This was the second public budget hearing for Fiscal Year 2026. The City Commission unanimously adopted the millage rate, the operating and capital budgets, the five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), authorized positions, and concurred with the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) budget. City staff highlighted a structurally balanced budget with a reduced millage rate, investments in public safety, infrastructure, and technology, and the lowest total millage since FY 2020.
Thank you very much. Please find your seat. Welcome everyone. Welcome to City Hall here in the city of Hollywood. Today is September twenty-fifth, two thousand twenty-five. It is just after six PM. Commissioner Gruber. Commissioner Biederman. Commissioner Shoeham. Commissioner Hernandez. Commissioner Hernandez. Here. Mayor Levy. Here. All right. Let's show that Commissioner Hernandez is participating virtually. I'll accept the motion and a second. Motion for Commissioner Callary, second for Commissioner Bieterman to approve Commissioner Hernandez's virtual participation. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously. All right, City Manager, here we are for the second uh public budget hearing for the members of the public who are here. Uh we had our first public budget hearing last week. Uh this is of course our second one. Uh the city manager had an opportunity and staff to uh present uh the proposed budget. Uh City Commission had some discussion and feedback. And I'll now turn it over to the city manager for his remarks. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, uh Mayor, Vice Mayor Commissioners, and and to all the members of the public and staff listening in attendance. Uh thank you for that. Thank you for um a very efficient uh first budget hearing. We appreciate that. We were listening uh to some of the uh actually we were listening to all the comments. Um I can reflect on a couple things and then Adam will go into details with the presentation again, and then of course we'll be available for discussion question and answers. But just quickly just to say, very happy again to say for the second year in a row, recommending uh a decrease in the overall um the operating rate and the overall rate, and for the first time, including the debt service coming down, uh brings the city's total under eight mills for first time in 14, 15 years or so, which we're very happy about. Um also structurally balanced again, I think for the third year in a row, and if not more. Um we we heard and we we took back is uh we are in the process right now of identifying and procuring a comprehensive automated asset property management system. Okay. And uh absolutely right, it's uh long overdue. One that we can we can identify all of the assets in the city, whether they be equipment, infrastructure, property, uh real property improvements there too, whatever it may be in terms of not only managing those properties on the maintenance side, in terms of risk management, in terms of assurance, in terms of losses, in terms of uh damage in terms of emergencies and reimbursement, you name it, so that we can um obviously, and we have a significant inventory of of resources that we can include that in. And as we get some more details on that, we're we're visiting with one of the uh the local cities um in South Florida that's using one system, and as soon as we can pin that down and get some more details, we'll get back with you on that so that we can talk about that um as one of the issues for the future that we that will allow us to do better. Um speaking of the future, and that's one of the themes of the budget, is that um we've we're very fortunate, obviously, when we look back over the city's recent history and and the last several years to be in this posture right now because we we have so much going on in terms of uh the capital improvement program, irrespective of the source of it, uh, that's already gone in the ground that's about to go in the ground and coming out of the ground, that after a couple more years, once that uh large cycle is finished, um, the infrastructure and the foundation of this city will have caught up from decades of neglect in some cases to uh a much higher level and one that positions the city for um a new generation or two to come, and it's a great way to celebrate our hundredth anniversary. I apologize if my voice goes out on me at some point here because I'm in the later stages of recovering from whatever's been going around. Uh but hopefully it will hold up for the evening. Um we're fortunate to be able to to see a whole different future now and for the second century for the city. Um the likewise with the private investment in the marketplace to to more than double the tax base in the last decade. Um quite an accomplishment for everybody here, so thank you for all that support on the economic development front and all the initiatives. Um definitely even better than some of us had hoped for. So is there much more to do?