The meeting to order at 6 30 now.

Roll call.

Hang on.

Thank you.

Festerson.

Good one.

Harding.

Here.

Hug.

Melton.

Rowe.

Mr.

President.

Here.

An affidavit.publication is on file, and a current copy of the Open Meeting Act is posted in a white binder on the East Wall of Legislative Chambers.

Good evening and welcome to the public hearing for the 2026 City of Omaha budget and capital improvement program.

I am pleased to see so many citizens here tonight willing to provide input on the recommended budget.

Tonight's public hearing is conducted in accordance with the requirements of the city charter.

To make tonight's proceedings as efficient as possible, we will follow procedures, procedures that have worked well in the past.

Thank you.

You must sign up to speak.

Forums are available on the table outside of chambers or the city clerk's desk.

Please submit completed forms to city clerk staff.

The council president will call you to the podium.

We ask that you speak for no more than three minutes.

The light at the podium will turn yellow when you have one minute remaining in your time.

Please summarize your comments at that point.

When the light turns red, your time has expired.

Please note that your comments must be on the budget or capital improvement program.

Please submit written comments to the city clerk.

They will be made part of the record.

Council members welcome your calls and emails if you wish to discuss issues in greater detail.

I will also note a copy of the finance director's budget presentation is available at this desk.

If you would like a printed copy of the presentation, please come see City Clerk staff.

After this public hearing, the budget review process continues.

Any questions?

Comment.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Uh address for our company is 5105 South 37th Street.

That's at Christie Heights in South Omaha.

Um, I'm a proponent.

Uh, wanted to come voice my support for the proposed budget as a proposed recipient of this program, allows us to help fund our program personnel.

Uh, this last year we had 1,700 unique athletes that participated in our programs, soccer, basketball, baseball, mountain biking, uh, taekwondo.

We have flag football coming up.

Um, that number 2025 is already up above 1,700 unique participants.

Uh, total registration, so we do have kids that do multiple sports, gonna be around 3,500 to 4,000.

Uh, proposal goal for 2026 is well above 4,000 athletes.

So uh none of that would be possible without the continued support from the city, uh growth in different areas of the community, uh, as well as addition of different sports and programs.

So, again, just wanted to voice support for the budget.

Thank you.

Any questions for myself?

No.

Cool.

Thank you.

Thanks for all the work you do.

Our next speaker is Alan Siebert.

Alan Seibert, 5537, North 140th Street, Omaha, Nebraska, 68164.

I have a few comments and questions regarding the budget.

Page nine, second item under specific revenue policy objectives.

Why should the local taxing effort of other cities be a major consideration in determining our tax rates?

Page 13, City of Omaha budget summary.

In the by department section, police and fire funding for 200 2026 show increases of 13 and 18 percent respectfully.

I expected to see increases in their budgets because of the recent efforts to fill vacant positions.

I hope the increased funding is put to good use.

A few lines below, there's a department labeled other budget accounts miscellaneous.

That department is getting 17 million dollars more this year than last year, which is a 32 percent increase.

This is a big increase in a substantial amount of money being spent on some ambiguous department called other miscellaneous.

Also on page 13 in the by source of funds section.

Tranquility capital construction is having 9.9 million dollars cut from its funding.

That's a 35% reduction.

I thought this improvement project was approved because it was supposed to bring more significant new revenue to the city.

There has already been done work done in that area.

Does it all stop?

When opponents to the streetcar voiced their concerns, one of the responses was there has already been work done.

Did something change?

Is that funding going to other projects?

Just above that item is Levi Carter Park.

Its funding increased from 145,000 to 1.6 million.

Did funding get shifted from Northwest Omaha to the Newport Authority?

Pages 15 and 17 show that the balance carried forward has remained the same the last few years.

The city's tax rate has fallen during that time, but not this year.

Why not?

I couldn't find the county assessors valuation certification page, but I see on page 131 that the 2025 growth value used in the calculations on the 2026 property tax request form is zero.

Growth is usually around 1.4%.

Are you really expecting us to believe that you think there was no increase in city valuation attributable to growth?

So, in other words, the property tax revenue is only coming from existing structures.

That there was no new construction added to the tax rolls in 2025.

I don't believe that.

Your time is up, sir.

Your three minutes is up.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For decades, humans have been releasing millions of metric tons of pollutants into the environment.

The damage is cumulative and mitigation alone is not enough.

When the funding for the CAP becomes available, we must be ready to embrace it fully, not as an optional project, but as a necessary transformation for the city's future.

That requires a change of heart and attitude from leadership.

This is about building a healthier, more resilient city for our residents now and generations to come.

On another point regarding the proposed police headquarters, if it's to be built downtown, I urge you to consider making it primarily an administrative facility.

Operational and community-facing functions can be better located in places where they are more accessible to uh neighborhoods uh they serve.

So if uh we think about headquarters as administrative, then the combined police and fire headquarters becomes um you can it becomes more sensible.

Uh this budget uh should also prioritize the department that directly and departments that directly engage the public and help shape the city's future.

The planning department, parks, and the law department among others.

These departments need the resources to increase community engagement and the staff to make the engagement meaningful.

Investing in these areas improves transparency, builds trust, and fosters a sense of shared responsibility for the city's direction, and I hope that Mr.

Run Hug's uh sharpest critics will give him the space to lead the community that sent him there so he can make uh good decisions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Mr.

Trevor Towie.

Thank you, Mr.

President, members of the council.

I'm Trevor Towy.

I'm the president of Omaha Professional Firefighters 6005 Grover Street.

I'm a proponent uh of this budget mainly because I'm extremely pleased on the investment that's being provided for firefighter cancer and health screenings.

Um as you're aware, the firefighters are exposed to you know a significant carcinogens over their career.

Uh investing in their health is no doubt going to save lives.

It's going to keep firefighters healthy, it's going to extend their careers and allow them to do what they do best, keeping Omaha citizens safe.

Um so I want to thank Mayor Ewing and Chief Bossman for including that in this budget, and thank you for your support.

Um I also want to take this time, although I remain a proponent of the budget.

Uh I want to bring to your attention what's missing from the budget.

And in that, it's additional staffing.

Uh, you've heard me say this before.

We had a similar discussion last year about this time regarding our staffing.

And since that time, our additional call volumes went up 7.5 percent.

Our staffing has increased 2.7.

And that staffing is really because we were fortunate enough to get a safer grant last year that provided 18 additional firefighters.

Had we not gotten that, it'd been status quo.

Our call volumes go up 5% every year, and the fact is our staffing has increased 5%, a little over 5% total in the last 10 years.

So I'm hoping to get some investment in the budget uh at some point to address that concern.

We recently added an annexation package in Northwest Omaha.

That included 800 homes, over 800 homes, and 3,500 residents, but we didn't add any any additional firefighters to provide that service to them.

And it's it's truly a public safety issue.

As we grow as a city, as we grow uh as our call volume continues to rise, we need the firefighters to be able to respond effectively and efficiently.

Um I'm not just talking about response.

I'm talking about we need more training officers, we need more uh fire investigators, we need more fire inspectors.

And so what I'm asking of you is I know we've applied for another safer grant for this year.

If we do not receive that, I ask you to consider finding a way in the budget in 2026 to address those needs.

And I thank you for your time tonight.

Thanks, Trevor.

Our next proponent speaker is Melissa Neuenfeld.

Good evening, Council President Festerson, members of the City Council and fellow community members.

My name is Melissa Newenfeld.

My address is 540 North 77th Circle, Omaha, Nebraska.

I'm a registered nurse, and I am the sole and uh paid employee of Heel Omaha Street Medicine.

I am here today to advocate for the mayor's recommendation to allocate 216,000 and sending in city funding to our organization.

In just three and a half years, Heel Omaha has become a vital street medicine program.

Street medicine is a specialized health care model that delivers compassionate patient-led care directly to individuals experiencing homelessness in their own environments.

We address profound health disparities, recognizing that housing is fundamental to human health.

Instead of forcing people into traditional system that has often failed them, we meet them where they are, on the streets and in encampments to build trust and provide care on their terms.

We work in close coordination and alignment with the City of Omaha Homeless Services Coordinator as well as Threshold COC's collective impact housing focused street outreach team, and we accept referrals exclusively from these partners.

Our incredible team of nearly 100 dedicated volunteers, including physicians, nurses, and students from both Creighton and UNMC will provide over $1 million worth of in-kind labor to our community this year.

We work as a backpack-based team three days a week providing direct medical care, case management, and advocacy, and our support comes from a broad base of community donors, including Common Spirit, CHI, the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation, and the Logier Foundation.

This funding is a strategic investment in public health and a key component of Omaha's plan to end homelessness.

Our work reduces the burden on city services by proactively managing chronic conditions and providing preventative care before a crisis.

This leads to fewer emergency calls and hospital visits and increases patient engagement with housing case management.

Ultimately, our approach helps to improve health outcomes and reduce systemic inequalities.

We play a crucial role in our community's public health goals.

We collaborate with the Douglas County Health Department on overdose prevention, and we are developing a partnership with both the health department and a local outpatient clinic to provide prevention and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

This collaborative approach helps us to meet our patients' complex needs and improve overall community health.

A thriving street medicine program is also a powerful tool for attracting the next generation of health care professionals.

Medical and nursing students increasingly choose schools that offer hands-on opportunities to the emerging specialty of street medicine.

This grant will not only enhance our service delivery with a community health worker, a volunteer manager, and an additional vehicle, but it will help attract talented new students to our local medical and nursing schools, strengthening our city's health care future.

This grant is an investment in public health, public safety, and a more compassionate and resilient Omaha.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and I can answer any questions.

Thank you.

Our next proponent for the evening is Mr.

John Worthy.

Okay.

Thank you.

Our next proponent is Mr.

Paul Feilman.

Good evening, Paul.

Paul Feilman, 317 Clare Creek Drive, Utah, Nebraska.

I wanted to take an opportunity to talk just briefly about an opportunity that I think the City Council has and the city that would be really innovative and could really affect budget as well as some of the issues that the previous speaker just talked about.

I think her uh information dovetails closely with what I wanted to talk about tonight.

Um it just basically uh reflects an email that I sent to you guys this afternoon, and I'll just read it briefly.

As a retired mental health professional, I currently see a unique opportunity for the Omaha Douglas County to bring multiple mental health service providers, EMT services, and law enforcement organizations together to explore a new and innovative approach to community mental health crisis response services.

This model could support families in crisis and unhoused individuals as well as individuals with severe chemical dependency crisis.

I've attached uh information regarding the five-year-old model being successfully used in Denver.

The attached video describes a uh recent request from the program STAR to the Denver City Council to expand their innovative approach.

I've attached several other links to local mental health crisis response programs here in Omaha, and I've communicated with them.

Please consider facilitating a multi-organization meeting to explore whether Omaha could benefit from a such a similar model in um Omaha.

What the model basically does usually you have this dichotomy of law enforcement and fire whenever you call 911.

The model in Denver has really expanded.

They've got uh 15 vans now, and they're staffed with an EMT and a licensed mental health practitioner, and they've been able to divert a lot of calls.

Uh and the information that I gave you in the email uh takes pressure off both EMTs and the fire department and takes pressure off the police department and then allows for collaboration with other organizations like the the program that they just talked about, but there's numerous other ones.

It just brings more people together to look at the mental health crisis piece of things.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Our next proponent for the evening is Ms.

Erin Porterfield.

Greetings, thanks for having me.

Uh my name is Aaron Porterfield.

I'm executive director for Heartland Workforce Solutions, 5752 Ames Avenue.

We are grateful to be included in the mayor's budget, uh, presented to the City Council.

Heartland Workforce Solutions is a backbone organization that leads and connects our public workforce system partners, also connecting career seekers with industry talent needs.

Boy, that is a changing landscape right now.

Um next.

People are coming to us wondering what are the career opportunities that they need to connect with, not just for the next job, but also a career ladder.

And I would say that our whole community and our state is looking for how do we level up?

Uh, how do we escalate our meaningful manufacturing, our health care, our construction trade systems?

Heartland Workforce Solutions leverages these dollars to bring more dollars to the community, whether that looks like federal dollars, additional dollars, local foundation dollars, uh, additional grant dollars to meet the need.

You can depend on Heartland Workforce Solutions to listen and respond as the landscape changes.

So we are a proponent of the budget, and thank you.

Thank you.

I don't have any other sign-ins for proponents.

Is there any other proponents here that didn't sign up that would like to come down and speak?

Okay, seeing none, we'll now go to the opponents, opponents.

The first name of the evening is Sidney McNeil.

Hello.

My name is City McNeil, and I reside at 350 North 35th Street, apartment six.

Um I currently work in public education, and to be clear, I came here as a private citizen.

My views are my own, but I do believe my career is giving me a unique perspective as to what is needed in our city.

And in my nine-year career serving thousands of students, I have worked with students from all walks of life.

I've spent my own money making sure students have school supplies and food, and I've laid awake at night worrying about them.

Um I work in North Omaha, which is where the highest amount of evictions are concentrated in the city.

And if I'm being honest, working in education has discouraged me from speaking up on local politics, but I'm here to talk about people, not politics.

And my students are the best people I know.

They are funny and kind and loyal and creative, and they deserve better.

I want to live in an Omaha where I can sleep at night, knowing that my students also have somewhere to sleep at night.

Where I don't have to make sure students are being bullied because they don't have access to deodorant or somewhere to shower, where students' education aren't disrupted by having to move several times within one school year.

Where my students can focus on learning instead of survival, where students feel like they matter just as much as kids from any other part of town.

And right now they don't feel that way.

They feel discarded and neglected.

And this was before the current federal administration started taking away programs that their families rely on.

The police does not need an increase in funding.

We need to pour funding into programs that support affordable housing.

In particular, the rights of council law provides a fighting chance to some of our most vulnerable populations.

We need to start building local safety nets to make sure everyone has access to basic necessities.

I moved to Omaha in 2017, and I love this city.

It feels like home more than anyone else anywhere else I have ever lived.

And I am proud of it, but I would be a lot prouder if I knew everyone had access to adequate nutrition and housing.

We cannot make Omaha better by leaving some people behind.

The money to provide affordable housing is here, but it's up to you to use it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next opponent is Emily Sheel.

I'm sorry, Emma Sheel.

Hello.

My name is Emma.

Um I work as a diabetes educator.

Um part of my job is to ask patients about the barriers that they're facing.

Um that's keeping them from controlling their health or taking care of their health.

And so many of the people I talk to are dealing with housing, food insecurity, lack of transportation, disability, lack of insurance, so many things like this.

These are basic needs that our society is already kind of falling short at meeting.

And it's just gonna get worse with the recently approved cuts at the federal level to critical programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

Of course, there's a role of the state government too in making up the deficit from all these cuts.

But I think we also need to be thinking about that at the local level more than we are now.

So I'm asking you to think creatively about these problems, look around the country and see cities that are tackling these problems, um, and really challenge the status quo if that's what it takes.

I wish I could spend this time talking about my passions and dreams for the city.

Like protected bike lanes and public transportation and mixed use neighborhoods, community spaces.

But unfortunately, having to focus this testimony on asking you to help our neighbors afford food and roofs over their heads.

We need to ask ourselves is this budget doing enough?

And I currently don't think it is.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Emma, could you please give us your address for the record?

Sorry I didn't get that from you.

Um 1524 Cummings Street.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next opponent is Myra Johnson.

I might have gotten your first name wrong, forgive me.

You did.

Sorry.

Um my name's Mariah Johnson.

My address is 3030 North 60th Street for the record.

Um, I'm just coming today as a private citizen who's really concerned about this budget.

And um really the budget that lacks data-driven decision making.

And so I assume that you all are also rational people who like to make data-driven decisions and like to make decisions that make sense.

If you're not, then there's really no purpose for you to hold the seat that you have.

And so the data-driven truth is that investing in root causes of crime like education, employment, and mental health services is proven and has an actual correlation to reducing crime and is more effective at reducing crime than increased policing.

We know that when youth have access to education, job opportunities, they are less likely to become involved in criminal activity.

Um, cities that have invested in these areas are seeing remarkable results.

For example, Chicago has a summer jobs program that led to a 33% decrease in violent crime arrests among participants.

And Baltimore's group violence reduction strategy, which blends community support with law enforcement, resulted in a 34% drop in non-fatal shootings, which we did not see in the budget for police funding.

So here in Omaha, we've actually seen a decrease in crime, 21% fewer violent crimes in 2024, even in the midst of a police staffing shortage, which furthers the point that there's no correlation between increased policing and crime rates, right?

So we know now that the real drivers are crime are a lack of investment in our community, and we have not prioritized funding for public spaces, youth programs, mental health services, and instead we have relied on a reactive system that only addresses the symptoms of crime rather than its root causes.

Um I think it's time to rethink our approach and is why you should also oppose this budget.

Um we need to invest in what works.

We need programs that are for the youth and for our people that give them job training, that increase education, increase mentorship, and have safe spaces for the community where people can go, where youth can go to do something with their time.

These are the investments that create lasting safety for Omaha.

Not to mention this police department fails in many ways, and when they do fail, there's a severe lack of accountability and transparency, and I don't think you reward that with more money and more officers.

And so just you know, this past year alone, we've seen many people lost.

Stephen Phipps Jr., Cameron Ford, Janity Ibrahim, and Edward Henry.

And these lives are stolen from us.

And so I don't think that the police need more money from a data perspective, from a logical perspective, and they certainly haven't proven that they're effective at their jobs either.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mariah.

Our next opponent speaker is Melissa Palendo.

Thank you.

My name is Melissa, 416 Wanda Street.

Um, I am a founder of a nonprofit called opulence, but I am coming as a citizen.

I was here earlier at the initial hearing.

Um I do want to call out the city for process.

Um I don't believe that the process is being um handled fairly and efficiently as far as marketing of these types of meetings and things of that nature.

I would like to see maybe a part of the budget going towards that.

Um, in addition, let's talk about marketing.

Okay, HR earlier mentioned that they were going to market um and recruit for jobs.

There's a lot of empty departments.

Um directors, police they're mentioning looking for police officers outside of Omaha.

We do not need people coming from rural Iowa or even rural Nebraska into places like North Omaha who do not understand our our culture, or even the people they're um speaking to.

So that needs to be addressed, or maybe there's not an adjustment in funding.

A lot of the young ladies that came here were talking about solutions.

Well, there was a few meetings here in North and South Omaha in regards to the poverty elimination plan that the Senate required the city to do some research.

I would love to know the numbers of attendance in those meetings because everyone who went had ideas.

And then it's my understanding that there is no place in the budget for the poverty elimination acts.

So again, we have solutions.

We have the answers.

We're not listening to your constituents because they're there.

It's plain to see.

Um, that's kind of like your marketing.

Um, we have the you make Omaha going on.

I actually was part of that, and I bowed out of it because they're putting a lot of money into marketing, people getting involved in the planning department, people getting involved, and you want the city, the citizens to be involved.

I don't trust that you guys are going to listen because historically you have not.

So I decided to not be a part of the We Make Omaha committee.

Um, let's talk about the restorative justice program.

Currently, it is only with for misdemeanors, and it is a part-time position that I believe needs to be addressed.

We can have more people figuring out how to get out of the system before they turn those uh misdemeanors into felonies, and then those restorative justice programs aren't there for juveniles and for people with felonies, which I think also needs to be addressed.

We should put some funding into a juvenile restorative justice program because the purpose of juvenile detention centers is restorative justice.

So we don't have any funding for that.

Um I understand the difference between Douglas County and the city, but that also needs to be maybe some money put into how we're gonna figure that out.

Just read an article about the Board of Mental Health having civil rights issues and not allowing a whistleblower to continue to go to the board meetings.

That trickles into poverty, not getting people's cases looked at.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next opponent is Portia Hall.

No.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Next opponent is Doug Kagan.

Good evening.

Doug Kig and 416 South 130th Street, representing Nebraska taxpayers for freedom.

We consider this budget an affront and insult to taxpayers.

The overall budget demonstrates a trajectory that will increase our property tax load because of a spike in new city employees, expansion of present services, and projections of future plan projects.

There is no evidence of comprehensive serious budget cutting.

Instead, the budget admits to seeking new or expanded revenues to balance the budget.

Although the budget would retain the current property tax levy rate, 5.8 percent valuation increases will hike property taxes.

The city, unfortunately, does not vigorously attempt to collect delinquent taxes, placing additional pressure on the tax levy.

Spending for city operations would increase by 5.6 percent, yet the Midwest urban consumer price index for the 12 months ending in June 2025 rose by only 2.7 percent.

City government should not become involved in the affordable housing, which is really taxpayer subsidized housing business.

Initially spending 20 million on this effort from federal pandemic funds for the comprehensive 20-year city plan and investments in affordable housing, seed money would come, the mayor and his team said from the sale of bonds repaid by anticipated TIF revenue tied to the streetcar project.

However, if TIFF funds do not materialize, taxpayers will pay.

The latest report from the Nebraska Revenue Department revealed 4 percent of Omaha property taxes already diverted by TIFF grants, the different difference paid by taxpayers.

Private landlords could provide such housing services if the city would eliminate burdensome regulations placed on them in recent years.

The city budget includes 242 million for new parking garages.

The city does not need to build new parking garages or take responsibility for surface parking facilities, and it is questionable if they may will make a profit.

Again, this obligation belongs to private companies with whom the city should not compete.

The parking and mobility fund includes a listing of over 108,000 salary for a streetcar operations manager, despite residents assured that no taxpayer dollars would be used.

The budget no longer explains in footnotes as formerly done, the large increase or just decrease in expenditures.

Anticipated comprehensive expenditures for climate action plan, anti-poverty plan, and homelessness will put pressure on property taxes.

These projected expenditures, we believe, may jeopardize completion of current projects like the Tranquility Park Project.

Increased funding to improve street construction, maintenance and repair, or wasting taxpayer dollars unless the city requires construction companies to guarantee their work for longer periods of time.

Stricter city.

Thank you.

Our next opponent is Isabella Manhart.

Um hi, I'm Isabella Manhart.

I have an address waiver, but I'm a constituent in District 4.

Um I have a few things that I want to address with the budget today regarding transparency and accessibility in our city.

Um I've heard a lot of people talking about the police budget, and I'm concerned about that.

Um this morning, actually, I was uh I was woken up at 5 a.m.

by a man who is screaming in the park across the street from my house, and it was really clear he was having a mental health crisis, and I was concerned about his safety and the safety of my neighbors.

Um but when I looked up through to call, I found out that the OPD's behavioral health and wellness unit only has one email that's not monitored 24-7, and there is only one mental health corresponder per precinct.

So I didn't feel confident that calling the police would make anyone in my neighborhood safer, including this man, and I didn't.

But that really shouldn't be the case.

It should be easy to know how to keep your neighbors safe, especially since the police is set to get uh nearly $27 million budget increase from the general fund this year.

Um as far as I can tell, this money is not doing anything to solve problems like the ones I encountered.

Um I'm a full-time college student, I have a part-time job, and there is not really an accessible way for me to learn about this budget.

Um I combed through it as best I could, but I have other things going on, and so does everyone else here.

Um I did get this 2026 budget highlights about 30 minutes ago, and I really wish this had been posted somewhere for citizens to see before this very evening when this is our only chance to talk about it.

Um I would really like to see more communication on the city about how our money is being spent and more people being involved in a participatory budget process.

Um I don't think that the police should be getting more money.

It hasn't proven that they can do more good things with it in the past, but if the chief of police's office can get 10 million more dollars, I'm pretty sure that they could hire more mental health co-responders for each precinct and staff a 24-7 mental health responder line.

Um, a 13 percent increase in funding for any department should be something that's clearly explained to people.

Um, it's a significant amount of taxpayer money, and there should be accountability mechanisms in place to ensure the money is being used responsibly to support our community.

Um and I just don't see that happening here.

Um to that end, the city needs to fund better communication about the budget and other city processes.

The city budget is on a separate website from the CIP, which is on a separate website from the city council agenda, which is on a separate website from the city clerk where you need to go to get an address waiver.

And our mayor doesn't even have a publicly listed direct email.

So I I'm just at a bit of a loss.

Um and I was looking around today and I found the Publix Works website has actually been updated, and I thought it looked really nice, so congrats to them.

Um but I want the rest of the city's websites to be updated.

My last concern is about um the cover of this budget.

We have beautiful renderings of our new library um on 72nd and Dodge, but that's one of the most dangerous intersections in the city.

It's set to open in 2026, but on those renderings and in this budget, there is nothing about creating a more safe pedestrian environment there.

Um I think that the city needs to put in a pedestrian bridge.

Um there's 50 crashes a year there.

Vision zero identified it as a high injury network.

Um, and I think that if we're gonna put a public service there, we need to make sure that people can get there safely.

Um your time has expired.

Thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you.

Our next opponent speaker is Steven Dickerson.

Good evening, Council members.

Uh Steven Dickerson, 5214 Cass Street.

Um I'm a resident of uh Pete Vesterson's district.

Um I'm here tonight to respectfully oppose this budget.

Um I've been here before, and I like this budget more than previous budgets.

Um, but I still just have a few concerns um regarding the funding.

Um this year the general fund increases by 29,6, um 744 dollars across all departments.

The average uh increase is 4.51%.

Um but with that, the parks department only increases by 0.46%, which I think is not enough.

Um I'm acknowledging that that's still an increase, and I know that Mayor Ewing, the Parks Department, uh you, and others are going to focus on the funding gap in the future and the new master plan and all different things we've got going on with parks, which is great.

Um, but I think that if we don't increase parks funding now, we risk letting them become unmaintained, and I'm I'm scared about that because these are parks I grew up in.

These are the fields we played in, these are the grass uh I've seen kids roll in.

Um these are trails that I walk nearly every day with my dog, um, and I see so many people using them.

Um also they're a reliable third space for our youth, which is really important as well as we see more of those um start to disappear.

So I just want to know that this budget does focus on that.

Um and right now I think that the slight increase doesn't really show that it's the highest priority.

Um and so if the parks can go without significant investment, you're you're telling residents that as they have to adapt to the extreme heat, the heavy rainfall, the damaging storms, just like we saw last weekend, um, and all these other realities of changing climate.

Um, and you're just saying, okay, a 0.46 increase is fine.

Um, which I think is alright, but it could be better.

Um, Mayor Ewing and you guys as council members have done a fantastic job of prioritizing public safety.

Um, and I want to see that that public safety strategy become more comprehensive because it should include parks as well.

Um, it's not just about response, it's about prevention.

Parks increase social well-being, they increase um they reduce crime, they cool our neighborhoods, they do all sorts of great benefits at a relatively cheaper cost than other solutions.

So I'm just asking you to potentially re-evaluate the parks funding and just look at if there's any ways we can do that.

Um, of course, physically responsibly and efficient as well, because those are the main priorities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next opponent is Kira Britt.

Hi, my name is Kira Britt.

I got my address waived, um, but I uh live in District One.

Um first I'd like to say I am disappointed that Omaha only provides one night every year for us to testify on the next year's budget.

Many of your constituents would probably like to participate in this process but are not available tonight.

And other cities do a much better job than Omaha of providing multiple opportunities for people to voice their concerns and ideas on the city budget.

So, whatever you guys can do in your role as city counselors to make this process more acceptable or sorry, more accessible to your constituents, I do urge you to do so.

Um issue I see with the general fund is the fact that the Omaha police department makes up over one-third of this proposed budget.

Um but similarly, size cities do not allocate that much money to their police departments.

Minneapolis, for example, it has a fairly similar population size as us, but um it's like over twice as population, has over twice the population density as us.

And they only spend uh 9.5 percent of their budget on police.

So I would like to know like is this really necessary for us to prioritize the police this much?

Um I think we've seen that police do not prevent crime as much as they react to it, and they do so usually with racism, violence, and escalation.

I have emailed you all some graphs from the Nebraska Crime Commission's report on racial profiling in police traffic stops in 2024.

And um basically the graph at the top shows um just the racial disparities in the 2024, well, in the last four years of traffic stops made by the Omaha Police Department.

And uh you can see that the um uh amount of black people who are pulled over in traffic stops, um, it's uh way higher than their um population.

So there's a huge disparity there.

And same for um American Indians and Alaskan natives.

Um they make up way more traffic stops than they do population wise, which is concerning because they only make up uh less than half per of a percent of Omaha's population.

So um there's clearly some issues with how some deep issues with how the Omaha Police Department is conducting their business.

Um there's some clear racial profiling going on there.

And um additionally, I'm really concerned about um just how every time an Omaha police department officer wrongfully takes another person's life, there are frequently no consequences.

Um in fact, they might just get hired as a sheriff at the courthouse next door.

Um so until the Omaha police department takes responsibility for trigger happy officers and holds them accountable for racist behavior.

I do not think we should increase their budget this year.

We must address, must address these issues and not just keep throwing money at it.

I would like to see more investment in programs and spaces that um prevent crime from happening in the first place.

One example is parks, a study from 2020 from the University of Virginia found that well-maintained public parks and other green spaces are time is expired reduce urban gun violence.

And I I want to put the names of the next three opponents just so if you want to come down, get closer to try to keep the process moving.

Our next speaker is Larry Storr, followed by Daniel Cook and Gab Rima.

Mr.

Storr, you have the mic.

You need my address?

Yes, please.

5015 Lafayette Avenue, Omaha 68132.

Hello again today.

I am against everything on a budget right now because of we don't really know how much of this budget money is from grants that may disappear all of a sudden, federal or state or private organizations that we are beholden to because we get money from them.

Those are the people that decide whether those grants will survive or not.

So a lot of people in this room may get really surprised when the clawback, a term that is coming quite frequent, particularly from the federal government, that we want our money back because you didn't spend it the way you were supposed to.

That comes from private organizations, too.

They control you because they give you their money.

We are the people you're supposed to serve, not them.

Now, when they when they want their money back because they're not getting their fair share out of you.

These people are going to be pretty mad because they can't get money from you because it's all gone.

Programs that don't work, stop spending it.

Grant money that may disappear.

Stop accepting it.

If you can't do it with the cash at the city funds, then don't do it.

Stop them.

Uh Forward Nebraska is uh organization run by a well-known physician and educator in Nebraska.

I submitted for your public record an article by her about that topic.

Please put it into the record, word for word, not just that I spoke.

If I don't I sent it to you for that purpose.

And one of one other item, too, in regards to the open meeting act.

Uh excuse me one second.

Uh there's the federal dollars, there's our ARPA dollars that everybody was running to get.

There's uh the private donations like Sherwood Foundation and a lot of other 501c3s that come down here in line asking for money, and they have a program that's supposed to work.

But when that program doesn't work or the money is not there, uh there's going to be a lot of disappointment people that those services are no longer available to.

So start cutting back now and say no to a lot of those things.

Um I was here earlier today because things were not clear about what the earlier meeting was about.

I sometime not too far back challenged the Douglas County attorney to go to the city council and clarify that that special meeting in the morning, which was called a pre-council meeting was actually an open meeting.

The meeting this afternoon was also an open meeting under the open meetings act.

Larry minutes or so.

Thank you.

But you people do not understand meetings.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Daniel Cook, followed by Gab Rima.

And third in line is Mary Royers.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Daniel.

I live at 2739 North 47th Avenue.

Uh first off, I would like to mention how the budget is 470 pages long, which is genuinely insane.

Um released less than a month ago.

Uh, and with me working full time, I go to school part-time.

There is not enough time for us to read and understand everything that's on there.

But one thing I did see is that you wanted to give OPD what seems like over $13 million uh increase.

And like, what are they gonna do with that much money?

Um do they have a plan for all this?

Um what have they done to prove that they need this money?

Um in my opinion, I think they should be budgeting better with the money that they have.

Like they don't need those flashy um join OPD cards that they have sitting out front.

And they especially don't need car wash memberships, which they spend a lot of money on.

Um, I think they should put together a presentation and ask for money uh instead of them just getting money because they don't deserve it.

Uh I think someone said crime is down in Omaha a lot this year, which proves that they don't need more money.

All they need is to be active with the community, and that will help us a lot more than just overspending on them.

Thank you.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Gab Roma.

Hi, my name is Gab Rima, and I've had my address requirement waived, but I live in City Council District 4.

Um it's one of my hopes for Omaha that our city government becomes more accessible to the people.

Uh while other neighboring major Midwestern cities like Chicago and Minneapolis have more participatory budget processes featuring easy-to-read graphics and pamphlets, numerous town halls, focus groups hosted by government leaders, and fresh modern websites.

Um we have this, uh, which is one council meeting three weeks after the budget is released.

Um we get the budget at the same time as you do as our city counselors.

Um, and I think that there's a much earlier window for us to be included.

As far as I'm aware, no city leaders um do active outreach to actively seek out constituent feedback and make sure people know that this hearing is happening.

Um our government processes are often opaque and inaccessible, which is why I would love for a small portion of this budget to be dedicated further to constituent services and communications to help make things more accessible.

This fund could be used to do more surveys and focus groups to include people at earlier points in the budget process.

The budget is, you know, sort of uh a many month process, but the public only gets to know about it for about one month.

Um just helping with access needs for constituents who wish to be more involved.

Um, this could include facilitating council district news web pages, more updated city web pages, and things like that.

Um I think you will find that more Omahans than you realize are deeply interested in the goings-on of our local government, um, but simply just don't know where to get started, and that more Omahans would speak up if someone was dedicated to ensuring that the city more thoroughly considered our lives and needs by doing outreach and by maybe choosing not to schedule important meetings for important dates in our city calendar, like the day before OPS starts back at school, um, which is today.

And I want to second and uplift the voices and ideas of my fellow Omahans who are here tonight, ensure that I also support funding for the Right to Council initiative for an effort towards making even more progress on our climate action resilience plan, community-centered mental health initiatives, and some of the other wonderful ideas you already heard tonight.

I hope you will consider our proposals, and I believe that Omaha deserves a more transparent and accessible government, and I hope that the mayor and the council agree.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Rima.

Our next speaker is Mary Rogers, followed by Christine Kramer, and third in the queue is Jaden Perkins.

Good evening.

Yeah.

Hi, my name is Mary Royers.

I have had my address requirement waived, but I do live in District 2.

Um before I start, just because of the limited time, please take a moment to take a look at the printouts that I have provided with more specific data on the topic I will be speaking on.

Omaha is a growing city.

We have become a metro of over one million residents, and we've been named, as you well know, by Forbes as the best city to move to in America, right in the heart of the Midwest.

We've become a city of innovation and change.

So let's talk about how to keep our city safe and how to build trust between the community and the city itself at a time of heightened tensions.

I'm asking you to commit to a community-centered solution by investing a percentage of the police budget towards expanding the pre-existing infrastructure of the Omaha 360 violence intervention program and making adjustments to achieve the success that Baltimore has seen over the last three years since initiating a new operation model of their own pre-existing program.

That's at the very top of your handout.

As a result of their changes, violence has been reduced by a whopping 40% and continues to drop each year.

Their model focuses on victim services, hospital-based intervention, community outreach, mediation and violence intervention, job training, and keeping illegal firearms off the streets to keep our neighbors safe.

It weaves a tapestry of local partnerships that not only prevent property theft and violence, but in doing so build a sense of safety and trust that Omaha so desperately needs between the citizens and their crime prevention programs going into the next year.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Christine Kramer is our next speaker.

Hello, my name is Christine Kramer.

I have submitted an address waiver form, but I reside in District 3.

I'm here today to urge the council to product prioritize additional funding for addressing food insecurity in Omaha.

Section 10108 of the HR 1 bill, the alien SNAP eligibility, targets some of the most vulnerable members of our community, including refugees, asylum, victims of track trafficking and torture, and other humanitarian entrants, making them ineligible for SNAP benefits.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates the provision alone will remove grocery assistance for roughly 250,000 people nationwide.

Individuals who hold lawful humanitarian status and would otherwise qualify.

In the past three years, Omaha has welcomed an estimated 3,000 refugees into our city, our highest number in history.

Many of these families are large households with six, eight, or even ten members.

Eliminating SNAP will push them into deeper food insecurity.

We currently don't know exactly how many refugee families will lose benefits.

When a neighbor of mine requested data from DHHS, they quoted us at $31,000 just for the report with an estimated due date of February 2027.

This is an unacceptable cost and delay that prevents us from acting proactively.

I'm sorry, we got to confirm Madam Clerk.

I don't think the address waiver was approved.

Okay, I never received if it was like denied or approved.

Um I sent an email.

I never received an email.

Can you give your email or your give your address?

I would prefer not to.

That's why I submitted the waiver.

Can I can I just eliminate my unit number?

Is that fine?

Okay.

2315 Harney Street, Apartment 304.

Thank you.

And we'll we'll make sure you get the time made up that you miss here.

Sorry to interrupt you.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Take your time, get back to where you were.

Perfect.

Okay.

Um the city budget mentions food insecurity only once, um, stating that a portion of the Omaha restaurant week proceeds will go to the food bank of the heartland.

Uh, but between ICE raids and individuals losing their work authorizations, which are taking longer than normal to renew currently.

Nebraska's agricultural sector is already experiencing worsening food insecurity.

According to the Food Bank of the Heartland, federal cuts have already led to a reduction of 515,000 meals in Nebraska.

I urge this council to increase funding for the Food Bank of the Heartland, All People's Pantry and Hanscombe Park, and Heart Ministry.

If we do not act now, more families will face the impossible choice between rent and food.

Driving up evictions, homelessness, and poverty across Omaha.

Food should not be a privilege but a basic human right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jaden Perkins, followed by Cheryl Weston and Marissa Valencelo.

All right.

Good evening, Council members.

My name is Jaden Perkins.

I'm at 3325 Riverview Boulevard coming to you as a concerned citizen today, speaking to you about the proposed 6.6% increase in the Omaha police budget for 2026.

This draft budget would fund 113 new officers, additional cruisers, and equipment, locking in decades of salary and pension costs before we better invested in higher impact and data-driven alternatives.

Omaha already devotes a large share of its general fund to policing.

Nationwide cities spend an average of 19% on their budgets on police, yet there's literal correlation between higher spending and lower crime.

Pure cities of our size like Springfield, Missouri, and Charleston, South Carolina still struggle with safety despite robust police budgets.

Many 911 calls in Omaha involve mental health crisis, homelessness, or traffic issues.

Yet our armed officers aren't always the safest, safest or most effective first responders in these nonviolent emergencies.

Cities across the country have shown how to reallocate police funds without compromising safety.

In uh Eugene, Oregon, the CAHOOTS program has diverted 20% of 911 calls to unarmed crisis teams, which saves the city over $9 million a year.

Denver's STAR program has handled 1,400 mental health calls in its first year with zero arrest at roughly a third of the cost of the police response.

In Camden, New Jersey, shifting resources into community policing and youth programs has driven a 42% drop in violent crime over seven years.

And also in Austin, Texas, they have redirected about 20 million dollars from swarm positions to supportive housing, mental health responsors, mental health responders, and violence prevention initiatives.

By reallocating just 10% of the Omaha Police Department proposed budget, which would be about $3 million for the next year, we could launch a mobile crisis response unit modeled on CAHOOTS and STAR fund youth employment and grassroots mentorship programs all year round, reinstate the public safety auditor, and invest in more affordable housing, poverty elimination programs, jobs programs, and more initiatives that help poor and working class people.

These strategies yield clear returns, crisis calls cost between 150 and 300 versus $600 plus dollars for a police dispatch.

And for every $1 invested in violence interruption saves about $18 in avoided medical and criminal justice expenses.

I respectfully ask you to pause headcount growth for 2026, maintain core operations, and redirect the marginal increase to these evidence-based interventions.

Thank you, Jane.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, Cheryl.

Hello.

I'm back.

I haven't seen me for a while.

Um Cheryl Weston, one eight to Omaha Street, Omaha, Nebraska, 68110.

To the Omaha City Council members, the request for strategic budget adjustments, advocating for cultural training and community policing.

First, I would like to be very clear.

We are not requesting you to defund the Omaha Police Department.

We are asking you to review the increase of the allocation.

As residents and community advocates, the North and South Omaha United Coalition.

As our city continues to make strides in crime reduction, success owed to both law enforcement and the engaged communities they serve, it is crucial to reflect on the most effective ways to maintain and further this positive trajectory.

With crime rates going downward, we urge the council to critically evaluate whether the current proposal for additional police hires is the most judicious use of public funds.

Instead, we asked and proposed that we seize this moment of relative stability to invest more substantially in culture training, innovation, community policing initiative, things such as bring back the Omaha police youth program called the Explorer.

Culture Compens training equips our officers with the skills and sensitivity needed to serve Omaha increasingly diverse population.

Training goes beyond basic awareness.

It fosters empathy, effective communication, and mutual trust, laying the foundation for relationships between the law enforcement and the community they serve.

Similar, community policing empowers officers to act as partners and problem solvers rather than just simply enforcers.

This approach has been shown in cities across the country to increase public safety while reducing the likelihood of misunderstanding and adverse incidents.

Given that the decrease in crime rates, it only stands as reason that our policing's strategy should shift from expansion to enhancement, allocating more of the budget to ongoing education, cultural awareness, and collaborative initiatives.

This is not only prudent financial decision, but also a proactive measure to ensure that Omaha remains a city where all residents feel secure and respected.

Thank you for your service in considering this appeal with this information, diverting some funds from the new hires to come comprehensive training relation building programs.

Thank you, Cheryl.

No problem.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Marissa Velasilo.

I don't know if I got that right.

Good evening, I'm sorry.

Hi, everyone.

My name is Marissa Vallecillo.

Um, residing in 2100 Douglas Street.

Um, and I am a community organizer here on behalf of uh Youth Elect to oppose the proposed budget.

Uh youth elect is basically a space for young people to build their collective power and advocate for a number of local issues here in Omaha.

Um, at Youth Elect, we recognize the importance of public participation as well as our relationships with uh City Council leadership.

That is why I'm here today to write feedback on expected funds that are going towards programs for youth in Omaha.

Uh, first, the city is still receiving a grant for the youth violence prevention program, which pays for police equipment to harm our youth and over um and it also pays for overtime pay for police to surveillance us.

We find that this program should not be categorized as a youth program as our community has called out the police on multiple occasions for using force as a tactic to harm communities of color.

We understand that some of the intervention programs are effective through U-turn and Omaha 360, but buying more weapons should not be an effort within the same program.

Uh the root cause of harm has and always will be poverty, and until we recognize that we will continue to be faced with the same problems.

We instead need to fund mentoring, mental health, homelessness, food programs, especially right now when a lot of our federal and state funds are being cut in half.

The second thing we find troubling is that there is no funding in the budget for the youth.

Uh, for the Young Professionals Advisory Board, the Millennium Advisory Committee, and the Youth Advisory Commission that were signed by Ewing on his first few days in office.

The city has a history of introducing great initiatives and gaining the public excited about them, only for them not to be funded in the first place.

If this new administration wants to prioritize youth the way they say they do, I ask that you please look for funding and add that to the 2026 budget.

Youth are innovative and great collaborators.

We could get a lot of our answers answered if we just let youth in and take and let them take leadership roles within the city.

Um we urge our city council to vote no today and begin to take a deeper look into the uh kinds of investments that our budget needs and reflects, especially around youth.

Thank you.

Thank you.

You said your name so much better and beautifully.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Lynn Mills, followed by Stephen Matthews, and then Clarice Dembach.

Good evening.

Hello, my name is Lynn Mills.

I live at 3509 California Street.

Mr.

Bagley, I live in your district.

Um I am here to speak in opposition to the proposed police budget.

I believe a portion should be reallocated to our homeless coordinator, Tamra Dryer, and to Mayor Ewing's new homeless task force to create a collaborative outreach strategy.

Some of the funds could be used to hire staff, provide trauma, informed training to police and other city departments that come in contact with our homeless population.

I believe this reallocation of funds would allow us to better meet the needs and address problems faced by our homeless community, as well as lessen the burden on police to deal in something they are not trained in.

The city needs to start building relationships based on trust.

With proper funding and resources, we may finally be able to access the root cause of our homeless in Omaha.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But that's already been explained.

I was going to kind of talk about the behavioral health and wellness unit and why that's currently not showing a large amount of success because of how it's currently funded and how it's currently going out with police units right now, which is kind of counterintuitive to the idea of actually having uh healthcare professionals go out to handle things, but that's already been mentioned.

Um I was going to discuss uh Didver Star, and I moved here three years ago from Dayton, Ohio.

We have a similar model there.

Uh it's called the mediation response unit, where we actually have people go out, but uh that's already been kind of explained.

I I kind of realized from sitting back there, um there's a lot of like heavy data-driven models that show how to reduce crime and why like nonprofits and other groups in the city that I've grown to like love actually help and like alleviate a lot of concerns that are happening, whether it's like at households, uh mental health panics, uh issues on the street.

And it really seems like the push for this budget is to kind of fulfill uh like a promise through a campaign, and I think that money can go towards it could go towards parks, it could go towards uh here.

I wrote something down.

Uh it could go towards parks, it can go towards uh human resources, it could go towards the fire department.

I mean, we just had someone up here saying they don't have enough people.

Um I just really implore you, like we have a new mayor, we have uh a new city council, and I think this is like a really good opportunity to actually move towards these models that have been proven to like work time and time again.

Um having more cops on the street is not necessarily going to it's objectively not actually going to lead towards a data connection towards dropping crime.

So that's it.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Clarice Dembach, followed by Jonathan Renteria, and then followed by Maureen Piper.

All right.

Um, good evening, Clarice Donbeck, 901 Farnorm Street.

Uh so again, my name is Clarise Dombeck, and I'm the senior campaign organizer for the redress movement.

And the redress movement is a nonprofit um housing organization that organizes in partnership with local communities in four metro areas, including Omaha, to repair their harm caused by intentional policies that segregate our communities.

I'm here speaking to you because I think most of us believe that everyone deserves a safe place to live regardless of their race, zip code, or what lawful income they use to pay for it.

I want our city budget to reflect that shared value.

Many of you know that two years ago, local reporting uncovered increasing and unnecessary evictions at the Omaha Housing Authority.

Over 400 OHA households faced evictions in 2023, many over small dollar debts that ballooned due to legal fees slapped on them by the housing authority.

In a number of cases, OHA failed to use existing federal guidelines designed to help keep the lowest income residents in their homes.

Meanwhile, many tenants also reported deteriorating conditions and pest infestations in their buildings.

With this budget, the City of Omaha has an opportunity to create some oversight for the Omaha Housing Authority and ensure their residents have access to an attorney to protect them from these unnecessary evictions.

Programs like this, known as right to council, are a win for everyone and have been spreading across the country in the past decade.

The county health rankings has awarded right to council programs their highest rankings for their science scientific support and potential to decrease disparities.

They offer dignity and accountability to residents, reduce evictions and homelessness, and save us all money in the long term.

In fact, STOUT, a financing financial analysis company has done several studies estimating the cost and benefits of providing a right to counsel program, and every report has found that cities and states say far more than they spend by avoiding costs around shelters, health care, foster care, and other social safety net services.

At the redress movement, organizing to protect residents from displacement is part of how we fight segregation, and it is only becoming more necessary at the local level as we watch the federal government work to dismantle our safety net and our basic rights.

I hope you all were join us in this effort and fund this essential program in the next budget so we can begin to live our values that everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

And I did send each of you council members an email with further details on this program, and I look forward to discussing it with you all.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello.

My name is Jonathan Renturia, uh 4334 South 26th Street.

I'm here to testify against the human rights and relations portion of the budget specifically.

Um, right now at the federal level, we're facing uh attacks on local governments, local institutions, organizations that have a focus on DEI or any kind of anti-discrimination practices or policies.

One thing that I want to see the city do is invest more resources, more personnel in some anti-discrimination policies, uh programs in South Omaha specifically.

We dealt with a raid immigration raid just uh two months ago, and there has been a direct impact as far as business and people going out into the community and spending money.

Um, that is not okay, and we should be doing more as a city to offset some of the negative consequences of the federal policies policies.

Um so that small and emerging business program within the city, uh, the human rights and relations department, that would be important to invest in to make sure that people get the city contracts or a part of that pipeline and they're not left like by the wayside while everyone else gets all these big city contracts for these uh big developments, these big projects, and also make it so that if people are dealing with discrimination in whatever area it is health care, employment, and like housing, they have a city resource and advocate that they can reach out to because we don't necessarily have anybody in our corner right now in South Omaha.

We reach out to like our representatives, our senators, uh governor, but there's nothing protecting people in the short run.

So I asked you guys uh today to um change the appropriated or recommended um personnel on the human rights and relations from 12 to something higher that can support some kind of auxiliary program or some kind of referrals or like people can have mediation, so they don't have to be scared just to leave their house to go grocery shopping to go to apply for housing.

Like people are in desperate situations, not just immigrant populations, but in general as the social safety net is getting cut and different populations will be discriminated in that process, and more people may rise to the top, other people will keep getting left behind and furthered behind.

So that's my testimony.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last speaker is Maureen Piper.

Good evening.

My name is Maureen Piper, and I reside at 3820 Jones Street in District 3.

I'm here today as a private citizen to oppose the proposed city budget for 2026.

As a lifelong Omaha resident, I have serious concerns regarding what is prioritized in this budget versus what is ignored.

I am here today to ask a council to divert excess funding for the police department into projects that will more sustainably protect public safety, including a right to counsel program for public housing tenants and pedestrian and cyclist infrastructure.

As has been explained by many other folks tonight, um a right to council law was already passed by the state legislature in 2024, granting all Omaha Housing Authority tenants the right to a full relationship with a lawyer in the event of eviction proceedings.

This law would give every tenant a fair shot against predatory practices and greatly reduce turnover rates in public housing buildings, creating a stabilizing effect on the underserved and vulnerable communities where these buildings stand.

However, despite being recommended in the housing affordability action plan approved by members of this council, the program remains unfunded.

By Omaha Housing Authority's estimates, the program would cost approximately one million dollars annually.

The current proposed budget success suggests a disproportionate increase in police funding by nearly 13 and a half million dollars.

While police merely respond and react to crime after the fact, countless studies have proven that reducing barriers to stable housing actually prevents crime, protects the physical and mental health of our community and saves money over time.

Counselors, I urge you to reallocate at least one million dollars from the bloated police budget to cover the cost of this program that has already been passed into law by our state legislatures and prioritize protecting our community with proactive policies that are proven to actually work.

I would also like to take this opportunity to urge the council to consider funding more projects to construct and improve infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists.

Public transit and cyclist infrastructure are key pieces to a healthy and sustainable city.

Walkable cities and usable public transit systems also attract and retain young adult residents.

However, these options are currently inaccessible.

Um unmaintained and inaccessible sidewalks, a lack of crosswalks, a lack of lighting and seating at bus stops, and a measly selection of bike lanes, none of which are currently protected from traffic with any form of barrier.

Every Omaha deserves to have mobility and safety regardless of what mode of transit works best for them.

Instead of perpetuating cycles of poverty, poverty and crime through excessive criminalization, it's time for you to invest in meeting the needs of your constituents in healing our communities.

Thank you.

Thank you.

That concludes the sign-in sheets for the opponents.

Is there anybody else that wants to speak in opposition of the budget that did not sign in to our desk tonight?

Yes.

Please come up and give us your name and address.

And then you can you can come next, please, ma'am.

Good evening.

My name is Tyler Engel.

I'm at 1415 North 52nd Street.

Uh so when I came here tonight, I didn't expect to be in agreement with the gentleman from Nebraskans for taxpayer freedom over here.

Uh, but he's right.

We're planning on spending 300 million dollars, some dollars uh this year on parking garages and parking facilities after having spent 207 million dollars last year.

On top of that, uh, after the police and fire budgets, uh the main part of this budget uh every year is roads and road maintenance and new road construction.

Um we've talked a lot about the police budget, and that's been covered, but I think maybe the part that isn't as well known as that roads budget.

And so the previous speaker talked about brain drain a little bit.

Um, probably about every year.

I see some article or some leader in the city discussing brain drain, particularly among young people leaving the city and propose some sort of solutions to why that's happening and how we can fix it.

Uh, but the piece that's not talked a lot about is that multimodal transit, dense walkable neighborhoods, which are in short supply here, and when they are, they're expensive.

Um action on climate change.

We have a new climate action plan, which is great, but there's little to no funding in this budget for it.

Um one piece of that in particular is bike lanes.

There's a goal of 100 new miles of bike lanes in the next 10 years, and this budget has no funding for any of those.

We need to build 10 miles a year if you do the math.

Um, and just generally we lag woefully behind other peer cities and cities that these people are moving to in these types of options that young people want in addition to high-paying quality jobs.

Um again, the gentleman talking about property taxes.

If we were able to reform that part of the roads budget, which we can't really do in the short term just because we have decades of sort of backlog already.

But if we can start chipping away at that, that provides an opportunity to potentially reduce property taxes over time if we can reduce spending.

Um I realize like money's not unlimited and we have to make choices, but I'd like to see those like more consciously made.

Um, it seems like the roads, the police, the fire are sort of uh no questions asked when those um asked for money come up, but other things, there's a kind of a we don't have money for that.

How are we gonna fund that?

And so maybe we have a more um conscious choice of like where we want to spend on money.

And so what I'm asking is if we can start spending money on those bike lanes, can we spend money on transit building those dense walkable neighborhoods that'll keep people around?

Um then also part of the climate action fund is to remove parking minimums.

I don't know what that costs to start doing the process for writing up those ordinances and getting that passed through this council, but that would also be a stepping stone towards spending less money on parking, car-in-the-transit or car-oriented infrastructure that would potentially bring those bills down over time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ma'am, did you did you want to speak?

Please.

Hello, Brinker.

Hello, Pete.

Um, hello, Amy.

Um my name is Kanetta Wainwright.

Uh I don't have an address, so I guess I am the person that everybody keeps speaking for.

So I decided to come up and speak for myself.

Um no one mentioned that in 2009 uh there was a thousand people that came out to the city council budget.

Um so it's not a matter of if you market it, it's what people decide is important to them.

And the overflow was done downstairs and outside on the sidewalk.

So people come out when it is important to them.

Um one addressed the restaurant tax is 8.4% of revenue that could go to some of the programs.

Um no one addressed significantly TIFF or um some of the LIHTC programs that are meant to uh help neighborhoods and increase affordable housing, which it does not.

Um instead, you have some people who will purchase properties for a dollar, put a garden box that never gets tended to for a dollar and buy a whole block for for for less than $10, yet I can't buy a piece of property, a parcel for a dollar and put a 10 on it.

I can't build a home on it.

But that person can, and then they can be slum lords and not take care of their properties, but there's no accountability, and they do not have to pay taxes for 15 years.

So let's address those issues and let's target where we need to so that people that would like property uh tax reform can have it, and those who need additional housing can have it, but the way it was intended under the McKinney Vento Act, which is now hearth.

Um, the continuum of care here had received 15 excuse me, closer to 16 million dollars for homelessness.

Um there are access points, coordinary uh coordinated entry system.

Um I went to several of them and they don't exist, but they get money for it.

So let's address that when we're addressing city council and talking about the budget and kind of your time is expired, your three minutes is expired.

Thank you.

I'm gonna ask, may I have one additional minute?

I can't give any more time.

I gotta be fair to everyone.

I'm sorry.

Thank you very much.

I thought since I was the person that everyone was talking about, thank you.

I I gotta ask you to step down.

That's okay, Mr.

Begley.

Thank you.

Amy, I hope you heard me.

Is there any other opponents who would like to speak that did not sign in?

My name is Danielle Rohr.

My address is 7405 Rogers Road.

This is Lena, it's her first city council meeting.

Um I want to thank the previous speaker for her courage in speaking about her lived experiences and the fact that we as a city have failed to take better action to protect those in our community who are forced out of their homes.

Over the last several years, we've seen numerous apartment complexes and housing complexes that have been completely destroyed because of the greed of some of our landlords who have treated them as nothing more than profit.

We see an increase in homelessness.

I've seen the encampments close to my own neighborhood.

And we don't do enough to support our communities.

We aren't doing enough to support that, but we always have more money to fund the police.

We always have more money to fund methods to incarcerate people, and we aren't funding the community needs.

We aren't funding better housing options.

We aren't funding the people who actually need it.

Because they didn't have co-responders.

And we're not funding enough of that.

One of the speakers earlier discussed that there's only one person who's doing that one emailed address that's not monitored 24-7.

But we can afford to pay for how many new cruisers, how many new officers, and not the individuals who will actually show up to support our community and support the people in need.

I also heard one of our previous speakers talk about the need to fund better parks and better community spaces.

If we want our youth to not end up in incarceration, the best way to do that is to ensure that they have safe options available to them.

When I was a kid growing up in Omaha, our community centers had after school programs, had classes, had education that we could attend.

The community center in my neighborhood no longer exists.

We have so much more that we could be doing instead of investing in a system that continues to target particular communities within our city.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else that has not spoken in opposition and would like to speak?

Hello.

I oppose the budget for a lot of the things that everyone else was saying, but specifically just infrastructure and I think lack of support with the youth and public transportation.

So I work with youth.

And I think we should make sure that we're not just pointing that off to big time developers because I know someone personally in my life that was working, lived in an area around downtown that was lower class, and they got evicted because they were taking down the apartment to make it into a luxury apartment or whatever it may be.

So I just want to talk about how we should make sure that we're actually investing in communities and revitalizing them and not gentrifying them.

And then also I know this is not in the budget.

I know that OPS and OMETR are not considered a part of uh Omaha City's budget.

But I think that we should consider pouring money into OPS and Omaha's public transportation because again, access and resource are what's what's gonna help the youth and underserved communities thrive and stay on a path that helps them feel like they're successful.

Um as someone that relied on public transportation and lived near downtown, I felt like I had a lot to benefit from in my area, and I think that I think that not supporting public transportation and not supporting OPS is setting up not only kids for failure, but also just Omaha in general.

Omaha is a growing city.

We can't keep spending money on car infrastructure.

We need some kind of system outside of driving, like buses and public transportation that's gonna help people feel like they can get to where they need to go safely and adequately and not worrying about if they're gonna be late, XYZ.

But yeah, I just think that we should make sure we're considering the kid, the youth and public transportation and also make sure that we're not letting gentrification um fix neighborhoods.

Uh but yeah, that's all I have to say, really.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Is there any other opponents?

Good evening.

My name is Michaela Atkins.

I reside at 5735 North 33rd Street, um, District 2.

I wasn't prepared to come up and say anything.

Um, I just have a sneaky suspicion that you all will likely pass this budget with no regard to what any of us have said today.

And that disappoints me that I have that expectation of you because you all are put in a position to serve us and to be responsive to our needs.

And time and time again, you guys have continued to fail to do that.

So if you're gonna go ahead and continue to pass the budget, we hope that you allocate some of your $50,000 in your discretionary funds that each of you city council members get to some of the solutions that were presented here today.

You all don't even have to put the solutions together.

You just have to simply put your money where your mouth is and invest in them.

And that's it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good one.

Harding.

Yes.

Hug.

Melton.

Row.

Mr.

President.

Yes.

Motion passed.

7 0.

Meeting is adjourned at 8 05.