All right, good afternoon, everybody.

Um, I'm gonna go ahead and call the working session to order.

Um go ahead and record your attendance, please.

I'm not sure.

Can you see or you just see the button?

I can see that we're says 2026 budget.

I'm at the screen.

Yeah, um, you won't be able to see to press your button.

I can okay.

Can we just say here?

I can go ahead and take it.

And it should hopefully your button.

We'll hear then or on the regular committee, yeah.

It's just a working session, no action is gonna be taken, so it's fine.

All right.

I have a recorded each member that is here for the record.

All righty.

Um we'll go ahead and move into other business.

Um we're gonna have questions and answers on the 2026 budget.

I'll go ahead and turn the floor over to the mayor, and then just please make sure you're recognized before you start asking questions and stuff so we can keep this thing moving along.

I think we have kind of a little before one o'clock.

You have a one o'clock meeting.

I do.

So we just need to be done by one.

But as I mentioned on Tuesday evening during the council meeting, you know, this is just a question and answer session.

Um, as they present the budget, it'll be on the um committee, the finance committee agenda next um Tuesday, and that's where action will be taken on whether or not to forward it to full council.

So there will be multiple opportunities to ask questions about the budget.

Right.

Mayor Copenhager.

All right.

Thank you, Councilman Hafner and and Council.

I appreciate you showing up on Friday afternoon.

Um, and it's important that um obviously uh you engage yourself on on what we're uh proposing for year 2026.

But I first want to start off with a 20,000 pound elephant in the room.

Uh, and I do have a statement and then we'll move on to the budget statement.

So following uh city staff meeting that was had with the Department of Justice.

The City is prepared to serve as a trustee for the City Star's financial activities.

The Department of Justice expressed no concerns with the protocols in place with the city and the handling of public funds.

We do expect to have this as a budget impact, but have no way to predict what that will be until the baseline of that is established.

The city continues to work closely with authorities and legislative audit to ensure youth sports continues without issue during this time.

Our children are our number one concern.

It is my understanding that the City Star's board has recently voted to work with the city on this transition.

We appreciate their help in this matter and their shared efforts in supporting the thousands of youth in our community that enjoy these programs.

Won't be any further statement.

All right.

Council, as uh we begin for the next year.

It's hard to believe 2025 has already gone by, but uh it went by very quickly.

Um I think the key word throughout this budgeting process is gonna be consistency.

Um council, this budget will find that it you'll find that it's very consistent with previous budgets.

A consistent revenue stream supports those consistent reoccurring expenses.

The finance team, I challenge them to develop a practical plan where a concept for a measured utilization of reserves will fund only capital infrastructure improvements and not operations.

I also challenge them to hold the budget at a consistent operation structure versus expansion of systems and personnel.

This will ensure a better utilization of current systems to meet the challenge for each department to provide expanded and more efficient public services.

You will notice that there are no new revenue streams, and the most impacting expenses increase is continuation of the annual salary increases for all employees.

While increased cost across the board are inevitable, and I hope that uh in the financial packet that you did read my letter to you, the council, and the city uh as a whole.

Obviously, we're very fortunate in a lot of ways of Jonesboro compared to a lot of communities throughout the state that haven't had the positive trends that we still continue to have.

But as we requested the significant providers, we also ask them to maintain and hold further increases for further evaluation.

These will be assessed as a timing of contractor renew, renewals, and perhaps the first quarter results.

We'll see what next year is going to be looking like.

So my mayor letter states additional consideration will be given to the budget request at the end of the first quarter and growth trends once they have been gathered, if necessary.

So at this point in time, I believe council our CFO Steve Pratte does have a plan of action for 2026.

And Steve, if you'd please come forward and present that to council.

Thank you, Mayor.

You you each have the hard copy of the slide in front of you, H3 Table.

So you can refer to that.

I'm sure it will be on your screen as well.

So again, we'll just kind of work through that.

As the mayor indicated, the process is really just kind of a consistency of what we've done, where we've been and where we're going.

So we're we're we're happy to uh and appreciate the opportunity, Mayor, to assist you in providing that for the budget.

And uh we we uh feel like that uh again that this is an indication of what we expect for 2026, and certainly as he's indicated, that will always be open for uh readdressing and emphasis moving forward after results continue to come in.

Your binders uh were available to you a couple of weeks ago, week and a half ago.

So hopefully you've had some time to spend time with those.

Uh there are 110 pages in that binder.

Uh that same document is available online with our uh with our resolution, and I appreciate our city clerk making that available to our public.

Uh so that is out there as well, and we'll make this uh presentation part of that as well for the finance committee on Tuesday.

So you can look forward for that as well.

So we do invite our public to spend time with that those both of those documents and uh help us in garnering uh the very best financial position that we think is available for 2026.

I want to just kind of move right on into our overview.

There are about four or five slides of just simply overview of various functions of our budget uh that we want to go over uh today.

Uh I'll just kind of go down through these, uh, and if you have any questions, certainly just uh stop me.

Uh again, we we want this to be an informative session.

Uh and if you have questions for anyone, uh any of our directors, we want you to ask those.

We'll invite them up to address those as well.

Uh and our administrative staff uh will are available also.

So the very first bullet on here uh again, this is just kind of an overview of the budget and total.

Uh as indicated, there are 85 million in total expenditures in this document.

There's 72 million of that is represented in our OM expenditures.

Uh our capital improvements uh are 1.1 million planned for 2026.

We'll talk up in a later slide relative to other capital improvement opportunities that we have available in this current this next budget cycle and future budget cycles as well.

As for our revenue stream, uh for this will be the basically the third year in a row that we've just forecasted the same revenue stream uh relative to our sales tax returns.

Uh while we did see uh our seventh month of consecutive growth year over year, uh we wanted to factor that in uh as well, and while we were uh normally operating with about a 3.3 percent year-over-year budget increase, because of that growth, this manages that down to about two and a half percent, and that's what this third budget bullet or the bullet in the under the revenue area indicates.

We're seeing an increase of about 800,000 over last year results, and that'll be about 1.7 percent uh over the previous actual.

So uh we are pleased uh with those returns.

Uh again, we monitored that for uh uh for the first few months uh uh anticipating those negatives, and uh fortunately that did turn around.

So uh as the mayor indicated in his letter, a very key point uh for him is taking care of our employees.

Uh and we did uh include in this budget a two percent annual step increase in salaries and then a two percent cost of living adjustment as well.

Uh that is uh in this document.

Uh in our finance committee meeting on Tuesday, that agenda also includes a resolution that will amend the salary administration plan.

Uh, very simply, that document is in there to include these updated salary ranges.

Uh, as we indicated, there were no personnel requests in this budget, as we will hold those uh for a first quarter uh review after we get results.

The final bud bullet uh relative to our benefits, our entry into a captive insurance program has been very successful.

We saw our overall claim activity decrease two million dollars from the previous calendar year.

Uh we did were able to take that under consideration.

Uh we were seeing uh market increases of anywhere from 13 to 15 percent in national companies.

Uh so we did likewise in our uh captive program uh or the self-funded uh program.

Yes, sir, mayor.

So uh Steve, if you would just expand just a little bit more on that.

When you mentioned two million dollars, uh can you make counsel where if we had not have made that decision, our claims would have been at a higher level.

Yes, sir, and and that's an excellent point.

Uh you'll recall our conversations uh this time last year we were anticipating uh insurance premium increases.

Uh the the fully funded insurer at that time was projecting a minimum 25 percent increase.

Uh they said that based on our plan activities, it would be more closer aligned to a 45 to 48 percent increase in premiums.

There it yes, sir, Dr.

Come.

Go ahead.

Therein lies the reason for entering into this uh captive program uh where we have the ability to manage uh some of that activity as well.

As is in been indicated, uh the immediate impact or a benefit to going from fully insured to self-insured or self-funded, is you're not paying the overhead cost to the uh the fund manager uh in this case it was Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

While they are still our TPA, uh we uh are are used, we were able to save that 13% and and contribute that directly to our plan and uh help us with uh responsibilities in that.

We did see our claims go from 10 million dollars to approximately eight million dollars in 2024 compared to 2025.

We'll have more results on that.

We'll we'll actually be presenting an overview of our of our captive program right after the year concludes so that we can kind of see all of that activity.

Yes, sir, Dr.

Okay, the question I always have about the the uh the step increases.

Uh is there a reason that we you just went to two percent instead of another number.

Uh I I always ask that question because I think when I think about the HPC people, the IT people and sanitation, you know, it one thing I am thankful that I see this because I actually had emailed the mayor and earlier about this, but I think comparative for those type people for work in the community, it's just a question.

You know, uh can we not do more or that would that fall out of a different regulation for the same thing because nationally we got uh an increase to the community for as economics is just outrageous right now.

And I just two percent just seemed a little low for me.

That's that's a good question, Dr.

Coleman.

Uh, if we go back in history, uh there was not a supported uh program to address salaries until 2016.

That was when the STEP plan was adopted, and that plan uh provides for an annual incremental increase of approximately two percent per step, and that has been used as a management tool since 2016.

The one thing that we are seeing is that in addition to that, prior to 2021, uh there were 2022, there were no adjustments for a cost of living adjustment added to the step plan.

Since then, every year we have provided in addition to the two percent step, a cost of living adjustment that layers on top of the STEP program or the salary administration plan.

So we're not really using that that plan.

I can't I can't in my head remember.

What's that again?

The Joe Hanson plan.

We're not using really using the Joe Hanson plan.

Uh no, sir.

We haven't used uh we haven't used the Johansson plan for I'm I'm thinking this is our third budget cycle relative to that.

Well, I kind of see that I just want to make sure that's clear because a lot of people don't know that because you know, personally I never voted for the Joe Hanson plan.

Uh I can see it now, but I think that uh I think the increase that you're doing as well.

So I want to make sure this is not against it, is this that I sometimes when I look at the HVC people, the IT people, electrician people like that.

Uh I'm not saying they should get paid more than anybody else, but I think that the comfortable pay that they should get because they can go back at the industry and make a whole lot more money.

Right.

Without those type people, I don't think we we'd be able to uh survive what we're doing here.

We we appreciate that affirmation of what we've been doing relative to taking care of our staff.

Uh the one thing uh that we have done uh is you know, two or three different times we've done competitive salary reviews, we've addressed our uniform personnel at certain times relative to that.

We also uh did similarly for our non-uniformed employees.

Uh those salary ranges at that time were uh anywhere from six to thirteen increases in addition over our step plan layered on top of that.

And then since then, and as we have done all along, we we take the opportunity to regrade positions, check the competitive landscape.

We did something similar to this for our JETS program in 2025 relative to adjusting their salaries to uh make it more less of a competitive pressure with other similar aligned jobs.

Well, that's good to hear.

Uh, but again, you know, I think I asked these questions because publicly the people need to know that we're and I just uh our employers are getting comfortable pay uh rather than just be here.

And I think 90% of the people that's here are here because uh I think you got we have a good insurance program, we have a good retirement program, uh, but at the same time those questions still need to be asked.

And the mayor's letter, uh I'm I'm gonna reference it real quick.

Uh he has a a nice uh little uh overview in that letter, it's on the second page that shows basically the 10-year trend uh relative to those uh salary groups, and what we are seeing uh relative to our sanitation and entry-level workers uh that that's been nearly a 40 percent increase over that 10-year period.

So we we hope we're doing a good job and we always appreciate the input to to always do better.

So thank you.

Any other comments on this particular page?

Okay, we'll uh we'll move on.

So uh this next uh slide here is basically we just want to kind of give an overview of our various appropriations that are included in this document.

Uh primarily we have infrastructure improvement, we have capital improvement fund carryover, and then we have our depreciation fund.

We appreciate that uh the traction that we're gaining relative to our capital improvement program as well as our depreciation fund.

We see these uh funds becoming living funds, if you will, and we are able to use these in upgrading or maintaining uh the quality of our equipment and our fleet uh relative to our assets that our employees are using and our our public has uh benefit of.

As far as infrastructure improvement, the one thing that we do want to remind is is our financials include a 17 and a half million dollar bond that uh that this city council authorized or ordained uh back in 2025 mid-year.

Uh again, that will fund uh capital improvement opportunities for the three areas that we're all very familiar with the E911 safety center, Careway Road expansion, and then pedestrian trail connections.

We'll have a slide later that'll dig into more details uh relative to those.

One other thing that we are including in this particular budget is a utilization of reserves uh that are set aside after year over year results.

We're taking three million dollars of those reserves and we're dedicating those to overlay and street improvements, and so that that is referenced on page one of the financial data.

In addition to that, we have specifically appropriated 250,000 dollars for sidewalk improvements that would be 88 compliant, and this should take care of any uh specific requirement the that we have uh relative to an annual uh in incurring of uh sidewall sidewalk rehabilitation.

So and then the the last thing here is part of the budget process is we took 1.1 million of our current operations and we set that aside for recurring uh capital improvement, miscellaneous drainage in our industrial rail uh maintenance program, and then finally our economic development arm uh that the uh that we handle with the uh chamber of commerce.

As for our carryover funding for capital improvement, that fund currently has a balance projected at year end at 18.7 million.

Uh we had we expended nearly six million dollars in 2025.

We'll end the year with a remaining appropriation of about just a little over 11 million dollars.

Uh those are uh all identified in our financial results on on a monthly basis, and uh they are identified in this budget document as well on page uh 12 or 13.

Uh we can we could I can remind myself of that later.

Um one other final point here our depreciation fund.

Uh we had approximately seven and a half million dollars of request.

Uh we we were able to fund or were requesting to fund 4.4 million of that through a 2025 appropriation.

This will allow us to purchase 37 fleet unit replacements.

Again, we are replacing existing equipment.

There are no new units uh in that fleet alignment.

25 of these units will be specifically for our police department and uh in assisting them in updating or upgrading their fleet uh relative to some older units that they're managing.

Um then uh the the final point here is uh that that request included 52 fleet replacement, and we were able to uh budget or approve approximately 70 percent of that at 37 units.

So the one other thing, our fire department.

We've had uh several meetings that where there's been discussion of new fire apparatus.

Uh that again is a resolution that you're seeing in the finance agenda for next Tuesday to approve those purchases.

That's about two and a half million dollars.

We did fund one-fourth of that in the 2025 budget.

We're asking, or the 2024 appropriation, we're asking to appropriate the second installment of that or an additional six hundred and twenty-five thousand in this two thousand twenty-five appropriation.

This will give us uh about uh one point uh two five million of that total funding necessary.

Uh and then our our great partner City Water and Light has agreed to fund the remaining one point two million uh over two budget cycles.

Yes, sir.

Dr.

I guess the question I just basically so that even that we'd have an open meeting so the public would also understand that our reserves is going to still be intact while we use the bond money, right?

Yes, sir.

We'll have a slide here in a minute that will show us our reserve position after absorbing this budget.

So yeah.

Steve, you're correct.

I have a question on the capital improvement carryover fund.

Yes.

Um I know some of the projects like the university heights and and stuff is that they just take a while.

Um but you know, our our carryover fund seems to be growing.

You know, it went from, you know, at the end of lat 2024, the carryover was 6.3 million, and now we're up to 11.1 million.

But I I've noticed that there's several pro I won't say several.

There's a few projects on here.

I mentioned some of this before, like the 50 spot parking lot, the overlay back half of loop road at Craig had for us.

I mean, those have been on there a while, and we just keep carrying them over.

I mean, when when is some of this stuff gonna be actually the money spent in the project close?

I mean, it's good to have the money set back, but it's better to you know get the project done when we can.

I know stuff takes a while.

I'm not saying I'm not I'm not ignoring that fact.

I'm just saying it seems like our improvement funds growing at a faster rate than we're spending the money.

That's an excellent point, Chairman Hafner.

Uh that is uh a review that our engineering department is assisting us with uh the periodic look at the at the at the fund, the various projects, uh, and then with the idea that if we decide we're not going to do something uh because of whatever reason uh relative to asphalting the back half of the loop road or whatever at Cricket Forest, uh we would be able to have the opportunity to realign or reassign those.

Obviously, the uh uh the University Heights Trail is gonna require a little more funding.

Yeah, I mean that's yeah, that's a long process.

Yeah, but just think some of this smaller, what I call smaller stuff has been on here probably two or three years.

We and doesn't seem like there's much activity being a big deal.

Yeah, we have had discussions with the specific directors relative to a few items on this list, and you'll you will see uh that we'll go through a process of realigning those as we conclude the year.

So yeah, and again, our engineering department has conducted earlier overview meetings with us, they'll continue continue to do that relative to this fund and how projects are going.

So thank you.

All right.

So I think the last uh bullet on this particular screen uh is relative to just our main maintenance equipment and replacing that.

You can see the the trend here uh on the dollars relative to that.

So let's uh let's go into this next uh uh this is an overview of our franchise fee capital improvement revenue bond, uh, as we talked about earlier.

You'll recall that we approved a par value or par amount of 17 million five hundred and ninety-five thousand.

Basically, at the end of our bond, we will repay that principal amount, and that will expire or that uh or satisfy those bonds that were issued.

From that issuance, we had net insurance net issuance proceeds of 17,417,000.

Again, this is a schedule in our monthly financials that you can kind of track that activity through the month as we go along.

Uh on on to service that debt, it's gonna take an annual debt payment of 1,147 that does come from our franchise fees, and recall franchise fees are those fees that utilities pay the city relative uh for their use of our right-of-way that city property.

So it's not a taxpayer dollar, it's a utility funded opportunity.

I think the mayor's letter uh referenced that as well.

Uh we always appreciate to be be able to address that that uh we're we're able to accomplish these 17 and a half million dollars in projects utilizing funding from utility companies, uh, and again that's that just help helps us expedite our process of capital improvement, and again, we talked about the three areas that were focused on that were issued relative specific for that bond.

The true interest cost of that bond is just under five percent.

You recall this was issued in mid-2025.

Uh a final maturity of that bond is uh August the first of 2055.

It does have prepayment opportunity after year seven of the of the debt life.

So, you know, obviously we will have those mechanisms in front of us if there are a considerable rate adjustments, that type of thing.

If you uh if my fellow bank officer looked at the market today, he he would tell us that a 30-year bond today is trading somewhere around 4.7 percent, 4.76 in that range.

So uh again, we're about 20 basis uh points off of that, but obviously you have to choose a point in time when you have to issue the bond, and that's exactly what we did.

Now, obviously, if interest rates uh go considerably lower where it makes it uh advantageous or economically uh feasible, uh we can always look at refinancing this debt obligation uh in a different market.

Obviously, uh 20 basis point improvement is not anything you'd refinance on, and uh but again we do have that opportunity after this prepayment window expires.

So I didn't yes, sir, Dr.

Coleman.

In reference to that refinancing, my question is if we ever have to do that again.

A question I asked earlier.

Uh it's like we have a lot of things that we have not finished, start have not finished.

I think we ever have to refinance something to that caliber.

I was hoping we would do it with the bond.

We we approved, even though I was for it.

But I'm hoping we get in and positioned it if we have to go that route again, that all these things that's behind that we've been doing for years and not finished really be taken care of.

You know, that's a uh consideration statement that need to be made from the council person.

Yeah, because we always say we finished this and we didn't finish this.

We keep carrying over some things I think we have to carry over, but there are some things I think it's like the uh sidewalk because uh we've got a lot of sidewalks going no place for it.

You know, but that's just my personal opinion.

It's we it's good to have them, but I think we have just really gone a little overboard.

I I'm understanding your comment that there are a lot of other things that need to be done as well, and uh that's exactly correct.

Uh unfortunately, as we've talked about, our revenue stream is very limited.

Uh the one the one uh utilization that we were able to do is take these franchise fees and compound those for 17 and a half million dollars in projects.

That doesn't get everything as you've alluded to, but it gets uh a good an assortment of things that are on our schedule of needing to occur for our city.

Again, obviously those three things we were moving along on one of them, and that is pedestrian trail connection.

Obviously, our Caraway Road expansion was was on the long horizon, not on the short horizon.

Now it's on the short horizon, and then obviously our E911 safety center.

You know, while we issued our bond, and then we had this significant situation occur as well that just kind of uh gave us that we had some forethought in what we were doing at that time to advance that facility.

So the the one other thing that we would have available to us would be the issuance of a general sales tax relative to other programs and those types of things, and and again, that's something that's always debated as to you know what what's able to be what what would be able to be done relative to that revenue stream and and that I think as the as the community increase that our communities increase and I think the census was totally wrong in the first place on how many people we have in Jonesboro, but I think the taxes that we already have, the increase of people that's coming into Jonesville, it's probably gonna satisfy some of that need.

And we have other very specific things that were part of this budget request that we weren't able to do because there's not a dedicated revenue stream that would support that.

So we're hopeful that we can revisit some of these things again.

Maybe a first quarter reviews kind of that process to springboard us into that conversation, and then looking at other resources that we might have available uh for revenue opportunity.

So those are excellent points again.

Yes, hey Steve, I have a question.

Um the additional the remaining 1.6 million that's available for additional projects, etc.

Is that 1.6 also need to be spent the next three years?

That suit of projects within that three-year window.

So 1.6 million.

The 1.6 million is also including about at this point about 300,000, 264,000 in interest earnings.

So we're growing that.

Obviously, there's an arbitrage clause that comes into play with this as well.

We'll at a 4.96% interest cost, we'll never have an arbitrage issue where we make more money than we then we spend relative to the interest cost.

So I just got to think about that 1.6 million, and if it was something that needs to be looked at, you know, sometime in 2026 or you know, early to mid-2026, just to see if we need to identify more projects that we need to get completed in the next three years, if that's the requirement that that 1.6 is under, even though it's not one of the three identified projects.

We we we obviously uh we anticipate increase in costs, of course.

Uh you know, that's uh again, can we do an E911 public safety center for five and a half million?

We think we can.

Right, right.

That's what the projection is.

But yeah, I'm just saying if there's any remaining fund exactly, yeah.

Proceeds, what do what when do they have to be used by what are some of the you know priorities that we have to use them on?

You're correct.

And and Steve and and um councilman, I would I think I'd like to just make a comment here is that as we move forward with the budget, you know, we we have a definite revenue stream, and with that revenue stream, Dr.

Coleman, in essence, we are maxing out its potential uh to provide, and so the additional increase with the nature of what's going on in the economy from tariffs and everything else, the outside industry is increasing faster than what our revenue is doing, and so those are the challenges that we are going to be facing as a city, and and again, I think this budget is showing you that we are tight, and the projects that we will continue and we'll have uh engineering present you on the updated projects uh and where they're going, why they're delayed.

He's got a whole layout of that sheet, and we're very much up on that.

But the bottom line is I think you and I both realize that we need additional revenue stream.

Um we were presented last week with the firemen's uh you know, potential for a long run, long time range plan for them.

Um that didn't come for at free cost, and so we have to start phasing in a need to as a community.

So uh what this council is really gonna need to help the administration and the community understand are the needs that we need to provide.

First of all and foremost, I'm very prideful of our employees.

They maintain a level for our community of service from sanitation to streets that are competitive to none.

Bottom line.

The resources to pay those individuals are very strapped.

And so the four percent, uh, which is what 400,000, a percent, it's two and two.

Um, you know, that is a priority of this administration is to reward our employees for that work because they are the frontline people.

That's the reason I asked that question, but the other part of that is that projects.

I'm not sure if this is the tie to the employee pay uh not.

Well, there are projects that that we can cut out now that we don't really need, number one, but uh they're also uh I mentioned it uh uh a time before that even in our engineering department uh there's more people that we need to take care of what we need to do and get it done.

Correct.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Steve.

I'm sorry.

I just say one thing.

This I'm sorry, Steve.

I know you're trying to get through your butt you know, we talk about you know our sales tax all the time, and we know we have one of the lowest sales tax in the in this in the in the state.

I mean, and it is what it is.

So like you know, when at work, you know, in the in the business world, when we look at revenue, you know, we always look at okay, how come our revenue went up, how come our revenue went down, and there's really two components of revenue, right?

There's your rate, how much you're charging for your product, and your volume.

So, you know, right now, I mean, the only way to get our rate change is an election.

Coleman kind of alluded to you know we get our sales tax up through getting more volume coming through our stores our restaurants et cetera and I think things have been done to help drive that volume up I mean you know I mean just little things like the improved trails out at Craighead Forest Park.

I mean you got people coming here all the time from out of town now to write our trails um you know the rack the bridge athletic center is gonna be huge you know hopefully in 2027 you know we see a nice increase from that volume but um I'm just saying our sales tax or one percent city tax it it is what it is right now but we got to keep improving our city other ways to get people coming here you know if the the mall you know we the people who bought them off somehow how the mall reopens you know or more stores reopen I mean that's gonna be nothing but coming here I mean we're we're we're pretty lucky that we're our revenues stayed kind of flat when we have no mall so people don't come here to shop like they used to I mean we have a lot of nice stores and strip malls and standalone places but um I think we've been really fortunate to be able to do to have the results that we've had the last you know five years you know since the tornado when was the tornado 2020?

2020 yeah so anyway I'll be quiet for a little bit chairman yes sir kind of along those lines and the mayor said this and made a good point and I thought about it Conway just had an election and I was reading a lot of what Conway said which is similar to what the mayor said I mean you need 70 million dollars of economic activity to come up with 700 grand or whatever.

I mean that's that's unbelievable.

I mean granted Target might do 70 million dollars but if somebody opens a boutique that does 400 grand I mean we're gonna have 140 boutiques open in the next 12 months and even if we do we're only gonna get 700 grand so and everybody faces that challenge right I mean and we're lucky and and John and I were talking about this I mean Conway Conway suffers when Cersei gets a target and Conway suffers when Russellville gets an academy unfortunately we don't have some of those same sufferings from the towns around us but this is a loaded question that I have no idea what the answer is to but I know we're doing some long range planning when we look at 3,000 lots that'll come online in Valley View in the coming years maybe 300 houses a year over 10 years.

How do we look at the economic impact of that as far as what those sales tax dollars are versus what services we'll have to run out to Valley View.

And I know part of that is the conversation we'll have around impact fees and stuff but do we have any thoughts about what a resident contributes in sales tax dollars versus how those services grow the only thing that that we are able to concretely look at and that is our our run rate if you will relative to our market our run rate on an annual basis considering our one percent local tax is about 2.6 billion dollars when you compare that to the other five larger cities if you will our run rate is about in fourth third and fourth position depending on how Conway is doing and Rogers occasionally those are we're kind of neck and neck with those those three cities are kind of neck and neck relative to that run rate.

The one thing again that they have going for them is their their run rate at about 2.6 billion produces another stream of revenue because their rate is two percent instead of one percent so but relative to that then looking at it based on residential values uh what a what a homeowner brings relative to the spending power we we certainly anticipate that every household that happens every door that opens uh in the and is approved becomes part of that run rate to increase that 2.6 billion obviously it will subsustain a little bit as far as what that looks like and relative to a comparison of the cost the infrastructure costs that we the city have to maintain to do that that that's a real good question and I could probably ask our planning department to kind of help us with some of that statistical analysis if you if if we'd like to see that.

So when does the impact fee study come back I know that's a little bit outside of what we're talking about here but it isn't isn't I I'm I'm not aware of that answer so we can first okay I said I'd be quiet but I I I just want to throw one more thing out there that I think you know as Charles always says the public needs to hear and be reminded of every one of those cities that you mentioned also have I believe also have sanitation fees that the residents pay and general property taxes.

I I said I'd be quiet, but I I I just want to throw one more thing out there that I think you know, as Charles always says the public needs to hear and be reminded of every one of those cities that you mentioned also have I believe also have sanitation fees that the residents pay in general property taxes.

We have no sanitation fees, that's uh you know, five and a half, six million dollar budget, and all our property taxes are earmarked for specific items.

We have no general property tax.

So we're doing a lot on the one percent plus the share of the county that we get.

So that's not a small small task.

So this has come up before about uh sanitation fees that apartment complexes get free sanitation, and some cities don't provide that, even if they provide sanitation, free sanitation uh services to residents, but they don't that that doesn't apply to uh complexes and I think there's been when it's been brought up before there's a lot of pushback on it.

I think we've said that.

But it's something uh I think people need to be aware of that that is not generally done of providing it free sanitation services to basically a business, which uh you know complex is I've looked at and not to get too far off topic, but I think it's a good discussion.

Um, back in 2000, I think when our sales tax was passed, North Flotter Rock passed, you know, a sales tax about the same time, and they also gave up sanitation fees.

They all but they have for residence for residential um they've but they've continued to charge because I called down there one time, they've continued to charge their apartment complexes.

I mean, because it you know they they consider apartment complexes commercial units, you know, it's a business like like Miss Williams said.

I went through one time, I think I got a spreadsheet from you know the sanitation department and you know kind of put some breaks, you know, according to what service they got, since I kind of know a little bit about that, and I think you know, it was about you know, this is probably six, seven years ago, it was like one and a half million dollars a year of free service that we were given to apartment complexes, and any other city in the state, they would be paying in that.

Well, councilman if I think you remember when uh back in maybe 21 or 22 we did a study on the cost of the sanitation and the the uh services that we provide to the community and the cost to the city to do so.

Um that's why we've made those initiatives to have the neighborhood cleanups and things like that on a monthly basis.

Of course, they're not gonna save a whole lot, but we're also paying the tipping fees for our community as well at the at the sanitation uh facilities.

And so uh again, it's an internal cost that we um uh pay for the community.

And again, we can bring that study back out.

I think it'd be good to look at again.

I think last time I looked at the sanitation fees, you said you know when we go to the to the landfill and we show our driver's license, you know, we're like great, that's free.

Yeah, well, the city gets charged that.

That's correct.

And I for I haven't looked at the spreadsheet in a while, but I think it some for some reason like 250,000 dollars a year or something, six in my head.

I don't know it may be that number may be way off, but once again, another benefit that our residents receive that they may not be aware of that the city pays for.

All right.

Go ahead, Steve, sorry.

My soapbox.

I appreciate that.

One thing that uh you know, Brian and I were comparing notes real quickly there, you know, uh Councilmember Bryan.

If you think about that 3,000 household neighborhood, uh, you know, pick the number what that spending power might be, call it 50,000 for math purposes over an annual period.

Uh that produces about 1.5 million dollars on that 3,000 unit neighborhood in sales tax at $500 coming off of a $50,000 spend.

So can we service a 3,000 unit neighborhood for a million and a half dollars?

I I don't think so, but you know, someone would have to lay down the the the analysis for us to kind of consider that.

But uh again, I think that's just again reminding us of how expensive it is our infrastructure relative to serving our communities, and and that's you know, let that's before we think about sanitation costs.

Do what public safety costs, yeah, public safety costs.

So again, that it's kind of seems like we're yeah.

And I think just staying ahead of it.

I mean, the Bentonville headline.

I mean, Bentonville, you know, just got a 250 million dollar loan from Alice Walton.

Now granted they own the utility company and they had a sewer problem, we don't we don't own the sewer system.

But just staying ahead of that day, and hopefully 10 or 20 years from now, somebody else doesn't have a problem because we didn't do what we needed to do, you know.

Exactly.

We'll all be gone by the time it happens.

Yeah, that is true.

Well, not dead, but maybe this slide here, basically we just kind of want to recap our restricted revenue replacement fund.

Again, you know we knew this as ARPA until the end of 2025 or 2024 rather.

Uh so we have about 582,000 in that fund.

Again, there's a specific schedule that outlines this as well in our financial packet.

Uh we did have a request for upgrading our tornado siren system uh by director Sturch.

Uh and uh that that system is in dire need of a transition to a digital radio setup, uh, but also there are four areas that aren't uh what we would what he calls adequately covered uh relative to that.

So uh uh this is about 261,000 that we are uh planning to appropriate from the uh revenue restricted revenue replacement fund.

Uh we'll have a obviously we'll have a resolution for this uh as that comes about uh later uh after the beginning of the new year.

So uh if that is approved after your the city council's actions, uh that'll leave us about 321,000 in this fund uh at that point.

So here's uh kind of that uh reserve analysis, Dr.

Coleman that we were alluding to earlier.

You know, it it basically it just shows the very the four various funds that uh while we may have assigned the funds relative to capital improvement or depreciation fund, if necessary for whatever reason our city council could uh uh unassign those funds and reassign them somewhere else.

In theory, that makes them available as a reserve function.

So it gives us just under 30 million dollars forecasted at the end of the year, uh, but again, 17 million of that 30 has already been assigned.

We would have to uh unassign that.

So uh again that gives us about uh 13 million uh available uh in that regard.

Considering all of that, we have unappropriated reserves about 20 million after we consider our 9.8 million restricted reserve or required reserve rather.

And you'll recall that the required reserve is is is an indication by our the municipal league and the government finance office where they say you should have one to two months on on reserve uh that is required.

Uh and and so you can see in this category here that our required reserves are about 1.8 months of serving the city at 5.4 million annual spend out of our general fund, and then the unappropriated portion of that is about two months worth of spend.

So all in all, our 20 million uh will will satisfy our current spend at about 3.8 months, so we're well ahead of that one to two month category.

Uh yes, sir.

All of our funds are held in a bank and they're currently uh earning a 2.8 percent interest.

So yeah.

And that is on all accounts, councilman.

Oh, checking all accounts.

Every account.

Every account.

Every account.

Yeah, and I'm just trying to clarify so I can keep it straight in big numbers.

Uh we have X amount in the reserves.

Part of that is earmarked for certain things.

We also have a 15% that we require for reserves from that.

Clarify to me again, I'm looking at a lot of numbers.

How much do we have that is unrestricted, not by our self-inposed 15% and what's recommended are not earmarked for another project.

How much are we anticipating having in reserves at the end of the year?

Or even this year.

Uh if you take uh from this slide here, if you take the general fund of 12.5 million, and you take the 200,000 street fund, that gives you about call it 12 and a half million dollars.

But the street fund is restricted simply for streets.

To me, that's I'm assuming that is a restricted fund.

That's a that's so take that one out of the equator.

You could do that.

So so 12 and a half million dollars still, because the street funds only 170,000 projected because we basically we spend everything we can and and then some needed relative to supporting our street program.

So we have after we take out our reserves, we're holding everything back, we have 12 million unrestricted.

We have 12 million, but then you have 9.3 million restricted.

So in theory, it gives you call it 4 million dollars.

4 million dollars that's unrestricted for any other earmarked project.

Right.

But again, in addition to that, you have nearly 18 million that's just been assigned that again our city council can unassign that.

Yeah, that's earmarked for something else.

So we have a ballpark about 4 million that's not assigned or not restricted to anything.

That's that's correct.

See I'll piggyback just a little bit on your previous statement.

You know, the interest rate that we're getting on that, of course, what was that 2.8, 5%?

2.8.

Okay, 2.8 percent for liquid funds and being fully FDIC collateralized, that's saying something in today's market.

So I mean everything to be liquid from the reserve fund standpoint, and as often as we have to dip into that, would there be an opportunity for us to I don't necessarily know the rules surrounding reserve funds as it pertains to the municipality itself, but have we ever taken a look at doing any kind of short-term CDs to put, even if we just took let's say 25% of the reserve fund, I mean some of the specials that are out there today, which you still have to figure in collateralization to accompany it, so lower it probably by seven to ten basis points on that.

Those are still in the high threes.

Is there an opportunity there for us to be able to get a better return on our um on our funds that are sitting around?

Uh the short answer is yes.

And uh we uh you know it's been a few years now, uh, but our current provider has always provided us about a hundred basis points below the Fed curve in in yield on our accounts.

They're completely liquid, they're 105% insured, and so you know, that was some of the the factors that we considered relative to that.

When we did look at this about three years ago, we really didn't have any institutions that were interested in that because of the collateralization, and uh obviously the interest markets have changed a little bit since then.

At that time, I was recalling you know, four percent rates, those types of things.

So, you know, we were we were earning quite healthy on our funds then.

So we we we can look at that.

That's a great that's a great point for us to if we did nothing, at least we've done our analysis and make sure that we uh are are considering that.

Now, again, our current provider also does all of our services free of charge.

So there are no fees for any wire uh not wire ACH activities or anything like that, uh no check cost, nothing, so no monthly service charge, anything.

So once again, I I applaud the 2.8.

I think that that's a great rate for our we stand today, and I would hate to I would hate to cannibalize that rate or to upset the Apple card, if you will, if we have the 2.8 based off of certain criteria, and that's also earning us no fee structure or anything else on any kind of account analysis fees there.

I just didn't know necessarily with the reserves how they stood, or if that was a overarching umbrella for the full financial picture in our agreement with our current provider.

Yeah, okay.

We we will look at that.

That's a great point.

Sure thing.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Uh any other discussions about reserve.

Okay, there.

Uh these next uh few slides here just basically kind of lay out our current budget compared to pre previous budget.

Uh obviously you can see some of the revenue uh differences here.

Uh obviously the the the one that stands out on this page are franchise fees, uh, and again, that's simply a function of moving 1.1 million uh into our uh capital improvement bond uh for that debt service.

We do that on a monthly basis.

We move over just under $96,000 into our capital improvement bond fund, uh, and it's held uh at a at first security bank who was our bond trustee uh in Little Rock, and uh they're they're assisting us with that, and the the current yield on those funds is uh three point six percent.

So that's even a better rate than what we're getting on our checking account today.

So uh so there is an opportunity to to for those funds to be earning as well, while they're coming out of our general fund, they're going into that bond fund.

our bond trustee uh in little rock and uh they're they're assisting us with that and the the current yield on those funds is uh 3.6 percent so that's even a better rate than what we're getting on our checking account today so uh so there is an opportunity to to for those funds to be earning as well while they're coming out of our general fund they're going into that bond fund obviously our payment is due every uh every August and uh so that fund gets zapped every August to make that annual payment so uh the other thing on here uh basically fines and miscellaneous uh those types of things permits and fees we we take the current year trend we forecast that revenue and then we apply two percent growth uh so obviously permits and fees we've seen some activities there that maybe the the year over year trend was a little bit different but then after applying our two percent growth it still comes in slightly under our budget projection uh from the previous year so again that's just something that we we manage and and monitor through our process here again the grid here kind of shows the makeup uh as we've alluded to before our sales tax routines make up we call it 70 percent more like 68 percent actual uh makeup of our revenue stream uh so again uh 70 percent of our revenue comes from sales tax uh that supports about 70 almost 70 percent of our public safety sector as well we'll see on a future slide here so speaking of uh there's here's a basically a uh chart that shows our uh by type of expenditures again personnel is the the line share of the increase here again uh and that is basically uh an indication of our four percent increase in salaries two percent step two percent cost of living adjustment so hey steve quick question on the expenditures um i know you know is historically we've always compared it to budget you know the prior year budget you know when you look at projecting out the rest of this year are there do you have any concerns that the 2026 budget needs to be adjusted in certain areas based upon our projection rather than just looking back at last year's budget or you feel comfortable that things are kind of in line we we feel good about that uh again you know obviously uh when you start layering on capital improvements you know that takes a big chunk out of the general and the street fund uh and then the uh again the four percent is you know it's a run of about 400 000 per percent so you know we we've got that in here as well uh so uh but as far as after that some of the what we're seeing on some of the differences is basically uh challenging our directors to look at fixed assets a little closer those things that uh looking in those categories and those those are the primary ones we're seeing are coming in under budget which are supporting some of the cost increases relative to higher equipment uh parts and labor and those types of things so we're not seeing anything that is alarming yeah I guess you know the the one example I can think of is last year when we when the 2025 budget was done you know the the whole self self-insured group insurance was a brand new thing so you know as you looked at this year's budget or next year's budget yes you know did you base it upon kind of how things are running and the lag and you know how you know being you know 10 months into it now yeah do you still feel good that the 2026 for group insurance is is an adequate budget yes we do uh and again our um uh our planned manager uh hatcher agency uh always cautions us specifically the finance department because we're the ones that are real quick to say is this going okay yeah and they always caution us that year one you're just getting your feet under you year two you begin to see some routines and activities year three is when you really start being able to analyze that but yeah yeah because when you're when you're fully insured you don't have to worry about the lag and exactly and any of that stuff because we're we're self-insured where I work and you know you can have claims coming in you know well after the end of the year you know for for that year or almost sometimes for the year before so just I know it's a learning experience that's why I was wanting to ask make sure we were you felt good about it so yeah we we feel good about it uh it's it's a it's it's a uh uh a liability at this point of about 1.5 million but that's through 12 months of activity and we've still got premium routines coming in obviously uh from our deductions and the city match uh and then uh the uh we'll we will begin to see some of that lag come in in the February March time frame and that's when we'll be able to look more heavily at it and when we look at that same uh 1.5 million exposure uh if we had stayed fully insured that exposure would have climbed up to five and a half six million dollars so yeah you're welcome I think this is our last slide

Uh and then uh the uh we'll we will begin to see some of that lag come in in the February March time frame, uh and that's when we'll be able to look more heavily at it.

And when we look at that same uh 1.5 million exposure, uh if we had stayed fully insured, that exposure would have climbed up to five and a half, six million dollars.

So you're welcome.

I think this is our last slide here.

Uh basically we look at our uh department categories and we line this up here and again in our our public safety and and sector uh and for both fire and police uh we're at just just under 60 percent uh relative to that.

And so again, those are the the key areas there.

Uh parks and recreation, while you see a slight decline here actually in the street department as well, uh that's more of a fun more a function of uh parks departments managing part-time salaries.

Uh looks like they're planning to manage those better for 2026 uh as well as they came in uh with a lower ask on depreciation or a fixed asset cost uh those types of things.

So and and that's similar for highways is and street as well.

So it's like fixed assets were down like almost 200,000.

Yes, they are overall, right?

Yeah, compared to last year for parks.

Yes.

I have a question.

Yes, sir.

Uh on the law enforcement part of it.

Uh is our projection from a nationwide or the projection from surrounding counties on possibility, hiring more offices, that type of thing.

I guess basically, how far have you projected from the financial standpoint of maybe hiring more people?

We we but we prepare our budget based on fully staffed.

So we've we base our budget for law enforcement specifically, that's the question.

As is as our departments are fully staffed.

I think Chief Elliott will indicate that that that's something to aspire to be, but it's not it doesn't always happen.

So uh relative to that, we expect that that department will be uh fully staffed and that that will take care of from a budget perspective.

Right.

Uh that that possibly will take care of some of this increasing that you're talking about.

And and so well, I I guess I look at the fact of uh Jonesville growing.

Uh I'm not sure.

I'm sure uh the uh the chief can answer that question uh better than any of us, but from a five-year perspective, possibly how many more offices do you think we'd need thank you for that question, Dr.

Coleman.

The same question was posed to me by another council member uh as Mr.

Perty uh related to uh becoming fully staffed is a problem across the country right now.

Law enforcement faces a uh concern of finding qualified people to go to work.

It's not just a problem here, it's a problem across country.

Uh today I am 15 short.

I've got five, maybe six in the backgrounds for hire later this this month.

Um we processed over 350 applications last year, and I got 10.

So finding that qualified applicant uh by the set of standards that we have in place for an applicant, what I look for in a in an applicant.

I'm not going to take just a body to fill a slot.

I have certain criteria that I look for, as in most agencies do.

Uh so during my tenure as chief, going on 12 years, we have been fully staffed for two weeks.

That's it.

So that is our struggle.

Uh yes, the city's growing.

Yes, I'd like for those numbers to grow at some point.

If we ever get to the point of fully staffed and staying fully staffed, then that is certainly something we'll look at, and I will be glad to come to the council and go, hey, we're we're just we're at the move to ask.

When I hit that point, there is some federal money out there, these cops for hire grants that will pay 70% of those salaries for the first three years, and then we pick up the rest.

We've been successful in those grants in the past, but I can't apply for that grant till I get fully staffed where I'm at.

So I know there's some opportunities out there, but I gotta get people in the door first, fill up what I have in place, and then we'll go from there.

But um it's just getting to that point with qualified people is the the struggle not only here but anywhere any chief or sheriff you talk to anywhere in the country, that is the current struggle.

Yes, sir.

Chief, I know you talked about this once, and my memory is short.

I mean, I know just the way it works in any profession, people don't stick to any kind of job anymore the way they used to.

People used to stay forever.

So what does it typically look like in a year?

How many veterans do you lose versus how many people do you onboard when you already have the vacancies?

I guess it's just hard for these things to go up, right?

So it is.

Uh it's uh, you know, our patrol division, the biggest part of our patrol division is five years or less out of 130 something people in patrol.

They have five years or less experience.

So and what we're facing here in the next two years, the upper level of our department, include including most of our command staff, we're gonna be retiring.

So we're you know, I'm at a point of trying to get the upcoming rank uh trained in leadership skills and those things ready to to move up and take our place.

So that's the struggle is uh keeping the senior people here, uh, which we've done a good job, but you know what?

They're they're at the point of retiring out.

And this year we have six eligible to retire.

Uh whether they do or not, I don't know.

The next year that number will be eight.

So uh, you know, we're we're gonna be losing a lot of experience over the next uh few years.

What's the sweet spot?

When you keep somebody, what amount of time do you usually get to keep them for a long time?

Well, you know, right now uh prior to implementing our health and wellness program, we were losing them at three and four years.

Uh what these officers see day in and day out on the street, uh sometimes it's they get PTSD, it's hard to process the death, the destruction, the things they have to face on a daily basis.

Uh by implementing our health and wellness program over a year ago, uh that has had a huge impact on our retention.

So it's recognizing things like that, taking care of your own within uh by those means.

Um not everything's salary related.

You know, we did a certain uh study several years ago with ASU and uh health and wellness ranked above salary.

I'm not saying salary is not important, but that health and wellness uh was ranked higher.

So we do have that in place.

That is a mechanism that has paid off for seeing huge dividends.

The fire department's looking for the same thing right now, they're facing the same issues that these firemen they roll up on these scenes, they're dealing with things, and uh you know, these young firemen, police officers that come in at 21 years old.

Uh it's it's more than they can process over a period of time.

You see a lot in a short period of time, and you know, average person in your lifetime, you may have eight to ten traumatic events in your lifetime, and uh policemen or firemen will have you know eight hundred plus.

So it mentally it's kind of taxing on the individuals, and that's why we had a burnout rate at four and five.

But if we can help them process these things, get through that, we're seeing longer retention.

So it works for the most part.

There are still those that uh after a few bad incidents, they just throw their hands up and like I can go work elsewhere, make more money and not have to deal with this.

You know, I think Chief, too, over the last um almost half a decade now.

We have really invested and uh worked well with uh the department on the mental illness aspect.

Um also the time frame, five on four off.

Uh as I continue to listen to the officers and hear, I mean, they want to come back to work, and so it it it it provides the pride.

But one thing, area that council has, and and I want y'all to be aware, we train these officers now more than other communities are eligible or ability, have ability to train their officers.

And so they really appreciate that because now they're training within themselves more and they're qualified more to do their job.

You're absolutely right, right, Mayor.

Uh, and training is always a big issue, especially when it comes to lawsuits.

Uh the training always comes up.

And uh we exceed probably more than any agency in the state because we have built in for our patrol every month, they're doing six hours of training.

That's built in.

The state only requires 24 hours of training a month.

I mean a year.

So we do six hours a month.

Uh so we we exceed that, then plus these officers have other opportunities to go different classes throughout the year.

So we exceed that level equipment wise, here we are in budgeting.

We had a good budget year last year, a good budget year this year.

So I will stack up our equipment against any other agency in the state.

I think we meet or beat any what anybody else has in place.

People think it's just for military people, but it's for No, it's it's the same.

Anything that's traumatizing to the individual, uh, you know, face it, you will roll up in these scenes and or you go to death cases, uh, it's it's disturbing, and and you see that over and over and over.

Uh it, you know, it weighs heavy on you.

And then when you start getting kids involved, and you know, it takes a toll on people, and the average citizen has doesn't really realize that that aspect of policing.

So our chaplain program that Dr.

Coleman's a part of, uh, that has been very beneficial, the mental health and wellness.

So again, we were one of the first in the state to kind of get this up and running, and others have looked at what we're doing and why and the benefit of it.

So it's now becoming a trend across the country that everybody's jumping into it.

And I just had this conversation with Dwayne Douglas today, and it's like, hey, we're trying to do this citywide.

So, you know, there's other things that out there that the that will benefit our employees, and now that the fire department's embracing the concept and look at the rest of the city, uh uh applaud the mayor and staff for broadening that scope and has seen the importance of this and the benefits of it.

So, as the mayor said, you're always looking to take care of the employees the best way we can.

So city council needs some of that too.

Well, there may be, but uh, once we get it in place, we'll be there.

But the short answer to the question of adding staff, yeah, if we can get fully staffed, then that day comes, uh, I will be the first to come up and go, hey, we're here, and yes, I'm ready to move forward.

Trust me, I will not miss that opportunity.

You know me well enough.

Thank you, Chief.

Um go ahead, Brian.

I just want to add something that that uh Chief Elliott is probably too um too proud to say in his own support.

But um, you know, when you look at the number of uh police officers that we have on staff and the fact that we're 15 short, that's nothing more than a testimonial to him in his department being able to manage such a you know transitional workforce, you know, with what all we've seen across the state and and the kind of the salary wars and and and and the races there to you know to be less than 10% short of of our total staffing.

I would take that in a lot of city departments as we stand today, as far as you know, your your actual absentee rate in open positions, so you know, just a pat on the back to to he and in HR and finance for working in administration for working um closely with both the police and fire department and really all our departments and making sure that we do everything within our you know limited powers to be able to entice people to come here and stay here.

So you know, just like to Pat Chief on the back for those efforts and uh appreciate counsel for allowing the resources to make those efforts happen whenever it's a financial thing, but when it comes to recruiting and talking people into saying that's all those guys.

So thank you.

We we've got about five more minutes.

Does anybody on the sit up here on the council have any questions regarding the budget or comments?

I would like to say something.

Uh we're talking about making sure people understand something.

Uh we only get one cent sales tax.

We get a heck of a return on that one cent of citizens here for that investment, and I think the staff does a great job of managing those funds.

We all would like to see more things in more areas, but like any family household, we have to make a budget and prioritize what we can use those funds for.

But another important thing, we haven't had a um a tax increase or any any kind of a new source of revenue, and uh we're probably one of the cheapest tax cities in the state of Arkansas for our size.

We're fifth largest by population and second largest in land size.

And when people compare us with like Conway, one big factor, Conway is half of our land size.

We have 82 and a half square miles that stretch our resources to the limit.

We have to cover every single square foot of that with police, fire, sanitation, streets, it increases every single department's budget.

So I think we get a remarkable return on the investment we have at some point in time, especially and it was that was a great presentation on fire the other night.

We're gonna have to have some additional funds to implement those long range plans for public safety.

It just can't be ignored.

It's gonna have to be done.

And there's other increases like for the police department as we talked about and other things.

So it's something I think we're gonna have to look at as a is another tax increase, a half cent or something to offset some of these things that we just won't have a choice on.

And I think we manage our money well and do a great job, but for a city our size, uh you know, there's a you can't do something with nothing.

And there's not a one of us here that wouldn't like to see more money appropriated to some area of the city.

And I know a lot of citizens would too, but you can't create money out of thin air, so it's just something we need to look at and think about.

And I I think um maybe sooner than later, because the the fire department needs are gonna be right on us with new fire stations, which are gonna require additional firemen, additional equipment, um upgrades and technology, all of that costs more money and inflation is there too, so it's just something to consider.

But all in all, if you live in Jonesboro like we all do, we're very blessed to have the amenities and the quality of life we have for no more tax than we pay.

So I want to uh I want to thank you for your presentation, basically for answering my questions because I get those same questions in the community, and if they hear this on KIT, if they listen to whatever the news media, those things uh it makes me feel a little bit more comfortable when uh when the uh constituents ask me a question if we can answer, maybe not fully everything up here, but I just want to appreciate you answering my questions.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Quick question, if I may.

Um, on the ARPA funds, is any of that unspent COVID relief money and it do we have any unspent COVID relief money?

And the ARPA funds we fully satisfied all ARPA requirements, and uh again the very last part function of that is the ability to set aside for revenue replacement, and those are the funds that we are appropriating now.

So, but yes, we did fully satisfy all ARPA requirements.

Great question.

Thank you.

Anything else from the committee or the council people I just say one last thing, and I mean John said it.

I think I've been on city council nine years ago, and I meet with met with Chef Chief Miller at the time, and we had a five-year plan to add two stations, and here we are nine years later, and I think everybody's had the best of intentions undoubtedly uh for nine years, but sooner or later we've got to pay the Piper to John's point kicking the can down.

Yeah, well, if there's nothing Mr.

Chairman, if you don't mind, I I want to take a little bit of personal liberty here.

Uh Christie Wall, she's in the room here.

She does an incredible job on putting our budget together.

So uh appreciate her, appreciate the our our directors, our chiefs and their work on the budget as well.

It's not a it's not a few week process, it's several months process.

We we really appreciate all of that.

That through all of those efforts, that's what brings us about.

So, and uh, you know, the mayor wanted me to conclude with one thing uh that uh uh that the finance department is the best department in the city of Jonathan.

So that concludes our presentation.

Mayor, do you have anything else you'd like to say?

I think we pretty well said it all, and I appreciate the participation from council taking your time.

Um I think we all get the point here, and uh we are stretched to the to the ends, and uh I appreciate your time.

And I'll just say this will be on the finance agenda on Tuesday.

Everyone's welcome to attend.

Um we can have continued discussions as needed, and if there's nothing else, the next item's adjournment.

So moved.

I'm favor saying aye.

Aye foes.