I'm having fun in Sarasota.

I'm having fun.

And I lucky one.

With the sun and the sand in the sea.

I love it more and more.

I adore that leader shore.

I'm having fun in Sarasota.

I'm having fun in Sarasota with the sun and the sand and the sea.

I'm having fun.

With the sun and the sea.

I'm having fun having fun.

With the sun and the sandwich.

I adjoy that.

We're having fun in Sarasota.

We're the sun and the sun in the sun.

It's magical for all if you believe it's hidden in his mystical and need.

So her future is unknown.

She'll never stand alone.

Sarah Soda is my home.

But most of all, I want to sing it loud.

And it's no surprise, I want to make you proud.

She's always number one.

Good morning, everyone.

Um City Commission workshop for July 2nd, 2024.

And um, in case I forget to mention it, I just please turn off your cell phones.

I haven't had a big problem with that lately, but uh just occurred to me we should remember to do that.

And um I am going to start with our um item one presentation and discussion regarding the proposed fiscal year twenty twenty-four-twenty twenty-five budget by department and fund.

And so I see Kelly Strickland sitting there, so I am assuming you're starting us off.

Well, I'm gonna let the city manager give an introduction.

Okay.

Uh good morning, uh Man Commissioners.

Um again, um, you know, I'm happy to present uh for the for my I believe my fourth year um the budget um for uh fiscal year twenty four twenty-five.

Um I just want to again share my appreciation for all of the staff, the department directors, uh, for helping uh tailor this budget to what you see before you uh this morning.

As you'll hear from staff, you know, we are keeping the millage the same as we have done for the last uh two years.

And again, you know, with this commission's um support, this commission's vision in terms of um, you know, attempting to be fiscally responsible to our taxpayers in terms of making sure that you know we have a low tax rate.

I really applaud this commission for that, you know, for that uh support and you know, uh sticking to you know what we presented in the previous years.

So we'll take our time, we'll go through uh this budget.

Again, feel free to ask questions after each section.

Um, you know, we have as many staff as you can see in the audience, uh, you know, as usual, staff always outnumbers the uh the public.

But again, um, you know, without them, uh this budget could not be prepared.

And again, I hope, you know, that we've done, you know, a a good job in terms of you know, sharing with you all aspects of the budget.

Again, also want to thank you know both our charter officials, uh, Miss Griggs and uh Mr.

Fournier uh for their support in this budget as well because it forms part of my budget presentation to you this morning.

So with that, I'm gonna pass it over to Ms.

Strickland Um and Miss Murray uh to start the presentation.

Um give com this commission credit uh for is you um you know, through the request of uh public comment, you ask us to hold a town hall meeting, which was the first that we've ever that we ever uh did.

And again, from that town hall, you know, we had um you know quite a few individuals who uh provided comment.

And again, you know, our opportunity for those individuals to provide comment um would be on Tuesday as well.

I will ask the commission to allow individuals to s to to speak beyond the three minutes um if the commission so desires, but again, we'll have further opportunities during the public hearings in September uh to provide uh further comment on the com uh to the budget.

I wanna one thing that I want to clarify there are individuals who have said that you know once the commission adopts the tentative millage that you know we can't change anything.

And I know I have kind of cautioned the commission on changing.

Even though this is my budget, you adopt this budget so you can make whatever changes you are.

It just means that we have a lot of work to do to see what we can you know, cut what we can you know, move around because once we set a tentative millage, you know, we don't like to go up.

We can go down.

So that so you your your your um your your revenue and your expenditure is a fix, so any changes means that we have to take something out to replace it with something else.

But again, doesn't mean the commission can change the budget.

So with that, let me pass it on to Mr.

Good morning.

Kelly Strickland, Director of Financial Administration.

I'm very excited to be with you today.