Mayor and Council Meeting
Video Transcript
Duration: 91 minutes
Speakers: 15
Good evening and welcome to the special called City of Roswell Mayor and City Council meeting of Monday, 10/20/2025.
I am Mayor Kurt Wilson. I'd like to introduce my colleagues and council members present.
Council member Sarah Beeson,
council member Christine Hall,
mayor Pro Tem and council member Lee Hills,
council member David Johnson,
council member council member William Mortland,
and council member Alan Sells.
I'll now turn the meeting over to our chief administrators chief administrative officer and city administrator mister Randy Knighton to explain how the meeting is run. Mister Knighton?
Thank you, Mayor Wilson, and good evening to everyone. In accordance with section chapter 3.7
of the city code, the city council shall hold regular meetings, and
the mayor can call a special called meeting, which is the meeting we have, this evening.
The purpose of these meetings are for the public to participate and speak on agenda items which constitute formal decisions by the elected body,
and these items can be accessed via the city website prior to the meeting. This is a public meeting. Some items do require formal public hearing.
This is the first reading of the
2026
proposed,
budget.
And the import and an an important component of city council meetings is to hear directly from residents on these items.
Residents are at the top of the organizational chart for the city, and therefore, public comments and questions are essential for mayor and council to consider
as they contemplate each decision.
If you would like to speak on an agenda item, in this case, the, first reading of the proposed 2026
budget this evening. We ask
that you do fill out a comment card
and hand it to our communications
staff person, Julie Breckwell, who is at the back of the room. If you would like to speak on the first,
hearing of the budget, we ask that you provide a comment card to Julie. She will make sure the city clerk receives it.
And speakers will be called by the city clerk in the order in which cards are received. We ask that everyone, do,
adhere to the principles of mutual respect and display the appropriate demeanor during the course of the meeting this evening, which is reflective of this great community.
We ask that attention is given to the person speaking. And if it is necessary to have an independent conversation,
we ask that you ask to exit the rear doors to the vestibule area.
We also ask that you silence any electronic devices
at this time. The mayor
is the presiding officer of the meeting and will ensure the orderly exchange of comments, questions, and discussion,
with the members of the public and the elected body. And we encourage everyone, as always, to visit roswell365.com
for a calendar of events.
There are a number of events upcoming in the city of Roswell, which promote community,
physical activity, and leisure as we all make Roswell the number one family community in America.
Mayor Wilson. Thank you, miss
thank you, mister Knighton, as always.
I'm extremely privileged,
tonight to introduce our next guest. We are very honored to have doctor Sabin Strickland,
senior pastor of Pleasant Hill Church tonight
to lead us in the invocation of mobile science. Doctor Strickland.
Thank you so much, Mayor Wilson, and, of course, to our entire city council and to the citizens of the city here of Roswell, Georgia.
We're gonna have our moment of silence, and then I will end it with prayer.
Heavenly father, we gather this evening in, the spirit of service
and that this place
and, purpose.
We thank you for the trust placed
in the mayor and city council
for the citizens of Roswell, Georgia
as they work through this process of budget approval for 2026.
Grant them clarity of mind and integrity of heart
and unity of spirit as they deliberate any matters before them.
May the decision reflect the common good, the welfare of our neighbors,
our neighborhoods,
and our long term health of our community.
Give them wisdom,
dear lord, to listen, act attentively.
Give them courage,
god, to speak truthfully
and compassion to act justly.
May every voice be heard, every viewpoint respected,
and every decision made with respect for the dignity of all.
Bless our city, its neighborhoods,
its businesses,
its schools, and its churches, its volunteers, and first responders. May Roswell continue to thrive as a place of welcome, safety,
and opportunity.
And as this meeting proceeds, may all who serve here
do so with humility and gratitude
for the privilege to lead.
May peace guide their deliberations
and may goodwill
mark
that the outcomes.
We pray these prayers in the name of your son, our savior.
Christ's name we pray.
Say amen. Amen.
Joel, join me in the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag
of The United States Of America
and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation under God,
indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all. Thank you so much. Thank you, doctor Strickland.
As always, a wonderful word of prayer.
Well, there is only one item on the agenda tonight.
City clerk Nancy Long, would you please read the the that one item?
Yes. This is the first reading of the f y twenty twenty six budget for the city of Roswell in the amount of $229,987,271.
This will be presented by director of finance,
Adam Novotny.
Thank you so much, Nancy.
Chief legal officer, David Davidson, would you please read the ordinance, sir? Thank you, mayor. This is an ordinance adopting a budget for the fiscal year 2026
for each fund of the city of Roswell, Georgia. Pursuant to article six, chapter six of the charter of the city beginning 01/01/2026
and ending 12/31/2026,
appropriating the amount shown in each budget as expenditures,
adopting the item of anticipated funding sources,
prohibiting expenditures to exceed appropriations for each fund, and prohibiting expenditures to exceed actual funding available for each fund, and amending the code of ordinances to effectuate such adoption.
Now, therefore, the mayor and council of the city of Roswell,
pursuant to their authority, do hereby adopt the following ordinance.
City of Roswell, Georgia hereby adopts an expenditure budget for the fiscal year twenty twenty six set budget being described and shown in attachment a
for each fund of the city of Roswell, Georgia.
A millage rate of 4.949
mills is estimated as a part of the proposed budget.
The budget rate has a component of 4.049
mills for the general fund budget
and a component of point nine zero zero mills for servicing bonded indebtedness.
The millage rate shall be adopted by mayor and council at a later date, but prior to issuance of tax bills for the tax year 2026.
The mayor and council adopt a capital improvement programming for fiscal year 2026
as attached here to an incorporated here
as attachment b.
This programming does not indicate any promise of appropriations for future years
for unfunded projects.
The rest of the text is incorporated here in by reference and if approved, this is the first
reading.
Thank you, David Davidson so much. At this time, Adam Navote, Director of Finance, would you please come forward to present the first reading? Welcome, Adam.
Good sharp tonight.
Hi, Lynn.
Never leave me in charge of technology. I'll tell you that.
Thank you, mister mayor.
Council members,
back.
So this is the first reading of the 2026
proposed budget.
Some highlights of how we've arrived here. We had the all day budget workshop
on October 1.
We had the budget presentation last Tuesday on the fourteenth,
first reading tonight, and second reading and adoption,
next Monday, the twenty seventh.
So in the 2026
budget,
several things to note on here. We've successfully transitioned to a calendar aligned fiscal year. Our proposed budget is in balance with,
revenues meeting expenses,
and there is no reduction in headcount for staff.
The budget for 2026 is aligned with city goals.
Some budget processes
that I highlighted last week that I I feel would be prudent to outline again. Our process has been data driven, collaborative
with clearly outlined goals and completed along and deliberate timeline.
The city of Roswell has our six pillars here, best in class safety, service excellence, economic development, infrastructure investment,
stewarding with integrity, and top place to work.
Some budget highlights that, we covered, last week. So, streamline our plan planning process, improve project management discipline, enhance service delivery, and strengthen and align,
internal support services,
that are all noted on here.
The 2026
highlights are for public safety. Again, making investments in our public safety,
with police becoming the highest starting pay,
being fully staffed, well funded, well trained, well equipped, and well led, and the strategic addition of year four of transitioning our fire department into full time,
with the 30 additional firefighters planned in 2026.
Some statistics that I highlighted last week as well with,
our part one crime rate being the lowest in twenty years on the police end of the spectrum
and then,
lower response time by thirty nine seconds, in in the fire department realm.
Both important metrics to note as we're making continued investments in public safety.
I also do want to highlight the, millage rate that we talked about at the millage rate presentation when we set when, mayor and council set the millage rate for the twenty twenty five this year budget year,
and has the lowest m and o in in the last eighteen years,
and those tax years that are outlined in there. As mister Davidson said in in his reading, the estimation is to maintain that into 2026
to be set later in 2026
or the budget year 2026.
In '22, under this mayor and council, total was lowest since tax year '87,
and '23, '24, and '25 have the lowest m and o since 02/2007.
Additional highlights as well,
maintains the mayor and council's economic development strategy overall,
streamlined services for Roswell residents and businesses,
and, our department,
finances engaging in some transformative
initiatives
with,
some of our business and performance analysis that we have a new team that's going to do that, and then some of our internal budget and fiscal reporting along with some comprehensive projections and forecasting. Really exciting things for us to be able to do on behalf of the city,
and then greater reliance upon KPIs to inform decisions and to give mayor and council,
data to make decisions overall on behalf of the city.
The 2026
budget also has a bold agenda to make capital investments as well,
with $4,000,000
going towards citywide resurfacing with the city share of that being just over $3,100,000,
$400,000
for traffic calming,
$7,000,000
for the city hall roof replacement,
$3,000,000
for the Green Street mobility project,
another 1,500,000.0
for sharpshooters,
range revitalization
and construction,
the debt construction administration services and contingency of one point two,
tourism development, historic activation, just under a million and other capital improvements of 4.2.
On here, this is a combination again of all the source of funds across the whole city enterprise
with,
the 2025
approved being on the right, the projected for '25 being in the middle, and the, 2026
proposed being on the left,
with,
charges for services being,
in in the highest on, each of those particular columns. Again, this is a combination of all the city funds across the enterprise, and we'll get to the general fund here in just a moment.
And, again, on all sorts of uses of funds for, across the city enterprise
with, of course, salaries and benefits being the lion's share of those proportions
for each of those particular columns as well,
with operating and transferring capital and other pricing fee of that.
Some other, budget highlights on here, proposed expense budget, again, across all funds,
just over, $229,000,000
with the general fund, t splos project, solid waste fund, our group health insurance,
the PFA,
participant recreation fund, capital projects, our IT fund, which is internal, and 15 other funds comprising that total.
This slide represents our proposed capital expense in 2026,
with a grand total of,
about 21 and a half million dollars spread across multiple different,
funding streams notated at the top, with the general fund expenses, which I I discussed previously,
being a little over $4,000,000
of that grand total.
Some,
arithmetic on how we've arrived at some of that with, the general fund fund balance being over little over $28,000,000
with a $25,000,000
required reserve
leaves us with a net balance of just over 2,700,000.0.
General fund revenue in 2026
projected to be just over 105,000,000
with our operating expense,
coming up to that. And 01/2003 leaves us with a capital available of $4,300,000,
which is notated on the previous slide.
Our general fund revenue,
again, with the 2025 approved budget on the right, the year end forecast in the middle, and the 2026
proposed or recommended on the left,
having a variety of different,
sources of revenue for those
with property tax, sales tax, and business taxes comprising the largest three out of that,
overall and, the twenty twenty six,
recommended,
again, arriving at that $1.00 5,100,000.0.
And then the general fund specific operating expenses,
teased out from kind of that comprehensive list of all of our funding sources,
again, with 25 approved on the right, forecasted year end in the middle, in '26
recommended slash proposed on the left,
arriving at just slightly over in '26 what we projected in, '25 at.
The increase in salaries and benefits, of course, with the addition of additional firefighters and adjusting the police pay,
upward that comprises the lion's share of what that increase has.
And then on the operating end of things,
you know, that's that that also,
for each of those particular
either it's recommended or the forecast or,
what they approved in was in '25.
Again, the general fund capital, the this number,
appears a number of times through here with city ride resurfacing the,
general fund portion of that traffic calming, update to the UDC,
and then the,
PPE equipment for the full time firefighter transition
and the dredging assistance program.
So the general fund total by service,
with public safety comprising,
roughly 47%
of that of of our total budget on on this,
community services, which includes recreation,
infrastructure, which includes transportation,
and, the other category
includes PPI finance,
legal administration. And this chart, does,
include operating capital.
Important to know.
Other fun highlights.
So on our water and sewer fund, this is gonna be kind of the similar format for the rest of them with, source of funds and use of funds. I won't belabor,
much of the points that we covered last week except to say that,
highlight the, source of funds, water charges. So charges for service are gonna be,
comprised the source of funds on many of these.
Same thing with stormwater fund with, charges, being the lion's share of that,
$4,800,000
or roughly 98%,
and then the use of funds between salaries, operating transfers, and capital.
Again, with the solid waste fund,
sanitation collection services being a little over 15,000,000,
and then the use of funds between,
30% with salary and benefits,
transfers, and other capital and operating.
And the recreation participation fund, charges for services of 9,200,000.0,
with miscellaneous revenues, including a subsidy from the general fund,
being the other 7% of that, and then,
salaries and benefits, transfers, and operating,
on the use of funds.
We talked, about the general fund highlighted
portion of capital. This is from the other funds.
So,
three trucks, a front loader, side loader, and dumpster delivery,
transfer station paving,
technical difficulty.
It really doesn't. We could use the overhead projector. Do you have a hard copy?
You're close.
There we go. This is why we're prepared.
There we go.
Well, I don't know where I left off. So,
stormwater fund
with the, stormwater master project list,
the, large equipment replacement, and then into the water fund, water line replacement,
new water tank in the concept phase,
valve at wood stock water tank, and the leak event
detection system, which sounds really nifty.
And then our hotel motel fund,
on the unrestricted end of things being $668,000,
and then the, interest in revenues
and then the use of funds that we anticipate in the 2026
on that. I won't belabor the points we covered last week.
And our budget ordinance,
sets the fiscal year, sets our allocation by fund and department, and establishes contingencies
overall and authorizes reappropriation
into the next fiscal year for capital projects, grant projects, contingency funding, confiscated assets,
opioid mitigation funding, city administrator professional services,
employee wellness program, Roswell University program, police school zone safety program,
external legal services, police detention up to $200,000,
and municipal
elections.
Our next steps,
which we've talked about. So there's a PDF copy available on the website of both the budget book and the presentation. There are hard copies available,
in finance during regular business hours. Tonight is the first reading,
and, next Monday will be the second reading and,
god willing, adoption of the budget.
And even though our presentation is haunted, we've made do.
Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Lynn.
City clerk Nancy Long.
Do we have any Roswell residents who would like to speak on this item? Yes, mayor. There are two speakers. The first is Roman Perczak.
Welcome, Roman.
I'm pretty surprised,
and I don't know what's the reason. This is one of the biggest
spent in the city to
put the budget
takes a year,
but nobody is here. I don't know why.
Shame in my opinion.
Try to involve you. Try to encourage the people to involve.
Nobody
show up here. What's going on?
I didn't have a time too much time to go through the budget
because at the time today,
and I have
several questions.
One is
approved budget for 2005
that was last year
was
$2.00
$7,000,000.
Whatever reason it is,
the estimate
budget for this year or '25
according to the data,
like,
230
or 229,000,000,
if I remember.
What is the reason for the change that was predicted
02/2007
and suddenly the the income
going
unpredictable
by 9.2%.
Some something doesn't fit.
Now I look and try to figure out on the computer,
I found out that there are plenty of funds that you receive from the government
all the place that it will be only '25. I tried to figure out if this is the number that was increased.
I never got to the difference.
Someone can explain me, I appreciate it.
Increase
budget for 02/2005,
the approved budget.
This budget
about
$28,000,000,
freeze
of 11.2%.
Can you explain to me why it's 11.2%,
which in my opinion is high? When I look in last four years,
it was increased, but not so high as this time.
It is my main thing. I went through these numbers,
made it with these numbers for last four years.
I would like to have explanation
why the budget is increasing
so high from '25.
And just anecdote, when I was reading the budget,
put it
2025
accomplishment.
Very nice part. I look
previous year, budget thing doesn't exist.
So
just for the quote,
accomplish this only by 2025,
when it was '22, when it was '23, when it was '24.
This is just anecdotal.
I don't complain about it, but I said, oh,
action here.
Thank you.
Thank you, Roman, very much.
Adam, would you,
be care to address the mister Roman's questions?
Yes. Thank you, mister mayor. I'm happy to address that. In in page four of the budget book, you'll note
that,
there's 12 a little over $12,000,000
in,
expenditure for the PFA. That would be a a driver,
of the proposed increase
along with any unfinished capital projects are carried forward into the next year. Some of those take a number of years to be completed. And so,
when those expenses are actually incurred would be whenever they're actually incurred. So that money was sitting in a capital fund,
and then expended,
we propose in 2026.
That's pretty typical for any budgetary, and I believe that answers
the question. The yeah. The question it was a 20 it was two twenty twenty five questions. One of the difference between two zero seven and two twenty nine and
a percentage and then there was kind of a question
additionally to that same thing, the percentage change. So
can we outline just for clarity with specificity
all the differences between 2025
current budget, approved budget and the '26 and just make sure we kinda put that out there, buddy. And so here's the differences. Like you said, $12,000,000 in the PFA
just to make sure we just outlined so everybody has clarity what those items are.
Then you kind you you probably do you know what they are off the top of your head?
I'm gonna tagline it.
A lot of it is capital.
And plus in this is all funds on page four and when you're looking at the all funds. So that $20,000,000
dollars gap would include bond funds, capital projects,
impact fees, all of those type of capital projects that do have long standing
amounts. That includes your spending of your bond projects as well. Is that in there as well?
In the proposed any any amount that we projected
to spend by the December. Yes. So you might be spending more money of your bond money in the
fiscal '26
versus fiscal year twenty five? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. It's very helpful. If If we can just give the yes, sir. Councilmember Salzels? Yes. There's one thing on the in the budget book on page three,
I think it's page three, one hundred and eighteen, right?
The,
looking at the
sources of funds, you can see that,
the other revenues budgeted appropriations,
the the the bar at the top the block at the top, isn't that so it it's a source and a use when we use the capital,
for capital projects. Right? So there's a source as well as a use.
So so the operations, Roman, is is the same.
It's that some of these capital projects are in this year.
The revenue
and the use is reflected in the year that it's spent.
Like, it's a cash it's a cash basis as opposed to accrual basis. And so that's that's the difference. Does that make sense?
Well, so so that we had already done, for instance, some of these bond offerings. But we're bringing it's moving from one fund and going to work. So you've
got the revenue coming in and the expenditures in the same year in the current year. But the operations of the entity of the city are virtually flat year over year.
Operating salaries and benefits, the gold and the blue bar on page three. I don't know if you can show him that or not on the screen.
That's but but a capital project is an outlier in such an argument. Right? So when we start building a
parking deck, that's not the operations, that's an expenditure of capital
that we raise the funds for. And so you have the funds as a revenue
and the expense of building it as a cost,
and that's not a change in the operating cost of the of the entity at all. It's it's simply that we are now investing in that because we're a cash basis entity. That's what's going on here. I just wanna make that clear.
Mhmm. Thank you, Roman. Thank you, Adam. Thank you, Alan.
Alright. So there was another question. And since this is you've been with us how many months, Adam? I started the day after Memorial Day. The day after Memorial Day. I guess so. May 2025. I think there was a question
about why are there accomplishments
in this budget presentation in 2025,
but perhaps not in previous years.
Yeah. I I can't speak to previous years as I wasn't here, but it's pretty typical to have,
some some verbiage and some narrative in any budget book. So as to give context as to where we've arrived at these at these dollar amounts.
So is that does that mean if you've been here in '24 or '23 or '22 that they probably been accomplishments in there? I I'm used to writing them for legislative purposes. And in the Indiana General Assembly, it was required to have a comprehensive budget submittal letter,
that outlined all of that. So that's pretty typical for us to have as well. Does it have anything to do with the election? I wouldn't. No. No. Not in my mind. Okay. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that very much.
Thank you,
Nancy.
Our next speaker is Daryl O'Hare.
Welcome, Daryl.
Council.
I'm here tonight because I won't be here next week, when you're doing your
so,
please bear with me if I hope what I'm bringing up will actually apply to the
yep. Does that better? Yes, ma'am. Hello? Perfect. Okay.
I have to admit the budget's quite long, so,
going through it, I I don't have the ability to parse out all the wonderful details. But,
something came to my mind.
I've brought it up several times during,
you know, public comment about how can we
really,
utilize
our historic museums and properties, as I call them, not historic assets. So there's a long explanation for why I would call them that.
But,
I know that we have the goal for tourism and development and historic activation,
and we're doing that with various projects right now. And,
I would like to see in the budget the possibility
for a history center.
And I brought this up,
actually, when I think we were activating the funds for,
the new complex of building I mean, well, the existing complex of buildings and properties, but also that we wanted to
I was saying, why can't we build instead of just an event facility,
why don't we get a history center? We are sitting in the middle
of a very unique opportunity,
especially in the South, where we have
buildings,
properties,
and nature,
that really
speak to
the life of the land
from as early as the Native Americans that were here
and and moving all the way through
pre civil war and post civil war. And we have communities that
really
have voices
that I think we're trying to elevate
by creating
an events facility without necessarily tying into
what that history is.
And so I think it's possible that we can put in a feasibility study
or a history center.
Because if you want people to come here
to really
look at our history,
I think we should welcome them and also have
a space
that really
brings in
a variety of groups who are discovering
all kinds of amazing things. I do a lot of research myself, and some of you are aware of it. But, you know,
this is a huge industry, and it's also
a huge,
an important task that a city that is has the amount of history that we have,
that we can articulate that in a way
that we should put our money there to and also, you know, hire people who are involved with historic preservation or involved with, you know,
unearthing and giving voice to our our history,
bringing in communities so that
it's
I don't know. It's just an amazing opportunity. I'm sitting on it half the time, and I know I send you emails about, you know, is the name set in stone, And I haven't heard back, and I don't know.
And, you know,
I just think that we need a family not family. Sorry. History center. I don't know why I keep saying family histories. A history center
and one that is
not necessarily part of one of the buildings, but close by, or it could be housed in our parks.
But,
I hope that we will consider
at least giving,
some money towards
that feasibility
as that as a question
don't wanna activate an event space,
especially what happened with the the trees and all those kinds of things. I think we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit. And I'm not trying to say slow down necessarily, but I'm trying to say let's be really intentional
with the way in which we're going to use our historic properties and museums because they really are museums,
and the land itself has a story to tell.
So,
I don't know if that's appropriate for this meeting, but it's about the budget. And I'm asking you to spend
money without changing the overall or adding in,
but finding a place. The only other place that I saw in the budget where there might have been money for that is it looked like there's
possible outsourcing of custodial work or something on the
facilities.
So I don't know if that's those seem to increase,
you know, by 61,000
or something like that from one year to another. So,
I thought maybe those funds could be used, but I don't know how that's being used. So there you go.
Thank you very much, and I won't see you next week.
Thank you, Daryl. Thank you for
the thoughts and the comments.
I'll let some of my colleagues address the History Center. I'm sure some of the council would like to address that.
Council
member
Hall?
So I I I love that idea and,
we do have the Atlanta
Historical Society,
and,
I've often had conversations with them. They have a home in the Cultural Arts Center right now.
And,
per conversations,
I thought
at some future date when funding allows, it would be great if they were closer to where our historic homes are and maybe as,
part of an outbuilding or had a location
there that was a destination,
location
similar to what you're talking about, maybe expand
on what they have. I mean, they have a tremendous archive
and,
historians,
they do a fabulous job. They're just
tucked away up there. I'm not sure what their traffic count is, but,
I love that idea.
And,
hopefully, one day we can fund it.
Sarah?
I completely appreciate the feedback.
We do have Roswell Historical Society, which the city did provide funding for ongoing for quite a while.
That said, I am really excited in this budget that we do have a line item for docs to bring docs back online.
Some feedback that I had gotten from some residents was that,
there are some gaps in the way that we as a city present history, especially as it relates to black history.
The way that the resident provided their feedback was
you have
black Roswellians
perceived within
the context of enslavement,
but missing the entire context of the civil rights era,
Jim Crow, and really how we still have,
a
fairly decent and solid,
black community here in Roswell that just lacks that amount of representation.
So I really do hope that we're able to use something like Doc's Cafe, understanding it is it is little. It is a small building.
Not to say that that's to minimize black history here in Roswell,
but I I personally hope to be able to showcase,
some civil rights era history from Roswell within
the,
when we bring it back online Doc's Cafe.
Thanks, Sarah. Thank you, Christine.
Alan?
Daryl, as a as a history buff and the husband of a social studies teacher who brings kids to the historic assets, I I I think that's a great idea. I'm I'm trying to figure out what a feasibility study would look like, what that would mean, but,
absolutely. You know,
it's so important to pass long history. It's quite frankly, our education system does
an abysmal job. It's everything was, you know,
in the now and nothing in the past.
And there's so much to learn from from the things that are here that I would love to see really highlighted. So I'm I'm absolutely all in. I just I can't imagine what the budget would be for a feasibility study, but it seems like that should be an approachable amount. Thanks thanks for bringing that up.
I'll just just add to that, if councilor, any other thoughts? Will? Yes, sir. Will.
Sorry.
One of the other reasons that the History Center is is located in its current place,
as it stands right now is it is climate controlled and and the elements are heavily protected for the archives.
And if we were to,
move it to a different location,
then there's there's quite a lift to make sure that the the archives and the historical artifacts are going to be,
protected
the way that they should.
Now totally totally hear what you're saying about the feasibility study.
All all good there. And to council member Beason's point with Doc's Cafe coming back into play, that's gonna be something that's gonna be very exciting. And
for pastor Strickland that is here, we've been working for several years in a row to get the Pleasant Hill Cemetery as part of the city cutting cycle, and I'm I'm excited to see that coming forward.
So we're we're we're getting there. We're we're making
good strides.
Yeah. That's a part of the budget too, Will. You might have mentioned that. The the Pleasant Hill Cemetery. The Pleasant Hill Cemetery
is going to be part of the next year's budget, this budget that we're we're discussing right now. So the city will be taking that on. We've got a couple of taking
that on. We've got a couple of couple of things to work through with paperwork,
but the money is there.
David
Lee? I'll just Lee yes, ma'am. Lee, go ahead.
Just to address, and I
correct me,
gurus on the budget if I've got this wrong, but the $61,000
of,
of, custodial care, we've added facilities to our property. So I believe that's to cover
additional grounds and buildings just
kind of off of what you were talking about, but I wanted to say that.
I'll just say this. I thank you, Daryl, for the thought on the History Center. Thank you for the idea on the feasibility study.
History matters deeply and richly, I think, to us as a collective body and to us as a people in the city of Roswell.
There's a great living history.
One of the things one of the projects we've been begun to really work on and talk about is I really wanna get the history that's not recorded
down with some of the folks that are still here. For example, doctor Strickland
has some very rich history,
that he can pass on from from a couple of generations.
Calvin Asbury has some very rich history that
that he can pass on from a couple of generations. That history is not recorded.
And,
Jimmy Vaughn
has some very rich history. It's not recorded. There's a lot of history of people that are still living that I wanna get into the historical narrative of Roswell
because I think it's so rich, it's dynamic,
and the whole piece about and whether the the whether it's historic assets or historic properties.
What was paramount for us from a strategic perspective was
there was a very small part of the population that cared about the properties because most people just honestly didn't know about them. And the city of Roswell had invested a lot of money into them and was investing, and you can see the budgets, about a million dollars a year currently on the OPEX and the ongoing expenses just to maintain them. And it was our perspective as the elected leadership of the city that if we didn't step in to do something is that the historic properties
or historic assets, that the vast majority of them would become irrelevant
and ultimately an elected body in the future would see those properties
and say, why do we have these assets, what they would call them, ultimately five, ten, fifteen years down the road? Why are we paying a million 2, a million 3 to operate them and we have nobody visiting them? And so what I think the wisdom of this collective body,
the senior elected leadership, the council, and the senior management team came to and said, how do we save them? And that was to come up with a plan to say, look, these have got to start creating ways to get people to come see them, and and that means creating income streams so they become self sustaining
so that they're here
twenty years from now,
forty years from now, a hundred years from now.
And the same is true with Doc's Cafe.
And Doc's Cafe is just one of many pieces. I will tell you, and doctor Strickland knows a little bit of this,
the incredible rich history. We have two of the oldest black churches in the entire state of Georgia right here in Roswell,
Pleasant Hill and Mount Zion. That's part of race history. It's part of the history that needs to be told. So there are more pieces that need to be complete and compiled.
I I like the history center. I will tell you history centers. I think doing a,
feasibility study is a fine idea.
I think you have to tie it into the activation of being able to pay for it long going, long term, and making it relevant.
And that's why to me, getting more history out that we haven't told is so important today to get that done. It's one of the things we've been talking about is to say, look, there's a lot of history we haven't told. There's a lot of history that needs to be told. Roswell's history is much more interesting and dynamic than even a lot of people think they know about Roswell history. It is really a fascinating city of the hundred and seventy one years, and she's changed
many times.
And she's not a simple cookie cutter story. There's a lot to Roswell,
and it's a story worth knowing and a story worth repeating.
But you gotta have the means that people will go pay attention
to it. And very often, when you create, you could create a,
what do you call it, a vault
tomb?
You can you can accidentally create a tomb that ultimately fails because people that's a great thing when you create it. But if you don't have a way for people to keep seeing it, making it relevant,
ultimately people forget about it. But I love the idea.
Would you guys address the question on the outsourcing of custodial work
specifically, on the $61,000
increase from FY '25 to FY '26?
Yes, sir.
The custodial work is,
both a
increase in the amount of facilities that we do have, that we would have custodial work, and the activation
and
rentals that we and we had also kind of,
reviewed
what we could do at all of our locations. So it's a combination. It's not just one particular building.
Thank you, Lynn.
Any other thoughts, comments, or questions from council?
Yes, ma'am. Sarah.
I got questions.
Several. I'll try to do this as quickly as possible. I'm going in chronological order. Are you going into the, like, the overall budget? Yes. Can I can I close down the Oh, you you Sorry for it? No. I I got bear with me. Don't wanna steal your time. Your budget presentation questions. Right? Yes. Okay. Don't let me screw that up. Look at Adam looking at me like he's already nervous.
He's like, what is she asking? Yes. I will defer to you, Mara, whenever you're ready. Thank you, Roman. And thank you, Daryl. Nancy, do we have any other Roswell residents who'd like to speak on the budget?
There are no other speakers. Thank you, Nancy. Thank you all. Alright.
Counsel, the floor is yours. And Sarah, sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. No. Here. Please.
Jumping ahead here.
I have
very small short questions. They're just based off of individual line items as I went through the budget binder. For context for the public, we as council received this budget,
the binder as we refer it, but it's the same thing as roswellgov.com/budget.
If you go to the proposed f y twenty six budget, it's exactly what you will see online is exactly what is sitting in front of me on the dias. This is what we received at initiation last week. We did not see it before then. We had a budget workshop, so conceptually, we had an idea of what was going to be goals that were based off
of policy goals. These are the individual ones. So with that,
these are probably directed mostly towards Adam. I will start on page six of one eighteen,
looking at current year revenues by account,
looking through business taxes as well as licenses and permits on the following page,
I do not see any specific line item
where short term rental,
fees would be coming into play. Since we did pass that policy in June,
it's going to be implemented January 1 with the understanding that there is a grace period through March 31.
Which line item would we recognize those revenues in?
I'm looking for short term rental
licenses
since we passed the ordinance in June that will be implemented in '26.
I don't see a significant change in hotel motel
or business and occupation tax.
Or for example, if you look under licenses and permits, you have massage parlor fees, so that's a separate line item.
I don't see anywhere that would be indicative of where we'd be recognizing revenues for short term rentals.
If I may, 31404
and 31405
and 31406
I'm sorry. O five and o six.
Those do have an increase.
It's we do, but it's so small. Just based off the number of short term rentals we have, I would have expected higher on the line item.
It's almost a negligible amount.
It's a fair question.
And,
thank you for finding income and revenue that's not on there. Some of these I might not get an answer right at this very second, so I understand.
These are questions. Sarah, keep asking these kind of questions. Okay. Here we go. If let let's see some of the couch cushion, shall we?
Okay. Sarah, can I ask you a short term rental thing? Yes.
I've spent a little bit of time on this, so correct me if I'm wrong. But one, we haven't
been very successful previous in previous years of even
having those businesses register. So this is a new initiative
that we are,
sort of a seek and destroy mission as it were. Is we've got to find them and that's that's not been easy. So we're we're trying to find them.
Two is
we expect
that the number will go down.
It's Schrodinger's cat. Right? We're gonna open the door and the cat's gonna be dead. So Schrodinger's Airbnb?
Exactly. Exactly. So there will be fewer of them. I mean, this has been a real challenge for a lot of neighborhoods. And so part of this initiative is not so much a revenue initiative as it is a,
a code and quality of life issue.
So I wasn't expecting, even though I'm I'm certainly,
you know, all for the initiative itself, I don't think it's a it's necessarily focused on revenue as much as it is on quality of life issues. It's a Alan, it's a great Sarah, great question.
Alan, great point.
Without even getting into the numbers, I don't remember looking at it. So I apologize on this one myself. I remember when we did it,
I don't remember putting any income into the into the equation. So if it's there, you can put blame me because I don't remember actually throwing any dollars at this because I think to Alan's point, it's more it's more of policy.
And this is your program. This is your baby. It's it's a quality of life and it's for enforcement. I understand. I just wanna make sure that we're recognizing it within the revenue since To your point. It is a new revenue source. We will joyously recognize it. My my fault.
My fault. There should be a line item. And to your point, probably a little hesitant on on adding new line items after we added one last year that kind of, you know, we had to we we understood how to pay for it, but it did get it has been ballyhooed about.
And,
that's my bad. So that line item should be on there as part because I know you've got a code for it. I'm sure it can create a code for
it. Let's separate it if we can, if that's if that makes sense to you from an account, Chris. Yeah. We'll go back and look. So
again, I can't speak to my,
anytime before my arrival here. But when you adopt a chart of accounts, sometimes you have to shoehorn in Yes. Into what that object level is. But we'll go ahead and Particularly, if you think it's worth $3,000 a year
or $7,000 a year. Probably. Right. Yeah. I mean, if it's recognized in business and occupation tax, I understand. But in this case, business and occupation tax is actually projected to be lower compared to f y twenty five.
So just wanting to make sure that we're accounting for it somewhere.
But But and just having clarity where that is. I think it's a very fair point. So okay. Great point. Will do. I will hit it and quit it some more questions for you.
I do appreciate there was another line item that was added that was new on page 22 of one one eighteen for apartment livability inspections.
This also goes towards quality of life.
That said, three line items below it, 321110
alcohol, beer, and wine license. I was just curious as to
how we're going up from $5.80 in f y twenty five to seven forty seven. Are we going to be increasing the license fees, or do we just have projected more businesses
boozing it up?
So
it's made up in volume.
Alcohol by volume?
No. In in terms the rate is not changing. It's the volume of of the
percent of the fee itself. Wonderful. So the fees themselves are not increasing. That was a question that I'd received from a business operator who was asking if they were projected to have fee increases on the alcohol licenses.
Not an increase in the fee.
Fees made up in body. I'm not aware. Yeah. Explain that a little bit so everybody understands what you mean,
Adam. So in instead of the the dollar increase being based upon,
an increase in the fee on a variable increase, it's actually
made up in the volume of instead of the the base fee. So there's more but not more fee.
I don't know if that's as clear as mud.
I'm a You got Bill coming up. One in particular
is the fiscal year change, the twelve month.
Okay. So when we talk about
volume versus change in fee, this is the rate versus volume discussion that we had previously on another matter.
We're just It's not the volume.
Right.
So
the licenses are renewing
that at a higher rate than previous years, but the license itself
is still gonna be priced the same way as they've been priced in the past. So we're not changing the pricing on the license. We're just renewing more licenses. That's right. To your point. So
just to be very specific, to answer Sarah's question, if I'm a if I'm an operator, am I paying more in '26?
Okay. And
then what I am paying more for is I'm you're just you're getting more licenses.
You're you're right? You're capturing more licenses. Is that correct?
Yeah. There's there's also some more renewals taking place
because of the change of fiscal. There's still a little bit of a bleed out of change. Carry over to the fiscal
fiscal year from now? Which will,
hopefully
be done by 2026 and everything will be comparable year over year. Confident that'll happen.
What's that now? I said I'm confident on that. I am too.
Yeah.
Appreciate it.
I also noticed throughout several departments there's a significant investment
in education and training line items, which I do appreciate being able to invest in staff.
Not a Yes, sir. Where are you? I'm
I'm I'm everywhere. Oh, okay. You're not a present. Okay. Sorry.
Yes. So in several of the departments, there was an increase in,
training, which I do appreciate.
I also noticed a slight increase in salaries and benefits as well, which I I do hope means,
and you can clarify this for me. Do you will that mean that there'll be any kind of pay increases for employees this year, or is that like a cola? How are we interpreting that?
That's a policy question that that ultimately you you decide.
Man, I'm great at policy. So I'm gonna say
So, like, ultimately I mean, you know my perspective on it. Like, I'm trying to get more money every year into the pay system,
and I'm trying to create it more based upon performance. Right? Rather than just flat across the boards, 2% raises. I'm trying to make sure, hey It's merit based. That's right. Well, I say this as somebody who I mean, I oversee operations for a company. We're a firm believer internally that if
year to year I I love a cola, not just Coke.
When you're looking at your pay stub,
if your cost of living is not adjusted year to year, you are getting a pay cut. Oh. And so if you're not matching inflation and you're not matching the cost of living, I wanna make sure that that's something we're accounting for. Organizationally,
you have responsibility
to keep people happy. Right? Through your through their I want them to pay their bills. Happiness is one thing. Well, I mean, look, well, that's a whole different question. Right? I mean, you don't do you don't do that through colas. Right? You when somebody takes a pay, they spend their rate. There's there's a lot of pieces of that equation.
The question is is though, from an organizational perspective, how do you pay people? And how do you reward people? And how do you incentivize people? And how do you want people to feel great about what they're doing? I think that's a bigger question. So you've seen my I'm gonna use me for a second. My commitment, if you look at this from a budgetary perspective, is to continue to take tax dollars that the residents and the business of RISE will put into
our collective hands to spend.
I've been very committed to continue to put more dollars. If you look historically, that's not the case. And in the case where there's a little knee jerk reaction and it's a two or 3% raise.
Part of the part of this is making it a top place to work is part one of those pieces is pay. Right? There's no question about that. So you're not wrong. Don't disagree. I'm just saying, like you said, like the way you treat your business, you have merit based pay. Right? You are trying to you are trying to reward people who the people who do exceptional jobs, you don't want them just to end up with a cola. Right? And I think that's that's part of what we're so I don't think we're saying different things.
I just I think I want I want people to know from a policy perspective, it's my perspective, is to continue
because I've heard people say, look, hey,
people sometimes respond very adversely to raising pay in for government employees.
I have a much different position on that. I'm very aggressive about wanting to increase pay for government employees because the government employees, the the staff of the city government employees because the government employees, the the staff of the city of Roswell, are at the end of the day the ones who execute
either fantastically,
okay, or not so well.
And I think we've continued to see a a team that has continued to respond in much very very powerful ways.
And that's why we said part of this destination is to make Roswell a top place top tier place to work. Pay is one of those equations. So you can't be static on pay. So from a policy perspective, I'm very aggressive. You see the budget every year. I keep throwing dollars at it in the budget because I'm a big believer. You have to start there. The policy question ultimately is gonna land with you
and your colleagues
about that. Right?
But,
I don't think there's any disagreement about it yet. If you have somebody employed that you you know, they're not flat they're not flatlined. Right. It is worth noting that for years and years and years in this city, employees were flatlined
regardless of their performance.
And it's worth noting, you can see right here, is there's a proposal.
This is not for fire and police. But, yeah, it is. I'm sorry. I'm not wrong. You've got an increase of 4 and a half million dollars.
Yes. And,
and I will tell you and by the way, those of you who know this who deal with budgets, budgets are not static instruments.
Kinda like you put things together and as you go through the year, you find things both adversely
and positively that change the numbers. And we always you know, that's always a part of the budget equation. And we're always doing that thinking about, hey, how do we continue to add dollars
to the compensation package? Because we think that is one of the most important ingredients of our success.
And we probably don't say that enough.
And,
the other one is you can thank mister Knighton,
Sarah,
and thank mister Knighton and mister Stevens and their team, mister Knighton, especially on this increase on the,
the first time you brought up the,
education and training. Yes. No. I appreciate that. And I also wanna note too for
the viewing audience, I know that it was reiterated in the budget presentation not only during initiation,
but was reiterated tonight as well that there's no personnel cuts within this budget, which I'm a very big fan of. And I appreciate that,
being a priority for not only the mayor's budget, but on behalf of senior leadership as well. Thank you, Sarah. Uh-huh. Do we do we answer your question? You did. I appreciate it. Thank you. Sure. Let's keep going, shall we? Yes, ma'am.
Looking at still page 26 of one eighteen, mayor's expenses, I just wanna clarify. I know last year we budgeted 7,000. We're looking at 77. That's because that includes the retreat. Correct?
Are you on pay where you at, Sarah? Page 26 of one eighteen. General fund expenditures by account.
Line item. It's like fourth from the bottom.
Oh, you look at the mirror? Yeah. That guy that guy gets cut every year. Well, I just wanna make sure because the different
the differential between this year and last year, it's to account for the retreat. Correct? Or is there some other line item that's built into that? Honestly, I that's one item I don't pay any attention into when we're doing the budget. I never pay any attention to my money.
I don't know.
Okay. I will I will get an answer. No worries. We've got a whole another week. We can get you an answer.
Looking at the
next page, 27 of 01/18,
under operating total, about
six from the bottom, contingency operating. We budgeted $7.44
last year. We came out at 1,600,000.0.
I was just curious as to how that came out to more than double what we budgeted
and what that was allocated towards.
Yeah. So in in addition to the appropriation of the contingency, it's anything carried forward that wasn't expended.
So that's what would drive up that dollar amount.
Got it. So what what do we carry forward?
Any unspent
appropriation. For the dollar value? Yeah. Oh,
we can
Add it to the pile of questions to be answered.
I feel like this is prime minister's questions all of a sudden.
Because we do carry forward the contingency,
I wanna show it so that we don't accidentally try and count the same money
twice. Got it. It's showing in the the spent here, but typically, we move it when we actually spend it in the other group. That helps. Thank you. It's a lot like capital in that respect. Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. So it's accounting. Fun. So did we answer one of the many You did. So far? Okay. I appreciate it. K.
I am moving, moving, moving along.
Page 49 of one eighteen, we've moved into water utility revenues and expenses.
We have a line item for other slash miscellaneous fees, and it looks like we got,
in terms of charges for services, it was a negative $2.41 $6.75.
We budget zero, we budgeted zero again. What what what is that number?
Because it's
a quarter of a million dollars.
49.
Yeah. 49 of one eighteen subsection water utility revenues expenses,
miscellaneous revenues total.
I'll have to research that one. I believe it has either has to do with insurance or
the
So would that be a refund?
Is it it is an enterprise fund. It's an enterprise fund. So that was what I was curious about because it's recognized
under
revenues by account. Sharon might be able to address that because maybe it has to do with the
actually, no. I was thinking transfer station, but this is water utility. Yeah. It's water utility.
Yeah. Sure. Sorry. David, could it be we sold water to Fulton County. Could it be related to that?
Oh.
I don't know. There's a specific there's a couple
of questions actually in here, so I think they can all be answered, hopefully.
I believe we are all a little puzzled by that. I'm sure we can provide an answer at the next week. We'll send it out to council and make it available for the next budget. Yeah. Appreciate it. That's a fair, like, it's a fair question. Adam, I'm sure Bill,
Adam, both being new to the city of Roswell's finance team,
You're both within
a year.
So I don't have to tell you guys,
sorry,
I don't like nobody likes to see numbers like these. But you don't like to be this far off unless you've got a plausible reason up and down the line, right?
Those are pretty like to my just looking at this,
we're a little bit off
on our numbers in terms of projections of what came in.
We probably ought to be a little tighter than that.
Guys disagree with that?
Well, it yeah. We'll have to do some research as to what that is. So in the in the projections,
those are derived
out of,
forecasting
models and something could have slipped through in terms of what we anticipate at your end as a corrective entry Yep. Or it could have been a variety of different things that we'll just have to look into. Yeah. The one that strikes me the most is capacity fees.
Right? I'm looking at capacity fees.
344218.
344218.
Yeah. That is one time depending on when the construction happens. So depending on when something goes in, we would charge them for the the extra capacity
they have added to our system. Yep. And so the timing of those is very hard to do because it depends on when the construction happens.
The same thing for,
some meter fees as well.
The utility bill late charges, that's a significant difference for a 124,000.
Obviously,
revenue collected,
but we're not in the game, obviously, you know, we're in the we're in the projection game of being fairly accurate.
That's a significant difference that we collected an additional 124,000
120 $19,000
in that particular fund.
Same with the water stop service fees. We're off to these numbers are too we're just even though we're collecting more money, we should have a good understanding of why we are
collecting that much more money
because we're not in particularly on the fees,
and on late charges because obviously, we we don't want people to have late charges.
So we wanna find a way to help negate that. Right?
Absolutely.
Thank you, guys.
Coming kind of out of order on that, just because you brought up the fees and charges, I'm gonna come slightly out of the way that I'm going in in the binder.
On page 85 of one eighteen, there's a recreation participation
fund.
Speaking of fees,
in FY '25, first line item top of the page, we had approved in the budget
about a million dollars of,
recreation admin fees. We only collected about 405.
As of September, I'm sure there'll be a little bit more. Sarah, slow down for me. Tell me I'm I'm just I'm sorry. Page
85.
Okay. Top line,
recreation admin fee.
So are we waiving admin fees on that? Because it's showing zero.
That was a change in how we are doing business. And going forward, we will not charge it as an admin fee. It'll be included in the Built in cost. Okay. So not a separate line item fee. It's a built in cost.
Going forward. Okay. Understood. That is helpful.
Going back again. Yeah. Can I ask you a follow-up? How do you show the subsidy on that if you're changing that?
How do you recognize the built in fees?
Because you're subsidizing, I think, significant amount of money into parks and rec out of the general fund. I think about $683,000
if I remember correctly.
How do we charge how do we show it against each group? Yeah. So how do we have clarity about the subsidy? Like, I've because I've heard people say, hey, fees have gone up. But we're the general fund is still subsidizing.
Taxpayers are still subsidizing park and rec programs. And I believe it is specifically three different groups, and I have to admit, I don't have that one off the top of my head.
But I know Aquatic is one of those, and I think that
I would have to look to see what the other two areas are, but we have specifically identified which three,
this
Lynn, would you do that for me so I can share that with our fellow electeds and they've got clarity on that? That'd be helpful. Thank you so much.
We good? I'm gonna keep going. Okay. Page 71 of one eighteen, parking services, general fund revenues by account.
First, I would like to applaud the team for putting a more reasonable number by my terms, four twenty two projected this year versus the 2.2 last year. I know a lot of that was guided by policy.
But I wanted to know, does the f y twenty six proposed budget include the parking deck coming online for about six months?
Yeah. Yes. It does. Okay. So with the assumption that the parking deck will be open by midyear,
this will assume those revenues.
Yeah. So if you actually,
look in the section immediately under that, it has the revenue assumptions,
for the FY 2026
revenue notes.
So that has occupancy rate and ratio of nonresident to resident and then,
how we've arrived at that number. Got it. So this still assumes free parking for residents, which was a policy decision that was set earlier this year, but it assumes that there's revenue. It makes an assumption that the free parking is gonna change the the demand ratios.
So it's saying like, hey, right now,
theoretically, we think 65% of the parking will be for non residents.
And we think by going to free parking, that it's gonna change the demand model to 50%.
Okay. Right? So we actually are kind of we're negating
we're hurting our revenue stream. You're inducing demand. Exactly. Okay.
Understood.
The other assumption that's baked in,
mister mayor,
is that the parking deck is only assumed to be utilized,
for about ten hours a day as opposed to a twenty four hour pricing model. It's a dynamic pricing model for nonresidents, but nonetheless,
that dampens the expected amount,
that we would collect
for parking revenue. That's a pretty conservative model.
We believe it is. Yeah.
Yeah.
Alrighty. I'm gonna keep going. Sorry. I realized that I didn't go as far back as I meant to. Page 62 of one eighteen. This is getting confusing on my end. I It's confusing don't know. What did you do? This is like you're brutal. Well, I skipped ahead originally because you talked about these, and I was like, oh, that makes sense. 46.
So let me
I like to keep you on your toes. Keep it spicy.
This is about as fun as we get with the budget, guys.
Page 62 of one eighteen, economic development.
Looking at line item number
one of operating,
professional services.
We budgeted 800 last year. We came in at 1.8,
and so we're budgeting for $7.90 this year, which my best assumption is still lower than last year. I appreciate that it's lower than last year because that was something that we had talked about a lot back and forth,
last year's
budget. But just curious as to how we got from 800 budgeted
to 1.8
by
q three of this year,
given that that was the budget. Do we have budget amendments that came forward for a million dollars?
Some of this is based on that cash basis because we issue a purchase order
in a year. It doesn't mean that that actually gets spent and out the door in that year, but we have to show it is spent in that year.
So,
the 600
at the bottom under the table, there is the line that has the contingency.
If you remember at the '25,
approved budget, we did put a contingency in for economic contingency.
And so that did move to this group. And so But wasn't the contingency 600,000?
So 600 plus the 800 that it started out plus any, POs or,
task orders that had been issued
prior to January 1 that will be spent before December 31. Okay. So that's why the contingency
being 600 on top of the 800 should be 1.4.
You're saying that the additional four twenty four is from past year being recognized in f y twenty five? Based on when the work was completed and when the invoice is received. Yeah. Okay. Understood. So we didn't necessarily
exceed that budget so much as that's just when it's recognized on accounting.
And then
going back to my very anachronistic way of interpreting this.
I have
one final question. I'm just making sure I didn't miss any of my little Will the gentle lady yield for a moment? Of course.
Hey. First time I've ever been called gentle. Thanks, Ellen.
So,
I I was just asking David. I I believe because he and I had this conversation every every budget cycle. We go through this conversation about how many,
how many deals we're gonna do, how many hours we're gonna do, how many documents we're gonna do.
Are the legal fees also part of this as we
close for this or is that all somewhere else?
That would be located on another
Okay. So so we're not putting the legal fees, for instance, for the Hill Street development in the economic development budget, but in some other budget?
In the legal budget.
Last and final question,
page one zero five,
finance.
Similar to my last question and that this might be the same exact answer, I just wanna make sure for clarity's sake.
First line item under operating 521201
professional services. We budgeted $2.10 for professional services.
We came out at as of q three, three hundred and twenty three. So we're
more than a 100,000 over budget. Is that because we had a line item from last year that's being recognized this year or is did we just blow out that budget?
A lot of that does deal with the audit. And so that professional service was,
for the twenty twenty four six month. So we would have issued the purchase order prior to the close of year, but a lot of that activity happened in this year. And so a lot of that activity happened in this year. And so a lot of that activity happened in this
year. And so a lot of that relates to that. Got it. So your your AR and your AP are essentially just balancing this out. Okay. Understood. That wraps up all of my questions. Thank you.
Thank you, Sarah.
Council, any other thoughts, comments or questions?
I have a couple if you don't mind. Yes, sir. Alan, councilor of sales.
I've asked this a couple of times and I don't I have an answer. I wonder if you all do. Do you have the breakdown
on the property taxes between residential
and commercial?
I believe Bill, you emailed me that. Yes.
I have it if it would be useful.
No. It's it's it's pretty small. It's a text.
The answer is
that the residential real property tax is
$21,000,000
and I'm not sure which line item this falls in.
And the commercial
is $8,700,000
You remember that sound from right, Bill?
Okay. So the moral of the story is, is that
two thirds oh, well, gosh, more than that. Yeah. I guess it's about two thirds
or more
of the
property tax is borne by the residents.
And that to me is one of the largest budget shortfalls,
problems
that we are seeking to address through good use of
the small 14%
of acreage that we have in this city that's eligible for commercial development. So so as we talk about how we use, let's say, a certain corner or a certain strip of land,
If we are ever to see that
flip, it's that we should
be maximizing the revenue on those places where we can maximize revenue.
And to me, that's a budget item as well as a philosophy.
Thank you. It's an excellent point, Councilmember Sells.
Yeah, because I'm a little maybe we're just
not doing politically what we need to do in the budget,
but the ED budget needs to be $2,000,000
I didn't do that. I'm kinda like, oh my gosh. Because
that investment is what turns that mix around. If you don't invest in your ED side,
you are not going to turn that residential mix to commercial mix. That's that simple. It does not happen by magic.
It doesn't happen by good luck. It happens by intentional stratagem
and action and the right kind of planning, which is what the path this city is on through
the leadership of the senior team, to leadership of the selected council, and to the leadership of our,
chief arc economic architect, Cyr. And that's an investment on the city's part to change
how revenue comes into the city and to reduce the burden ultimately on the residential property tax holder. Right. Absolutely.
So,
I did I didn't do the page number thing as I went through and wrote down my questions, so I can't point to the right page. But I'm sure you can answer this.
The PFA is the source of of funds for the roof, which is $7,000,000.
Yes. As well as, just like we did last year for the park,
that,
at at,
Spruill.
So, Ella,
can you point out why that's so important? Like, why would you spend PFA money? I'm fixing to. Okay.
So let's talk about that briefly because,
that will be a revenue bond.
Right? Because the PFA
is going is is going to make the payments on the roof of this building
of the bond for the roof of this building, and the revenue is going to come through an intergovernmental
agreement between the city and the public finance authority. Correct?
Yes. Okay.
So when people talk about, oh, we're using revenue bonds
to not take it to
the people for, let's say, a $7,000,000 roof, which is what are we like? Twenty years past the useful life of this roof, if I'm not mistaken, something like that.
Right. Twenty. What's the number?
Twenty?
Twenty. Twenty years past the use useful life of this of this roof.
What what I wanna talk briefly about is
instead of we're using the PFA to raise it, which stands for public finance authority, which is for
projects that are specifically
for what?
Beneficial to city,
city property, owned by city, serve the city. So it's not economic development. It's not, it's not a way to to hide the ball or anything to sort. People can see the roof anytime they wanna drive down. They can look at the roof that's gonna be there, the $7,000,000.
So we're using the PFA because that allows us to to budget for that cost over multiple years and incur it all in the first year. That is that fair? Yeah. Or as I would describe, we are using long money
for a long asset. That's it's great to talk about the money side and I'm glad you're doing that. I wanna ask another question along this line thinking. And mister Watson, you could address this or mister Stevens or mister Knight, you could
this. The status of fixing that roof is imminent
or
we can do it later.
Yeah.
Why are we fixing a roof? Why we got just just wanna know why why we gotta fix if it's been gone for twenty years, why we gotta do it now? Why we gotta spend $7,000,000?
There's nothing more than I'd rather spend money on different,
items and on this roof, but we have constant leaks,
all around city hall. And unfortunately, when the roof was installed back in, 1990,
it was installed incorrectly.
And so we are facing the repercussions of it now. So the roof was installed incorrectly in 1990?
Correct. And for and the materials on the outside have, are past their useful life so they need to be And this passage is usual. I took it. But I want I want to know just as a as a resident,
so I'm gonna spend $70,000,000.
Why can't I go a couple more years?
What?
Up to mayor and council, I would not recommend it. The answer is what you told me is is imminent. Yes, sir. Eminent.
You said this is an imminent issue. If you don't deal with this now, the city's gonna pay a lot more money than $7,000,000
to solve the problem, including what it's gonna do to the people who work inside the building, including the people who come visit the building, including being able to have to shut down the building from time to time. You said this is an imminent
I'm putting words in your mouth, so I want you to say instead of me saying it. You said this is imminent, Curt. Yes, sir. It is imminent. You said we don't do something about it. So So let me go back to the financial question.
So do I have time, mister CFO, to go out and put this as a public
to put it to the people,
right, and say, look, I'm gonna put this in the ballot. I found this out
in we just found this out in October.
You know when it goes on the ballot?
Special election, if you have one, which cost the taxpayers about a half million dollars to do, just in that itself. Right? Just that alone. Mhmm. But realistically, it would go on the ballot win, November
when the next election comes again. So I'm gonna put off an issue that's an imminent issue to the City Of Roswell taxpayers and to the City Of Roswell itself. It's gonna cost more money if I don't spend the money, which means I have to find a source to do that. Thus, Alan, I go to what?
A PFA
and go to a revenue bond instead of going for a Yeah. General Right? General Exactly. And, you know, the city does not have
if we however we spent the money, it would come out of of the funds that we have.
Right? So the all we're really doing is using the balance sheet wisely. This is this is as a businessman, I I this makes all sense in the world and I and we've talked about this before in this room about the fact that the city missed opportunities to fund these
shortfalls and maintenance for years and years when money was really, really cheap.
It's becoming cheaper at the moment, but but this is the opportunity for us to match revenue over time with the expenditure today that's going to benefit us over time. As you say, long money for long projects.
That that's that's really what we're talking about. Don't go away, Brian. I got one for you too. Oh, I was gonna ask some some more context. Yeah. Please do. Versus GO bonds.
They're called revenue bonds like an economic development bond would be issued by DDA,
but that's a a legal title. That's not the function of the purpose. As as one of you all said, it's not to hide the expenditure. As you know, the PFA agenda and the city IGA with the PFA
for public meetings,
publication.
We go through committee council cycle twice once to authorize the the RFP process and then once to actually accept it. And another thing that's really important on the cost of the PFA, and mister mayor, you nailed it.
The cost of raising funds under a PFA is lower for lower dollar amounts.
So at a 7,000,000
roof,
it doesn't make sense to pay $500,000
in fees when I can pay 50 to $60,000
in fees,
through an RFP process for banks who want to bid on our terms.
Whereas on the geo bonds, they're done by large capital institutions,
and they typically dictate terms back to us because of the amount of money involved.
So all in all, you're matching
the weight and size of project with the weight and size of the financing instrument,
and the PFA instrument is typically
dollar to dollar a cheaper instrument to use
and benefits the city taxpayer
to get an imminent project
done today.
Approval process on a PFA, the last one we did for sprual, was about eighty days
from start to finish. Well and also, you know, two two things.
You know, you're right. It's a small bond. The tendency, if you're going to do a GEO bond, for one thing, the level of planning, we know exactly, you probably already have bids, right Brian, on this roof? We know,
is it at risk? Is the contractor at risk or do we have contingency in this particular budget?
There is contingency in the budget. We have not finalized anything with any contractor. But we've gotten the bids back and all of that, right?
We have a couple of bids back. We would still need to negotiate depending on how we got this. Okay. So if we were doing something
10 things, then we would have less precision with the level at which we're thinking about it. So we're matching the money specifically, and you feel that this $7,000,000
is sufficient
for this project because you've already asked the market what it takes. Is that correct? Okay. That's correct. Yep. And the last thing I'd say, mayor, is that, you know,
I cannot imagine as a citizen,
an elected body coming and asking me if if I approve of replacing the roof.
I just I can't imagine what that would look like. You know, where we're gonna do, we're going to do a public referendum on whether or not we should replace the roof at Ellis, I kinda like the question is, should we raise the pay of the police? Right. Exactly. Should we take that question to the people? I think the people we know what the people think. So I just want to point that out.
If I could turn turn the corner, unless there's any other comments you guys wanna make about the this particular issue. Hey. Okay. Go for one second. Customer Justin. Customer Justin.
Oh, you gotta go.
See you. Yes, sir. Have a good night at work.
We miss you already.
That's a lot. You can you've been putting people to sleep here for two years.
I've spoken. You're the one putting them to sleep.
Let's talk stormwater, which is our favorite topic.
I wanna talk about that just briefly. We talked about it on the budget on the day on the budget day. Let's revisit that just a little bit and how
it's we are building more capacity than is required. So it's and it's reflected in the budget. It's a surplus in the budget this year. Right?
That's correct. Yep. And that's because we are building extra surplus and we are building some more. So there's going to be excess capacity even beyond this. Or or are you expecting all of this to come online for, like, for Mimosa?
Are there other places that are coming online this year or into the '27 that you can talk about? So you're talking about the regional, detention facilities. Exactly. So that will not encompass the entire city. It will be for the drainage areas that are coming into those those Correct. But the They will be online in '26.
Both of them? The Both of them? The pond? Okay. Okay. And so
and that's also so that's a source of revenue that we're using our capacity for, but also it's a gate to development. Let's talk about that just briefly and you and I have talked about that before. So,
if a developer wants to,
develop close by these in these, as we call them, regions,
these areas where there's a drain
a drainage basin
that collects in one place.
They can do that because we have excess capacity to sell them as opposed to having to build their own and sink their own. They can pay us to do so. That's what that's about. That's correct. They could either do it on their own or,
it'll be a lot cheaper to buy into the we'll call them credits, smart water credits into that. And it speeds the development as well. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Alvin.
Thank you, Brian.
Surprised visitor. We're glad you came up here to join us. Don't go far. We always like to hear more from you. Particularly, we talk about stormwater because this is something you guys are in the forefront of and way ahead of most cities.
Other thoughts and comments from council. Thank you, Sarah.
Thank you, Ellen. David, that was outstanding.
Will, Christine,
first reading, comments?
Mayor Pro Tim Hills?
Okay.
Well, let me see.
That was outstanding. Thank you very much. Thank you,
Bill, Adam, Lynn,
team very much.
At this time, I think we've got our comments done. I'm gonna ask for a motion
on the
approval of the first reading of the budget. Do I have a motion?
Christine Hall, would you read that for me, please, ma'am?
Yes, mayor.
Motion to approve,
item number one, number one zero zero four seven, approval of the fiscal year twenty twenty six budget for the city of Roswell, Georgia in the amount of $229,987,271,
first reading. Thank you so much, council member Hall. Do I have a second?
Seconded by council member Mooreland.
All those in favor of the motion made by council member Hall and seconded by council member Mooreland, please do so by raising your hands.
Let the record show that the vote is five to zero and that the motion passes very, very thank you very much.
Passes unanimously.
Being that there are no other items, the special called mayor and city council meeting
sorry. Second reading will be next Monday for so,
and I think we got some follow-up questions to get. We got some follow ups answers to get before the next budget. A lot of conversation.
And hopefully, we can publish that for everybody. But being there no other items, a special called mayor and council meeting
special called mayor and council meeting of Monday, October 20
is adjourned. Thank you so much.