Good evening, citizens of Portsmouth, or who are watching us online.

Want to thank you for joining us at this special meeting today to go over our proposed budget.

I want to also acknowledge our city staff and uh those who are joining us on the day.

I just want to acknowledge Mr.

Stephen Carter, our city manager, Attorney Derek Challenger, interim city attorney, and Miss Anita Shirai, who is our deputy city clerk.

Thank you all for being here, and I will now ask that my colleagues please note your attendance electronically.

Seven members of City Council are present.

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

I will now turn this meeting over to our city manager, Mr.

Stephen Carter.

Sir, you have the floor.

By all means.

So I can see you guys as I dress.

Sir.

I'm honored to present to you the first look at the budget.

Um for fiscal year twenty twenty-seven.

At its core, this budget is about priorities.

Moving key projects forward, and supporting public safety.

It continues to work on those major capital items.

It continues to shape our future and sets a platform for us for years to come.

Including in this is the relocation of City Hall, a new K through eight school for our public school system, a combined public safety facility, the relocation of Craddock Fire Station, and the completion of our Pace Center for our school system.

It also invests in our workforce, and it supports public the Portsmouth public school system and makes targeted investments in training, in technology, and staffing so we can all perform at a higher level across the entire organization.

When we talk about getting stuff done, this budget reflects that.

But we're interested in execution.

Again, one of the clearest examples is the City Hall relocation effort.

This is not just about moving offices.

It's about improving accessibility.

It's about using technology more efficiently.

It's about opening the door to future development on one of our most prestigious and valuable portions of property.

And that is our waterfront.

When we talk about financial and operational excellence, this budget continues to move us forward to a stronger and more accountable organization.

That includes being better trained, having better systems, and better tools for the people that do the work every day.

It also includes greater transparency for our public.

We will actually launch a financial transparency dashboard so residents can more easily see how their government is using those public funds that we will collect from them.

When we talk about economic growth and citywide revitalization, this budget recognizes that strong cities are built block by block and neighborhood by neighborhood.

Investments in infrastructure, streets, drainage, utility systems.

They're not always glamorous.

But they improve our reliability, they support our redevelopment and create the conditions for private investment and long-term growth.

When we talk about safe, connected, and thriving communities.

This budget makes meaningful investments in our public safety and emergency response.

It supports a more coordinated approach to leadership and public safety.

It expands tools and technology and continues to work of service that our community needs.

One of the things that we will be doing in this budget or advancing in this budget is the idea of a public safety director.

That director will be in charge of all things public safety and be able to coordinate all of those entities into a cohesive functioning responsive unit.

When we talk about education, workforce, and partnerships for the future.

This budget reinforces our commitment to our schools.

Our young people and our residents who are trying to build better opportunities for themselves and their families are all recognized in this budget.

The investment in Portsmouth's public schools, the new K through eight facility, and the Pace Center are more about people than facilities.

They're about opportunities and preparation and long-term success for our community.

Overall, this proposed budget is grounded in discipline, aligned with cities pro the council's priorities and focused on results.

It reflect a belief that Portsmouth can move forward in a strong and practical way.

If we remain clear about our priorities and consistent in our expectations.

One is that the school system has asked for a 14.3 million dollar allocation.

Through working with them, they have reduced that number to 12.8 million dollars.

Unfortunately, we're not able to allocate that full amount to them.

At this at this point, in order to present a balanced budget to you, that school system uh allocation is actually 7 million, which will bring that number, not eight from 87.4 up to 90 89.9 million.

So we'll we'll be effectively investing 90 million dollars into our school system this year.

However, I've also talked to uh Dr.

Bracie about this.

The promise we've made each other is that I will continue to work on the city side to see if there's some room that we can make some modifications, and that he will continue to work on the school system side to see if he can define a way to help us meet somewhere in the middle.