##VIDEO ID:LTI9FXI3OJQ## the broadcast is now starting all attendees are in listen only mode good morning calling this meeting to order it is our second budget workshop on Monday September 16th 2024 the time is now 1011 a.m. Madame clerk please call the role councilwoman Marin porz is not present councilman Rafael Pino pres councilwoman dinal is not present vice mayor Oscar cor is not present mayor chrisy Fraga present all right let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance head by C Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay so very quickly um clearly there's not u a uh a quorum to be able to come to some type of con ensus over the budget um but I did have some questions for staff and I want to see if there's any any new information that can be given to us um and Mr manager if you have had time to meet with the council members um I know that I had an opportunity to meet with you since the last budget hearing good morning man um as you know I was out last week but my uh Deputy manager and the assistant City man manager/ CFO uh met with some of the elected um as a matter of fact I was supposed to have a meeting this morning uh with one of our elected uh however uh it did not uh come to fruition she did not show up um but they can discuss uh some of the things that uh we are going to be proposing uh at tomorrow's budget meeting uh Fernando thank you Mr manager Fernando gor assistant city manager CFO um we've had discussions with some of our elected officials um regarding a variety of topics uh kind of first and foremost it's um the cost of living adjustment for our employees um there have been a couple of different options uh kind of discussed whether it's increasing the Merit increases for our non-bargaining employees anywhere from up to five uh or up to 7% as part of our budget um we also have um the police Union that did vote in order to accept our recommendation well our proposal for a 7 and a half% cola for them which is made at the bargaining table that's not up for vote for tomorrow because that would be a separate item where uh the council would have to either accept the reject the terms um there have been some other discussions regarding reductions in some areas um some reductions in mayor council budget some reductions in the manager's office reductions in public affairs in the building fund discussion as to whether we should have a uniformed person on the first floor versus a civilian um adding a grant writer include funding for for best practices in it uh independent monitoring in it and um include funding for uh pigle ball programming and some additional funding for the police and parks for kids okay would we have a um line item list of these requests by tomorrow Fernando do we have anything um we had some discussions regarding what it is I think it would be best for the council to discuss it determine what exactly it is that they want and then we could make adjustments to the budget if we have a consensus okay so can you run us through how this would work tomorrow which is supposed to be our budget hearing the idea of calling a workshop today was to try and get all these things agreed upon so that staff could provide us a balanced budget tomorrow can you please run us through how this would work tomorrow tomorrow at 6:00 because we do have to leave here with a balanced approved budget tomorrow sure so we currently do have a balanced budget we had a budget that was tentatively or passed a tentative budget that was passed at the first budget meeting that budget is what will be presented to you tomorrow this list of items that I went through are proposed adjustments to that budget so ideally we'll meet um have a discussion regarding each of these topics um get an idea for what the majority of the council wants us to do at that point what I would ask is for a recess once we have a list of adjustments uh I would ask for a recess so that my myself and my team can go through run numbers make sure that we can present to you a balanced budget with a with a Amendment and then you would pass a balance budget before you leave tomorrow evening okay is there any way we could get this preliminary list so that we can start reviewing some of these items even if there's no dollar figure attached to them because from what I'm understanding that you're saying is in the meetings that you've had there has not been a a clear indication of what those cuts would be correct there's been some discussions on what those things would be but again you know um it would be one council person with a request and another one may have a separate request and this is something that really should be kind of discussed as as a group so that we know how to proceed how to proceed okay um I did receive the updates to the budget based on the decision that was made at the last uh budget hearing which was to cut the colas to 3.5% those we do have and the budget that will be presented tomorrow will reflect those cuts across the board that is correct with a balance of that money being put in uh Reserve okay and then in respect to the discussion regarding the cola for law enforcement that was negotiated with the bar the the bargaining unit if we can't take that item up tomorrow however it will impact the budget will it be discussed tomorrow to put that in contingency so those funds are currently in the contingency reserve as part of what was passed um again the council can you know vote to move those funds into Personnel or operating again you're presupposing that you're going to approve whatever action is coming forward in October for you to decide as to whether you're going to agree to the terms okay and to my understanding we have one member of the council that's actually out of the country that's my understanding as well I I got an email from vice mayor uh Oscar PR corvey that he's in Japan so he won't be here tomorrow and supposedly will be participating virtually that's what requested that was the understanding the understanding was uh I believe it you were going to to make sure that his uh electronic equipment was working so that he wouldn't be able they would not have any difficulties in uh doing a teams meeting from uh from Tokyo correct thank you okay well I I want to thank you all for being here today my Hope was that we would be able to have already by this time a list of the requested adjustments so that we could have a discussion come to a consensus and you all could present us tomorrow with a balanced budget that we could vote upon um with adequate time and responsibly putting it before the public as well to Aline and participate obviously that's not what's taking place and that is not the will of this Council or or at least the ones that are not here today which is absolutely you know um it's discouraging and and disappointing to me um because this is this is serious this is you know it's $137 million budget in its totality and affects you know our our our city and our residents and our business owners therefore I think that it's prudent that we make responsible decisions and have discussions in a timely matter and for our residents to participate in so I thank you all for being here today I think it was important um and I think it's an exercise that we need to do as a body to be able to move forward and proceed um I I hope that tomorrow does not um you know get derailed or is is it takes an exorb an exorbitant amount of time that it did not need to take that we could have accomplished here today so I don't know if the councilman has any final remarks or questions that you want to get ahead of today um but other than that there's there's really not much for us to more to discuss because I I know what I would approve and would be uh would be comfortable with moving forward thank you mayor good morning uh I concur with the mayor certainly you today was a perfect day to go over any any type of requests adjustments so that we don't have to go over these tomorrow especially that it might take longer than that should have be and as I said last time when we approve well I didn't vote to approve the the budget but the reason and I'm going to make the same coming tomorrow the reason why I decided to vote no was because I'm I'm ready I'm I'm ready to move forward with the budget that was proposed I believe 7.5 uh call increase is reasonable is needed across the board uh certainly I welcome the the uh what has been proposed by by the PBA uh for our police officers but but again you know we we know how terrible the situation is out there I mean we know how inflation is we know how cost of living right now is for everybody including for for us so the fact that we have the professionals that I see you guys as the professionals coming forward and proposing something that is reasonable for everybody for all the staff especially because sometimes we forget that the staff is the face of the city the staff is the face of our work and the staff is the one that really deliver to the resents on a daily basis so um I'm ready to move forward and approve the budget the original budget that was proposed with the 7.5 Cola increase I know that we're going to have to negotiate that and come down to to an agreement because at the end of the day it's the majority of the council the ones that decides but I want to uh make my statement and and let you know that um that going to REM I'm I'm not going to change my mind I think we're living in difficult times and we have to uh we have to actually move forward and and and tell our staff that you know we're we're here for you as well and we hear you and not only that we have to remember that at the end the services that the residents receive are based on the quality of your work so I want to thanks all the directors every everyone that is here and I hope that tomorrow we can actually move forward with our budget I believe is there's no reason to stop this and and to create chaos for something that it's so simple to understand that we don't have to and I hope that we don't have to extend it tomorrow in a longer conversation so or discussion thank you everyone thank you councilman um with that being said Lorenzo can you walk us through the process tomorrow um the options we have tomorrow should there not be a consensus or you know there's some reason that the vice mayor can't can't participate so tomorrow if there is the inability to be able to come to a to a consensus uh one of the things that you may all uh decide to do uh is to for the moment table the item uh and then to a date certain so that it can be uh taken up again uh on that date we have until October 1st but it needs to be done I mean that's what the statute says but we have to have it actually before then so I think it's September 30th correct Fernando right so this year's uh trim notice has until October 3rd as the official date um the County property appraiser has made it abundantly clear that they would like us to have this wrapped up by October 1st because they have not only our millage but 34 other municipalities and a bunch of other taxing districts to deal with um so ideally we would have this done either Saturday September 28th or Monday the 30th if we have to recess and he said table you're not allowed to adjourn the budget meeting you can recess the budget meeting announce the date that you will take it up again we have to advertise that um and then we can take it up at another date yeah okay all right yeah and I do want to put also on the record that is um not passing it uh so again you can table it date certain put that on the record um and should you not pass it on that date there could be serious repercussions for the city so I would urge this your your you both of you and your colleagues to uh take it seriously and and try to pass something okay all right thank you very much um Mr manager do you have any other recommendations or no ma'am nothing further to add okay thank you very much all right we'll see you all tomorrow at 6 o'clock