e Sisco e e e e tiere m p it's 9:00 a.m good morning mayor good morning this is a meeting of Al Paso city council for Tuesday August 20th 20124 that's pretty good mayor liser is present and presiding in council chambers along with mayor protim Kennedy alternate mayor protim molinard representative salido and representative Canales it is 9:02 a.m. will everyone please silence your electronic devices so as not to disturb the meeting and rise for the invocation delivered by El Paso Police senior chaplain David Mayfield good morning sir good morning for I invite those present to join me in prayer gracious Creator God As We Gather here today to adopt the financial blueprint that will shape the future of our community we take a moment to seek guidance and discernment we ask for wisdom and clarity as we navigate through the complexities of this budget May our discussions be guided by a spirit of collaboration and a commitment to the common good let us remember that the decisions we make here today impact not just the immediate future but generations to come grant us the patience to listen the courage to voice our convictions and the discernment to balance the needs of our diverse community may we be ever mindful of the trust placed in Us by those we serve and may our work today reflect our dedication to the well-being and prosperity of all of our residents let our actions today be a foundation of fairness equity and sustainability for our city with gratitude for the opportunity to serve We Begin this meeting with Open Hearts and determined minds and we pray all of this with gratitude in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit amen thank you sir colon Wesson FL the United States of America the stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for good morning everyone and I know that um it's um it's a day that uh we'll be able to look back and um just as uh chaplain was talking about fairness and uh taking the the community at heart and making sure what we do represents 100% of the people I've said this back in 2013 and I've said it every day that um we ask everybody to pay taxes and it's important that we represent 100% of the people not just a small group so um I think that uh with fairness and prosperity for our community and moving the city forward I um I look forward to being able to have a productive meeting and move forward on a no new Revenue rate which will take care of the whole Community not just the for you thank you and uh Miss Prim we'll uh we'll start with you yes sir and for the record representative Rea join the meeting at 9:04 and representative ernandez join the meeting at 9:05 mayor at this time may we have a motion to recess in order to conduct the mass transit Department board meeting second there's a motion and a second to recess a regular city council meeting to conduct the mass transit Department board meeting all in favor anyone opposed the meeting is in recess at 9:06 a.m. good morning this is a meeting of the mass transit Department board for Tuesday August 20th 2024 it is 9:06 a.m. board chair liser is present and presiding along with board members Kennedy ASO ernandez molinar salido Rivera and Canales there is nothing on the consent agenda so that brings us to item number two and this is discussion and action on a resolution that the proposed budget for the mass transit Department of the city of Al Paso Sun Metro filed by the city manager with the city clerk on July 15 2024 is hereby approved and adopted by the board as the annual budget for the fiscal year 2024 2025 which begins on September 1st 2024 and ends on August 31st 2025 thank you can we see a presentation please please good morning ma'am good morning we don't have a specific presentation for Sun Metro but we do have a general presentation for the budget your mayor this is Nicole Cody managing director since there's been no changes since um the week of July 8th for S Metro we had we do not have a presentation for them okay thank you yes sir uh representative nundes good morning um Miss Cody and welcome to the end of the budget um Mr deiser um just some quick questions for you we have allocated in our budget um days for free service and so um I think you dedicated 10 days in a budget resolution can we have a hot mic a hot mic can can you clarify if the general election is part of one of those days and then which other days um the public can expect so the the general election is one of those days will you introduce yourself Colonel Anthony deiser the director for Sun Metro thank you good morning sir good morning mayor uh the general election is one of those days um and then there's nine other days um I don't know exactly what those days are off on the top of the top of my head but we we have not reserved five of those other days so we have the flexibility to do those days um is it under your discretion that that's approved addition five days okay and then then there's also um 80 hours um a year that can be used for the city council for um whatever they they want to do um not necessarily a charter but to use at your discretion the city council's discretion to um move um individuals for whatever reasons that you want for different events uh throughout the year so there does that includ the street car as as well well the street car is free so but that's 80 hours for the for to use fix route fix route yeah and then and then so when you use the fix route for that you don't necessarily have to use the entire 35t bus or 40ft bus or 60ft articulator bus but we can also use the the shorter buses to accommodate whatever need you want so that's 80 hours split between the the city council and and the mayor okay great that's wonderful news um let's do some quick highlights uh any changes to the fairs there's there's no changes to the fairs for for for ridership and we did not increase the budget for Sun Metro for this year and we're looking at trying not to do that again for next year so we have a balanced budget for last year and and this year um any route consolidations that we're expecting in the next fiscal year so you know we we look at that quarterly and so we have to to reassess that each quarter but for the coming up quarter we we don't uh expect that but at the end of um 2025 we are trying to look at implementing Sun Metro Rising if if you remember that so with that there'll be many many changes but before we Implement that again um as a reminder um the city council voted on that to approve the Sun Metro Rising changes but before we Implement that we're also um told that we need to back and and brief that as a last update to what those changes will be because some of those will be altered from the original brief that was approved and that also includes um bus shelters as part of um an assessment of so some of the the the bus stops have changed with that okay um one of the major things that we're doing with that is the curb cuts to make sure that our Ada Personnel can get to and from the new the new um bus stops right and then then along with that we're implementing some new bus shelters um with that and so we're working through the process of that so we have a budget of $500,000 for bus shelters um to be put up but really the issue isn't can we do we have a money to put up bus shelters it's how fast we can put some of those up so that how many bus shelters we're going to be putting up is going to be enduring um and so even if we we spend that $500,000 for that we are going to put money back into that fund to continue that until we you know get what we actually need to get done for bus shelters throughout the city obviously because it gets pretty hot in El Paso and so even we we expend that $500,000 we're going to have to keep going so it's going to be an enduring process great and and I know in the past Mrs SMI uh has asked members of council to submit any U requests from constituents for shelters is that okay if we continue to do that and send them your way yes so I I believe up to this time every every um request we have put that up like within 7 to 10 days um cuz we can change the priorities to what what we're putting them up based upon the requests that come in and so normally we we go by the amount of ridership um and that's how we prioritize the shelters that are going up but obviously there sometimes there's um some of our citizens who need shelters because of their particular circumstances so when requests come down like can you change the priority for this reason or that reason we take a look at that we have discussions with the city council but the reasons why we change the priorities and then normally we adjust to that and move as quickly as we can okay to make those adjustments and then street car is free at no cost um any changes to the times of service no we we have maintained the the the times that we did with with the optimization okay um and I would like to report that we're above the um projected um Rider ship um that we we set forth and and that continues to rise is that the 20,000 that is 21,000 oh 21,000 so I'm pretty happy about to yeah okay great no I mean that in itself is a is a wonderful accomplishment uh the right person for the job thank you for presenting that to council um and really excited about those efforts um and then lastly technology uh I have heard reports time and time again about the the apps uh being confusing I'm not sure where we are with disabling the pre app um continuing with the current APP uh as it relates to the to uh the street car and then I do get some reports about um just regular Sun Metro um services in the app not being updated that sometimes there's a glitch and we send those your way but what about being able to purchase uh as opposed to having tokens at all of our sites um being able to purchase all the tickets online now is that rolled out do we have the infrastructure ready so so we have validators on on all the buses now and so in very short time all those the validators will be able to be used so you can purchase with your credit card you can also purchase at the tvms which we're going to we're trying to finish that by the end of 2025 so all the the tvms will be the same because we're going through the process of changing out the old ones and so all the tickets will be the same all the ticket vending machines will work with the validators you can you can um purchase right at the bus um so we're trying to get all this all that online so it's it's all the same and so I'm trying to get the app that works with that and so we're all on one line on on one system but it's a process right so I'm moving forward to to move towards the same technology that standardizes Sun Metro across the board and so that's our that's our my vision and our goal perfect thank you and then uh any contract expirations this fiscal year upcoming year there is a uh cont well there's we have 260 some contracts and so Sun Metro contracts expire extend like throughout the year so many um I think the one that you are asking me about is the um par chin contract and so that one is um due for an an extension um it is my intent to extend that one um and there's uh there's uh the possibility of of not having that go out for the the full three years um the reason why I'm extending that one is because if I change it and put it out to bid it will cost millions of dollars over the the three years to change that one um right now over the last s months I believe we've stayed at above 90% um ontime performance um prior to that there there was trouble with that but they have have new management at um M what about um customer service and their contract service um we are now to about we were prior to those 7 months we were having like 60 yeah complaints at for pair Transit but now we're down to like six or seven uh complaints a month so we totally changed how we do customer service address the the complaint and address the person that's complaining so that we don't have the same issues over and over again we also work with MV so that the the individual that's has complain against them um we make sure that they go through a process so that we don't retain the people that we shouldn't be retaining because we're having problems with them and so we've we've severely cut we not severely but we've drastically cut down on the the amount of of complaints I'm about to bring the um the the semiannual um Sun Metro update um hopefully in September I'm trying to get all that together but I I will be explaining that in in more detail at that time but we've brought up that ontime performance for the last six or seven months way above 90% um we've cut down on the on the customer complaints um by a lot we uh have bought a lot of new vehicles um to to address that issue and I think we've more than than turned the corner we're going to extend the contract it's going to save us millions of dollars and I have some other things that um are on the horizon that we're going to do with PA Transit um that I'm about to brief all the the city council with um individually uh here here in the near future after I make sure my my strategic planning goals are are blessed up on by the city management and then we we can move forward and I I think everybody be pretty happy about the way we're moving with that and I think to be fair the complaints have subsided um you know there are still some concerns and to bring awareness to you um the city of Al Paso has launched um with uh one of the uh children with disabilities and adult with disabilities Advocates and organizations nonprofits called cedic and we're preparing to bring on 15 youth uh and adults with disabilities to be fellows at the city of op Pasa and the program is called ability fellows and one of their accommodations and many request accommodations to be understanding that lift will not get them to work on time to be a fellow and so I want to make sure that um I want to support you on your request for an extension because I am not satisfied with the services and I've been very vocal on behalf of the ility community that there are some significant issues but they have um you know diminished over time but you know I take you know a lot of concern and heartache when I hear and I have hours long conversation about services from a contract provider and so my hope is with your um steadfast uh you know making sure that we are executing implementing the contractual obligations and that they're delivering and I and I and if they're listening I'm watching and I want to make sure that you are providing the most upare support for transportation needs and treating everyone with dignity um because that is my chief complaint is that a lot of folks feel like they're being ignored they're not being seen their uh stops are not valued and that they're not important and so we we need to change that culture and I have seen some progression under your leadership and I thank you for that but that is why I'm not open to um extending the contract and I would love to go to an RFP but if you feel confident that they're on a a a better trajectory then I'll support you otherwise you'll hear all of our complaints and I want to make sure our ability fellows can show up to to their internships and their fellowships on time um so to wrap it up because I know I have limited time we're on a really great path under um Mrs Smite we had a huge deficit you were able to turn that around we're now operating in the green you're now looking at not increasing fairs we are stabilizing our budget you're being more efficient with your routes you're integrating um innovation through EV bus stations and charging stations and you EV buses also with technology with tickets purchasing online getting rid of the tokens and then in increasing optimizing the usage of the street car and I think those those are wonderful successes that you should be proud of thank you for your leadership and I'm happy and proud to support the budget resolution today and I move to approve thank you thank you ma'am thank um one thing I do I think it's important that um we talk about a little bit and you need to brag about it is the 36 roughly $36 million grant that was received for mass transit that's really helped us with our budget and be able to buy uh the new buses the natural gas buses and also bringing forward the electric uh smaller uh for uh par Transit uh can you kind of I mean and I think Omar and and the team did a great job of being able to bring forward um 36 million to the city so we don't put that in the budget because these are 40 buses if I'm correct that uh we're bringing forward so you want to kind of go over a little bit of you need to brag about it because it's a incredible accomplishment yeah so so the grants team at Sun Metro has been been doing a a great job not only did they they get this grant for the for the $32 million and and or for the and and allow us to to buy purchase these new buses which put us on a whole new trajectory actually saving millions of dollars because we can purchase the buses early and we don't have to to deal with the the prices of the buses going going up but it changes our overall buy Plan um for the buses and when you you put that on against our strategic plan and and how much it costs to run Sun Metro and the fact that we're getting ahead of the buy plan it changes our overall um strategic plan and and our fund balance now it if you look at how that works out in the in the future um how our fund balance is going to increase over time instead of decrease over time is is quite amazing um not only did they get the the grant for this these 32 buses that we're going to get they also got the grant for the to go um electric at the the parat transit um 50% but not only did they do that they also got a grant for for the Texas um veterans Grant which allows the Texas veterans and their spouses to ride for free not only did they do that they also got several grants over the last couple years for the cutaways O over at par Transit and several other grants that that that I'm not going to mention here but they're doing a phenomenal job and all of these grants we have to perform these tasks anyway we perform these tasks for the citizens of El Paso and it's either going to come out of the local taxpayer money the the half penny sales tax or we got to pay for it out of the fair box which people put in the money to to to ride daily the the 20,000 people put in into the fair boox to ride daily or we got to use it from the reoccurring grants that we get from from the FTA so this is additional money that we have to go out and and seek and compete for and so this is a phenomenal turnaround that we're getting millions of dollars year after year that we don't have to come out of our own pocket to do and so this has totally changed the trajectory of the Sun Metro overall strategic financial goals and and and again I'm going to I'm going to bring this up when I when I bring the um Sun Metro S manual update up like we we've changed the Dynamics we've changed the way Sun Metro's finances are going for the future like it's incredible and and a a big deal of that is is the grant team and and Sun Metro team overall the Sun Metro team overall but the Gans team and and my assistant directors and and my my Deputy who's sitting right here and Sasha my finance guy was sitting right here so the team is killing it the team is crushing it in my opinion and we couldn't do it without him so thank you for that thank you and I think your team which is our team it's we all we're one team yes sir and um I think it's important to talk Omar and Eden I'm sorry very very proud of them uh there's been a lot that that you've just discussed this morning that talked about a number of the financial efficiencies and the great teamwork not just within some Metro but you know cross departmental to to really work those grants but I think the thing that I've been the most impressed with is just how much progress they've made on the customer service side and although you know anytime there's a complaint obviously you know the goal is to not have complaints but to to take down um from where we were not too many months back to where we are now in some of these areas has been very significant uh Anthony is team has briefed me on what they've been able to do in house to make a lot of changes to really focus on delivery of service which is our core Mission and going from 60 plus complaints down to six although we need to continue to work on the six that's a really really significant achievement and we're on the right trajectory so I think they've done great work you know when you're customer service your your goal is to have no complaints but when you do have a complaint the difference is what do you do with it and how do you take care of it so you don't go from 40 to 6 without addressing them making sure you take care of the customer and then the customer comes first so I congratulate you all on that and you know continue to to I tell people if um if we don't get a complaint we don't have the opportunity to fix it and obviously you've had complaints and you fixed it now they they've been minimized so congratulations on that representative followed by representative molard thank you I everything you've been saying has been really great so really excited to hear all of that um one one thing that I was looking at is this street sweeper for $550,000 so that's going to be online when do we know so we we've purchased the street sweeper we we already have a street sweeper but it's it's pretty old and so we're replacing that so the street sweeper the story behind the street sweeper is before we had a $500,000 contract I think it was over three years with the company and we use that street sweeper to also sweep this the track it just a rock in in the in the street in the track of the street car can make the that derail and so before we had a contract to do that and so the street sweeper we had is not going to make it very much longer so we're replacing that street sweeper we're ending that contract we're bringing that in house and doing it ourselves so yes the street sweeper is expensive but over years we're going to save a few million dollars by getting that street sweeper and bringing that in the house so I don't know off the top of my head the exact date that that's going to land here but it's in process but the reason why we're getting it and going to utilize it in that purpose is to save a few million dollars if not more o over time I love to hear that and that's really awesome cuz I know that that was a big thing when the street car came into play where a Little Rock anything will kind of derail it it'll mess it up so bringing that in house makes sense so now that you're telling me that there's going to be some savings my next question is about the street car is there uh a way to extend these hours it seems like writers ship is higher than you expected it to be which is awesome um I know that a few weeks ago our office received uh an email asking for the hours to be extended this person lives downtown and they use the the the street car to get around and just from a a standpoint of it being open from 7:00 in the morning to 7:00 p.m. right um well depending on what Monday through Thursday like during the week yeah um just thinking about that how can we get it maybe to 99 or something cuz 7:00 p.m. people are going to dinner and then maybe they don't have the ability to get back on the street car to go back wherever they need to go right so so the hours that the street car are we did that based upon um the optimization when city council said go back and look and and and and see how you can optimize street car try to stay under the the $3 million budget a year um optimize the hours see how many street cars you can run and get the most ridership and so that's kind of how we came up with the hours we also have the flexibility to on on different occasions to keep the street car open longer or open it up earlier depending on what events there were and requests from the city council or or other organizations and so that's where we're at now um the possibility exists to to extend the street car hours but if you extend the street car hours that comes with a a cost and so over time just doing business with the street car is going to keep the cost going up because inflation right and so that to answer your questions I I do what the city council wants me to do as far as that and and you approve the budget so if if I'm told to expand the street car I will if I'm told to hold it I will like I take directions from the city management and the the and you so I'm going to do what you tell me to do I'm going to do it to the best of my ability and do it as efficiently as I can what we what we can do representative oo is when uh Anthony and his staff come back and brief the Council on the optimization plan we can show what that looks like we can show what the ridership numbers look like and we can show some different courses of action on what that would mean budgetary wise if if we did increases just so that you all can have the real data and look at and then be able to draw a conclusion just based on ridership yeah and I think that would be great I know that u a few months ago you had shown us how you had increased the the writers ship and how I think we were looking December was really great Winter Fest and so I'm I'm thinking if we could expand that data to include almost like an hour by hour to kind of visualize when you have the most Riders 7:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. Etc Monday through Thursday specifically I feel the weekend hours are great and now I'm just thinking about Monday through Thursday and seeing how that could be further optimize to see if there's a possibility to extend or kind of break up the the schedule a bit or something like that so for sure the answer is yes I will I will go back and and take a look at that and try to break that down um but in addition I I would also tell you that the street cars ridership used to be based a lot upon like as as we brought it back on special events but now the the ridership is more based upon reoccurring ridership of the different demographic people who are going to work people are going to the doctor and and the special events are not as much driving the ridership of the street car to to your to your point sir and and that's great to hear and and I think that that's where I think in in a future with more housing coming downtown there is that correlation that I hope that we could kind of match up right we we have home downtown which has been great we have the art lofs and as there's more units that will probably come into the future I'm I'm thinking we could coordinate to make sure that we're addressing the needs of the residents that are there right and then hopefully a grocery start some but I will try to get that in September if I get that um semiannual update in in for September I'll try to get that information into that that sounds great I appreciate it thank you represent Mard good morning thank you mayor by represent F anyways um Mr deiser good morning thank you very much for your comments couple of things I know we've had one time a brief discussion about contract so it's always good to hear hear you being proactive instead of being reactive uh that makes a big difference I can tell you we can save the city and the taxpayers a lot of money by not being caught up in something that we weren't even aware of okay and so we thank you for that um not going to talk about um there's a shelter there bus shelter at the 4500 block of Hondo Pass Hondo Pass being the dividing line between District 2 and District four but today when I pass by there even though there's no more that pot belly pig trash receptacle there is no longer there but there's still an accumulation of trash so that needs to be picked up because you know it's an isore it's still our sun Metro Bus Station there if you will and so it doesn't reflect well on us and so the other thing related to that one particular bus shelter is that I still see people waiting for the bus there they're just waiting and waiting and waiting I don't know and I expressed my desire this before is there some type of signage that we can install that says hey both in English and Spanish you need to walk East to the intersection of Hondo Pass and dire to catch the Brio because it's not being serviced so I often wonder how many how much time is spent by these people and unproductive means because they don't know that there's not not going to be a bus service there but that used to be Route 42 and I know I've advocated for before and for representative alello the people there in District 2 used to use it I know District Four used to use it and I've always been wondering if you could kindly bring it back or at least talk about it at least to do that so I don't know if you have comments on that sir so let me talk about the the trash build up there okay so we have the the contracts for that and at times some bus stops seem to fill up with trash and then for a while they don't and so we addressed that contract towards I guess you can say where trash surges up cuz sometimes for some reason it just doesn't at certain bus stops and so then when we notice that some trashes are filling up faster we adjust the contractor's hours and their routes to take away the trash so we will we will adjust to and like I said I drove by there this morning I looked to my right and that's where I saw the trash and the debris out there so didn't have any time to see our for it I'm here today right now so the other thing I'd like to talk about future expansion of bus service do you want me to address the other yeah yeah go ahead sir the the other issue for for the route like I'm sure my my people are taking notes but we're about to do a sign up and so let me look at the the route that you're you're talking about and check the frequency of of that and and check the signage that's on that route to see see how we can address it and then I'll I'll shoot you email and tell you what I find out and what what we can do about that yes sir that would be awesome okay and so um District 4 is growing so if you look at the 12,000 block of dire I mean there's just whole new subdivisions coming out eventually they're going to need to be serviced by bus transportation mass transportation so just planning the seat for future busing needs Transportation needs for you and that's like the I'm going tell you the 12,000 block of so thank you sir thank you sir thank you representative F thank you mayor I just put eye drops now I can't read first I wanted to thank uh representative Hernandez for bringing up that point on how we we all of us up here and yourself Colonel with your with your team need to demand that everyone is treated with dignity and respect so thank you for moving that forward I too have received uh comments in regards to the contract and the the potential of an RFP but quite different than representative Hernandez the the the people the users that I've received um uh calls from are concerned that the contract is going to end and we're not going to have an extension and that this company has really gone above and beyond to to um to try and meet the needs of the consumers and and so they're really working towards that along with your leadership so thank you for doing that and and I hope you seriously consider um extending the RFP so that we can continue to service these these writers uh lastly you were talking about your very talented grant writers um I hope at some point we start looking at writing a grant for um some of the clients from ehn I know that for years there's been trying they've tried to work um a partnership with us and haven't been successful yet uh I'm not sure why but but maybe through a grant we can develop some sort of um um support for that clientele also that that's all I have Mar thank you I I'll look into it and then I'll I'll get back to you about the dhn andc like I'm I'm not thank you divers okay okay thank you again and um that's all we got here I do want to thank you for being very proactive and I know that probably been about a year ago since we talked about the the trolley and utilization and maximization and I know you all did a really strong study on how to continue to maximize the usage without bearing additional cost to the taxpayers but actually providing that service so and I know you you gave us a pretty deep briefing and and what you needed to do and how you did it extended more hours and and different things and um I know that you're probably due for another update with us but you you know council did vote to give you the latitude to make sure you use your judgment to do what's best and um I see you've done that so thank you thank you mayor all with that we have a motion in a second yes sir the motion was made by board member ernandez seconded by board member F to approve the proposed budget on that motion call for the vote thank you sir board chair board chair liser yes ma'am thank you and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously Melissa where you going I want to say hi to Melissa she comes every Tuesday to come say hi to us she works in our office and uh she works very hard and um she loves to come say hi to all of us here so um you want to say hi to us Melissa real quickly because we really we really appreciate the hard work you do good morning good morning my name is Melissa Moody uh me show have have a good day on Tuesday and that's it thank you hey Melissa you know I love you right of course you do I I I I I I always do and she brightens my day every Tuesday and Thursday she comes Works a couple hours thank you for the M Pas city council and thank you very much thank you thank you Melissa you're welcome I have announcement and I about to go I'm about to work for you so my pleasure had to work for me and have a great Tuesday thank you have a great Tuesday as well thank you thank you there's a motion and a second to adjourn the mass transit Department board meeting all in favor I anyone opposed and the mass transit Department board meeting for Tuesday August 20th 2024 is adjourned at 9:41 a.m. is there a motion to reconvene second there's a motion and a second to reconvene the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed and the city council meeting is back in session at 9:41 a.m. also joining the meeting are Representatives Alo and Fierro there's no action needed on the consent agenda that brings us to item number two and item two is discussion and action on a resolution that the proposed budget as amended for the city of Al Paso filed by the city manager with the city clerk on July 15 2024 is hereby approved and adopted by the city council as the annual budget for the fiscal year 2024 2025 which begins on on September 1st 2024 and ends on August 31st 2025 to approve second a motion in a second there is a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy approved by everyone else second second by representative F I think everyone else second it on that motion call for the vote I believe uh Colonel Weston would like to say a few words before go ahead Colonel Weston no just a just a couple of of of thoughts before uh Nicole goes into the presentation I really want to thank the mayor and the City counc this is the second year uh that that this Council has approved a no new Revenue rate or will approve a no new Revenue rate budget I think it's really significant really significant just based on the uncertainty and what's been happening with the economy and really uh for giving us the priority to really be very fiscally responsible as we've looked at the budget but doing that without compromising city services without compromising Public Safety and through your leadership uh and direction we have found I think a really good way to do that a lot of this was was set in place with Forward Thinking decisions that you all made last year in regards to how we can bring more money in to to look at um uh how we execute operations within the city looking more at payo funding which I think's given us a lot of operational flexibility and really given us the opportunity to be able to present a budget that's at the no new Revenue rate I think the other thing that I that I would say is that you've really been um on point with strategic plan not just looking at this budget year but looking forward always looking forward at what the impacts are going to be not just within the current year but in future years that's really setting us in a good direction so uh wanted to thank you all for that and I wanted to thank our entire team that's put this together a lot of hard work by a lot of people being very very creative um on our staff and so they deserve a lot of credit credit for uh being able to put this together thank you mayor thank you Colonel and I think U as you spoke right now you know no new Revenue was really important but to make sure we didn't compromise Public Safety we didn't com compromise uh quality of life and to make sure we continue to provide all the services as we're going to open up the all the libraries we're going to start opening up the all the facilities and include that as part of um the budget and again have no no new Revenue was something that that I know you and and your team Mr cortinez and his team Mr Cody I know you all um we met I can't um there's not enough uh days in a month to to tell how many days we met but we met because it was really important that uh we took the taxpayers into um into account as as we we talk about and I always say there's everybody runs for office and you know the number one uh can line is we're going to reduce taxes well this council did it they didn't just go out there and say vote for me and I'll reduce your taxes we did it and that's what's really important so Council congratulations on a great job that U we're able to provide this it's never been done for two years in a row and this Council had the opp opportunity to be able to do that with some uh great teamwork and Leadership uh and um I thank you all and um Mr Prime with that we have a motion in a second we can see it again you'd like to see it again go ahead okay thank you sir Nicole Cody managing director if I will bring up the presentation so it's a brief presentation this represents the changes that were made by City Council on August 1st so as you know and as our interim city manager Carrie Weston had mentioned there was um of course we're always looking at the impact on property tax on our community so the budget Focus for this fiscal upcoming fiscal year of course as the mayor mentioned is still focusing on Public Safety our community Pro uh priorities that are set by city council as well as a strategic plan continuing our Improvement of a street infrastructure along with continued funding uh for residential street resurfacing Street connectivity and traffic signal internet sections as well as uh continued uh funding for recreational cultural opportunities with our opening of Lan nube this August 10th the future opening of the Mexican-American Cultural Center along with uh 100% of our libraries will be open this fiscal year also of course we want to make sure that we continue to invest in our Workforce and so as part of this FY 2025 budget we do have an increase for the entry wage from 1311 and we'll be doing 50 Cent this September and then another 50 cents in March of 2025 to reach $14.11 for our entry level positions and then again this is the sixth year that we're not seeing a health care increase to our employees and as the mayor mentioned the no new Revenue rate is what is being proposed and will be a future item as part of the tax rate ordinance here you can see it's a reduction of 5.7 cents from the FY 2024 tax rate these are next slides are just summaries at a high level of the overall budget so we have the general fund budget at 599. 6 million and our all funds budget at a total of 1.3 billion this is your general fund summary by Vision block uh we're seeing an overall increase of 26.3 million in our general fund budget from FY 2024 to the proposed 2025 budget and and this is the vision block uh based on all funds so this is the total $1.3 billion is a total increase of 14.5 million and that concludes the presentation Miss PR uh we have uh representative Hernandez good morning Mrs Cody um good morning wanted to take a moment to thank you and all of your budget team and the Office of Management budget thank you so much ABS so the team works really hard with all of the Departments that we have here so if you all will stand up Office of Management and budget come thank thank you so much and it's working together with of course the Departments and the department staff so now you can take a vacation just just kidding um you all have have done impeccable work I've seen you over the years and so I'm very proud of the work that you're doing um just wanted to thank you for sending me the the tax rate and the breakdown um and so one of the questions I had received is you know since values are going up we're reducing um even though it's the no new Revenue rate you know folks are still feeling their taxes going up and that's because their values have gone up and I think central apprais District reported about 10.7% is the average valuation increase for residential homeowners and then on the multif family side it was nearly 32% um which means it is inevitable that rent will go up for folks who are renting in duplexes or apartments and so that that creates a lot of concern for me and I know now now more than ever and we're really excited with um the selection of Mrs Mack so that we can put some strategy together regarding on housing affordable housing putting together a housing plan and and I know that that was a supplemental request um to do the to fund the housing plan and I really want to ask if there is a way that we can add that as part of our preparation for this incoming uh leadership so that they're better prepared so that we can all understand the landscape of the housing what the needs are how we can build Upon A A Housing Trust and and I have a lot of confidence in representative Canal is to to Le that torch because I know that's very he's very passionate with that um but we have to fund it and I don't know how we do that um but it is absolutely imperative and we can't afford to wait a whole another year and I think the estimate was about $150,000 from what I was it was it more 700,000 that was only half of it was about 1.5 well I'm sorry I didn't hear you it's about 1.5 1.5 can you introduce yourself ma'am the new incoming city manager oh there's ma Dion Mack Deputy city manager currently so that the 750 that we had was assuming that we were going to be splitting those cost and so that was only half of the total amount that would be needed for the plan okay um that's a big number and I know that that's not we're at the final hour and that's not something um that I know Council will have an appetite for but we got to take steps to do this yeah we we've already started having discussions about different strategies I really concur I think that looking at at the affordable housing and and I think uh representative Canalis even brought it up at our during the budget meeting I think we have to take a comprehensive look at different things that we can do with Partners as well as with internal policies that might be able to kind of turn the corner on this I mean I think we talked about some economic development strategies I had a conversation with Mr sashan at the at uh at home over the last uh two weeks and talking about maybe some things that we can do so we'll put together together a plan uh I think it's going to be a variety of things that I think can make a difference and then we'll bring that back to the council for your consideration okay well I'm I'm happy to hear that that um is on the Forefront of leadership because I mean it it has to and and we heard even from the city manager finalist meetings that they they're feeling everyone's feeling the pressure um and we're not even considering a renters at this point and so they they will experience high rent and I think it's unacceptable that my mortgage is less than a two-bedroom apartment the average uh two-bedroom apartment and so not only are we heading in on a pathway that home ownership is not realistic for young people with an average age population um in El Paso is 32 years old and so we really need to be cognizant about not just you know having these you know check marks yeah we hit the no new Revenue rate but what are we actually doing to impact and make our community more affordable through insurance rates um looking at the affordability of homes expanding our transportation opportunities and routes uh more Reliance on on public transit and less on vehicles um and so those are the things that I know I feel like we've we've already reached that that point where we have um identified savings and we've been we've been more strategic now we just have to have a greater Vision about affordability down the line and so that's what I just ask for this uh and future councils to to keep an eye on that um and then finally with the reduction in a no new Revenue rate what is the expected um average impact to the average household uh that's valued I think you give me at$ 204,000 about $24,000 what would be the average reduction that's 62 I think something like 62 you have it this that's the change okay it's $296 $296 it's $296 I was like wait a minute that sounds yeah no $296 is the average reduction is the average it's actually increase and average increase for a Val a home valued at what $ 20476 okay and so a lot of this has to do with the accounting of the values of home the city Only accounts for 30% of the portion of your tax bill and then of course you have the voters have ballots to consider this November and so when they approve those ballots and these Bond initiative that is a self in imposed tax increase and so so voters of aasa be cognizant that yes it's important to invest but when you do vote in favor of these bonds they do lead to um uh tax increases and that's the purpose of going out to the voters um but any rate so I wanted to just be clear on that and thank you for for clarifying and and we're happy to share that with the public and again good work to everybody and for your hard work um your services to the city of Al Pas are invaluable and thank you for um working very hard for the citizens of El Paso good job everyone thank you ma'am and again um the whole team congratulations I think one of the things that uh if you remember in 2019 there was a $440 million public uh safety Bond there's approved by the voters we' brought all in but 169 million is that correct so $440 million we brought in that we opened a children's museum that was allocated for $19.2 million we um it the city ended up putting out between 20 and 25 million including the public Arts fees and we're able to do that and be able to open the state of-the-art wonderful Children's Museum but it was about 50% of what we really spent was brought in the other part was done by the public sector they did a great job so I mean I can go on and on to to talk about some of the things that we had to put into the budget to be able to still have no new revenue and that's that's what's amazing uh the thing that I do want to remind the public and I think it's really really important is that the city Only controls 30% roughly of your tax bill so when you look at your tax bill and go wow my taxes went up why because school district controls another another 50% and uh unfortunately with the declining um enrollment it it's very costly for episd uh the county controls 15% of the bill and then you have UMC and Community College that control your bill we can only control our part of it and I thank you for the part that we control that we took the the our constituents and our citizens and put them first to make sure that we're able to do the right thing and no new Revenue two years in a row again is hard to believe based on everything that we have you're right the voters do approve um some items that we got to look at and then we have to look at how do we bring them into our budget and how do we bring them forward and not impact the taxpayers and you know whether it's theem whether it's new police cars whether it's new fire trucks because these are quality of life items but also public safety items and we've had an increase and um I think our Public Safety uh rating has got a little bit better in the last six months congratulations everyone out there but so again thank you for being able to be incredibly great STS of taxpayers money with that Miss PR yes mayor there was a motion in a second to approve the budget as proposed voting session is open and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously M par if it would been a 44 I would have broken the Tie by the way thank you mayor the next item is item three and this is discussion and action to ratify the property tax reflected in the annual budget for FY 2024 2025 for the city of Al Paso there is a motion made by mayor protim Kennedy seconded by alternate mayor protim molinard and this is to ratify the property tax rate reflected in the annual budget for FY 2024 2025 for the city of Al Paso on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number four is discussion and action on an ordinance living FY 2024 2025 taxes and I'll need to read an amendment into the record that says the tax rate will effectively be raised by 1.07% and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately a reduction of $ 3156 second a motion a second Miss PR there is a motion made by mayor potim Kennedy second it by alternate mayor protim molinard and this is to ratify the property tax rate on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously item number five five is discussion and action to approve the AL Paso County 911 District FY 2024 2025 budget presented by Scott Calderwood director good morning mayor and councel my name is Scott Calderwood I'm the executive director of the El Paso County 911 District um we are bringing forth as we do every year our uh annual budget for your review and approval uh I've sent that out previously and had the opportunity to speak to many of you about it um as far as our budget goes it's not a big change from previous year budgets there's a small increase in administrative we are uh going to hire uh some additional Staffing over the last uh four or five years we brought on a lot of different uh programs new technologies um and exciting changes es to 911 that benefit the citizens of El Paso and uh we're going to need to increase our staffing to continue to maintain those at the level that we do um our revenues uh are relatively unchanged and we are predicted to be able to meet all of our obligations with the revenues that are coming in currently and there are uh there's not a lot of change from last year so does anybody have any questions about the budget second representative Canales followed by representative fural thank you mayor thanks Scot I didn't get the opportunity to meet with you this year it's the first time in many years I think that we hadn't sat down about this so I'll tell you now I I review the budget everything looks excellent and as always I want to commend you all on what I think is an exceptional job that you all do uh I think the threadgill facility is like among the best public facilities in the country not just in El Paso um and and the work you all do out of there is incredible so thank you thank you sir wait till next year yep we don't have to does that mean there's going to be a big increase next year no it means we're GNA we're going to make it even better oh I see okay thank you mayor I just want to say thank you for the briefing um it was our our office's first time of going through the the your budget with you and and you were very um eloquent and went through all the numbers answer all their questions so thank you very much um representative nundes thank you for the explanation on your budget um can you just describe um if you have met have received all your needs and met the needs for 911 operators we have um our Revenue has been declining at about 4% annually and we've been able to make operational adjustments to that and additionally we've been receiving some State appropriated funds that we've been fighting for as uh as a Texas 911 Alliance um and that's been able to fill in the gaps so uh we continue to work legislatively to make sure that we can uh get a sustainable source of funding we can't continue to rely on state Appropriations but for the foreseeable future uh the district is in good financial position um is there a high vacancy rate are we good on Staffing for 911 just for 911 operators and I know that's a separate so I'm just trying understand yeah the 911 operators are actually city employees and is there do do we have the appropriate number of operators um I can't answer that for you but uh I would say that your Staffing is improving from my perspective it looks like it's getting better got it and so uh I I I see I see vast Improvement great thank you um do you have a fund balance and what is the balance because I see that you're projecting a surplus and revenues correct um and that's we we continue to keep uh a surplus because when we buy purchases uh it could be more than 10% of my one one system could be more than 10% of my entire budget so we try to keep almost a year operating in in reserve and that will also insulate us from uh like we said our Revenue has been declining if we don't get a state appropriation that's our that's our insurance policy got it it's uh I think that's fiscally responsible thank you for being here Scott have a wonderful day thank you hey chief thank you and U congratulations many years of great job you've been doing it's a very important job in our community and um thank you for the good job you do chief thanks sir with that M PR the motion was made by alternate mayor Pro mol second day by representative Federal and this is to approve the budget on that motion call for the vote in the voting session and that motion passes unanimously this can we reconsider item number four yes sir item four is discussion and action on an ordinance living FY 2024 2025 taxes is there a motion to reconsider second there's a motion in a second to reconsider the item all in favor anyone opposed and we're back on item four you want to read it into the record mail yes sir and so we need a motion to adopt a tax rate of 76145 and adopt the ordinance as amended approve Motion in a second there is a motion made by representative Jetta seconded by representative Federal and this is to adopt a tax rate of 76145 and adopt the ordinance as amended on that motion call for the vote and the voting session and that motion passes unanimously that brings us to item six and this is discussion and action on the appointment of the El Paso city manager in accordance with City Charter section 5.1 second there's a motion and a second to return to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of city of Al Paso May retire to Executive session pursuing to section 3.5a of the AL Paso City Charter and the Tex Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss item six discussion and action on the appointment of the El Paso city manager in accordance with City Charter section 5.1 under 551.071 consultation with attorney and 551.074 Personnel matters and executive session item one Joseph picket versus city of Al Paso 384th District Court CA number 2020 DCB 3514 under 551.071 consultation with attorney it is 10:07 a.m. e e e e e e e e for e you that's e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e for e e e e e e re e for spe e for for look ready for for for go e at s I that e thought out ch for e e it's 5 being how hard is this e for for for e e e e e what are you doing over there my me what you think no new Revenue h da f for e EX Bo just 6 is I'm e e ch e I they don't like represent kened you know bullog are do what could have been on the guys neither do of us frog and we all what is that I don't that's yesterday sir birth Sunday good to see you back there that e e e e e SE guys are e e don't e e e e e for e know e e e e e e e e do we have a motion reconvene there's a motion and a second to come out of executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the regular meeting is back in session at 1112 a.m. alternate mayor protm ex1 motion August 20th 2024 motion made second and carried that the city attorney's office and consultation with the city manager be authorized to proceed with an appeal in Joseph picket versus the city of El Paso cause number 2020 dcv 3514 and to take all steps necessary including the execution of any required documents in order to effectuate this Authority there's a motion made by alternate mayor proen Molin and read to the record seconded by representative Riva on ex1 on that motion call for the vote voting session is open in the voting session and the motion passes unanimously Representatives Kennedy and salido not present move to retire into executive session on item six there's a motion and a second to return return to Executive session all in favor anyone opposed and the city council of city of Al Paso May retire to Executive session pursuant to section 3.5a of the AL Paso City Charter and the Texas government code chapter 551 sub chapter D to discuss item number six discussion and action on the appointment of the El Paso city manager in accordance with City Charter section 5.1 under 551.071 consultation with attorney and 551.074 Personnel matters it is 11:14 a.m. e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e spe e check one sec e e e e e e check one two check one two check one two can you hear that up top okay check one two check one two check one two check check one two e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right thank you everyone for being here it's exciting news and and I know a lot of yall have already heard that uh the city has um have no tax increase again for the second year in a row this has never been done this uh the city council has for two years in a row voted to move forward with what's called no new Revenue but it's basically uh no tax increase and it's really important to to understand if if you look at the overall of the taxes the city of Al Paso controls 30% of your tax bill Epi is the 40 uh 50% and then um the county 15% and then you got UMC and Community College but uh we control 30% of the bill so it's important to note that the city has been very fiscally responsible to be able to not not increase your taxes this year it's never been done before and the last three times uh that's been done I'm very honored to say that I was the mayor of the city of El Paso for the last three times that we've had no new Revenue um when we talk about no new Revenue it's important to know that um we didn't sacrifice Public Safety we didn't sacrifice quality of life and the amenities of the city as a matter of fact that all our city team members their insurance went up the city was able not to increase their rate included in that uh there was a $440 million uh first uh Public Safety bond that was passed in 2019 we've been able to bring that in to the city we've been as you seen we we under the new police uh and fire stations we're doing the new communication we're doing everything we only got 169 million left to issue and we're bringing that into it the new um uh children's Museum was just built when when you saw that in 2012 it was 91 19.2 million it really cost the city 20 to $25 million additional dollars it's an incredible facility it's a great facility and I invite everybody to go there but we were able to bring that into our budget and still not increase we're buying police cars we're buying ambulances we're we're buying emergency vehicles again and that's all done on a cash basis uh I know that a few years back they financed automobiles for 25 years uh a lot of those some of those are no longer in operation yet we still owe about 19 years on those Vehicles so it's important that we have a stream of money to be able to buy and supply and make sure that we have money for theems and everything else and yet again the great u news says that we have no new tax revenue I'm going to turn it over to Colonel Weston and then to um Robert cortinez who did an incredible job their teams by the have put together I can tell you that I met with them there's not enough days in a month to count how many days I met with them but we met numerous times to to talk about the the rate and I kept saying no we need to continue to work we need to continue to work we need to find how we can do this and they did it you know I can only say I don't want it I want this but at the end of the day these are the guys back here that were able to do it and make sure I said this the other day everybody at anytime anybody wants to run for office what's the first thing they tell our constituents they go go no new taxes but nobody really does it nobody really has a game plan we did it we literally have done it two years in a row and the last three times that's ever happened I was in office and and that's what's important because it's uh they um they don't have a game plan you ask them how you going to reduce taxes Oh by lowering them well they don't have a game plan we had a game plan and we did it so that's something that I'm very excited and I'm going to turn it over to the guys that really made us uh made this happen our city council was did a great job of working with us to be able to do this and Council voted on approving the rate and they voted earlier today and also a year ago so with the council's um hard work and the guys behind me we're able to do this Colonel Weston thank you mayor appreciate it well good afternoon everybody it's uh this is a a big day for us big day to be able to make this announcement really on the on the heels of the council adopting uh the budget um when I got into to this position just a little over a year ago was in the beginning of the budget process or actually was towards the towards the the end of the budget process but the the direction was very clear to me from our mayor and from the city council is to mitigate the effects on taxpayers and do that without sacrificing city services and I can't think of a of a better time uh for us to do that than what we've been able to accomplish over the past two years I think everybody has felt the effects of uh of what's happened in the economy High inflation cost everybody uh more money to go to the grocery store to get gas for your vehicle housing and so I think it's a it was a really responsible Direction and from from the leadership of the city from the mayor and Council to charge us with that responsibility to do that and ultimately for us to be successful and coming to a no new Revenue rate now for two years in a row is is really important and we were able to do it and I can confidently say this as the mayor said without sacrificing Public Safety and without sacrificing our ability to deliver what the citizens of El Paso require of us and that is to provide services to this community and we were able to do that the mayor talked about being more responsible within the budget year and being more responsible and using cash as opposed to relying on financing so we found creative ways and and our CFO I have to hand it to our CFO and our budget team for really doing the work to do this um they're much smarter than I am in terms of being creative and finding these paths but we're able to get to a point where we can incrementally fund whether it's uh paying for Fleet and additions to our Fleet year-over-year and using pay as you go money or cash as opposed to financing the same philosophy for how we we fix uh our facilities to do things that that are necessary for us to operate the city on an ongoing basis and to really limit the financing so that we don't we don't put this burden on the taxpayers so very happy to to be in the position that we are to to do which is really unprecedented a no new Revenue rate for two years in ago two years in a row and doing our part uh for the citizens of El Paso and so I'll turn it over to Robert cortinez thank you before we we turn it over he left out one thing that I think was really really important and you all want to know I did tell him and I did tell Mr cortinez I will veto the budget if you um if we do have any type of increase and his exact words to me was mayor we don't want to disappoint you or the councel we'll figure out how to get it done and they did Mr cortinez thank you mayor so as Colonel Weston and the mayor mentioned developing an annual budget is a a very very challenging task when you're looking to minimize the impact on our taxpayers well at the same time ensuring that we're not impacting City Services which are critically important whether it's Public Safety streets or quite of life and so a lot a lot of work and a lot of time and effort went into developing this budget countless hours by our budget office putting this together putting the recommendations forward for Colonel Weston's consideration and then ultimately providing that to the city council and getting their full unanimous support today was just a really really good way to end this budget process to provide some relief to our taxpayers in the community but it's not easy it's never easy and so one of the things that we've really focused on communicating with the city council is those outstanding challenges that we're going to have those long-term issues that we need to continue to address we've made significant Improvement in a lot of those key areas U investing in our Public Safety through additional staff and investing in our facilities uh investing in our streets which we know that that's a huge issue for our community but again really really proud of all of the city staff that work together all of our city departments and ultimately the support from the mayor of the city council of adopting this budget really challenging us to be creative and Innovative and strategic in how we develop this again to provide some relief from for all of our taxpayers as the mayor mentioned 30% of the tax bill is the city's portion the remaining is all of the other tax and entities and so it's important that we do our part to ensure we're providing as much le as possible and then the last point I I think is very very important is what we're doing for our Workforce that's one of the most important things when we're developing the budget is we're one of the largest employers in the region we're I believe the number six largest employer and so it's important that we be competitive to ensure that not only are we retaining our existing work staff but that we're being aggressive and competitive as far as recruitment as well across the board not only in public safet but across the board in all of our city departments so it's important that we continue to push for increasing the wages not passing on our Healthcare increas is to our employees in the city picking up those cost providing different incentives providing opportunities for them to go back to school and get a certification or get their degree so that they're able to promote and Advance throughout the organization to fill these roles and so again very very proud of the support of Colonel West and his leadership over the last year and a half that I've been able to work with him directly and then only man in the city council is unanimous approval with today's budget wa Lita is not here so we don't I don't know where we're going to start with questions but uh we have any questions well I think it's a pretty sh slain to this is a big day for the the taxpayers to the city of well pasor as you as we know that uh I think Mr Cortina said it best that we know cost of living is going up cost of living continues to increase but yet we're doing our part to make sure that uh we lower and you have no tax increase in two years in a row uh as when we started earlier when we started the budget process and we really we started talking about 6 months ago they told me he said mayor it's going to be impossible to do it it's just it was hard to do it last year but it's going to be impossible to do it again this year and um we did it and we did it because we care and and uh I I do want to thank everyone and I thank yall for being here again I say this and I'll say it again without you all it's hard to get our message across to the public and our citizens so it's really important that when we have some great news that yall are here to help us share that with with uh our citizens so thank you all and um I do appreciate you being here but um yes sir could have one question um can you use this mic real quick sure his voice we can hear but they need to hear me too apparently Okay so so when it comes to beyond the the budgetary things that you all have done to focus on and maintain the budget at that level when it comes to that no new Revenue tax rate the impact that is expected for the individual taxpayer on average seeing a slight decrease based on that so what do you attribute that to when it comes to the makeup of the city of El Paso is it as a an expansion of enough properties enough businesses coming online or or what is the information that you all or how are you're describing that I'm going to have Mr cortinez answer that but I do want you to look at one thing you asking about what it was savings from last year but you got to also look at we didn't go up you know we could have gone up as you saw a lot of the entities have gone up so if we'd gone up how much more would have been so that's a big savings so what it could have gone up and what didn't what we went from last year Mr cortinez you want to answer that question please so that's an important question because a lot of what we hear is well you're reducing the tax rate but the value of my home went up and so I'm paying in more more in taxes that's not 100% accurate so L depends upon the change in somebody's home but with what the city council adopted today that rate essentially takes into account the increase in the valuation and so it doesn't uh again depending upon the value of our house it should eventually balance out you should essentially see no increase on the city portion which I think is a very very important point we keep saying that but it's important that the public is aware and that they understand that there's five different taxing entities on their tax bill it's not all the city of Al Paso it's the school the county the UMC and P Community College but the city's portion of your tax bills should essentially be the same as it was in the prior year we saw additional Revenue not as much as we've seen in the past in sales tax we saw some additional revenue from our bridges but really it's about how are we controlling our cost and so we were able to utilize some Ur savings from the current year we're not issuing debt next year again which really helped save some money on The Debt Service side just really getting creative in how we're we're managing our cost was really the critical component to how we're able to accomplish this no new Revenue rate for next year and one one of the things that's also important what he was talking about that uh we still had three years left on The Plaza theater we owe $34 million and we felt there was advantageous to be able to pay it off so we include in our budget this year we paid off the plaza theator so now we'll have that income and that Revenue coming forward into the city but uh it um like I said there's so many different things that we're able to do and be able to to take advantage of and one of the things and and I know Mr cour was very instrumental when he came in and brought that in and talked about paying the Plaza theater off in 3 years early did you have a question Rudy yes so you think there'll be a future template using this um you well not new but the budget you think there'll be for a future a template for a future city budget let me just address that me you can you can I don't know if there's a future template but let me tell you the philosophy and the mindset of of how we're looking at the budget most organizations look at the budget in its current year and what we've been advocating and what the council is really done and what we've done in our strategic planning process is you've got to look out multiple years and you have to look at what you're doing today and how that affects next year and the year after so you have to do that so that you can really start start uh analyzing the different revenue streams and how they're going to impact future years so that you can stabilize the budget and you ALS we also have to find creative ways to be able to incrementally fund and get Revenue in that incrementally funds in a more predictable way the needs of the community year-over-year because the more create or the more predictability that we can add to the budget year-over-year it allows triaging the kinds of things that you have to do for the community a lot easier it gives our departments a better a way to do that and a much more cost effective way so I think it's really more a matter of what approach you're taking to the budget from a philosophy standpoint and then being very disciplined to stick with that process that will help you over the out years and getting getting ourselves in a position to potentially do this again I know if you want to add anything to that I got a lot to add to it thank you sir no I think it's important if you think about it uh not bad for a lame duck Council huh that looks to forward years and and years to come so most likely so it's important that uh we keep getting accused that that's the lame duck Council it's far from it uh and uh we look at multiple years we look at the future of our city and by doing these type of budgets and and structuring and paying off the Plaza Hotel and stuff it really gives us the ability to look at avenues for the next few years for the city and for the new city council city manager to move forward with we have a specific question from Al Paso matters Mr cortinas are we having to dip dip into reserves the what what was the reserve the question is are you having to dip into reserves absolutely not our Reserve is still 81 days you know they um the national average is between 80 and 90 days we're at 81 days uh when I took office in 2013 it was a miserable nine days and uh like I said before and I've said it uh we were if we had had a bad week the city would have gone bankrupt now we're prepared and I have the city moving in the right way so no we did not not dip into the the fund balance whatsoever anything else thank you and I appreciate you all passing the message forward thank you sir [Music] see see look h e e e for for spe for e I for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e so we have a motion to return from executive session there's a motion yes seconded by representative F of course there's a motion in a second to come out of executive session all in favor I anyone opposed and the regular meeting is back in session at 4:02 p.m. we're on item number six no action thank you do we have a motion to do we have a second there's a motion in a second to adjourn the regular city council meeting all in favor anyone opposed I and meeting for Tuesday August 20th 2024 is adjourned at 4:03 p.m. thank you Council