OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Finance Committee and Tourism Grant Presentations - May 13, 2025

City Council Archive View — Tuesday, May 13, 2025
BodyMarietta, Georgia
SessionCity Council Archive View
DateTuesday, May 13, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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0:03

For the Finance and Investment Committee.

0:05

At this time, the committee meeting is called to order.

0:09

The only item of business.

0:14

There we go.

0:15

The only item of business is the fiscal year 2025 financial performance update.

0:21

And uh before we do that, Carl, can you hear us?

0:27

I can hear you.

0:28

Okay.

0:31

There we go.

0:32

Patina, take it away.

0:35

Thank you.

0:37

Councilman Goldstein.

0:40

So I will provide for you just a short breakdown of where we are thus far for FY25 as we go on to the end of the fiscal year.

0:53

And give you a sneak preview into FY26 as I know it so far.

0:58

We are still building out the budget, so that will be kind of sealed and ready to go by next week.

1:07

We're anticipating a recommended budget book to be released by Wednesday of next week.

1:15

So needless to say, we are furiously typing up budget and making sure that numbers are matching.

1:23

So what I'll do today is just provide a um categorical summary and um highlight some of the areas that have had some of the most impact, not necessarily go through an entire budget line by line, but we'll just hit some of the major areas so that you can get an idea of what items have impacted us positively or negatively so far.

1:50

So I'll walk through some of the budget assumptions for FY26, and then I'll as we go through the slides.

2:06

So for all of the funds, um we are anticipating a mid-year salary increase of four percent.

2:14

This is something that we uh the salary increase is reviewed at mid-year each year, um, depending on the financial status and health of the organization.

2:26

A determination is made and approved by council at that time, but we are building in a four percent for mid-year.

2:36

Currently um there are no health care cost increases built into the budget, and when I say cost increases, I'm from the employee side.

2:48

So there are um multiple um self-insurance and health care costs that I'll get into momentarily from the employer side that is also impacting our overall budget.

3:03

Um while she's uh talking about that, just would like to reiterate with everybody that uh that is one of the main things that we use to attract and retain employees.

3:14

Um we uh because we have not increased their health care costs for many years now.

3:20

Um our payment that our employees have to make for health care for either family or single is much less than what other governments have to make.

3:28

And so that does go into their overall take-home salary.

3:32

Uh they get to take home a lot more because of the fact that we're not taking out as much from their health insurance costs.

3:41

Thank you.

3:43

So um we do currently have approximately two million dollars of reserve built into the self-insurance fund um to balance out our um uh health care and as well as our insurance costs.

3:59

I'll get into that a little bit more in just a moment.

4:03

Um as we look um take a 10-year look from 2015 to now, you'll see that there's been a huge fluctuation in employee health care um benefit costs.

4:19

So this is um what the city pays out for the employees and the um during COVID, of course, we had a huge um change in our health care costs topping out at almost 15 million dollars per year from a start of 10 million in 2015.

4:40

We are normalizing um out a lot of that came from high claims um that we were receiving during COVID.

4:48

Um, and they were high claims and very numerous claims that we were receiving.

5:00

So that uh inflated our costs quite a bit during that time frame, and we've seen a um huge drop-off, and we've also had um refunds and rebates that we've been able to incorporate um that have also helped cut um curve some of those costs.

5:16

So we are normalizing at around 12 million per year.

5:23

In conjunction with that, we do have our property and casualty premiums, and this is where um we are feeling a huge pain point at this um going into this current fiscal year in this current fiscal year and going into FY26.

5:40

So in 2024, uh which was FY25, um, we were we had to change our insurance companies, um, and we were also um at that time with the new insurance company we had to have our assets re-evalued.

6:02

So with that, um our premium went from approximately one million to one point almost one point eight million.

6:12

So um you may recall back in August during our renewal, um HR director came before the council and asked for an increase in the budget in order to cover those costs.

6:27

Due to some pending um legislation, we may have another increase as they are um possibly requ uh requiring us to increase our uh limits for our um insurance for property and casualty.

6:45

Um I think the claims would be is it three and five or one and three?

6:49

Yeah, the um the legislature had in front of it this year uh the proposal that would uh take our limits from one million to one million and three million, depending on uh an occurrence that have multiple victims.

7:02

Uh then the legislature changed that um after they had agreement from all parties, it seemed like the legislature changed that and went to three million and five million.

7:13

Um thankfully, uh even though that did pass the original committee, it was held uh and did not get through both houses.

7:21

Um so it is still sitting there and uh is ready to come back up on us next year uh for the second year of their session.

7:29

Um but the real problem we're facing right now is that Milton lawsuit uh where the uh judge and then the appellate court ruled that uh Milton could not use their sovereign immunity uh like Cobb County does uh with their cases, and uh instead got hit with a verdict of over 30 million.

7:48

Um so uh that is now gonna go to the Supreme Court, and we're waiting on uh their determination.

7:54

But if that held, then all bets are off.

7:59

Um then basically we would have no limit uh on insurance, and uh who knows what our insurance would cost at that point, especially since we're self-insured, which is a lot of people probably don't know.

8:10

But since we're self-insured, we do pay all the payments ourselves, we're not part of a group that averages those payments out.

8:18

Um so uh we thought before all of this happened uh that we were gonna end up with about a 20% increase in our insurance uh for this coming year, but we don't know now.

8:28

We really don't uh because there isn't anybody in the state uh at this point that has had to secure three and five million dollar coverage amounts, uh so we don't know uh what the insurance companies will do.

8:41

And if y'all remember the reason why we had to switch companies is because our other companies are it got out of the market, so they just said forget it.

8:48

We're not doing uh municipal insurance anymore in North America.

8:51

So they just got out of it with that.

8:54

So there are very few uh companies left uh that will actually ensure governance in the state.

9:01

So we'll see, but that that process will all occur in the August time frame.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Arts And Culture███████████████████████████27%
Tourism Promotion████████████12%
Fiscal Sustainability███████████11%
Tourism██████████10%
Community Engagement██████████10%
Revenue Management████████8%
Historic Preservation███████7%
Workforce Development███3%
Pending Litigation██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Finance Committee and Tourism Grant Presentations - May 13, 2025

The meeting opened with the Finance and Investment Committee receiving a fiscal year 2025 financial performance update, followed by a series of tourism grant presentations from Marietta cultural and community organizations. The city's financial outlook shows flat or declining revenue with some reserve buffers, while the grant applicants showcased events and programs designed to attract visitors and stimulate the local economy.

Fiscal Year 2025 Financial Performance Update

  • Mid-year salary increase of 4% is built into the FY26 budget, subject to council approval based on the city's financial health. No employee health care cost increases are planned.
  • Health care costs have normalized at around $12 million per year after fluctuation during COVID (peaking at nearly $15 million). The city holds approximately $2 million in reserve in the self-insurance fund.
  • Property and casualty insurance premiums rose from about $1 million to $1.8 million after the city had to switch insurance companies. The forecast for FY26 assumes a $2 million premium. The city has over $6 million in reserves for insurance needs.
  • Salary savings this year are at $1.75 million (down from $2.8 million last year) due to increased hiring levels. A hiring slowdown has been initiated to rebuild capital.
  • Capital constraints have led to delaying the final $750,000 installment for a fire truck over two years. Police department vehicles will take the bulk of year-end capital.
  • Millage rate remains at 2.788 mills for the 24th consecutive year. The city anticipates about a 3% increase in the property tax digest (higher than the countywide 2% increase).
  • Hotel/motel tax is seeing a slight decrease, reflecting economic slowdown. Auto rental excise tax was over-reported in FY24, requiring a refund, and will be slightly higher in FY26.
  • Business license revenue has fluctuated due to administrative changes and slower renewals. A second renewal notice has been sent.
  • Franchise fees from telephone and cable are decreasing, while electricity franchise fees show a slight uptick from provider price increases.
  • BLW revenues are stable, with 2.5% wholesale water increases and 3% wholesale wastewater increases from Cobb County. A 7% pay increase for line workers is built in to retain experienced staff.
  • Service Delivery Strategy (tax equity reimbursement) negotiations are ongoing; FY26 revenue is expected to be stable at the current level, with no guarantee beyond that.

Tourism Grant Presentations

Several organizations presented requests for FY26 tourism funds. Below is a summary of the requests and key statistics.

  • Alley Stage Foundation – Requested $25,000 for a cabaret series, Shakespeare series, and a Christmas cabaret. Since opening in July 2023, 40,000 patrons visited, 40% from outside Marietta. They donated over $150,000 in free tickets to veterans and law enforcement.
  • Brumby Hall and Gardens (Gone with the Wind Museum) – Requested funds for expanded programming. Attendance increased 233%, gift shop sales 176%. Year-to-date attendance is 3,909; visitors from 39 states and 23 countries.
  • City Staff (Special Events) – Requested $221,169.53 for staffing at events including Fourth in the Park, Art in the Park, Choctoberfest, Juneteenth, Veterans Day Parade, and holiday lighting. Holiday lighting request increased from $15,000 to $19,000 to add archways with orbs at four square corners.
  • Cobb Landmarks (Root House Museum) – Requested $50,000 for general operating support. 6,400 visitors last year; 2,000 visited the Christmas Home Tour. Grant would support programming, marketing, and the Marietta Pilgrimage Home Tour.
  • Georgia Metro Dance Theater – Requested $25,000 for guest artists and costumes. 13 performances sold over 5,500 tickets; patrons from 120 zip codes and 16 states.
  • Georgia Symphony Orchestra – Requested $95,000 as presenting sponsor of its 75th season. Funds would expand performances (GSO Jazz, sensory-friendly concerts, chamber series, and GSO on the Go) and launch a regional marketing campaign.
  • Historic Marietta Square Branding Project – Requested $6,000 for social media promotion of square businesses. 60,000 followers across platforms; artisan market averages 2,000 visitors each Saturday.
  • Lemon Street Classic – Requested $35,000 (up from $29,000) for a basketball tournament honoring Lemon Street High School. Featured two international teams last year; one student received a $2,500 scholarship. Funds would house visiting teams in Marietta hotels and promote local dining.
  • Marietta Arts Council – Requested $20,000 for marketing arts programming (Trailfest, fence galleries, murals, art in parks). Won Cobb Travel and Tourism's event of the year.
  • Marietta Educational Garden Center (Fair Oaks) – Requested $6,000 for a new sign on Kennesaw Avenue. 26 non-member events booked this year; annual Fall Family Fun Day and golf tournament support operations.
  • Marietta History Center – Requested funds for operating support. Won Best Museum in Cobb County. Installed new HVAC units, painted galleries, and planned traveling exhibits on Bunts Island and William Alexander Scott.
  • Marietta Theater Company – Requested support for Broadway-style musicals. Produced 30 full-scale musicals since 2017; 8,000 guests per year. 80% of 2024 guests were first-time attendees.
  • Old Zion Heritage Museum – Requested funds for technology upgrades (video presentations) and a Christmas cantata with KSU. 800 people attended a partnership event with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Also planning a Juneteenth fish fry.
  • Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater – Requested funding for multi-week productions, live performances, and holiday events. 61,000 patrons from 41 states and 86 Georgia counties in 2024. Economic impact of $5.5 million.
  • Georgia Ballet – Requested $20,000 for a guest choreographer residency for its 65th anniversary season. Productions include Dracula, Nutcracker, and Wizard of Oz. Patrons from 17 states and 98 cities.
  • Marietta Theater in the Square – Requested funds to continue productions and community outreach. Launched Sage Ensemble and Sage Community Garden. Commemorated 10-year anniversary.
  • Visit Marietta – Requested funds to continue rebranding and destination marketing. New tagline: "Meet Me on the Square." Campaigns target key drive markets and digital billboards.
  • Welcome Center Rent – Requested $20,867 for rent and maintenance of 4 Depot Street (the Welcome Center), now in its sixth year of agreement.
  • City Staff Marketing – Requested $30,000 for social media advertising, digital billboards, and a Placer AI subscription (location intelligence platform) to track visitor patterns.
  • Cobb County NAACP Juneteenth – Requested increased funding for a three-day event (all-white block party, cultural day, salute to fathers). This is the 22nd year hosting Juneteenth on the Marietta Square.
  • Marietta Cobb Museum of Arts – Requested a total of $145,000 ($45,000 for education, $15,000 for exhibitions, $85,000 for Choctoberfest). Museum reached 48,000 visitors (33% increase over 2023). Total annual expenses: $1.6 million.

Key Outcomes

  • The Finance and Investment Committee received the FY25 performance update and FY26 preliminary assumptions. No votes were taken during the financial portion.
  • The tourism grant presentations were heard, and the committee will deliberate and announce decisions at a later date.
  • Councilmembers expressed gratitude to all presenters and noted the importance of these organizations to Marietta's cultural and economic vitality.
  • The meeting was adjourned after all presentations. No final grant allocations were approved during this session.

Meeting Transcript

For the Finance and Investment Committee. At this time, the committee meeting is called to order. The only item of business. There we go. The only item of business is the fiscal year 2025 financial performance update. And uh before we do that, Carl, can you hear us? I can hear you. Okay. There we go. Patina, take it away. Thank you. Councilman Goldstein. So I will provide for you just a short breakdown of where we are thus far for FY25 as we go on to the end of the fiscal year. And give you a sneak preview into FY26 as I know it so far. We are still building out the budget, so that will be kind of sealed and ready to go by next week. We're anticipating a recommended budget book to be released by Wednesday of next week. So needless to say, we are furiously typing up budget and making sure that numbers are matching. So what I'll do today is just provide a um categorical summary and um highlight some of the areas that have had some of the most impact, not necessarily go through an entire budget line by line, but we'll just hit some of the major areas so that you can get an idea of what items have impacted us positively or negatively so far. So I'll walk through some of the budget assumptions for FY26, and then I'll as we go through the slides. So for all of the funds, um we are anticipating a mid-year salary increase of four percent. This is something that we uh the salary increase is reviewed at mid-year each year, um, depending on the financial status and health of the organization. A determination is made and approved by council at that time, but we are building in a four percent for mid-year. Currently um there are no health care cost increases built into the budget, and when I say cost increases, I'm from the employee side. So there are um multiple um self-insurance and health care costs that I'll get into momentarily from the employer side that is also impacting our overall budget. Um while she's uh talking about that, just would like to reiterate with everybody that uh that is one of the main things that we use to attract and retain employees. Um we uh because we have not increased their health care costs for many years now. Um our payment that our employees have to make for health care for either family or single is much less than what other governments have to make. And so that does go into their overall take-home salary. Uh they get to take home a lot more because of the fact that we're not taking out as much from their health insurance costs. Thank you. So um we do currently have approximately two million dollars of reserve built into the self-insurance fund um to balance out our um uh health care and as well as our insurance costs. I'll get into that a little bit more in just a moment. Um as we look um take a 10-year look from 2015 to now, you'll see that there's been a huge fluctuation in employee health care um benefit costs. So this is um what the city pays out for the employees and the um during COVID, of course, we had a huge um change in our health care costs topping out at almost 15 million dollars per year from a start of 10 million in 2015. We are normalizing um out a lot of that came from high claims um that we were receiving during COVID. Um, and they were high claims and very numerous claims that we were receiving. So that uh inflated our costs quite a bit during that time frame, and we've seen a um huge drop-off, and we've also had um refunds and rebates that we've been able to incorporate um that have also helped cut um curve some of those costs. So we are normalizing at around 12 million per year. In conjunction with that, we do have our property and casualty premiums, and this is where um we are feeling a huge pain point at this um going into this current fiscal year in this current fiscal year and going into FY26. So in 2024, uh which was FY25, um, we were we had to change our insurance companies, um, and we were also um at that time with the new insurance company we had to have our assets re-evalued. So with that, um our premium went from approximately one million to one point almost one point eight million. So um you may recall back in August during our renewal, um HR director came before the council and asked for an increase in the budget in order to cover those costs. Due to some pending um legislation, we may have another increase as they are um possibly requ uh requiring us to increase our uh limits for our um insurance for property and casualty. Um I think the claims would be is it three and five or one and three? Yeah, the um the legislature had in front of it this year uh the proposal that would uh take our limits from one million to one million and three million, depending on uh an occurrence that have multiple victims. Uh then the legislature changed that um after they had agreement from all parties, it seemed like the legislature changed that and went to three million and five million. Um thankfully, uh even though that did pass the original committee, it was held uh and did not get through both houses. Um so it is still sitting there and uh is ready to come back up on us next year uh for the second year of their session. Um but the real problem we're facing right now is that Milton lawsuit uh where the uh judge and then the appellate court ruled that uh Milton could not use their sovereign immunity uh like Cobb County does uh with their cases, and uh instead got hit with a verdict of over 30 million. Um so uh that is now gonna go to the Supreme Court, and we're waiting on uh their determination.

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