The Budget, Finance and Audit Standing Committee met on February 18, 2026, to consider several items including property tax reform, neighborhood enterprise zone certificates, a quarterly special events cost report, and presentations on the city's long-term financial obligations. Public comment was heard on water affordability, transit, and tax issues.
Present. Councilmember Letitia Johnson. Present. Councilmember Mary Waters. Present. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum present. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Now move us on to approval of the minutes. Members of the committee should have received the minutes. And with that, I'll entertain a motion to approve. Motion to approve the minutes. Without any objections, the mo the minutes will stand approved. And we will now open public comment. Request for public comment will close at 11. Please limit your remarks to two minutes. We'll start with those in the room. And for those participating remotely, please use the raise hand feature. And you will be called in order. I'm seeing no folks in here in person. Yes, Mr. Chair. As of now, we have eight hands raised. All right. Our first caller is Jadante Smith. Mr. Jadante Smith, good afternoon. You have two minutes. Mr. Smith, are you there? Okay, let's come back. Next caller. Our next caller is Betty A. Varner. Miss Varner, good afternoon. Can you hear us? Yes. Good afternoon to you and all with that all within the sound of my voice. I'm Betty A. Varner, president of the Soda Els World Block Association. But today I want to speak as a resident. Now my concern is this program, the Lifeline H2O program. I have been approved for the program. My bill was due February 5th. I paid my $34 on February 2nd. I received my bill for March that is due March 6th. And it states I have a past due amount. And so I call the water department and I spoke with the agent. And she confirmed that I am in the uh lifeline H2O program. But she says how it worked is that the amount that I am not paying that's excess of that $34 is being frozen.