Ready to roll.

All right.

We'll get started as the uh first night of our uh budget workshops.

Uh tonight we have uh police safety, police fire, public safety, police fire, parking and maritime.

And uh did we draw straws in the back and Ryan Europe first?

Yes.

Is that what happened?

Perfect.

That is exactly what happened.

The opening act.

All right, next slide, please.

Hello, Ryan Duffy, Chief of Police.

Oh, I have it.

Yeah, work out all the case.

Good morning.

All right, so uh we just start off with the budget roll-ups.

Um so I'll give you an idea of of uh you know, kind of point out our big our big change and kind of tell you what's involved in it.

So the the big the big change for police uh budget this year is salaries, and that's through contract negotiations, like the and the in this salaries roll up line, uh not only include the direct salaries or the the straight time salaries, uh, but also include things like overtime, um our special detail pay, uh and they're all they were all affected um by the by the increase was is a five percent predicted increase in salaries for the police department through the CBA uh and that has an it has a an impact with uh um especially when it we look at overtime and applying that over time and a half.

That's our that's our big um our big mover.

Um the other ones, uh you know, uh uh fringe benefits, um uh that's that roll up uh includes all the insurances, uh payroll taxes, um uh tuition reimbursement, things of that nature.

Um our purchase services, um, our a host of uh things that we need to operate uh the building and our um uh and our department, which include uh things like contract services, which is a big line item for us for all the software that we uh that we subscribe to the to um uh also our um little things like laundry services, um our potter league contract is also included in that as well.

Uh not much movement of the utilities uh or uh really for that matter our internal services, which is uh included like gasoline vehicle maintenance or overhead or utilities and things of that nature.

Um uh and our operating another relatively oh that's just the same, sorry, excuse me.

And then our supplies and materials, the materials needed for the operation of the police department.

Um laundry list of things, and that's not not much of a uh a movement there.

Move to the next slide.

Uh our personnel.

Um pretty much breaks this down, breaks down for you uh the makeup of the department.

Uh total in total, we have 85 sworn officers budgeted.

Um we have 18 full-time professional staff budgeted.

Um the total department staff is one fifty-three operationally.

I should mention that the part-time traffic aids.

Uh while I mentioned them here because operationally they're within the department.

Uh they are um uh their salaries are under the parking fund.

uh the makeup of the department uh total in total we have 85 sworn officers budgeted um we have 18 full-time professional staff budgeted um the the total department staff is 153 operationally i should mention that the part time traffic aids uh while i mentioned them here because operationally they're within the department uh they are um uh their salaries are under the parking fund chief duffy yes is this fully staffed this is fully staffed yes thank you any questions on personnel all right moving to capital projects let me change the slide uh so we uh on onset we we had a uh number of projects that we put into capital projects uh then when uh department heads and staff got together uh to um look at the budget we removed a number of items and left uh in as far as our priority um is 31 000 for investigative technology um 125 000 for our impound and evidence lot and uh 150 000 in for our municipal support UAV so for the police in total uh capital projects are 30645 minutes to digest when you say removed does that mean that they're completed no that means that we we had to we put the capital projects in the department heads in order to kind of identify what our needs are and then when we look at the at the pile of money uh we had to make some priority choices about what what can fit and what uh what we have to push off for another time uh or fund in a different manner and so that's uh the removed is is basically those those items that we have deferred for this year okay could I also ask one other question has more to do with hiring um so you said we're fully staffed now um so we've hired several officers and do you think that's based on the raises that we've we increased yeah I think there are a number of reasons um I think we did a very robust recruitment plan um and um it also has to do with uh with raises it also has to do um uh um with uh the quality of work life for Newport police officer um um but I think um I think a lot of the uh a lot of the credit has to go to the staff that went out and really did a lot of recruiting it's not like it used to be when I tried out for for Newport I was one of the 800 people or over three days of of testing and if um and so that you you know you could yeah you could just pick and you always had a great list now it's more like you know recruiting for for college teams you know you go out and and you tell them how good the department is and you really have to kind of sell yourself and I think uh we we have been able to do that and a lot of credit goes to the officers uh that went out and did that um to get good staff uh and but no doubt uh the you know a successful CBA yeah is is impactful yeah no we were having trouble hiring people oh many years there is across the profession there still is difficulty um we just put a lot of effort a lot of work into it um and you know it's a it's a it's always we don't have a lot of people on our lists it's an ongoing thing um and uh you know as we have natural retirements it's still a grind to get the one or two qualified quality people to uh to come to the department okay thank you are the items removed or is this just like saved for later or we uh yes these are all things that we could use um and uh going into the budgetary process you know we put down the things that that were important for us uh to spend money on that would be benefit the city however at the end of the day we have we we make you know uh critical decisions about what where the priority is in this particular list you know for example while body like Ross off body cameras while body cameras are important and we are we are striving to um equip all of our officers we can as we do now in some cases for officers that aren't assigned to the street share body cameras in order to you know for those that aren't normally assigned to the street but may take an overtime shift and things that nature it's a it's a cleaner program when when you have body cameras for each officer but it doesn't mean we can't we can't seek that that at another time or find a different source of funding uh that type of thing okay thank you chief how much do we like into the uh animal control um where's that broken out i i'm not sure so we're actually in the process of looking at that contract again um but uh our animal control uh our potter league contract is a hundred and eleven thousand from the city of newport that's what we pay yes what are the other communities pay uh they pay a different amount um uh they they pay less but they pay

order to you know for those that aren't normally assigned to the street but may take an overtime shift and things of that nature it's a it's a cleaner program when when you have body cameras for each officer but it doesn't mean we can't we can't seek that that at another time or find a different source of funding uh that type of thing okay thank you chief how much do we like into the uh animal control um where's that broken out i i'm not sure so we're actually in the process of looking at that contract again um but uh our animal control uh our potter league contract is a hundred and eleven thousand from the city of newport that's what we pay yes what are the other communities pay uh they pay a different amount um uh they they pay less but they pay but they have you know less use you know what we're looking at in this uh negotiation period is are the lesser amounts comparable uh and so we're we're entering into those conversations we're just just entering into those into those conver conversations now to to take a look at you know are we paying our fair share or are we paying more and then what do we have to do to negotiate negotiate that and who would negotiate that uh right now we're uh the deputy city manager and myself uh and uh are are on point for for looking at that contract right now and do you know how many uh animals are taken out there or do you have any kind of I do it we do use it pretty frequently um okay uh the exact number I don't know off the top of my head um I make an educated guess that we are um over a hundred not quite two hundred uh and um uh and then we are also the each community can bring different types of animals to the shelter it's not just all animals where we have our contract is we can bring all animals to the to the shelter um so that's another factor when we look at the look at the contract and negotiating what we pay I know it started out at 25 of community certainly 150 sounds like a lot 11 11 1 even 111 sounds like a lot yep it is something we're looking at carefully okay all right so like raccoons and things like that can well no raccoons if we're disposed we dispose of raccoons but if they're alive what do you like DM uh no well if it's if it's a live raccoon that's a problem we it's we we um we'll terminate the raccoon and and then throw it out um but uh but it's but domestic animals all any of the domestic animals um or exotic animals that we may come across that that'll all go out but they have to be domestic yeah yeah yeah not what nothing wild yeah any other questions no and um and then lastly uh just had have an an opportunity to kind of uh just highlight you know some of the achievements to kind of put a a smile on the on the money that the city invests in the police department some of the um uh achievements and awards that we've had over the uh over the year just to um just uh name a few uh this year we were re-accredited uh from the Rhode Island police accreditation commission which is it happens every three years and is a is a big deal for us that's why it sits there up on top and then we kind of go through a number of of awards that some of our staff have have won uh some of the uh philanthropic um projects that they've been involved in in in raising money for important causes uh and participating in important events um and uh and so that's these are uh like said a list of of those particular um accomplishments questions questions all right thanks all right thank you thank you thank you next up fire department good afternoon my name's harp donally chief of the fire department uh you'll notice with our slides today that we made an effort to have them all consistent so uh the format's gonna be the same for all of public safety uh hopefully that makes it run a little bit smoother I think we were responded to the concerns during the initial presentation that they were somewhat uh presented in a different way so this will be nice and consistent so when we go through our slides here can't show off anymore no case no the uh the solicitor said be quiet go quickly so uh so same breakdown I don't know if you have had a chance to look at the slides side by side but I was kind of it was interesting to me how when you place our department next to the police department the numbers are pretty much parallel uh even down really we have a little less staffing but as we go down our line same as the same that uh chief duffy was able to present uh the roll downs which is a description of the various accounts that go into make salaries bridge benefits and that sort of stuff the um uh for ours same as theirs the large ticket items are the salaries of fringe benefits uh

I don't know if you have had a chance to look at the slides side by side, but I was kind of it was interesting to me how when you place our department next to the police department, the numbers are pretty much parallel.

Uh even down really we have a little less staffing.

But as we go down our line, same as the same that uh Chief Duffy was able to present uh the roll downs, which is a description of the various accounts that go in to make salaries, bridge benefits and that sort of stuff.

The um uh for ours, same as theirs.

The large ticket items are the salaries and fringe benefits, uh, but those are driven by kind of uh the uh collective bargain agreements that we have with uh between the city and our unions.

So uh those are set and established.

Uh if you were to, I'm not sure if you have a uh more detailed list, but that's one area where we did take a jump this year over previous years because we settled a contract last year that was uh a contract that had gone a year past, but when we settled it, we were able to make some changes that made the job a little more desirable for new hires.

Uh and uh the end result was we had a little bump in our overall salary, but that was all negotiated in.

Uh the rest of the items on our list are all pretty consistent, no very no large uh leaps to explain.

Utilities have stayed uh fairly steady.

I think what you'll see here is just the uh cost of living increase of about three to 3.5% cost of living increase factored in.

Um if you were to put, and I don't want to go too fast because sometimes I talk a little quickly.

If you were to put our slides in that right next to Chief Duffy's and the police departments, again, you'll see they match up pretty well until you get to the operating expenses, and you'll ask, what the heck do you have a 700 and some thousand dollar operating expense?

And the police are getting by, which is $30,000.

Uh well, ours represents uh $754,000 that we pay for hydrant rental to the uh utilities department.

So that large jump there that stands out is because we pay for hydrant rental to help help them with their enterprise fund.

Uh again, everything else kind of stayed in line with uh with one year to the next factoring in cost of living increases.

Uh the last item is capital outlay.

That's money we put aside every year into a fund to help us purchase uh fire apparatus on schedule.

Uh we have uh we have four pieces of fire apparatus on order right now.

The the lead times are crazy long.

You all uh I came to you four years ago to ask for a new ladder truck.

Ladder truck isn't here yet, and we're driving that same ladder truck around, but it'll be here in August.

Uh we have an engine gonna show up next month.

We have a rescue, it's gonna be another rescue that you just approved that's gonna show up later this year.

And then finally in January of next year, the rescue that you approved three years ago this year is gonna show up.

So we're gonna have four brand new pieces.

That's made possible because every year we put money aside in this account to help us uh be prepared to pay for the the vehicles, have the money paid for in advance of them being ordered and then delivered.

So uh that's with that large numbers at the end.

Our breakdown again, we we strive to make uh the slides as parallel as possible.

So we have three different divisions with the fire department.

Our exact administrative division is just it's myself and my executive administrative assistant.

So there's two of us in that department.

Our fire prevention does a terrific job.

It has five of them led by our fire marshal Justin Dwolf.

Uh they uh they get the day-to-day work of fire prevention done, whether it's uh reviewing uh plans for new construction, ensuring that uh the work that's done on any new construction is done to the plans that they've approved, uh, and they go in and they do inspections of houses before they're sold to make sure that the CEO and the smoke detectors are all in place uh along with fire prevention work they do with the schools.

Uh our firefighting, all our our staffing, we're short three right now, but we have five in the academy.

Uh we expect five members to come out of the academy in June on June 5th.

That'll be that'll cover the three that were short and also two overfill positions that we have, anticipating a couple of retirements that are coming this summer.

Uh so we run with our total staff department with the overfill is 98.

All right, sorry.

Yeah.

Um are the ones in the academy counted in the budget roll-ups anywhere?

Yeah, it'll be part of our salary.

Yeah.

The salaries, the overall salary covers all three divisions and a variety of the uh it's fringe benefits, it's holiday pay, it's all the all the things that kind of comprise uh the salary component of the uh of that line item.

Thank you.

Here we did the same uh identified.

So the numbers that you see would things that have been removed were items that were brought to you back during the initial capital improvement uh presentation.

And then we set, as Chief Duffy said, we set at a table uh with finance, and he said we there's a gap between what we're asking for and what we can afford in order to keep the uh the budget in line with the uh without exceeding uh what we expected the raise in the budget to be.

So we looked at some items and we're able to defer some items and then able to find an alternative funding.

Uh so that's this again is similar to what the police offered up uh for capital.

We left on the table batteries for our portable radios, uh replacement windows for station one.

Uh the station one windows are over three years old and low bid when they went in, and some of them just uh are at the critical phase of needing to be replaced.

This won't be replacing all the windows for this replacing the ones that are most need.

Uh fire station number two, we were we're gonna put off the roof, having the roof done until next year.

We'll get some harder numbers on that and come back to you next year with that request.

Uh fire station number five.

This will be the last of the big projects at station five that we're gonna be coming to the council for.

That's that's to uh re-insol.

Hopefully, we'll reap some rewards in um energy fees because we're there's no insulation in the attic at all right now.

So we'd like to uh re put install insulation in the attic, put a subfloor down and create more uh better access to the third floor to make that a more usable space.

Uh the video laryngeoscopes, I'm excited to talk about that last time, but we were able to find money.

We have an account where uh where people will make donations for rescue related equipment.

So uh we have it's it's a gift account.

So we've received money over the years, and we just tapped into that account to buy the laryngoscopes that actually arrived just the other day.

So we're excited about putting those into work.

And um, this is the third year before the year phase to replace all of our uh self-contained breathing apparatus, SCBA uh harnesses and equipment.

Uh so we're gonna get some more harnesses this year.

Our our needs have almost been satisfied.

Next year I'm gonna come back and ask for some spare bottles, and that wraps us up with uh with our SCBA needs.

Uh my other, I wish I had as nice pictures as Ryan and she showed about uh uh put a smile on the fire department's face, but I wanted to show off that where while it does cost, there's a cost related to having the fire department.

We do bring some money into the city.

So our revenue sources are through plans review.

Uh we are able to charge percentage of the project to review the plans for all the many projects that go on, whether it's new hotel or it's a new restaurant, uh larger construction.

Uh our fire prevention inspection is what I described when we go in and look at either inspecting tents or inspecting homes prior to sales.

Uh fire alarm monitoring, any any business in the city that has what we call a master box alarm that rings directly into the fire station and alerts us, they all pay one sorry, 400 a year for us to enable us to listen to them.

And that's a rate that's I that's established by the state fire marshal's office.

We don't have the ability to adjust that.

Uh but the total revenue brought in from there is 180,000.

And our EMS billings for our if we if we're taking somebody on a rescue call and provide services and they're not from Newport and they have insurance that are able to pay for it.

We have a third-party billing company that goes out uh and pursues getting reimbursed, and we got reimbursed to the account to the amount of 1.4 million dollars last year.

That was up about 200,000 from the year before.

We are running now when I first started, we ran two rescues, staffed two rescues all the time.

For the most part, we're running three now.

You would have two rescues that are fully staffed, and we have a third rescue that we cross man with our second ladder truck.

So if we need a third rescue, we send it out, and that enables us one to provide services more quickly without having to go to mutual aid, and two, the ability to charge for those services.

So uh it it creates another way for us to uh uh to bring revenue into the city.

Um the one of the one award I wanted to claim, it's a pretty big award.

It's the state pride award.

Uh they recognize the city of Newport's uh fire department for their emergency service that provided specifically for uh cardiac uh resuscitation.

The the state, the national average is the expectation of somebody having a cardiac event and being brought back to uh spontaneous respiration on their own, it's only 8% nationally.

Uh Newport's percentage over the last year has been 30%.

So uh it's a it was it was such a large jump over the national average uh that the state thought worthy of uh recognizing the city and giving us award, maybe in an attempt to motivate other departments to try to do the same.

Uh and I think that brings us to the end of the slides.

If anybody has any questions, I'm happy to answer answer anything you might.

I have a question.

Um the roof station two.

Yeah.

Is that the one with the slate?

No, that's station five.

Oh, okay.

And you all were nice enough to uh to authorize that one to be replaced uh with slate material.

It's just the same.

It was it was a good catch.

They're gonna be held to the same standards that the other uh other uh structures in the historic district are held to.

That's the one station that falls in a historic dish there.

And uh so which which one is station two?

It's uh the one by the high school.

It's kind of counter.

Oh, I I I always confuse those two.

Okay, all right.

Yeah, okay.

And we thought that was five.

All right.

Yeah, I think it makes yeah, the way they're laid out, there's no Rhyme or reason.

There was at the time, but there's really no Rhyme reason anymore how they're laid out.

So is that roof done now?

No, no, we're um we're in the process of making sure that we get the best value possible for the city to uh to it it went out for bid and I think it's an opportunity for it to get looked at one more time.

But station five is that station five, yeah.

Okay, so it's still out for bid.

Yeah, it it's a project that's been approved, but hasn't been done yet.

I expect that'll be done over the summer months.

Okay.

Um is there any money that comes in from the situation table?

Oh, we don't we don't draw in anyone.

One thing that the communities re received as a result of situation table being in place, is they've been able to ask the members on the situation table have been able to make a request to the state's opioid settlement advisory committee.

Uh so every year the opioid settlement we have a 15 years left opioid settlement money coming into the state.

Uh the state gets 80% of the money, the cities and towns get 20% of the funds.

Newport gets uh 2.6%, I think of that overall percentage.

So we get money every year, but not every city or every project that the opioid advisory committee approves gets completed during the course of a year.

So at the end of the year, there's money left over.

So this past year, the state was able to identify a certain pocket full or bucket full of money that was left over, and they allowed municipalities to to go back to the state and say, hey, how about our project?

So specifically the situation table was able to I identify to raise their hand and say we would we would benefit from this additional money.

And they're in the process of getting worked through that.

They're very close to getting approved, uh, which will help provide additional prevention services for uh for folks that are faced with uh abuse issues, and it also may help provide a stipend for some of the community-based uh our partners that are providing the social services to actually send representatives to be at that table.

The whole overall project we've a little over a year that it's been working and it's been working pretty well.

They take one project at a time, one situation at a time and try to uh connect them with the necessary services.

Uh so in in yes, in some ways the situation table has been able to pull some money up for the state.

I think that's worth knowing in your accomplishments too.

The one they're doing.

Yeah, I agree.

I think trying to get the gold star on on this list of all their achievements.

I I probably left some achievements on the table.

You do have the youngest firefighter ever in the academy.

So we do.

We have um I think we have a uh a young man that's presented the academy.

I think he's 19 years old now.

He was an intern with the fire department through the med school, and he spent a year with us showing up to the station three days a week.

Uh he's a remarkable young man.

And he through the the um application process and interview process, he he was the top of the candidates that uh we selected to send it to uh the fire academy this time.

He's really remarkable young young man.

Uh yeah, we have five individuals at the academy right now.

We have a young woman that's there that uh uh is so enthusiastic.

It's uh it's it's it's very exciting to uh this next group is a nice crop.

Thank you.

Sorry, go ahead, Gene.

What is um refresh my memory?

What is purchase services?

What items are held under that account.

Absolutely.

Um for me, for my department, it would be uh software fees.

Oh uh uh technical training.

We we pay the we have a um medical advisor through the Newport Hospital uh that we pay him a stipend every month to uh to be on call to be available to us to help us with our training.

So there's a variety of uh and even our academy fees that we would send the uh our new recruits to the academy typically comes out of the contract services account.

So it'd be those types of items.

Okay, thank you.

Chief, umgratulations, first of all.

Uh both to you and to Chief Duffy and to both of your departments uh question.

Two questions.

Uh one for you, one for the administration.

Regarding um the revenue that you expect.

Uh that's a final.

It doesn't have to be to the dot, but that's uh pretty fine final number.

Yes.

It's you don't expect any additional uh between now and the end of fiscal 26.

Not to our department, I don't.

I think that we we we may reap some rewards.

I you'll hear me talking about the FEMA recovery funds that we uh that were in line to get for the storm that we had two years ago.

We're still waiting for that big check on um for the Elm Street Pier, and we're in the process of working with REMA in FEMA right now to identify the cost that related to the blizzard that we just had.

Sure.

Uh I didn't cover, didn't include any of those into this.

Right.

And so that's about a million eight.

Do you know how much you you budgeted for that revenue?

Roughly.

Roughly uh that goes directly into the general fund.

So well, that would be that helps support if we didn't put in a general fund, we'd have to be asking for that money.

So it's uh so that that's factored in.

So we we essentially expected all of that money.

Yeah, it's it's anticipated.

Yeah.

The reason I ask in here comes the question for the administration.

Uh and it's okay as long as we have a plan uh to compensate for it, but uh for the city manager and finance director, uh, between the police department's uh budgeted versus expected fiscal twenty-six and the fire department's budgeted versus expected uh fiscal twenty-six, we're about nine hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars short or over, I should say, uh uh than what we budgeted.

What's the administration's plan to make up if as expected the police department runs a hundred thousand dollars over expenditure over uh what we allocated, and if as expected the fire department runs about uh eight hundred twenty-five thousand over uh what the council allocated, what is the uh proposal from the administration to make up that deficit?

I want to make sure we're looking at the same numbers.

Uh so I'm looking at the I'm I'm on the fire page right now.

This is page 164 in the master.

Um I'm showing uh why don't we use Colin?

Why don't we use what is in front of us and the public this evening?

Uh which under budget roll-ups regarding expenditures for the fire department, FY26 adopted was 23,256,000 and change.

FY26 projected is 24 million eighty-eight thousand and change, which is a deficit of about uh or overspend of about eight hundred twenty-five thousand.

Is what I'd find in the budget different than this?

No, it it shouldn't be.

I'm um paging through, so I'm trying to I'm trying to keep face.

So you're looking at the slide deck right now that shows the revenue component uh for the fire department of 1.779.

Is that right?

No.

I'm looking at the first page of the presentation from the fire department, budget roll-ups.

Okay.

The total for the projected 26 budget is 24 million eighty-eight thousand eight hundred dollars versus a council adopted budget of twenty-three million two hundred fifty-six thousand two hundred eighty-seven dollars, which leaves a deficit or which leaves an overspend of about eight hundred and twenty-five thousand.

Um I can go through the police numbers if you want, but you understand what I mean.

I hope uh that totals almost a million dollars uh in in overspending, which as I said to both chiefs, is completely fine so long as the administration has plan to make up that money.

Right.

I'll I'll let I'll let the finance director speak to that.

That that's a relatively small variance in the skin in the scheme of a 23.2 million dollar projection and adoption.

So it's a sure, I mean it's a million dollars, Colin.

Sure, relatively small, but suppose we took that million and then uh projected it against the expected tax increase for the residents.

Then it doesn't become a small amount of money.

Jim.

Good evening, Jim Nolan, finance director.

So what happened, the reason that we're we're going over within police and fire has to do with what's the contracts that we entered into.

So there are two steps that were dropped from that contract, which made a significant push in those salaries.

So that significant push in the salaries also impacted overtime.

So that's that's where that that that eight hundred thousand dollars is coming from on fire and the the increase um or the deficit position that we're we're looking at at the end of fiscal year 26.

Where we're gonna make that up is we were very conservative, purposefully conservative when we um budgeted our our hotel tax.

We knew that there was going to be an increase coming in uh starting in January of 2026.

Uh we didn't know exactly how much that was going to be.

Uh so we decided not to really project an increase within what we were doing in 26 compared to 25.

So right now we're we're anticipating that that difference should be about three to three point five million dollars.

So how could that be three point five million dollars with with great respect when the state itself said that had we done it from the beginning of fiscal twenty-six to the end of fiscal twenty-six, which the state general assembly did not, uh we started the General Assembly allotted that to us starting January 1st of 26 and ending June 30th of 26.

So from the state's perspective, had we done it for the full fiscal year, we would have realized 3.8 million dollars.

And now the city of Newport is saying that um we are only doing it for six months, but yet we will realize 3.5 million, only 300,000 less than than that grandiose number that the state gave us.

No, no, I'm suggesting that we're we're going to be 3.5 over what we what we budgeted.

So typically what's right.

What was received for fiscal 25?

Before the increase.

Yeah.

We're projecting that that should double.

But Jim, just to declare that's for the that's for the full fiscal year in 27, right?

So I think I think Council Carl's question is about that from January 1st to 26th until June 30th of 26.

Pardon me, I didn't realize you were talking about fiscal 27.

So that makes sense.

And I may have my ears mixed up.

Yeah.

So but but you but that that's that same logic applies.

So we're looking at a million about a million dollars.

We're we're going, we we are we are already at our budgeted level for uh hotel tax at 3.5.

So anything that we receive in the next it's really four months that we have to post will will more than cover what we're what we're gonna be going over within um how much did we budget because we don't have it or I don't have it in front of me.

How much did we budget for revenue from the hotel tax for the entirety of 26?

I believe it's uh in the range of 3.5 million, Elizabeth.

Um 3.7 million in the adopted budget.

What was the revenue received in fiscal 25 prior to the General Assembly changes from the hotel tax?

3.9 million.

So it's a decrease of 400,000 rather than an increase of any money at all.

We we but we what we budgeted in in fiscal year 27 was lower than what we received in 25.

So we were not really counting on additional money.

So I it goes back to my original question.

Then how are we gonna pay down this 925,000?

We we didn't budget in other words that are very conservative.

I so really when when you look at our our projected revenue, okay.

So we have what we adopted is 3.7 million.

We have a projected right now 4.2.

All right.

So that's gonna be three, four, that's a half a million dollars right there.

There's there are gonna be other things that we have.

I mean, that's that's one component.

We can go down all of our revenues.

Um you look at what we have for for building permits, that's exceeded our our budget already.

So we're showing surpluses in in certain accounts that will more than cover what that overtime is coming out for both police and fire.

But uh my my point here, my grander point is um first of all, let me say that the reasoning for the the budget, the over expense uh is is a fine reason.

I mean, the place and fire deserved uh a long overdue contract that the council adopted a short time ago.

These things happen.

But my main concern is I do not want the administration coming to us anymore and asking for uh use of capital or use of our budget reserves, if you will.

We want to see that offset and it I appreciate your explanation, but I am I am just not buying into the fact that uh the revenue from the increase that the general assembly assembly dedicated uh to cities and towns from the hotel tax uh is going to satisfy that 925,000 plus there will surely be there are many many other departments and there will surely other be uh be other shortfalls or other uh over expenses.

So um please come back to us with with an appropriate way outside of digging into our budget reserves to make up that difference.

I can assure you that we would not use our budget reserve.

That that would be a recurring expense and that that reserves are for one-time purchases only.

Any other questions?

Thanks, Chief.

Thank you.

So maritime first.

Good afternoon, uh Steve Land, Tower Master.

Parking authority.

That's that's what I said.

All right.

Uh Maritime uh is a enterprise fund.

So we have to be self-funded funded through user fees.

Uh the main part of those user fees are going to be uh moorings, docks, and cruise ships or permits, docks, and cruise ships, and that makes up all of our revenue.

Uh let's get into the budget roll-ups.

Um salaries.

Uh, we did uh start finally the second deputy harbormaster, and it's working out very well.

It's letting me do some major projects that we have coming down.

Um we are calculating all of the ships right now that they're gonna be saving right now, even though we added a $100,000 in total position.

It only went up uh about uh $12,000.

We can reduce some of our summer staff because of that.

Um, and we'll have a better product because the person is so well trained and licensed.

Um it goes along with the fringe benefits.

Uh that's just the health care uh purchase services.

Um that is an actual pretty big block of items that are grouped together.

And why we have an increase in that was insurance.

Um we started working on insurance a few years ago with the docks, and it's finally kind of led into our working budget.

Um about a $50,000 increase.

Um internal services, because we're an enterprise fund, and we do get to use uh the city's payroll legal fees or legal services, um that sort of thing, uh purchase surgeon services.

We actually do contribute to that.

And um it's it's been fairly steady over the years.

Um it works out well.

Um supplies, we've got breakdowns in the actual budget about that, and it's it's broken down into different parts from uh you know simple things like props and oil and fuel, and it goes up and down as things break.

Unfortunately, we can't predict what's going to break.

Um we try to budget that the best we can and figure out age of things, but we had a breakdown last week and it was expensive, and we have to get it fixed because we need those boats to run.

Um repairs and maintenance that goes over the breakage.

The other um is there was uh we haven't done this in a few years, but the harvest department used to do a sailing donation to uh uh the local regattas.

Uh we would carve out 25,000 and then divvy that up to the local, mostly it's youth regatta's to help offset some of the cost.

We put it in our budget every year, but we actually haven't started that program up after the cruise ships were canceled.

We were in the red for a few years, and that got kind of removed.

We just haven't started it up.

I'd like to get that going again.

Um depreciation is finance stuff.

It's it even comes out of our cash, it's just depreciation appreciation on our assets.

Um our numbers are kind of all over the place because we've got this massive project that we started just starting to get into, and we can go into that a little bit more uh when we talk about the uh capital stuff.

Um here's the good, the good slide is the next one.

The revenues.

Um that I'd really like to talk about um that you can actually see.

I made a mistake on the first page.

Um I forgot to calculate the increase.

We have a cruise ship coming this weekend, and I forgot to outcalculate the increase in that, even for that one, and it made a difference.

Normally, this weekend's cruise ship we would get uh $12,000.

Uh now we're getting 40, which is pretty significant.

Uh so we're excited to have that big cruise ship increase.

Um street pier.

Um that's just we have a small pier that we actually are hopefully next week gonna be adding on to with uh council approval.

Um that um does make revenues through the showers, the washer, wash and dryers, and through dockage.

Uh dinghy permit fees, mooring wait lists.

Um those are the ones we actually started making a little more money off of uh the permits and the seasonal transient moorings.

Uh we've increased fees as uh they haven't been increased in a while.

We're starting to see that actually catch up, which is good.

Last year was an epic summer.

I don't know if you remember the weather.

We were very weather dependent.

I don't care how good a harbor master I am.

If it's a hurricane out there, we're not gonna get customers.

The bar was set last summer, absolutely.

The two summers before they were funny.

I don't know if you remember.

We had a fire in Canada and that smoke blew down.

It was very odd, and then it rained for like six weeks straight.

Last summer was one of those really epic summers that uh every day we were sold out completely filled.

It was you we were really turning people away.

It was one of those beautiful summers.

Um we are seeing most of our increase from the revenues is obviously the cruise ships.

We are seeing a slight dip in bookings.

I believe they will come back up, like all businesses, they go in cycles, and uh we are just gonna you know just keep on accepting cruise ships.

We are still under the policy of not taking them during the summer months.

Um the harbors department has gotten better.

Could we start taking smaller ones on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday?

We probably could.

Whenever we put a big boat out in Anchorage D, though, that means there's a regatta that's gonna be um you know upset or another activity that's already booked in those waters.

So there's there is a repercussion to all of our actions out there.

Um personnel.

Uh harbor's personnel is in interesting.

We've got three year-round people, including me, and then 24 seasonal people.

And uh those really make up most of the contacts they have with the general public.

Everyone says, Oh, I had a great, you know, talk to the harbor master.

It wasn't me, they talked to, it was one of my staff.

Um, I'm up in the office.

Um we've got they are long-term seasonal employees.

They've been working for me for years.

Some of them start young at age 16, and now they're you know, seniors in college.

It's uh it's a really good job.

And when they get good at it, they are very, very good at it.

Um, we do have some crossover and positions.

The harbor master assistants, those are people on the boats.

Dock masters are a parate and an uh paddle safety officers, Mark Marisets, and we're hiring a second this year.

And then uh cruise ship security uh is made up of kind of everyone.

We do have some people who just do cruise ship security, but because of training, it's easier to train and have people do lots of different positions.

Some people don't feel comfortable in the boats, so we don't make them go on the boats.

Capital projects.

Oh, sorry, I'm not on the slides.

Sorry about that.

So we started the capital.

Um, when I started that, it was back in, I think we did it in December.

Um, I had a lot of projects up there.

I wasn't calculating my debt service for the Prodigy Park build in that uh in that uh line.

So we wind up reducing a lot of the capital projects, unfortunately.

Um the main project that we are deep into now is the Prodi Park Bulkhead and Harbor Master Building.

Um we are moving along very well.

Uh, we're starting to get designs to building.

Uh the the bulkhead and docks are along.

They've already purchased them all and they're just waiting to install.

We'll start those in November of this fall.

So that is uh we're doing well with that.

Um the we have not done the contract for the actual construction of the building yet.

So that's still the unknown piece uh and the rebuild of the park.

You estimate how much it's gonna cost, but until you actually get a contract out there, you don't actually know.

Hopefully, it'll be under the six million that I've uh have estimated.

But that is our last major contract that we have to do for this project, and then we'll be rains left station.

We'll be uh you know, firing on all cylinders on this.

So we're excited about that.

Um we still have the new patrol boat and tall ship moorings that uh we're gonna start savings for and the maritime center improvements.

Um those are gonna be part of that.

We're just continually improve the maritime center.

Um, Bellevue Avenue Concrete.

There you go.

Uh, we've been feeding that for as long as I've been here.

I think longer than even before I got here.

And uh, I think it's a good 100,000 dollars to keep that that road looking good.

Our buses definitely use that road.

Um so that's that's where they go.

And last not least, we are gonna cram this boat onto the uh state pier this summer.

Um, it hasn't been in a long time, but uh they've they've called me a few times, and uh it's the 250 anniversary.

We are with open arms, these tall ships are coming.

The uh the schedule's all over the place, but we're starting to try to nail it down.

This one hopefully will be in during the end of Folkfest, which would be kind of neat to have.

Uh, some of them are gonna make anchor out just because they can't get in.

But uh, we're really excited.

This is gonna be a really busy summer.

Uh, we've got a Bermuda race, which is a huge race.

It's uh in June.

I think it's like the last third Friday of June.

We've got uh 4th of July on a Saturday, which game on, is all I could say.

Um folk and Jazz Fest.

Uh I'm not gonna say any of the artists, but I know there's some good ones this year.

Um, so I'm excited about that.

And as long as the weather holds, we went last year hard until mid-October.

Uh the harbor was full, people were having a good time, the docks were full.

Um, so we're hopefully gonna have the same this year.

How many cruise ships do we have coming?

This year, I believe it's 37.

Uh, we have a couple in the spring, and the rest are starting uh Labor Day and after.

Um, we had a bunch of cancellations last year.

You know, if the weather's bad, they're not gonna tender in.

So we don't have any choice if they cancel.

Will there be additional bathrooms or restrooms at the new harbor center?

Yes, there will.

Yes, there will.

We're we're actually designing a a good building right now.

Um we are definitely gonna at least we only have one male toilet right now and three urinals.

We want to shoot for five and five male and at least eight or ten.

I think the ratio is double female.

There's always a line in the female on the cruise ship days.

So that is the whole goal is the first floor is to be new bathrooms.

We've got uh some other ideas that we're we're poking around right now.

Um that hopefully improvements that once we start developing these, we're gonna bring to you during some either some public uh announcements or workshops.

Um, but we are absolutely the goal is bathrooms.

It's a public building.

It's a it's the first you know, city welcoming building that people see.

We're gonna make it really nice.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

Thanks, Steve.

All right, thank you.

Uh I'm sorry, Mr.

Chairman.

I do I do have one question, please.

Um and thanks again.

So to everybody.

So uh with respect to what you projected uh for expenditures in 26, fiscal 26.

You gave us the reason.

Obviously, many of the capital outlays did not uh come to fruition, but will be carried over.

That's about 14 million uh in unused budgeted funds uh that presumably is part of that 14,382 in your proposed fiscal 27 budget.

Am I right?

Okay.

So there's about uh a difference of 400,000 between the unused capital outlay from fiscal 26 and the projected or the requested uh capital outlay for uh fiscal 27.

So that 400,000 is that part of the equation you mentioned earlier, the um lack of a better word, the interest, the debt service.

No, we haven't started paying the debt service.

I think that if I'm correctly, was it was difference in estimating projects?

It's uh thanks, Jim.

Director Nolan.

The capital outlay.

Well, let's start with the total budget.

The the total budget adopted was about 23 million nine.

Uh the total projected to be spent is about uh um nine million nine, uh $40 million difference.

And uh the Harbormaster explained the $14 million was not spent uh in fiscal 26, but expects to spend it in fiscal 27, is asking for a proposed capital outlay of 14 million, roughly 400,000.

So 14 million, I understand.

That's carried over from fiscal 26 unused money.

What's the additional 400,000?

Is that debt service?

Is that something else that is added to the list that the council previously approved or uh is it's is it simple math?

382, the 3825.

The 3825, which is gonna be the program income.

So in order in order to balance our budget, so that that 382,000, that program cash, that's going to be what we need to use from the uh Maritimes um fund balance in order to make the the budget balance.

Is it is I'm I just want to give me a look at budgets quite a bit and I I just don't understand what you're talking about.

I think why why do you need additional funds from the enterprise fund uh in order to make the budget the uh proposed budget balance?

I don't think I don't think that's right because we we calculated all that out here and here here.

No.

So I think I just want to make sure we're we're we're looking at the rate page.

You counselor Carlin, are you looking at page 266 of the budget?

No, no, again, I'm not looking at the the entire budget.

I don't have the luxury of having it in front of me, and the public doesn't have it, if anybody's paying attention to this.

Um I'm looking at what's before us in the presentation, specifically in maritime budget roll ups.

Uh, and I'm looking at the second to the last line.

Capital outlay.

Uh, there's a difference between what was adopted and what was spent.

That's 14 million.

The last line, the proposed fiscal 27 capital outlaw is 14,382,500, uh, which is 382,500 more than what was previously adopted by the council as uh hopeful approved projects.

So the 3825 was not included in those hopeful or approved projects.

I understand.

What is that money represent?

I will get that detail for you.

What makes up that number?

I don't have it right in front of me, but I I certainly will we'll get that detail.

Thanks.

Last question.

Uh you hired an additional assistant harbormaster, deputy harbormaster for fiscal twenty-six.

So you have two now.

What is the second uh harbor master, which I believe was approved by a seven to zero vote, but subsequently with respect to the budget vote for fiscal twenty-six?

That was a different vote.

But what is that uh line item?

How much money uh is is that line item for fiscal twenty-six versus fiscal twenty-seven for the second most recently hired deputy city deputy harbormaster?

So that is under salaries that we're running.

That's the total salaries of all three of them.

Yeah, yeah, no, I understand that.

I completely understand the the salary uh summary and the budget roll up summary, thanks to what you both just explained.

Okay, and we'll get to us.

Uh but specifically roughly how much did you pay that deputy harbor master?

I don't have the number.

And is it going to be the same for fiscal 27?

Yeah, so you get you know the three percent coal I guess, but I think it was the number starting at like 68.

Uh it's something like that.

Like, don't quote me 100%, but it's it's in that that that ballpark.

And then he has the you know the $20,000 versus of uh health insurance.

Is that a 12-month a year position?

Yes.

Is assistant harbormaster one a which is prior to fiscal twenty-six?

Is that a full-time twelve-month a year position?

Yes, it's there it's called deputy harbor master, and there's there's two deputies, and they're both full-time positions.

Thank you.

Thanks, Steve.

Uh next we'll have the parking.

Uh good evening, Patrick Sandman.

Uh transportation advisor.

Um, can you speak into the mic oh?

Please sorry.

Okay, we'll start with the uh the budget rollup.

Um go to the the uh major expenses under the parking fund.

Uh starting with uh purchase services.

Uh purchase services include uh our the major purchase service is our parking operations contract with last parking.

They oversee all the the parking meters uh and the uh gateway parking lot.

Gateway parking lot is is staffed May through October, uh seven days a week, 8 a.m.

till till midnight.

Uh the parking meter program is 47 meters uh furnished in service and uh repaired by that contract.

Uh another major expenditure uh under the contract services is the equipment at the gateway center.

We spend approximately $20,000 a year to keep the gates, the ticket spitters, the uh B computers, etc.

running.

Uh it's a it's a all-encompass uh service agreement.

So it covers both labor parts, et cetera.

Uh restroom cleaning.

We spend about $80,000 per year for restroom services.

That covers the gateway restroom, the Mary Street parking lot restroom, the cliffwalk uh the cliffwalk restrooms at 40 steps, as well as the Portageons that are placed there during the off season when the uh when the restroom is winterized.

Um the uh ticket management system.

We uh passport uh incose out and collects tickets that are unpaid.

Uh we pay approximately uh $50,000 uh dollars a year for the for that service.

It's a percentage of what they actually collect.

Uh going down to the um internal services, uh similar to the uh the other enterprise funds.

We we pay for legal services, accounting services, etc.

It's that's a set fee, program fee uh every year.

Um the materials and supplies are basically what it takes to run the parking lots.

Uh also includes servicing the uh providing uh uniforms for the uh traffic aids, etc.

Um also includes restroom supplies, which is actually a pretty large part of that budget.

Um repairs and maintenance is a is a standard uh about the same every year.

It's it's used to uh uh primarily electrical plumbing repairs at most of the restrooms.

That's the the largest uh impact for the for um repairs and maintenance.

Any questions on the budget?

Oh, yes, I'm sorry.

Beg your pardon.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Uh can you explain to us, please, Pat, what the uh there's about a million and a half dollar difference in the adopted uh or estimated uh fiscal twenty-six budget and the fiscal twenty-seven budget, a supermajority of that uh is due to a 1.4 million dollar capital outlay, um, which would make the difference between on that line item, the capital outline line item.

Uh the difference would be about a million one hundred and fifty thousand between what we budgeted last year uh and what we what you all are asking to budget for fiscal twenty-seven.

So I assume there's there's either one very big project or several projects that account for that uh million four or million three seventy-five.

Can you tell us what those projects are, please?

Okay, so here are the capital projects that we have on that list.

So um I'm sorry, I maybe what I just did unintentionally was I jumped us forward uh because that's obviously later on in your presentation.

So it's up to the chairman and up to you whether you want to address that now.

We can address it now.

Okay, thanks.

So the gateway garage maintenance.

This uh about a year ago, we had an engineering firm do a structural assessment of the gateway garage.

We we do that periodically, just make sure it's not gonna fall down.

Um they came back with a number of recommendations, uh, primarily uh repairing cracks, waterproofing, joint sealant, things like that.

Um some of that will be done, will be contracted out, some will be done internally.

We estimated that at about uh 200,000 for this year.

The the total estimate for all of the repairs to be done is closer to 600,000, but it need not all be done at once.

The total the total estimated capital outlay for fiscal 27?

No, for the just that one project.

That one project.

Okay.

Um the Mary Street parking lot occupancy system.

That is that's a system that will count cars uh entering and exiting the parking lot.

Uh we that will that information will be relayed to the city's web page and eventually to an app so people will know whether there's there's parking there or not.

Um that that uh that system actually has already been bought and paid for.

So uh but we're ahead of schedule on that.

The um gateway parking lot equipment.

We that the equipment that's there now was was installed back in uh uh 199 uh yes uh 2017.

Um so it's it's closing in on 10 years old.

Uh while it's still functional, it's it's cost us about 20,000 a year to maintain that equipment.

Uh and it's it is it's really not up to date in terms of what some of the capabilities of the newer equipment.

It's gonna have to be replaced uh uh eventually.

Uh we may be able to obviate the need for for that purchase because I mentioned earlier, we have a contract with LAS to run our parking operations.

We're in the last year of that contract.

It's our second option here.

Uh we will be entertaining uh proposals in the this coming year.

We will also be asking within those proposals for uh an equipment component.

So rather than the city owning and maintaining the equipment, part of the contract, and um so we would basically amortize that that parking equipment.

We we'd cost avoid the the capital expense then.

The the last three Bellview Avenue concrete building improvements and Thames Street improvements are all public services uh requested capital projects to be funded by the parking department.

So that's the they're they're primarily the reason for the for the huge the significant increase in that line item.

I can get to that page.

As long as uh I skipped ahead on that last one, and I appreciate the detailed explanation.

Uh it looks as though between from a revenue standpoint, between what the council adopted for fiscal 26 and what you estimate to take in, there's 450,000 more we're taking in, which leads us to the 27 proposed budget versus the 25 adopted budget, uh, which is about a million dollar difference in what you're taking in.

Uh so you have a million dollars more, or if all goes right, you'll have a million dollars more.

And that puts a very, very significant dent into uh the million four in capital projects.

So thank you.

Um I can back up a bit to the revenue.

Um the questions on the expense side that we move on.

Yeah, are we able to get get some numbers on those uh on the projects?

Even if they're rough draft numbers.

Sure, I can give them to you right now.

So the capital projects, the estimated, as I mentioned, the gateway garage main maintenance uh maintenance project, we're estimating 200,000 for this year.

We have not the the RFP has not uh been issued, so we haven't getting the bids back yet on that one.

The Mary Street occupancy is 25,000.

Um, and as I said, that that's already been uh approved and paid for gateway uh parking lot equipment uh 100,000 Bellevue concrete.

That's that that's that's then every year uh charge 200,000.

Um building building improvements, the gate gateway roof at 400,000 and uh HVAC systems at I believe Gateway and the uh DPW building for 225 and the a very large piece of it is the thame street improvements, which is between Mill Street and Franklin Street, um sidewalk and parking area improvements at $500,000.

Thank you.

That's the proposed numbers.

You don't have any objection to the public works department taking money from uh the parking um uh enterprise fund, do you?

Well, uh it's I understand the underlying or I think I understand the underlying reasoning.

That is to say, many of the tour buses, uh etc.

cars that visit the city damage our streets.

Uh so we have to have a way to to pay for that damage.

But is it a fair?

Is it in your opinion?

Is this more appropriate for a public services uh line item than it is to take from the parking maritime uh the parking uh enterprise fund?

In my opinion, yes, your opinion, yeah.

If it doesn't come from the parking fund, if we don't raise the revenue, it's gonna come from the okay, thank you.

Um so the the revenue is is pretty much even across the board here.

Um we did uh I think uh Steven mentioned it earlier.

Yes, uh last year was a ban a year.

Our our revenue is up considerably.

So we we did not uh project any uh significant changes in revenue.

You may note the the Mary Street parking lot revenue uh are estimated this year to next year, and then again the meter revenue, and they're they're kind of reversed.

Uh that was that's just an accounting thing that about 130,000 should be in the estimated Mary Street, an additional 130 and and about 130 less in the in the meters is uh an accounting issue.

Uh you may also note the total revenue at the very bottom.

There's a zero missing.

So it's 3,925 zero zero one for the new.

So uh last item is the personnel.

So under the parking fund budget, uh the these are positions that are both currently and the one proposed.

The deputy police chief, uh transfer super transportation supervisor, which is seasonal part-time detail coordinator, which is a part-time position, the traffic ticket review officer, which is a part-time uh position, and all of the traffic aids thing we do is uh noted on the chief's presentation is about 15 traffic aids, all of which are part-time, and the last position is the proposed superintendent parking authority.

I I just wanted to uh while I understand that the it during the um uh during the personnel ordinance discussion about staffing, we'll come up at a later later workshop.

I did want to uh come up and give a some context to the proposed uh superintendent parking authority, so you had something to walk away with.

Uh so a superintendent of parking authority position uh integrates parking administration and the parking enforcement and regulation into a uh to one position consistent with the recommendations uh from the city's master transportation plan, keep Newport moving.

This full-time position combines and expands the duties of three existing positions, transportation supervisors part-time, the parking ticket review lead traffic aid part-time, and a supervisory function of the traffic unit sergeant over the traffic aid traffic enforcement staff.

Additionally, the position will be on point for the facilitation of parking permits, and we'll look to analyze the data from the parking permits and improve upon the newly crafted parking permit uh program.

As an enterprise fund, the cost of the position is supported by the revenue generated by the parking program and does not come from tax-based revenue.

The proposed salary and benefits of the position are only 4.5% of the fund's total projected gross revenue, and that is even exclusive of all the parking fine revenue.

This position will be responsible for the management and oversight of the city's paid parking program with uh with projected gross revenue of 3.9 million, including contract administration revenue protection, and uh introducing new innovation, new innovative programs and systems to increase the ease and efficiency of movement through the heart of the city.

This position will take over the supervisory function of the parking enforcement employees, which generates over a million dollars annually and has a staff of up to 24 traffic aids at its peak time or peak season.

There's a potential for increased revenue by improving management of the city's parking assets, which includes ensuring contemporary rates of fees, improving enforcement efficiency, and identification of available transportation funds, grant funds.

This position will be responsible for identifying and going after those uh increased revenues.

This position will partner with the planning department to address major concerns cited in the city's master transportation plan, thereby contributing to improved quality of life for residents and visitors.

Uh the paths for addressing these initial concerns and to keep Newport moving plan include uh reduced traffic and congestion by identifying satellite parking locations, growth of public private partnerships similar to the emmanual church parking lot for shared parking, improved parking information concerning parking locations and availability, uh better utilization of the traffic aids to increase the enforcement and update city's traffic ordinances in conjunction with ITC and public services.

Lastly, this position will develop uh annual operational capital improvement budgets for parking operations and parking enforcement.

In summary, this position is a superintendent level position, which is not the level of a department director, but will be the city's uh subject matter expert in this lane of accountability.

They'll be responsible for budgets leadership and project and project management.

Similar to our other superintendent positions, like the superintendent of facilities management, superintendent of the parks, grounds and forestry, superintendent of water pollution control, and superintendent of public works.

If you think of those city staff members and the positive impact they have on our city and their lanes of responsibility, you clearly see why this is the right level staff position for such an important and impactful city service.

And so thank you for that consideration.

Mr.

Chairman.

Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Tom.

Uh the um proposed uh superintendent was brought before the council in the fiscal 26 budget uh deliberations uh proposal was somewhere in the vicinity budget-wise of 179,000.

Can you tell us what the proposal budget-wise is for fiscal 27?

Certainly, it's it remains at an what's the classification of an S9, which is a budget, which is a salary bracket of 86,000 to 122, depending on you know the let the level of experience and the longevity of the person uh who's who's employed.

So that is that is the um that is the salary.

The if you do salary and benefits, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 175,000 or my I think I'm right on a nose matters.

Those benefits are are really unknown until that person is in their spot.

Uh and and really the big driver is gonna be the the health premiums, uh whether that's uh a family plan or an individual plan, um, if they're gonna participate in the pension, things like that.

So the high the high end of benefits, we're we're probably looking at about probably 45,000.

In the budget for fiscal 27, which we don't have in front of us, or at least I don't again.

Um, and it's nobody's fault.

We're not here for the entire budget at this point, but what is the line item?

Uh, what is the requested line item?

Is it the same 179,000 as fiscal 26?

I I think it's uh it's a little bit less.

I and I'll have to go and look at it, but I didn't that ballpark.

If it's in it's in that ballpark.

Thank you.

Any other uh questions or comments from the council?

I have one question for um Ryan.

Um the um are we looking to get more um traffic feedback camera traffic feedback?

Sorry, um are we looking to get more uh feedback cameras?

Yes, yes, there's uh monies in um sustainability that uh we're looking to use for that.

Okay, and I'll add that many of those are coming from the safe streets for all grants.

So several of the allocations in that grant dealt with speed feedback signs.

Okay, how many more?

Do you know?

Don't quote me on this.

I want to say it was 10 or more.

It wasn't a small number.

That's good.

All right, thank you.

Um there seemed to be a problem with traffic aids.

How many traffic aids are on during the summer?

And do they get specific locations or different locations?

Certainly.

So the management of traffic aids is uh is lost.

Um so the number of traffic aids that are on at a particular time is is seasonal.

So we ebb and flow with the with the peak season.

Uh we um uh the number of traffic aids that are employed generally in the in the winter are nine up to uh up to like I said, 24 peak.

Um and they are given beats of responsibility, uh additionally uh to patrol and look for parking violations.

Uh additionally, they receive um dispatches or or orders from dispatch to go to particular parking complaints, and also they are direct they have we have directed enforcement.

So if we're getting uh you know a number of complaints on William Street, so they had they get marching orders to make sure they're going down William Street a certain number of times a day or on Bellevue or or wherever the the um hotspot is.

So uh and that's we that's part of the management side of that's uh under the traffic unit under our sergeant head.

Uh so that's that's where they get their marching orders.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

All right.

All right, well, thank you very much.

Thank you.