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I HAVE TO KNOW HIM COMING BACK AGAIN.YOU KNOW, EVERYBODY DID A GREAT JOB YESTERDAY, SO WE'LL CONTINUE
[1. Present, Discuss, and Consider Action on the Proposed Annual Budget for the Town of Addison for Fiscal Year 2021 (Beginning October 1, 2020 and Ending September 30, 2021), including but not limited to the General Fund, Utility Fund, Stormwater Fund, Airport Fund, Hotel Fund, Economic Development Fund, Information Technology Fund, Capital Replacement Fund, Infrastructure Investment Fund, and Long-Term Planning. ]
MAYOR AND COUNCIL.AND WELCOME BACK FOR DAY TWO OF OUR BUDGET WORK SESSION.
AS YOU MAY RECALL, WE, UH, ENDED LAST NIGHT'S MEETING, UH, OUTLINING A COUPLE OF TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION, UH, THOSE INCLUDED COMPENSATION, UH, THE TAX RATE DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW, HOW ARE PROPOSED STREET FTES, UH, FOR NEW STREET STREETS, EMPLOYEES, UH, WOULD, WOULD FUNCTION WHETHER THEY COULD BE CONTRACTOR EMPLOYEES OR PREPARED TO TALK ABOUT THOSE ITEMS. UH, ONE OTHER THING THAT I MENTIONED DURING MY INTRODUCTION YESTERDAY IS THAT I WANTED TO GIVE SOME FEEDBACK AND GUIDANCE ON THE PROPOSED BUDGET AND TAX RATE SCHEDULE, ADOPTION PROCESS.
AND, UH, SO I'D LIKE TO ADD THAT TO THE LIST AND START WITH THAT.
AND THEN WE'LL GO AHEAD AND TALK IF IT'S OKAY.
TALK ABOUT THE STREETS AND THEN AFTER THAT, CAUSE I THINK THOSE ARE PRETTY, PRETTY EASY TOPICS.
AND THEN AFTER THAT, WE'LL TALK, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND JUMP INTO COMPENSATION DISCUSSION AS WELL AS THE ACTION THAT'S OKAY.
LET'S PULL UP THE, UH, AND SLIDE.
SO, UH, YOU CAN SEE THIS, I'M GOING TO ASK STEVEN TO TALK THROUGH, UH, EACH OF THESE DATES, UH, THE DETAILS ASSOCIATED WITH, UH, SOME OF THESE, FOR EXAMPLE, THERE ARE PASTORALISTS AND THIS IS A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT THAN LAST YEAR'S PROCESS BECAUSE CHANGES IN STATE LAW THAT PROVIDED US A LITTLE BIT OF A DIFFERENT WAY TO DO THINGS.
SO I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT THOSE DETAILS, BUT THEN ALSO YOU'LL SEE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT ARE PROPOSED THAT AREN'T NECESSARILY REQUIRED, BUT SOME THINGS THAT WE DO AS PRACTICE, FOR EXAMPLE, MONTH MULTIPLE PUBLIC HEARINGS, OR THEY'RE ON HERE TOO.
SO WE'LL JUST TALK THROUGH THE DETAILS.
STEVEN GLICKMAN, THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, UH, MAYOR AND COUNCIL.
UH, THIS, THIS ITEM HERE IS BASICALLY A LIST OF KEY DATES THAT ARE PART OF THE PROPERTY TAX APPROVAL PROCESS.
AND THIS HAS CHANGED A LITTLE BIT WITH THE, UH, THE SENATE BILL TWO ADOPTION.
UH, SO THE FIRST DAY THERE WAS THE DATE WE RECEIVED, UH, OUR CERTIFIED ESTIMATE FROM THE DALLAS CENTRAL APPRAISAL DISTRICT, OR THAT WAS MONDAY, JULY 27TH.
UH, THERE ARE TWO DAYS THAT FOLLOW THAT WITH AN ASTERISK BY THEM.
AND BECAUSE WE GOT A CERTIFIED ESTIMATE AND NOT A CERTIFIED TAX ROLL THAT THAT HAD ALL OF THE PROPERTIES OF PRAISE, UH, AS WE MENTIONED YESTERDAY, THOSE, UH, OFFICIAL CALCULATED RATES THAT WE GET FROM DALLAS COUNTY TAX OFFICE WERE SUBSTANTIALLY HIGHER THAN WHAT WE'RE ESTIMATING THEY WOULD BE.
SO THE LOWER OF THOSE TWO RATES IS 63, UH, DOT SEVEN, EIGHT, FIVE 1 CENTS.
SO AS LONG AS THE PROPOSED TAX RATE DOES NOT EXCEED THAT RATE, THEN, UM, THERE ARE SOME REQUIREMENTS, UH, THAT DID NOT HAVE TO BE MET SUCH AS, UM, SENATE BILL TWO REQUIRES A FORMAL MEETING AND A ROLL CALL VOTE, UH, TO CALL PUBLIC HEARINGS IF YOU'RE EXCEEDING, UH, THAT RATE, UM, THAT WOULD BE PROPOSED FOR TUESDAY, AUGUST 25TH.
UH, IF YOU'RE NOT EXCEEDING THOSE RATES, UH, WE COULD SIMPLY ADVERTISE THE PUBLIC HEARING WITHOUT THAT FORMAL PROCESS.
UM, ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 27TH, UH, WE WOULD BE REQUIRED BY SENATE BILL TWO TO ADVERTISE THAT TAX RATE AGAIN, WITHOUT EXCEEDING THAT 60 THREE.SEVEN EIGHT FIVE ONE TAX RATE, THAT WE WOULD NOT BE HELD TO THAT, THAT REQUIREMENT TO ADVERTISE IT A CERTAIN NUMBER OF DAYS BEFORE THE PUBLIC HEARINGS.
UM, AND THEN THE TWO PUBLIC HEARINGS THAT WE HAVE PROPOSED, UH, FOR BOTH THE TAX RATE AND THE BUDGET OR TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, AND THEN TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER EIGHT.
UH, OUR CHARTER DOES REQUIRE THAT WE ADVERTISE THAT WE HAVE ONE, ONE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE BUDGET AND THAT, THAT ADVERTISE, THAT BE ADVERTISED 15 TO 30 DAYS PRIOR TO THAT PUBLIC HEARING.
SO WE WOULD ADVERTISE FOR THAT PUBLIC HEARING 15 DAYS, AT LEAST 15 DAYS
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PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER EIGHT.AND THEN ALSO ON SEPTEMBER 8TH, WE HAVE PROPOSED THE ADOPTION OF THE FISCAL YEAR, 2021 BUDGET AND TAX RATE.
AND THEN, OR QUESTION YES, SIR.
HOWEVER WE HAVE AUGUST 25TH IS A TUESDAY, AUGUST 7TH.
IS IT, IS IT REALLY TUESDAY THEN THURSDAY? IT'S THURSDAY.
SO WHEN DO YOU THINK, UM, WE'LL GET THE ACTUAL CERTIFIED.
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE BEFORE AUGUST 20TH? HOWEVER, THE, SINCE DALLAS COUNTY WAS REQUIRED TO CALCULATE THOSE RATES ON THE ESTIMATES THAT WE RECEIVED, IT WOULD NOT CHANGE THE RATES THAT WE WOULD ADVERTISE AS FAR AS OUR NOTE, RATHER THAN RATE AND THE VOTER APPROVAL RATES.
SO THOSE ARE ALREADY HAVE ALREADY BEEN IT, BUT THE VALUES, IF SHE GETS RID OF MY TAX ROLL BY FIVE IS MONEY, RIGHT? THAT'S A GOOD ONE.
THAT'S NOT THE DEADLINE, THAT'S THE DEADLINE.
THEY'RE REQUIRED WIRE TO PROVIDE IT BY LAW, BY AUGUST 30TH, WE EXPECT TO GET IT BY AUGUST.
SO THE, WHAT TRIGGERS, SOME OF THIS STUFF IS BASED ON THE LOWER APPRAISED VALUE, RIGHT? IT'S KIND OF WHACK IT'S OKAY.
IT WAS DESIGNED TO MEET THAT IN FORMAL ELECTION.
SO THAT'S WHY THEY ARE NOW REGARDING PRESIDENTIAL.
HE'S GIVE US AN ESTIMATE, EVEN THOUGH THEY HAD NOT COMPLETED THAT PROCESS BECAUSE WE NEED THOSE, WE NEED THOSE VALUES AT A CERTAIN POINT IN TIME IN ORDER TO MEET THAT ELECTION DATE, THEY WERE REQUIRING TO MEET IF YOU'RE GOING TO EXCEED YOUR VOTER APPROVAL RATE.
AND SO RIGHT NOW I UNDERSTAND THAT, CORRECT, BUT THEY'RE NOT GOING UP ABOUT A THOUSAND, UM, PROTESTS.
I MEAN, THEY'VE GOT MORE THAN A THOUSAND PROTESTS, A WORKING DAY AT THIS POINT.
WELL, THEY SAID THEY HAD 22,000 THOUSAND MORE IN TOTAL THAN THEY DID LAST YEAR.
YOU'RE INDICATED HOW MANY ARE THEY SAY ONE THIRD ARE NOT COMPLETED ABOUT A THIRD OF OUR PROPERTY VALUE WAS NOT CERTIFIED AS TRAVIS.
HOW WOULD THE SCHEDULE CHANGE IF IT TURNS OUT THAT INSTEAD OF USE WITH THIS CALCULATION IS 4.6 OR HOW WOULD YOU SEE THAT AFFECTING THE KID? I THINK THAT WOULD REQUIRE ADDITIONAL BUDGET CONVERSATIONS.
IS THAT WHAT I'M THINKING? BECAUSE IF, IF, IF WE PROPOSED MY BUDGET WITH THOSE VALUATIONS, THEN THE TAX RATE WOULD CHANGE.
AND SO WE WOULD HAVE TO FIGURE OUT, SO WE'LL REVISIT.
WE WOULD FIND A TIME TO COME BACK.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? IS THERE ANY ISSUES WITH WEST PROPOSED QUESTION, UM, ON THE PUBLIC HEARINGS, WE HAVE AN IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS OR HOW WE WOULD DO THAT AND WHERE WE WOULD DO THAT.
YEAH, WE WOULD DO THAT THE SAME THAT WE, I MEAN, THEY WOULD FUNCTION THE SAME WAY, DONE THEM IN THE PAST, BUT IF WE'D HAVE TO DO THOSE ELECTRONICALLY, UNLESS YOU WANTED TO DO THEM IN PERSON, AND IF WE DID THEM IN PERSON, THEN YOU'D HAVE TO JUST MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE COULD DO IT IN A PHYSICAL, IN A, IN A, IN ACCORDANCE WITH, YOU KNOW, OUR GOVERNOR'S REGULATIONS ON MEETING AND IN PERSON AND ALL THAT KIND OF STUFF.
SO, UM, WHERE, WHERE THAT WOULD HAPPEN WOULD PROBABLY USE THIS SPACE.
BUT, UH, IT HASN'T BEEN DECIDED YET.
UM, IF WE DID IT IN PERSON, IF WE DID IT ELECTRONICALLY, THEN WE WOULD JUST HANDLE THAT WAY.
WE HANDLED ALL OF OUR OTHER PUBLIC HEARINGS TO THIS DATE, UH, ARE, THAT HAVE OCCURRED DURING OUR VIRTUAL MEETINGS.
EVERYBODY GOOD WITH THIS SCHEDULE THEN NOW THE NEXT ITEM IS STREETS.
THE, HOW, HOW WE COULD HANDLE THE STREET.
IF YOU WANT TO ASK YOUR QUESTION EITHER JUST WHENEVER WE'RE ADDING STAFF IN POSITIONS THAT COULD BE CONTRACTED.
I DO ALWAYS ASK, IS THERE A REASON NOT TO DO CONTRACT? WOULD THEY REPORT TO A EMPLOYEE?
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SO WHETHER, SO COULD THEY BE CONTRACT, UH, THEY COULDN'T AND BE EFFECTIVE.SO FOR EXAMPLE, UM, WE DON'T ALLOW CONTRACT EMPLOYEES.
SO IN ORDER TO PICK UP BRUSH AND BULKY STUFF, WE HAVE A BIG GRAPPLE TRUCK DRIVES AROUND AND THEY WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO USE THAT IF THEY WERE CONTRACTING.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S ONE REASON WHY, OH, THAT'S A GOOD REASON WE WOULDN'T BE.
YEAH, THERE IS A, I THINK IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE PEOPLE GOING AROUND IN OUR NEIGHBORHOODS, YOU WANT THEM TO BE OUR EMPLOYEES.
I JUST ALWAYS SAY THIS BECAUSE PARTICULARLY IF WE THINK THERE'S A LOT OF ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, I DON'T LIKE EMPLOYING LAYING OFF.
SO I ALWAYS TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT COULD BE A BUFFER.
I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH YOU.
IF YOU REMIND ME WHAT, WHAT PICKING UP AT SOME NEW, OR IS THIS JUST ADDING MORE TO THE SAME THING? WHAT IT IS IS PUTTING PEOPLE, HAVING PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT FUNCTION RIGHT NOW, WE'VE GOT A CREW OF, WE'VE GOT FOUR EMPLOYEES THAT ARE USING, I THINK IT'S 40%, 60% PERCENT, EXCUSE ME OF THEIR TIME DOING THIS FUNCTION.
SO IF WE CAN HAVE TWO EMPLOYEES FOCUS ON THAT AND THEN LET THOSE OTHER EMPLOYEES WORK ON FIXING OUR STREETS, WE THINK THAT'S A BETTER UTILIZATION.
OUR, BUT WASN'T THERE ALSO A FUNDING IN TERMS OF THE INTEGRATION OF FUNDING DISCUSSIONS WITH YES.
I MEAN, AS PART OF, OF, OF DISCUSSING HOW TO PAY FOR THIS HAS DONE BECAUSE YEAH, LET ME STEP BACK.
IF WE DIDN'T WANT IT HIGHER AT EASE, WE COULD ALSO, WE COULD CONTRACT THE SERVICE OUT, YOU SEE THAT YOU SEE THAT MOVIE OR WHEREVER, RIGHT? UH, SO THAT THAT'S STILL AN OPTION.
WE ARE PROPOSING AS PART OF THE BUDGET TO HAVE A, A REVENUE OFFSET THAT WOULD HELP COVER THIS FROM THIS HOUSE.
AND, YOU KNOW, IT WOULD ACCOMPANY THE SOLID MONTHLY SOLID WASTE.
THAT ANSWERED FOR ME THE COST QUESTION WAS JUST EMPLOYMENT TERMS OF QUESTION.
I THINK SOME THING EITHER WAY, IF YOU WANT TO CONTRAST SOMETHING, I'LL DEFINITELY LEVEL ONE.
IS THERE A PROFESSIONAL YOUTH IS BETTER EFFICIENCY OR BECAUSE SAVE US MORE MONEY.
IF THE RICH CONTRACT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION.
YOU ANSWERED MY QUESTION LAST YEAR, LAST YEAR, LAST YEAR, JENNA SPOKE TO US ABOUT CHALLENGES WE WERE HAVING THROUGHOUT THE CHANNEL WITH SOME CONTRACTORS WHO WERE PUTTING THAT, PUSHING US DOWN THEIR LIST OF PRIORITIES.
I'M WONDERING IF SHE COULD SPEAK TO THAT AGAIN AND KIND OF GIVE US A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW, HOW IT'S CHANGED FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR.
MAYOR AND COUNCIL, JANET SAID, WELL, DIRECTOR OF PARKS AND RECREATION LAST YEAR WHEN WE SPOKE TO THE COUNCIL, WE DISCUSSED TWO AREAS.
ONE WAS PARTLY OF SQUEEZING OUR LANDSCAPE WORK THAT WE DO TO DO, UM, ANNUAL PLANTING PROJECTS AND ALSO FILL IN PLANTING PROJECTS AND THEN OUR ELECTRICAL SERVICES.
UM, AS A RESULT OF THE BUDGET DISCUSSIONS, WE WERE DIRECTED TO HIRE A CREW, TO DO FILL-IN PLANTINGS AND TO HIRE AN ADDITIONAL ELECTRICIAN THAT WOULD SERVE AS AN APPRENTICE UNDER THE ELECTRICIAN THAT WE HAVE ON STAFF.
SINCE THAT TIME, WE TYPICALLY WELL TO BACKUP, WE TYPICALLY DO ONE TO TWO MAJOR PLANTING PROJECTS A YEAR, UM, UNDER CONTRACT SERVICES.
AND THEN WE GET ALL OF OUR ANNUAL PLANTINGS DONE AND WE TYPICALLY GET THEM DONE A MONTH LATER THAN WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THEM DONE THIS YEAR.
WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO COMPLETE PLANTING PROJECTS ON BELT, ONE ROAD MEDIAN ON QUORUM ROAD.
WE DID A LITTLE PLANTING PROJECT AT QUORUM PARK.
WE'RE ABOUT TO START TO DO PLANTING ALONG THE WAY LOCKS RIGHT AWAY.
WE'VE DONE SOME VERY SMALL FILL IN PLANTINGS IN SEVERAL OF OUR PARKS.
UM, WE DID SOME PLANTING ON THE TRAIL TO LAY LOGS POND IF YOU SEE OPERA PROTON.
UM, AND WE WERE ABLE TO COMPLETE THOSE PROJECTS FOR LESS MONEY THAN WHAT WE WERE PAYING FOR ONE OR TWO PROJECTS TO GET DONE, AND WE'RE STILL GOING.
WE STILL HAVE SOME MONEY TO SPEND.
SO WE'RE RUSHING TO DO MORE PLANTING BEFORE THE BUDGET YEAR RUNS OUT.
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UM, AND AS WE, AS WE HIRED THE ELECTRICIAN, WE ACTUALLY HAD A FEW ROADBLOCKS.UM, FOR US, THE FIRST THING IS THAT WE DISCOVERED A LOT OF THE LIGHTS THAT WERE GOING OUT AND WEREN'T BEING SERVICED PROPERLY.
SO WHERE IT WOULD NORMALLY TAKE US HALF AN HOUR TO REPLACE THE BOWL.
UM, WE WERE SPENDING DAYS SOMETIMES TO REWIRE LIGHTS, TO PUT IN YOU BALLASTS TO FIX PARTS THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE.
SO IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS TAKEN US A LOT OF TIME TO ADDRESS LIGHT OUTAGES, BUT WE FEEL LIKE WE'RE GOING TO START SEEING LESS LIGHT OUTAGES BECAUSE WE'RE MAKING THE REPAIRS THAT NEEDED TO HAPPEN.
UM, WE ALSO HAD A HEALTH CONDITION WITH AN ELECTRICIAN THAT WAS OUT FOR AWHILE, SO THAT SLOWED US DOWN A LITTLE BIT.
UM, BUT NOW THAT HE'S BACK AND WE'RE WORKING AT FULL FORCE AND WE'D HAVE A LOT OF THOSE REPAIRS DONE, WE WERE ADDRESSING LIGHT OUTAGES ABOUT, AND WE HAD A 75 DAY AVERAGE.
AND RIGHT NOW I THINK DURING THE BUDGET PROCESS, I, I TOLD WEST, WE WERE AT A FOUR DAY AVERAGE.
IF I PULL IT UP RIGHT NOW, WE'RE AT A SIX DAY AVERAGE, UM, AND BEING ABLE TO RESPOND TO LIGHT AVERAGES, OUR OUTAGES.
SO THAT'S THE RESULT OF THOSE TWO CHANGES THAT WE MADE.
I'D LIKE TO HEAR A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT, I'D LIKE TO HEAR A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE CHALLENGES YOU HAD ELECTRICALLY, WE'RE SAYING THAT, ARE YOU SAYING THAT THERE WERE SOME MAINTENANCE THAT WASN'T DONE IN THE PAST OR WERE YOU SURPRISED TO FIND THAT ASSET IN THAT CONDITION? SO THE CONTRACT THAT WE HAD BEFORE WITH OUR ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR IS THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO REPLACE BULBS.
THEY WOULD CHARGE US LABOR AND MATERIALS, AND THEY WOULD CHARGE US FOR ANY ADDITIONAL MATERIALS BEYOND THE BOLTS.
UM, WE HAD A REALLY HARD TIME GETTING THEM TO COME OUT.
UM, THEY CAME OUT ONCE A MONTH AND SO THEY ADDRESSED EVERYTHING THAT THEY COULD HIT IN ONE OR TWO DAYS, AND THEN THEY MOVED ON TO ANOTHER CLIENT.
SO THEN WE KIND OF SAT THERE FOR 30 DAYS.
AND AS A RESULT, I THINK, BECAUSE WE WERE REALLY ON MOUND ABOUT GETTING THE OUTAGES ADDRESSED, THEY TOOK THE APPROACH THAT THEY WOULD JUST REPLACE THE BOWL.
WHEN A LOT OF TIMES THERE WAS AN ISSUE OF CAUSING THOSE BULBS TO GO OUT.
UM, SO IT WASN'T LIKE WE WERE PAYING FOR SOMETHING THAT WASN'T GETTING DONE BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T CHARGING US FOR THOSE MATERIALS OR THAT LABOR.
UM, BUT WE WERE IN A STATE WHERE WE HAD LIGHTS THAT WERE REPEATEDLY GOING OUT AND WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO FIX THAT PROBLEM.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM HELPING THIS SITUATION OR WILL IT, WHICH SOFTWARE, THE ASSET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE CMMS, COMPUTERIZED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT CSR ARE, YES.
SO WE USE TWO SYSTEMS OR WE WILL USE TWO SYSTEMS THIS NEXT YEAR.
CURRENTLY WE HAVE IRIS, WHICH IS THE ASSET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE.
AND WE USE THAT DURING, UM, THE FORECASTING PROCESS TO LOOK AT WHAT OUR NEXT YEAR LOOKS LIKE.
WE BRING UP OUR ASSETS THAT LOOK LIKE THEY ARE GETTING CLOSE TO THEIR LIFE EXPECTANCY, OR THEY NEED SOME REPLACEMENT.
AND WE USE THAT TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR BUDGET ALIGNS WITH THAT, OR WE START PLANNING FOR IN FUTURE YEARS, HOW WE CAN GET THE FUNDS TO MAKE THOSE REPAIRS.
THE, SO THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING WITH THE ELECTRICIANS IS HELPING US DO THAT MAINTENANCE, THE NEW SOFTWARE THAT WE HAVE, WE'LL WORK WITH IRIS, AND IT'LL BE A WORK ORDER SYSTEM.
SO IT'LL BE SOMETHING THAT'S A LOT EASIER FOR US TO TRACK BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I CAN GO INTO IRIS AND I CAN SEE WHAT OUR ASSETS LOOK LIKE, BUT NOT ALL OF OUR GROUNDSKEEPERS CAN DO THAT.
AND QUITE FRANKLY, I DON'T WANT THEM DOING THAT BECAUSE IT WOULD TAKE THEM SOME TIME TO DO IT.
UM, BUT THE WORK ORDER SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE THEM THE INFORMATION THAT THEY, THEY NEED AT THEIR FINGERTIPS TO KNOW WHAT IT IS THEY NEED TO BE DOING TO MAINTAINING THOSE ASSETS.
AND IT WILL ALSO ALLOW US TO TRACK OUR, OUR OUTAGES BETTER THAN WE ARE AND SEE WHAT OUR RESPONSE TIMES ARE.
SO IT'LL GIVE US SOME REALLY GOOD DATA ON WHAT WE'RE DOING RIGHT.
AND WHAT WE NEED TO THAT'S GOOD NEWS.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS ON THIS TOPIC? ALL RIGHT.
WE'LL GO AHEAD AND JUMP INTO THE COMPENSATION.
UH, UH, PART OF THIS BEFORE WE GET INTO THAT, UH, THE REQUEST BY A COUNCIL MEMBER, WILSON, TO KIND OF PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF A PRIMER ON, ON THE TOPIC, SOME OF THE LANGUAGES USED AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE.
SO I'VE ASKED THE PASSION HAYES TO MAKE A BRIEF PRESENTATION ON THAT.
UM, AND THEN WE'LL GO AHEAD AND ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN ASKED AND DO OUR BEST TO OPEN
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THE DISCUSSION.THANK YOU, MAYOR COUNCIL PASSION HATES DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES AS THE FOLLOWUP TO LAST NIGHT'S.
WE WANTED TO PROVIDE SOME HISTORY ON SOME OF THE TERMS THAT WE USE AS WE DISCUSS COMPENSATION.
FIRST, WE WANTED TO START THOUGH WITH THE ADOPTED COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY EIGHT, AS COUNCIL MAY RECALL THIS PHILOSOPHY STATES THAT THE PURPOSE OF OUR MERIT AND MARKET PAY PLAN IS THREEFOLD TO ENCOURAGE EXCELLENCE AND SERVICE BY TYING SALARY INCREASES TO JOB PERFORMANCE, TO REWARD EMPLOYEES FOR THEIR EFFORTS AND JOB PERFORMANCE, AND TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE WITH OTHER METROPLEX CITIES IN REGARDS TO THE TOWN'S COMPENSATION PROGRAM, BY PAYING EMPLOYEES BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE OF OUR COMPARISON CITIES, IT GOES ON TO STATE THAT WE WILL SUPPORT AN OPEN RANGE SYSTEM IN COMPLIANCE WITH OUR COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY.
WE WILL ANNUALLY BUDGET FOR MARKET AND MARY JUSTMENTS WERE COMPENSATION THAT ARE THERE.
COUNSEL MAY RECALL IN 2017, THE TOWN COMPLETED A CLASSIFICATION STUDY THAT INVOLVED NOT ONLY IDENTIFYING AND STUDYING EACH POSITION, BUT WE ALL SAID, COMPARE THOSE POSITIONS TO SAME OR SIMILAR POSITIONS ACROSS OUR COMPARISON CITIES TO ENSURE THAT THEY WERE BEING COMPENSATED CORRECTLY, TO DO THIS.
IT INVOLVED ALL OF OUR EMPLOYEES COMPLETING JOB QUESTIONNAIRES THAT WERE REVIEWED BY SUPERVISORS.
AND THIS CLASSIFICATION STUDY IS TYPICALLY DONE IN ADVANCE OF COMPENSATION PLANNING TO ENSURE WE HAVE UP TO DATE INFORMATION ON NURSE JOB DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS, WHICH IN TURN CREATE THE JOB DESCRIPTIONS.
AND THEY WERE ACCURATE AS WE START THE COMPENSATION PROCESS.
ONE TERM THAT WE'VE USED OFTEN, AS WE'VE TALKED ABOUT COMPENSATION IS OUR OPEN CAMBRIDGE SYSTEM.
SO I'LL WALK THROUGH SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF AN OPEN PAYMENTS SYSTEM AND ADDISON, WE DO HAVE AN OPEN BRANCH SYSTEM AND SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDE BEING ABLE TO HIRE A FLEXIBLY AS WE BRING IN NEW EMPLOYEES.
SO AN EXAMPLE OF THAT IS YOU'LL HAVE A MINIMUM PAY RANGE, AND YOU'RE ABLE TO HIRE FOLKS IN THAT PAY RANGE BASED ON THEIR EXPERIENCE.
SO WE DON'T ALWAYS HAVE TO HIRE THEM AT THE MINIMUM IF THEIR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS EXCEED THE MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS.
ADDITIONALLY, IN AN OPEN RANGE SYSTEM, THERE IS NO PERCEPTION OF A GUARANTEED SALARY INCREASE.
ADDITIONALLY, WITH AN OPEN RANGE SYSTEM, IT IS SENSITIVE TO THE MARKET.
YES, WE DO CLASSIFICATION STUDIES.
WE USE THAT MARKET DATA TO HELP US PLACE POSITIONS.
IT'S AN OPEN REGISTRY SYSTEM IS SENSITIVE TO THE MARKET CONDITIONS.
PARDON THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS AND OPEN RANGE SYSTEM IS THAT ALL EMPLOYEES MUST BE AT, AT LEAST AT THE MINIMUM OF THEIR POSITION, RIGHT? THIS SYSTEM ALSO REQUIRES COMMITMENT TO REASSIGN POSITIONS BASED ON MARKET AND DOING IT.
CAUSE SOME OF THOSE POSITIONS THAT ARE MORE POPULAR IN THE MARKET SAY FOR INSTANCE, PUBLIC WORKS WITH LOTS OF CONSTRUCTION GOING ON.
THERE IS THE COMMITMENT TO KEEP UP WITH THE MARKET SO WE CAN BE COMPETITIVE IN OUR HIRING PROCESS.
ONE OF THE LAST CHARACTERISTIC IS THAT AN OPEN REGISTER SYSTEM IS BEST ADMINISTERED USING A PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SYSTEM OR MERIT PAY, WHICH MEANS YOUR TURN WE'VE USED.
WE TALKED ABOUT A STEP SYSTEM IN THE PAST.
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AND SO I WANT TO WALK THROUGH SOME OF THOSE CHARACTERISTICS AS WELL.UH, TYPICALLY FOLKS ASSOCIATE A STEP SYSTEM WITH AN EASY BUDGETING PROCESS, YOU KNOW, UH, WHERE EVERYONE FALLS ON A STEP PLAN, CAUSE THEY ARE A SCIENTIST STEP.
IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY REQUIRE A PERFORMANCE EVALUATION SYSTEM OR PROGRAM.
DOES IT MEAN THAT YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE, BUT NOT IN THE SAME SYSTEM AS AN OPEN RANGE PAY SYSTEM WHERE I PERFORMANCE EVALUATION PROGRAM IS REQUIRED TO MOVE THROUGH STEPS ARE LINKED BY STEP ONE.
SO EVERYONE STARTS IN STEP ONE AND RANGE ADJUSTMENTS ARE FIXED SOMETIMES TWO AND A HALF PERCENT, 3% MADE THROUGH THAT STEP PLAN.
THERE CAN BE A PERCEPTION OF A GUARANTEED SALARY INCREASE BECAUSE FOLKS TYPICALLY MOVE THROUGH A STEP POINT BASED ON YEARS OF SERVICE AND IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS MEANS THAT EVERYONE MOVED TO STEP WITHOUT GOING.
CAN I ASK YOU A REAL QUICK QUESTION? IF SOMEBODY COMES FROM, COMES TO US FROM ANOTHER CITY AND LET'S SAY THEY'VE SERVED 10 YEARS AT THE OTHER CITY WHERE, I MEAN, WHAT HAPPENS IN A STEP PLAN SCENARIO FOR THAT? WELL, IN MOST CITIES THAT HAVE A STEP POINT UNDER ON THE CIVIL SERVICE SYSTEM.
AND SO THEY START AT THE BEGINNING OF THAT AND I WAS SAYING THAT IT COULDN'T HAPPEN DIFFERENTLY, BUT IN MOST SITUATIONS YOU START GOES BACK TO STEP, CORRECT.
STEVEN, DO YOU MIND GOING BACK ONE SLIDE JUST FOR WHAT DOES IT MEAN? PASSION VERSUS REQUIRES COMMITMENT TO BE ASSIGNED POSITIONS TO RANGE BASED ON MARKETING.
SO WITH US HAVING OUR COMPARISON CITIES LISTED OUT, WE WORK TOWARDS BEING COMPETITIVE IN THAT GROUP OF FOLKS.
AND SO TO KEEP AN OPEN RANGE SYSTEM CLASSIFIED CORRECTLY, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THOSE OTHER CITIES ARE DOING SO YOU CAN PLACE POSITIONS CORRECTLY.
SO IF WE DON'T STAY COMMITTED, THEN YOUR POSITIONS CAN FALL BEHIND THE MARKET.
AND SO THE SYSTEM IS NOT AS EFFECTIVE.
SO THEN, SO IF FARMERS TO SAY, WE WERE LOOKING AT MARKET ADJUSTMENTS, IT WOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS, RIGHT? YES.
SO I'M TRYING, I'M TRYING TO MAKE A DISTINCTION BETWEEN AMERICA AND THE MARKETPLACE.
AND THIS IS, THIS IS TALKING ABOUT RANGES, SALARIES RELATIVE TO OTHER CITIES, RANGES OF SHELTERS.
SO BASED ON MY UNDERSTANDING IS IF YOU ARE NEW HIRE THREE YEARS AGO, MAYBE YOU'RE HIRING SALARY FOR EXAMPLE, BUT IT SAYS A MARKET CHANGING THREE YEARS LATER, THE SAME POSITION, MAYBE 60,000.
SO THEN THE PEOPLE THAT THOSE STAFF WAS THREE YEARS AGO, THEY'RE HIRING LOW SALARY.
SO NOW THEY WILL FEEL RIGHT AND COMFORTABLE THAT THEY WILL HIRE NOW EVEN MAKE AS MUCH AS THEY, YOU KNOW, SO WAIT LISTS, YOU KNOW, YOU'LL CAN STILL MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENT.
YOU'LL STILL HAVE A TOP OUT SALARY OVER THE YEARS.
SO, BUT STEP PAY IS DIFFERENT.
YOU KNOW, I WENT INTO UTAH, THERE'S AN ADDITIONAL SALARY ADMINISTRATION TIMES THAT WE'VE USED THAT WE WANTED TO WALK THROUGH AS WELL.
UM, WE TALKED ABOUT A MARKET INCREASE IN A MARKET INCREASE IS JOB SPECIFIC AND TYPICALLY DOES NOT APPLY TO THE ENTIRE PAY PLAN OF SALARIES.
WE'VE ALSO TALKED ABOUT A MARKET ADJUSTMENT AND THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE JOBS MOOD AT DIFFERENT PACES IN THE MARKET.
THAT POSITION MAY BE MOVING AT A RATE THAT OTHER POSITIONS MAY NOT BE MOVING.
SO SURVEY DATA IS TYPICALLY UTILIZED TO DETERMINE WHAT JOBS ARE REQUIRED.
WE'VE ALSO TALKED ABOUT A COLA, WHICH IS A COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT.
AND SO THESE INCREASES ARE OFTEN APPLIED TO BOTH ENTIRE PAY PLAN AND TO EMPLOYEE SALARIES.
AND THEN FINALLY WE TALKED ABOUT A MERIT INCREASE, WHICH IS WHAT WE USE IN OUR OPEN ORANGE SYSTEM.
AND THIS IS TYPICALLY AWARDED FOR MEETING OR ACHIEVING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.
UH, IT CAN'T BE DIFFERENTIATED WITH ONE EMPLOYEE AND THEY AREN'T A 2% AND
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OTHER EMPLOYMENT OR 4%.WE ALSO WANTED TO JUST REMIND COUNSEL OF THE FINDINGS FROM THE FYI 2018 CLASSIFICATION STUDY.
THIS WAS PRESENTED IN DECEMBER OF 2017.
THE FINDINGS FOR POLICE AND FIRE SHOWED THAT THE FIREFIGHTER POSITIONS 10% BELOW MARKET POLICE OFFICERS WERE 70% BELOW MARKET AT THAT TIME.
AND WHEN WE LOOKED AT ACROSS ALL PUBLIC SAFETY, RIGHT? SO WERE SERGEANTS, DEPUTY CHIEFS AND SO FORTH COMPARING THE MINIMUM.
AND TOP OF THE RANGE WAS AN AVERAGE OF SIX TO 10% BELOW MARKET.
ON THE CIVILIAN SIDE, MORE THAN HALF OF THOSE PHYSICIANS WERE FOUND TO BE BELOW MARKET WITH 30 TITLES ARE ACTUALLY BEING 10% BELOW MARKET.
SO THAT WAS AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT WAS PRESENTED IN 2017, AS PART OF THE FYI 2018 CLASSIFICATION STUDY AND OUR RECOMMENDATION AND OUR RECOMMENDATION CONVERSATION TO COUNCIL PUTTING IT BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE.
WE PRESENTED SALARY INFORMATION FOR THREE OPTIONS AND 5%, 3% AND 1% BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE.
AND SO THAT 1.28 MILLION WAS OUR RECOMMENDATION.
AND AS PART OF THAT, WE HAD A TWO PHASE APPROACH TO THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS.
WE TOOK THE INFORMATION TO COUNCIL IN DECEMBER AND IN JANUARY, 2018 EMPLOYERS WHO FELL BELOW THE NOON MINIMUM OR MOVED TO THE NEW MINIMUM THAT PAY RANGE, AND THEN EMPLOYEES WHO NEEDED MARKET ADJUSTMENTS RECEIVED 50% OF THEIR ADJUSTMENT IN JANUARY, 2018.
THE SECOND PHASE OF THAT INCLUDED A MERIT BUDGET FOR 2019 AND THEN THE SECOND PART OF THAT MARKET ADJUSTMENT.
AND THEN OF COURSE FOR 2020 4% MERIT BUDGET AS WELL.
SO THAT'S JUST A RECAP OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS.
DID EVERYBODY DID ALL THE EMPLOYEES RECEIVE 4% PARENT INCREASES? THOSE, THOSE TWO, EVERYBODY RECEIVED 4% IN AVERAGE STOUT.
SO BASED ON THAT, WE'RE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.
THAT'S, THAT'S JUST ONE OF THESE KIND OF REMIND PEOPLE WE'VE BEEN AND WHAT THE TERMS MEAN, WHAT, EVERYTHING LIKE THAT, HOW OFTEN DO WE PERFORM PER TIME OF YEAR? YES, IT IS.
WE TYPICALLY START THE PROCESS IN LATE AUGUST AND THEY'RE DUE TO US AND IT'S SEPTEMBER FOR 10, ONE EFFECTIVE DATE FOR ANY PERFORMANCE INCREASE THAT RIGHT INTO THE FIRST OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
IF SOMEBODY'S UP PERFORMS, HOW, HOW HIGH OF A PERCENTAGE TO MATCH YOU? WHAT IS HIS LAST BET UP TO THE DIRECTORS IN THEIR DISCRETION? EACH DIRECTOR RECEIVES A FULL PERCENT MERIT BUDGET AND BASED ON PERFORMANCE IN THEIR DEPARTMENT, THEY CAN AWARD IT.
SO SOME DEPARTMENTS HAVE AWARDED UP TO 6% FOR HIGH PERFORMERS AND SOME HAVE GONE 4% FOR EACH EMPLOYEE, DEPENDING ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THEM.
IT'S UP TO THE DIRECTOR'S DISCRETION.
DO YOU REMEMBER PASSION IN FISCAL YEAR 2019 WHEN YOU ADD THOSE TWO PIECES TOGETHER? 4% IN THE 15% I DON'T, BUT WE CAN PULL THAT UP PRETTY FAST OR COME FROM MY FINANCE PEOPLE.
I WAS JUST INTERESTED IN WHAT THE COST WAS, THE FISCAL FOCUS.
SO WE'RE NOT SURE IF WE ACTUALLY CLOSED THE GAP WITH THOSE TWO STEPS.
WE KNOW THE DIRECTION THAT THE MARKET COULD HAVE BEEN CHANGING WAS CHANGING AT THE SAME TIME.
WELL, SO WE KNOW THAT WE CLOSED THE GAP BASED ON THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAD AT THE TIME THAT WE MADE THIS DECISION.
SO THAT WHAT YEAH, WHAT WAS, WHAT WAS FUNDED GOT US TO WHERE WE WOULDN'T BE 1% BETTER THAN THE AVERAGE OF OUR COMPETITOR CITIES AS AT THE TIME OF THE BEGINNING OF THE GREAT, IT COULD BE THAT THE MARKET WAS MOVING AT THE SAME TIME, BUT UNDERSTOOD THE CITY AS A WAY OF INCREASING THE SALARY IN OTHER CITY MAY DO THE SAME.
SO IT MAY BE A CHASE IT'S POSSIBLE, ALWAYS PROBABLE.
[00:35:03]
HOW THE COUNCIL, WHAT, HOW DO YOU WANT TO START THE CONVERSATION? WE'RE GOING TO STAFF FEEL THAT OUR RANGES AREN'T ABOUT RETENTION.SO I'LL ANSWER THIS, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER WALDEN EMAILED ME FOR QUESTIONS.
DO YOU MIND IF I FIND YOU YOU'RE WELCOME TO READ THEM AN ANSWER.
NOT SHARE THEM, SEND THEM OUT PREVIOUSLY, BUT, UM, SO WHERE DOES THAT FEEL? OUR RANGES ARE VERSUS THE MARKET.
UM, IT DEPENDS REALLY ON THE JOB, RIGHT? UM, WE, WE HAVE OVER 90 JOBS, DIFFERENT JOBS IN OUR PAY PLAN.
AND SO IT'S DIFFICULT TO GET YOU A GOOD ANSWER WITHOUT HAVING UPDATED.
THERE'S PROBABLY SOME THAT ARE LESS THAN THERE ARE PROBABLY SOME THAT ARE JUST FINE OR YOU BETTER.
SO, UH, HANDS ON, DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION ON PUBLIC SAFETY IN PARTICULAR, IT WOULD BE SPECULATION.
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE SPEC THAT PUBLIC SAFETY IS, IS BEHIND OUR COMPETITORS WITHOUT HAVING LOOK WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE DATA IT'S SPENDING.
DO WE HAVE ANY TOTAL EVIDENCE BASED OUT HIRING OF THOSE PEOPLE? ANECDOTAL DATA? WE BOTH HAVE, WE TRIED TO HIRE SOME MEDICAL SAFETY FOLKS AND EXPERIENCED ISSUES WITH THE OFFERS WE WOULD MAKE AS A WAY OF THE TESTING.
YEAH, WE ARE NOT, WE ARE NOT, NOT ABLE TO HIRE ANYBODY BECAUSE OF THAT'S WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR IS FEEDBACK, RIGHT? SO IT IS POSSIBLE.
LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, SOMEBODY MAY HAVE BEEN APPLIED HERE AND ANOTHER CITY AND IT'S POSSIBLE THAT THEY SAID WE WERE GOING TO OTHER CITY BECAUSE WE'RE ALL GOING TO GET MORE MONEY THERE, BUT THEY DON'T TELL US THAT.
SO, BUT, BUT WE'RE SO WE'VE, WE'VE HIRED PEOPLE SINCE, YOU KNOW, WE ARE HIRING PEOPLE.
IN FACT, THIS LAST WEEK WE MADE OFFERS, BUT IT IS, I MEAN, IT CERTAINLY IS POSSIBLE THAT THEY'RE SAYING, HEY, I'VE GOT THESE TWO OPTIONS.
I WAS JUST LOOKING TO COLOR TO HELP COLOR YOUR QUESTION.
IF WE HAD SOME EXPERIENCE, UH, THERE WAS A FOLLOWUP QUESTION TO THAT, UH, THAT SAYS, IF I GO AHEAD AND READ IT, PLEASE QUANTIFY ANY POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE VARIANCES FROM THE POLICY OF PAYING EMPLOYEES 1% OVER THE AVERAGE OF OUR COMPARATIVE CITIES.
WE CAN'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION AT THIS TIME.
IT'S NOT, YOU KNOW, THE BEST WE'VE GOT IS, UH, YOU'LL RECALL THAT, UM, ON MAYBE IT WAS MONDAY COUNCIL, THE COUNCIL RECEIVED, UH, INFORMATION FROM THE ADDISON POLICE ASSOCIATION THAT WAS TAKEN OFF OF, UH, WEBSITES OF OUR COMPETITOR CITIES.
UM, WE RECEIVED THAT INFORMATION, SAME INFORMATION LATE ON FRIDAY OR MONDAY AS WELL.
UH, WHEN WE USED TO SEE THAT INFORMATION, I ASKED PASSION TO LOOK AT THAT DATA FROM, YOU KNOW, GO OUT AND LOOK AT THE WEBSITES AS WELL, JUST TO VERIFY THERE WERE DIFFERENCES IN THE NUMBERS THAT SHE SAW AND WHAT WAS IT THAT WAS RECEIVED BY THE COUNCIL.
SO THERE'S, THERE'S MULTIPLE POINTS OF DATA THAT ARE, THAT ARE OUT.
I DON'T FEEL LIKE I CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION WITHOUT HAVING WHAT'S YOUR, WHAT'S YOUR SENSE? I'M SPECULATING THAT WE ARE BEHIND.
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, SPECIFICALLY ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY OR BECAUSE THERE ARE THERE OTHER, ARE, THERE ARE OUR POSITIONS, BY THE WAY, YOUR MINDSET, THERE ARE POSITIONS THAT WERE, WERE PROBABLY FINE OR EVEN THE HEAD.
BUT IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT SPECIFICS, YEAH.
I MEAN, IT'S POSSIBLE THAT WE'RE GONE.
UH, THE REQUEST OF ANSWER, THIS QUESTION IS, IS CAVEATED BY DO THE BEST YOU CAN, THE DATA YOU HAVE, THAT IS ALL WE CAN DO SINCE WE'RE OPERATING WITHOUT A CURRENT COMPENSATION STUDY.
NOW I, I DO, I UNDERSTAND THE DESIRE TO DO THAT, GET THE BEST DATA THAT'S AVAILABLE, BUT THE BEST DATA THAT'S AVAILABLE MAY NOT BE HELPFUL.
THAT IS A TOOL IN ORDER TO MAKE DECISIONS, YOU HAVE TO ANALYZE THE DATA AND MAKE, YOU KNOW, WHO RUNS THE AREA.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT WHAT WE WOULD DO FOR OUR, UH, AS, AS A RESULT OF THE COMPENSATION AND CLASSIFICATION STUDY THAT WE DID IN 2017, IT TOOK US QUITE A BIT OF TIME TO REVIEW
[00:40:01]
WHAT THE DATA WAS SAYING AND BRING FORWARD.AND THEN WE RAN MULTIPLE SCENARIOS TO BE ABLE TO SAY, THIS IS WHAT'S GOING ON.
THIS IS WHAT WE THINK WE CAN AFFORD.
AND WHEN, AND THAT'S THAT HELPED US DEVELOP AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TO GET TO WHERE, UM, WHERE, WHERE WE GOT, RIGHT? SO, UH, IF, IF IT JUST GOING OUT AND GRABBING THAT OFF A WEBSITE IS NOT A SUFFICIENT EXERCISE TO BE ABLE TO MAKE A DECISION.
AND IF I ALREADY GIVE YOU THAT KIND OF INFORMATION, IT WOULD BE INCOMPLETE.
NOT, NOT, IT WOULD NOT SERVE THE PURPOSE RECEIPT.
THAT'S A, THOSE ARE THE FIRST QUESTIONS.
THE SECOND QUESTIONS IS IT FEASIBLE TO ADJUST, PAY RANGES, UPWARDS, SOME FIGURE, FOR EXAMPLE, 1.5%.
THE FEASIBILITY IS DEPENDENT UPON THE AMOUNT OF FUNDING AVAILABLE, RIGHT? SO IT IS FEASIBLE DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH WE'RE WILLING TO PAY A FOLLOW UP QUESTION.
IF SO, IF IT IS FEASIBLE, WHAT WOULD THE COST BE? BE AGAIN, I CAN'T ANSWER THAT QUESTION.
I JUST DON'T HAVE THE DATA AVAILABLE TO ANSWER THAT.
UM, THE NEXT QUESTION WOULD DOING SO CREATE COMPRESSION ISSUES OR OTHER ISSUES THAT WOULD MAKE IT ULTIMATELY THAT WOULD ULTIMATELY CAUSE MORE ISSUES THAN IT SOLVES NOW WITHOUT HAVING DATA TO CONDUCT THE NEEDED ANALYSIS.
TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION, I CAN ONLY SPECULATE.
AND IF THE RANGES WERE TO MOVE UPWARD, IT IS LIKELY THERE WOULD BE COMPRESSION ISSUES.
IT WOULD ALSO HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED.
UH, BUT WITHOUT KNOWING THIS THAT'S JUST SPECULATION, IT COULD BE THAT THERE ARE THE MAGNITUDE OF THE, FOR EXAMPLE, IF THERE, IF IN SOME CASES THE MAGNITUDE OF COMPRESSION ISSUES COULD BE MORE SEVERE THAN OTHERS, RIGHT? SO IT COULD BE THAT WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT IS WHEN YOU'RE, WHEN YOU'RE GOING BACK TO WHAT, WHAT WOULD THIS COST KNOW IF THE COMPRESSION ISSUE IS MINOR, IT COULD COST LESS TO DO SOMETHING.
THEN OTHERWISE, IF IT'S, IF IT'S MAJOR, THEN IT COULD COST MORE.
AND THAT WOULD AFFECT YOUR ABILITY TO SAY HOW MUCH IT WOULD COST TO DO SOMETHING.
FOR EXAMPLE, WHAT HAPPENS MOVEMENT ON PAPER, UM, WOULD, WOULD ADJUSTING THE, THE NEXT QUESTION, YOUR WITH ADJUSTING THE PAY RATE OR EXCUSE ME, THE RANGES HELP CLOSE ANY GAPS FROM COMPETITOR CITY PAY RANGES IN THE INTERIM AND SELL A COMPENSATION STUDY CAN BE CONDUCTED.
IT'S POSSIBLE BECAUSE MORE MONEY IS BETTER THAN NO MONEY.
HOWEVER, IT WOULD BE UNWISE TO COMMIT, TO PAY RANGE ADJUSTMENTS WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE FULL LONG TERM COSTS.
RIGHT? SO THE EXAMPLE I WOULD GIVE IS YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE, I MEAN, IF, IF JUST FROM A TALK FROM TALKING, UH, MARY, WE WERE TO WANT TO DO A 4% MERITING.
SO IT WOULD COST US A LITTLE OVER A MILLION DOLLARS FOR THIS DISCIPLINE.
SO USING THAT AS THE EXAMPLE, NOT TALKING ABOUT ANY MOVEMENT OF ANY PAY RANGES OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, THE EXAMPLE I WOULD GIVE IS DOING, MAKING THESE KINDS OF DECISIONS WITHOUT HAVING THE APPROPRIATE DATA IS A KID.
IN MY OPINION, TO TRYING TO MAKE A, AN INVESTMENT DECISION, A MAJOR INVESTMENT DECISION, A MILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT DECISION BY SKETCHING OUT YOUR BUSINESS PLAN ON THE BACK OF A COCKTAIL, YOU CAN DO THAT, BUT I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND IT.
YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU'RE MAKING WELL INFORMED DECISIONS BECAUSE THE DECISION YOU MAKE TODAY DOES NOT HAVE IT WITH ASIANS JUST FOR THIS YEAR.
IT HAS A COMPOUNDING DECISION THAT GOES IN THE TIME.
WHEN YOU SAY, IF WE DO MERIT INCREASES EQUAL A MILLION DOLLARS, IS THAT THE ASSUMPTION THAT ALL OF IT WOULD AVERAGE 4%? YES.
SO HOW OFTEN SHOULD WE HAVE A COMPENSATION STUDY QUESTION? THAT SAME QUESTION WAS ASKED IN 20, THE FISCAL YEAR, 2018.
WHAT WAS YOUR ANSWER THEN? IT WAS, WE PLAN ON DOING COMPENSATION STUDIES EVERY THREE OR FOUR YEARS WITH IN THE INTERIM, WE WOULD DO A MARKET STUDY THE BUCKETS AND HOW, HOW, HOW ARE WE STANDING IN RELATION TO PEOPLE? AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE, THAT'S WHAT OUR PLAN IS.
AND HAS BEEN, I MEAN, THIS YEAR WE'D CUT.
WE BUDGETED TO DO MARKET, UH, STEM.
UH, I MEAN, THIS QUESTION WAS ASKED LAST NIGHT.
WHY, WHY HAVEN'T WE DONE IT? AND THE REASON IS, IS BECAUSE WHEN WE WERE JUST
[00:45:01]
ABOUT TO START PROBABLY WITHIN WEEKS OF STARTING, UH, I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF FURLOUGHING EMPLOYEES AND TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW, HOW TO KEEP PEOPLE EMPLOYED.SO YOU UNDERTAKE THE STUDY? NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.
BUT WITHOUT FIGURING OUT HOW TO PAY PEOPLE MORE WHILE I'M PLAYING POTENTIALLY LAYING PEOPLE OFF DID NOT SEEM LIKE A GOOD STRATEGY, BUT YOU STILL AN INSTANT.
YES, NO, BUT I'M TELLING YOU WHY I'M EXPLAINING TO YOU WHY IT HAS NOT BEEN DONE.
THAT'S THAT'S, THAT'S THE REASON WHY, UM, SO THAT'S 2017 IN THOSE THREE YEARS, YOU FEEL LIKE THEY SHOULD HAVE, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE IT.
IF WE UTILIZE OUR SYSTEM OF DOING MARKET AND MARRIOTT ADJUSTMENTS, I DON'T THINK WE NEED TO DO IT MORE OFTEN, BUT EVERY THREE YEARS, I DO THINK THAT COMFORTABLE WITH THE NUMBERS YOU HAVE NOW, I DO THINK A MARKET STUDY WOULD BE HELPFUL BEFORE WE MAKE ANY ADDITIONAL DECISIONS.
SO I DO THINK THAT'S SOMETHING WE SHOULD CONSIDER BASED ON THE MANAGER'S STRUCTURE.
SO SHOULDN'T, WE HAVE THAT MARKET STUDY DONE BY THE TIME THIS IS HAPPENING, IDEALLY.
FIND YOURSELF IN THIS POSITION.
IT'S AN ACCEPTED CLAIM IN THE HEAD.
OH, I DIDN'T PLAN FOR COVID-19.
NO, IT WAS, WE WERE, WE WERE, WE WERE PLANNING ON DOING, IT WAS IN THE BUDGET.
WE HAD SOMEBODY ALREADY A CONSULTANT ALREADY SELECTED, BUT AGAIN, I MADE THE DECISION THAT IN THE TIME WHEN WE WERE TRYING TO MAKE SURE WE KEPT OUR EMPLOYEES EMPLOYEE WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT WERE GOING TO BE LOOKING AT, I SAID, WELL, THAT'S, NOW'S NOT THE TIME TO DO THIS.
PLUS I THINK YOU WERE SAYING EARLIER, PASSION WAS THERE REALLY TWO KINDS OF SURVEYS.
THERE'S A MARKET SURVEY WHERE YOU DO IN DEPTH, WHICH IS WHAT YOU DID.
YOU LOOKED AT EVERY JOB, EVERY CLASSIFICATION, MOVE PEOPLE TO DIFFERENT RANGES.
AND THEN IN THE OFF YEARS, IT'S FAR LESS INTENSE.
WHAT BUDGETS ARE THEY GIVING? AND SO ON.
THAT'S WHAT WAS BEHIND IT EVERY TWO YEARS OR WHATEVER.
SO, SO THE IDEA IS EVERY YEAR YOU'RE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT.
EITHER IT'S EITHER IT'S THE FULL COMPENSATION STUDY OR YOU'RE DOING A MARKET STUDY IN THE OFF YEARS.
SO YOU A FULL STUDY IN YEAR ONE, YEAR TWO, YOU'RE DOING A MARKET STUDY OF SOME SORT YOU'RE THREE, FOUR UNIT FOR A LONG THING OR, OR, OR SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN.
SO IF, IF, IF YOU'RE DOING THE COMPENSATION, SEE THE CLASSIFICATION STUDY EVERY THREE YEARS, THEN SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN, YOU'RE DOING IT.
A LOT, DEPENDING I THINK WITH HOW CRAZY THE MARKET IS.
AND PART OF THAT, SORRY, PART OF THAT IS, ARE WE HAVING HEART OR HAVING, ARE WE HAVING ISSUES HIRING PEOPLE OR ARE THEY LEAVING? RIGHT.
UNFORTUNATELY WE HAVE NOT HAD THOSE ISSUES.
THEN IT WAS KIND OF POSTPONED IF YOU WERE PLANNING TO DO IT RIGHT.
OR YOU AN IDEA, PICK IT BACK UP AND DO IT AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, FIRST OF THE YEAR, WE CAN, WE CAN STILL, WE CAN START A MARKET STUDY NEXT IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS OR SO.
WE WON'T GET, WOULD BE TO GET THE DATA THAT WE WOULD NEED BEFORE THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR.
BUT WE WON'T BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE ANALYSIS AND THE SCENARIOS TO BE ABLE TO COME BACK AND SAY, THIS IS, THIS IS WHAT WE RECOMMEND.
AND IN FACT, IT'S NOT A PRECEDENT BECAUSE IF YOU REMEMBER BACK IN 2018, THIS WHOLE YEAR 2018, WE, WE TALKED ABOUT, WE STARTED A CONVERSATION ABOUT COMPENSATION IN FISCAL YEAR 2017 AND WE IN THE BUDGET.
AND I CAN'T REMEMBER THE AMOUNT WE BUDGETED IN OUR BUDGET FOR 2018, BUT THE IDEA WAS COME THIS, FINISHED THIS, COME BACK AND THEN CREATE A PLAN TO IMPLEMENT.
AND THAT'S WHAT WE JUST DESCRIBED.
I GUESS I DIDN'T, WE DIDN'T DIDN'T WE HAVE LIKE, OKAY, WE'RE GOING TO DO THE STUDY.
WE SET ASIDE IN THE BUDGET MONEY THAT WE ARE ANTICIPATING TO USE FOR IT.
GOT THE RESULTS OF THE THING AND THEN MADE IT RETROACTIVE.
I BELIEVE WE STARTED WITH IS EFFECTIVE JANUARY 1ST AND I BELIEVE IT WAS
[00:50:01]
SO IT IS A STUDY DONE INTERNALLY OR PARTY, UH, IN THE PAST.AND, UH, AND, AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT WE USE THE SAME PERSON WE USED LAST TIME TO HELP.
UH, SO WE WOULD USE SOMEBODY FOR THAT THIRD PARTY.
BUT IF THE COUNCIL SAID, WE DON'T WANT TO DO THIS THIRD PARTY, WE COULD DO THE WORK INTERNALLY, BUT IT WILL TAKE US A LITTLE BIT LONGER.
I LIKE THE IDEA OF DOING A MARKET SURVEY OR A MARKET STUDY, I GUESS, IS WHAT YOU'RE CALLING IT AFTER OTHER COMPANIES HAVE GIVEN HER INCREASES.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE GOT JUST FOR ANYBODY WHO'S LISTENING WAS THERE WAS A PHONE SURVEY DONE OF THE INCREASES.
COMPANIES ARE PLANNING, BUT IT'S TOO EARLY TO KNOW, AND I BET YOU THEY'RE GOING TO THE SAME KIND OF DISCUSSION WE'RE GOING THROUGH.
AND SO IT WOULD BE REALLY NICE IF THEY GIVE THEIR INCREASES OCTOBER 1ST TO GET DATA THREE MONTHS LATER AND FIND OUT, I MEAN, WHAT'S WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IF WE'RE GOING TO DO A SERIOUS RECALIBRATION.
AND THAT WAS IN NOT, I MEAN, I THINK WE DID WHEN WE DID THIS IN 2017 THAT I THINK ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I LEARNED IS THAT WHEN WE STARTED TO GET SOME OF THIS DATA, IT WAS DURING THE BUDGET TIME.
AND SO WE WOULD BE TOLD ONE THING AND THE RESULTS WOULD BE SOMETHING ELSE.
SO IT COULD BE, IT COULD GO EITHER WAY.
IT COULD BE THAT THEY TOLD US THEY WERE GOING TO DO 4%, YOU KNOW, SOME KIND OF A 4% COMPENSATION INCREASE AND THEY ONLY DID TWO, OR THEY TOLD US THEY WERE GOING TO DO THREE AND THEY DID FIVE.
AND THAT WAS, THAT WOULD BE ONE OF THE THINGS.
SO EVEN IF WE STARTED, I MEAN, THE, THE, THE ONE THING THAT WOULD, WHERE WE WOULD BENEFIT FROM THE LANE, THE START OF THE COMPENSATION, MOST AMERICAN STUDY, UH, MARKET STUDY IS THAT IF WE WAIT AND SELL, WE GET THOSE FINAL NUMBERS FROM THE CITIES BASED ON THEIR BUDGET, THEN GOT NO NUMBERS WE'RE WORKING WITH AS OPPOSED TO ESTIMATE.
AND IT SHOULD BE, I MEAN, I THINK ALL OF OUR, UH, STEVEN CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS, THAT HE SHOULD BE ADOPTING THEIR BUDGET BY, BY MID SEPTEMBER.
SO, I MEAN, WE CAN, WE HAVE, WE HAVE SOME TIME, UH, I WOULD SAY LET'S, LET'S, LET'S START.
MAYBE IF WE WANTED TO START IT, WE COULD START IT, BUT LET'S KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WELL.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE NOT GETTING, WE'RE GETTING THE FACTS.
SO THAT'S WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED MID OCTOBER OR EARLY NOVEMBER GO AT, AND AT THAT TIME, NO, NO.
I MEAN, I THINK WE COULD SAY LIKE, IF WE STARTED SEPTEMBER 1ST, I THINK WE COULD PROBABLY, THAT GIVES US ENOUGH TIME TO COLLECT THE DATA AND GET THE DATA THAT'S THERE, THE KNOWN DATA, UM, AND THEN START OUR ANALYSIS, UH, SHORTLY AFTER I'M GOING TO, I'M JUST GUESSING HERE TO SORT BEGINNING AFTER THE START OF THE FISCAL YEAR AND THEN COME BACK AND HAVE ADDITIONAL CONVERSATIONS THE COUNCIL.
NOW, IF YOU RECALL REAL QUICK, UM, W WHAT YOU DID LAST YEAR OR NOT LAST YEAR, BUT IN 2018 FISCAL YEAR 2018, WHEN WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THIS WAS, IS THE COUNCIL BUDGETED A NUMBER AND THEN WAITED TO IMPLEMENT EVERYTHING.
AND SO BASICALLY THAT THE QUESTION I WANT TO ASK PASSION, IT'S MY RECOLLECTION THAT ALMOST ALL OF THESE COMPANIES OR COMMUNITIES, ALL THESE ORGANIZATIONS, CITIES HAVE THEIR INCREASES EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1ST, THE MAJORITY OF THEM DO, THERE ARE SOME THAT DO IT ON THE ANNIVERSARY DATE, CORRECT? THE MAJORITY DID SO STATIC COLLECTED, AS OF SAY NOVEMBER 1ST COULD BE A MUCH BETTER COLLECTION OF DATA ON GRADES, CORRECT.
YOU HAVE AN APPEALING, THE PREFERABILITY OF DOING IT ALL ON ONE DAY OR VERSUS BEING AN ANNIVERSARY DATE.
IS THERE ONE THAT'S BETTER THAN THE OTHER? I SPEAK PERSONALLY FOR REFERRALS.
YOU KNOW, I HEAR, BUT HONESTLY I HEAR FOLKS TALK ABOUT BOTH OPTIONS.
I THINK A LOT OF, UM, ARE STEP CITIES, COMPARISON CITIES THAT HAVE STEP PLANS, DO ANNIVERSARY DATES.
AND I THINK FROM A COMPARISON STANDPOINT AND PUBLIC SAFETY SIDE, I THINK THAT RINGS FAMILIAR.
BUT I DO THINK THERE ARE SOME FOLKS THAT LOOK AT THE BUDGET PROCESS AND WANT TO SEE THEIR INCREASED TIME TO THAT TIME FRAME.
SO I THINK WE CAN, WE'VE DONE ON THAT BUDGET CYCLE, CORRECT? YES.
AND I'VE GOT A QUESTION, I GUESS, ABOUT MERIT AGAIN, ON THE, ON THE CITIES THAT DO A STEP PLAN, DID THEY, YOU SAY THAT THEY ALSO DO AMERICAN PLAN SOME OF THEM, OR DID THEY NOT?
[00:55:01]
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, SO THERE ARE, THERE ARE DIFFERENT WAYS TO DO STEP, RIGHT.AND IF YOU DO STEP, SOME CITIES REQUIRE A, SOME KIND OF A PERFORMANCE EVALUATION, AND THEY MAY GIVE YOU A CERTAIN LEVEL OF STEP BASED ON YOUR PERFORMANCE, RIGHT? SO YOU MAY BE A STEP, MAYBE 5%, BUT YOU CAN ONLY GET THREE AND A HALF BECAUSE YOU SET UP KIND OF THIS QUASI AND MARRIAGE.
SO THEY KNEW, AND IF THEY CALL IT, SO IT'S, IT'S, IT'S, IT'S IN A STEP PLAN, BUT THEY, THEY, THEY, THEY, THEY GIVE YOU A RANGE OF WHERE YOU COULD LAND BASED ON X, Y, OR Z, AND YOU GET PAID, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER RECORDING TO BETTER PERFORMANCE.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S THE WAY SOME DO IT.
THERE'S SOME THAT JUST FROM A, AT LEAST FROM A STEP PLAN STANDPOINT, IT'S JUST, YOU MOVE IT, YOU KNOW, MOVE THROUGH THE IT'S AUTOMATIC IT'S YOU GOT ANOTHER YEAR, YOU GET ANOTHER.
UM, AND IN THOSE CASES, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU'LL, UH, AND THEN, AND THEN THERE ARE CITIES THAT, UH, AND THOSE STEP PLANS ARE ALMOST, THEY'RE NOT, I MEAN, THE MAJORITY OF THEM ARE FOCUSED ON, UH, PUBLIC SAFETY ACTIVITIES, BUT THERE ARE CITIES THAT HAVE STEP PLANS FOR GENERAL.
DO WE HAVE FEEL FOR COMPARATIVE CITIES, HOW, WHATEVER THEY WANT TO CALL IT, WE'VE GOT THIS MERIT OR MERIT PLAN, OR WE AVERAGE 4% ACROSS THE BOARD FOR ALL OUR EMPLOYEES TO, WE KNOW HOW THAT COMPARES TO OTHER COMPARATIVE CITIES, WHATEVER THEY, WHETHER THEY CALL IT A MERIT OR SOME STUFF, NOT, NOT RIGHT NOW, BUT I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE.
A 4% MERIT POOL AVERAGE IS PRETTY, PRETTY GENEROUS.
AND WHEN WE DO A MARKET STUDY, DO WE GET ANY TYPE OF FEEDBACK OR INFORMATION THAT MIGHT GIVE US SOME INSIGHT ON THE COMPARATIVE CITIES WITH WHAT THEY'RE DOING OR NOT DOING MERIT POINTS? YES, WE DO THINK THAT'S VERY VALUABLE.
THE GOOD THING I'M EXPECTING IN THE MARKETS IS THAT THEY WOULD GET ACCESS WHAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY PAID, WHICH ALLOWS YOU TO CALIBRATE, PARTICULARLY IF YOU KNOW, YOU'RE PREPARED TO YOUR CITIES.
THAT'S WHERE YOU CAN REALLY JUDGE.
HI, I GUESS I'M HEARING FROM EVERYBODY, UNLESS SOMEBODY TELLS ME DIFFERENTLY THAN, UM, WE WANT TO ADD A MARKET STUDY TO THE BUDGET.
IS THAT WHAT I'M HEARING? THAT'S WHAT I EXPECTED HIM TO DO.
I THINK, YOU KNOW, IT'S HARD TO DECIDE.
WE WANT TO INCREASE 1%, ONE AND A HALF TO 3%.
WE DON'T HAVE ANY DATA TO BASE ON.
AND THEN WE CAN'T JUST RELY ON, YOU KNOW, PRIESTS ASSOCIATIONS NUMBER BECAUSE THEY JUST DOWNLOAD EACH SEAT.
BUT I WOULD EXPECT, YEAH, I KNOW.
UH, I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE WE WANNA DO IT, DO IT RIGHT.
AND ALSO FOR THEM, SO NOT JUST PLEASING THE FIRE.
AND THEN, BUT LOOK LIKE IT'S JUST BASED ON THEIR DATA.
SO MUCH NEW LOAD, EVEN THOUGH 2017, WE'RE TRYING TO CLOSE THE GAP, BUT IT'S BASED ON THE DATA AND THEN DON'T KNOW HOW ACCURATE IT IS, BUT CERTAIN PERCENT LOWER BASED ON THEIRS.
SO IN OTHER WORDS, I'M SAYING IS WE'RE TRYING TO CLOSE THE GAP TWO OR THREE YEARS, THEN WE KEEP ON CHASING.
SO, YOU KNOW, I WAS, I THINK RIGHT NOW, IF YOU'RE HIRED SO FAR, THE CONTRACTOR WASN'T HANDLED KIMBERLY HOME.
IT'S UM, UH, WHAT'S THE MATTER MEXICAN MARQUIS STUDY COMPANY, PUBLIX IS THE, THE GROUP YOU USED LAST TIME.
IT'S CALLED THE PUBLIC SECTOR PERSON.
SO THEY ARE PROFESSIONAL FIRMS. SO THEY NOT ONLY DO THAT AS WELL, OBVIOUSLY, MAYBE MANY OTHER SEATS.
SO A LOT OF TIMES THEY ARE, THEY DO, THEY HAVE ALL THE DATA SO THEY CAN SELL FOR MANY CITIES.
SO I THINK, YOU KNOW, WE'LL TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO MUCH BETTER.
SO TWO, TWO THINGS, ONE IS, IS THERE'S MONEY IN THE BUDGET THIS YEAR.
SO WE COULD, WE COULD START IT.
WE COULD START IT CLOSER TO THE END
[01:00:01]
OF THE FISCAL YEAR AND TIMELESS.SO, I MEAN, I, THIS IS WHETHER IT'S, I THINK WE'VE GOT MONEY NOW, BUT WE, I MEAN, EVEN IF IT WERE, WHAT WOULD, WHAT DID WE BUDGET AT 25,000? CORRECT.
SO, I MEAN, IT'S NOT A HUGE AMOUNT, EVEN IF WE DID IT IN NEXT YEAR'S BUDGET, BUT WE'VE GOT IT NOW.
SO THAT'S ONE THING THE OTHER IS, IS THERE'S STILL TWO OTHER QUESTIONS THAT WERE ASKED THAT I'D BE HAPPY TO.
WHAT IS IT TAX RATE AT THE VOTER APPROVAL RATE, GIVEN HIS ASSUMPTION OF TAXABLE VALUES, YOU ARE MAKING YOUR BUDGET.
SO THAT'S THE 4.8, $6 BILLION THAT, UH, THE VOTER APPROVAL RATES AND THAT'S THE 8% NUMBER IS 0.636 (414) 636-3641.
HOW MUCH ADDITIONAL REVENUE WOULD THAT GENERATE IF WE RAISED IT, IF WE RAISED IT TO THAT LEVEL, THE ADDITIONAL REVENUE OVER WHAT MY PROPOSED BUDGET WOULD BE, UM, 1 MILLION, 222,408.
AND THEN IF WE TOOK THE GENERAL FUND BALANCE DOWN TO 25%, HOW MUCH REVENUE WOULD THAT EQUATE TO? CAN YOU ALSO PROVIDE REDUCTION IN INCREMENTS OF 5% AS TO HOW MUCH REVENUE THAT REPRESENTS? SO OUR CURRENT PROPOSED FUNDING ENDING FUND BALANCE IS 45.6%, HUH? NINE 45.9.
SO IF YOU REDUCED IT FROM 45.9 TO 45%, THAT WOULD BE, THAT WOULD BE, THAT WOULD GENERATE $338,023, $338,023.
AND THAT'S JUST RUNNING DOWN, BUT THAT'S GREAT.
NINE TENTHS OF A PERCENT, IF YOU REDUCED IT FROM ITS CURRENT LEVEL TO 40%, THAT WOULD RESULT THAT WOULD, THAT WOULD HAVE, THAT WOULD BE A DOLLAR AMOUNT OF 2 MILLION, $271,241.
THAT'S GOING DOWN 25%, 40%, CORRECT.
2 MILLION, 2 MILLION, TWO SEVEN ONE, TWO 41.
YOU'VE SPENT 35% FUND BALANCE WOULD BE 4 MILLION, $204,459 COMING DOWN TO 30% FUND BALANCE, 6 MILLION, $137,677.
AND GOING DOWN TO 25% WOULD BE 8 MILLION, 70,890.
HOW DO WE RAISE AS TRIPLE A BOND RATING? BECAUSE WE HAVE A HIGH RESERVE HIGHER, MUCH HIGHER THAN 25%.
IT'S GOING TO COME IN HANDY NOW.
SO WE HAVE A REVISED STUDY IN A CITY COUNCIL MAY LIKE CITY GOVERNMENT.
AND IF YOU WANT TO RESERVE AAA BOND RATING CHANCES, ANY COMMENTS ON THAT? THAT'S ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.
SO ONE OF THE REASONS THAT THE BOND RATINGS ARE SO HIGH IS NOT ONLY THE FUND BALANCE WITHIN THE GENERAL FUND IS HIGH, BUT ALSO THERE'S OTHER FUNDS THAT ARE NON-RESTRICTIVE CAN BE USED TO FUND OPERATIONS IF NEEDED TO SUCH AS THE F FUND, WHICH IS, UH, INTERNALLY RESTRICTED.
BUT, UM, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY JUST PART OF THE TAX RATE.
UM, THERE THERE'S A, THERE'S ANOTHER FUND, THE SELF FUNDED PROJECTS FUND THAT HAVE BALANCES THAT HAD BEEN TRANSFERRED FROM THE GENERAL FUND.
UH, THERE'S A STREET SELF-FUNDED PROJECTS, FUNDED AD MONEY TRANSFERRED FROM THE GENERAL FUND.
SO ALL OF THOSE RESERVES ARE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT WHEN RATING AGENCIES, OCTOBER WAS VERY HIGH.
SO THAT WHAT THE MAYOR SAID, I THINK THE AGENCIES ARE GOING TO HAVE A LITTLE VARSITY ON THE WRINKLE BASED ON COVID-19
[01:05:02]
CHALLENGES, OR ARE THEY STILL GOING TO RAIDERS? THEY HAD IT, WELL, THE TWO RATING AGENCIES THAT WE JUST HAD A CALL WITH SNP THEY'RE, UH, THEY'RE THOROUGH, BUT GENERALLY VERY EASY TO DEAL WITH.UH MOODY'S UH, THEY DEFINITELY FIT THE NAME.
UM, THEY ASK A TON OF QUESTIONS.
UH, THEY'RE GOOD QUESTIONS, BUT THEY, THEY, THEY WANT A TON OF DATA.
UM, SO IT'S REALLY HARD TO SAY.
UM, I, I THINK THERE, THERE WILL BE SOME PRESSURE THERE, UH, IN THEIR CALLS, THEY THOUGHT THE PRESSURE WAS GOING TO BE MORE ON SOME OF THE ISSUERS, SUCH AS MASS, MASS TRANSIT AUTHORITIES AND THINGS LIKE THAT, THAT ARE, THEY'RE LOSING A LOT OF DRIVERS THAT AREN'T NECESSARILY BASED ON PROPERTY OR INCOME TAXES.
UM, BUT YOU KNOW, THEY ALSO LOOKED AT OUR SALES TAX.
THEY DON'T LOOK A LOT OF FACTORS, BUT ULTIMATELY ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE STRONGEST THINGS THAT THEY SAID ABOUT ABSOLUTELY THAT WAS THE RESERVES AND THEN OUR ACCESS TO RESERVES OUTSIDE OF THE GENERAL.
THE OTHER, THE OTHER THING THAT, UH, RELATED TO THAT THEN IS WHEN THEY, WHEN THEY GIVE YOU A BOND RATING, THEY ALSO GIVE YOU AN OUTLOOK IN OUR OUTLOOK IS STABLE.
SO THEY COULD HAVE GIVEN US A AAA RATING WITH A NEGATIVE OUTLOOK, BUT THEY MAINTAINED IT STABLE.
SO I THINK THIS IS INDICATIVE OF THAT.
I'LL TELL YOU GOING TO MOODY'S THOUGH, FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE PAST, WHEN WE'VE USED GENERAL FUND FUND BALANCE FUND ONE TIME PROJECT, UH, THEY'VE FOUND THAT THEY DON'T LIKE THAT.
COULD YOU REPEAT THAT ONE MORE TIME? THEY DON'T LIKE THE FACT THAT WE FUND ONE TIME PROJECTS OUT OF OUR GENERAL FUND FUND BALANCE, EVEN THOUGH OUR BALANCE IS HIGH.
AND MY ARGUMENT TO THEM IS I'VE GOT TO TAKE CARE OF A CITY, RIGHT? WE TAKE CARE OF OUR STUFF.
THIS IS NOT, WE'RE NOT JUST THROWING THIS AWAY ON, ON FRIVOLOUS THINGS.
WE'RE NOT MISMANAGING ANYTHING.
WE'RE ACTUALLY TAKING CARE OF OUR, OUR, OUR, OUR OBLIGATIONS.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, SO THAT'S KINDA LIKE A, A CONSTANT BACK AND FORTH KIND OF LIKE, WELL, YOU'RE DOING THIS WELL, WE'RE, THIS IS WHAT CITIES DO.
AND, AND, AND THE FACT THAT IT'S ALMOST LIKE A PREFERENCE THING, RIGHT? THEY, THEY, THEY, THEY REALLY WANT TO BE ABLE TO SHOW THE INVESTORS, YOU KNOW, ALL THOSE, IF ANYTHING GOES BAD, ALL OF THE MONEY THEY HAVE IS GOING TO GO TO YOU FIRST.
AND, YOU KNOW, SO I, IT FRUSTRATES ME, BUT IT IS WHAT IT IS.
UM, BUT I THINK IT'S INDICATIVE OF WHAT THEY LOOK AT AND HOW CAREFUL WE NEED TO BE WITH HOW WE UTILIZE OUR FUND BALANCE.
SO THE STAFF HAVE PHYSICIAN OPINION, IS THERE A MAGIC NUMBER, 49%? AND IT'S, IT'S AN EXTRAORDINARY NUMBER, BUT I'M NOT A CFO OF THE TOWN EITHER.
YOU KNOW, I'M A COMMERCIAL UNDERWRITER, I UNDERSTAND NUMBERS.
SO WHAT WOULD IT BE? AND IF YOU WANT TO ANSWER THAT WITH, CAUSE I DON'T WANT TO PUT YOU THE PERSON ON THE HOT SEAT.
I MEAN, I'LL LET YOU ANSWER AN ANDREW.
IF, IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK, SPEAK TO THAT, IS THERE A MAGIC NUMBER, IF YOU WILL.
I MEAN, WE TALKED ABOUT 25% IS THE BOTTOM LINE 30% AND ABOVE THAT IS GREAT.
RIGHT? SO WE'RE IN THE GRADE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE GRAVY HERE.
SO WHERE, WHERE DOES THE RATE? WE STARTED TO FIT IT OUT, IF YOU WILL, AND TURN INTO BLOOD, YOU KNOW, AND WHEN WE'RE STARTING TO BLEED OURSELVES, WHICH, WHICH, YOU KNOW, WE DON'T WANT TO DO, YOU KNOW, BEFORE YOU ANSWERED THAT QUESTION BEFORE YOU ANSWER THAT, REMIND US, AND WE'RE WATCHING WHAT THE REDLANDS, THE FINANCIAL RENTAL VACATIONS CAN BE OUR CHALLENGES, RIGHT? WELL, ULTIMATELY YOU HAVE A VERY AGGRESSIVE BOND PROGRAM COMING UP IN ADDITION TO MIDWAY ROAD.
SO SEVERAL PLANNED BOND ISSUANCES, AND ULTIMATELY IF YOU'RE DOWNGRADED, YOUR TAX PAYERS ARE GOING TO END UP PAYING A LOT MORE THAN INTEREST.
SO IT'S JUST LIKE, UH, YOU KNOW, IF YOU THINK OF IT AS THE MORTGAGE ON A HOME, IF YOU HAVE A LOWER CREDIT RATING, YOU'RE GOING TO END UP PAYING A LOT MORE.
[01:10:01]
HAS SOMEBODY THAT HAS AN EXCELLENT, GREAT CREDIT RATING.SO THE TOWN HAS THE BEST POSSIBLE CREDIT RATING, WHICH MEANS THAT WE GET THE BEST POSSIBLE RATES ON THE MARKET.
WELL, NOT VERY LARGE PREMIUM ON THE ISSUE, THESE THINGS AS WELL.
SO I MEAN, TO THAT POINT, NOT ONLY DID WE HAVE A SUPER LOW INTEREST RATE, BUT PEOPLE PAID US CASH TO GET IT ALL, TO GET OUR, OUR DEBT.
AND THAT MEANS THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE TO ISSUE AS MUCH DEBT TO GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT WE NEEDED TO DO THE PROJECT AND THAT SAVES MONEY AND AN EARLY CALL.
WELL, SO TO YOUR, TO YOUR QUESTION NOW ABOUT THE MAGIC NUMBER I SPEAK 25% IS A REASONABLE CONSERVATIVE NUMBER.
YOU KNOW, THERE IS NO MAGIC NUMBER I WOULD SAY.
AND IF YOU WERE MEMBER IN HOW WE'VE DONE THINGS THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS, WE WOULD HAVE, FOR EXAMPLE, OF 45%, FOR EXAMPLE, 45% FUND BALANCE.
AND WE WOULD DRAW DOWN $4 MILLION TO GET IT DOWN TO SOMEWHERE IN THE 35 RANGE.
RIGHT? SO WE'RE STILL BETTER THAN OUR GOAL.
WE'RE STILL SHOWING PEOPLE THAT WE'RE ABOVE THAT, THAT, THAT, EVEN THAT GOAL, BUT WE'RE TRYING TO PUT OUR RESOURCES, RESOURCES TO GOOD USE.
I WANTED TO CONTINUE TO DO THAT, BUT I DIDN'T THIS YEAR, BECAUSE NEXT YEAR I THINK WE'RE GOING TO GET KICKED IN THE HEAD WITH OUR PROPERTY TAX VALUES.
AND WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO HAVE A HARD PART FOR PROBABLY MY WIFE'S WATCHING.
SHE PROBABLY THINKS I WAS TOO FUN THERE.
UM, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE, IT'S GOING TO BE TOUGH.
AND I DIDN'T WANT TO USE THAT MONEY THIS YEAR IN ANTICIPATION OF WHAT COULD HAPPEN OVER THE NEXT TWO 50, BUT ALSO YOU WERE ANTICIPATING THAT WAS GOING TO COME DOWN SOMEWHAT WITH WHATEVER WAS DONE WELL, BECAUSE THIS 45.9 DOESN'T INCLUDE ANY HERE I WAS.
SO IS YOUR QUESTION, WAS I ANSWERED, ARE YOU ANTICIPATING THAT ULTIMATELY THAT WOULD BE, YOU WERE ANTICIPATING SOMEWHERE THERE WOULD BE SOME MIRACLE FUNDED SOME YES, BUT I WAS NOT, I WAS NOT PLANNING ON DRAWING DOWN THE FUND BALANCE TO PAY FOR IT.
SO WHAT WAS IT GOING TO COME FROM? SO FOR EXAMPLE, IF THE CAP, SO THERE'S A COUPLE OF AREAS, RIGHT? YOU SAY, WE WANT TO DO THIS AND WE WANT TO, INSTEAD OF BRINGING IN, UH, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE OVER, WHAT IS IT, 1.4%, 1.4% IN REVENUE, WE GO UP TO THE THREE AND A HALF PERCENT NUMBER, AND THAT GETS US $330,000, APPROXIMATELY, WHICH GIVES US SOME OF THAT MONEY TO PAY FOR A ONE AND A HALF PERCENT MERIT, YOU KNOW, IN THE BALLPARK.
UM, AND, UH, OR WE HAVE COMPARABLE OR MORE, OR YOU GO UP MORE THAN THAT TO DO THAT.
OR YOU SAY, YOU KNOW WHAT, WE DON'T WANT IT.
CAN YOU GIVE ME A TAX RATE THAT SAYS WE'RE NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THIS, ANYTHING MORE THAN THIS TAX RATE? AND IF IT'S LESS THAN WE HAVE, AND YOU WANT TO DO MERIT INCREASES, THEN I'VE GOT TO GO FIND MONEY IN THE BUDGET.
ARE WE SWITCHING TO THE TAX RATE DISCUSSION NOW? WELL, NO, I DON'T THINK YOU GUYS, UH, SETTLED ANYTHING ON THE COMPENSATION QUESTION YET PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION.
YOU'RE ALWAYS INTERESTED IN HAVING THE CONVERSATION AND UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE TOOLS AND WE'VE GOT TOOLS AND THE MANAGERS SUGGESTING YET A DIFFERENT TOOL.
SO WHAT OCCURS TO ME IN LOOKING AT ASHTON'S PRESENTATION IS IT REQUIRES THE POLITICAL REAL TO DO RECYCLING.
BECAUSE YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU, WHEN YOU HAVE THE STEP I'M SAYING THIS WRONG, CORRECT ME, BUT YOU KNOW, WE HAVE THAT.
IF IT'S NOT SUBJECT MIGHT GIVE YOU A YEAR TO BUDGET SITUATION BECAUSE YOU HAVE THOSE STEPS THAT ARE, THAT ARE FORMAL.
SO REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT'S A STEP PLAN OR AN AMERICAN SYSTEM MERIT, IT HAS TO BE FUN, BUT I UNDERSTAND SO, WELL, I GUESS MY POINT, IF I'M NOT ARTICULATING CORRECTLY, THERE'S, THERE'S A FORMALIZED
[01:15:01]
PROCESS TO MOVE THROUGH YOUR RANGE.AND, AND, AND YOU KNOW WHAT, I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT.
AND IF WE DON'T FIND SOMETHING, THEN THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THE RANGE AND THAT'S A POLITICAL DECISION.
AND WE HAVE TO WRESTLE WITH EVERY SINGLE YEAR THAT'S UNCERTAINTY.
RIGHT? SO THAT'S, THAT'S PART OF THE DOWNSIDE.
THERE'S UPSIDES AND DOWNSIDES TO BOTH SYSTEMS, RIGHT? THIS IS THE DOWNSIDE.
SO I, I, I SIMPLY WANT TO DO WHAT WE SAID WE WOULD DO.
AND I VOTED FOR HIM PERSONALLY.
SO I'M GOING TO GO ON RECORD SAYING THAT WE NEED TO FUND THIS OUT.
I'M WILLING TO HAVE THE DISCUSSION AND THE DIALOGUE AND THE NEGOTIATIONS, IF THAT'S THE RIGHT WORD AS TO INVITE THEM AROUND.
BUT, YOU KNOW, TO SAY, WE'RE GOING TO COMMIT TO THIS AND DO IT ON AN ANNUAL BASIS, WHICH IS WHAT PART, PART OF WHAT SHE TOLD US.
SO BEING GOOD AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE LET'S JUST DO TWO OR THREE THINGS.
FIRST OFF, THE CONCLUSION THAT I DREW FROM THE COMMENTS TODAY IS THAT BASED ON BEST ANALYSIS, WE WERE IN FACT ON TRACK FOR FISCAL YEAR 19 TO HAVE CLOSED THE GAP, UNLESS OTHER COMPANIES, I SAY COMPANIES, CAUSE IT'S MY MINDSET.
BUT UNLESS OTHER CITIES WENT CRAZY AND DID AN AWFUL LOT MORE THAN 4%, WE SHOULD BE WAY OFF.
AND I'M NOT HEARING ANYTHING FROM ANYBODY THAT'S TALKING ANECDOTALLY THAT WERE, THAT WERE CRAZY OFF.
I MEAN, MAYBE WE ARE WHEN WE DO A MARKET STUDY, BUT THAT'S NOTHING THAT I'VE BEEN HEARING.
SO I'M NOT SURE WHERE THAT FAR OFF.
I PERSONALLY LIKED THE IDEA OF DOING MARKET BECAUSE IT'S PROBABLY TIME I LIKED DOING IT, THE DATA AS OF NOVEMBER OR SO, BECAUSE THAT'S AFTER COMPANIES, ACTUALLY, COMPANIES, CITIES GIVE INCREASES.
SO WE'RE NOT ASKING THEM FOR THE REST OF IT.
SO WE'RE SAYING, WHAT DID YOU DO WITH WHAT'S THE FACT, SO PUT SOME MONEY IN RESERVE DECIDED THAT POINT IN TIME, COME BACK.
AND, YOU KNOW, WE, WE COULD BE SURPRISED EITHER WAY, YOU KNOW, MAYBE IT TURNS OUT TO BE, MAYBE IT TURNS OUT TO GET 2% NUMBER.
MAYBE IT TURNS OUT TO BE, I DON'T KNOW, BUT AT THAT POINT, COUNSEL CAN TAKE THE JUDGMENT BASED ON THAT DATA.
AND IT ANSWERS THE OTHER QUESTIONS, PAUL, THAT YOU WERE RAISING, HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH COMPRESSION? HOW DO YOU DO IT? WHATEVER, BECAUSE THEY'LL HAVE THE DAMN MOCK MARLA
AND I THINK THE, YOUR SUGGESTION OF PUTTING A NUMBER BACK TO THE FUCKING POOL, AND THEN I THINK THAT'S, I'M SUPPORTIVE.
I WANT, I WANT DAN TO DRIVEN DECISIONS.
SO IT SOUNDS LIKE IT'S BETTER TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE START OF THE FISCAL YEAR, BUT IT WAS BUDGETED IN THIS YEAR.
CAN WE NOT JUST MAKE THAT TRANSFER? WE CAN MAKE, WE CAN JUST, RIGHT.
YOU'RE JUST GOING TO MOVE AND RENT THIS YEAR.
YOU'RE ALREADY, YOU STILL HAVE THE MONEY THERE.
WE'LL WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR AND DO IT THEN.
AND THEN AT THAT POINT, ONCE WE HAVE THE INFORMATION, YOU CAN TALK ABOUT IT, THEN CAN WE HAVE THE DECISION THAT WE CAN MAKE A DECISION, WHETHER WE TAKE, IF THERE IS MONEY REQUIRED FROM, OR NOT TAKE IT OUT OF FUND BALANCE AT THAT TIME? WELL, YOU GOTTA BE CAREFUL WITH TAKING MONEY OUT OF FUND BALANCE, NOT FOR COMPENSATION, BECAUSE THE THING IS, IS YOU'VE GOT AN ONGOING OBLIGATION, RIGHT? SO IF YOU FIND IT ONE YEAR OUT OF FUND BALANCE, OKAY.
BUT WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT YEAR? SO IS THIS AN EXCUSE ME? I, I, LET ME, LET ME ADD THIS UNLESS
[01:20:01]
THE INTENT IS TO DO SOMETHING ON A ONETIME DECISION BASIS.SO IF YOU CAN SAY, WE'RE GOING TO DO THIS ONCE THEN.
YOU COULD, YOU COULD DO THAT WITHOUT CREATING A PROBLEM FOR YOURSELF.
BUT IF YOU DO, IF YOU PLAN ON NOT, NOT BEING IT, BEING AN ONGOING OBLIGATION, THEN THAT, THAT IS AN UNDERSTANDING.
I DON'T KNOW IF WE KNOW WHAT THE NUMBER IS BECAUSE AT THIS POINT WE'RE JUST GUESSING.
I MEAN, YOU WOULD, YOU WOULDN'T BE AS FAR AS WHAT, WHAT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO CLOSE ANY GAP YOU WOULDN'T KNOW.
BUT, BUT IF YOU LIKE IN THE PAST, SO IN 18, IN 18, WE BUDGETED AT 4%, UH, AS WELL, AND THEN USE THAT TO HELP, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, ADDRESS THE ISSUE.
SO IF YOU WANT IT TO SAY THIS YEAR, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE, WE WANT TO PUT IN THIS PLACE HOLDER AND USE THAT TO, TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE.
YOU CAN, BY DOING THAT, YOU, YOU HAVE THAT CONVERSATION AS PART OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING.
SO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE, YOU KNOW, YOU'RE DOING IT.
IF YOU DO IT, IF YOU TRY TO HOLD THAT, MAKE THAT PLACEHOLDER LATER ON, WITHOUT CORPORATING THAT DISCUSSION AS PART OF THE TAX RATES SETTING PROCESS, THEN YOU MAY MOVE PAST AN OPPORTUNITY TO FUND IT WITH THE TAX RATE UNTIL THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR.
I WANT TO SAY, I DIDN'T WANT TO INTERRUPT.
I'VE TALKED ABOUT TAKING IT FROM FUND BALANCE.
CAUSE THAT'S, THAT'S PROBABLY NOT ACCURATE.
I DON'T THINK OUR FUND BALANCE NEEDS TO BE 45.9%.
UM, I THINK A 40% IS ACTUALLY A VERY GENEROUS, CERTAINLY HISTORICALLY WITH THIS CITY.
AND WHEN I I'M COMFORTABLE REDUCING THAT PERCENTAGE UNBALANCED, SO THIS 4 MILLION OR WHATEVER THE PLACEHOLDER IS, WE PUT IN, GOES IN AS A RECURRING ONGOING ITEM.
AND THEN I JUST GO A COUPLE OF STEPS FURTHER.
I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD CONSIDER NOT RAISING.
AND BY THE WAY, THE DEBT, THE INTEREST IN SINKING RATE IS FIXED.
WE DON'T GET TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
I REALLY THINK WE SHOULD CONSIDER KEEPING THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE NUMBER FLAT.
IT'S NOT A HUGE AMOUNT OF MONEY.
IF IT LOWERS THE PERCENTAGE, INCREASE A BIT FROM ROUGHLY 6.9% THAT RESIDENTIAL HOMEOWNER PAYS TO ABOUT 5.4 DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A LOT.
DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A LOT OF DOLLARS, BUT WE DID A HUGE INCREASE LAST YEAR.
AND THERE'S ANOTHER BIG INCREASE COMING NEXT YEAR.
BECAUSE IF YOU LOOK AT THE SET AMOUNTS THAT ARE GOING TO GO WITH THE DEBT PLAN THIS YEAR WAS TO 2 CENTS.
IT ESTIMATED TO GO UP AND IT'S GOING UP ONE NEXT YEAR.
IT'S ESTIMATED TO GO ON FOR LOOKING AT THIS.
I THINK IT'S REASONABLE THAT WE DON'T EVEN KNOW.
AND THAT'S WHERE I'M INTERESTED IN KNOWING HOW THOSE DOLLARS WERE PUTTING THROUGH.
IF WE PUT IN A 4% ERROR OR 2%, WHATEVER NUMBER THE GROUP AGREES, HOW DOES THAT PLAY? HOW DOES IT PLAY IF WE KEEP THE MNO FLAT? WHERE DOES THAT TAKE US IN TERMS OF THE FUND BALANCE PERCENTAGE? AND DO WE FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT? AND I HAVE ONE OTHER COMMENT.
THE OTHER REASON I DON'T LIKE, I DON'T LIKE THE IDEA OF RUNNING THE FUND BALANCE UP.
I FEEL LIKE THAT'S HAVING CURRENT PEOPLE TO SAVE FOR THE FUTURE ON THE TAXES.
AND THERE'S THE POINT WHERE THAT'S, THAT GOES JUST TO THE FAR 45.9 JUST SEEMS LIKE IT.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHAT I LOOK FORWARD TO.
AND I'D BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHAT THE NUMBERS ARE.
WE DID RUN A LONG TERM SCENARIO.
UH, STEVIE, PLEASE BRING UP THE, UH, THE, IF WE DID THE SCENARIO IS WE THOUGHT IF WE WENT TO THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE AND TRIED TO FUND INCREASES AFTER, OR FROM THE, YOU KNOW, HOW YOU'RE CHECKING BY STEALING CHECK, I'M ECHOING.
I, I THINK WHAT HAPPENED IS WE DON'T HAVE TO PENALIZE THE CURRENT TAX PAYER AND THEN BY ADDING HIGHER PERCENT, SO MUCH HIGHER.
SO INSTEAD OF WHETHER OR NOT THE TAXIWAY, HOWEVER, IS RELATED INSTEAD OF AN A
[01:25:01]
ANYMORE SENTENCE.SO WE DON'T HAVE TO PENALIZE THE CURRENT TAX PAYERS.
SO WE CAN'T, WE DON'T NEED TO PLACE THIS MUCH.
THE OTHER THING IS, IN THE MEANTIME, WE DON'T WANT TO HURT ALL BOOTIES, SO IT'S NOT EASY TO GET.
SO YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE A BALANCE, YOU KNOW, SET ASIDE SOME MONEY FOR THE POTENTIAL OF PAYING FOR THE FOLLOWING YEAR.
AND THEN STILL WE HAVE A $25,000 CASE STUDY.
THEN INSTEAD OF DOING IT NOW TO THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR, EVERYBODY ALREADY SAID, HEY, THEN YOU WILL BE MORE ACCURATE.
I THINK THAT IT WILL BE A WISER DECISION TO LIKE, SO THE SLIDE THAT WE'RE SHOWING NOW IS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF ADOPTED THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE AND TRIED TO FUND 4% MEREDITH OUT INTO THE FUTURE, IF IT'S 4% AND 21 AND THEN 3%, 4%, 23%, JUST FOR CLARITY.
ARE YOU ASKING ABOUT, I KNOW YOUR REVENUE RATE OR JUST HOPE THAT I'D BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING JUST FOR REFERENCE, IF WE TAKE THE, THIS CURRENT DATA.
SO IT'S GOT AN ENDING FUND BALANCE IN 17 MILLION, SEVEN 36, YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT IT IS IN THE CHART, BUT LET'S SAY 17.7 MILLION.
AND WE WENT WITH THE MNO FLAT RATE, WHICH LOWERS THIS $407,000 LOWER.
IS IT AN AMOUNT? AND IF THEN WE ADD AS AN EXPENSE, PICK YOUR NUMBER 2%, ERIC, 4% MIRROR, WHATEVER NUMBER YOU PICK, WHAT WOULD THAT BALANCE PERCENTAGE TO CAPITAL? THAT'S EASY.
IT'S A POINT IN TIME, JUST FOR THE FIRST YEAR.
YOU MEAN FOR THIS, FOR YOUR 21 FOR, FOR THIS CURRENT FISCAL YEAR, THE THING THAT'S A LITTLE TRICKY IS OF COURSE WE'RE ADDING TO THE EXPENSE LINE AS WELL AS, RIGHT, RIGHT.
YOU'RE YOU'RE WELL, SO IT'S, YOU'RE, YOU'RE REDUCING THE REVENUE LINE.
YOU'D HAVE TO REDUCE THE REVENUE LINE EVEN FURTHER TO GET MADE THAT UP.
AND THEN YOU INCREASE IT AGAIN, RIGHT? BECAUSE YOU, YOU BASICALLY SAY I WASN'T GOING TO INCREASE IT.
I WAS GOING TO TAKE THE 17.7 MILLION.
YEAH, YOU'D HAVE TO TAKE IT FROM THERE TO PUT IT.
AND YOU STILL HAVE THE EXPENSE OF THE MEREDITH.
AND THEN I WAS GOING TO ADD THAT INTO THE OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURES.
DENSITY INCREASES THE RUNNING RATE AND CALCULATE WHAT THE FUND BALANCE PERCENTAGE WOULD BE AND THE NEW LEVEL OF EXPENDITURE.
AND WE CAN SHOW THAT WE CAN SHARE AND WHAT THE NUMBER WOULD BE.
I DIDN'T ESTIMATE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO BE QUOTING A NUMBER THAT'S WRONG HERE.
OR DISTRICT IT'S A, IT WOULD BE 40 WITH A 4% MERIT, UH, AND THE NO NEW REVENUE RATE, UH, THAT WAY REDUCE THE FUND BALANCE DOWN TO 16.5 MILLION OR 41%.
AND WHEN YOU SAID THE NO NEW REVENUE, RIGHT? WHAT IS THAT NUMBER? THAT, THAT WOULD BE KEEPING YOUR MNO RATE FLAT? WHAT'S THE KEEPING IT FLAT RIGHT NOW.
OH, IS RATES 60 ONES? ZERO THREE 16 SEVENTH GRADE.
SO WE COULD DO ALL OF THAT AND HAVE A 41 POINT SOMETHING PERCENT FUND BALANCE THIS YEAR FOR THIS YEAR, BUT YOU'RE NOT, YOU'RE YOU'RE CREATING A PROBLEM FOR NEXT YEAR.
WE ARE CREATING A HIGHER RUN RATE.
HOW ARE WE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT? YOU COULD PAY FOR IT NEXT YEAR WITH WHATEVER YOU DO WITH THE TAX RATE NEXT YEAR, OR YOU CAN PAY WITH IT WITH WHATEVER YOU DO WITH YOUR TAX RATE ISSUE.
AND IT'S, I GUESS IT'S WHAT YOU'RE ASKING.
SHOULD WE PREPARE, SHOULD WE PREPAY NEXT YEARS WITH AN INCREASE IN THE TAX RATE OF EACH YEAR? NO.
IF, IF, IF WE, IF YOU DO IT THIS YEAR, IF YOU GET IT, IF YOU DO THE FOUR, 4% THIS YEAR AND YOU RAISED THE TAX RATE THIS YEAR, YOU'RE PAYING FOR THIS YEAR FOR THIS YEAR EITHER WAY.
YEAH, BUT, BUT SO LET'S SAY NEXT YEAR, NEXT YEAR, YOU DIDN'T DO A MERIT INCREASE.
YOU HAVE THAT YOU HAVE THAT PAID FOR GOING FORWARD WITH, BY, BY WORKING IT INTO THE TAX RATE.
[01:30:01]
IF YOU ONLY PAY FOR IT OUT OF FUND BALANCE, YOU PAY FOR IT THIS YEAR, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE IT PAY FOR NEXT YEAR.WE'RE NOT, WE'RE NOT PAYING FOR IT OUT OF FUND BALANCE.
THE QUESTION IS, HOW DOES THE FUND BALANCE NEED TO BE? IT'S REDUCING THE FUND BALANCE.
IT'S A FUNDAMENTAL IT'S, IT'S JUST A CALCULATION OF HOW DOES LEGENDS IS PUT TOGETHER, RIGHT? AND THAT'S IT.
THE PERCENTAGE IS, IS A CALCULATION.
THE DOLLAR AMOUNT THAT'S IN THERE IS FIXED UNDERSTOOD, AND IT WILL REDUCE BASED ON THAT EXPENDITURE FOR THIS YEAR.
AND IF YOU CONTINUE, IF IT'S, IF YOU DO SOMETHING ON AN ONGOING BASIS, YOU'LL HAVE IT, YOU'LL HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO PAY FOR SOMETHING YOU COMMITTED TO THIS YEAR WITHOUT A FUNDING SOURCE.
THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO GET CLARITY ON.
WHEN YOU SAID THE VERY BEGINNING THAT YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT THE FUND BALANCE NEEDED TO BE THAT HOT.
AND I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHERE, HOW WE WERE GOING TO PAY FOR THE INCREASE, THE FOLLOWING.
SO WHAT HAPPENED IS I THINK THAT I HAVEN'T TRIED TO SAY IS NEXT YEAR, YOU KNOW, HOPEFULLY COVID-19 SO SALES TAX, SO MAYBE PROBABLY TAX REVENUE WILL BE LOWER.
SO YOU KNOW, IT DOESN'T SOME HAS 70 OVER THERE AND THAT JUST HELPED YOU A LITTLE BETTER THAN WE HAVE ENOUGH MONEY.
AND THEN ALSO HOPEFULLY WE'LL HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO DO IT, BUT IT'S OF, YEAH, IT IS.
IT'S IT'S IT DOES NOT LOOK AT IT.
I MEAN, IF, IF, IF, IF, I MEAN EVEN IF BEST CASE, BUT IF YOU TURN THIS AROUND THE OTHER WAY AND SAY, OKAY, WE LIKE EVERYTHING THAT'S IN THIS BUDGET.
WE DON'T WANT TO CUT ANYTHING OUT.
THAT MEANS YOU CANNOT FIND ANY COMPENSATION INCREASES WITHOUT RAISING TAXES.
AND WE'RE ALREADY, YOU KNOW, IN THE LAST WE'RE GOING TO 17% INCREASE IN TAXES HERE IN THIS TWO YEAR PERIOD, IT'S PRETTY BIG.
DO YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT YEAR? COMMERCIAL PROPERTY VALUES ARE GOING TO GO DOWN QUITE A BIT, RESIDENTIAL A LOT MORE THAN RESIDENTIAL.
AND BECAUSE THEY'RE PAYING US, OUR TAX RATES GOING TO GO UP QUITE A BIT HIGHER FOR THE HOMEOWNER, THEIR HOUSE, THEIR VALUE MIGHT GO DOWN, BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO BE VERY MUCH COMPARED TO THE, YOU KNOW, MEAN, BUT JUST IF WE KEEP IT THE SAME REVENUE TAX RATES GOT TO GO UP QUITE A BIT AND THAT'S WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN.
THAT'S HAPPENED IN 2000 TO 2009 OR 10, AND SAME THING HAPPENED.
SO IT'S GOING TO JUMP A LOT FOR THE HOMEOWNER.
SO THERE MIGHT BE OTHER WAYS AROUND TO DO SOMETHING FOR HOMEOWNERS.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT IS, BUT WE GET THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMERCIAL BASE PAYING A LOT OF FREIGHT HERE.
WHEN THINGS A LOT, WE HAVE TO PAY THEM.
THE RESIDENTIAL ENDS UP PATIENTS.
I ECHO YOU BECAUSE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY VALUE TREMENDOUSLY.
YOU CAN'T THIS BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WILL GET A HOME.
AND MOST OFFICES, MOST COMPANIES DON'T NEED TO BE THE OFFICES.
I CAN GO STRAIGHT INTO THE HALF OPEN SPACE.
IF YOU HAVE 20 EMPLOYEES, 10, WE'LL GET A HOME OFFICE.
SO THEN THIS WAY, THIS YOUNG PEOPLE COME TO WORK, WE'LL GET HOME THE NEXT WEEK, JUST INTER AND NOBODY WANTS TO BE OFFICE, YOU KNOW, AND JUST LIKE A RESTAURANT, I KEEP ON SAYING, NO MATTER HOW BIG YOUR RESTAURANT IS, NO, NO USE WITH ALL THIS.
SO COMMERCIAL, PROBABLY EVERYBODY GETS A CHANCE.
WHAT WAS THE TAX RATE? YOUR PROPOSAL? IT'S NOT A HUGE DIFFERENCE.
IT'S BASICALLY THE LESS THAN NICE TO ABOUT 41.601, SIX EIGHT.
IT'S JUST KEEPING THEM IN 0.601, SIX EIGHT AT NUMBERS.
YOU CAN FIND THAT NUMBER IN THE, UH, TAX RATE SECTION.
[01:35:02]
UM, UNINTERESTED IN THE COMMENTS THOUGH, IS, YOU KNOW, LOOKING AHEAD NEXT YEAR.YOU THINK THAT COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES DOWN, WHAT'S THE CONCLUSION YOU REACH IN TERMS OF WHAT WE SHOULD DO RELATIVE TO THE TAX RATE.
IT'S KIND OF LIKE, OKAY, BUT WE DO, WE KEEP THE TAX RATE, YOU KNOW, LOWER THIS YEAR.
AND THEN THE NEXT YEAR WE'RE GOING TO, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SEE THE NEW RATE.
IT'S GOING TO GO FROM KNOW FROM HERE TO HERE.
AND, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S THAT LOOK LIKE TO THEM VERSUS IF WE'RE HERE AND IT GOES, YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? OF COURSE, IT'S ONLY, YOU'RE ONLY TALKING ABOUT LESS THAN A PENNY, BUT I GOT A FEELING NEXT YEAR.
IF I THINK THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE CLOSER TO THE, TO THE PROPERTY VALUES, THAT THE ESTIMATE IS NEXT YEAR.
AND IT MIGHT BE LOWER THAN THAT BECAUSE THEN YOU DON'T HAVE A BUSINESS.
PROPERTY IS DIFFERENT THAN COMMERCIAL.
I MEAN, RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY IS KIND OF BASED MORE ON WHAT YOUR HOUSE, REALLY, WHAT YOU'D SELL YOUR HOUSE FOR.
THAT'S NOT HOW THEY, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN RUN IT TWO DIFFERENT WAYS ON COMMERCIAL PROPERTY.
YOU CAN BASE VALUE ON THE REVENUE THAT THAT PROPERTY MAKES.
I MEAN, YOU DO IT ALL THE TIME.
SO IF YOU HAVE A BUILDING THAT'S 90% EMPTY, THERE COULD BE A $20 MILLION BUILDING, BUT THEY'RE GOING TO SAY THE VALUE IS ONLY $5 MILLION BECAUSE IT'S NOT GENERATING ANY REVENUE.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, NEXT YEAR WITH WHAT THE EFFECTS OF COVID COMING ON JANUARY, IT'S GOING TO BE JANUARY ONE.
SO THAT'S STILL GOING TO BE REALLY IN EFFECT WHEN THAT, WHEN THOSE APPRAISALS GO OUT NEXT YEAR, IT HAPPENED IN, I MEAN, I'M TELLING YOU WE DROPPED A BILLION DOLLARS OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT BACK INTO 2009.
SO WHEN YOU QUIT THE TAX WEEK FIVE, SIX WITH THIS WHERE EVEN LOWER TAX RATE, THE LATER ON, WE WENT 10 LEVEL FOR TWO YEARS AND ALL OF A SUDDEN, YEAH.
SO I DON'T, YOU KNOW, IT'S KIND OF A PERCEPTION THING, YOU KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING? AND I DON'T, I DON'T KNOW HOW I HAVEN'T REALLY THOUGHT THROUGH IT, BUT IT'S LIKE, WE WANT THE JUMP TO BE LIKE THIS, OR DO YOU WANT THE JUMP TO BE LIKE THAT? YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, IT'S NOT GOING TO, IT'S NOT VERY BIG.
THE DEBT PIECE IS A PRETTY BIG DEAL.
WELL, THAT'S YEAH, IT'S 4 CENTS.
SO WE HAVE TO LOWER THE TAX RATE TO BE WITHIN 8% REVENUE CAP.
NOT BECAUSE WE WANT A LOW TAX RATE, JUST BECAUSE OF, WE HAVE NO CHOICE.
YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT DID YOU, YOU GUYS CALCULATED WHAT THE TAX RATE WOULD BE BASED ON WHAT WE COULD RAISE IT TO BASED ON THE LOWER ESTIMATE, RIGHT? YES.
AND WHAT WAS THAT? THE 8% NUMBER? NO, NO, NO.
I'M SAYING IF YOU GUYS WERE ESTIMATED NOW BASED ON WHERE YOUR, YOUR, YOUR ESTIMATION OF THE AD VALOREM TAX ESTIMATE VALUE PHRASE, BUT YEAH.
I MEAN, YOU'RE, YOU'RE, YOU'RE DOING ALL YOUR ESTIMATES, RIGHT? RIGHT.
IF YOU DID IT ALL, BOTH CERTIFIED NOTIFIED OR THE ONE THAT THEY GOT FROM THE DEAL DOES NOT RAISE IT IS IT'S A IT'S 70.193, THREE.
THAT'S, WHAT'S GOING TO BE SOMEWHERE LIKE THAT NEXT YEAR, AND WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN THE 4 CENTS.
IT IT'S GOING TO REQUIRE, AND I SAID THIS IN MY I'M GOING TO RE QUOTE MYSELF.
I HAVE TO GIVE MYSELF TOO MUCH CREDIT
SO NEXT YEAR, IF OUR VALUATIONS GO DOWN TO $4.3 BILLION AND OUR TAX RATE, IT HAS TO GO UP TO 70 CENTS.
SO THEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT, ALL RIGHT, WHAT SERVICES ARE WE NOT PROVIDING? OR WHAT ARE WE NOT DOING IN ORDER TO, TO GET TO A LEVEL THAT'S THAT'S, UH, THAT, THAT, THAT IS ACCEPTABLE, RIGHT? SO THIS, AND THIS IS GOING WE'RE, WE'RE RELATIVELY SPEAKING IN A GOOD SITUATION, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE HORRIBLE.
I MEAN, IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT GOING TO BE HARD.
THAT'S WHY MY, MY, MY CONCERN ABOUT, UM, LOOKING AT THE FUND BALANCE, THE 45% FUND BALANCE WITH THE LENS THAT WE HAVE ON TODAY, LOOKS LIKE A REALLY HEALTHY, ROBUST AMOUNT, BUT WILL THAT LOOK THAT WAY NEXT YEAR OR THE NEXT YEAR? AND IT MAY SEEM LIKE JUST A LITTLE 4% DECISION NOW, BUT NEXT YEAR WE CAN'T TAKE
[01:40:01]
IT BACK.AND THE FOLLOWING, WELL, LET ME, LET ME ADD TO THAT.
IF, IF YOU DO WANT TO QUOTE UNQUOTE, TAKE IT BACK, THEN YOU NEED TO SET THE EXPECTATION THAT IF WE'RE GOING TO DO SOMETHING FROM THE FUND BALANCE FOR COMPENSATION, THAT IS A ONE TIME DECISION.
YOU CAN'T SAY YOU SHOULDN'T EXPECT, YOU SHOULDN'T SET THE EXPECTATION THAT IT'S AN ONGOING OBLIGATION.
AND THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT, WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ON, HOW THE ONGOING OPERATION, WELL, THIS YEAR WE CAN FUND IT WITH THIS.
AND I THINK NEXT, WHATEVER WE DO, WHATEVER WE HAVE NOW IS A TAX RATE, INCREASE THAT SOME.
SO DO YOU DO THE TAX RATE INCREASE THIS YEAR? WHEN IN FACT WE HAVE THIS HUGE FLOOD BALANCE, OR DO YOU DO IT NEXT YEAR? I'M ACKNOWLEDGING IT'S A RECURRING.
IT'S JUST THIS YEAR, WE'RE KEEPING THIS HUGE FUND BALANCES, THE SAVINGS AND LETTING CURRENT TAXPAYERS WHAT I'M THINKING OF.
BUT I'M A LITTLE BIT THINKING THAT NEXT YEAR WILL BE THE CLEARLY THAT'S FIVE HOURS EVERY YEAR WE HOLD ON TO NO, BUT I'M SAYING NEXT YEAR IS GOING TO BE THE PARTY ISSUES.
HOW BIG OF, THAN BALANCE FOR ME.
SO IF YOU WANT TO DO COMPENSATION, YOU'RE SAYING THAT WE'RE GOING TO BUILD A BIG, WE'RE GOING TO PUT A BIGGER POT OF MONEY FOR PEOPLE FOR THE FUTURE.
AND CURRENT TAXPAYERS CAN FUND COMPENSATION.
I MEAN, IT'S REALLY WHAT WE'RE DOING.
WE'RE SAYING WE'RE SAVING MORE FOR NEXT YEAR.
THE ONLY WAY WE CAN FUND ORGANIZATIONS BECAUSE IT'S REQUIRED IS TO RAISE THE TAX RATE.
IF WE WANT TO KEEP THE FUND BALANCE ASIDE, OR WE CAN SAY THAT NEXT YEAR, IF WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO HAVE, IT'S GOING TO TAKE.
AND IF THE MARKET FALLS OUT THE ASSESSED VALUES, WHICH IS THE WORST THING TO DO, IT HITS EITHER POINT.
I GUESS MY THOUGHT IN ALL THIS IS, WE HAVE, THIS IS THE GENERAL FUND, BUT WHAT DOES IT DO FOR THE UTILITY? WE SET UP, WE DID A MARKET NOW.
ALRIGHT, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO NEED FOR THE NEXT FEW YEARS? RIGHT.
AND HE SET UP A SCHEDULE OF INTERESTS BECAUSE THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS IS GOING UP AND THAT'S 2013.
AND SO, YOU KNOW, WE, WE DID THAT.
AND SO I THINK THAT THOUGHT PROCESS SHOULD BE CONSISTENT WITH THE GENERAL FUND, WITH THE TAX RATE, BECAUSE IT IS THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS AND FINDING THE COSTS OF DOING BUSINESS.
AND SO I AM NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THE BERNIE MCCAIN.
POMPEIANS HERE WITH REDUCTION IN GROUND AND AN INCREASE IN EXPENDITURES.
I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU MEAN, JUST NOT COMFORTABLE.
SO MAYBE WE OUGHT TO LOOK AT SOME KIND OF COMBINATION OF THIS WITH, I THINK A COMPONENT THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO ENTERTAIN IS A TAX RATE, EITHER FULLY SUPPORTING IT, SOME KIND OF NUMBER, WHATEVER THE NUMBER IS.
AND BACK INTO THE FACTORY TO DO THAT.
IF IT'S TO HAVE FUNDING SOURCE SOMETIME IN FISCAL YEAR 2021 TO FIND A COMPENSATION PLAN TO GET US COMPETITIVE.
AND THEN IT IS NO, I SAID, IT'S THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS? I THINK IT'S BEEN MANAGERS CONCERNS VERY SERIOUSLY ABOUT THE POTENTIAL FOR
SO WE ALL, WE ALL AGREE TO SENSE A LITTLE BIT OF RAISE THAT ISSUE.
THIS IS, WE'RE NOT TAXING NEXT YEAR.
AND YOU KNOW WHAT, BECAUSE WE HAVE A SURVEY NOT TOO LONG AGO AND WE'VE HAD FEEDBACK AND PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AND HAVING HIGH QUALITY SERVICES.
[01:45:01]
SEE IF PEOPLE REACH OUT TO ME AND I DON'T HEAR THE, MY TAXES ARE TOO HIGH.BUT NOBODY, I MEAN, THEY I'VE BEEN TOLD, DO NOT SACRIFICE THE LEVEL OF SERVICES.
AND I'M ONLY ONE OF SEVEN BUCKS HERE.
I PERSONALLY NOT GOING TO DO IT.
SO I WAS, I THINK THE MANAGERS PUT TOGETHER THE MAN AT THE STATION, WHAT WE TOLD HIM IN THE STRATEGIC PLANNING MEETING WE HAD.
AND SO MY EXPECTATION IS THIS INVEST IN MSCI IS WAY OFF, OFF BASE HERE.
WE JUST NEED TO FIND IT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE TOLD THEM.
AND THE OTHER THING IS WE COMMUTED THROUGH A POLICY CENTER.
IT MEANT THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE, HAVE A COMPENSATION PLAN HERE.
THAT IS THE REAL THING AND NOT SUBJECT TO, WELL, YOU KNOW, TODAY WHEN IT'S GOING TO BE A TOUGH YEAR NEXT YEAR.
SO I DON'T SEE JUST A WHOLE LOT OF DIFFERENCE HERE.
I MEAN, LET'S JUST, LET'S JUST DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO.
AND THE NUMBER WOULD BE WHAT THE NUMBER IS AS FAR AS WHAT WE HAVE TO TAX OURSELVES TO, TO PRODUCE THE LEVEL OF SERVICES THAT WE ALL EXPECT AND THE PEOPLE THAT WE SERVE.
SO THAT'S KIND OF WHERE I'M AT.
SO IN OTHER WORDS, YOU'LL ON THE PHONE TO DO ONCE 1% ABOVE THE AVERAGE, RIGHT? WELL, EVEN WE NEED TO DO THAT OR WE NEED TO, I REMEMBER WE, UH, SOME OF OUR METRO APPROXIMATE IDEAS GATHER TOGETHER, WE'RE ALWAYS BLAMING EACH OTHER BECAUSE EVERY CITY SAID
SO WE'LL ALWAYS BLAME ME BECAUSE WE DO, WE, DO WE NOT HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS? I DO.
I HAVE VERY HIGH EXPECTATIONS OF STAFF.
AND I THINK IF SOMEBODY SAW HOW MUCH I USED THE FIX IT APP, THEY WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT.
AND THAT'S THE TRUTH, RIGHT? AND SO, YOU KNOW, I, BUT THE DIFFERENCE IS I'M WILLING TO PAY FOR IT.
THAT'S NOT AN UNFAIR PROPOSITION, SO IT'S NOT RIGHT.
IF I EXPECT BETTER THAN AVERAGE PERFORMANCE, I SHOULD BE EXPECTED TO PAY BETTER THAN AVERAGE COMPENSATION.
SO WHY DON'T WE JUST DO THAT? OR LET'S, OR LET'S SAY, YOU KNOW, WHAT, TAKE IT EASY.
YOU KNOW, I DON'T, I DON'T WANT YOU TO WORK HARDLY 40 HOURS A WEEK AND WE, WE COULD EVER SEE YOU LIKE THAT TOO.
AND, AND THEN WE CAN SAVE THAT.
THE PROBLEM WITH, WITH FIDDLING, WITH THE TAX RATE FOR THE BENEFIT OF PROPERTY OWNERS IS ONLY PAID 14 CENTS OUT OF EVERY DOLLAR.
SO WHAT YOU DO IS YOU TAKE A TON OF REVENUE OFF THE TABLE FOR A VERY SMALL RETURN TO THE PUPS, THE TIPS OF THE HOMEOWNER, RIGHT? ONE MORE TIME.
SO WE ONLY PAY 14 CENTS OUT OF EVERY DOLLAR ON THAT RESIDENCE.
SO IF WE LOWER THE RATES, THEY'LL GET 14 CENTS OUT OF DEBT.
AND, AND THE BIG RIGORS WOULD BE THE COMMERCIAL BUSINESS.
AND SO IF THE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY, AND SO IF WE LOWER THE TAX RATE, THE BIG WINNERS IS NOT AREN'T ARE NOT THE HOMEOWNERS THAT THEY'LL GET A LITTLE BIT, THEY'LL GET $30 LESS A YEAR OR SOME NONSENSE LIKE THAT.
AND, BUT THE REVENUE COST TO US WILL BE STAGGERING.
IF WE JUST, IF WE DID IT LESS THAN A PENNY, WHAT'D YOU SAY $470 OR $770,000.
AND THAT'S GOING TO SAVE ME AS A HOMEOWNER, A FEW SHEKELS.
YOU PROPOSITION IS JUST NOT THERE FOR ME.
THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH, WITH, WITH FOOLING, WITH THE TAX RATE AND THINKING ABOUT, I WANTED TO ASK QUESTION.
CAN I, CAN I JUST, I WANT TO SAY WHEN, I MEAN, NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT REDUCING OUR TAX RATE.
DO TALKING ABOUT INCREASING IT, BUT NOT INCREASING IT AS MUCH AS THE CITY
[01:50:01]
MANAGER'S PROPOSED REMEDIES.WE'RE ALL TALKING ABOUT INCREASING THE TAX RATE.
AND IF WE'RE NOT THINKING ABOUT OUR COMMERCIAL REAL PROPERTY, THEN I WOULD SAY, WE ALL NEED TO DO A VALUATION ADJUSTMENT BECAUSE THAT'S WHO WE BETTER BE THINKING ABOUT.
AND THAT'S WHY I'M ASKING ABOUT IT, LOOKING AT SLIDES TO SEE HOW THAT AFFECTS SOME OF THEM COMMERCIAL VISIT.
STEVEN, WHAT WOULD THE TAX RATE TO DO A 4%? WHAT WOULD THE TAX RATE, WHAT WOULD THE EMINENT TAX RATE IN PENSACOLA UNTIL THE TAX RATE TO FUND THAT, TO DO A FULL PERCENT MERIT INCREASE IS THAT LET'S PUT A NUMBER ON IT.
AND I'M FINE TO LOOK AT IF THERE'S SOME COMBINATION HERE, LET'S, LET'S NOT, EVEN THOUGH I'M WILLING TO ENTERTAIN ANY COMBINATION.
WE'RE NOT GUYS TAX RATES TONIGHT.
NO, BUT WE HAVE TO, BUT YOU'RE GIVING DIRECTION.
SO WHAT STEVEN IS CALCULATING, I WANT TO CORRECT YOUR MINDSET A LITTLE BIT, 400, 7,000, EVERY HOMEOWNER BOUGHT HOME PRICE, BUT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION 20%, RIGHT? SO YOU NEED A MINUS 80,000.
IF, IF YOU ARE SENIOR CITIZENS IN ANOTHER 50,000, OVER 65.
SO IT ACTUALLY WILL ONLY PASS YOU 275,000 WITH A HOUSE THAT WHO ENDED 405.
ISN'T IT? THE ASSUMPTION IS HOW MUCH OF THAT
AND THEN ALSO HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION.
SO IF YOUR HOUSE WAS FLOGGING 5,000, ACTUALLY, IF YOU ARE OVER 65, WE'RE ONLY AT 275.
SO THAT'S B WALDEN, YOU KNOW? SO YOU HAVE TO CALCULATE THAT FROM A RESIDENTIAL WARRANTY GUY.
RIGHT? MAYBE YOU CAN JUST PUT A NOTE.
I'D LIKE TO SEE REVISED CHARTS NOW, OBVIOUSLY, BUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THIS AT THE MEETING, THAT WHEN WE'RE COMPARED TO OUR COMPETITOR, CITIES LET'S HAVE A CHART THAT FACTORS IN HOME EXEMPTION.
SO WE CAN SEE A TRUE, LIKE THE, WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT YESTERDAY.
SO I WANT TO SEE KIND OF WHERE WE STAND WITH ALL THE OTHER ONES, THIS MUCH TAX WITH THIS TAX RATE, THEN YOU'LL BENEFIT.
THAT TAKES SO MUCH BENEFIT OUT OF IT.
RIGHT? YOU'LL COME, GO WITH THE OTHER SEAT.
OTHER CITIES DON'T PROVIDE SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
SO IF YOU WANT TO ADD VIDEOS CLUB FOR FREE, RIGHT? CAN WE DO SOMETHING? I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT WOULD BE TRAINING, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE REALLY HARD QUESTION, SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE, OR SOMETHING.
I SHOULD LET YOU ASK YOUR QUESTION.
UM, HOW, HOW DOES, WHAT'S THE AVERAGE TAX? WHAT'S THE AVERAGE COMMERCIAL TAXPAYER PAY AND THAT'S COMMERCIAL COMMERCIALISM.
UH, THAT'S A REALLY HARD CAUSE THEY'RE SO, THEY'RE SO DIFFERENT, RIGHT? IT'S IT'S LIKE IF YOU TOOK EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE IN THE TOWN OF ADDISON AND SAID, THIS IS THEIR AVERAGE PAY, AND THEN YOU ADDED WARREN BUFFETT, BILL GATES AND JEFF BEZOS, AND THEN TRY TO AVERAGE THAT NUMBER, RIGHT.
WE'VE GOT PROPERTY TAX PAYERS THAT ARE SO SKEWED COMPARED TO EVERYBODY ELSE THAT IF YOU CALCULATED AN AVERAGE, YOU WOULD SEE A NUMBER, BUT IT WOULDN'T BE SOMETHING THAT'S INDICATIVE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO MOST PEOPLE.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING TO SEE WHAT WE CAN, UH, REPEAT THE QUESTION, UH, TO FUND A 4% MERIT.
WHAT WOULD, WHAT WOULD THE TAX RATE NEED TO BE TO FUND THAT AND MAKE IT SOLVENT OPERATIONALLY? CORRECT.
THE TAX RATE WOULD NEED TO BE A SIX TO SEVEN, SEVEN, THREE, ONE REACHING SEEDS AND VOTER APPROVAL RATE.
[01:55:09]
YES, CORRECT.IF WE DID THAT, WOULD THAT KEEP THE FUND BALANCE AT 49, 50% AREA? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? IT WOULD BE CLOSE TO THAT.
I'D HAVE TO, I'D HAVE TO CHECK CAUSE THE EXPENDITURES WOULD GO UP.
SO YOU HAVE THE SAME AMOUNT OF EXPENDITURES.
I WOULD EXPECT LOWER HAVE THIS SUGGESTING THAT, YOU KNOW, MAYBE OUR FINANCIAL GURU OR SOMEBODY COULD KIM, IS THERE SOME COMBINATION HERE THAT WE'RE NOT THINKING ABOUT, THAT WE SOFTEN THE BLOW, WHERE SHE WILL HAVE THE TEMPERATURE, YOUR COMBO? I WAS THINKING YOU WERE REFERRING TO A COMBINATION OF TAX RATE AND FUND BALANCE AND, OR, OR, AND, OR THE S THE, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT STICKS OUT IN MY MIND IS, YOU KNOW, DURING, DURING THIS TIME OF COVID, THAT WE'RE IN THE PANDEMIC AND THE CRISIS THAT WE'RE ALL EXPERIENCING OUT IN THE CORPORATE WORLD, A LOT OF WHAT'S HAPPENING IS COMPANY OWNERS ARE HAVING TO LAY OFF AND FURLOUGH THEIR EMPLOYEES AND, OR REDUCE THEIR SALARIES IN SOME CASES, BY 20%.
AND SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE IN OUR COMMUNITY THAT ARE TAXPAYERS, MAYBE SOME OF THOSE VERY PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD THEIR SALARIES REDUCED, OR THEY'D BEEN FURLOUGHED.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, DURING A TIME SUCH AS THIS WERE COMING AROUND AND NOW SAYING, WE WANT TO GIVE THE TOWN A RAISE DURING THE, YOU KNOW, THIS HORRIFIC PANDEMIC.
THAT'S NOT EVEN, WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD A BOTTOM.
NOBODY, NOBODY HAS ANY IDEA WHEN THIS THING IS GOING TO STOP OR THE IMPACT THAT IT'S GONNA HAVE ON THE SALES TAX, RIGHT ON THE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SITUATION, THE RESTAURANTS THAT, I MEAN, WE'LL JUST, WE ARE, WE'RE IN THAT.
WE'RE STILL IN THE THICK OF IT.
SO WHAT ABOUT, YOU KNOW, A COMBO THAT WOULD INCLUDE NOT NECESSARILY A FULL 4% MERIT, BUT SOMETHING TO COMPROMISE, YOU KNOW, AND SAY, COMPROMISE HERE, COMPROMISE HERE, COMPROMISE HERE, AND DEAL WITH THAT.
THE COMPROMISE COULD BE A SMALLER PERCENTAGE INCREASE IN A ONETIME IT'S FUNDED, A SMALLER INCREASE.
YOU MEAN LIKE A SMALLER MERIT
THAT ISN'T RECURRING, BY THE WAY, IF I CALCULATED THAT CORRECTLY, IT'S A 9.9% INCREASE IN TAXES FOR THE AVERAGE HOMEOWNER.
YOU KNOW, AGAIN, THAT GOES BACK TO WHICH, WHICH HOME ARE THEY, YOU KNOW, CERTAIN HOMEOWNERS ARE AFFECTED MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANTLY THAN WELL, HOW THAT COMES ABOUT IS THAT THE ESTIMATE THAT CAME THROUGH AROUND THE HOMEOWNER, HOW MUCH A HOMEOWNERS VALUE WENT UP THIS YEAR, IT'S 2.2% PER MONTH WERE PROVIDED.
AND THEN THIS IS SEVEN AND A HALF.
SO THIS IS A SEVEN AND A HALF PERCENT, JUST 10, JUST BASED ON TAX RATE.
IT'S A SEVEN AND A HALF PERCENT INCREASE IN TAXES.
YOU PUT THOSE TWO TOGETHER AND COMPOUNDED, IT'S HEADED TOWARDS 10.
AND THAT'S, I HAVE TO SAY IT FEELS PRETTY HIGH TO ME IN THE YEAH.
I THINK THAT THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL YEAR.
NOBODY EXPECTED, I DON'T KNOW.
LAST YEAR WE, YOU KNOW, LEVERAGE THIS LAST YEAR IS 8% OF REVENUE CAP.
SO THIS YEAR, YOU KNOW, BECAUSE OF THE KIND OF DEBIT WE CAN LEVERAGE THIS APRIL SEVEN AGAIN, BUT YOU KNOW, YOU DON'T WANT TO INCREASE TAX EVERY YEAR MARGIN.
OF COURSE WE KNOW, OF COURSE, ABSOLUTE.
WELL, YOU KNOW, IF I DIDN'T COME UP WITH A MAGIC 4% NUMBER, THAT WAS JUST A STARTING POINT.
IT WAS A POINT IN TIME THAT WE ASKED THE CFO.
I MEAN, IF WE THINK THAT TWO OR 3% OR SOMETHING IS MORE PALATABLE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, I, I DON'T DISAGREE.
I THINK FOR US TO DO ANYTHING IS EXTRAORDINARY.
[02:00:01]
AGAIN, I THINK WE'RE AN EXTRAORDINARY PLACE.AND I, I, YOU MENTIONED FOR THE RECORD THAT YOU WANTED TO BE CLEAR, THE DECISION THAT YOU'VE MADE WAS ONE THAT YOU WERE NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN FROM, IN TERMS OF THE COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY.
AND I WANT TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT AS WELL.
I DON'T INTEND TO REVERSE MY POSITION ON, UH, MY, MY VALUE AS A COUNCIL MEMBER AND THE TOWN OF MADISON TO TAKE CARE OF ITS EMPLOYEES.
IT'S A DECISION THAT I STAND BY AND I'M NOT WAVERING.
UM, I DON'T ANTICIPATE EVER WAVERING.
UM, THE CHALLENGE THAT I THINK THAT WE'RE UP AGAINST IS A ONCE IN A HOPEFULLY LIFETIME KNOCK ON WOOD THAT, UH, IF WE HAVE TO, YOU KNOW, MAKE A COMPROMISE AND TIGHTEN OUR BELTS AND SAY, YOU KNOW, WE'RE GRATEFUL THAT WE HAVE JOBS.
THOSE OF US THAT HAVE, THAT ARE IN THE WORKPLACE THAT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO KEEP OUR JOBS AND THIS, THIS TIME, UH, WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA ALL GIVE UP A LITTLE POINT HERE, POINT THERE SO THAT IN THE BIGGER PICTURE, WE CAN EMERGE STRONGER AND NOT HANDICAP OURSELVES FOR WHAT WE KNOW INEVITABLY, IT'S GOING TO HAVE A NEXT YEAR AND LIKELY THE NEXT YEAR.
AND THAT'S A BEST CASE SCENARIO.
IF THINGS TURN AROUND AND GO BETTER.
SO, AND I'M NOT, I, EVERY COUNCIL MEMBER THAT I KNOW HERE IS NOT A, A, DOES NOT, IS NOT INCLINED TO CHANGE THEIR, ABOUT WANTING TO SUPPORT THE COMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY.
IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE FOUGHT HARD FOR.
AND, YOU KNOW, 2017 IS WHEN I FIRST DOES IT WAS ELECTED AND IT SEEMED LIKE THERE WAS SO MUCH ENERGY AND EFFORT AND IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
AND IT STILL IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
IT'S JUST THAT WE HAVE THIS NASTY PANDEMIC THAT IS JUST STARING AT US RIGHT IN THE FACE.
YOU KNOW, I HOPE THAT THAT, UM, THAT EVERYONE THAT'S AFFECTED BY ANYTHING THAT WE DO, THAT'S LESS THAN WHAT WE WOULD DO IF THE PANDEMIC OR NOT HERE UNDERSTAND THAT THAT'S AT LEAST WHERE MY HEART IS.
SO CAN WE HAVE A CONSENSUS? WE WANT TO DO THE MARKET STUDY.
SO WE'LL MOVE FORWARD ON THAT BASIS.
THEN I THINK THE NEXT THING THAT WE NEED TO DISCUSS IS WHAT, WHAT SIZE THE APPROVAL.
AND SO IF A MILLION DOLLARS IS 4%, 2% OF THE HALF FIVE, MAN, THAT'S GOOD.
SOMEWHERE IN THAT APPROXIMATION.
SO THAT SEEMS TO BE A PRETTY POWERFUL IT'S SIGNIFICANT.
YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT IT IN THE BEGINNING, REMEMBER WE SET ASIDE, IS THAT RIGHT? YEAH.
SO YOU'RE SAYING SET ASIDE SUICIDE HALF A MILLION DOLLARS AND WE WOULD NEED, WE BELIEVE THAT I'VE MADE, THE FIRST THING WE WANT TO DO IS WHAT'S THE TAX RATE TO SUPPORT THAT.
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IT'S VERY CLOSE TO THE, UH, THREE AND A HALF PERCENT TAX INCREASE, WHICH WOULD BE, IT IS THE 61, SIX, EIGHT, SEVEN, EIGHT.
THIS IS A WITHOUT REDUCING THE FUND BALANCE.
I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE I GET IT.
LET ME, LET ME SAY THAT A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY.
IT WILL BE WITHOUT TAKING MONEY FOR COMPENSATION FROM FUND BALANCE, BUT BECAUSE WE INCREASE THE EXPENDITURES THAT THE SANDWICH WILL GO DOWN BECAUSE OUR ANY FUND BALANCE WILL BE.
SO INSTEAD OF BEING 45.9, I'LL BE SOME NUMBER LESS THAN THAT, BECAUSE THIS IS HIGHER NUMBER, HIGHER EXPENDITURE NUMBER.
SO IF YOU SEE A REDUCTION IN THE FUND BALANCE, THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO BE SURPRISED.
IT'S JUST A MATTER OF CHANGING THE SIZE OF THE PIE PERCENTAGES.
THAT'S THE THREE, THREE AND A HALF PERCENT, THREE AND A HALF PERCENT THAT WOULDN'T GET IT.
THERE'S STILL A LITTLE DEFICIT.
[02:05:01]
OR SOMETHING THERE THAT WOULD LEAVE A FUND BALANCE OF 45.1%.AND THAT PUTS US IN A POSITION THAT, UM, YOU KNOW, IF, IF THINGS WERE TO GET WORSE, YOU KNOW, IF, IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, LAURIE, I RESPECT ALL OF THAT.
AND I DON'T WANT TO DISCOUNT THE IMPACT OF PANDEMIC, WHAT WE CAN FACE NEXT YEAR, TAX, ALL OF THAT.
SO THAT'S WHY I'M HOPING IT'S RESERVES.
I THINK THAT'S A WHY, AND THIS, AND THIS CREATES A REVENUE STREAM TO SUPPORT IT ALL.
THIS IS PLEASING A FIREWALL VIA HARD, AND THE FIRST RESPONDERS ALL AT THE TABLE, RACE IN A JOB, BUT ALSO, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, YOU KNOW, I UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU COME FROM, BUT ALSO YOU HAVE TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS A SPECIAL YEAR.
LAURIE ALREADY MENTIONED THAT, AND IT'S JUST TOUGH.
WHILE YOU FOLLOWS EIGHT EMPLOYEES IN YOUR TALK ABOUT THE BIG INCREASE.
WHAT I MEAN, IT'S JUST, DOESN'T PENCIL OUT.
I HAVEN'T, I DID WANT TO ASK HER TO QUIT WITH US BECAUSE IT WOULD KEEP ON SAYING YOU WANT TO DO A SPLIT, FOLLOW THE BALANCE AND LOWER THE TAX RATE.
SO THERE'S A QUESTION TO THIS.
ACTUALLY, I CAME INTO THIS PLANNING TO ARGUE FOR DOING SOMETHING IN TERMS OF COMPENSATION INCREASES, EXPECTING TO BE ATTITUDE WAS WE WOULD DO NOTHING.
AND I WAS COMING AT IT FROM A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE BECAUSE I'VE BEEN THROUGH SO MANY OF THESE BEFORE WHERE THE FIRST THING EVERY ORGANIZATION DOES WHEN YOU HAVE FINANCIAL TROUBLE.
CAUSE YOU DON'T, YOU YOU'VE GOTTEN MARRIED INCREASES.
IT'S JUST THE FIRST THING THAT ALWAYS HAPPENS.
AND THREE YEARS LATER, YOU'RE IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW DID WE GET THIS WHOLE, WELL, WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE AND WE'RE GOING TO DO IT AGAIN.
I'VE TALKED TO LESS TWO OR THREE TIMES AND WE GOT IT.
YOU KNOW, YOU GOT TO DO SOMETHING.
PLUS YOU HIRE PEOPLE THEY'RE REALLY LOW IN THE RANGE.
AND IF YOU'RE NOT CAREFUL, WHAT HAPPENS IS THERE'S NO MONEY IN YOUR ORGANIZATION.
SO WHAT'S THE ONLY THING A PERSON CAN DO LEAVE.
IT'S JUST NOT SMART, BUT I WAS COMING INTO IT AND PUT THOSE ARGUMENTS FORWARD.
IT HAS KIND OF GONE FULL CIRCLE.
BUT THEN WHEN I LOOKED AT HOW MUCH, CAUSE I WENT BACK AND TRACKED.
AND PART OF IT IS THAT THE INCREASE LAST YEAR WAS SO BIG.
IT WAS A 9.3% INCREASE LAST YEAR.
SO LAST YEAR WAS THE GOLD STANDARD ON INCREASES.
AND THEN WHEN YOU THROW ON TOP OF IT, THIS WAS A 6.9%.
AND NOW IT'S GOING TO BE, I THINK IT'S AN 8%.
AND SO I STARTED BACKING OFF AND SAYING, OKAY, YOU KNOW, HOW FAR CAN YOU GO? SO I'M STILL IN FAVOR OF DOING SOMETHING.
I DON'T KNOW IF TO PRESENT THE RIGHT NUMBER, BUT I THINK WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO LOSE THE INVESTMENT IN PEOPLE.
MAYBE THAT'S A GOOD COMPROMISE AND MAYBE, YOU KNOW, WE COULD USE SOME OF THE FUND BALANCE FOR A NON-RECURRING ADDITIONAL SOMETHING.
THIS IS MY SENSE IS THAT PEOPLE COULD WORK ON REALLY HARD, RIGHT? YES.
JUST HAVEN'T GOTTEN EASIER BECAUSE THERE'S THINGS THAT PEOPLE WORKED HARD.
SO, YOU KNOW, IF, SO IF, IF YOU KNOW, IF 2% THE NUMBER, THEN MY NEXT QUESTION IS, ARE WE GOING TO DO WHAT WE DID IN 20 FISCAL YEAR 2018? AND WAIT UNTIL WE GET THE RESULTS OF THE COMPENSATION MARKET STUDIES USING TO BE ABLE TO SAY, THIS IS HOW WE'RE GOING TO USE THE 2%.
AND IF, IF THE RESULTS OF THE MARKETS THAT HE SEE, THEY SAY, WELL, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING MORE THAN A 2%.
THEN THE COUNCIL, THEN THE CONVERSATION IS, YOU KNOW, HOW ELSE DO WE WANT TO FUND THAT? AND, AND, AND AN OPTION FOR THAT IS WHAT YOU JUST SAID IS ONE TIME TYPE OF THING THAT YOU CAN FUND AS AN ALBUM, ONE TIME CAP OFF TO THAT TO MAKE IT RIGHT.
WE NEED TO SEE WHAT THE REAL CLEAR THAT WE NEED TO DO YOUR REVIEW THAT LATER.
[02:10:01]
DID I HEAR THIS CORRECTLY? THAT WE TYPICALLY DO THE MERIT EVALUATIONS ON OCTOBER 1ST? NO, WE DO THEM AT THE END OF THE FISCAL.SO STARTING SAY IN AUGUST, SO THAT THEY'RE ALL DONE AND THEN YOU CAN CALCULATE WHAT MERIT INCREASES PEOPLE WILL GET SO THAT IT KNOWS THAT MERIT INCREASES ARE EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1ST FOR THE NEXT FISCAL.
SO IN THIS CASE, WHAT WE WOULD DO IS WE WOULDN'T GET, WE WOULDN'T GIVE MERIT INCREASES ON OCTOBER 1ST.
WE WOULD WAIT TO GET THE RESULTS OF THE MARKET STUDY, COME BACK AND SAY, ALL RIGHT, THIS HAS GOT TO DO, THIS IS THE PLAN YOU WANT TO DO.
AND THEN WE WOULD DISCUSS WHETHER OR NOT WE WANTED TO HAVE THAT BE RETROACTIVE OCTOBER 1ST OR STARTING JANUARY ONE OR WHATEVER.
AND THAT ANALYSIS, THAT'S THE ANALYSIS THAT WE HAVE TO DO TO COME BACK AND SAY, HERE ARE THE, HERE ARE THE NUMBERS.
THIS IS WHAT WE THINK WE CAN AFFORD OVER WIND.
AND THAT'S WHAT WE DID LAST YEAR.
WE RUN INTO IT, BUT WE ALSO NEED THAT INFORMATION.
THERE MIGHT BE, YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE IT EVENLY, YOU KNOW, SOME BOOKS ON SOME DEPARTMENTS OR SOME, YOU KNOW, SOME SALARIES MIGHT BE WAY UNDER AND OTHER ONES MIGHT BE OVER THAT THEY DON'T REALLY, YOU KNOW, SO I THINK, I THINK BY DOING SO IS BOB PRUDENCE? NO.
ALRIGHT QUICK, JUST TO MAKE SURE.
I EITHER HEARD IT AIMING FOR A 2% PLACEHOLDER AND WE'LL FUND THAT WITH A CHANGE TO OUR POST, THAT PROPOSED TAX RATE UP TO THREE AND A HALF PERCENT, RIGHT? CORRECT.
THAT'S SIX ONE SIX, EIGHT, SEVEN, EIGHT HIGHER HIGHER TAX CREDITS.
THEN WHAT THEY DID AND WHAT SIX MONTHS? SIX, EIGHT, SEVEN, EIGHT.
IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? CORRECT.
SO THIS IS A PROPOSED TAX RATE, BUT YOU KNOW, AFTER THE MARKET STUDY, IF NEEDED, WE'LL COME BACK, DECIDE RETRO BAG.
I SEE WHAT YOU SHOULD GO FIRST OR START ON JANUARY 1ST, 2021, OR IF IT'S NOT ENOUGH, WHETHER WE NEED TO USE SOME OF THE FUNDAMENTALS.
THANK YOU FOR, I SEE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.
SO YEAH, SO WE WILL NOT IMPLEMENT A MERIT INCREASES AS OF OCTOBER 1ST AS IS TYPICAL.
YOU WILL GET THE RESULTS AND DO THE ANALYSIS FOR THE MARKET STUDY AND THEN COME BACK AND TALK TO THE COUNCIL ABOUT WHAT THE FINDINGS ARE AND COME WITH A PLAN TO UTILIZE THAT 2% POOL AND WHATEVER ELSE ON MAYBE A ONE TIME BASIS TO TALK ABOUT HOW TO CLOSE ANY GAPS THAT WE HAVE THAT IS THAT MORE COMPLETE.
A SMALL CLEAR, NOT JUST FOR US, FOR THE PEOPLE WATCHING.
SO THEY WILL UNDERSTAND THE TIMING OF GETTING THE STUDY OR THE ANALYSIS BACK TO COUNCIL WOULD BE MAYBE NOVEMBER ISH.
UH, I WILL COME BACK AND TELL YOU, BUT WE WILL START THAT, UH, AS SOON AS WE CAN AND THIS FISCAL YEAR TO BE ABLE TO TIME IT.
SO WE GET THE DATA, THE FINAL DATA FROM THE STAR COMPARISON, BUT WITH SURVEY DATA AS OF NOVEMBER, SO THAT IT REFLECTS, RIGHT? SO THE ANALYSIS IS REFLECTIVE OF REALITY, RIGHT? YEAH, THAT'S WHAT IT DOES, BUT THAT'LL GET US ALSO INTO MORE OF KNOWING WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN, YOU KNOW, WITH THE VIRUS AND THE ELECTION.
THAT'S
[02:15:01]
THAT'S THE AFTER ALMOST DEAD, BUT IT'S NOT FOR SIMILAR CITIES.SO THAT, THAT INCLUDES THE AVERAGE OF EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING.
RIGHT? SO, AND WE HAVE A FEW THAT IT'S JUST THE OVERALL AVERAGE HOMESTEAD IN PROPERTY.
FIVE MINUTES BREAK THE NEXT TOPIC TOPIC, IF WE'VE SETTLED ON A DIRECTION FOR THE COMPENSATION PART AND THE TAX RATE, THAT WAS, THAT WAS, THAT WAS IT FOR WHAT I HAD ON MY LIST.
IF THE COUNCIL WANTS TO ADD ANYTHING, YOU CERTAINLY ARE AT YOUR DISPOSAL.
UM, IT WOULD BE, I MEAN, MOST OF THEM ARE FOLLOWING THE SAME TIMELINE OR A SIMILAR TIMELINE AS WE WOULD BE FOLLOWING EARLY SEPTEMBER OR EARLY TO MID SEPTEMBER.
EVERY CITY IS WATCHING EACH JOB.
THAT'S THAT'S, THAT'S THE BIGGEST
YEAH, WELL, THEY'RE THERE THAT DIDN'T REALLY START ON AUGUST 31ST.
THEY WOULD BE IN THE PROCESS OF IT ADOPTING EITHER, EITHER RIGHT NOW OR SHORTLY I'VE HEARD ANYTHING.
SO WE WILL HEAR FROM THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS BEFORE WE HEAR FROM THE CITIES, AS FAR AS HITACHI, GENERALLY YOU DO WHAT WE CAN DO, JUST LIKE WE DID LAST YEAR.
WE CAN, WE CAN TAKE FOR THE AVERAGE TAXABLE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY AND APPLY BY THE TIME WE HAVE OUR PUBLIC HEARING STUFF, EITHER ON THE FIRST OR THE EIGHTH, BUT WE CAN SHARE THAT INFORMATION AS SOON AS WE'VE GOT IT.
SO YOU CAN SEE THAT WOULD BE THAT ISN'T IT.
IF DURING THE DAY BUDGET ADOPTION PROCESS, WE WANT TO SHARE THAT.
I MEAN, WE CAN SHARE IT PUBLICLY ANYTIME, BUT IF WE WANT TO MAKE A POINT DURING THAT MEETING TO SAY, YOU KNOW, HIGHLIGHT THAT AND WE CAN CERTAINLY PREPARE TO DO SO, AND WE'LL DO OUR VERY BEST TO GET THE LATEST.
I KNOW THAT'S A LOT TO ASK FOR, BUT IT WAS REALLY HELPFUL LAST YEAR, KNOWING LIKE ALL OF THE TAX ENTITIES FOR PLAYING OUT WHAT THEY WERE GOING TO, WHAT THEY WERE LOOKING AT, IMPLEMENTING TOUGH DECISIONS, ANY MORE QUESTIONS, THANK YOU.
ANIMAL COMMENT, KIND OF KEVIN, JUST A HUGE TO SAY IT'S A GREAT JOB CENTRAL WEST.
IF I MAY, IF I MAY JUST SAY ONE, ONE THING, UH, I STAFF IS, IS WE'RE WE'RE WORKING OUR HEARTS OUT FOR Y'ALL.
SO I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO THEM.
THEY'VE DONE A REALLY GOOD JOB.
AND I WANT TO SAY, THANK YOU, EACH OF YOU FOR YOUR THOUGHTFULNESS AND YOUR PREPARATION CARE AND CONCERN FOR NOT ONLY THE COMMUNITY, BUT ALSO THE STAFF.
UM, WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO AND FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND RECOGNIZE HOW THIS IMPACTS, EVEN THOUGH MANY OF US MAY NOT LIVE IN ADDISON, WHERE WE LIVE.
WE, WE, WE, WE WE'D EXPERIENCED THE SAME THINGS, UM, BUT WE ARE CERTAINLY FULLY ENGAGED IN WHAT WE DO HERE.
WE WANT TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.