The Finance Committee convened at 1:00 PM and adjourned at 1:40 PM. Chair Joe Carlucci presided. The committee reviewed an update on the Emergency Incidents Fund, took action on multiple ordinances, and approved several items with amendments. Attendance included members Carlucci, Howland, Salem, Diamond, Lahnen, Pittman, and Arias (arrived at 1:22 PM).
All right, Dustine. Good afternoon. It is one o'clock on June sixteenth. We're going to go ahead and call the finance committee to order, and we will start with introductions to the left. Brittany Norris for the administration. Colin Hansey, Council Research. Mary Stefopoulos, Office of General Counsel. Philip Peterson, Council Auditor. Good afternoon, Rory Diamond and George, District 13, the beaches. Ron Salem group two at large. Nick Allen at large, group three. Joe Carlucci, District Five. Will Lane and District 3. All right. And what kind of finance committee would it be without a presentation from our auditors? Yeah, I know. Through the chair to the committee. The request of Councilmember Salem. We looked into the emergency incidents fund to see its financial state. And just so you're aware, the emergency incidents fund is where all emergency events, so tropical storms, hurricanes, COVID 19, they're all booked there. But when examining the revenues and expenditures that have been recorded in that fund, and this mainly dates back to Hurricane Matthew was the last time that we prior to that, it had already been filled, if you will. There was there was a zero balance going into that fund. But looking at the revenues and expenses expenditures that have been recorded along with the anticipated revenues to be received from FEMA and the state, the fund as a whole is actually projected to be positive. So this is largely due to actions that were taken by city councils and the mayor back in fiscal year 17-18. $7 million was budgeted to go into this fund. So that had been in the summer of 17. Matthew had hit October of 16, and so we knew that we were going to have to fill some type of hole. So $7 million was put in then and then the following year, fiscal year 18-19 budget, eight eight million dollars was contributed again because Irma had hit the prior year. And so those two contributions are why that fund will be positive once it all shakes out. But for those two contributions, it would have a hole that would need to be filled, but those will carry us into a positive manner going forward for any future storms. Alright, Councilmember Salem, you're in the queue. You recognize thank you, Chair. I asked for this review because we haven't had a storm in a while. Through the chair to Mr. Peterson, theoretically, the amount that we would put out as a city is at five or ten percent that uh we owe the feds or the state on a storm, but we should get back everything other than that, correct? Through the chair to council member Salem. So most storms uh for the I'll say the lower uh event storms. Uh the city is responsible for a 12 and a half percent contributions, 12 and a half from the city, twelve and a half from the state, and then uh from FEMA is 75% for uh Matthew and Irma that was decreased due to the severity that Jackson will experienced, and we were only responsible for a five percent contribution. Uh the state picked up five and then FEMA contributed ninety, but normally it's that twelve and a half percent. So, uh through the chair. How much is in that fund today? The fund is currently sitting at a negative eight million dollar cash balance, but we have outstanding claims with uh that have been approved by FEMA. FEMA has transmitted to the state, the state is in the process of reviewing. Once we receive those payments, and then there are other expected um expenses that are our anticipated expenses uh that fire rescue still has related to a couple of the more recent uh smaller tropical storms. Um, once those are received, that will put the fund into the black and set us up for success in the future. Do we need to put any money into that fund as we as we're now in hurricane season? I mean, that's just the question through the chair. Through the chair to Councilmember, say well, my recommendation would not be to put money in the fund because you would just be setting it aside for a future event. I would recommend uh waiting to see if we have a storm and then addressing it at that time. Thank you.