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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-10-2025 BAC MinutesSEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2025 I. Chairman Napier called the Citizens Budget Review Advisory Committee meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. If. Pledoe of Allegiance was recited by all. Present: Ms. Reed Mr. Garton Mr. Hall Mr. McGinn Mr. Napier Mr. Baker Ms. Jacob Not Present Mr. Hoffman -- Excused Mr. Middleton -- Excused IV. Introduction of Members (Name and Appointee) Mr. Benton stated that Mr. Kilgore had retired last year. Staff went through the process, and the City has hired a new Chief Financial Officer/Director for the City, Brian Stewart, who is here tonight. He comes in with a wealth of knowledge of finance departments, also some auditing background. Mr. Benton opined that Mr. Stewart will bring a new approach and look at things a little bit differently as we go forward. He welcomed Brian Stewart, who has been with the City for three or four weeks at this time. So, going forward, your main resource for this committee will be Brian Stewart. Harry Hall Council Member Jones Bruce Hoffman Vice -Mayor Dixon Tent' McGinn Council Member McPartland Bill Middleton Council Member Nunn Larry Napier Mayor Dodd Grace Reed At -Large Member by Vote of City Council Scott Baker At -Large Member by Vote of City Council Roy Garton Alternate Member by Vote of City Council Susan Jacob Alternate Member by Vote of City Council All Committee members identified themselves, their backgrounds, and who their Appointors were. SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2026 V. Selection of Chalrmwn Mr. Napier called for nominations for Chairperson. Nomination of Harry Hall as Chairperson was made by Mr. McGinn. There being no further nominations for Chairperson, Mr. Harry Hall was appointed as Chairperson of the Budget Review Advisory Committee via unanimous voice vote. Vote for Bill Middleton as Vice -Chairperson was made by Ms. Reed. Mr. McGinn asked if an at -large member can be nominated. Mr. Napier said it was his opinion that at4arge members could be nominated. Vote for Gnu Reed as Vice -Chairperson was made by Mir. McGinn. Vote for Bnrce Horn as Vice -Chairperson was made by Mr. Larry Napier. Vote for Mr. Bill Middleton as Vice -Chairperson was made by Ms. Grace Reed. Vote for Mr. Bruce Hoffman as Vioe-Chatnnan was made by Mr. Hail. Vote for Ms. Grace Reed as Vice -Chairperson was made by Mr. Tent' McGinn. Ms. Susan Jacob asked if she could abstain. Mr. Benton said she could not abstain. Vote for Ms. Grace Reed as Vim - Chairperson was made by Ms. Susan Jacob. Vote for Mr. Bruce Hoffinan as Vice - Chairperson was made by Mr. Larry Napier. Mr. Scott Baker Ms. Reed Ms. Reed Mr. Middleton Mr. Hail Mr. Hoffman Mr. McGinn Ms. Reed Mr. Garton Ms. Reed Ms. Jacob Ms. Reed Mr. Napier Mr. Hoffman Results of the vote was: Ms. Grace Reed with four (4) votes; Mr. Brim Hoffman with two (2) votes; Mr. Bill Middleton with one (1 ) vote. Ms. Grace Reed was voted In for Vice - Chairperson of the Sebastian Citizens Budget Review Advisory Committee. VII. ADDroval of Minutes: Meetinc of Auqust 19.2024 All having indicated that they had reviewed the Minutes of the Meeting of August 19, 2024 Mr. Napier called for a motion. A motion approving the Minutes of August 19, 2024 as presented was made by Mr. Napier, seconded by Ms. Reed, and approved unanimously via voice vote. Vill. Review Budget Calendar for FY2025-26 SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2025 Mr. Benton stated that this calendar has been approved by City Council. They have made one adjustment based on what they were presented, and he will highlight that one as we go through the proposed calendar. Mr. Benton stated that, among your Budget Calendar tonight, you will see that initially Organizational Meetings/First Quarter Financial were listed for reporting tonight. However, staff has been making adjustments, and they were not prepared for this meeting. So you will at the next meeting get the first quarter and the second quarter budget information at that time. He stated that the Budget Review Advisory Committee's next meeting will be on May 5tn. At that time, you will review the first and second quarters budget reports. Then we will continue the process. He added that all the Budget Advisory Committee members will receive the recommended CIP and Operating Budget documents on July 9, 2025. He has really tried to stress to staff to get the budget documents prepared earlier. However, the one caveat to that is we do not receive the DR-420 Certified Property Values until June 27th. He said that staff will try to get it to this Committee a day or two earlier, but he can say that July 9th is what we are showing on the calendar. Then, we will follow that up with City Council budget workshops on July 16th and 17t", followed by Budget Review Advisory Board on July 21 st. From that stance, we will continue to proceed as we go through the process of the budget review and all the way through the meeting on September 24th, which will be the public hearing and final millage and final budget and the adoption with City Council. He stated that staff started in mid -January developing the CIP. Those of you who are familiar with the process, that is earlier than we have in the past, and it was because we have a new Chief Financial Officer, and we wanted to make sure that, as he comes in, our staff is doing everything we can to help him into this process of learning the operations in the City and what the priorities are. Staff is fully underway. Their CIPs are due to the Finance Department by the end of this week. We will then proceed with their operating budgets. Once we get the operating budgets in, we will sit down and start to have our discussions with each individual department from a leadership perspective on where we are looking this year. There is a lot of legislation in Tallahassee from a state level. There are a lot of bills that have been filed that could potentially affect us from multiple angles. One is from a revenue -generation standpoint; there are some property tax bills that have been filed; and then from an expense standpoint, there is a sovereign immunity that identifies the tort limit caps on people who sue municipalities and counties. That is also up for consideration right now with a bill filed to increase those tort caps from existing from $200,000 to $300,000 up to $1 million to $3 million. SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2025 When you look at those things, we are kind of getting hit from both sides —from a revenue and from an expenditure side. The session began last week, so we are on a weekly, almost daily basis following those bills through the process. We should hopefully know a bit more information on that as we advance through the next 45-60 days of the legislative session. He called for questions or comments. A motion was called for approval of the Budget Calendar was made by Chairperson Hall and seconded by Ms. Reed and approved unanimously via voice vote. Mr. Hall addressed the budget that is being prepared this year and asked initially what are your feelings on that. He feels that the fund balance is pretty healthy, so he does not expect that you will be telling the staff to be coming in with any kind of percentage cuts, etc. He asked if, going forward, are we looking to maybe take on some projects that, instead of kicking it down the road, we might be able to take care of now. Mr. Benton said that it is hard to say right here today because of the unknown of what is happening with legislation from a state level. He said our responsibility is to be as fiscally responsible as we possibly can be; however, realizing that there are projects that we have to get done. He recalled that last year, in our policies we set a new standard for what is to be allocated in reserves. It went from $5 million to $7 million last year at the direction of City Council. That number is still there, but he stated that there are a lot of things that are in the works, so from a staffing standpoint he has told staff that what they have are projects that are ready to go. He does not want projects coming on board that sit on the list for four or five years. He knows that in the past that has been an issue, and that is not something that the City is interested in looking at now. They can forecast out four or five years, but don't budget next year for a project that you know is not going to happen next year. He added that the City is about to finalize our strategic plan with direction from Council, so that it is going to play a large part in our budgeting process as well as going forward. He stated that he has told staff to be fiscally responsible with their requests Mr. McGinn asked to address something that he has given a lot of thought to before the meeting tonight, and he would like to make some comments regarding this year's budget. He opined that this committee is a great committee, with Mr. Napier, Mr. Hill, and Mr. Hoffman as being the elder spokesmen who had the most experience and have inputted tremendous amounts over the last four years. He thinks it's time to consider the following items as we start this project, and he wants to get this on the record. The uncertainty that Mr. Benton is talking about is going to be created on both a national and a state level. What he says to friends is, get back to me in six months and tell me what you think then. So much is up in the air that we can look at changes that will occur in the next 12 months and the fiscal year after that. We are really doing the budget for the next fiscal year. As a non -partisan statement, he would say that we probably are going to expect some significant increase in costs throughout the economy. There is a SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2025 movement in the state legislature, which he doesn't need to repeat, as Mr. Benton mentioned that. The real estate tax subject was a really scary thing for him. He doesn't possibly know how you could run a municipality without real estate taxes. He doubts that will go anywhere, but if it does, we're going to be in big trouble. During the last Budget Advisory Committee meeting, there was a lot of pressure to go with rollback because the voters wanted it. He had somebody say to him today that the people who complain about $25.00 in taxes then go out to dinner four times a week and buy a new Phone. Without income, the City cannot run. That is where your income comes from, and it's got to be really hard to make it up anyplace else. He would hope that going forward we consider that. It's really not the time to beat the City but rather to lighten the City up. We will have storm -to -sewer by 2030 unless they change it. That's $300 million, he thinks that the City Council said the estimate could be. That's impossible, but we have storm sewer improvements that are looking really great, and they need to continue, but we have put some things on hold. As we go forward, he hopes the Budget Committee and the people realize that we do not pay super large taxes in this county, and he thinks we need to be fiscally responsible when this Committee has a good opportunity to help with that. Mr. Hall stated that he does agree with Mr. McGinn, and he thinks there are trying times ahead of us. It may not be as bad as some people think it will be, but he still thinks that we are going to see some pain. He believes the staff here is up to the challenge, and we look forward to working with you all. There being no further discussion, Mr. Hall called for a vote on the Budget Calendar for FY2025/2026. A motion approving the Budget Calendar for FY2025/2026 was made by Mr. Napier, seconded by Ms. Reed, and approved unanimously via voice vote. IX. Comments by Chief Financial Officer Stewart Mr. Stewart said he looks forward to working with everyone. He has never worked with an advisory committee before. He has been in government for approximately 26 years and been through several types of government, so this will be new for him. It's going to take a little time for him to learn your process and ways of doing things. He has worked with several entities and several different budgets. He is also looking at the quarterly reporting and budget reports to the Council, and he may change some things. He would appreciate your input as to what is working and what is not. X. Announce Next Meetinq Date of May 5, 2025 Mr. Hall asked if anyone has a conflict with that date. No one had a problem with that date. SEBASTIAN BUDGET REVIEW ADVISORY COMMITTEE PAGE 6 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING MARCH 10, 2025 Mr. Hall asked if there are any discussions prior to asking for a motion to adjourn. Hearing none, a motion to adjourn was made by Ms. Jacob, seconded by Ms. Reed, and approved unanimously via voice vote. By: Harry Hall, airperson ig Date: 5