Thank you all for being here.

Public safety department.

Thank you, operations.

I'm gonna put my glasses on to see further back than that.

And uh Miss Standards, certainly you and your staff are the linchpin to this deal.

So thank you.

If uh good breakfast Vicky, or if you're if you're listening, good breakfast.

Um I I've asked Ms.

Standridge to get us started this morning to ease us back down in the water, pick us back up with the review that we were doing in committee yesterday of these different separate funds of which there are very many, and uh which we don't have an interest in all of them, but certainly there's four or five that we want to we want to talk through.

And then director blank we will we'll move on to public safety department.

We'll talk first about the the bigger piece that and then we'll we'll move down chiefs.

We'll move down in the police and fire.

And I I don't I don't think there will be any surprises.

Okay, I plan to follow the general uh grouping category that's outlined in the budget.

We'll just move down through it, see what's rights.

Um members or non-members of the committee, any questions or comments before we get started.

Okay, Miss Um Mayor, you you are I'm gonna turn it over to the person that's forgotten more about my budget than I know.

Okay.

No, no, no, that would be the man sitting on this corner over here.

Okay, Miss.

Okay, um, what you have in front of you is a listing of the what I like to call the the major transactional funds.

It is not every fund by any means, but all of the other funds that are not listed on here are extremely small and very specific.

I forgot to note distinguished guests in the back there.

Representative Norman Crow, my boss.

All right, I'm sorry, go ahead.

If he could be our extra vote, that would be great.

Um so what you have in front of you are the major transactional funds.

We do have other funds, but they're extremely small.

They generally are um grant-related funds for specific um items, especially when it comes to law enforcement things.

Um but what I went through yesterday in the finance committee meeting through a certain number of funds, that really is the first page that you have in front of you.

So if you'll like so we've gone through all of those, and I can answer any questions that you may have about them, but I think to start where we left off yesterday would be on the back page.

So if you will flip over to that page, uh um the I'm I'm gonna ask for a two-minute remedial.

So we were in the river district fund at as we came to the close of finance.

We um we talked a little bit about the tourism capital fund and some changes coming up in this proposed budget.

Yes, sir.

How about reviewing that okay?

Sure.

So um the river district fund is uh we as we mentioned yesterday was formally the amphitheater fund.

Um, and per code currently is funded through a two percent set aside of the 11% lodging tax.

Um, what we are proposing in this upcoming again, two of the 11%.

Two of the eleven two percent of correct, correct.

Yes, yeah.

So if our overall is 11%, two of the eleven is set aside immediately within the river district fund by code currently.

What we are proposing to update is to use another half of a percent of that 11% that is currently slated for tourism capital and move that into the river district fund to pay for a lot of the um items that are gonna be coming up in the river district fund, specifically the um river district parking project that was briefed during the mayor's budget presentation.

So are we gonna do away with the tourism capital fund has no future source of income?

Are we just gonna do away with it?

That is the current proposal on deck is that once all of the projects that have currently been um allocated funding within tourism capital are expended, that we would then close that fund, and that half of a percent of lodging tax will be dedicated to the river district fund.

What's the and what's the rationale behind in the future doing that out of river district fund instead of tourism capital?

The for me, the rationale is this the majority of what we look at in terms of tourism happens within our central city.

The river district fund is basically taking over that role of the central city, whether it's savings center in the future, amphitheater, river market, river wall.

What was the history of that fund and how did it come about?

Tourism capital fund?

Yeah, sure.

What are we undoing that was done some time ago?

Sure.

So um back, I think in the late 2000s, when we increased the lodging tax to do the um to construct the amphitheater and the river market.

Um part of the deal with increasing lodging tax.

Um part of part of the negotiations, especially like with hoteliers, was that if we're gonna increase this tax, then it needs to be related towards at least increasing their margins when it comes to commercial activity.

So if if uh if a hotel year or a um or a property owner that does uh like short-term rentals, if they're gonna have to pay a little bit higher and charge their um yeah, their their visitors a little bit higher in taxes, they want to at least know that that tax is going towards something that will increase their business.

Um and so part of that negotiation was to set up this thing called the tourism capital fund that would use take that half of a percent, set it aside, and only spend it on capital projects that would enhance tourism events within the city.