We're actually on.

Kim will be here in two minutes.

Well, Kim, we appreciate the fact that you allowed you were open to having us start this early.

So I certainly understand you're working hard and it was difficult to get here.

So I am going to call this meeting to order.

And pursuant toward Island General Lords.

Forty-two- forty-six-six C.

This meeting notice has been posted on the Secretary of State's website.

Second.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Thank you.

Everybody.

Welcome.

To the March 13th 2023 meeting of the town council.

I entertain a motion to uh seal the minutes of executive session.

So moved.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Thank you.

This week we lost a Wickford resident named Michael Craneck, and I'd ask for a moment of silence after we uh do the salute to the flag in his uh his honor.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

Uh item five is a presentation of the town manager's preliminary budget for fiscal year twenty twenty-three slash twenty twenty-four.

Mr.

Town Manager, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

And um, I'll be there's a very short budget uh slideshow that goes with this, so um, you can feel free to follow along.

In accordance with the charter of the town of North Kingstown, I am hereby submitting to the honorable town council the annual budget proposed for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, twenty twenty-four.

The fiscal year twenty twenty four budget reflects a zero-based budgeting process as required by the town council.

While some adjustments have been made during this lengthy budget process, these departmental budgets have been compiled by a department heads with a goal of continuing to provide the outstanding level of services our residents have come to deserve.

This award recognizes our efforts to present a budget in a format that is informative, transparent, and easy to read for our residents.

This budget will be available online, the entire packet if anybody wants to review that.

I want to thank the dedicated workforce within our municipal team for their hard work.

The employees of our town have developed a reputation of being responsive to the needs of our residents and businesses while also being effective and efficient.

Through their efforts, we have introduced new ways to conduct business, provide services, and improved services during some challenging times.

The budget presented this evening reflects that dedication and that innovation.

$2.4 million of that increase, or 65% of the increase, is the requested and allocated increase being provided to the school department's budget.

This continues our commitment towards funding education here in North Kingstown as we provide an average annual increase in the town appropriation of over 3 percent per year since 2017, a figure that is much higher than what is experienced in other communities.

The general fund portion of our budget provides outstanding services to a growing population of senior citizens, an award-winning student body, outstanding public safety, efficient municipal operations, maintenance of over 150 miles of paved town roads, state-of-the-art parks and playgrounds, recreational services, coastal management, economic development, snow removal, and maintenance of over 200,000 square feet of municipal buildings.

A detailed summary of expenditures can be found in the budget book, which is online, with the preceding pages providing details per department.

62 percent of the budget, the general fund budget as you can see there is allocated to our school department.

19 percent of the general fund budget expenditures goes towards public safety.

Over 6 percent of the budget expenditures is allocated towards public works and utilities, 4.75 percent of our general fund budget is comprised of debt service for both school department and the town.

These groups make up the largest portion of our fiscal year 2024 budget.

While many difficult decisions were made to reduce the general fund budget as much as possible, the fiscal year 2024 budget builds on the many exciting projects and improvements we have made over the years, and budgets for important initiatives to take place this upcoming year.

Initiatives such as funding for our 350th anniversary celebration in 2024, renovations of our municipal office building, renovations at McGinn and Wilson Parks to resurface our basketball courts, our tennis courts, provide additional and dedicated pickleball courts, add seating in both parks, and potential relocation of a new volleyball court.

Upgrades to our community center, new LED lighting at Ryan Park and McGinn Park, AEDs throughout our town as we embark on becoming a four-minute city, $700,000 of road paving, much needed improvements and repairs to our senior center building, increased funding of OPEB, two additional police officers to bring our full to our to bring our four shifts to full complement, funding of the priorities that were listed within the Capital Improvement Project Plan of the Asset Management Commission, and continued improvements in our municipal golf course and our Allen Harbor.

These initiatives are just some of the plans we have for the remainder of fiscal year 2023 and the upcoming fiscal year 2024, and begins putting our fund balance, our growing fund balance or our surplus, to good use, thereby reducing the impact of these one-time initiatives on the taxpayer.

The proposed fiscal year 2024 budget is also comprised of vital enterprise funds, which are self-supporting supporting and funded outside of the general fund, so outside of the tax dollars that we raise each and every year.

These departments provide valuable services to our residents and are self-sufficient, meaning they are funded by the users of the fund and not the general fund.

The enterprise funds consist of our award-winning water department, one of the best conditioned and most popular municipal golf courses, a municipal-owned and operated Allen Harbor, our transfer station, our sewer department, and our municipal court.

Details of these individual budgets are also in our budget book towards the end of the booklet.

While most of our budget deliberations will focus on departmental expenditures, it is really the revenue portion of our budget that sets the tone for the upcoming year.

We have been very successful with our financial accomplishments over these past few years.