a lot of properties that pay little to nothing into the general fund. And so, they want to diversify to get these people paying, even if it's just $50 or $100. Um, the city of West Palm Beach started at $25
per house. Um, and then they went to 50. Oops. And they went to 50 and then they went to 100. Um, and they've been at 100. They started their program in 2008 and and they're at $100 per dwelling unit. Um, I think it generates about $8.6 million for them. Um, but it's a
policy decision that you um would make every year as to what level you would want to fund it. But yes, um, taxable values has nothing to do with it. It it's the benefit that they receive and the cost of that benefit. And so whatever level you would set it at, they
would pay. >> Okay? And then at the beginning of your presentation, you talked about um fire accessible budgets versus EMS accessible budgets. >> Correct. >> What is a fire Can you give me an example of of >> is it the type of call that they go on? >> Oh, okay. So, there's a difference
between the calls and the budget. So, what happens is is when the when they the fire department goes out on a call, um they have to fill out an incident report. And one of the questions that they answer, it says, "What type of of a call did I go on?" And so, um, EMS,
um, you know, heart attack, um, anything that rises to the level of medically necessary, those would be considered EMS calls. So, what we would do is we'd look at those situation found codes that were um that were um that they put on that
call and we say, is this an EMS or is it a first responder level fire? If it's an EMS, it gets thrown out. usually 300 through 323 and then 381 and 554 and anyways I get 661. So it's um you know
um anything that that reaches the level of medical um necess necessary then those would go out um and then we would look at the remaining calls and another um thing that they put on there is they say what type of property did I go to?
So, they look at a situation found. What type of call did I go on? And then what type of fixed property did I go to? Did I go to a house? Did I go to the grocery store? Where did I go? And and then we would take the fire calls and we would look at what what they assigned to where
they went and then we would um look at those and then we would u only look at those and then we'd say, "Okay, what makes sense for the rate categories? Do we have enough to do single family and multif family or do we need to roll it all together?" you know, um some of our
uh more rural areas have residential, non-residential, and vacant land because they don't have enough diversification. So, um we would look at that. And then the budget, what we would do is we would look how you're staffing for fire versus
how you're staffing for EMS. So, how are you staffing the engines versus how are you staffing the rescue? How many paramedics are you staffing per shift? We look at a bunch of different things that we look at and then we say, "Okay, um if it's staffing, we create what's
called an admin factor. The ratio of how you're staffing for EMS versus how you're staffing for fire." And then so for the line items, which I'll be honest with you, the majority of your line items, we look at every line item on your budget, and we the majority of them
will go with um staffing. So personnel, um, uniforms, the station, those are all associated with staffing. So then we would apply that admin factor. So if it was 56%, so 56% of that line item would
go into the fire bucket, the other 44% would go into the EMS bucket. So we would do that with every line item. Now, if it was something that was directly related to fire or EMS, medical supplies in the EMS bucket, um bunker gear in the
fire bucket. So, we would look at those line items if we could. Then, we would look at those that maybe run on an operational. So, fuel if you don't if you don't keep track of um the fuel or maintenance of the apparatus. So, the fact that the apparatus rolled to a
call, it's the amount of fuel that you have to put in it. So then those would get an operational factor. So then we would look at what percentage of the calls were EMS versus what percentage of the calls were fire and we would apply that factor to that line item. And so we
do that for your whole budget. >> Is is it a fair question to ask you in your experience um do you see the majority of the calls now we don't have a lot of fires? I mean with building safety and things like that. So, so if the majority are or the
majority of of calls being >> well aud but you still will have enough calls for a sample for the fire portion. So yes, even if 80% of your calls were EMS, you would still have enough of the service
related calls. You know, uh Joe fell out of the bed. We need you, you know, I need you to help me put him back in bed because I can't lift him up. Those are not you do not need a paramedic to do that. So those are service calls and I'm sure you have quite a few of those. >> And and my last question, thank you. My
first question was multipard um >> based on your experience and the anticipated workflow that could be coming to providers like yourself that do this. when when when when do you think um the village if we were to move
towards an assessment should engage a provider and start this process? >> So um right now would not I couldn't start the work right now. I I could get you guys a data request and this is our busy time. So this is so between um May Juneish
through September 15th we are processing all of our annual roles finalizing all that. Um, so when would I like to get started? Probably Octoberish to get um to get time to get you the data request letter um and um and then start getting
the data from you that we need and then analyzing that data. Um it it takes us um probably 90 to 120 days depending on any delays that we have in getting the data. So do we need notice to proceed in October? No. A lot of um the people that
I've talked to, they want to wait until after the November election to see what happens and then they're going to pull the trigger then. So um is that enough time? Sure, it is. Um so the study takes 90 to 120 days again depending on how
quickly we get the information that we need. Um and then going through it. Then you would we would write a report. We would um discuss rates with staff um and then have a workshop to tell you okay now we've done the analysis this is the
breakdown this is the rates um and um and then discuss it get input from you guys as to do you like it or not now that you've seen it do you like it or not go no go so if you like it and you want to go forward then you move forward
to implementation now implementation it takes a little longer how many meetings do you have a month. One, two, >> one. >> One. Okay. So, you have an ordinance. You got to have two readings of the ordinance. There's two months right there. Now, you could have the first
reading of the ordinance and then the second reading of the ordinance and approve it and then adopt your initial rate resolution at that same meeting. Um, after you uh impose the ordinance. Um, so that would cut back a little bit,
but um, so that would take 30 to 60 days to do the ordinance and the initial rate resolution. Then you need another 30 days to mail the first class notices. Um, and then you need um, you know, and then you have your public hearing. So
can take three, four months for the implementation process. >> Very thorough information. Thank you so much. >> I'm sorry. I've been doing on the schedule. That was one my questions too. So you touched on kind of the duration for implementation, but um
now you just answered your actual duration and factor in workshops. I mean just everything I've heard if we would were to say we want to proceed and then say we wanted to do the tax bill route. I'm what I'm hearing is I'm think it's like a two-year process.
>> No, no, no. Well, based on the notice that you have to provide a year in advance before you can actually >> so you have to do um by January 1. So you have to adopt that resolution of intent. We have clients that adopt a resolution of intent. They call them the
kitchen sink resolution of intent just in case something comes up and they need to use the tax bill every year, every October, every November. Not everybody has a meeting in December, but every November or whatever, they just have it on and they always adopt that resolution
of intent. So, I would suggest even if you don't know what's going to happen, you adopt the resolution of intent anyways. Um, we can provide you a form of the resolution of intent. It's a one-page document that says, um, we are
considering imposing a fire assessment. Um, and if we do, we want to use the tax bill. Um, and so, uh, we want to keep room on the tax bill for us. And then once you adopt it, then you send copies to the tax collector, the property appraiser, and the Florida Department of
Revenue. Um, I would do that anyways. Um, and I can get a form of the resolution to your attorney. I'm sure he has one, too. I I do this for our clients at no cost. Um, we send out forms of resolutions to anybody who may
be considering it. And the reason why is because inevitably we get a call in March, we got to impose this assessment. You can't you can't put it on the tax bill. You didn't you didn't adopt your resolution. So for some of our clients that you know they've talked to us about different programs throughout the year.
So I keep my little list and um you know in October I go hey just to remind you if this is what you want to do don't forget you got to adopt this resolution. Here's a form of the resolution. And so we just do that. I could be happy to put you guys on my list. Um just and send it
to your attorney. Um I'm sure he could do one too. I mean, but um we have the form and then I just send them out to all my clients or any potential clients. So no cost. Um but yes, so you have to have that adopted by January 1. So you
would start in November, October, November, December, and then um you'd have to do the rest of the process the next year. You can't adopt your initial rate resolution in November. It has to be between January 1 and um September 15th each year just like your budget
process. Um so you have to wait until that year to do the implementation steps but it could be done in 180 days with like no uh no breathing room.
>> Yeah. Okay. Thank you for clarifying. So, in general, this is more for us than you. >> No problem. >> The information I think we'll get back on this if we were to do it is going to be interesting. And I say that cuz you keep mentioning fire and EMS when I know
that most of our calls are EMS and the fact that our staffing and you mentioned staffing in general, most the majority of our staff is fire and paramedic because we require it. So I'm fascinated how you're going to really decipher all
that data. Um the question I have for you, >> you mentioned if there is a large amount of parcels of property to spread amongst the wealth >> for the demand availability. >> Have you seen the amount of our fiber budget?
>> No. >> I'm curious your opinion. I guess you wouldn't have it. You could easily do that. the percentage of how many properties versus the budget is considered a large amount to spread the wealth because we're not >> Well, you can do the math. You can say if it's $500,000 that you need to fund, how many parcels
do you have in your um in your area divided by the $500,000? >> So, I did some math just super rough. That's that's a scary number. >> Okay. And that's what I >> But again, that's not removing EMS calls and all that. So, just so it I don't know. Yeah. So, here's the thing. The
methodology that we use to split the budget between the fire and the EMS is um a methodology that was reviewed by the fourth district court of appeals in the desert area versus Boon Beach case um in 2010 and in blessed by the courts
by the fourth district court of appeal. Um Boon Beach we did their fire assessment. They implemented one in the early 2000s late 1999 2000 2001 before I started working here. Um and then they got sued. Um and part
of the suit was they were claiming that they were funding EMS through the fire assessment. And so we were the expert witnesses on that. Camille Tharp at the time was my predecessor here and um she was the expert witness and and went through the methodology that we use to
split the EMS from the fire. Um and they they agreed with it. So that's the same methodology that we use now. >> Okay. Last question. Um, you mentioned values that they wouldn't be the taxable value on a property. Where would you be pulling your value? Are you pulling it
from the assessed value or like a bought value? >> So, that would be the availability methodology. And I'm not sure it's going to work for you guys. But everybody wants to know about it. So, if I don't tell you about it and then you find out from somewhere else, they're going to go, "Huh, why didn't she tell us about that?" So, I just had I covered both of
them. Um, so what it is, it's the structure value. So, um, the property appraiser usually, there's a couple property appraisers that don't give you the breakdown, but usually they'll say, um, your land value is this. >> Ours does that. >> Your building value is this, your
miscellaneous features is this. Therefore, your total value is this, your assessed value is this, and so you have the market value, you have the assessed value, and the assessed value is the um save our homes value. And then
you've got your taxable value. >> So you're going by the assessed value when you look. >> No, you would go by the market value of the buildings only. >> Okay. Well, thank you for that answer. >> That is it for now. >> I know. Thank you for coming. Appreciate this is very good. I know at the beginning you said this is not a tax,
but it smells like a tax. It sounds like a tax and kind of looks like a tax. So >> it was on the tax bill. >> It was on the tax bill. >> Um quick couple questions. Um, if military veterans that have 100% disability, are they required to pay and not have more? >> You can have a policy decision. Like I
said, is you set those policy decision exemptions. Um, a lot of our programs um or a lot of our clients are starting to go to um not just any VA exemption. You know, there's some VA exemptions that just because they're a vet, they get like a $5,000 deduction off of their
taxable value, but they'll say if they're totally and permanently dis they totally and permanently disabled um them and their surviving spouses. So, they pay nothing in property taxes. You can um a lot of our clients are exempting
those. Yes, that's that's a buy not a requirement. It's a buy down. So, >> and then you mentioned there are there's I think you said three different methods of billing this. Um one was a tax bill. >> I'm assuming the tax bill is what you would want to use, right? Um >> but what I would like to know is um our
um US postal service um that we have a building here in thequesta >> that's government. >> Can we not build them separately? >> You can you can do a yeah you can do a bifurcation like you can do you can um I I'll tell you I don't think the school
board will pay. You you can't pick and choose go we want to charge the um post office but we're not charging ourselves and we're not going to charge the school board but we're going to charge Palm Beach County. You can't pick and choose. You got to have it's got to be uh uniform. So, >> but you can use different methods across the board. >> You can. Yes. Yes, you can. You would
just have to write that in the resolution in the legal documents. Yes, definitely you can. And we have so a lot of our clients for storm water. Um they charge government um and they put everything else on the tax bill and then they send the government a separate bill. And then what you do is you just
the only way you can enforce it is you can send them the bill, ask them for free to please pay and if they don't pay, you can't lean their property. Um so you could initiate a lawsuit. Um then even if you win the lawsuit whether
they're going to pay or not. So a lot of our clients what they do is they'll send the bill and just don't pursue collection. So if any of the governments that do pay it, they're grateful for it. Um and they just don't pursue collection otherwise. And then at that point it
becomes an uncollected fund instead of a buy down. So they don't have to shift the revenue from the general fund. >> Okay. Um you mentioned the flat rate for residential and that's collection you can figure it out
>> and can you do a combination of both flat and >> can you do square footage >> usually usually the square footage is for for non-residential and the and the per dwelling unit basis is for residential. >> Um like I said in in uh Jupiter they
they have one house that's 44,000 square feet. So there was just such a vast and we could look at it. There's just got to be a reason for it. Um because usually when the fire department gets um responds, somebody calls and says my
house is on fire, they send the house response. And so that's why it's makes sense to do it on a per dwelling unit basis. Jupiter, they know different size houses and they'll send a different response. So it made sense to do it that
way. So, we would have to everybody is a little bit unique and so it's we have to look at it to see if it's fair and reasonable. Here's the thing about um the legal defensibility. It doesn't have to be um it has to be fair and reasonable. The way you aortion the cost
has to make sense. Can't be arbitrary or made up. There can be more than one way to do it. Um but the way that you choose to do it has to make sense. Has to be fair and reasonable and cannot be arbitrary. >> Sure. There was a fire structure or was a
structure on fire today. Um and I believe it was in Martin County. >> I'm not sure. Yes. Um our our units went there. >> Okay. >> Do we have the ability to put a nonadalorum assessment on them? >> You don't have jurisdiction over anybody outside of your village.
>> Okay. Even if we're under contract with Palm Beach County to provide that service for that area. So then you'd add it in your contract because you can't unless they No, you um they can cities can um consent to be included in a county non-abalor
but not to cities. >> These are like neighborhoods, >> huh? >> These are neighborhoods. >> Okay. So that would be where you would you have a contract to do that for them, right? And you get paid for that under that contract. That would be where you would negotiate it. Look, >> um I don't know what your contract says.
I don't know whether it's a lump sum because we estimate that we do this many um or >> that but that's where you work it out. >> Okay. Um >> yeah, I like the idea of non-advalorum. I think it's a good thing. I think I like it as considered a more of a flat
tax in in theory. Um so that yeah I also think that whatever we raise in the nonadvelor we should reduce in the >> property tax de side too. Yeah. >> So, there's the delta delta. >> Yeah. >> Um, those are my comments and thank you for answering the questions.
>> You're welcome. >> Um, Vice is no longer on, right? >> Uh, he he lost power at his hotel. They had a storm going through right now. So, >> I told him sounds like a great power came back on, but they still didn't have internet and so it
>> was the thing. He apologized a whole bunch of times. I told him it's okay. >> Fine. Okay. Uh um we talked about the calls that would be included in data collection. I don't want to get too in the weeds, but I do just really want to understand as much as I can tonight. Um
so you didn't mention like call like gas leaks that would be included, right? So what about what about a car fire? Cuz we every car fires. That's not a structure. >> Yeah. No, it you would. But here's the thing. So we look at the fixed property
use and those would mostly be in the roadways. So they would be considered a non-specific call. So um since it doesn't go to a specific kind of a tax parcel, you can't charge them. So we we remove those from the the analysis.
>> Okay. So that would be removed. Okay. What about calls that are a combination of a fire and EMS? Would you count those? It's going to depend on how they code it because you can only put one code on there. If they put that this was an EMS call. So, if they say automobile
accident without injuries, it goes into the fire bucket. Automobile accident with injuries or pedestrian accident, that's EMS. So, that triggers the EMS. >> Okay. And then um council member Stone
brought up calls outside our municipal boundary from a fee purpose, but I had that question versus a call. Would those calls be counted or would you remove calls that are outside of our municipal boundaries? >> For example, Jupiter colony. >> Yeah, we we would move remove the um aid
given calls. >> That's what those would be. Aid given. >> What is that called? >> Aid aid mutual aid given. >> Oh, I didn't say aid. aid given. >> Aid given. Yeah. >> Sign up. Okay. >> Because they that's another thing where they put on there. They said um did we
receive aid from another agency? Did we give aid to another agency or is it in our agency? >> Okay. So those calls are not included. Okay. >> Um I mean >> and and we can look at anywhere from one to three years of call data if if we don't feel comfortable. And we also look
to see if there's been any aberrations like any storms or anything like that because a lot of times when there's storms there may it may skew the data. So we would want to make sure that there weren't COVID was another one. What we saw a lot with COVID is um the
non-residential tanked because everybody was working from home and so they weren't calling from the office, they were calling from the home and and so we did see that that kind of skewed the data a little bit. Um and so we took that into consideration and worked
around it. >> Okay. Um based on your presentation, I would assume you are of the opinion that this would enhance our fiscal resiliency. Um >> it provides diversification. Yeah. You know, you're not as reliant on the general fund. I don't know how much
you're reliant on the general fund right now, but it does reduce your reliance on the general fund. >> And then from are there any pros cons like you know banks would look at in regards to borrowing? Like would is this a good thing, a bad thing? So like it
usually for capital you can pledge for debt and so that helps with your ratings and stuff like that, you know, like some of them we have like neighborhood improvements. So um that that um a neighborhood comes in and says we want
to do these improvements and you know not everybody can afford to pay it right now. So can we can you help us to impose a non-abolorum assessment for our neighborhood to do these things? Um we have in Walton County they have a um
they have a program that they allow neighborhoods to come in and do that and um they so they help them they help to facilitate it but they don't want to be perceived as cramming it down the property owners throats because it it's the neighborhoods that come into them.
So they say okay you know HOA we hear what you're saying but you know what we're just gonna just we're going to look at it ourselves. And so they'll send a ballot all out to all the property owners that are in that neighborhood and say, "Hey, um, your HOA came to us, said these are the things
you you want. Is it troubedor assessment?" If the ballot comes back in and says yes, and it's a majority yes, then they proceed with the study. They get the rates. After they get the rates, they turn around and they send another ballot out. Okay, now we know what the
rates are and they're going to be this. Are you still interested in? And if they get a majority of them, then they'll move forward with implementation. Then they can use that to go to the bank to borrow money. But what you're talking about is for services. So it's not a
capital thing where you go and borrow money from the bank. Um it's it's >> there's no pro or con then to having this. So that it wouldn't affect us either way, I guess, is what my question. It it just it it you're not as reliant on because I'm sure every year
during the budget you're going what are our taxable values? What where do we have to set our millillage? Um how much revenue do we need? Usually once the rate is set. Usually it doesn't it doesn't go down. Um usually it stays set
a lot of our clients will stay set for 3 to 5 years and then they decide okay let's look at it again. Um some of them will increase it a little bit every year but it's not as reliant on the um taxable values. >> Okay. And then um
do you analyze both of the fee methods or would we have to pick one? >> So what we could do is and what we've done for our other clients is you can do the tier one just to see where it comes in at. you can do the high level and
talk about it and see where it comes in at and see if it's even feasible. Um and and you can look at the historical demand and see where that comes in at. Um but yeah, we can do both. Um we don't present both. Um you don't want to
present a bunch of different methodologies. Um we usually work with staff on what's best for the village as a whole, not cherrypicking at what's best for the Smiths or the Joneses. um or you know this commercial business or
or whatever we look at as a whole um for that area and um and then talk with staff and then usually roll out one methodology. We usually don't because just with anything you know one person may do better under this methodology
than that methodology and so why didn't you use this one and and and it's we just look at what's best for the whole village as a whole. >> Okay. Um, uh, Council Member Stone kind of brought this up, but I I if we were to to move
forward, I do want to ensure we don't end up charging more than what we do now for fire service for each individual. >> So, a lot of times what our clients will want to do is they'll want to make it revenue neutral. So, we're going to fund
$200,000 through the fire assessment. So, we're going to reduce our general fund by $200,000. And what that does is it's not it may be revenue neutral to the village as a whole. It's not revenue neutral to the property owners. >> It's not possible.
>> Um so you know >> not even >> yeah it's not revenue. >> Well I guess I mean I mean we could offset with reducing the mill or revenue neutral or whatever term you said. But my concern is if property tax reform
does pass, this is almost I would think to supplement that. Are we going to even have wiggle room to I mean they're they're going to be getting >> but enough for each household. >> Yeah. See, that's I don't know. You know, if you have a if you have a million dollar taxable value or hundred $100,000 taxable value, you're paying
difference in in and so when you reduce the millillage that that million-doll taxable value property gets more of a benefit from that reduced millage as opposed to the $100,000 or the property that pays nothing, >> has a zero taxable value. They see no
benefit from you reducing the millillage. >> Right. >> But they will have that. Yeah, I don't that's I'm just kind of torn at this point still. Um >> it's a tough decision. I mean, usually the first year it is tough. Everybody, you know, you have to weigh your pros
and cons and >> it it that's why we say usually not funding at 100%. Usually having um a strategic plan. We got 10% to fill a gap or something like that. Or >> that's how every tax starts. Let's start low. >> There you go. There you go.
Um, no, I'm telling you, uh, West Palm Beach started in 2008 when nobody, that's when the market tanked and nobody was getting anything, um, passed. Um, and they actually got a lot of support because everybody loves their fire
department, but they have to see a benefit as to what are they going to get out of it. Well, um, West Palm Beach at the time, they had a station that had asbestos, so they had a trailer sitting outside the station. you couldn't go in the station and they had no money to do that. They had another station that they
had to evacuate when a storm came rolling through because it wasn't safe to be in. So, they had these needs that and they had no money to fund them. And their game plan was that they were going to sell off some city-owned land to do these capital needs, but because the
market tanked, they couldn't sell the property. And so, they couldn't fix the the capital needs that they needed to fix. So, the $25 per dwelling unit actually um helped them to start doing some of these capital needs and um and
then but it but again $25 here doesn't generate the same as $25 in West Palm Beach. You know, it's much bigger in West Palm Beach. So, um but it and it helped them to get started and they were at $25 until probably 2018 when they
went to $50. In your in your experience decision, >> what is populationwise? What's the smallest population municipality you've worked with? >> We work with some real rural ones up in the panhandle. English. I don't know what
their population is, >> right? Because they're probably not getting that much. Um, >> we know, but I only say because you keep bringing up West Palm. Well, I just because it's in Palm Beach >> and I and I fully understand your examples, but again, we are always in a very unique boat because we are like
population wise tiny. >> We work in Highland Park, which is over in PT County, which is essentially Lake Wales, >> which is just where some of our questions, I feel like, are how do we do this kind of a fair way when we start looking at numbers for our res?
>> There's 900 parcels in that in that >> that's fair >> city. Um, so and there I think there's three or four non-residential and everything else is residential. So, um, >> I think it's more based on not the size of the city, but the probably the
property tax revenue that they're pulling in >> and the cost of the service. >> The cost of service. Yeah. >> Rural areas. They're not they don't have the Yeah. cost of service low, but then they don't they're not bringing in the revenue with property taxes. So, >> well, basically there's they they pay
like Wales as a contract to provide the services. And so basically it's a pass through to give the money to like whales. So that's basically what it is. >> Okay. >> Everybody has their own reason that they need need to diversify.
And so >> yeah, >> one more question. You mentioned reassessment to to come up with a new fee. You said you do that maybe one every five years. >> So you know depending on the level of service and stuff, uh we well I mean
increase the rate. So we c we would we would tell you what the maximum is that you could go to and so you couldn't go above that because if you went above that you're funding EMS um and so you may start with 25 and then go to 50 and all but yeah if you have changes in your
service delivery um or you annex in a lot of areas so maybe you annex in an industrial park that might and I'm not saying you're going to do it but I'm just saying that might change the makeup of what's going on in your city. So, we may need to look at the calls to see if if now you have more industrial
warehouse or um um you know, >> let's say there's a new union contract and there's a different amount. >> Yeah. I mean that's what a lot of ours is is it's like um yeah we we did the study and then a year and a half two years into it we get union negotiations
that we didn't anticipate for because we usually do a 3 to 5year proforma budget and we had no way of anticipating the increase from the union negotiations and so now we need to >> renegotiate >> relook at that. >> Okay. And how much would a that assessment cost on average? Well, it
would depend on whether we do how much would our study cost of um it's about $30,000 for the for the study and $8,500 for the implementation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other council
comments or questions? >> I've got nothing. Thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Any public comment? >> Okay. Uh what does staff have any direction at this time on next steps? I'm personally torn right now. I I um
I'm really undecided on whether to move forward. I know um we do want to be proactive as possible in planning for potential property tax reform, but also this does have a a cost to it upfront and I know we've been sensitive to, you know, we don't want to have plans sit on
a shelf um you know when spending taxpayer money. So, I I don't know. I'm gonna play tomorrow. >> I think the least we can do is take her up on our offer to get a free service to file the intent before the end of the year. >> The resolution. >> The resolution intent. >> I'll be happy to put you on my list.
>> That way, that's at least filed depending on where things go. >> Yeah, I'm a little torn on that too, to be honest. >> I think we could explain this is what we're doing and and we may take no action on it and it won't be a surprise to anybody then. like you said like giving people enough notice as Kyle had
mentioned earlier could be two years from now but giving them the notice like hey this is something that we're reviewing and if we don't take any action on it just sunsets it goes away. Yeah, I think we'd be strategic about the messaging and whatnot because to I've always said up here too like you
know I don't want to pass the ordinance that isn't enforceable or just pass a resolution to pass a resolution, right? Like um I've always been sensitive to that since I've been up here. Um, so the messaging would I think we would need a workshop again the messaging on that
because um we just we just don't want false information and and you know based I mean things were very um uh hectic in Jupiter for other reasons than just the fire assessment fee. But I, you know, it it can come with
unintended consequences too. And and you know, if people think it's one thing and it's really not, like I just don't want to um cause a you know, uproar if it's not necessary. >> So just one more time for public record, if we were to file a intent >> resolution
>> resolution of intent, it does not mean that council has to decide to move forward. >> It doesn't have methodology. >> That's fine. So I see a head shaking of no for the record. that further down further discussions if be does not mean that council has to move forward. It's
just getting prepared. >> Okay. Make sure I fully understand as well. >> So what's the direction to staff right now? Just plan on preparing for the resolution of attent.
>> I think the assessment's going to be good no matter what. Personally, I think it's a good thing to have and I think it does a very very good job on a variety of different things. So, I'd like to see it. >> I don't know if everyone agrees with that, but >> it doesn't mean we have to adopt the assessment if it's done.
>> Well, it's expensive, too. >> I know what I'm saying. >> But that is right. I mean, you can do an assessment. You don't have to. I mean, I hate to say this because we talk about it all the time with with studies. We can have it sit on a shelf. I mean, if if if we really if we really hate it and
we really and the the numbers just don't work out for residents, we can be like, that's great. We can do a small percentage of it or we can do none of it. I mean, we can just say we'll come back later if we really really need it. We can come back and just freshen it up. I mean, so it can sit on a shelf with
that methodology with the intent just to freshen it up if we ever need it. But I think, you know, and we'll have that discussion. But I mean, whatever direction you guys want to go. >> I mean, is the assessment absolutely necessary to add another $25 a month?
>> Okay. >> Okay. >> Well, I guess I mean this question might help me um in this conversation. would I think council member you're in favor whether property tax reform passes or not at this time I don't think I'm in
favor of this if if property tax reform does not pass. So I get where do you two sit? I have a feeling I know what's going to happen with the property reform in my gut um regarding the assessment because that's what we're talking about. It's the numbers. I would like to see
what kind of numbers but I'm I'm weary again. kind of weary of what these numbers look like because of our uniqueness and the fact that we got to start splitting up the calls if we're answering. I mean, you know, our town, we take two steps over in Martin County or Jupiter. So, like what does our calls actually look like? I'm a little concerned about what the numbers would
look like. However, as much as I don't like studies, this study would give us that number to show our residents and we can make a more educated decision whether or not what do we do in the future and by then we would know what happens in November. The reason I like it, the the main reason I like it is it
shows the true cost of the fire department and and it makes it very evident to our residents what that cost is. That's why I like it. >> That's in the budget, too, though. I mean, it's in our budget >> as paramedics, too. It shows the true
value of fire protection. It gives you a cost per house >> of fire specifically, but we're both, >> but I know it gives you >> We don't have two different crews running EMS. Like, they have to be able to do both. >> I do. >> Okay.
>> I I'm in favor of of >> getting on a list that Sandra said she would put us on. Um I think as we I think we will be able to judge public sentiment on where this ballot measure is going. Um, so I don't think we need
to engage for the study. I'm in the camp with with Kyle and I think a little bit Lori as well. It was like it's good to have that information. But I think now getting this getting the resolution to us that you said would you would get that out in October after your >> I get it earlier if you want
>> and we have that so we know what we're looking at. Uh, and I think we're going to be able to read the tea leaves a little bit um, as we get closer to November. Uh, and then we, you know, I think we bring it back up at that point, but I think we, I'm in favor of saying, yeah, let's keep it as a priority. We
don't need to engage yet, but let's ask for the resolution language. Um, be prepared to act, take action on it, but I think we're going to we're going to know where public sentiment is. Polling is going to happen. I think, as Lori mentioned, I think people are either going to love it or they're going to
hate it. And I think it's the we we're going to know is the love winning or is the hate winning. I think we're going to know that sooner rather than later. So, I'd be in favor. I want to continue. I want to keep this a priority request that we get on your list for the resolution language. Uh and then I think we're going to have this conversation
probably again in September or October. Well, I would say even even before that, I mean, we're going to we don't have to decide tonight. I didn't put this tonight for and I think I even told a couple of you guys, we're not deciding anything tonight. It's reallyformational. Um, we're going to have a couple more workshops just on how
this is how this whole thing is going to affect us. We can further this discussion in the next month or two and and I do have a we have a couple ideas for some public engagement, some surveys. We can include this type of question in a survey, too. So, you guys will have a lot of feedback from
residents before you guys even have to decide anything on this. So, let that would be my recommendation is don't decide anything tonight. We obviously we don't have a consensus necessarily. We don't have Patrick here to weigh in. Um um so I'd say, you know, let us let us work on this. We'll bring it back to you
guys. We can have more more discussion. Um that would be my my that would be my consensus. >> I um I appreciate the additional discussion. I I honestly want to say I think this is the first time I've been up here like truly truly undecided, right? Like I don't even know what direction to go staff right now cuz I'm
still I've been thinking about it since our strategic planning session. I've been thinking about this meeting. I'm like I I don't like I I'm so undecided. Um, but I do, council member, what you just said. I do that's I do align mostly with that like let's see the resolution of intent. We can read that. We can
workshop. We can see you know what that language is. But yeah, I still I'm not like I I still I'm a little bit in wait and see mode still before pulling the trigger. Um, okay. So get the resolution tenant so we can see that we can workshop it. But other otherwise we'll just revisit this again.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any questions? Just get them staff. be happy to answer them. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Final agenda item three, council discussion, public information and communication guidelines for potential ballot measures.
>> Thank you. Um I give a I'll read through this a couple paragraphs real quick and then we'll I have a couple slides just to present. It's three or four slides, but you know there's been a ballot questions placed on November ballot regarding propert, but this presentation really could be
for any ballot question. So, it's not necessarily specific to this one. It could be any um schedule for November could substantially restructure Florida's property tax system. The amendment to the Florida Constitution would have implications for the village of Tquesta, reducing municipal revenues.
Property tax revenues are funded sourced uh for the village operations, supporting public safety, capital improvements, uh parks, and general administrative services. The village has a legitimate governmental interest in ensuring its residents have accurate and factual and understandable information about the amendment and then however
they vote uh you know accordingly uh is important. There is a lot of misinformation out there about the protections or lack of protections in this language um to specific services. Um any public information efforts undertaken by the village must comply
with applicable Florida election law and be designed as objective education not political advocacy. Uh section 106.113 Florida statutes prohibits local governments from expending public funds on one paid political advertisements and
two communications sent to voters concerning ballot questions subject to a vote of the Florida electors. The Florida League of Cities, which I have in your guys' backup, has issued guidance clarifying how this law applies. And what's interesting about this is they got an independent attorney
to look at that that law or that statute and provided that opinion. So, it wasn't, you know, one of the, you know, president of the Florida League of Cities or somebody that was doing it. It was actually uh or a staff member. It was actually a a third party
there. Uh the first thing to understand before I throw out the presentation is that you know there's there's two parts is you know when it becomes a proposal versus when it becomes on the ballot question proposal becomes a ballot question um triggering heightened
restrictions when it is passed as a joint resolutions by 35ths of both chambers of Florida legislature which it has transmissed transmitted to the department of state and assigned a ballot number which at this point I do not believe it has uh until that point,
the proposal remains under legislative consideration and municipalities have greater flexibility in communicating with residents. And so with that, I have a couple slides. Um since he's not on, I'll throw it up on there so you guys can keep looking forward if you guys want.
Um so it's kind of two parts is that you know the permitted activities versus the prohibited activities. So, this is before the ballot. You know, you can produce, distribute brochures, flyers, emails, factual property tax information, our Friday news, you know, as long as it's factual information.
We're not advocating one or another. Um, we can host public meetings, town halls, community forums, post factual content on the village website, um, and unsponsored social media. We can respond to public inquiries with factual information. Uh, elected officials may
express their personal opinions. Um, you know, obviously just like with anything else, when you go to, you know, a function, don't don't try to represent all of council, you're only representing your personal your personal opinion on on anything. Um, you can conduct
physical research and impact analysis and report official village action. So when we use staff to you know provide physical research on what the impacts going to be all all okay prohibited activities paid political advertisements
uh against any proposal always prohibited no matter if it's before the ballot placement or after uh content amounting to express advocacy for against something paid boosting on social media. We don't really do that anyways but can't do that. subjective or
qualitative statements. You know, cuts will harm public safety. Um, you know, we can show factual informations on how it will over affect overall budget. Um, the council would have to make those decisions and, you know, we wouldn't be trying to scare anybody. We'd just make,
you know, those decisions. After the ballot placement, um, we can still post factual information, village website, unsponsored social media, host public forums, and respond to inquiries, make printed materials available for pickup at village hall. We can set it on the
counter out there or in the rack. Uh, report on official village actions in a fair and impartial manner. Elected officials may express opinions um, person or through media, not using public funds. So, you can express your own personal. just make sure you're very
clear that it's your own personal opinion and it doesn't represent the village of Tqua. Uh prohibited activities um using public funds to send any communication to vote voters about the ballot question even if it is factual. You cannot spend village
resources for that paid political advertising for or against the measure. Paid email distributing distributions targeting voters or paid social media boosting. So, kind of a summary, what's always permitted uh is post factual content the village website or printed
uh pickup materials, host public forums, respond to public inquiries with facts, report uh accurately on official village actions, never permitted, paid political advertisement, express opposition or support for any amendment. Um, so just a
I guess a couple just highlights and just reminders is all material disseminated using public funds must be strictly factual and verifiable. Avoid subjective or quantit qualitative quantitative qual qualitative claims. property tax cuts will harm public
safety or whatever the statement may be without, you know, a village action, you know, that may so if we have a budget, you know, budget meeting and we um which I think it'll be way too early before that, but if we have discussions on, you know, potential cuts or whatever, uh
unless we take official action, it, you know, wouldn't be something that we would put out include uh dissemination date, you know, so if we do put out any information before or after Uh even if it's out there on the rack, we got we should put a date on it to make sure
that everybody knows it was before or after the placement. Uh do not pay for boosts on social media. We typically don't do that anyways. Post about the amendment. Paid boosting may contri constitute both prohibited political advertisements and communication sent to voters. Uh once the proposal achieves
ballot placement, do not mail or email materials about the amendment to residents using public funds, even if the content is purely factual. And then uh you know I would say the two main things that I would say that should be highlighted here is if you know make
sure that all the information we put out is factual and second thing if you have anything in your gut that tells you you're not sure reach out to Keith or myself. You know if you reach out to me with one of these questions the benefit is that uh I can res get a qu get a
response and get it to all five council members. We're not asking the same question five times. Um, and I think just, you know, overly communicate, you know, intentions and, you know, make sure we're doing everything right on this so we're not, you know, caught in the middle of any kind of political storm on on this. We want to, I think
the important thing is that we inform our residents what the impacts could be. Um, but, you know, they can make up their own minds. With that, that's my presentation. You can answer ask any questions. We do have
uh several things that we would have planned or um may want to do um that I include in your guys's agenda. You know, we can put out some fact sheets. We have an online budget exercise that we can put out and that that budget exercise
will help solicit feedback on a couple things. A where they where they feel on this on this issue. B uh what they think about the fire assessment fee. but three, where their priorities are if they, you know, want to vote for that and don't want to, you know, do a fire
assessment fee. It's a budget exercise that they'll have to balance that budget based on their answers to their first two questions. And so you guys as council will get feedback like, oh, you know, everybody's saying, you know, we should co cut code compliance. You guys will get that information and be able to
in the future make those decisions if we need to or or if it's relevant for you guys. So, um, community information meetings like we, you know, I know Lori and I had talked about, you know, hosting a couple maybe at the rec center, do kind of a question and
answer. Um, you know, very high level cuz council unless council, you know, put some direction together in the next couple months. You know, it'll be very specific like, you know, this is going to be a $2 million impact to the village. Here are some options. know,
you know, what percentages go to public safety, percentages go to parks, you know, those types of things, very high level, and be able to answer questions more than anything for for the residents that, you know, um to make sure they have proper information. um some myth
and facts page, community outreach, you know, maybe even going to chamber of commerce, Rotary clubs, um you know, HOAs to if they want to have information or want to make sure that there's information out there that's that's factual, we can we can attend those. Um
if you guys want, you know, elected officials can attend those and answer questions or if want to direct staff to do those specifically, we can. Um, but like I said, the the intent of all that would just be to put out factual information, not to um, you know, advocate for or against, but make sure
that residents know that this will have an impact on our services. Um, you know, it's too early to determine what that will be, but we have some pretty good um, estimates on financially financially how that will impact us. So, I think that that's the end of my presentation.
If you have questions, I'll be more than happy to answer any. >> Thank you, council. any comments, questions? >> I just thank you, Jeremy. I just think that, you know, the more information we can have available and to get ahead of it, um the better, you know, meeting
these guidelines, but you know, a simple fact sheet about what it could mean and however that needs to be worded. Um, you know, I I think we should try to get ahead of the game and if that means you putting together the It sounds like you've got a vision in your head already
a little bit about what it could look like or you and the leadership team do and I would love to see what that looks like just from a from a fact sheet or a white sheet, a white paper or something like that. >> No questions. I just continue to follow this along the state.
>> I think an educated electric the better off we are. So, >> yeah. >> Yep. I liked all the suggestions and ideas that you guys had on the staff memo. Um, uh, does the state have to follow all of these >> requirements, Keith? >> Does the state have to follow
>> all of these requirements that we have to follow for ballot measures? >> Oh, the um the same restrictions with, >> right? Or is that just for counties and municipalities? >> Well, I truly don't know. It doesn't seem like
they they're following. >> They seem to be able to they were able to extend the the ballot language. >> The statute is directed at local governments, which means a county, a municipality, a school district, or other political subdivision of the state. >> So, no.
>> Right. So, the state does not have to follow this. So, no matter what, we're talking about property tax reform now, but not no matter what the issue is or the, you know, the the ballot measures in the future, the state does not have to follow that. So, we're always going to be up against um that. But I do think
it's our job to provide um >> data driven and what >> we have insurance protect us this year. Might as well. >> We have we have data data driven and factual information. That's our job to
provide. Um I would you know there's so much negative rhetoric around local government right now coming from the state. I mean, even um I don't know if you guys saw it, but when the governor um vetoed the ebike uh bill, he he said will likely lead to
enhanced surveillance surveillance by local governments against citizens. Like that's just so negative, right? Take is that comment even necessary? So, there's so much negative um rhetoric right now around local government. And I think if there's ones that we can um factually
get information out of if they're not true that we could do that. So for example, I think it was Blae and Golia. I should have looked it up before this meeting. Um I think it was him. Um but you could fact check me to be to be sure, but there was a comment that we
get enough impact fees to cover infrastructure because we're saying how are we going to pay for infrastructure? Um we don't we don't get that much back from the county. So I think when we hear stuff like that again I think we should educate the public. Now the county gets all the impact fees so their response
would be different but for ours we could we can really just put out the data like this is how much we this is how much the county gets from the impact fees that are paid into quest this is how much we get. So I think if there if council agrees if there's rhetoric out there that we can factually
um show I think we should >> 100%. And so if you guys, like I said, if I see anything or if any council member sees something and be like, "Well, we that's not true." And I we can factually show that like we can feed it to you guys if you see something, but I think we should just keep an eye on that
because um again, there's painting this blanket picture and it's just not true. So I think um for voters to have um and it might be true in other counties or other cities, but for what's true here in Nquest, I think we we have the duty to provide factual information.
Okay, let me get off my soap box now. >> All right. Anything else on that? >> No. >> No. >> Oh, any public comment? Oh. >> All right. With that, I will say I hope everyone has a happy 4th of July. Yay 250. I love it. It's very, very huge
milestones. I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. And can I get a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. Hey, Kyle and Rick and Brock.