Good afternoon.

I would like to call the special meeting of the Board of Estimate Apportionment for today, Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 to order.

Ms.

First, can you please call the roll?

Mayor Spencer?

Present.

Controller Banger.

Present.

President Green.

Present.

All are present.

Thank you, Ms.

Hurst.

We uh have just one item on our agenda today.

As you all know, uh, we uh this agenda started out a little heavier.

Um and I want to first apologize to my fellow board of ENA members.

I'm taking this hearing from the car uh specifically because um the Board of Police Commissioners uh meeting uh literally just ended.

Um and I was rushing back to get to City Hall uh as quickly as is humanly possible.

Um this morning um as was made aware to us on Monday evening.

The Board of Police Commissioners is considering um significant raises to lieutenants and above um to the magnitude of 18 to 22 percent, um, which will have cascading impacts on the city's budget.

While we were initially intending today to hear um from the budget director on our balanced budget, um the actions proposed by the police board of police commissioners throws our budget necessarily very much out of balance.

And so um there is a very serious significant amount of work that will need to go into accommodating the proposed budget, um, the proposed uh uh increases.

And so we are doing that due diligence, and I want to thank Director Payne um for uh pivoting from finalizing this budget to uh understanding the implications of those actions on our city's budget and doing the work that will be necessary to accommodate it.

Thank you, Mr.

Payne.

With that, uh we have just one item, as I mentioned, presented for the first time uh here today.

And item number one is a request from the Comptroller's Office for EA approval of contracts and leases from various city departments as listed in exhibit a.

Do I have a motion on item number one is presented for the first time?

I move that we adopt item number one as presented for the first time.

Second.

Okay, Ms.

Hurst, would you please call the roll?

Mayor Spencer.

Aye.

Comptroller Banger.

Aye.

President Green.

Aye.

All approved.

Thank you, Ms.

Hurst.

Uh, we have no other items, um, but are there any other items that the board may wish to discuss here today?

Uh yes, madam mayor.

I would like to just chime in and um kind of piggyback on some of the things that you said.

Um, I did watch most of the police board of commissioners meeting this morning, and I want to really thank you for going to bat for the city and for our uh budget process.

Um again, we are in extraordinary times.

I have never seen a department come in kind of this late in the business in the budget process and you know, try to throw a curveball like this when we've really done our due diligence, I think already to make sure that a lot of the priorities that the public came to us with are funded in this budget, um, as well as still getting the the pay raises for those rank and file police officers.

Um I think it's very unfortunate that the police board of commissioners continues to decide not to come in front of the public body, the board of aldermen that is in charge of vetting these proposals.

Um, because had they come last week, we may have been able to discuss this proposal or other proposals or needs before uh we end up getting something in the media like this and having to pause on our own budgetary process in order to um to vet this proposal.

Um I also want to make sure that in this I'm thanking budget director Paul Payne.

Um, we're going to owe you even more Diet Coke and MMs, I think, this budget season, because we keep thinking we are done, and then uh we are right back at uh late nights and crunching numbers again.

Um and so my you know, my hope is that this budget season will get done shortly.

Um the board of aldermen stands ready as soon as ENA um you know gets this budget out um to move it forward, even if that means we have to call some extra meetings to make sure we get it done by um the deadline.

But um, I just want to commend you, Madam Mayor, for going about this morning.

Um the Board of Alderman stands ready as soon as ENA um you know gets this budget out um to move it forward even if that means we have to call some extra meetings to make sure we get it done by um the deadline but um I just want to commend you madam mayor for going about this morning um I could I was very frustrated watching that meeting and so I could not um under I could I could see how you know being in your shoes in particular um it had to be a a very frustrating place to be where we continue to have a police board of commissioners that just does not understand that they are one piece of a much larger puzzle that um all has to fit together so um thank you for your work on that and it and it is my um you know intent and and hope that we can get this remedied and get a a budget out sooner rather than later um to meet that July 1st deadline thanks thank you madam president I appreciate uh you taking the time to watch that um and and engage and in that process madam com controller did you have any uh announcements no no with that um I'll take a moment go ahead madam comptroller no that's okay I'll just piggyback uh on saying I am sorry you're having to go through this I am very disappointed that uh they can't understand what this is doing to our city and how it's hurting on many levels and I just wish it would be over and I know I just know that this is an unfunded mandate at the end of the day so uh that will be on our side thank you comptroller and I have to um commend you as well for working with them um you know as we uh all know uh the mass uh the uh tramfers and all the issues that they've had and and comptroller Baringer you've helped to straighten uh some of their wild misunderstandings out so we really appreciate that um and um uh helpful thank you okay with that I will take a motion to adjourn I move that we adjourn second previous roll all right thank you all