The Brookings City Council convened on September 24, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting included Budget Workshop #2, several public hearings, and the introduction of multiple ordinances. Key actions included approving the 2025 budget workshop presentations, awarding contracts for trails and concrete maintenance, approving a rezoning after a protest hearing, and advancing several ordinance amendments. The council also scheduled a special meeting for September 30, 2024, to conduct a third reading of the Reasonable Accommodations ordinance.
Okay, call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Will the clerk please take attendance? All council members are present, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Action to approve the agenda. Entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. Move and second. Any comments from the public? Comments from council? Questions. Please call the roll. Rasmussen. Aye. Specker. Tiltenbird. Aye. Wendell. Avery. Doran. Aye. Neemaier. Okay. Go on to item number four, budget workshop number two, Jake Meshi or Deputy City Manager will present this item. Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. We are here for our budget workshop number two as part of our budget workshop series in the 2025 budget process. As far as the official adoption process of the budget goes, we've already had our first and second readings on the property tax levy ordinance, which was approved. We'll have the first reading of the budget ordinance on October 22nd, and then on November 12th, we'll have the second reading of the budget ordinance as well as the adoption of the 10-year capital improvement plan and the consolidated fee schedule. This is a slide from last time as well, just as a reminder for council and members of the public. The 2025 budget includes a balanced uh general fund budget of 22 point 21.9 million dollars. The 21.9 million dollars proposed 2025 general fund budget is a 475,000 or 2.2 percent increase from the 2024 adopted budget. We generally focus our presentations predominantly on the general fund because that is the city's primary operating fund. Sales tax is the city's primary revenue source, and it accounts for 47% of general fund revenue as well as 74% of CIP revenue, as we'll cover in more detail in tonight's presentation. The 2025 budget does not include any impact from the potential passage of initiated measure 28, IM28, which is currently estimated to be a 1.6 million dollar financial loss to the city, which would be split evenly between the general fund as well as the capital improvement plan. So it would be $800,000 loss to each of those funds. The 2025 budget would also add a master mechanic and associate planner positions to the general fund. The master mechanic will expand in-house service capacity, save on external service provision expenses, and reduce the downtime of the fleet. That position would also be partially funded by the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. The associate planner would be an entry-level position in the community development department and assist the department in achieving long-range planning objectives, customer service enhancements, as well as balancing the workloads of the department. The slide before you goes over some of the highlights that are included within our 2025 uh capital improvement plan. I would note uh street highlights at $3.6 million, including the annual overlay and chip seal projects. Outside agency payments total approximately $1 million to the performing arts center, as well as the Brookings Health System. Those payments do drop off after 2027. In general, uh the capital project is a maintenance and replacement budget, which means we're prioritizing the care of our existing assets instead of generally adding new. The exception to that and a primary addition of the capital improvement plot project or capital improvement plan would be the addition of an inclusive playground near the branch creek development at the fishback soccer complex, and that would be funded through a combination of city funds, which is represented by the $900,000, as well as grants and private donations. We are proposing a skate park renovation, which has been in our capital improvement plan for a number of years at $315,000, and this would update aging equipment aging equipment at the complex located near the Brookings High School and Bob Sheldon Field. We also have a number of larger scale vehicle and equipment replacements coming up to include vehicles within the police department, a fire engine three replacement, as well as a motor grader and street sweeper within the public works department.