Budget Review Commission - February 13, 2025

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call the role or whoever does that yes
um chair David Smith here commissioner
Carla here commissioner Brad Newman here
commissioner Jim
ransco pres Commission commissioner
Daniel schwier present commissioner
Sharon sites present and commissioner
Mark Stevens is absent because of a
prior commitment thank
you thank you um and Jim are you on the
phone
somewhere yes sir I'm on the uh
Microsoft team so I can see everything
and uh obviously uh audio works well
just holler if we uh if we ignore you at
some point and let us know you're there
no
problem um this being our first meeting
I just wanted to take the liberty of
making some brief remarks first of all
just to say good afternoon and welcome
here for everyone in person or on screen
or on the phone or whatever you're
doing
um this budget review commission as you
know was created by the council a month
ago and assigned the responsibility to
make recommendations on the city budget
the operating budget the capital budget
revenues as well as the policies that
govern and measure our budget
results and the assignment is stated in
just a few
words but I think the underlying goal is
to give our Council a reassurance that
the budget is fiscally
responsible and that means that it
provides if you will the highest level
of service delivered in the most
efficient cost effective
way more than that I think we are
expected to give the council our
assurance that the budget ensures
longterm fiscal
sustainability meaning that it properly
assigns costs and
benefits and doesn't kick the can down
the road to Future
Generations it's also my hope that our
assurances to the council will provide
some
reassurance to Scottdale citizens all
you folks as
well and in doing
so we might help restore a degree of
citizens trust and faith in your city
government trust and faith that your
taxes are assessed equitably and spent
judiciously in accordance with citizen
Direction and
expectations all to improve the quality
of life that we've come to expect of
Scottdale so as we undertake this
challenge we invite
residents to help this is after all a
Citizens budget review commission and
you are the citizens that we'd like to
hear from we invite you to uh give us
your opinion we even invite constructive
criticism so you can be assured your
voices will be
heard um and the at that point I would
ask if there is any public comment if
anyone has dared take the uh the jump
the leap into telling us their
opinion Sonny has declined
uh very well we'll skip the public
comment for tonight but you are
encouraged to make a public comment in
future
meetings um and I should have read the
speech here that comes with the uh
public comment it says considering
citizens May address the members of the
budget review commission re regarding
non- agendized items during public
comment Arizona state law prohibits the
commission from discussing or taking
action on an item that is not on the
prepared
agenda citizens May complete one request
to speak public comment card per meeting
don't get don't get over excited here at
any rate you submit that to the city
staff and public testimony is limited to
three minutes per speaker written
comment cards are also accepted for
agendized items and may be submitted to
City staff at any time and cards
submitted after public comment has begun
for an item will be provided to the
commission at the conclusion of the
public comment for that item enough of
the boiler plate new
business I wanted to take a moment for
everyone on our commission here to
introduce
themselves to one another as well as to
the
public
um I'll start by saying I Am David Smith
I have uh previously served on a budget
review commission for Scottdale back in
2009
um and that and a variety of other
things led to me uh eventually choosing
to be
to run for and being elected on the city
council for one
term and I've probably made a pest of
myself at various times since then
um my career before Scottdale was in
corporate finance with a variety of
companies but significantly in relevant
to the assignment here at two of them
were governmental agencies the Tennessee
Valley Authority and Amtrak both of
which I was the CFO for so I'm not
unfamiliar with the uniqueness of
government accounting and the uniqueness
of government assignments we don't
produce a product we provide a service
and we don't uh we don't sell a product
for profit we hope that citizens
recognize the value of the service they
get from the taxes they pay that's
me Sharon sites why don't you start by
introducing
yourself um Sharon sites at present I
own and operate the Sphinx State Company
Store on Scottdale road if anybody has
been in for a date
Shake um my professional career was in
financial planning and budgeting I
worked for a number of government
agencies the City of Phoenix the State
of Arizona joint legislative budget
committee uh worked as a
CFO for a few private
companies and also worked in financial
planning at
Amtrak U Capital Improvement projects as
well as the operating budgets I look
forward to learning so much more about
what goes on in the Scottsdale budget
and appreciate being
here if her mention of Amtrak sounded
familiar it is true we were both there
at the same time
my name is Dan schwier and I'm somewhat
familiar with City uh Financial
government I spent 12 years in the
Paradise Valley Town Council um I also
co-founded chinam te company which was
Scottdale based and ran that for 35
years sold it eight years ago and tried
to retire apparently I flank retirement
101 several times now um but I'm looking
forward to learning more about how to
keep Scottdale great because my wife and
I relocated here about 11 years ago
absolutely love it no other place I'd
rather be and uh looks like we have a
good group of people up here and I'm
just interested in learning more and
hearing from
people hi my name is Brad Newman um
retired to Scottsdale five years ago in
2020 after 17 years in Chicago and 13
years in Indianapolis before that spent
30 years in the pharmaceutical industry
medical devices Hospital products and uh
my public life was maybe limited to the
HOAs that I lived in before this but
it's my first time on a budget
commission and so I'm very much looking
forward to working to help keep Scott St
great thank
you uh I'm Carla and yes eons ago
getting divorced I did legally take one
name as my personal Declaration of
Independence so that's not an error
upfront um I am one of the city of
Scottsdale's 12 preserved Pioneers I've
lived here going on 61 years the last 36
over in Peaceful Valley uh I used to
co-own and manage a small business and
was executive director of the mcdal Sor
and Conservancy the nonprofit for 10
years I've served on many of the city's
boards and commissions and I'm thrilled
to be on this one because I think we
really need to as chair Smith said um
open things back up again and uh help
restore faith and I look forward to
that uh I can go uh my name is Jim
ransco this is my first Adventure into
City Service uh I'm a Serial
entrepreneur who's been living in
Scottsdale in and out for the last 36
years uh been busy founding scaling and
managing various businesses mostly in
the architecture construction and real
estate Industries and uh I'm just really
uh glad to be able to serve and look
forward to meeting all of you in person
at our next
meeting thank you
Jim and um Mark Stevens will give him a
chance to uh introduce himself more
fully when he is here with us at the
next meeting but I will tell you in
advance he's a long-term resident of
Scottdale was the managing partner
for I think ernston
Young um and so comes uh with obviously
a considerable amount of financial
expertise so this is your
team and with that we go on to uh item
two which is to adopt a set of bylaws to
govern our behaviors here you all have a
copy of the bylaws provided to you if
you have any questions uh raise them now
either for me or for our attorney uh
joining us here Sher
Scott you have any
questions seeing no
questions I need a motion to adopt the
bylaws and
um motion to adopt the bylaws as
written commissioner schwier makes a
motion to adopt the bylaws as
written yes want a second and somebody
seconded will give uh commissioner sites
the credit for seconding and I think Jim
may have been on the phone too but
anyway
they motion made and seconded if you all
know how to push your button on yes or
no do so and record your vote and
commissioner ransco will ask verbally do
you vote Yes or no
I vote
Yes so recorded the vote is uh six it's
unanimous six to
zero third item of business is the
appointment of Vice
chair which is provided for in the
bylaws um and it's and I do it so uh I
would appoint commissioner schwier for
the esteemed position of Vice chair
chair and I don't think that requires
any action except maybe a a thank you
from commissioner schwier if you want to
make any comments you're welcome to do
so I'm not sure it's a thank you but but
I I I will gratefully accept
it the fourth item of business is to uh
approve a meeting calendar you all were
given a meeting calendar of tentative
dates by staff
and by the way I should uh introduce for
the benefit of everybody the staff
that's here I mentioned Sher Scott from
our legal department she is the uh
City's uh legal
councel uh acting City attorney Greg cat
C how is how do you pronounce your name
Kon okay join us um and uh and and Sonia
Andrews who is the city treasurer for
the city so we have a high-powered bunch
of Staff here today to keep us on the
straight and
narrow but Sonia as I said gave a list
of tentative meeting dates um and I
would only say as a preamble to this
there's not much time between now and
when we are expected to Give opinions
and and thoughts and ideas and our final
report to council before they adopt the
proposed budget the date for the
adoption of the proposed budget is May
the
6th and so sometime before that we have
to have our thoughts together and
perhaps have had a joint session with
them to share those thoughts the last
meeting on this schedule is April
24 listed as an optional meeting but
it's uh um it may be subsumed by some
meeting with the council to share our
thoughts in a joint
meeting but at any rate looking at this
list and recognizing that we may have
dates that we add I can't I don't
imagine we'll subtract any but dates
that we add for um
meetings um does anybody have any
comments about this um and I recognize
from time to
time one or more people will not be able
to make a meeting and we will just March
ahead as best we can
I see commissioner Carly you have a
comment had a question um for staff is
it the joint meeting the work study with
the mayor and Council um and recognize
that mayor barowski is in the audience
now um is it most likely going to be a
Tuesday um commissioner Smith
Commissioners uh we do not have that
date nailed down yet and we will
probably get that to you as soon as we
can okay thank you thank
you as you can imagine getting 14 people
on the same page for a joint meeting
will be a challenge but we'll give it a
shot any other comments on this
schedule if not why don't I entertain a
motion to approve the schedule as it is
knowing as I said that it will
undoubtedly change as we March through
time do I have a motion
commissioner sites I will move to
approve thank you in a second meeting
calendar I'll
second second from commissioner schwier
let's
vote and commissioner ransco do you vote
in the
affirmative I do thank you so again as
unanimous 6 and
zero the next item on the agenda is the
presentation overview of our city budget
components the budget process the
timeline and Sonia I think has provided
a handout which will undoubtedly appear
on the screen as she talks I'll turn
that over to you Son thank
you so what I'd like to do for you today
to start this meeting on office to
provide you an high level overview of
the city's budget process all the steps
are components that goes into the budget
and also a high level overview of our
funds and departments and how the city's
budget is structured next
slide so the city's budget is a very
important document because it is the
city's financial plan it provides the
key strategic Financial direction for
the upcoming year to that end the city
manager and City Treasurer we work
together closely ly to bring a budget to
council to approve funding for all the
city's needs and priorities the city
manager is responsible for Council
priorities making sure that the budget
aligns with Council prior priorities and
operational goals the city manager also
in charge of approving departmental
budget requests uh programs and service
needs rates and fees requests and the
capital infrastructure requests the city
Treasures Office and the budget office
we ensure comp liance with uh budget um
policies and
regulations we look at Financial
strategies and work with the city
manager's office to determine the right
Financial strategies we do the revenue
projections and also debt capacity and
also determine any debt needs we assist
the Departments with any calculations
and we balance the
budget next slide so the city's uh
budget process starts with way back in
October because there are many many
steps to putting a budget together we
start in October with what we call a
baseline budget and we determine the
budget requests revenue forecast we work
very closely with the departments on all
their requests and do a lot of analysis
on them on them and then internally we
go through a series of reviews we have
an internal team that reviews capital
projects uh Department requests and all
that and then we have the city's
executive team which is our city manager
and our assistant city managers myself
reviewing all of these requests before
it gets balanced and brought before now
the budget review commission and then
the city council so there's plenty of
steps that uh go into the whole budget
process next
slide so as uh chair Smith spoke earlier
it's a very tight timeline given that we
have a budget review commission this
year as we uh mentioned earlier the
budget process development process
starts in October uh we're still working
on it today and then usually we are able
to finalize our budget balancing an
internal review by the end of March and
beginning of April where we release our
proposed balanced budget um this year
it'll be April 3rd we will release that
proposed balance Budget on April 3rd um
and then what we will do is we will take
the uh budget review commission through
our balanced budget in order to meet our
um uh presentation timeline with the
city council and our community which we
have scheduled for May 6 and then from
the proposed budget we will then hold
public hearings and the adoption of the
tenative Budget on May 20th with the
final adop
on June 10th and that is by Charter our
Charter requires us to adopt our final
Budget on the first meeting in June so
it's a pretty tight
timeline next slide so as I mentioned
there's many components to putting a
budget together kind of think of it as
like a a you know multiple steps and
I'll take you through at a high level
all these different steps uh we start
out with looking at our financial
policies that govern the budget to see
if there's any changes that need to be
made so we will be bringing to this
budget commission a review of those
financial policies we then look to make
sure that we have some alignment with
Council and organizational strategic
plans we do Revenue projections we
looking at economic Trends and forecasts
we also then work with our departments
determine the rates and fees that will
set certain revenues we look at our debt
capacity capity we also look at our
Personnel requests and Personnel cost
assumptions and projections working with
our HR department and all the various
departments on their personnel needs
next
slide we also look at Capital project
requests and all the changes to the
capital projects in the existing Capital
Improvement plan we identify funding for
those projects and of course aside from
personnel and capital we look at all our
other non- capital and non uh Personnel
expenditure requests as well we then
also look at our reserve and contingency
requirements for all of our departments
and funds we do calculate indirect cost
allocations and we do also determine um
transfers between funds and we then
produce five-year revenue and
expenditure forecast for all of our
major funds the general fund and all of
our other major funds we then sit down
with the city manager and our executive
team to look at Financial strategies and
financial sustainability considerations
making sure that we do not have any
structural imbalance in our budgets and
then of course we make sure we comply
with state law requirements as well so
in a nutshell these are all the
components that we go through and that's
why the budget process starts way back
in October as we have to go through all
of these steps in order in order to
bring a balanced proposed budget for
your review next slide so I just kind of
wanted to take a moment to share that
the city has received the gfoa
distinguished budget award every year
for over 30 years and the gfoa award
basically looks at our uh the budget and
our criteria the policy document the
financial plan and and and how our
budget is put together and the city has
won this award for every year for the
last over 30 years next slide
so um the our budget is put into three
different um components if you might um
we have the operating
budget we have the capital budget and we
have our five-year Capital Improvement
plan next
slide so starting with the operating
budget next
slide and given that we don't have
current year preliminary numbers yet I'm
putting up here um our current fiscal
year 2425 operating budget expenditures
by category just to show you how our uh
budget categories are and you know as
you can imagine Personnel is our largest
category Citywide it makes up
45.4% of our expenditure budget
operating expenditure budget Contract
Services makes up about 26% of our
budget Commodities and operating capital
Capital outlay like vehicles and
Equipment make up about 11 or 12% of our
budget and Debt Service which is
principle and interest payments on our
outstanding debt that makes up about
16.4% of our
budget and this is the before you leave
that slide um let me remind the fellow
Commissioners here if they want to
interrupt you with a question at any
point because you're going through a lot
of information very very quickly but uh
if any of you have any questions just um
press your request to speak button and
for Jim you on the phone there just
shout out to us if you if you have a
question but this is a this is an
important uh summary slide to be looking
at because this is the whatever it is
500 and some odd million dollars that um
comprises
the the operating budget
go ahead okay now again this is current
year budget so when we bring the
proposed 2526 budget to you some of
these percentages will change however
this is a a good uh you know kind of
summary of what our um operating budget
looks like split out into those
categories and I know next
slide I know this is rather small but
this is the operating budget Broken Out
by fund fund as as we all understand in
government accounting we account for
everything in funds because we need to
show how we spend the money that we
collect to ensure that we're spending it
the way that it's meant to be spent so I
know it might be hard for you to see but
the general fund is our largest
operating fund and um aside from the
general fund the Nick's largest
operating fund is our water and sewer
fund and then we have special program
funds operating grants funds we have our
tourism Development Fund our tourism
Development Fund is the 5% bet tax that
we collect that we spend on destination
marketing and non- destination marketing
tourism type events so that's our
tourism Development Fund our
transportation fund is the fund that
collects the 2% Transportation sales tax
and also the highway um user Revenue
fund which is the state gas tax so those
two are the primary taxes in the
transportation fund which is then used
for our uh Transportation operations and
Street um and transportation Capital
Improvements as well we also have our
debt service fund which is the fund that
collects our secondary property taxes
and also um houses all the revenues that
we use to pay um our bond um debt and
some of our for Revenue debt and then of
course we have the like I said the
largest other largest fund is our water
sewer fund we also have our Solid Waste
fund and um then we have some internal
service funds like our health care self
Insurance Fund the city is self-insured
for health care and also self-insured
for um commercial liability and workus
comp and so we have our healthc care
self-insurance fund and our risk
management fund as as well and then we
also have a Fleet Management fund that
manages and operates the city's Fleet
and we have some minor funds like our
Stadium fund our and our airport fund so
those are pretty much all the funds that
we have that shows where the money how
we collect our money and how we spend
our
money next slide I have a question from
commissioner Newman hi Sonia um question
what portion of the P the total pie is
constrained by referenda where the the
monies are dedicated into that color of
of the pie chart versus um what's
discretion what portion is discretionary
according to what the council might set
forth as objectives okay um most of the
discretionary if not all of the
discretionary funds are in the general
fund everything else is either
restricted for the purpose of the uh
revenue or are uh required to be spent
on the operations for various
reasons thank
you I also have a question from
commissioner Carla um yes Sonia where in
the two pie charts does the police and
fire pay down I can never remember the
acronym yes bit yes so police and fire
is primarily in the general fund however
police and fire also has um operations
in restricted funds because some
restricted revenues we receive are
dedicated to police and fire operations
so to the extent that their revenues are
restricted then it's in one of the
restricted funds for example we have the
prop 207 funds that are required by
state law to be used for public safety
personnel only and so because it's
restricted for public safety personnel
that money that we collect from the prop
207 money go goes into a special
programs fund and is used for just that
purpose that it's restricted for I
apologize if if I wasn't clear enough
I'm talking about I know that you're
trying to increase every year in the
budget the amount you pay down on on
their um PS pension yes that one yes so
yes so our pay down uh of the pension
will be from the general fund general
fund okay thank
you and another question from me if I'm
can follow the Kaleidoscope of colors
correctly is the tourism Development
Fund is that the $22 million piece at
the bottom of the pie
chart that is correct and why is that 22
rather than whatever 35 or whatever
comes into that fund so this is the
expenditure not the
revenues so that means we are
underexpanded the revenues of that fun
is that that is correct so we do have
some fund balance that we have in the
fund however our proposed budget do we
do have a plan to spend down that that
fund balance but that is the expenditure
number versus the um Revenue
number and so you said in the plan we do
have a strategy to to use the the money
why would that not be an expenditure
that's shown this does not show the any
uh this is this current Year's
expenditure budget it doesn't include
the reserves or
contingencies in it and it so so then it
is UND spent in this particular year for
this year
correct thank
you okay next
slide and this is the same operating
budget so basically the last three
slides I've shown you the operating
budget by category and then I showed you
the operating budget by fund and this is
the operating budget by Department
division as you can see police has the
largest budget followed by Public Works
water and our water and wastewater
Department um Community Services fire
our administrative Services which is it
Communications government uh relations
and human uh resources and then we have
community and economic development our
Charter offices and uh some other um
smaller
departments Sonia to um to Carla's
question then with the far left bar
police and
fire well far left and fifth bar in with
those two if you made a special payment
for their pension obligations would that
raise that bar in other words this is
not just normal operating costs this is
extraordinary costs if you had made a
payment so for fiscal year 2425 we did
not budget any extra pension payments so
the 143 is the uh operating budget for
the police department however it may in
probably include some one-time
items in there that's the total
operating budget for the police
department for this fiscal year and and
it may include some one-time items so I
think to your point if they made a
payment in the past or in the future if
they made a special payment it goes into
that
bar that is
correct any other
[Music]
questions okay NE next
slide so now moving on to revenues this
is the um again this fiscal year uh
revenues by category
as you can see the local sales tax
revenues is our largest category at
30% and the uh fees and charges is the
next largest category at
37% the reason why the fees and charges
are so large is because it's the water
and sewer and solid ways our utility
fees and charges for those uh functions
and then the next largest bucket are our
um we have a lot of other revenues like
intergovernmental revenues and grants we
have state shared revenues and we also
have property taxes any questions
here I think again to make sure people
understand the the bed tax where it's
going is that in the other revenues that
is correct it's in the other
revenues and in this budget it accounts
for $36 million or some number like that
roughly $36 million in this
budget um Pro yeah that's that's about
right or maybe a little less 35 36
yeah thank
you any other
[Music]
questions okay so now um next slide so
again I'm sorry for how small this is
but this is the uh Revenue budget by
fund as you can see most of our taxes
which is um the
1.1% of our
1.75% sales tax goes into the general
fund about half of our um property tax
goes into the general fund um most of
our state shared goes into the general
fund the only state Shar that doesn't go
into our general fund is the uh state
gas tax the highway user revenues so our
general fund has the bulk of those
revenues and water and sewer as we
talked about earlier is the other larger
operating fund that has mainly fees and
charges and then
um let's
see so so you can see um you know uh
commiss uh chairman Smith you can see
that the tourism Development Fund is the
dark green and it does say 36 million
right there
okay any
questions okay so next slide I wanted
this is I think the last slide for this
section I just wanted to share with you
the city's capital budget for this
fiscal year majority of our capital
budget is in our water um and Sewer
infrastructure over 460 million of that
is in our water and sewer um capital
projects the next uh largest bucket is
the transportation projects one of the
reasons the transportation um Capital
Improvement I mean Capital project is so
large is because we have the arterial
life cycle program where the city pays
30% and the um uh County uh pays the um
70% but we account for the entire
project the 100% in our um capital
budget because we get reimbursed for the
70% so the whole cost of it is in our
budget and then we have our service
facilities our community facilities
Public Safety some drainage flood
control projects and a little bit in the
preservation as
well I I know because I looked ahead I
don't see a slide for the money that
comes into the capital program do you
can you at some point provide us that or
may have I missed it do you have
something that shows the the revenues
that pay for these
expenses yes I plan to uh provide you
that in March when we go over the
capital Improvement plan or capital
budget for this coming fiscal year but
just real quickly for water and sewer
the capital projects are funded by
development impact fees water sewer
rates and debt which is then repa with
capital you know with uh rates and fees
and uh impact fees so primarily that's
your funding source for water and SE
projects for the transportation projects
your funding source will be the 02
Transportation sales tax um the 0.1
Transportation sales tax and grants is
your primary uh source for those
improvements and for service the there's
a bond to 2019 program that is funding a
variety of projects within our service
facilities Community facilities and
Public Safety
um but if not for the bond
2019 um uh funds uh a lot of the
community facilities service facilities
Public Safety uh Capital Improvement
projects are funded by the general
fund um with the drainage flood control
projects that's funded by our storm
water fee and also the Flood Control
District so we partner with the flood
control district and they provide
funding for us for that The Preserve
that would be funded by the remaining
one5 preserve tax so any Capital
Improvements will be funded by
that okay I also have questions first
from commissioner
Carla what actually I have two questions
but commissioner Newman had pushed first
if you makeing caffeinated or
decaffinated
she' been preempted by commissioner
Newman down in the door in front of you
I seem to have trouble pressing the
button right so just a quick question
and clarifying thank you though thank
you Carla um clarifying question go back
to the pie charts for revenue and
operating budget I just did a quick add
up and the difference between those two
pie charts is roughly $200 million give
or take is that $2 200 million then
going to capital projects is that is
that how it's allocated and then you
have other funds that are dedicated to
that is that just make sure I understand
it correctly yeah yes commissioner the
only one I mean you can have it you can
make any T you
want yes commissioner Newman that is
correct so uh we typically take the
excess of our revenues over expenditures
especially in the general fund to fund
our capital projects and or to fund the
psprs uh pension pay down okay in the
other funds um it depends on what the
fund and revenue is restricted for if
it's restricted for certain expenditures
it has to stay in that fund for those
expenditures so in some cases it might
be that the department is accumulating
some of those funds for a larger expense
in the next two or three years that
so basically you know we operate in
terms of
long-term operating plan just because we
collected the money this year it may not
be spent all this year so for example if
we're working on a master plan we might
be taking two three years to develop
that Master Plan and the funds collected
for the master plan may take two three
years to be spent okay so follow up to
that if you look at I understand you're
you're putting you're routing money to
the priorities however how is that
where's the push and pull on the expense
side versus the capital side to say you
want to have a balanced budget but you
might have stronger needs over here is
that set by Council or is that set by
your staff how how is that or by others
in in the administration how is that set
to because you you have to there's only
so much money so you have to decide
what's most more important and
prioritize that correct right so if we
want to go back to slide
um three
so it's part of this process where it
starts out with the Department request
where you're saying you know there's
typically more requests than there is
revenues for to support those requests
and as we internally review that with
the city manager and the executive team
and the Departments that's where we
prioritize and whether this expenditure
stays in and how we're going to pay for
it versus that expenditure we have no
funding for it and there is definitely
that Balancing Act where when we bring a
proposed budget to you it's what we
believe we can fund that is aligned with
the council priorities and Department
goals and there will be a pretty big
list of things that we've kicked out
because there's no funding for and then
we can share that list with you as well
as all the things that were requested by
the Departments that were um removed mov
D because it there's there's not enough
funding for
it thank
you and now commissioner Carlo okay yeah
and I do have two questions like I said
and this is perfect if you can go back
to slide two
please for my first
question I'm sorry slide two oh SL on
now
so um I had a citizen asked me are you
all going to be talking about um how
they actually do the financial
strategies you know like why they fund
something in a certain way and that's
not really in our purview is it we're
more a budget
review um yeah I I I guess commissioner
kala uh to the extent that you need to
uh review the budget and to the extent
that we have uh Financial strategies in
order to put that budget together we can
definitely share that with you
okay but it's not our job to make
recommendations on how you fund certain
things
um maybe I'll answer this question this
way um a lot of our revenues are
restricted okay so the recommendations
you make could be we don't want to fund
something we don't think that that's a
good use of those
revenues and we don't think that that's
a good you know even if it's
restricted so that could be a
recommendation okay thank you and then
the final question had to do with um all
of those revenues coming in and
specifically you talked about the county
70% on Transportation is the federal
freeze that's going on on certain
infrastructure projects or you know
certain projects is that going to affect
money we have coming in or do we know
yet we do not know um the 70% for the
alcp that is not federal money that is
County money so that will not be Frozen
um other than that I do understand that
the uh memo to freeze the federal funds
has been rescinded but I'm not sure if
we do have about I think the last time
we looked we have about 50 million in uh
grants that's been awarded and
outstanding so some of that funds
depending on where that direction goes
from the federal government we don't
know okay thank
you chairman Smith if I could quick
question just one last question I was
just curious as you develop the budget
year-over-year if you could if you could
outline what you think defin success I'm
just curious what is a good budg
process versus something that's less
successful I I I'm just trying to
understand the theology I guess a little
bit about how you personally define
success through a budget
process um commissioner ransco if I can
repeat your question um you are asking
how we Define Success Through the budget
process correct I'm just trying to
understand you have a team and there's a
lot lot of inputs and I guess I'm just
curious how do how does one at the end
of that process one you win an award 30
years in a row so that's that's a
compliment to the process that you guys
follow but I I just am curious to you
personally what you view as success in
that that process yes um okay so um I
think to answer that question is a
successful end product of a budget would
be that the budget aligns with Council
priorities and goals and it meets our
citizens needs that we are providing
that the budget provides the core
services and all the interests of our
community and funds our department and
makes sure that we have healthy uh
departments that can serve our
communities make sure that we have the
rates and fees to fund those areas of
you know needs uh like our water sewer
rates and fees um and that we also have
have a balanced budget so that we are
not um uh structurally imbalanced where
we are spending more than our uh
revenues can support over time that
we're not overleveraging that we're not
um you know issuing too much debt and
that we're not um uh having to dip into
our reserves that we maintain healthy
reserves and at the end of the day the
budget is supporting and maintaining our
strong AAA Bond
rating thank
you I think we have no other
questions okay I think that was my last
slide for item
five so we can
okay and I think for the benefit of
everybody you have finished item five
which is the overview of the city's
budget components
and if no one has any other questions
we'll proceed to item
six uh which is to approve the scope of
work and approach uh it's not our
approval
but I guess we do we are asking for our
approval of the scope of work all right
proceed next
slide so the objective of this um item
is for the commission to disc discuss
and consider the scope of work and
approach and provide direction to staff
as you saw in the previous presentation
there are a lot of components and steps
to our budget process uh we can
certainly provide a lot of information
on every single step we uh go through
there's also a lot of funds and a lot of
departments a lot of categories that we
can certainly dive into to help the
commission review and approve the budget
so next slide so kind of uh going over
again the need next slide so kind of
going over the need to have the
commission discuss the scope and provide
direction to staff is again we have a
very compressed timeline this year with
the um um budget review commission being
formed and effective today we have the
uh budget release planned for April 3rd
and we have to present the budget to
Council on May 6 in order to have it
adopted by June 20th with all the
posting and public hearing requirements
that we have so we have a very um short
amount of time to get the commission um
up to speed and understanding all the
issues and get you through the review of
the budget so that it is ready for
Council uh
review next slide and just to kind of go
over again um usually a standard process
for a um budget Review Committee or
commission that's been you know kind of
doing this for multiple years is we
would bring to you a a short pres not
short but a presentation that goes
something like this we would present to
you the financial policies governing the
budget each year we would talk about the
organizational goals and priorities
that's included in the budget that's
being proposed we would then discuss the
economic Trends forecast and any major
drivers of Revenue and expenditure
assumptions and projections we would
then provide to you presentations on
revenue and expenditures especially over
the five years for the general fund on
primary operating fund to show you that
we're you know uh structurally balanced
next Slide the bulk of the presentations
would come from the departments in a
typical um budget review presentation
where individual departments would
present their expenditure and program
requests including any Personnel
requests or other major drivers of
expenditures we would then also present
any new capital project requests and
changes to existing approved projects
and any other key or significant aspects
of a proposed budget so these seven
items would be a typical budget review
presentation that staff would bring to
you maybe over two days or three days of
budget review
deliberations however given that this is
a new budget committee we understand
that there's a lot of additional
information that we anticipate that we
would need to provide to get you guys
you know up to speed and to allow you to
uh fully understand how the city's uh
City's Financial um process or you know
plan works so we are prepared for that
it's just that again we have a very
compressed timeline so we would like to
ask ask the commission to determine uh
what areas you'd like to um uh you know
direct staff for presentation and how
you would like to receive this
information so we can get through the
budget review process um this year so
next slide again these are all the
different components before you um if I
can interrupt go back one through seven
and others can weigh in on this but um I
think in the compression of time um
we we
may abbreviate some of these portions
here number three for example economic
Trends forecast and other major drivers
we will want to know what went into the
thinking for the current budget um but
not probably spend a lot of time on on
that in and the following item revenues
and expenditures on the fiveyear
forecast is again probably something we
will not spend a lot of time on that's
not not to say that we won't be focused
and concerned about the sustainability
of the budget so if you have some items
of Revenue and expenditure that
are you know significant one-time items
will need to be alerted to that but
we're not so much interested in this 10
seconds at looking at the five-year
forecast and then finally I would say in
terms of individual Department
presentations we'll be very selective
about those and how we do that because
it's um yes we simply won't have time to
hear about your budget Sonia uh so there
may be several of smaller departments
that will want to skip by I don't know
whether the other and and I guess I
would say on the new capital projects
um I'm not sure that our interest is
going to be or our value in reporting to
the council is going to be in talking
about uh on number six new capital
projects as much just talking
about the process for capital projects
and how they come
about and more importantly where the
points are that they go south on us and
how might we um plug those leaks if you
will um so we'll be judicious about what
capital projects we we actually look at
I don't know whether others have
comments on this uh other than what I'm
saying but just trying to figure out how
we squeeze all this into the compress
ressed amount of time we
have commissioner
Newman yeah just to add on to that I in
looking at we thank you for the book on
uh Capital planning and and I look
through the budget and it seems like
some of the largest items understanding
how contingency and other items are
added up into that and because if if we
have a lot of project I mean it's a very
thick book if we have a lot of projects
and they all have their own contingency
but the probability of using that
contingency is you know something less
that it seems like we ought to strive
for a pooled contingency thinking and
how much do we really use and so
understanding how much we've dipped into
contingency and when because that
reserves a lot in the budget and as we
said before if you if the if what's the
quote unquote profit from revenue minus
operating expenses put into the capital
plan then all that contingency eats that
up if you relieve some of that because
realistically you're not going to use it
it seems like that allows other things
that people want funded get funded so it
it it and we're not really giving up
anything by just managing it that way so
I think with staff understanding scope
cost schedule and contingency planning
and how that's done would be helpful for
the largest items and kind of use a 8020
rule you know you don't need to go
through every single item but the
biggest items I think would be helpful
to relieve some some of that and put
take pressure off the budget so then
everybody as much as possible can get
what they
want so I think commissioner Newman is
is doubling down on the idea that we
want to know the process more than the
specific projects um commissioner
Carla yes thank you um I had uh two
things first for the chair I know you
had said earlier in our process that you
were going to meet with council members
and ask what their priorities were and
if that could be shared with us because
that can help give us an idea um because
what I'm hearing from fellow citizens is
every everybody's keying on the cost
overruns on the 2019 Bond projects and I
think that ties back to what you all
were just talking about understanding
the process so we understand how that
happened
so uh to respond yes I have met with um
the mayor and council members um a
couple of them have still not been able
to schedule in part because their app
Point e is uh is not available ailable
um but that was uh an objective and I've
done it as uh as completely as we can at
this 10 at this moment um and I was to
your second Point can I share them yes I
can share their Collective thoughts I
was going to do that more under item
seven of our um of our agenda when we
actually try to identify specific
possible future agenda items but and if
that's not complete enough when we get
there we'll Circle back
I guess you left off on this slide so
pick it up there if you
will yes so next
slide so this slide shows you all the
funds that we have and uh we wanted to
get the commissioner's Direction on if
there's any specific funds you want more
information on or any specific
information on or if there's any funds
that maybe you don't want to focus on so
let me just uh read out loud all the
different funds we have the general fund
the ambulance fund special programs
which are our special revenues revenues
that are dedicated to specific um uses
grants fund which are our operating
grants not our Capital grants uh Stadium
fund which is our uh Stadium here
um The Preserve tax fund that is the
remaining
.15 uh% uh preserve tax that is um for
land and uh acquisition and improvements
um the transportation fund as I said
earlier that is the 0 2% Transportation
sales tax and State uh shared Highway
gas tax um our tourism Development Fund
which includes our destination marketing
uh that is the 5% bed tax and then we
have um several new park and preserve
tax funds which is the new funds that we
will create for this upcoming budget for
the uh
0.15% prop 490 taxes that we will
collect and then uh over to the right we
have on the Enterprise fund side we have
our water sewer fund we have our Solid
Waste fund and we have our Avi
which is our airport fund and then I'm
moving down to the left uh right uh
below other funds we have our debt
service funds and we have our street
light uh District fund and then the
internal service funds we have our
healthc care self-insurance fund our
Fleet Management fund our Fleet
replacement fund and our risk management
fund I don't know what the others uh may
think Carla but I think most of our
interest is going to be in the uh if you
will in the upper leftand quadrant of
this
chart um the Enterprise funds of course
are big in dollar amount and important
to the city but I don't think they're um
areas that we're going to focus on this
time
around and the same can be Tre said for
uh street lights and internal service
funds and so on so I think our interest
is going to be in the upper leftand
quadrant
um anyone else has an opinion they can
share
that singan go ahead so can I clarify
that I I guess I should say Jim you uh
you're still on the phone and you're
just going to have to shout if you want
to talk on something so chime
in I will do that thank you
thanks so can can I clarify that the
direction to staff is to bring back
presentations focused on the
governmental funds and not on the
Enterprise funds internal service funds
or other funds or would you still like
some kind of presentation on those but
just um maybe more high level or maybe
we don't have time for those this year
and we would just focus on those
governmental funds
in my opinion we certainly will focus on
the governmental funds and maybe the
others are if we have the luxury of time
um you know they're certainly important
to the city as I said but uh um it's not
what I think any of us are hearing in
the community is areas of keen interest
in the
budget okay thank
you um
commissioner Carla wants to either agree
or disagree well actually I I agree with
what you identified but I would like to
add a caveat if the
treasurer sees something in one of those
other funds that she thinks it's very
important for us to look at I I mean I
think we should or if a council person
has identified that something in one of
those other funds is important then I
think we should be open to looking at it
thank
you next
slide um I know this is really small so
I'll read it to you I wanted to put it
all on one slide but these are all our
departments and or divisions and so
again I would like to get the
Commissioners input and direction to
staff as to maybe which department
division you'd like us to present for
you versus not or maybe at a more high
level or maybe at a a deeper level so we
have these are our um Department
divisions in our budget we have mayor
and Council police fire Economic
Development Planning and Development
tourism and events mccormic Stillman
Railroad Park Westworld Scottdale
Stadium Library Human Services community
Assistance Parks and Recreation preserve
management Capital project management
Facilities Management city manager the
charter officers the um City attorney
City Treasurer city clerk City auditor
City Court government relations
Communications inter Information
Technology Human Resources Fleet
Management Solid Waste transportation
and streets water resources which is our
water and sewer department and
Aviation uh well again I'll break the
silence and say I think most of the
areas were interested in on the leftand
column of this
chart
um and you know if I had to pick some
that are less on people's radar screen
certainly the McCormick Stillman
Railroad Park lovely park but I don't
think we have any questions about it
um Westworld on the other hand a lovely
park and we probably have a lot of
questions on it so
they're they're mostly on the leftand
side here and
probably I'll speak for perhaps some of
the Commissioners here by saying that
the capital project management the next
to the last one on the leftand chart is
one of keen interest for everybody I'm
going to have commissioner schwier lady
and I should say Vice chair
schwier yeah the uh one on the right
hand side that I think we probably want
to know some about is transportation and
streets because I hear a lot from people
about that so I think that's one we
should focus in on
also commissioner
Newman just a general comment not
necessarily a particular category but
Sonia the categories that have a
particular opportunity or impact on
pension and debt I think would be of
interest to understand you because
obviously you want to allocate your
funds to pay down make sure pensions are
funded and pay down de debt wherever
possible but where are those funds that
are that either in reserve or from that
are fungible to be able to pay those
things down I think being able to know
where those levers are would be helpful
yeah so all the pension payments will be
police and buy and as far as debt is
concerned it's a um a lot of the debt
proposed for the upcoming years will be
Water and
Sewer
okay thank you
and I think uh to the staff when we look
at uh
pensions you know the hot buttons of
course are the psprs for the police and
fire Public Safety individuals but uh
don't ignore the other uh as well I know
we don't have the chance
to make prepayments on it because it's a
co-mingled plan but nevertheless let's
look at the order of magnitude of the
whole pension liability
anyone else have any comments on this H
package in its
entirety I think uh I will make one
other comment
I since it's on the leftand side it it
is obviously an area that we're talking
will be talking about but tourism and
events
um I think we'll want to understand how
we're making that discret pile of money
work the best for us and in compliance
with the citizens
directions if there are no other
questions or speaker
requests including uh commissioner
ransco on the phone
let's move on to item number seven chair
Smith can I just um repeat and confirm
the uh direction of the commission so
you would like staff to bring back um
the budget requests and budget
presentations on all the departments on
the left
side and the transportation and Street
on the right side but U and delete the
mccormic Stillman Railroad Park
Park well I I really meant more than
just that I mean you can delete mayor
and counsel I think we don't need to be
looking at the budgets of our
bosses
um and I don't know that anybody has an
area of particular interest in the
stadium the library Human Services um I
haven't heard a lot in that
regard um
does anyone else here have
guidance seeing
[Music]
none we'll say that that's the list for
now but uh keep it open we will
obviously have this open to make changes
in the
future Mr chair something yes and again
just introduce myself to the commission
Greg kton interim city mayor manager uh
what I might suggest uh we could uh at
the pleasure of uh the commission it's
pretty long list on the less on the left
we might bring them in uh ordering of
our suggested cons uh area for
opportunity and it kind of prioritize
them if you will uh for example police
and fire because a lot of uh dollars are
in that area the pension that I've heard
several times today and maybe just
hypothetically last on the list might be
community Assistance for example uh so
again I might suggest that we could
assist uh in prioritizing based upon any
further direction we bring them forward
with uh what we might suggest how you
spend some of the time and I think we
would welcome your suggestions um you
know the the issues that are inherent in
some of these you you will know from
just the conversations that you've heard
and will hear that um Planning and
Development will be an item that
the Commissioners I think want to better
understand so they can advise
councel um as commissioner schwier
mentioned also that transportation and
streets and maybe just Capital
Management generally will be an area of
priority but we will defer to your
judgment on other
areas commissioner Carla uh yes um what
city manager Kon said I I agree with it
in principle but I did have a question
about community Assistance um facing
what's happening at a federal level will
won't they be the one most affected by
some of those cuts and freezes if those
really do go
through uh Mr uh chair and commissioner
uh Carla Yes actually your spot on I
think I I believe the cdbg excuse me col
Community Development block grant would
be an excellent example of us keeping an
eye on what's coming out of the federal
uh government and the pause or non-pa
and so I think what we can do in certain
areas like that is proposed kind of a
scale of potential risk um just for sake
of a a measure of some of those dollars
and you've keyed in on an area that is
probably on the short list and probably
number top couple uh for some grants I
would think maybe some uh in our First
Responders or Public Safety might be on
that short list as as well so maybe
that's uh an area where we uh dive a
little deeper uh for areas of risk for
coming years that we have significant
revenue streams and they could be in
Jeopardy right and and and I would
appreciate that because you know pyute
Neighborhood Center does great work and
I can imagine they're all a tad nervous
right now so we need to understand and I
think in making recommendations to
council if this money does go away
is this do we need to look elsewhere in
like in the general fund to say do we
still support these programs because
they're so critical to our community
Point well taken okay thank
you seeing no other
comments um we'll go to item seven now
item seven is where you have asked us
to share some of our um hot buttons If
you will or more specifically the issues
that we have gleaned from talking to
our appointed council members or others
in the
community
um does anybody want to lead off this
discussion hearing a a bevy of support
let me lead off then
with with oh commissioner Carla has
would like to talk um I'm not gonna I'm
not gonna start with pointing them out
because I would like to hear the council
priorities you've learned first but I
would ask us to to look at it within the
framework of realizing because of the
compressed time frame that we have to
really winnow down the list and
prioritize but understanding that we
could also at the end of recommendations
to council say in the next budget cycle
we feel AB C and D really need to be
looked at so we're not permanently you
know saying that's not important we're
just saying not this cycle because of
the compressed time frame and and that
way we have a knowledge of these These
are concerning also so that's just a
suggestion and I think it's a good
suggestion because we we do realize that
we will not be able to look at
everything and by April 26 or
whatever um and some of the things that
come across our table we may
decide we're going to recommend the
council that they direct us
in the remaining months of uh calendar
2025 to look at revenues or some expense
item or whatever and we will take a
deeper look yes commissioner
Newman I just like to concur with what
commissioner Carla said and you know I I
had mentioned pensions debt um and and
then understanding Capital plan I think
those are my priorities in that because
those I look at it as a where of the
biggest dollars in the short amount of
time we have so where are those areas
and then beyond that this the city
council can give direction as the
priority but then beyond that digging
double clicking into uh various aspects
and I I think there is opportunity there
you've got a great system set up you've
walked us through it and thank you for
all your work um but as the commission
goes on we can certainly dig down and
have some special objectives to have
continuous Improvement all the way down
the all the way down that list that you
have thank
you commissioner
Swagger and I agree with what I'm
hearing I think that what we look at for
the next fiscal year will be different
than what we're looking at this year
just because of the short amount of time
we have so I'm concurring with uh what
I've been
hearing is the um is the Elmo machine
working could I put something on there
you know
um chair Smith Sher Scott from the legal
department I I believe it is working we
have we have the expert here to do
us when in doubt call
911
okay um and I I put this up here not as
spe specific directive but I tried to
summarize some of the discussions that I
had with u members of
council and I apologize they're not even
particularly in in um order of priority
except of course for the first one there
is
a a concern among all of them to look at
the capital budget or capex program
however you call it and to understand
how these items are determined by
the Landing department and is there um a
better way to to
guesstimate the projects coming forward
how are they
funded um and a concern about the what I
call the variable overhead or really
it's the non the the variable overhead
which says if a project escalates then
the city's overhead charge escalates
right along with it percentage wise
these were just some of the issues that
I heard from from Council
Members probably legitimately number two
in terms of importance is
sustainability going to a question that
commissioner Newman raised about the
pensions what are they how how are they
funded and
um just generally understanding that
long-term liability and how it affects
our
sustainability on maintenance and repair
uh a similar concern that
we may be balancing budgets by kicking
the can down the road and deferring
maintenance and
repair which will eventually catch up to
us um and the item under expense
recovery is just a concern with whether
we have adequate expense recovery for
some of the services that we
provide on a
um to to specific events or to specific
specific uh
areas maybe it's police uh police
protection at the TPC I use as an
example and I know there we do have an
expense recovery model but um as we
provide these services on an escalating
basis do they impair our
sustainability someone earlier raised
the question uh perhaps commissioner
Newman earlier uh about the adequacy of
our reserves how are they determine do
we have um a percent of revenues or a
percent of anything that we try to
retain and reserves and then how are
they used um I know that we have strong
reserves now but uh I think we're
interested knowing how did we get strong
reserves and are they strong or strong
should they be stronger and and under
what
circumstances do we use
them um
in
the item four on the list the quality of
the funding what the heck am I talking
about there um oh I quality of life
funding uh those things that tourism and
arts and culture and whatever do we have
those as uh one council member said you
know it should be a line item um another
council member said it should be a a
litmus test that we apply to um
anything that we do here is what's it
doing to our quality of life I don't
know how you translate that into an
action item but I'm just don't shoot the
messenger here
um item I five just is a
broad-based question about uh Personnel
the FTE
uh we have 26 2700 FTE how does that
compare with what we had in the past do
we have
is there a is there a way of controlling
FTE in a general sense do we have a way
of knowing what our
ftes should be in terms of count do we
have efficiency programs that say I
needed 2700 last year but I only need
2600 this year because of new
efficiencies that I found in the
operation and then of course the
components of compensation wages
benefits pensions and and those have
changed over time and item six uh is a
broad array of things related to the
sales tax
component uh we have we've talked about
it has food tax in there we've talked
about the old 15 preserve tax we've
talked about the 0.1 for the alcp tax so
we have both temporary and permanent
needs and sometimes we don't align the
temporary of the permanent needs with
funding
by permanent
taxes
um the uh and again item F on that list
includes
sustainability are these
taxes enough to sustain the city um and
I would guess that item six in terms of
all these sales tax items is something
we will not accomplish between now and
April it is a perhaps a longer term
assignment that the council will give us
to look at uh the adequacy of sales tax
whether we should reform the whole
package
um and in the bed tax some people have
expressed concern about the 5% that
we've dedicated to downtown marketing
and the portion that is available in the
bed tax for Capital
commitments that was the reason for my
question earlier if we bringing in $36
million in bed tax and only spending 22
on
operations um I'm I'm missing something
there so and then finally um long-term
visioning again is probably not within
our purview but some of the council
members expressed concern that we need a
long-term Vision um something that
contemplates the population of the city
and you know how how big can we
accommodate
growing uh that to your question Carla
was the aggregate feedback of uh that I
got from council members and we'll
tackle some but not all on that list for
sure anyone else want to chime
in commissioner Garin yeah thank you
very much and I can we each get a copy
of that list please because it's
it's it's it's it's very enlightening to
look at some of that and I'm right there
with commissioner Newman on the pensions
and and going into that and also the
capital um I just think we're going to
have to be very realistic because
there's nothing that's not important on
this list but we're just going to have
to be realistic about time and and
prioritizing and I'm not sure if we're
supposed to vote on scope of work
tonight what do you want us to get
to well I it is a daunting list um it's
probably more daunting for the mayor
than it is for us because it uh it all
comes home to roost for the Council on
wrestling these issues but it shows the
the diversity and the breadth of issues
that uh coun is concerned about each
member in their own way um in terms of
direction to staff I think we've said
several times tonight that we for sure
want to focus on item one the the
capital
process and understanding and that's I
think what people are hearing from the
community so much maybe because you know
others are are alerting them to it I
don't know but that's the visibility
that they see when they're
uh project is overrunning commissioner
Newman weigh
in um with with respect to capital
budget um and we haven't really talked
about what are the things that can
derail once you put a plan out there
immediately it's it's wrong and you got
to make changes to it because reality
hits and especially in capital budgeting
so if where are we so far this year on
Capital budgets because I've seen where
Capital will come back and we need more
because the project went this direction
or that direction and now Council has to
find fund somewhere to do this but what
process do we have in place to
identify either being on budget or under
budget where funds can be reallocated I
don't even know what flexibility there
is there but to me that that's out of
that list that's the one derailer
because youve got a $ 1.1 billion
capital budget um divid by five that's
$200 million if you're off by 10 20%
that's $40 million so that's a big
number against against the general fund
where it has to come from somewhere if
you've got a project that's ongoing or
whatever so what process cess do we have
in place to identify those on a
quarterly or monthly basis so that you
don't have surprises in the current year
um so I guess it's a question for Sonia
but uh but that would be something I
think would be helpful to know so we
your plan Isn't Dead on Arrival as soon
as you get done in April because of some
derailer yeah absolutely uh commissioner
Newman that's a very good question we do
definitely balance the budget and make
sure that there is funding for the
capital budget before we put in there
but that is a lengthier discussion that
we do plan to bring back now that that
is a specific interest and direction
from the commission we will prepare all
the necessary information and details to
help you understand how we do that and
and my question is more tactical than it
is the long-term plan because it's it's
it's where are we now on Capital in our
projects under budget or over budget now
and then what does that mean to the
current budget that you're approving
that's the question there I haven't seen
anything on that but I think that's a
relevant question so yeah so so our
budget our capital budget processes
driven by how much funding we have for
those capital projects so to the extent
that if capital projects have increased
in cost then something needs to come off
the list because we can only fund the
ability to fund X number of Project X
amount of projects yeah and and and my
my question really gets to executing the
current year budget and capital projects
play a big role in that and so you know
how how what's our strength that being
able to deliver the number this quarter
of cash flow that we said that we would
do you know and delivering on that as to
what's being paid to contractors and
everything like so that the budget stays
intact that's that's really my question
there but we don't have to answer it
here but but certainly I've seen the
surprises come to council and then
obviously somebody has to find money
somewhere right and excellent point and
we will definitely need the city
engineer to help answer that question at
a later um meeting but we definitely
understand that question and we will
bring that back to you Mr chair if I may
just add to this conversation I think
you commissioner you've highlighted I
think two very distinct issues one of
which is uh a budget or Capital project
once a budget has been established
within a current year and from my early
estimation that process is extremely
tight I think where we've seen most of
the challenges is in a projection or an
estimation for a project in the future
case in point uh the 2019 which was an
estimate of projects that were going to
happen over a number of years uh were
really put together around
20162 17 for my understanding as we get
here to 2025 and those projects are now
starting to roll out that cost estimate
is extremely different uh than what was
identified in a 2017 and also two terms
in my mind that I draw a distinction
between one overruns which is more of a
current year situation in my mind of
using that terminology and then cost
escalation we've seen significant cost
escalation within our estimated
Engineers estimate other estimated uh
cost of projects so I think you've hit
on something that we can spend some time
on understanding some strengths and some
weaknesses within our system to address
those issues thank you yeah and it's
it's a it's a tactical and a strategic
question at the same time in terms of
managing that and and it depends on the
drivers but there it ought to be an open
environment to be able to say here's
scope cost schedule and where we stand
on that and and just working together to
arrive at something that works for
everybody
thanks so Sonia I think or or Greg I
think the takeaway is that
besides what we've listed up there uh
he's really asking what are the
safeguards that we have that either
alert us that the that a project is
going south so we can stop it or you
know at least not have it be a surprise
to everybody commissioner
schwier yes and I think there's even
some challenges on uh the short term
this year with what we're doing in in
for the current budget because I I see
some of these things up here that I know
are under threat from the legislature
you know they they we have food tax up
there that may be taken out of our hands
the legislature may very well get rid of
the food tax um we know that uh State
shared Revenue may be under threat
because the state doesn't look like it's
going to have a balanced budget this
year so I think some of those moving
Parts you really need to keep us
informed on that as you hear what's
going
on commissioner ransco on the phone do
you have any uh comments you'd care to
share no I don't have any new comments I
think the uh count the commission has
said a lot of the things I was thinking
there does seem to
be a moment where there are some
subjective allocations and subjective
reallocations and so I think I I look
forward to just kind of understanding
the theory and the pros and the cons on
where doll are spent and sent uh so I I
don't have anything substitute to add
beyond
that thank you well we look forward to
seeing you in your seat the next time so
we welcome
you um I will be
there Sonia do you have anything else or
is that enough discussion to completely
confuse matters for
now um thank you um chair Smith and
Commissioners I think that's that's
enough direction for staff tonight for
today with that I think our next meeting
is scheduled for two weeks from today
February
27 and um
obviously any questions that come up and
can I have you by the way take charge of
grabbing the schedule that I put on the
Elmo and send it to the fellow
Commissioners here um
and if there's no other
business we will clear the Das here for
the next uh deliberation if I have a
motion to adjourn I move we
adjourn motion Vice chair Vice chair
schwier to adjourn and I'll second and
commissioner sites second we are start
adjourned and another council member
showed
up
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