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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024.12.02 CCM SPECIAL SESSIONMINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL/FINANCIAL COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND STATE OF MINNESOTA SPECIAL SESSION DECEMBER 2, 2024 CITY HALL – COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1. CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center City Council met in Special Session called to order by Mayor April Graves at 6:37 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Mayor April Graves and Councilmembers Marquita Butler, Dan Jerzak, and Teneshia Kragness. Councilmember Kris Lawrence-Anderson is excused. Also present were City Manager Reggie Edwards, Director of Fiscal & Support Services Angela Holm, and Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Barb Suciu. 3. 2025 BUDGET 4. CONSIDERATION OF THE 2025 BUDGET AND PUBLIC HEARING City Manager Reggie Edwards introduced the item and indicated he would be presenting it along with Finance Director Angela Holm. He stated the 2025 Budget, and the Levy will need to be approved tonight. City Manager Edwards stated the purpose of tonight’s meeting is to present the 2025 Budget and Levy; provide insight into the factors that guided the development of the 2025 budget and levy; provide budget highlights and impacts; provide fiscal analysis; and provide the next steps in the budgeting process. City Manager Edwards stated the mission of Brooklyn Center is to actively provides a safe, welcoming and inclusive community. One thing we are dong isprovides safe, welcoming and inclusive community. However, how we do that and where we're trying to go, a couple of things that I'll outline in our vision, I won't go through all of it, but we have this vision about high quality and equitable city services. So when we think about when you Google budget deliberations and we think about how we expend dollars. We think about, does it lead us to high quality, equitable city services? Does it lead us to being in an ability to engage, um, relationship, engage relationships with our community? Is it increasing the safety and well being of residents? And ultimately, does it help us create a sense of pride? Because that's where we want to go as a city. Budget guiding factors. We know we continue to, um, rebound, recover, heal men, both ourselves and also relationships within community as it relates to what's transpired over the last three to four years, ranging from civil unrest and COVID and the disproportionate impact that that had, those two things had on our city. And we know that the economy is kind of plateauing, but we did see a little dip in the economy. So we are conscious of that and think about whether or not the economy is growing or what's the overall condition in the tax capacity of residents. We understand we have a fair amount, we have a very young population. So what that means is a fair amount of residents don't pay taxes and because of the young population. And then we have a fair amount of elderly that don't fix income. And then we also have some low income fairly high from the highest in the metro areas. So we think about those conditions going back to the vision mission about providing these quality and equitable services, while at the same time knowing that economy is fairly flattened and also capacity of taxpayers is fairly lean. But so when we develop a budget in the end, we try to do have an intent of balancing the needs of. growing the economy, the health and well being of residents, people within Brooklyn Center began to look at long term fiscal stability. And we have some, we have had some conversation in our budget deliberation about that because there's some kind of pain points of some points where it's like out that kind of hurts to pay that. But it's from the perspective of trying to get us to a place. Um, financial stability as we go forward. So we think about that staff as we felt this budget and as we, um, as we presented, um, to you prior to and also now, and then pursuit of the council's direction. There's a couple of things that you talked about a highlight later, but you talked about safety. You talked about performance analysis. You talked about salaries and wages for staff, but a couple of core things that are real critical. And we, we heard those directions. And also the notion about needs, not so much about wants, because we simply don't have capacity to do a whole lot of wants. So we incorporated that into how we developed the budget. And then finally providing services at an affordable level. And then, um, while we may want particular services, we can only do what we have capacity to do. Much like in any home, any family. You only resources you have is all that you'll be able to do. But we try to do that again, high quality, innovative, and assure, and trying to attend to the, um, the wellbeing of our residents. In the beginning, we presented a budget where we just simply showed the requests from departments throughout the organization, and that was at a 14.22%. We had a couple of rounds where we did some reductions, but presented. Tonight, we come in at a budget of 7.92%. Which is a reduction of approximately 44%. So what does that mean? A couple of breakdowns. When is the investment? How do we get to 7. 92? And then when it's not in this budget. So this budget is fairly lean. We in fact, when we started the budget process, we told the departments to simply not propose anything particularly new. Um, and actually try to come in flat. And if it's not bleeding, then don't ask for it because we simply weren't in a position to do that. And most and all departments actually did do so. They presented very late. We in fact operated from a reduced 2023 year budget. That was our base at a reduction because we had some reductions back when we did that. So our 2024 2025 budget goes back a couple of years. Um, so extremely lean, we cut out all that we could, um, over the last couple of years. But in the end, the investment in what leads to that 7. 9 2 is one investment in wages, just simply providing base wages for employees. And that's the majority of the cost of the majority of the funds, which make up again, that's 7. 92%. We tried to fill the gap, as you recall, before we had some structural challenges that we would deal with financially. We began to address those in our 2024 budget, and we will continue. This year, we looked at, um, filling that gap of about 336, which is a reduction of 161 from the previous. So we're making progress, and we will continue to do that. We also, um, uh, provided at the council's direction the notion of a duty crew. We're trying to provide that in 2020. Before we added two staff members to lead to our duty crew, we applied for safe, a safer grant, which would provide funds for additional, um, additional staffing of three, three staff members for three years. And so we did budget in this year for an additional two duty crews. We did not get that grant. And, um, we anticipate applying again next year, we'll know by October of next year. 2025, whether or not we receive those funds. So what's in this budget, we will not include the, we have the positions, but we won't include the funding because in order to apply for those funds, we need to be able to demonstrate that we have a need. And if we have positions filled, then we will miss out on the opportunity of applying for the 1. 2 million, which we think we may have a good chance in the second year to acquire those funds. And that, again, that would help us out for the next three years. Service performance analysis. We initially talked about staff for the last three to four years. We've been talking about staff and trying to bring this capacity to our city, our ability to assess whether or not we are achieving what we set out to achieve, whether or not we're achieving the outcomes we intended. We're not very sophisticated and robust in this now, but we want to build that capacity because that allows us to see if we're using the dollar, not only efficiently, but effectively as well. Then we have salary wage compared, um, Comparativeness in that we want to be able to pay employees at a comparative rate from a couple of perspective. One, we want to retain them and then to we want them not to not be poached by other cities or communities that are simply plant paying more. We want to be in that top kind of quartile of our comparative cities. So we did an analysis and so we know that it's gonna cost us. We know that we're wages is not as competitive as we would like them to be. So we're gonna have to do some work to do that, but we can only afford to do so much over time. Capital infrastructure bonding for our roads. We have a couple of projects coming up and then some other miscellaneous costs. So those are the investments that leads to 7. 92 and the caveat about needs versus wants, etc. Those are the things that are outlined by council and also things that we believe staff believes are fundamental in providing city services. But when you do 7. 92 and you have significant needs as far as going forward and you can only do so much, 7. 92 does not get us everything that we would desire. And there's some things that are not in the budget. So it's trying to ensure that council understands and residents understand. And it's okay. We give up some things when we, um, when we make some reductions. By going from that 14. 22 to that 7. 92 administrative transfer, we're able to move some dollars into enterprise utilities, and we were challenging those utility funds or enterprise funds to grow the revenue so that they're not dependent on tax levy dollars. And we have some plans in place for all of the special funds and enterprise funds to actually grow their revenues. One time PSA ARPA funds, we used about 68, um, thousand, um, we won't, um, be able to access, um, actually utilize some of that, um, one time funding, which is for body worn camera in our police department, entertainment in the park, and a Juneteenth celebration. We will not be able to fund that, at least, um, yeah, unless, um, staff makes some adjustments within their budgets, but we, we will be, um, Reduce them not being able to provide that and it has been something that's been a cornerstone as as relates to um, entertainment park and then Juneteenth as we've been going forward. Interned um, our seasonal work and community development. We we anticipated a um, did we anticipate having a grant dollars from the Department of Labor to do an intern program and we budgeted about 30, 000. We will not be doing that. So we will, we did leave 15, 000 in the budget, so we will be able to do it in turn, but we won't be able to start a program around pipelining, um, in, um, our, um, inspectors, if you will, and increasing that. Reduce our salary competitiveness, talked about that earlier, we originally had 150, 000, we cut that by 50, 000, it's down to 100. overtime. We're challenging all of our departments to push as far as reduction of overtime. But some of it we are able to do because we're coming out of the time of Covid. We're coming out of time of civil unrest. And so we don't have the same need. And we also building up staffing in some of our departments. So we actually don't have the need for as much. Um, but we're still challenged to trying to keep that down as much as possible. Freeze up part outreach position that we won't be funding. What will maintain the position prevention and intervention. We're trying to make headway over the last couple of years around that. We reduced that by 50, 000 apart street landscape 75, 000. So that will come up council members when we're having conversations in In the year to come, and we want to do things like, um, landscaping and trees and address some of those things we will, um, not be able to do as much as we would like, simply because we're going to have some reductions against 75, 000. We redirected some of our reserves contribution. In 2023, we saw an increase in our in year balance and we're proposing to use a portion of that for some of our, for our reserves. Brooklyn Boulevard maintenance, shared position of assistance between the community development and administration. And then some miscellaneous. So those are some of the things that will not happen as a result of coming down from that 14. 22 to 7. 92 and just Just a little bit clarity on the notion of the 7. 92 is on top of a budget that was reduced in 2023, reduced in 2024, and asking departments to go back. So it's a very lean budget, deductions made on a very lean, um, budget, if you will. So in the end, it's again, um, for the levy, it's 7. 92. So the budget as we, it totals, the total budget that's presented before you and what we ask in as far as Resolutions for the levy, for the budget, um, for the city, for EDA, and for HRA, includes the general fund, special revenue funds. debt service funds, capital funds, enterprise funds, public utility funds, internal funds, including one, our CIP and then also our central garage, which is part of our internal service funds. So ensuring that the total budget covers all of those. And so that's what you have before you, Madam Mayor and council members. I'll turn it over to Angie to then take us through some of the numbers. And tell yourself, thank you, director home. Thank you, Dr Edwards, Madam Mayor and council members. Um, so, uh, Dr Edwards gave a good summary of where we're going, kind of what was driving us, what we were thinking about, uh, over this year as we've been working on our budget. Um, some of the other things that we want to look at is, um, like what, what kind of, what's the environment, what are we looking at? Those are very important things to us. How will this impact our residents? And that is really, um, what I would like to talk about for the next several slides. And then we will, uh, tie up any loose ends, get any questions, and then hopefully move towards, um, review and, um, uh, approval of the resolutions for this evening. Um, when we're looking at budget policies, we de we do have policies that guide us, which provides a basic framework and assists in decision making. Number one, first and foremost, we need to have a balanced budget. Um, and this is, uh, that is specific to the general fund. Um, current revenue should pay for current expenses, contingency of up to 5 percent in a budget. Um, we need to provide adequate funding for capital replacement and maintenance. We are starting to see, um, some effects of, uh, limitations in that over the last several years. So we will, those will become more important as we move along. Um, budgets should always describe goals, services, and programs. And our targeted unassigned general fund balance of 50 to 52 percent of the next year's general fund budget. As our budgets expand and become higher, that number of course increases. Um, currently we are below that. Um, but again, as your budgets continue to expand each year, you have to You have to, um, increase the amount of that, uh, of that gen, of that, um, general fund balance. Um, one big thing that we have really been talking about lately is the revenue policies. Um, we always want to, uh, understand how we are going to pay for the services that we're providing. Um, we need a diversified and stable revenue system. Um, annual revenue estimates, um, are completed through objective, conservative, analytical process. We definitely have gotten better at that over the last couple years. We are doing a lot more with projections and, and, and really looking at what is the history, what can we expect, what are the, um, components that go into revenue projections. User fees should be reviewed and revised on an annual basis. We need to be aware that services, uh, increase in cost every year and we need to be adjusting our user fees appropriately. Um, fees and user charges for the enterprise funds should fully support total direct and indirect costs. And um, user fees will generally be established at a level, at a level which will recover the full cost of providing that service. Um, one big thing that is important and we've, uh, we've talked about this over the years is the median home value. That is a value that we use when we are making estimates. Um, And describing what the impact will be on on a resident. We look at the median home value this year. Um, if we, there was significant conversation about this in 2023 when our home value went up from 223, 000 to 259, 000, it was much more moderate increase in 24. And, and really a similar increase in 25. So the median home value, Um, as valued by the assessor's office is 272, 100 in Brooklyn Center. Um, as comparison, um, we are, um, of surrounding communities, Golden Valley, New Hope, Richfield, Crystal, Robbinsdale, which are surrounding and similar communities, um, although somewhat smaller. Um, we are on the lower end of that. Um, we are above the, uh, Camden and near north area in Minneapolis. Um, but really lower than, um, some of our surrounding communities. Uh, Crystal is in red on this because that is the, um, the only location that their median home value went down, uh, for this year. So when we, we look at median home value, then we move to taxable market value estimates. Uh, very, very flat, uh, really a total, we only had a 0. 6 increase over our taxable market value. Um, the, uh, residential, which is the one that we are most concerned about is the, or as, as residents of the, of the city actually went down very, very slightly, not, um, not statistically significant, but there is a reduction. Um, we are seeing some increases in other areas such as industrial and, um, apartments and commercial. Um, this is the property tax levy, uh, it outlines the 7. 92 is circled in red. Um, the total dollar change was, as Dr. Edwards said, about 1. 9 million. And a property tax levy increase or decrease of 1 percent is approximately 244, 000 in revenue. So if we go up 1, go, go up 1%, go down 1%, we would, um, we would gain. Another 244, 000 in tax levy revenue. It's important to understand we've got the general levy, uh, and then we also have the debt levy. We did see a significant increase with that debt levy, as we've talked about, um, because of the bonding that we are doing for the orchard project. Um, this is probably the slide or the, the chart that makes, um, most people most interested. Um, this talks about if you had a median value residential property for 2025, what portion of, where does, where is the distribution of your tax dollars? If you paid, um, again, for a median value property, um, this outlines the major categories of where the tax dollars would go. Um, you know, police, uh, tends to be large and it always has been. Um, but we are seeing increases in other areas, um, public works, community development, um, general government. We try and keep that as low as we can, um, that's sort of the administrative piece of this. We really want most of our tax dollars to be going for, um, services, uh, to the residents, um, and keeping administration, um, at a reasonably, uh, low increase over time. Uh, and this, this slide, uh, lets us talk about, uh, projected property tax impacts. So, um, there's, as we move across tech, 2024 taxable market value, so taxable market value is the median home value, um, with the, uh, potential homestead credit, if there is one. Um, as you notice, in 2025, our taxable market value actually went down. That is a function of the increase in the tax in the homestead credit that folks receive. The homestead credit doesn't apply to all homes, but somewhere around 400, 000 is where it really, it really tapers off. So in Brooklyn Center, most people will probably receive some sort of relief from that homestead credit. Um, as we move along, uh, we, we in the city of Brooklyn Center don't tend to look at tax rates as much as what our tax percent increase is. Um, but our tax rate is proposed to go up for 2025, um, with a 7. 92 percent levy, uh, we would see an 82 change annually for, again, the median home value, um, in, in the city. And if we look farther to the right, um, that tells us if we went up one more percent, one more percent up or down would be about 14 annually for that median home value. And um, in response to some of the comments that we've heard over time, um, over the last couple of weeks, when we talked about utilities and the levy, um, we wanted to be responsive The impact that it would have on residents and the change that we would, or what we what we are requesting that residents provide. So we looked at, we put this together looked at the levy, which is a, the biggest piece, and then there's water, sewer storm streetlights and recycling rates, the public utility rates that we are proposing. The first two columns are the original that we had talked about the 8. 96. And then, um, a few weeks ago when we had our, um, Council Commission meeting, the, uh, utility rates that we brought forth. When, uh, you know, hearing the, hearing the concerns that Council members and, um, residents had about those rates, uh, we went back, we were able to make that adjustment on the levy from seven point, eight point nine six to seven point nine two, um, and also we were able to look at the utility rates. And bring water down by five percent, um, sewer we brought down by one, storm we brought down by three, uh, streetlights and recycling, because those are, um, sort of fixed costs and we are, have lower control over those, we did have to keep those at the same rate. Um, if we look at the utilities per quarter, uh, the, what we are proposing, uh, that would be a 40. 02 increase. Um, per quarter, which equates to 160 per year, the overall annual increase is 242. 08. So for the average homeowner, median home value, average residential user, they would see a total with levy and utility rates, an increase of 242. 08 again, estimates. That is not guaranteed what people would get, but we, you know, to try and put it into perspective for folks. Um, With that, uh, we did because, uh, we were looking at that and trying to, um, Level off or at least be, uh, sensitive to the impact that it would have to residents. We were able to, uh, reduce what our original proposed overall annual increase was by, um, 39. 96 or about 40. And with that, we can, um, entertain any questions. We do have several council actions that we would be, uh, requesting this evening. Thank you for your presentation, Director Holm. I'll open it up for questions or comments from council members. Go ahead, Council Member Kragness. Thank you. Going back to the recycling that was the last thing you talked about, can you explain more about that because it's increasing 75 percent on here, but how does that factor into that new recycling program that's going to take effect in April 2025? So the recycling increase that we are showing here is simply to cover the current contract that we have to pick up just recycling. The organics, which is the new program that will start in April, uh, we will actually be coming back to you and, um, and adding that in since it was, uh, a partial year adjustment. Um, we, uh, we thought about it for a while and wondered if we should prorate it, um, what would be easiest for folks to understand and came to the determination to go with this grade, uh, at this point, which covers just cycling. And then come back and add that, uh, 2. 90 per, uh, charge in, uh, to be effective for April 1st. So it would go up an additional amount? Correct. Okay. I think I was misunderstanding. I thought that that recycling was going to replace this charge. Uh, we had, like, like I said, we had talked about, uh, You know, adding it all in, recycling and organics. Um, came to the conclusion that it probably would be, um, best if we didn't charge people in January and April for a service that they weren't getting if it wasn't appropriate. Um, and so we, um, wanted to be very transparent about that. Charge for exactly what you're getting at this point, and then come back. Any other questions? I do. Um, thank you. Um, okay, so diving straight in, so when I have a question on the, the general fund for the city clerk position, there was, um, an increase in the budget. I'm wondering, is that a new person? It says it's for part time. Wait, it's just a new person. It hasn't been there before. Uh, Madam Mayor and Council Members, it is, um, an increase in part time to provide administrative support for the City Clerk's office. We actually have had an individual in a pro I think actually she's probably worked in every single department in the city. Um, but we wanted to be a little more intentional. Intention. Intentional, uh, about making sure that we're budgeted. It is a, it is a part time person. I was just making sure that, just the way that it's presented on the budget, it looks as if it's a new person. Because it's something that hasn't been on the budget before. And it disappears. It's 2025 and I'm just thinking with us having such a lean budget, um, I wanted to make sure it wasn't a new person. Just making sure that the story is saying what it's, uh, Madam Mayor, Council Members, it is not a new person, it is, um, a new, a new budget line to provide adequate funding for someone who is here and has been waiting for us already. So just, uh, to clarify, previously the funding for that position was just shared across different departments and wasn't in one spot? Correct. Gotcha. Okay. As well as Madam Mayor was part of the elections. Okay. Um, then another question I have is on, in the General Fund for Human Resources, there's a line for a contingency of 300, 000, that's budgeted for 2025, I'm wondering what is? Uh, Madam Mayor, Council Members, so, uh, 100, 000 of that is the, uh, wage or salary adjustment that we referenced in our presentation. The remaining portion of that we, um, in order to bolster our opportunities with the SAFER grant, we wanted to take those two duty crew people out of the fire budget, uh, but did not want to get rid of them. So wanted to make sure we maintained funding for those two positions. And so taking them out of the fire budget should help us, um, with our SAFER grant application, but we needed to put the dollars somewhere, uh, in HR. So we have a use planned for those dollars. Um, we just needed them to be represented in a way that we had, uh, originally thought. Will the position be funded or not? The two positions will be funded. Uh, so we have two positions that were, uh, added to the budget for this year. Uh, they will be funded. With the two additional positions that we have proposed will be removed. budget for 202 funded. Just they are, are not represented by your budget at this point. So is that how we get around? Yeah, it makes our, it makes our application. We believe that will make our application a little bit stronger in that we aren't showing. Department Mayor, ma'am. Mayor, counsel, just for clarity, just so you understand that, um, we, we move that because if we had four full-time positions funded in the budget and then we apply for the grant, the grantor would say, why would we give you a dollar when you're already funded? So we moved it so we can apply. Sorry, I just, just have a couple more. Yep. Um, and then on the general fund for the police. It's fun. There is, it says general operating supplies of 8, 000. I'm just curious what that is. Uh, Madam Mayor and Council Members, I'd have to look that up. Um, I, uh, it'll, it would take me a minute here if I, if we can talk about it or if I can get back only 8, 000. I mean, just, it was just, I hadn't seen it Of course, I was just curious if they were getting something new, um. No, we've already applied. I mean, the body form, everything else is already separated out, but I just don't know what that is. Not, off the top of my head, I don't know, but I certainly don't know. I think I just have one more. I'm wondering what the amount, for the miscellany transfers out of the general fund, the 330, 000, I'm wondering if you could specify exactly what those are. Uh, Madam Mayor, Council Members, uh, 75, 000 of that is to transfer out to, um, it's a fund that, uh, we need to fund the medical that we pay on folks who had met Rule of 90, which if you, that's if your years of service and your age equal 90 or more. We don't have the program any longer, but we still have three individuals, three, I believe three individuals on that program. We need to continue funding that. That fund is actually negative right now. So we need to make sure that we were putting dollars in there. And then, um, some of that money is for the golf course. Uh, the transfer out, um, to the golf course. And those are the two main things. Um, and then we also have the technology fund. Um, which we transfer to the, um, the technology fund, which we can then use if we have major technology. Uh, we had a lot of software conversion, um, that that could be used for those purposes. So we transfer funds into those three areas at this point. So just follow up. So on the one for the golf course, did that one, is that the one that's still doubled or were we able to get that one reduced at all? No, uh, Madam Mayor and Council Members. We actually, uh. We have that one at, it's 155, 155, 000. So that is actually more than what we had done in previous years, but we are still trying to recover the cash balance in that fund. Okay. So then also, so I'm trying to remember how much, I know it doubled, um, from how much the transfers to golf course is, and I'm wondering, is that still because of the golf simulators? Because that was what I think is what was proposed at this last meeting that the last budget meeting that we had was that we were going to fund that that was the additional transfer. Madam Mayor, Council Members, that actually is not the golf simulators, that is the amount needed, or that is the amount proposed to transfer in for operating to cover operating expenses at the golf course. Um, as a special revenue fund, that's, that is, um, what the, kind of the purpose of special revenue is that the general fund would transfer in to assist with operations. The simulators will be a, uh, is, is sort of a completely separate option at this point. Okay. Because I'm confused because I believe if I'm going off of memory, but I can look it up. I believe that was the reason that I was provided with as to why that, that number was 155, 000 was because of the golf simulators. Madam Mayor and Council Members, if that information was provided to you, it was, um, it was incorrect. Okay. I have it here. We don't have page numbers, but I have it here, and that was the explanation I was giving for that. Okay. Uh, Madam Mayor and Council Members, I, I would have to look at that again, but that number should not be related to that. I believe that's all I have. Thank you. Appreciate your, uh, keen eye, you know, jokes, yeah. Go ahead, uh, Council Member Butler. Yeah, I was wondering what is the vacancy rate that we filled in, uh, for this budget and is it similar to what we filled in last fiscal year? Um, Madam Mayor, Council Members, uh, the vacancy rate that we have for this year is 400, 000. It is the same as 24. Uh, 24s was a reduction from 23, uh, we believe 400, 000 is a more accurate and conservative estimate. Um, and doesn't encourage, uh, us to leave positions vacant and that savings, we actually want to encourage people to do. And are we, are we trending towards that for this fiscal year? Uh, Madam Mayor, Council Members, we, uh, we don't track that specifically. Um. I, we can certainly take a look and see where we are, but we haven't, haven't recently tracked where we are with it. I think that'd be good for us to start tracking that. And then my other question was, I saw, or you mentioned in the presentation that the water went down 5 percent from 30 to 25, and so just wondering when we were in the last budget meeting, we talked about why it was at 30%, so what does that mean in terms of So, getting back to where we need to get back to, does that spread it out longer, longer? Madam Mayor, Council Members, when we were at the 30%, we were looking at a 30 percent and then a couple of higher amounts for three years to go to 25%, it actually is 25 percent for four years. So it takes us an additional year to get back to a, um. Go ahead. So is that at the 25%? I'm not complaining about that. It's better than the 30. But I do recall that in order for us to continue to have a good bond rating, we need to show that we're being aggressive. And I believe the explanation I got was at 25 percent wasn't as aggressive enough, um, because we would still be so negative. So I'm wondering why is it acceptable now? Um, Madam Mayor, Council Members, um, it isn't as aggressive as 30%, um, but, uh, we believe that it will be considered aggressive enough that we will be able to maintain that bond rating. Um, also considering the other, um, the way that the cash flow is going, we do dip a little bit more, uh, but it's, we are at least dealing with it and also trying to be sensitive to more revenue. Um, 30 percent would, of course, shorten that, shorten that length a little bit, uh, but it also is a, a bigger impact on our residents. And I, um, we believe based on the information we've gotten that 25 percent probably will be, um, aggressive enough that we are taking it seriously and not, um, just sort of not, not being concerned about the negative passion in the fund. Sorry, fella. And so going forward, how will we better plan for this so we don't have such a large jump in increases for our residents? Madam Mayor and council members, I believe you learn from your mistakes. And this is this is an unfortunate mistake that has been building for a number of years. Um, and so as we move forward, uh, we are going to have a few years of, of higher rates. Uh, but as we move forward, not taking that dive down to 1%, like keeping a, a moderate rate, uh, over the term so that we can have a more, um, accountants like sign curves, right? Like we don't like hills and valleys. We like nice small, short waves. And so being more cognizant of just because we can take a lower dive, uh, on percentage or on that rate, uh, maybe considering just keeping it more moderate, uh, to build up that account, build up that savings account, that savings account, um, keep that cash balance in a positive flow and not get below the levels that we know are important. So, uh, learning our lesson, I guess, is the best way that we can, that we can work through this. Madam Mayor, Council Member Fink, to add a little bit to that, um, there's, there's two things that'll be important. One that we, we are doing the analysis and the analysis is in providing information to you as council so you can make informed decision is doing an analysis that looks at sustainability in what have, has happened historically decades. The reason why we did this pass is that we looked at what it would take simply to do, um, say, replacement. But they are an account for the payment of our bonds, if you will, but not accounting for large price ticket items. Maybe not accounting for as much as maintenance and replacement, etc. And we've been staff has been doing a yeoman's job. Huh? The yeoman's job as far as keeping up with it, um, but nevertheless, so we would do analysis. Oh my god! Uh oh. Yeah, someone's trying to hack in again. Okay. So that would be the one part as far as the analysis, um, related to sustainability and not simply saying what we need to do. Holy fuck! Come here. So when we shut it down, and then the second is having a frank conversation with the U. S. Council members decision makers. So when we present to you, we need to present a real picture around sustainability and then having positioning you, um, to be in a position to make informed decision and not simply saying, Well, it looks like we have a lot of cash. And so we'll try to keep the rates low when that, in fact, is not the case. Um, we have cash, but it's not sufficient for the high pick, um, high ticket items that we have. So again, part of this analysis, and we are part of that, which we in the past, we haven't been, and we will be planning and analyzing in that way, and then having a conversation with you. And that's something when we have conversations with you each budget year, maybe a question for you is to ask, how is that sustainable? How do we do that? And so asking those questions too, which also keeps us accountable. For being able to, um, budget in a way that's, um, fiscally sustainable. So I'm wondering what is our message to our homeowners who, like we just certified 400, 000 in water bills. So what is our message to those homeowners who already are having difficulty paying the one rate, and then we come back and saying we're going to increase that by 25 percent for the next four years. What is that message to them? Madam Mayor, um, Council Members, um, it may be not an easy message, but it's the message, in essence, what I just, what I actually just said to you. We're trying to build a, um, we're trying to budget in a financially sustainable way. We're trying to ensure that we have adequate funds to actually provide for the maintenance, replacement, and the paying of our bonds in our water system. And we haven't necessarily done that in has trying to, I don't know, maybe it's not a great word, but to to want to try to provide a message that, um, we're keeping things low. Um, we need to be able to present truth. And so that's what the system actually cost. And so if we do the analysis and we have adequate funds to pay for it, over time, we will avoid those high peaks and valleys. So there's going to be increased, like everything that has inflation or has increased costs. We're going to experience that, and that's also what it cost. As far as staffing is concerned, being able to provide those is simply real cost. So the message is we're trying to be fiscally sustainable. That's one of the strategic priorities of the city. It's something that we're trying to do. So along the path of trying to become fiscally sustainable, we need to correct some things that in the past that maybe didn't exist. And that's what we're doing. I also, um, you know, had a conversation about making sure that, um, any supportive resources are included in water bills when they go out so that folks know that Um, you know, they don't have to, um, get behind. They can try to access some of these resources dependent upon, um, income. Thank you, Madam Mayor. We forgot to mention that. And we will also be providing that information. We can blast it on our website and on our, every place that we can to let residents know there are resources available for those who qualify. I think that's great. And also I think it should be part of the bill. Like on the bill, like in there so that when you get the bill, because that's when you're going to be thinking about it, you might come across it, you know, on the website when you're not thinking about it, but when you're getting your bill, you're definitely thinking about it. So that's, I think the best time to make sure that information is being, um, dispersed. Thank you. Go ahead. Thank you. Council Member Grzegorzak. Thank you. Um, we're not voting. Which is a major concern to me because even though there was a significant improvement of 39. 96, the truth is that 242. 08 for the average home, add on 82 324 a home. That does not include the county, state, any, um, thing that was voted by your independent school district. Tax increases, improvements. Where I'm going with this is that, um, I understand the need of auditors told us that we have to protect the funds of this, uh, agreement. Originally, I supported a high, a high levy increase when the duty crew was included in my proposal for replenishing some of the units. See, those things didn't happen. And then it came to me that these additional fees would become necessary. So that was that was the plan. So, subsequently, like Councilmember Creighton, we asked some tough questions in the last budget meeting, and my advocation was we should at least proportionately lower the levy request to help match that offset placement. Um, first thing, I'm, I'm curious again, because they spoke to the audit. Um, this is a plan moving forward, uh, because it was indicated in the last seven years there and as Councilmember Greatness brought up. We certify 400, 000 and adding more to it is just going to continue to add to the burden. And part of my fear is there's consequences to no matter what we do. Every time we raise fees it affects someone whether or not it's you no longer will qualify for a home because your fees are raised too much that your income can come from a poor community or whatever. Um, having spent 17 years here I can tell you this. No city department will ever voluntarily step up and say my budget is excessive. So out of 29 million dollars, there's got to be some give. I know that this council, for us, that's why we have you professionals. Um, we shouldn't be the one determining which departments it is, because that would just lead to gridlock or arguments. I mean, that's what we recommend to be there. Um, part of my concern, but first I would like that question to answer, if I have permission. Uh, Madam Mayor and Council Members, um, just as a point of clarity, uh, the 242. 08 does include the levy increase, so, uh, it's the 82 of levy increase and then, um, 160 of utility. Just so folks listening and in the audience, um, Don't feel like there wasn't, uh, transparent information presented. Um, in, in response to the meters, we actually have started the process of Um, city staff going out and doing doorknocks, uh, we, we generate each, uh, billing cycle or each, each cycle, which is an every, every two weeks, we are generating that list of the, um, zero read meters, the ones that are not, uh, that are not registering any water usage. Um, that is communicated then to our staff in the, uh, water department and they are, in the process of doing doorknocks. And setting up appointments to, uh, with residents to go in and change those meters. So that process is underway. Um, we did just get that going. Um, on our last count, uh, we had, I believe, 18 door knocks. We had replaced six meters. Um, we do have a large number, uh, but we have to start somewhere. So, um, I guess I would, um, want to communicate to the council that, um, we are in the process of, of doing that, um, and as long as we have staff available, we start to have a really awful winter, uh, and we get ten inches of snow every day, we may not have, um, the opportunity to get into people's houses as Um, but we are, uh, working on that process and do have a plan in place. Do you have approximately how many meters in non performing? Uh, Madam Mayor, Council Members, the last list that we generated, uh, was approximately 400 out of 9, 000 connections. When I spoke to the auditors, they projected somewhere between 100, 000 plus lost revenues per year. Um, tonight's not the night, but at some point I would like this council to address that as to whether we should be contracting it out or not, but in the, to, to continue to move on, um, if I may. It's been often said that this budget is a moral document, and I agree with that statement. But I need to put that in context with what I believe is immoral to ask the elderly, fixed incomes, the disabled, those who work at minimum wage, two, three jobs, as such, to have to make decisions. Do I get my medication? Do I get food? Do I pay my rent? Do I skip the water bill for the city because they don't have any late fees? These are real decisions. I think that's immoral and it's continuous and it's year after year after year. Who's looking out for them? And that's the issue that I have. It seems that it's small amounts, small amounts, but we only have a small amount to begin with. And on top of it, we have two enterprise funds that are running at a deficit. Special Revenue Fund. We are going to transfer 155, 000 to the government. It makes it, it makes it very difficult. To take the phone calls from those on fixed incomes, saying you're driving me out of my home. There's real consequences, including it may be someone. The irony of it is we fund all sorts of things like down payment assistance and everything else. But yet on the flip side, we keep adding fees so less and less people qualify for a home. That's circular. Um, that's the irony of it. And I'm not, the sustainability of this is, is I'm going to say it again, and I mean it respectfully, we don't have so much of a revenue problem as we have a spending problem. And that's where we have to tonight come to a conclusion for what it is. And I hope my colleagues are open to negotiation, we have to. By charter, we have no choice. By statute, we have no choice. We do have a choice as to how much we raise it and what we do. And difficult decisions need to be made. That's it. I would like to thank my council members for their well thought out critical questions. I don't have any additional questions. Go ahead, Councilmember Craig. I just just have a comment I just wanted, I mean I do budgets, or this is not my only job. But I do actually 34 corporation budgets a year. So by going through these budgets, I actually enjoy this part of it. Um, and so I just want to acknowledge the work that staff has done to actually do this because I know it's hard and it's difficult, the cost of living costs. And so being able to take these numbers and get a balanced budget, being able to weigh the wants versus the costs of how much it costs to run a city. I just think we need to just make sure that we're, we're showing more appreciation for the time that it takes to do that, the expertise and the wisdom that it takes to move these numbers around. Um, it's easy for, for someone who doesn't know what numbers mean to just say, Oh, you need to lower that, you need to lower, or it needs to be a certain number without actually knowing what that number means. So I just want to make sure that I'm acknowledging that I understand what these numbers mean. And I also understand how much it takes to get these numbers lowered, um, and actually continue to run a city. Um, I think there's a lot of areas for improvement that we can do. Looking at these, um, enterprise funds, um, where all these funds were having these ones that are supposed to pay for themselves, and then you see them, um, budgeted out where the expenses are more than the revenues. So we can see that there's an area of growth there, but also recognizing in order to get to that place, we're going to have to increase rates. We're going to have to figure out how do we have more money coming in and going out, and that is going to be the difficult part. But I just want to make sure I'm acknowledging that. The skill that it takes to do what you're doing, and I appreciate it. Thank you, Councilmember Craigness, definitely agree with you 100 percent on that. Go ahead, Councilmember Jerzak. A follow up question. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I recall one of the early joint budget meetings we had, Dr. Edwards, you represented that if we do nothing, just with inflation and our current obligations. It requires 6 percent and I remember blue dots, I have a picture of someone being on the wall and I remember pretty conservative, the way they were spread out in the direction I thought was less. I guess I'm kind of summarizing I don't want to take liberties, but so. That's 6 percent to the 7. 92. Can you explain that difference? I think you did. Mostly, uh, wages, right? Which I thought is true, and that is we, we, I understand all the parts. I mean, I was an employee here a long time. We went some years without any increases. We actually did. And I believe we're still in the bottom third percentile. If I'm. I mean, no. Comparable cities with our wages. That's why in human resources, they have added additional funds to retain staff. But, um, that's hard for me to get beyond that. And I've been very transparent about that. I just have. So, give me some reasons as to why we should go there. Madam Mayor, um, Councilmembers, Councilmember Jurzak, I simply say and I'll let, um, Director Holmes chime in on the 6%, but in the end what you see on the screen is what the 7. 92. All of those have been directed by Council at some point. You want support wages for staff because we're trying to have a competitive workforce and we want to have staff stay here and have, um, have quality staff. Majority of our funds we spend on people, so we want to fill gaps. So the last couple of years, we made some significant changes in trying to be more fiscally sustainable. As you may recall, we took out grant funding and permit fees and we moved it to the side and not allow that to be part of our base analysis as it relates to living. So that was a revenue stream that was taken out. And we tried to ensure that again that we balance, and so we had 523, 000 in the previous year, and we were down 336, and we will continue to move in that direction. So we're covering that gap. So, so that was that, um, performance, um, and, um, analysis. The council. Now, Dame Director from the Council has been, um, important. Why? Because if we're going to be fiscally sustainable, if we're going to have quality services, we need to be able to speak to you and you need to be able to speak to the public and say, here's what we're doing with the dollar. Here's how we justify that dollar. Here's why we believe two dollars that we're spending today may result in spending a dollar. And we reduce the cost of doing business. Clearly, inflation, wages, and most things go up. But how do we become more, how do we become more innovative to see if there's better ways to provide services? So we're doing that with this thing, so we've got to figure out what to, what to do. Selling wages, we talked about that. Any other questions? Any other questions? And then make sure that we're doing that too. Funding. And so submission language. Cost. So the 7. 9 is people and building roads. Actually all of it. And there's no new. Nothing new. So we're just simply trying to keep on with what we have. We've already cut back. In 2023 and 2020, we did that most of the time. And so we're coming to you now and saying, basically we have a flat budget, and so we are simply trying to reinvent the wheel. Go ahead. Councilor Berger, say. Um, two questions. One would be, I know there was a reduction in the exact amount we are putting back into the emergency fund, and did we dip down, like the general policy is between 50 What is it? 47 48. Do you have that percentage right now? The reason the reason I mentioned that today is 47 or 48 percent still to get to our policy of 50 52 percent with no increase in revenue. We have to find it somewhere down the road again. So it's kind of kicking that can down here. And then exactly how much are we going to pose? Because it's changed the figure to go back into the emergency fund. What's proposed? Madam Mayor and council members. See a couple things, but 231, which is on screen redirect reserve contributions. So we had a reserve over a million dollars. We had an incident that cost us that. So this community that has little resources took 1. 4 million that had to pay out. So our ability just to stay afloat and to begin to rebuild, it's substantial for Brooklyn center that we did not bottom out. I would applaud Brooklyn Center as being able to withstand that and then try to rebuild financial sustainability. So the fact that our reserves dipped and the fact that we had to utilize our, if we had not had those reserves, the emergency reserves, and if we had not had, had a decent settlement agreement, then we would have significant challenges and we would have had to borrow money. Or do other things. And that's what the council, when we began that process, the council said here's what we're willing to do, and here's what we want to try to stay away from. And staff worked pretty hard to try to stay within, within the amount of what we had, which was the reserves. And that's what we had provided. And so it would take time. It took time to build it up. There's no way. Are not very practical for a city for us who are paycheck by paycheck to put aside money and savings while at the same time paying. But staff is mindful of that and they're trying to figure out where do we say, and that's the flipping of mindset enterprise funds that we have to have a game plan around how to generate revenue. Prior to this year, we hadn't heard that. You heard right to now plan about how we exist. The plan now is how do you generate a revenue because it's unsustainable for us not to be. The Heritage Center has provided the information to you council members over 20 years or so only if you, if you don't include, um, uh, well, it generated revenue probably, uh, three years out of two decades. That's not the focus and that's not the charge for leadership. It is how to generate revenue, and we have plans in place. It'll take, it may take a year or a couple of years to get there, but that's the path we're on. I go back to the reserves. I only say that because the city took a significant hit on those reserves, and that was just reality. And we will take time, and we will replenish that, but it will take some time. I acknowledge and credit exactly what you said, I think the reconciliation comes from one constituent say to me, we're only going to transfer 231, 000 back to that fund, but yet we're going to subsidize the golf course at 155, 000 by themselves. And they keep saying, well, how long are you going to, their words are, how long are you going to put good money after bad when all three are failing? Where do you draw the line? Those are reasonable questions. Reasonable patience for these. I'm not at all disagreeing with what you had said. I'm just pointing out the way they look at it through their eyes. Their wages don't increase at the same rate that our increases in fees and taxes. Yeah, I would say, you know, I, I don't disagree with any of the comments that were made by my fellow council member. I have similar concerns about our enterprise funds. I also think that I'm seeing us moving the right direction. And so really want to encourage staff to continue to be innovative, to be smart about how they're investing their dollars and how they're bringing investment back to the city. And I'm hopeful that, you know, we'll see some improvements in those enterprise funds. continued improvements so that we don't need to do those transfers. Go ahead. Go ahead. I can share one thing. So Heritage Center, as I said, the last 20 years, so we only generated revenue about three years or so over the last. So it makes so covert hits. We can do and we take a hit. There's nobody showing up. So the Heritage Center takes a big hit at that time, like the rest of America did. From 2022 to 2023 in a year, each year we have less and less of a deficit. We have made contraction every year for the last three years. So yes, we're running, um, in red. And we're recovering from COVID. But that progress is being seen. It never showed. There's less being, um, less red and we work for 17 years before that. Absolutely. In 2020, it was like a million dollars. Now it's 300, 000 in that range, moving towards 100, 000. And so not only is they're moving, they're substantial. Another mindset and thinking, you take the community center, that community center, we changed, um, some practicing and tried to create greater accessibility to community. So we reduced the rates for residents as it relates to work. We reduced the rates to residents, increased rates to non residents. We have exploded in the number of membership and we, while we may free for some, to increase participation and is generating more revenue than it did the year before. So it is working in that sense, that we tried to provide, we addressed the burden and we addressed the accessibility. And at the same time, management and leadership has found a way, how do we generate even more money when we do that? That's happened. And so there, in several departments, there are indicators that we are moving in the right direction. Thank you, Dr. Edwards. Go ahead, Council Member Butler. Yeah, I also wanted to just echo what Council Member Kragness said earlier about the work that has been done. I know it's not an easy process. I also do budgets in my day job, not as intimately as Council Member Kragness. But, um, one thing that I think hasn't been acknowledged here is that everything is going up, right? And the cost of doing business has gone up, right? So salt is more expensive. Um, the food that we serve at the, um, Heritage Center has gone up. And so you have less dollars coming in or the same amount of dollars coming in, but everything else is going up. So just as we, as residents are feeling it. The city is filling it as well so I just want to acknowledge that you all have a hard job to make the numbers make sense with limited ability, as things continue to rise so just wanted to acknowledge that and then also just give staff credit for the innovation and work that you all do around grant funding and trying to fund some of the things that you want to be want to do that are innovative and not in the budget. By grant funding so I know that's a lot of work to seek out grants and complete the applications, and then also the reporting that comes with it so I want to acknowledge that staff. Thank you Councilmember Butler. Any other questions or comments from council members. All right. So first. We have a motion to accept the City Manager's Budget Transmittal Letter for the 2025 City of Brooklyn Center Budget. Is there a second? Second. Please take the roll. Is that wrong? That's what I said. Okay. Please take the roll. Councilmember Butler? Aye. Councilmember Drzaczak? Aye. Councilmember Kregnis? Aye. Mayor Graves? Aye. Motion passes 4 0. Um, that brings us to C, correct? Or no, or we have to open the hearing. Yep. Motion to open the public hearing on the 2025 budget. Is there a second? Second. Please take the roll. Councilmember Butler? Aye. Councilmember Gersak? Aye. Councilmember Kragnas? Aye. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. We're in public hearing. Would anybody like to come forward to speak before public hearing? Please come up and state your name for the record. Good evening. My name is Jolena Garcia. I am a resident and financial commission member. A couple questions that kind of crossed, you know, my mind as we're looking at this is we had talked about the three things that are operating in a negative. I guess the question that I have is how long can we move on something that's essentially a liability if we're operating in it? Is there any timeline that we have on that or is that just, it just continues until 20 more years pass and I mean, I, I can't really answer for everybody else, but from my perspective, no, I don't think so. Um, I, I don't think that as soon as we're starting to see some improvement in the right direction, that that's the time to cut and run, especially if that's the first time it's really happening in a long time. So for me, I'm like, you know, at least to reassess next year during the busters process, are we continuing to see improvement or has that stalled? That would be my, my, my approach. Go ahead. But I think now is the time. Yeah. I appreciate that. Um, we had talked about um, when an incident happens within the city, is the department responsible in any capacity? Is there any allocation of dollars to address that incident as something that we have reserves of? I think that'd be a question. But I don't process. Go ahead. The city's so it's silent. Okay, so if I'm, if I'm understanding correctly, 1. 4 million out of the department's budget for 2011 would be too much. Maybe it's, I think it's kind of speaks for itself. Um, You had talked about the water bills and the water meters, and something that wasn't in the motion that I received, but, and it's the RLIN that has, uh, any LIN, uh, pipes that service our water. So we have, you know, given ourselves this, and that cost of care, we're going to have a limit. It's just adding more, even more, so I agree with some of the other jurors I've spoken with that. Uh, the last question I have is, the homes they're valuing are made by these institutions. And I have a question, something I was thinking about is, do our assessments reflect what construction is looking for? Does anybody know that answer? I don't know, but I think it's quite that high. I dunno, maybe someone. Yeah, I'm just curious to see how the assessment matches or doesn't. What's that actually do for our homes? That's all I have. Thank you. And thanks for being here. Would anybody else like to come up? We're more resident Brooklyn Center. I just, first of all, I appreciate all mayor and council members all your input regarding the budget for this year. I've heard in a couple of years. Your feedback, um, and your view of us being representative of the budget. I just want to reiterate what, um, Council Member Jurzak said. At least. As. Um, City Manager Edwards said there were two budget and financial commission meetings this year. Yes, last year there were quite a few. I was part of that commission. But, um, I appreciate Dr. Edwards saying that next year. So thank you for that. Um, but I want to reiterate what Council Member Jurczak said. Previous budget discussions that included financial commission members. It's six percent. I don't know how it got to 7. 92. It's a show game, I realize. Costs have gone up and all of that, but it was presented as six and now all of a sudden it's another two percent. I would like to encourage the council to go back to, um, your discussion and presentation of any state in which financials have been present, as well as all of the directors according to my budget. Thanks. Anybody else? You stay. Council members. Um, mentioned a little bit. I was trying to wonder, wanted to understand. That's now. Um, with receiving revenues or anything with the businesses that we have to generate revenue. So is there anything else that we can do as far as businesses, there's, I'm like, I will say that I'm really happy. Um, as well as, um, additional support for support, um, and safety. Um, so there are a couple of different questions. Any of our existing Um, we have investments in our infrastructure ahead of us. I believe that is, you know, Three department based on the national standards. Um, Contributing to the neighborhood. So, um, so there is that. Um, as far as the funding, Um, A couple different things, uh, Uh, In place. It is. Brown. Yeah. More. But we also. So we always. Sorry to interrupt, but unfortunately we have excess cash and we can't invest it. We can't invest it. We can't invest it. We can't invest it. So, Would anybody else like to? Or? Public comment? Let's see. I'll be for. I'm a resident of the Brooklyn Center. Um, I'm actually in the field. Um, I'm wondering if I can get a help. Because it seems like I'll soon be losing my home. Because Uh huh. 5 1 2 3 4 5 9 10 11 12 13 15 16 And I got it. I barely. Yeah. I'll just ask. But I definitely feel your opportunity. Thank you. Anybody else there? Oh, thank you. Uh, Julie, please state your name. Julie, are you there? Sorry, I wasn't able to get myself unmuted. Um, hi, this is Julie Burke. I'm resident of, um, Brooklyn Center. Thank you, mayor and council. Um, I'm gonna own that I had logged in late, so I'm just catching up. I did hear part of a comment, but the sound is kind of staticky. But I did hear, um, an individual who apparently was on the Let make sure we're not, make sure you're not responding to somebody else's comment, please. No, I wanted to ask, um, I guess my point was, I'm curious where the documentation is of the finance meetings that have happened because I've had really a difficult time finding any, um, in the laser fish files and that has been a continued issue. And so, um, I don't know if that's something council can help address or the finance. Um, liaison can help address, but, um, I think that that would help with some of the transparency, um, around some of the concerns if some of that documentation was available, because as of the last time I checked, there was nothing for 2024. Um, there wasn't even a folder created for the agendas and, um, past agendas, um, are missing as well and minutes. If there were meetings, there don't seem to be minutes for them unless they were happening off the record. So, um, just wanted to express a concern about that, um, because transparency is important across the board. And if the meetings are happening and there isn't documentation about it, um, that's problematic. Thanks. Thank you, Julie. Barb, go ahead. Madam Mayor and Council, um, the Finance Commission very rarely meets on their own. All of that documentation is in under the City Council files, and it's a City Council joint Finance Commission meeting. That's where you will find all that information. In the six years that I have been here, I think the Finance Commission has met maybe once or twice. Thank you. On their own, so that is why there is nothing, there is no file that they don't meet on their own very often. Would it be difficult to create a space so that we can have a just, I mean obviously that's kind of doubling up, but I think just thinking about ease of navigation. So if somebody doesn't know that they might not know to look for it with the budget or with the council, with the council agendas and minutes. So it might be worthwhile to think about either a way to sort of indicate that so people know where to look. Or else, just duplicate it and have it in a second spot, under a different heading. Would anybody else like to come forward for public hearing? Anybody else want to come forward for public hearing? Motion to close the public hearing. Is there a second? Second. Please take the roll. Council Member Butler. Aye. Council Member Jerzak. Aye. Council Member Kragness. Aye. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. The public hearing is closed. So next we have, um, a resolution adopting the 2025 annual city budget. Motion to approve the resolution adopting the 2025 annual city budget. Second. Please take the roll. Councilmember Butler. Aye. Councilmember Girozak. Point of clarification. Is this just accepting the budget that was proposed to us? That's how I'm interpreting it as resolution adopting the 2025 annual city budget. Yeah. Point of clarification, please. So if we vote yes for this, then are we accepting. 7. 92. Yes. Nay. Council Member Craigness. Yes. Aye. Aye. Sorry. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes 3 1. Um, that brings us up to item D. On the agenda, resolution approving the 2025 to 2039 capital improvement plan and adopting the 2025 capital program. So moved. Second, please take the roll. Council Member Butler. Aye. Council Member Jerzak. Aye. Council Member Craigness. Aye. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes, 4 0. Um, and finally, a resolution approving the final tax capacity levies for the general fund and debt service funds. And a market value tax levy for housing and redevelopment authority for property taxes able in 2025. So moved. Second. Please take the roll. Council Member Butler. Aye. Council Member Jurzak. Nay. Council Member Kragnas. Aye. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes 3 1. In addition to adjourn the council special meeting. Please take the roll. So moved. Council Member Butler. Aye. Council Member Jurzak. Aye. Council Member Kragness. Aye. Mayor Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. We're going to call to order the Housing and Redevelopment Authority. Um, please take the roll. Commissioner Butler. Here. Commissioner Jurzak. Here. Commissioner Kragness. Here. President Graves. Here. Four members are present, one is excused. We also have to add back in the minutes from the September 23, 2024, um, Housing and Redevelopment Authority, um, to this, um, agenda because somehow it's missed. So, um, we're going, Council approves, we'll be adding that to the agenda. Do we have to have it under a second, or can we just put it in the consent agenda? Okay. So we're going to put that in. All right, is there a motion to approve the agenda and consent agenda with that change to the minutes? Madam Mayor, I make a motion with the acknowledge change to the minutes. Second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler? Aye. Commissioner Jurzak? Aye. Commissioner Kragness? Aye. President Graves? Aye. Motion passes 4 0. That brings us up to item number four, commission consideration items. Resolution establishing a property tax for the purpose of defraying the cost of operation providing informational services and relocation services for pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes Chapter 469. 003 for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota in fiscal year 2025. Context, Dr. Edwards, just because that's a lot of big words and I want the public to know what we're talking about. Madam Mayor, council members, uh, the HRA. As taxing authority, um, it's a 0. 0185 and some additional numbers percentage, um, that they can, uh, place as an additional property tax in addition to the levy. This is utilized for, um, housing and, uh, to defray the cost of the housing redevelopment authority, uh, of the city. Thank you, Director Holmes. Anybody like to make this motion? Motion to adopt a resolution establishing a property tax levy for the purpose of defraying the cost of operation providing informational and relocation assistance pursuant to the provisions of Minnesota Statutes Chapter 469. 033 for the Housing and Redevelopment Authority and Public Center. Minnesota for fiscal year 2025. Is there a second? Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler. Aye. Commissioner Jerzak. Aye. Commissioner Craigness. Aye. President Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. Um, Madam Mayor, could you clarify who seconded? I didn't hear it. I'm sorry. Okay. Thank you. Motion to adjourn the, uh, HRA. Oh, is there? It's not on my agenda. Okay. I'll use this then. Motion to approve a resolution for the HRA 2025 annual budget. Is that right? Okay. It's not on the regular agenda. Is there a second? I second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler? Aye. Commissioner Jurzak? Aye. Commissioner Kragnos? Aye. President Graves? Aye. Motion passes 4 0. Motion to adjourn the HRA second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler. Aye. Commissioner Jurzak. Aye. Commissioner Kragness. Aye. President Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. HRA meeting is adjourned. We're going to call to order the Economic Development Authority of Brooklyn Center. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler. Here. Commissioner Jurzak. Here. Commissioner Kragness. Here. President Graves. Here. There are four members present, uh, present, and, um, Commissioner Lawrence Anderson is excused. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second? Second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler? Aye. Commissioner Jerzak? Aye. Commissioner Craigness? Aye. President Graves? Aye. Motion passes 4 are adjourned. Um, the next on the agenda is a commission consideration item resolution in the final budget for the economic development. Would you mind doing the same thing for this one? Thank you, Director. Madam Mayor, uh, Madam President, and commissioners. Um, so the, um, previously you had an approved budget for the housing. What that essentially does is transfer the money into the Economic Development Authority. That, uh, then is prepared as a budget. Um, the revenue source for the Economic Development Authority is that tax, that tax levy. And then they prepare a budget for any additional operating costs that they have. Um, this is a balanced budget. Um, it uses, it proposes to use the same amount of revenue. Thank you. Go ahead. Point of clarification, could you state for transparency what that rate of the levy would be? Uh, Madam Mayor, or Madam President, um, so the rate of the levy, uh, for the HRA is, um, Thank you. Is there a motion to approve the resolution approving the final budget for the Economic Development Authority of Brooklyn Center, Minnesota for the school year 2025? Second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler. Aye. Commissioner Jerzab. Aye. Commissioner Craigness. Aye. President Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. Before we adjourn, I just want to thank staff and, um, council again for all of your hard work. I know it hasn't been, um, an easy task, but I'm really proud of all of us for working together, for asking the critical questions. For inching the pennies where we can and then also still being able to provide good service to our residents while considering, you know, what they're, what hardships they may be facing. Thank you everyone. With that, I'll make a motion to adjourn. Go ahead. Um, before we close, I just want to say, as far as the budget for next year, um, I don't think we need to better analyze the numbers. Not as many, like four or five. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We don't want to get carried away, but I think we do need more time. And I would just like to pose a challenge of sticking to that 6%. I'm curious to see what that would look like. Um, so kind of posing that challenge in advance. That's what I would share. I'm just having that in our forefront in mind of what does 6 percent look like. So that way it's no surprises or anything. I'm just curious what that would look like. Go ahead, Councilman Troussaint. Um, Madam Mayor, I concur with Councilmember Craigness. Also, I look forward to the more Regular, year to date financial reports, month to month. And then I also just wanted to make one more comment with regard to the enterprise funds. All I'm saying is, all ideas need to be on the table. Innovative ideas. It isn't, you know, it's just not enough that they are losing money. You gotta have a plan, but to be open to whatever can generate money, to increase the transcript and offset leverage. So I'm just encouraging whatever that takes, whatever that is, that's all I want to say. Go ahead Council Member Butler. It's been a long eight years, but um, But um, no, I just want to thank the staff for all the hard work. Like I said earlier, our financial commissioners who continue to show up, um, and give us critical things to think about and ask questions. Um, and all of our community members that need to show up on Zoom. Yeah, make sure that you guys join us for our final council meeting of the year. So we can say goodbye to Councilman Butler in style, um, and make sure to figure out and give her lots of love and thanks for her commitment to the city in the last eight years. Um, motion to adjourn? Second. Please take the roll. Commissioner Butler? Commissioner Jerzak. Aye. Commissioner Craigness. Aye. President Graves. Aye. Motion passes 4 0. The ADA meeting is adjourned.