I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of October first, twenty twenty four.

Well, Clerk, please call the role.

Councilmember Bushnell.

Councilmember Daniels.

Absent Councilmember Diaz.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Hines.

Here.

Councilmember Rumba.

Here.

Councilmember Sidalga.

Councilmember Scott.

Here.

Councilmember Walker.

Here.

Mayor Whaters.

Here.

Mayor and Council, your materials were sent at ten forty seven.

Okay, we have a change to today's study session.

Prior to the presentations, we will first be entering into an executive session.

I will entertain a motion to convene to executive session.

Pursuant to RCW forty three dot three zero dot one one zero one I I and I to discuss potential litigation not to exceed twenty minutes.

So moved.

All those in favor signify by saying I.

All those opposed.

The motion is declared adopted.

Once the executive session concludes, we will begin the presentation portion of the meeting.

I'd like to call back to order the city council study session of October first, twenty twenty four.

All those opposed, the eyes have it.

We stand.

I'd like to call to order the City Council study session of October first, twenty twenty-four.

Thank you so much for your patience.

We are now, I'm going to move on with our first agenda item.

And that is the proposed twenty twenty-five-twenty twenty-six biannual operating budget.

Today the city manager will be presenting, have the initial conversation at a very high level of our operating budget that we will approve at the end of November, beginning of December.

But just to remind you that in the coming weeks, we will get presentations from every department.

And so you'll get more detail and more detail in more detail.

So with that, I will turn it over to our city manager, Elizabeth Pauley, to begin the presentation.

And then all the budget counter counterparts in all of the departments and all the department directors.

Then we're we're on the agenda slide, excuse me.

Anna, I'll get this down next slide, thank you.

Then we'll be looking at our financial overview, and then we'll really kind of get into the meat of today's presentation, which is the proposed budget highlights.

But as the mayor mentioned, this will even this will be a high level look at spending within your council priority areas, and you'll get a lot more information, a lot deeper dive as we come forward with the departmental and priority area presentations.

And we'll talk about the calendar for that and the next in the next step session sections as well as a little bit of a summary.

So beginning with our process, and next slide, please, Anna.

Thank you.

It's the really one of the biggest takeaways for this this slide council is the bar across the top.

Our process begins and ends and includes at all the phases with community engagement and feedback.

That is what really drives us.

The logistical biannual budget process begins with a review of our baseline services and costs.

The baseline budget is a look at what it will cost to continue the status quo of ongoing services and programs, and this baseline in turn allows us then to determine the impacts of any proposed changes to the budget.

And as we review the programs and services that make up the baseline budget, we're asking the questions what do we do?

How much does it cost?

What is the effectiveness or impact of the program?

This review also tells us about any specific financial trends that is happening in the fund.

And this is a process that we undergo with all of our funds.

So after baselining the cost of services and understanding the financial position, the city then looks at the baseline in terms of financial sustainability, meeting the strategic priorities of the council, the community and the council, so how we are advancing major plans and policies, and and then we also look hard at our operational capacity, looking at what trends and service levels or community requests or staffing that we're seeing that would impact our ability to implement.

So following that review, departments present proposed changes to the city manager, that middle bubble there.

Those can be either increases or decreases, answering key questions like in the case of this particular budget, how we close the gap, and or how we might respond to emerging community needs or community issues.

The proposals are then reviewed through our equity lens and for their impact on our climate action plan.