foreign foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] before mayor part calls the meeting to order we ask that you please turn off electronic devices for those of you who have requested to speak there are two podiums in the chambers the podium in the back is for individuals with Mobility concerns we ask all other speakers to step forward to the front Podium each Podium has a countdown clock located to the speaker's right that will indicate how much time is remaining a bell will sound when you have 30 seconds left before you re you begin your comments please state your name thank you thank you and welcome to your Forest City Council chamber I'll call us to order first item on the agenda mayor is MNC 23-0786 go ahead David please mayor would you like me to summarize the actions here I think that'll help that'd be great thank you so for this part on the budget we have eight action items and a public hearing the first two mncs will be related to Water and Sewer rates then we will have the public hearing on the proposed 2023 tax rate then we will do a number of ordinances the first ordinance ordinance is on fees the second ordinance is on the budget ordinance and for the budget ordinance I'll point out there's two number changes than what you've had in your book or in Prior presentations that they don't reflect increase public spending it's how we're showing the Environmental Services Department so the general fund will be a little bit higher those expenditures are funded from a transfer from the solid waste fund the second item is in our fiduciary fund The Rock Creek pin will show a higher number for The Debt Service and that's being paid for by assessments with The Rock Creek PID the next ordinance is the ordinance on the property tax rate that's an ordinance required through the tax code that will require seven votes to pass that ordinance then we do a resolution on the property tax rate and that's also required by state law so there's two related to the property tax rate and then the final two mnc's relate to Civil Service there's one for fire and one for police those are the eight actions and then the PO and we have the public hearing on the tax rate thank you David questions for from Council for David anybody we're good thank you go ahead Ron okay the first item is MNC 23-0786 so I can entertain a motion on this Council thank you got a motion and a second any other discussion Council please vote I've got two eyes from councilman and from councilmember Bivens motion carries next assignment is MNC 23-0785 we do have one speaker on this item Council our first speaker is David Martinez it's David here no if David's not here Council I can entertain a motion on 23-0785 move for approval I've got a motion and clarification of councilmour crane yes that's correct it involves Wastewater Motion in a second any other discussion please vote motion carries next time is a public hearing a conductor public hearing on the proposed 2023 tax rate reported City staff by Ashley Clement good evening mayor council my name is Ashley Clement I'm an assistant Finance director with the Fort Worth lab I'll be presenting information on the recommended property tax rate for the fiscal year 2024. the recommended property tax rate for fiscal year 2024 is 0.6725 cents per 100 valuation this is a four Cent reduction from the fiscal year 23 adopted rate of 0.7125 cents each year the recommended property tax rate is calculated once the city receives its certified appraisal values of real property from the appraisal districts for fiscal year 24 the total net taxable value for the city increased 15.6 percent over the fiscal year 23 value to 115.7 billion dollars of that increase new construction added 3.2 billion in value to the tax roll with the other 12.4 12.4 billion coming from reappraised values on existing properties based on the 115 billion dollar valuation and the recommended tax rate of 0.6725 cents the city expects to collect a little over 735 million dollars in property tax revenue this Revenue supports the city's General debt obligations and the general fund the property tax rate of 0.6725 cents per 100 valuation is allocated between operations and maintenance or o m and debt the debt portion is anticipated to meet the city's General debt obligations which includes the bonds that have been issued for the propositions approved by our voters the fiscal year 24 recommended debt rate Remains the Same as fiscal year 23 at .1475 cents the portion for operations and maintenance is the largest funding source for the general fund which houses a significant portion of the operating activity for the city the recommended o m rate is 0.5250 cents within that o m rate the city allocates a portion to cash fund Capital infrastructure maintenance this is often referred to as paygo for 24 that allocation remains at 7 cents the remaining portion of 0.4550 cents is dedicated to the general fund which is the city's largest operating fund the total reduction of four cents in the property tax rate is recognized in this portion of the rate this is the largest tax reduction in decade as the city is committed to lowering the tax rate I'd like to take a brief moment to retouch on another important action that Marin Council has already taken for the upcoming fiscal year in June Council approved an increase to the over 65 and disabled residential homestead exemption exemption from forty thousand to sixty thousand this exemption is closely aligned with our property tax rate reduction and offers property tax relief to our most vulnerable this in conjunction with reducing the property tax rate by four cents showcases the city's commitment to lower the property tax burden to date the city has hosted 16 public engagement meetings held three budget work sessions with city council and we've conducted a public hearing on the recommended budget last week this public hearing on the tax rate is the next step in the budget process before council is presented with the opportunity to vote on the aforementioned items that David included in the beginning on ordinances and resolutions on today's agenda to adopt the FY 24 recommended budget and tax rate of 0.6725 cents per 100 valuation thank you for your time and attention and a special thanks to everyone who's engaged and contributed this project season thank you Ashley Council we have a few speakers on this item our first speaker will be Rose Baker followed by Al allu good evening members of the Fort Worth City Council my name is Rose Baker thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this evening I am more than a little concerned about the property taxes that are crippling many of my friends in Fort Worth presidents it has come to my attention that Tarrant County South Lake South Lake Carroll ISD Keller Keller ISD Fort Worth ISD and now Tarrant County College have adopted a no new Revenue rate or a below no no Revenue rate for our property taxes to help the people to protect their homes from from foreclosure many of my friends and that includes me are on fixed incomes and paying more for property taxes is putting a strain on our daily living expenses especially since our economy is in such a crisis right now it seems to many that the elected officials which include you are trying to drive them into bankruptcy bankruptcy and the loss of their homes we know that a decrease in tax rate is not a decrease in taxes my neighbors are reporting outrageous appraisal rates that just keep going higher and higher a decrease in the tax rate will not lower the amount of money we have to pay so to pay the same or less than last year we have to have a no no Revenue rate when you ran for office with a promise to lower taxes that is exactly what we expected you to do we the people are tired of voting for politicians who say one thing and do another we are going to vote out those who don't really care about the purpose or respect the people of Fort Worth I hope that you will prove to us that you do care about the people of Fort Worth and you will do what you promised when we elected you thank you for your time and I have copies of my comments for the council thanks Ms Baker if you'll hand those to Mr Gonzalez he'll make sure we all have them our next speaker is Al allu followed by our Carlos tercios good evening mayor Parker city council members tonight I would like to address the property tax issue for what I understand the council members and mayor will be voting on tax rate of the property taxes it is proposed that you want to lower the rate to 0.6725 from 0.727125 as grains that may sound we all know it's not really going to lower your property taxes it's actually going to raise your property taxes on a 400 000 home it will still increase your taxes by 250 a year and every year thereafter the proposed tax rate reduction is just a play on words it's typical politician talk you really want to help the people you serve you should adopt the no new tax revenue rate of 0.6353 other surrounding entities have adopted the new Revenue rate and even below new Revenue rate like the city of South Lake City of Colleyville city of Keller the JPS Tarrant County College Board Keller ISD Grapevine ISD an even Tarrant County has adopted a below new Revenue rate I'm not sure if pigs are flying or hell froze over but even Fort Worth ISD has adopted a below no new tax revenue rate so the question is how do we pay for these awesome things that Mr cook put on the budget well I think the first thing our elected officials should do is go tell Mr cook to go back to the drawing board and go find the wasteful spending that is happening in our city why is it year after year Mr cook our city manager gets carte blanche on taxpayers money he has no skin in the game his salary is 10 times that of city council and our property taxes continue to go up day year after year he needs to be held accountable and that's your job city council I don't know if you guys knew this but Mr cook makes over thirty thousand dollars a month let that seek interest just for a little bit city council needs to do the right thing when it comes to property taxes you cannot expect the people to continue to make the same number of bricks with less straw this is a reference to Exodus 5 6 where Pharaoh ordered his task Masters to take away the straw and let the people go find their own straw you're making it harder for us to afford our homes and regarding those who rent they're also burdened by this as a landlord and property manager of over 300 properties when property taxes go up so does the rent your words need to be your words don't promise the people in your District tax relief when it really isn't your leaders up there you were elected to be representations for the people who elected you give the significant tax relief to the people in your district and be the hero of 2024. Mr baylock Blaylock and Mr landorf thank you for your truth our next speaker is Carlos tercios is Carlos here our next speaker is Adrian Smith by phone followed by Karen Wiseman Mr Smith Adrian Smith I am one Adrian Smith I am one with the people to the mayor into the city council I don't know if you don't care or you just don't get it but you know what I will select both options you all are detached from the realities as relates to the livelihoods of the collective will of the people of Fort Worth yet here we are again with your rubber stamping initiatives pushing things forward under the under the guise of falsehoods for the purpose of serving yourselves be clear and understand one thing 2025 or before would start the undoing of your positions as it relates to council now if this does not apply to you for the individuals who sit amongst their diet then separate yourselves from the ones who are making these ill advised decisions as it relates to the city I stand with the first speaker and I think she'll make an excellent mayor because what she spoke to you all have allowed to just come something of people just talking now 2021 we were on the pandemic restrictions covet quote unquote protocol shutdown there was no movement within the cities if in it at all so how do we get from 2021 to no movement to 2022 where you outstand yourselves because that's what you did because with the rubber stamping initiatives we know one one such example in City Hall the new city hall 50 million over budget and and countless other things and let's not forget about the 170 plus million in uh American Rescue act cover Relief Fund that you all just blew in the wind for your pet projects or to ensure your benefactors receive something favorable because of how they decided to I should be in that city city council chambers right now before you but I'm not because you all trespass me but guess what I'm still standing I'm still speaking and I will not stop to the collective will of the people that sir do not stop let's vote them out our next speaker is Karen Wiseman followed by Colby Shellhammer hi good evening mayor and city council thank you for your service my name is Karen Wiseman and I live with the my husband in a home that we own we've seen the appraised value of our home increase between 10 and 13 every year for the last 10 years and and that's after I fight it with Tad um so in the last 10 years the appraised value of our home has risen 123 percent it's more than doubled um I I have a problem with Tad and this year I wasn't able to fight the appraised value because they had some computer issues they told me I had a um phone hearing but then at the last minute they changed it to in person and I had already uploaded all my documents and I couldn't get there in time so I had to Forfeit but I know they're working on those issues so my monthly tax bill is now larger than the prior mortgage on our home and I'm just here to humbly request that the city tax rate be set below the no new tax rate my city taxes go up every year along with the other taxes the county Fort Worth ISD and other surrounding cities have been able to offer their citizens tax relief this year and I would really like to see the city of Fort Worth do the same however I don't want to see any Cuts in fire or police I do feel there are some other areas that could be cut and if we took a hard look at it thank you thank you Miss Wiseman our next speaker is Colby Shellhammer followed by Emmanuel Mata mayor we called three times and there was no answer Colby's not here in the audience correct okay next speaker is Manuel Mata is Manuel here there he is been well be followed by Amy super hello my name is uh Manuel Martin I'm in district 9. and the only thing that I have a problem with is the 96 million are going to give the police right and uh one is because I've been trying to get a answer to this question how much do the surrounding counties pay Fort Worth Police Department to train in the Felix Street Center you know because surrounding counties come and get trained in this facility and they get paid the police does right and there's other places that this money could go to like community centers after school programs libraries that y'all keep closing down and neighborhoods that need them because if y'all don't pay attention the reading math and the School for Children of that age in those areas is at the lowest it's ever been right so if y'all really want to show the community that y'all care about them right I'm not saying that don't give money to the police right even though y'all make sure that they have enough right y'all even went and gave them money to recruit people to come hire and get work by them but the thing that's not being addressed there's a shortage of officers coming and which are proposing are like before measures you know what I'm saying like before y'all have a shortage or afterwards not during you know all these money could go to the communities that are parents come over here and they tell you all about how their kids are being impacted by violence there's adults being killed and shot at by children 16 17 year old my little sister isn't here because of this reason and it happened in 1999 and here we are 2023 and we have the same problem kids with guns the solution isn't to have more police officers have something that keeps them away because I don't know what y'all are listening to children are not running two police officers I have videos where they're running from them they're being chased they're being beaten up and stuff like that now I want to correct that I want kids to walk up to police officers I want police officers to be in the community involved in it not just show up to arrest people then I would agree with y'all giving them millions millions and millions and millions of dollars because it's going to good officers that do their job now until that's addressed I don't see a fit that these police officers are getting money when none of them are being held accountable not just for what they do to me because I prove what they do to me on video what about the people they take their phones from that's my problem none of y'all want to hold them accountable when is it going to happen it's enough time that y'all stop standing behind these officers and get behind citizens they put you out thank you Mr Mata thank you our next speaker is Amy super good evening council members mayor and appointed City officials my comments reflect the opinions of myself and my husband who are residents within the part of Fort Worth the councilman crane represents I was at the meeting when Fort Worth ISD trustees heard the many voices of its community members who asked them to at least go with the no new Revenue property tax rate you'll find me at almost every single regular Fort Worth ISD school board meeting so when I tell you that I was quite pleased when all but one of the trustees did vote in favor of a no new Revenue task or tax rate it was quite refreshing refreshingly surprising but refreshing I know at least one of you have expressed on more than one occasion that you're glad for with ISD holds its meetings on the same night that city council meets so that people like me must choose which meeting to attend which entity to focus their attention on which entity to ask its elected officials to take their fiscal responsibility seriously and align those responsibilities by taking into consideration input received from the very people on whom you rely to provide the Billion Dollar Plus budget you're trying to finance via your vote tonight I listened to the presentation just given and heard much the same rhetoric I heard when similar presentations were given before other taxing entities and while I'm asking you to vote for at least a No-No no new Revenue tax rate we all know that rate has little to do with how much more of our money we will be forced to hand over to you you all know those fun property tax bills we get each year based on the appraised values of our homes you're continuing to receive unprecedented amounts of money based on the unrealized capital gains of taxpayers who reside in Fort Worth please take your Collective hands out of my family's budget which we find a way to manage without demanding increases in our income every year please vote which you are proposing down and make do as we all most and what you have already have to fund the necessary needs of the citizens of this city thank you thank you Amy a question for the audience there are two speakers that are signed up on a different ordinance but I'm I'm wondering if maybe they intended to speak out the tax rate one is Holly plemons and the other one is Mike C if you wanted to speak okay then Holly would be next followed by Mike C just for reference Council they had originally set up on 23-0594 but I'm going to move them to this position to make sure they speak first thank you sorry about that okay Holly plemons I'm the mom of three taxpayer in Fort Worth ISD Elizabeth back is my city council person um I'm here to talk to you about the tax rate enough we're done no more taxes no more money you need to learn how to deal with your budget I am a stay-at-home mom I've been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years I still have a 10 year old so I still want to stay home with him and that's my right to get to do that I want to be the one to raise my children I get it y'all want me to go to work so that you can have another person paying taxes more money bigger houses I don't want that I want to be there for my kids we can't be there for our kids when you're taxing us out of our homes so if I don't pay my taxes and Linebarger comes to me and is telling me that they're going to come and take my home are you guys going to help me am I going to be special enough then am I going to be in your little special group of people that are going to get the free internet and the free period pads and the free Windows and the free roofs and all the things that you do are y'all going to help me because I don't qualify for any of that my husband works 83 hours a week yes he works two full-time jobs to support us I rarely get to see him but that's what's important for our family in my neighborhood you want me to go live in a different neighborhood I hear gunshots every single night I've lived in the neighborhood for over 20 years where do you want me to cut back so that I can give you you said fourteen dollars forty dollars a hundred and fifty dollars two hundred and fifty dollars where do you want me to cut back more I drive a 16 year old car my husband drives a car from the 90s my son pays for his own college and I'm so proud of him that he did that because he wanted to go where do you want me to cut back I don't go on vacations I don't do anything and I'm not alone I'm the middle class that we're dying because of what all of you are doing so then you want to threaten us we're going to take your your police and your fire in your roads that is what our property taxes is supposed to be funding not our installations not all the other things not the Dei that you waste money on Nettles told me drop in the bucket well if it's a drop in the bucket go for it it's two million dollars and it's an absolute waste of money you need to be responsible with our money this is our money and you work for us you have heard you say that not that many people show up you're taxing us to death we have to go to work people can't show up what else do you want people to do they don't come here enough they don't email you enough they don't do things people aren't getting educated you all know that from Fort Worth ISD and then you expect them to know how to come to you they fall for your song and dance that you lowered the rate which is what I heard from you Mr Williams you lowered the rate nobody cares about the rate they care about the bill that comes in the mail you need to adopt the no new Revenue rate thank you our next speaker is Mike C and I believe that David Martinez is here now David be next I just want to be clear on something right here Mike C thank you I just want to be clear on something everybody on this board is representing me as far as I'm concerned because everything that you do and what you vote on affects me and my life and the rest of these people the rest of the taxpayers so I just want to be clear on that what our Civic leaders are proposing is a tax rate that is higher than the no new Revenue tax rate your taxes will go up Fort Worth has one of the highest tax rates in the region this increase will add to last year's budget by an amount of 65 plus million dollars which is an equivalent of the 9.2 percent increase I I haven't received a 9.2 increase on my income this tax this tax increase is unsustained sustainable just yesterday I shopped at an everyday non-fancy type of grocery store literally I saw a gallon of milk for ten dollars and the holiday cooking tins priced from 25 to 50 this is our reality I recommend the city Titans it's built one suggested I can make is to eliminate the wasteful million plus dollar my numbers might be wrong on that the million plus dollar Dei board council member Alan Blaylock district 10 is the only member of the council who has committed to voting no on this tax rate sir I commend you thank you thank you Mike our next speaker is David Martinez I think Carlos tercios is here now thank you for letting me get back in line I didn't know us no problem running late in the traffic um thank you uh I don't want to bring up something that's happening right now in Carter Park um in Carter Park we've seen a lot of the homeless and we see a lot of the transients and everything we were able to get some of the people that were mentally ill uh places to go and stay but the um the drug addicts uh come back and the prostitution and the gangs and the uh nuisance abatement people the people that have properties like the motels these are corporate motels and they are the ones that keep this going on but like we asked for police and thanks to councilwoman Martinez she was able to help us out with more police officers and I'm not for defunding the police I've never been I've you've heard me come over here and say it we'll give we'll give you as much as you want to protect our children you have to understand in my neighborhood the other day there was a three-year-old baby raped okay this is what we're dealing with sick evil people and they're burning down my neighborhood and we need we need fire department we need firemen and so I'm all we're all for it my community every one of us want the same thing at District 11 meeting with all the neighborhood associations we all want the same thing but it seems like when I went to the meeting last night with Nettles and and uh councilman Martinez over there at Texas Western it seems like oh the the homeless there's that you know what they have become the protected class not the middle class not the people who pay taxes nothing and so I'm like this well I've been I've been down my luck my family was down at one time it's like that for about a month we were homeless and it's like that but you know what I'm in America I'm chokawa and so living off the land that's that's that's what we do but at the same time when I tell you like this you know when did I begin to become a protected class you know you know my family escaped the Holocaust they came over here and I have family that's been on the reservation we don't have doctors on the reservation but we still make it but I'm gonna tell you like this um you know I I'm I'm tired of getting moved to the back of line again and that's what happens that's what's happening in Fort Worth we're getting moved to the back of the line and that's not that that should happen I mean I understand there's not enough to go around but I'll see here waste here waste there and I don't know it's to me it's like this the solution is more jobs better education we're we're lacking in education and then I understand you want to build more houses and more housings but we're not going to live in those tiny little boxes you know my family fought in World War II and so they didn't come back home so they could come over here and be in little tiny little boxes and live like communists that's what we fought against for all these decades so I'm not I'm here I'm not trying to get on y'all but we need a better solution than this because it's not going to work so that's what I had to say you know and hopefully you don't take it personal because we're all in it together all of us children are in danger thank you Miss Martinez our next speaker is Carlos tercios up to speak that had intended to speak on this item I just want to make sure you can raise your hand yes sir what's your name sir Aaron James okay uh evening mayor Parker I'm council members of course City Manager David Cook my name is Carlos cerseos and I'm just here to encourage that a no new Revenue rate is of course supported instead of the proposed measured as of course you are going to be voting on of course our taxes in the city of course are too high and of course many of the speakers today that have spoken have mentioned that you know no new taxes Place Tarrant County four or five is the Keller ISD and many other tax entities they have voted on either a new new Revenue rate or below in a no new Revenue rate right now our economic conditions especially for young Fort Worth citizens uh it's not great we don't get paid well I don't get paid well and right now when my girlfriend and I we go to Walmart we go to any of these places we're having to Penny pinch just to even make it and I'm actually concerned I'm concerned about young Fort Worth citizens I'm concerned about their future in this city well not just in the city but in the country because the economic conditions are not there my parents when they came here they then got some you know my mom didn't graduate high school and they were able to make more money than some Americans that were born here with a bachelor's or a PhD today you can have a bachelor's or PhD and you'll probably be making less than someone that works at Bucky's so I encourage y'all to of course support taxpayers there's not even a non there's not even a parsonage there's a nonpartisan issue there's something that even Democrats and Republicans should be supporting is no new taxes uh we need a no new Revenue rate in the city of Fort Worth and we need to make sure there's property tax relief for taxpayers in the city of Fort Worth um four or feisty did it you know Keller ISD Tarrant County you know they're all leading to charge and I hope that our council members lead the charge when it comes to that I do want to commend Alan Blaylock the city council member that has basically said that he will be voting against this resolution because it's not actually going to be given property tax relief for taxpayers but I encourage you all to actually listen another recommendation I do want to give I barely got out of work at 5 pm and I was stuck in traffic and I encourage you all to please don't do meetings at 5 PM especially if it's an important issue like this there's 6 p.m by 6 30 p.m but some of us have to working save money or paying college today which unfortunately I have to pay because the system that we live in made us go you know get in debt and be enslaved to that thank you our next speaker is Aaron James good evening Madam mayor and city council I'm here tonight to ask y'all to adopt an a tax rate below the no new Revenue rate there are so many families throughout Fort Worth that are struggling they're struggling to pay their bills myself included y'all live here too so I know you all understand we are paying more money for fuel for groceries and for Utilities in our homes and as a matter of fact I had a buddy of mine reach out to me just before the meeting tonight and ask me if I could help him pay his light bill we're not doing so well in the economy right now and as a and a proposed tax rate increase will only put unnecessary stress on the citizens of our city the homeless encampments throughout the city seem to be increasing as well if you drive down Las Vegas Trail you'll see what I mean and more people will be joining the homeless if y'all continue to bleed folks finances by increasing the tax rate y'all have the ability y'all have the ability to do the right thing and I would ask that y'all make the right decision and adopt a tax rate below the no new Revenue tax rate thanks thank you Mr James it's going to confirm for the audience no one else had intended to speak on this item correct or there's also a budget item but I think that covers most everybody wanted to make sure that was the case okay very well Council that's the last of our speakers um I believe you're going to have an alternative motion on the floor I'll turn to councilmember Blaylock first I got to close the public hearing and they'll do the ordinance separate okay but we need to vote on this item separately okay so we don't need to do that yet I've just I've closed the public hearing and we'll move on to the ordinance which is 23-0593 and then let me make sure I don't have speakers on this item just a second I don't so councilmember Blaylock I'll turn to you sorry about that no no fee ordinance so we this is okay then this is going to turn to councilmember Hill yeah yeah to clarify this is the fee yes ordinance okay um regarding ordinance number two three-0593 I move to approve the ordinance with the following changes one and then the ordinance to make conforming changes to include the code sections for certain fees being changed or added in the ordinance and two change the fiscal year listed in the ordinance to fiscal year 2024. got a motion in a second counsel any discussion please vote go ahead um this is all this is on the fees correct yes okay um I I have some consternation about the fees as well um I know that every dollar counts in a family budget and um increasing fees while I understand that they go to supporting some of the costs of delivering those Services I also have consternation about incrementally increasing fees over time and impact that that has not only on individual payers but also on businesses and especially non-profit Community as well making um rental decisions for City facilities so um I am increasingly more concerned about how we manage fees over time and so I just wanted to say that in the record as we work through additional budgets that fees are also a tax as well but just to be clear no alternative motion just wanted that on the record correct okay thank you I've got a motion and a second by councilmember Nettles any other discussion please vote I've got a yay and Gina is that a nay correct yeah it's a night okay just making sure thank you motion carries next item is uh item 23-0596 and this is the budget and we do have a few speakers on this item our first is Amy super followed by Carolyn Rodriguez okay so I'm back and I want to quote from part of the budget part of the I guess the ordinance okay so when you get further down all the long fun words there's a section that talks about prohibiting the expending obligating or committing of funds in excess of Appropriations comma or actual available resources so what I'm asking you to deny is I'd like you to amend this cut out the words Appropriations and the word or let's try sticking with prohibiting the expending obligations for obligating or committing a funds in excess of actual available resources for whatever reason this seems like a novel concept um to people who run government entities as a whole you guys are certainly not the only entity that I take issue with on this but it doesn't work in the real world when I speak at Fort Worth ISD school board meetings and I see proposals for things that are absolutely outrageous and then at the end of the year I'm looking at them approving a budget that's 55 bill or million dollars in the red I start thinking back to all the things that they considered all the things that they voted for all the things that they wanted not necessarily needed that's another concept we might need to go over the difference between essential things and things we'd like to have just because it would make life better make life easier whatever the case may be but just really putting some thought into the concept of what is truly essential and what are truly things that we're just going to go ahead and pay for because I don't know maybe it gets a few of you some extra votes maybe it just makes you feel better doing it I don't know I get I get where you're coming from on that but this is this is too far you're already over a billion dollars on this budget when I have to sit down and do my budget if there's something I want I can't go to the people who put money into our account and simply say hey we'd like to go here this year and it's not part of our budget so I'm going to need you guys to just go ahead and put another ten or twenty thousand dollars into our account this year so we can afford to do things that we would like to do that's pretty much all I have to say on the subject thank you Carolyn Rodriguez okay so we're talking about the budget right Carolina by the way okay all right so I'm just I'm just wanting them you guys to really think really hard about you guys allocating 63 million dollars to the police because I don't know what it's going to go for I mean I don't know what they're spending their money on now but we should really be diverting that money to the root of the problem which is the Mental Health crisis and homelessness because they're the ones that are being picked on by the police anyways but um there's an inadequate the police have an inadequate response to the Mental Health crisis already they have like they had like 12 000 calls last year for mental health problems and they ended up you know using use of force on them and and sometimes they were in then they just took them to jail without even any kind of records because we should be spending money like more on the diversity Center that we have over here which instead of taking criminal trespasses to jail they take them over there and get them help because when I get out of jail they're just going to be doing the same stuff that they were doing before but we need more non-law enforcement options to bring safety to the to the um to the community because right right now safety safety is number one for all these officers and for everybody everybody wants safety nobody wants to have another Vivaldi right which could happen but um mostly what's that I hear voices so it's not me anyways the mental the um so yeah we should be we should be diverting that money to like the different non-law enforcement things to help them mentally challenge because that's who the police deal with lots of times and most of the time because we think of uh when we see police we think of safety but when other people in Fort Worth see police they run away from them they think of Terror because they equate policing material because that's who the police Target the most so it's a kind of a racist kind of deal but that's what the police Target more people of color and more people more poor people than anybody else and uh they target them because they really don't have a clue on to what their rights are so but the policies that they have everything that they tell you up here on the podium and everything is not what they're doing in the street they haven't fixed their culture yet they still have that real bad Thug culture and it's not going to change into the leaders change because the leaders allow it it's the leaders didn't allow it maybe they wouldn't have that Thug culture but when they are when they are dealing with people on the street they usually are escalating things instead of de-escalating so when they want somebody to comply and they think just walking up there in their uniform is going to make them comply because they're the police and you're supposed to listen to the police and do what they say so the first they ask somebody to comply and then they command them and then they make them any way that they can they make them do what they want but it's not adequate um there was I don't know if you guys know about it but there was this little boy who was ran over on Berry Street and he had every bone in his body broken but he lived he lived it was a hit and run he was up in the hospital and the mother um kept asking the police what's going on with that what's going on with this little boy what did you find the hit run driver the police were like oh no we tried but we couldn't find anybody so she got out of that hospital went down she got all the Ring videos all the store videos she found out who the guy was at hitting rent not the police thank you Carolyn Council believe that's the last of our speakers on this item I can entertain a motion on 23 hyphen zero five nine six yes move approval got a motion and a second Council any yes yeah we have comments on it too go ahead it comes from large door so we this I thought we were doing the right verse this is nope we're doing budget first okay got it yeah so I'll I will go more into detail in a moment on where I stand on the on the rate but since we're going to do the budget first one I just want to make sure that the staff understands my sincere appreciation for the amount of work that went into this budget um I mean that's I can only imagine how much work actually when this just based on the binder that we received uh just just a few weeks ago so I appreciate the work that went that did go into it and what I want to make sure everyone knows is that everyone on this side of this diocese is in the same position as you as far as you know we we do pay those taxes as well all the same issues you you said you have I assure you were having those too um on that whenever it does come down to the budget though um you know one of the things I do want to see done differently is the process one of the major issues I have is the process uh I made that clear with the city manager we talked about it um being new to this seat um you know to open my eyes a lot to how things work uh how they've worked in the past and how I think they can work better in the future it's not necessarily knock on staff at all it's just how I'd like to see things done differently so to the end I do plan on working more closely with them as we go throughout the year and working more closely with the residents of District Four who I represent and making things are more transparent in the processes and how we come to the decisions we make when it comes time to make them such as tonight rather than just waiting until two weeks prior at a budget meeting or a budget Town Hall out town this way when we get this point everyone actually understands how we got to where we got to um and because I know tomorrow staff is going to start working on next year's budget that's how much work they put into it so I do think you uh for that um you know what we're getting out of this budget a lot of that there's a lot of great wins for everyone not just district four but the city as a whole whether it's the additional fire or this different police more money to Parks and Rec which we could we can all appreciate I mean I do think the theme of so so safe so clean so green um I think the budget does reflect that so uh Mr cook thank you for for your efforts there um a lot of the issues that we have in District Four for example like like the homeless issues uh like the lack of place well those are going to be fixed by adding more resources to it those resources do in fact cost money um so I'm not naive to that fact um that it's going to take more resources to to accomplish those things and also I'm not native to the fact that other entities they may be lowering their tax rate and that's great but however whenever my if my house catches on fire or if someone breaks into my house I'm not calling any of the isds to help take care of that when I flush my toilets I'm not looking to the isds to make sure that that gets from point A to point B unfortunately I know that aging infrastructure does require money that requires a thorough and thoughtful budget um so again I'm not naive to any of that however I was elected to represent those in District Four um and so it's with their voice that unfortunately because I don't think we got where we needed to on the tax rate in which we'll talk more about later um I can't support the budget and it's the way it's set now and against not so much where it's at it's more the processes and so I do hope that next year whenever we're having this conversation um those in District Four who may have issues with where we're at they'll say hey your councilman I know where we're at and I'm okay with it because everything was transparent uh we were part of the process and whenever I say we I mean not just myself at these budget workshops these meetings these work sessions where we're talking about this but I mean the residents too make sure they're more involved in the processes uh they're more involved in the meetings that will actually impact their life um so that's all I have on that and I guess we'll talk more about the um the rate itself later so thank you Charlie councilmer Williams yeah yeah um thank you mayor first I want to just really commend our city manager team and staff for the process in which we were led to this um and last year in the council Retreat we set priorities for this Council that encompassed I'm really prioritizing values I think we all share that is ensuring that the quality of our life quality of life for our residents was increased because of this process and we focus on that in a number of ways and I see that reflected in the budget and I really appreciate that there's a lot of things that as we did around through the community all year but specifically through the budget process that I think were bright spots in this budget that our residents I'm really appreciated from you know our commitment to First Response needs particularly in District Six the need for additional Patrol the need for Investments and hope team for our homeless Outreach and in our CIT team as well as investments in our firefighters I know for the past two well since I've been on Council you know I've been particularly vocal about the importance of ensuring that our firefighters have the resources that they need to serve a rapidly growing city and I'm proud that that we've gotten to this point where we're now right sizing Staffing for our firefighters who work so hard for a stay in and day out and at First Responders and so I'm adding 70 firefighters is a really huge deal and really moves Us in the right direction the other thing I would say is I've been very vocal on neighborhoods and the importance of neighbors as a building block to a prosperous City and I've just been so pleased at the way that we've made a commitment to investing in neighborhoods I'm in this budget there are a few things that I also spoke on that aren't included with this but in this budget that I look forward to continue to work on um and and that includes a couple things one um take in a hard look at how we're compensating our employees right now um we have employees that work full-time for the city that are making 15 an hour and that fifteen dollars an hour as you all know doesn't stretch as far as families would like it too and my consternation is that as we as a city council and as a city grapple with affordability crisis in this city that we also should be leading the way with the way that we pay our employees for the amazing work that they do in service to our residents as public servants um and so I've personally asked the mayor and staff that over the next year that we look at how do we address pay given the demands in terms of calls from Child Care to housing to um property taxes as we're talking today and a number of other things that 15 an hour just won't meet let alone put in 10 away for savings for a future for investing in generational wealth so I think there's so much more to work on and I look forward to continuing to work on those things but all in all I think this was a noble shot at addressing some of the goals that our Council said before City management thank you Dr Williams mayor for Tim Bivens thank you there Gina yeah I just said never mind okay very well Council who else has comments on the budget Alan please so thank you mayor I'd like to also express my thanks to the city manager David Cook the acm's directors and many more staff who put so much hard work into this entire process I'd also like to thank those that raised concerns over the past year and those who chose to comment and speak today your voices are important there's been a consistent theme from my district and that's expressing concerns for Public Safety infrastructure and property taxes I'm proud of the incredible progress being made on public safety and infrastructure in the budget and more there's lots of great things here the third concern though property taxes is my concern with the budget and the tax rate inflationary pressures on constituents personal budgets force them to make hard choices they asked their City to do the same regularly hear from my constituents that they feel overtaxed and underserved it's incumbent on us as elected officials to take extreme care with their tax dollars it's been my position and and my belief that continual rate increases of government spending is unsustainable for the long-term health of our city for those reasons and more I will not be supporting this budget or the proposed tax rate and we'll be offering an alternative motion on the tax rate any other council member comments [Applause] um thanks Alan Charlie all for your Jared for your comments um thanks also for everybody that's here and everybody has called the office emailed Etc I know we've all gotten lots of emails and calls um and staff thank you for the months-long process to get this to us I do have a problem with the process overall councilman lowersdorp has already brought that up some other colleagues have brought it up in work session about how it gets to us the process that we can then go out and talk to people that's something I think we have to solve overall it feels like every year we say that but I think we really have to do that [Music] um the tonight I'm going to support this budget but for a couple a few reasons one uh I want to send a message to our police uh in our fire uh that we support them and a vote against it could be interpreted in some ways with our First Responders that we don't support the work that they do I also know there's a big part of this budget that's critical infrastructure and those three pieces are about 80 percent of the overall budget somewhere around there might be off of the numbers a little bit but somewhere around there and those are things I continually hear from constituents that we have to resolve those issues um the tax rate will be a different conversation that we'll vote on separately and that might be a chance where we still have a bite at the Apple for the city to tighten its belt but my vote tonight is uh to show the police fire and that we need to resolve critical infrastructure in the city pipe breaks everything else the calls that we get and the issues that we have uh and I invite anybody else anybody to call let's sit down and have a conversation to understand a little bit better about all the parts that go into this budget but from that I'll leave it there thank you councilmember crane councilman Nettles go ahead I'll be brief I will also I will have more comments on the tax rate but I do want to stop and say here I will support this budget and what I think is verse uh important is that we are we met with our Police Department we are increasing over 100 police officers and when we also talk with our department it's going to take two years in order to get us in the stability of hiring enough officers so we have to this council is implored to do things today that is going to support our communities each and every year Beyond today and I'm grateful for the 75 firefighters one of the other important things is our CIT team been increased we have seen that our public health issues are on a horizon our mental issues even with employees with the city of Fort Worth and we need to make sure that we see about the community and the citizens of Fort Worth an increase in our CIT team allows for officers to deal with our mental health and not uh take away from officers who need to be in Patrol so I'm grateful for a lot of things that's happening in this budget as far as infrastructure there's a lot of development that's having far south forward in my district and infrastructure needs to take place uh there as well and so tonight I will be supporting this budget I have the same concerns as uh Charlie and crane about the process um and I think we can work on getting that better we're going into the third year it's been on Council so we want to see some changes as we move forward in the next budget process I would tell you um I heard about a lot of budget meetings that happened in our community and I'll tell you we didn't have this many people coming in the community when we had budget at our locations at our schools and our neighborhoods and so while we are so concerned tonight and I am grateful that this is a great platform to come but we make these changes and we dive deep into conversation one-on-one we come out to the community and when we don't have participation as we do tonight it kind of allowed us to lose uh footing and so I want to encourage you that next year that let's not just show up on the day of the voting which is good this is your very right to do but let's be involved in the process started in February and on August as we go into each and varied neighborhood and so I'll have more comments when we talk about how do we get to know new Revenue tax rate and um I'll be excited to talk about those next thank you mayor councilmember Beck thank you uh I just also would like to thank the or take the opportunity to thank staff for all the hard work that they've done um I think that this budget this budget vote is incredibly important um it doesn't just send a message to police and fire that we support them but the 7 000 plus employees that we have working for the city of Fort Worth are so important um and we can't forget them when we talk about the budget we aren't just um they take pride in what they do they come and work for the city because they care about the community that they live in and this budget allows them to continue that work in making our city one of the greatest cities um in the world and I also like to thank my colleagues on this diocese that engaged in meaningful discussion about this budget and what it looks like and what it's what is in there and what isn't in there to have to allow us to get to the point where we are today um not waiting till the last minute to say you don't like the final product and so to those of you on the diocese who have stayed true to the process because we've heard a lot about the process tonight I want to thank you for being meaningful um Partners in this budget process both during the process and tonight in this vote thank you thank you councilmember customer Williams I wanted to wait till all the comments were I did I did want to have I have one question about um the 4.2 million dollars that are set aside for the transitional funding to EMS and the question is um I know I asked it in one-on-one meetings but um what um what um Pro rata share our other entities that are participating in MedStar I'm currently committed to funding I understand that the 4.2 million dollars is important for sustaining medstar's operations as we decide what does EMS look like it's currently zero correct David Cook no other entity is committed to funding correct we had our first meeting last week with all the partner entities so in our budget is the 4.2 million dollars that has to be approved by the city council before it can get spent council member Flores and I were talking with that group they all want to participate so they're committed to being a partner in it how much everybody's going to contribute working early in the process to know what that should look like perfect right thank you France and I appreciate that although we're appropriating that tonight in this budget which I support I do not support us footing the whole bill for this temporary bailout so I just wanted to put down the record that I think it's important that other partners participate as we continue to evaluate what does EMS look like for our city and our residents thank you Jared Council any other comments or questions regarding the budget no um again thank you to City management and City staff many of you are here this evening especially to the Fort Worth lab who I think have proposed an excellent budget for us to consider a few real real high level points and I'll carry the rest of them over to the discussion related to our tax rate and proposed motion on no new Revenue the city is focused on Public Safety in the basics so again that's 106 employees for the police department 76 firefighters that includes a focus on mpos the Hope team and the CIT team that's already been referenced it's also important to note almost 80 million dollars to paygo maintenance for our streets sidewalks Parks Street lightings pavement markings and Transit facilities I could go on but I think you get the point I will close in saying this the same way you're seeing an increase in buying milk at the grocery store or bread for your children those same city services are increasingly more expensive interest rates and inflation have hit City budgets tremendously so we poor pavement on a new street it's much more expensive this year and so the just shy of six percent increase total in Revenue share that you're seeing is poured into basic city services it would take us about 40 million dollars in cuts and it would not just come out of mno it's a very complicated discussion it also would have to come out of your ins tax rate rating which hamstrings your debt capacity into future Bond elections and so when somebody in this city the city that is growing by 100 000 people every five years it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up the last thing I want to make and I had a conversation this morning with someone from Fort Worth multiple Generations is that this budget is for the people that have lived here for Generations this is not just about paying for people that are moving here the city services the storm water increases you're needing to protect your environments against flooding the streets and sidewalks and libraries were putting into historic neighborhoods these are all things that over a year's time period this community has begged us to focus on quality of life we joked around about the slogan so clean so green so so safe but candidly that's what our citizens are asking of us and we are doing more with less and still been able to deliver those things to those of you that came this evening thank you for being here thank you for your very candid feedback we hear your frustrations there are frustrations as taxpayers ourselves as folks that have aging parents that are trying to live in the city of Fort Worth I will remind you that we prioritize those that are over 65 and disabled with that exemption that was a policy decision this Council made this summer and so we will continue to work together it's obvious from this dice there's some concern about budget process and I think that is is important for City management and the banjo office to hear closely and then how my office can also work forward and to make sure that we provide optimal city services for our residents in an environment that we're all very proud to live in and these could be contentious topics I know there's been a lot of discussion about what other taxing entities are doing in Tarrant County we are the largest city in Tarrant County we provide the bulk of these Services especially in public safety and transportation infrastructure that's where this budget sits and so I've fully respect for my the position of my council members but I would tell you this I didn't hear for one specific cut that you wanted out of this budget and not from this dice and so I know these are painful conversations but they have had you had ample opportunity over the last two months to ask for very specific cuts and again it cannot just come out of mno it has to come out of ins we have to have a bond election in 2026 you can't get there not without raising the tax rate and so there's some very important projects that we know are life and safety issues for this city in the 2026 Bond and this budget is helping us plan for those into the future I really appreciate the leadership of this Council these are hard decisions to make and I again thank you to the city staff that have set through countless hours of public meetings and really responded to the requests of this community in Fort Worth with that Council I've got a motion in a second please vote I've got two yeses from councilmember Beck and councilman Bivens motion carries next item is 23-0594 uh oh my screen went away just a second we'll figure that out in a second 0594 yes I'm just going to clarify I did move Miss plemons and Mike C to the other item and that was the correct maybe I'll just make sure everybody got their chance to speak okay then we have no speakers on this item Council and I'll turn to councilmember Blaylock what's your name sir Joe Palmer just a second did you maybe sign up under the public comment section you think okay no problem just just one second okay you're on the public comment I'll go ahead and have you speak now if that'd be okay thank you this is on the raid correct uh Madam members of the council Joe Palmer 4017 sanguinet Court I'd like to zero in on a couple of things that were said one comment was made was that members of the council are also residents of Fort Worth and they also pay the property taxes this really is not a vote on whether or not you yourself are going to pay more or pay less you're voting to force your neighbor to pay more and bills are higher what are the other cities doing how are the other cities and the other taxing entities able to lower their tax rate the county has a hospital the county has a sheriff's department they're able to do it and I'm sorry but I have to reject the rationale that because other local taxing entities are lowering their tax rate that that somehow gives you justification to fill in that void with an expansion of the services that you provide and another point is that your budget includes more than just fire and police and libraries and things for senior citizens we all know that so nobody here is fighting against the police budget nobody here is fighting against the fire budget you are top heavy you've got administrators you have employees making fifteen dollars an hour you failed to mention that you've got a lot of administrative employees making six figures a year so we don't talk about those do we how many of those have been laid off in the last three or four years you're just as big or bigger than you were before covid during coven there are cuts that can be made to the budget without touching fire and police stop hiding behind cops stop you have Rising costs and materials Madam mayor you mentioned it yourself families are are hurting families can't pay for food so the proper thing to do in that scenario is to lower the burden lessen the burden on families I want a no new Revenue rate and you know darn well that the no new Revenue rate does not include New Growth it wasn't on the tax rolls last year so you are going to get extra Revenue so I want a no new Revenue rate me personally my property taxes are going to go up almost 20 percent on my home and that's about the average County Wide when the appraisal increases go up and the tax rate even when the tax rate stays the same your total tax levy is going to increase and a total tax levy is how we measure whether or not you had a tax increase it's not how it affects my bill I would like the questions asked from council members what is the total Levy projected that you will get from the no new Revenue rate versus the proposed rate that's your answer that's where the tax increase is thank you Council I believe that's the last of our speakers on this item councilmember Blaylock I think everyone knows my position already in so I'm just going to make a simple motion to adopt the no new Revenue rate tax rate of 0.635 374 per 100 evaluation I've got a motion and a second on the floor I'm just going to ask councilmember Blaylock were there any specific cuts that you wanted to see in the budget to get us to the no new Revenue tax rate it's about 40 million dollars so if we're talking about I'm a so if we're talking about the budget and the no new Revenue rate uh and we're comparing to last year and what we did last year there's not an item that would need to be cut what we're really talking about is the growth in the budget this year and whether it should be 40 million dollars lower or not and so I think it's a Time shift discussion I don't think it's uh we can't do something it's just simply whether it happens in 2024 or early 2025. totally understand I'm just simply asking was there anything in that fiscal year 2024 budget that you didn't feel we could we could live without this year and we needed to shift to potentially looking at that fiscal year 2025. so I would challenge staff from that case to go through the budget in detail and and see if there are items that we're funding in this time frame that can be shifted and what the overall impact is yeah I did not have those conversations so I can't point to us fair enough I just wanted to ensure that you weren't asking for new specific cuts and didn't receive those you never asked for those things to be cut you're correct okay very well any other discussion Council I think I've got a few speakers councilman Flores go ahead um I have a substitute motion mayor okay all right have a motion uh with the following required statutory language remove that uh the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of 0.6725 per 100 valuation which is effectively a 5.84 percent increase in the tax rate thank you Carlos I've got a motion on the floor but I think we have a few more speakers so we'll come back I'll explain procedurally how that will work councilmer largedorf go ahead speaking to Allen's Macho kicks that's fine all right thank you so what um I guess I'll also take an opportunity to answer your question to Mayor because I think it's a very fair question um and no I did not present to City staff at any point so here's where I think we can cut however I'm going back to the um the original processes like one of the things I talked to uh City leadership about was you know some of the some of the programs are out there like can we pay for them or can we um budget for them in arrears so for example some of the additional money that we weren't expecting from you know High sales tax or from other other Revenue sources if those programs or if those budget items can be funded from that rather than front loaded and so that's one of the things I would like to look at um you know and if we have it in the budget at the end from that Surplus then we can pay for them and so I didn't see any particular um like one particular item I mean let's let's be honest up until about three weeks ago I didn't know which elevator to take to get to my office so still learning so much uh and of course being thrust into it right at the beginning and like oh wow okay here's a budget now um and so learn the process and so that's why next year or throughout this year I want to be more involved in learning it um and then two what I would like to see as far as the processes some of those decision packages throughout the year and then towards the end on how it would look that way you know whenever uh my the forward lab which I think has done an excellent job in all their work I mean that's a thankless job um and showing us here are your options here's what it would look like in enough time for us to do multiple multiple meetings with our constituents so we'd say hey here's what your here's here's your options do you want the Denny steak or do you want the being butcher steak and that way at least they know what they're getting uh because we all hear the same things we want more police okay got it well every single resident here could have one police officer assigned to their house what's it going to cost it comes with a price tag so I think it just comes down to the transparency and the explain the processes and what they all get uh and not at the very end um of the uh or the year where we're at tonight so so just to answer your question there um and then as far as my position on uh seconding Allen's um I mean I did the math on my own home because if we're going to talk about cuts that we have to make in our own house and our own budgets uh and cutbacks we have to make I mean the difference between the no new Revenue rate and the uh proposed rate for my personal home is 12.60. I can look at myself in the mirror and say I'm okay with that personally because I know it's going to help pay for these additional Services I want however it goes back to the I'm not here for myself I'm here to represent the 95000 or so in District Four um and if some have an issue with that 12 12.50 raise or the 20 raise or whatever it may be if they have serious issues with those uh then in the end I do have to be a steward of their tax dollars and of their decisions and their wishes um so that's where I stand thank you Charlie councilmember Bivens thank you mayor I hate that I'm not there today to engage in the behind the scenes talks you know that go on but out of respect for Alan's idea can you have staff talk about the legalities and when our drop dead data is to adopt this budget so that Alan mentioned having staff do homework how much time does he have to get that homework done council member like I said say that Leanne or David Cook are welcome to answer that question the council meeting next Tuesday the you'd have to advertise a new property tax rate so it's the advance time and I don't know how many 72 hours okay so next Tuesday would be uh the drop dead time for the vote thank you Gene is that answer your question yeah just curious I I really hate when people show up at the 11th hour I don't like the process we've had with the budget for the past few years when I first got on Council if a council member requested a meeting that meeting was was planned and even though staff tells people well we gather your ideas all along as we attend your HLA neighborhood association meetings the public doesn't know that and so I really hope that we can tighten up the process but right now I'm I'm supporting this budget councilmember Williams thank you mayor and I I Echo mayor Pro tem sentiments I think um over the next couple budget Cycles but especially the next one following this one I would like to see is as a council be more involved in the line by line budgeting process and the other thing I'd like to say is you know I've always I've always committed to our resident in District Six that um I I would be a good Steward and that um when we talked about setting tax rates that I would I would be brutally honest as well um and you know I commit to continue to do that and one of the things that I think about a lot with sudden tax rates is how do we get here as a city as a state Etc and I personally feel at the front as I'm a new parent a single income household I'm having a retired parent who lives also in my household and seeing my property values go up year over year over year and when we look at the system we we can't take it we can't take today's vote in a vacuum we see we have seen for decades that this state has not paid its fair share for public education which is forced our local schools to make tough decisions about setting rates to fund more than their burden in terms of attack trade we also seen appraisals go up through the roof and then I I honestly think and this is a state decision but I think that we need to really take a hard look at setting text how we set tax rates in relation to appraisals versus what we paid for it that's nothing we can control here but that's a debate that certainly should be had at the state and then the other thing is as a city we are a rapidly growing city and that fast growth requires us to keep pace of the city with the level of services that our residents expect in addition to making bold investments in fixing decades old worth of under investment in critical infrastructure especially when you talk about roads and we haven't even talked about transit in this budget and so as we talk about the kind of city that we must be in order to be prosperous for our residents I think we have to be really mindful of that context that other thing I would say is this budget and this tax rate is not a vacuum of previous budgets nor will it be in a vacuum of future budgets and so I think it's important that as we work over the next budget that we really continue to take a hard look at what tax rates do to impact our residents I personally wasn't a fan of the tax rate being released before we as a council started talking about budgets and what does it look like to achieve that goal and so over the next year I would like to take a hard look at that and also frankly have scenarios in budget terms of what is various rates look like whether it's no new Revenue four Cent a two cent a one cent and then we can make tough decisions from there I will be supporting the budget and the tax rate because I know that there's a lot of Sweat Equity that went into and I do appreciate the decrease that we did see in the tax rate but in reality it's not void of the context of families like mine who are filling a crunch from costs whether it's about property tax bill whether it's our utility bill our internet bill our child care which I haven't started paying child care yet but I'm dreading that bill as well whether it's food costs Etc and so I'm very mindful of the impact that costs what costs are doing for our residents and what our pay is not doing in many of our jobs for working people and so with that being said I will support the tax rate and also the budget but I do want to State all that in the record as we work over the next year I'm on a budget to really take a hard look at where families and our residents frankly are being hit hardest and to see what type of budgets we can deliver as a council with more involvement since we are stewards over the budget councilor Nettles thank you mayor I do want to kind of jump and support on what would these Cuts look like and so I want to ask David a couple of questions here because I think it's important that we have true transparency and not just smoking mirrors with I think we have um David as we look at the tax cut the rate cut did we lower it from last year so the tax rate is being reduced four cents from last year's tax rate did we lower it the year before that we lowered it the year before that and so um we have lowered the tax rate year to year also um we talked about where these Cuts can take place I heard the neighborhood Improvement program I heard diversity inclusion program if we cut one of those two programs or both what what does that do to the uh get us how does it get us to the no new Revenue so I'm going to do some of this from memory so if we cut the neighborhood Improvement program or just the addition that we added that's four million dollars every penny on the property tax rate is 11 million right so roughly a third of a cent would come by taking out the additional neighborhood that we added if we took out the neighborhood Improvement program entirely that's eight million dollars so now you're two-thirds of a cent so again you could go through and talk about diversity and inclusion I can't remember the size of the budget but for everything 2 million so another 2 million then um you can start adding it up you need to get to the no new Revenue rate it's close to 40 million I think that number has already been mentioned so yeah so in order to get to this no new Revenue we need to eliminate 40 million dollars away from this budget yes okay thank you David uh I I I think it's incumbent on elected officials to uh number one support the community but also uh make conscious decisions that will better our city years after we leave here and not present uh to the community that we can do something that's frankly impossible here we are the 13th largest city uh in the United States of America and I will tell you that uh in District 8 I uh incumbents Spinks Airport I have the uh million dollar homes that are behind Sphinx import and I also encumbents South historical South Side um used to have Riverside that in took these programs like the nip program and I tell you with the growing diversity that when it comes to economically um how um our minority contractors are involved in getting contract worked with throughout the city of Fort Worth and how we treat employees I think every Department that we have here at the city of Fort Worth is well needed I frankly uh pay taxes like some of us do or unlike those who are renting and I think that's good we need rentals we need taxpayers but we have to understand that we have to think wisely of our decisions tonight and so I appreciate uh David and staff and I think it's uh is unfair to come up with a bright idea and then charge it to the staff to come to make to make it happen I want to know new Revenue but I want staff to do the work well if you want no new Revenue uh I think you should be able to tell us what exactly do you want us to cut to make sure we get to that no new revenue and I had another question about uh I think uh David it was brought up that we may be the only city who has not adapted to no new Revenue uh tax rate and I know you did a presentation about two weeks ago that I appreciate the mayor of bringing forth and some of the Cities who got their new revenue is I'm is completely different in size of uh I think we shared with you both the top 10 cities in the Metroplex in the top 10 cities in Texas and of the top 10 cities in Texas there's only one city that's adopting a no new Revenue tax rate I think that's El Paso and of the of the Metroplex was there any adopting a no new Revenue I don't I don't think there was one adopting one no no top 10 cities in the Metroplex I wasn't I think I didn't go to Keller but just the top 10 cities the largest 10 cities nobody's doing in no new Revenue tax rate I don't believe in the Metroplex and then again of all the top 10 cities in the state it was only city of El Paso and I don't know if they adopted that yet thank you um and so I appreciate what we have done and where we are I think there's a lot of work that we can do to uh in the future but I will be supporting um this tax rate that the city manager has offered the city of Fort Worth councilman Martinez followed by councilmember Hill just want to reiterate my thanks to David and staff for putting the budget together but I will be supporting the proposed tax rate and and the budget because time after time after speaking with Neighbors in different meetings there are three top issues that are always brought up Public Safety infrastructure and homelessness and this budget will address those issues with a lot of other great things that are included improved city services my district has three well four Police Department divisions and three of those are understaffed so my it's predominantly understaffed and I believe that this tax rate will uh help will definitely help to bring in more police department to reduce that um those response times that are critical in in District 11 and throughout the city so that is why I will be supporting this tax rate councilmember Hill I did want to publicly thank City staff thank you for your time and effort going to this budget I know it's been said time and time again this evening but I don't think we can say it enough appreciate the time that you've gone out to the public meetings and answered questions and thank you to all the citizens that actually showed up to these meetings there were several that I had one person show up and so it is difficult to come tonight and hear a bunch of disgruntled taxpayers and citizens and they didn't come to the public meetings and participate in the process because you really have done a great job and I know I asked a lot of tough questions and I asked for an itemized budget and I got it and I'm very very appreciative to that I think it's important to note that this is the lowest property tax rate we've seen in the city of Fort Worth for 30 years and um I'm really proud that we're supporting our police department and our fire department and I know I'm reiterating everything that's been said already but to be able to take care of the infrastructure needs that we have in the city I know district 7 the infrastructure needs are vast we continue to grow we continue to have development and I'm proud to say that we are going to have a lower property tax rate I know not everybody's happy about it but we're going to meet the needs of the people for the Fort Worth we have today and the Fort Worth that we're going to have for the future thank you councilmember Hill I'm sure you know their council members need to speak as a reminder we have an alternative motion on the floor we'll vote on it first before we go back to councilmember blaylock's proposal for a no new Revenue tax rate um I believe this tax rate in this budget is proposed is worth it for a variety of reasons it already been said first I refuse to sacrifice one penny of Public Safety dollars because it's the fundamental responsibility we have as a government number two is we cannot weaken our future Bond capacity to build out infrastructure if you want to talk about that more with me I'm happy to do it it's a very complex process in fact we actually turn in two worksheets to the Comptroller's office when it really comes to performing our budget tax rate our budget office has an excellent job number three is we cannot fail to set up this city for the growth that it's experiencing we are growing at a clip four times the City of Austin four times and many of you have come to this public hearing before and complained about cities like Austin and homelessness and traffic and lack of police we're going to ensure that the city of Fort Worth is set up for Success into the future and for all those reasons that have already been integrated this evening I fully support the budget and I support the tax rate which is a historic 30-year rejection we haven't seen the city of Fort Worth and I appreciate the city staff and my fellow colleagues for getting us to this point councilman Flores has emotion on the floor do we have a second Council Motion in a second it's called those motion to original yes okay yes that's why the proposed tax rate as published I've got I've got two Elizabeth go ahead Elizabeth you're good okay I've got two years boys from councilmember Bivens and Beck motion carries that means that councilmember blalock's motion is fails correct me okay perfect okay next item next item is resolution 23-0595 Motion in a second we do have two speakers on this item Council versus Adrian Smith by phone followed by Robert buker Robert here in person you want to comment down first and then I'll then we'll get Adrian on the phone I think I was supposed to speak on the previous one I think I might have got those mixed up oh I'm sorry Trevor it it did show up on this item I had asked earlier I apologize I could have moved you over would you like to continue to speak you're welcome to if you'd like to yes Tarrant County Commissioner's Court today tax rate of 0.1945 per 100 and in value no new Revenue tape will decrease let me about 28 700 or 28 million seven hundred three thousand three hundred eighty eight five percent which was approved today it's kind of wild that a budget that they have and all that they deal with that they were able to do it but we can't do it here that's that's just wild to me the issue is no no new Revenue tax rate was 0.63 57 per 100 this year's voter approved tax rate 0.0.76391 per 100 which was proposed by the taxpayers but y'all had just done the 0.63 maintenance operations and depth from the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court is 0.183 cents per 100. when it all said when it all comes to Downs they will uh have nine approximately 543 million 360 000 net tax revenue for the district and that's to include the hospital and all that and they were able to do that and that's a substantial amount but we can't do it here for this little smaller section of Fort Worth that we have it's absolutely wild that we couldn't do it so we just continue to just roll it down to the taxpayers and continue to to step on us when we could have done way way more and we do have a lot of top heavy a lot of top heavy Administration here I mean if I had a lot of scandals I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be making 300 000 a year I think I'll be getting less or if not fired at any job that I've ever been at thank you Adrian Smith by phone Mr Smith hung up Council has the last of our speakers believe you had a motion and a second on the floor any other discussion if not please vote oh who wants to make the motion councilmember anybody no no sure yep this is statutorily required because the the rate that you all adopted will bring in more Revenue than last year this is just a statutory requirement so can I have a motion I've got a motion from councilman Nettles need a second thank you got a motion in a second any other discussion please vote I've got two years one from Bivins and one from Beck motion carries council is that the last star items no we have two mnc's these are both related to meet and confer yes the first one is 23-0783 Motion in a second please vote we've got two years from Bivens and Beck motion carries next MNC is MNC 23-0784 Motion in a second please vote back and Bivens or yes motion carries [Music] Ron am I correct that's the last of our items on this agenda yes thank you Council this meeting is adjourned if you'll hold on just a minute for those that came for public comment I'll call us um just give us a minute to break and we'll come back together oh foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign thank you welcome to your public comment meeting before councilmember Flores calls a meeting to order we ask that you please turn off electronic devices for those of you of you who have requested to speak there are two podiums located in the chamber the podium in the back is for individuals with Mobility concerns we ask that all of the speakers step forward to the front Podium each Podium has a countdown clock located to the speaker's right that will indicate how much time is remaining when you have 30 seconds left a bell will sound when your time has ended the Bell will sound a second time indicating your time has ended before you begin your comments please state your name thank you thank you Ron I now call the meeting to order tonight's indication will be provided by Reverend Dr Shannon Michael Fort Worth University Christian Church please stand for the pledge for the invocation and the pledges of Allegiance and that should be First Congregational Church United Church of Christ apologize no worries I'm not worried about it they might be May these words Center and support your work this evening in the days to come as you discuss deliberate and debate may you be mindful that you hold the threads of the weave of We the People by your decisions you form the fabric of our social connections by the power of both your actions and your inaction you strengthen or diminish the bonds of our togetherness silence in the face of Oppression will always benefit the bully and never the bullied Silence from the powerful is the annihilation of the vulnerable non-action is not non-violence peace is not the absence of conflict peace is the fruit from the well-tended Tree of Justice tend our weave well be cautious and suspicious of the harmful invocation invocation to so-called Unity rooted in a Conformity to the majority that erases the minority tend the whole cloth of our community see our differences and celebrate our distinctiveness welcome the threads of diversity defend the Dignity of everyone erase no one hold safe the stories that may not be your journey but are held within the bodies of our community see trans folk and queer kin offer a Hospitality to the newly arrived and walk with the well-aged guard the future of our young by protecting them from a hateful rhetoric break the soul wounding patterns of patriarchy and misogyny support the unhoused the hungry the unfirmed and addicted so that their threads may be darned and mended back into our communal cloth may you act in the courage and stand with the commitment our deepest hopes deserve so that the weave of We the People may be a blanket a tapestry of mercy and compassion of freedom and inclusion helped fast and held safe by all amen amen consideration of minutes from the August 22nd council meeting the August 24th budget work session the August 29th work session and public comment meeting and the September 7th budget work session okay we're all considering these items together so I'm asking for a motion and a second second okay thank you all in favor indicate by voting when the button comes up there we go is my screen uh hung up there Michael okay yeah but I was standing in there okay did you take care of that Catherine on Jared's screen all right motion passes Ron called the first speaker please we are now public comments the first speaker is Susan McKenzie Mr Kenzie are you here okay call the next speaker George Childs Mr Charles George run a child I live in District 11. I want to make it as clear as clear clear can be that the only reason for my being here is what I consider to be the Vivid disparity between the reaction of counsel to Adrians from our city staff in General on August 22nd and the total lack of reaction to another speaker's remarks to the City attorney by first name on August 29th this was the latest and I hope the last deployment of what I think of is the RDM or rules don't matter doctor on February 8 2022 the speaker was allowed to go off topic to advocate for increased compensation for Guess Who on June 14 2022 representatives of Hillwood were invited to speak indirect invited to speak in direct contradiction to a speaker who had followed all the rules when Hillwood has fallen to exactly none Ross Pro Jr had previously donated ten thousand dollars to the campaign of the person who has the duty to see that all the rules for speakers are followed since this time there were no obvious financial interest jumping up and down and screaming I suggested the answers Council savior's Duty can be found in the same speakers remarks here on March 7th 2023 beginning at 12 minutes 27 seconds ending at 14 minutes six seconds distillation of this Joe's Council being assured that they're not obliged to listen to those who complain in other words a direct attack on the petition for redress agreements is Clause is the First Amendment was this just an introvertent laughs by the speaker well previous to this at 20 at excuse me 12 minutes 25 seconds he stated quote if you want to Peg someone and understand where they're coming from listen to what they say unquote Sage advice indeed to complete this parody the speaker's subject on August 29th was decorum wow dude if irony in this room was water vapor I wouldn't be able to seize counsel from here I take absolutely no pleasure in saying that some council members are saying that some some council members will finally Embrace any public comment supporting the state of mind that any remarks they don't like can fall on deaf ears the court of council member on June 28 2022 at 15 minutes 55 seconds then there will be no mention of any violation much less point of order resounding give to the very Vault of the stratosphere thank you Mr Charles next speaker Donnell Ballard good evening I'm Daniel Ballard resigning to Arlington Heights area I'm here today because uh check out the reports uh the news reports this week with uh talking about the gun violence in the TCU area so what I'm saying to eventwork and uh and uh Chris letters you guys are always talking about we here for we seeking attention we're not really since we're here uh you're not about Justice when we come we call to talk about the gunfires to bring awareness to it I would be interested in seeing what Jerry got to say uh meet with Jerry to find out what's going on because we talk about the gun that's happening in TCU area but instead of making a resolution of what's going on in TCU let's do a resolution that's going to benefit the whole entire city instead of just doing a benefit of West 7th Street District I understand we got a lot of killing a lot of shootings going on but to be honest with you we got students and killing going on all over the city it ain't just going on in TCU area but uh so you made it I could not understand because it happened in your backyard in fact they're close to you but we need to focus on the whole entire city if we focus on the whole entire city of stopping the gun violence in the whole city we won't have to worry about it going into these little neighborhoods like TCU area or West 7th Street if we focus on that so all that money that you guys are getting that you said it's gonna be for the police let's make sure we do something and then let's talk about this also we got these young people we need to come up with better programs the programs you guys are talking about I don't think it's working otherwise we won't be having this much killing going on God knows I hate to see what's going to happen next year if we don't get it we don't get that resolved now it's going to get worse and I told you this two years ago made a parking when men you know anybody just met with you the first three days of you've been in office that we needed to talk about the gun Valley but I heard Chris Nellis telling me Oh no uh you you guys preach the same thing well we're going to continue to preach until we get this God till we figure out how we gonna get you we're not getting paid for so we you you guys everybody getting the CCP month we're not getting nothing out of the so we we don't have the money you guys got the money to be able to really focus on getting this gun violence down you ever said in this budget that she was going to uh you y'all pass this bill so y'all make sure y'all put some of that money in all this money y'all get to be able to help uh uh stop the gun that was invoke that's all I'm saying and I'm polite tonight thank you thank you Mr Ballard Lizzy Bayou good evening Council my name is Lizzy Lizzy and I'm here to address the gun violence that's going on in our city as many of you know United my justice has been fighting against the gun violence since before Maddie Parker came into office but our fight just got really close to home for me because on September 2nd my friend Trent Johnson was shot down in District 8 at Berry in Riverside you see but I live in District Five and in June a 12 year old little boy has gone down on Brentwood stair and our city leadership mocked Us in the media stating that the violent crime has actually decreased 13 they came out and said this in a statement in the Star Telegram but I'm here to say that our city leadership does not care about the black community Trent Johnson had a name he has a name and I'm here to tell you that he is alive and well after being shot three times once in the neck once in the chest and once in the hit and he's alive because we prayed for him but I'm here to say that his mother has came out and made a statement she wants you guys to know that Trent Johnson's life matters too and so do all the other lives in the black community I'm here to urge our leadership to enact changes in the entire community and not just in West 7th Street our kids are in crisis prevention is key we need real programs real programs to keep these kids away from the gun violence we are asking that our leadership acknowledge the problem America's most beloved Founding Father George Washington said in his farewell address and everyone shall sit under their own Vine and fig tree and feel safe in the nation we've made but you all know as well as I do that he was not talking about the black community and here in in 2023 the Fort Worth City leadership does not care about the black community thank you Council thank you Miss Mayhew Jim DeLong good evening I'm Jim Delong boy what a long day you guys have had today huh it's been like non-stop I thank you for your commitment to our city and your heart should always try to do what's right I'm gonna digress from talking about a red ball tonight because I was at the work session and I listened to the pro uh the program and the presentation on reading a lot was said there in some various uh startling staggering statistics but there was an elephant in the room that wasn't addressed and the Elephant is is our education system our education system is run by Educators you know they have doctor degrees and many degrees and they've studied education and we have an education system where they can't even teach our kids to read yes the parents need to be more involved and be more aware but my God we should be able to trust our teachers to teach our kids to read there's a lot of other issues going on in our school districts that have gotten major national attention but what about teaching our kids to read we have an independent school district they're not accountable to anybody who's a can who are they accountable to keep a standard of education level I think some things need to change I think that it would behoove us to hold their feet to the fire if they're not doing the job then they need to be removed from the job just like anybody else every two years you all get voted on and sometimes people will vote a person out because they don't think they're doing the job we've had an education system that's gone on for decades I'm a former School administrator I ran a school I was a principal and I love the kids but I maintained accountability with the teachers we need a school district that will run education they're not doing a good job if if kids aren't learning at a they can't read at a at a third grade level and this has gone on for decades and decades I don't know what you guys can do about it you know so uh that you know that's up for grabs but I just wanted to mention there there was an elephant in the room today and it's the school districts who are not doing their job and something needs to be done to hold their feet to the fire thank you thank you Mr long next speaker Adrian Smith Mr Mr Smith Mr Smith Smith Adrian Smith I am one with the people when people show you who they are believed in Maya Angelou June 3rd 2023 June 3rd 2023 Adele celebration turned into a night of tragedies three innocent lives lost to senseless violence Paul Willis 18 Cynthia Santos 22 Gabriella navarrete 19. Darren Rutherford 36 was injured while protecting his daughter from said violence countless other lives forever changed by it July 4th 2023 instead of Mayor Maddie Parker denouncing the tragedy of July 3 2023 herself as well as as well as Chief Neil noakes Fort Worth Police Department to start decided decided for photo ops in front of the media fast forward September 1st 2023 another innocent life lost to senseless violence Wes Smith 21 a student of TCU University and I quote any innocent life taken in our city is one too many West murder struck a different chord with me not only because I knew West personally but also because it took place in one of Fort Worth's most successful entertainment districts created with City Planning you cannot always protect people from evil but I'm determined more than ever to make Fort Worth faithful see safer for everyone and that is a quote from your lawyer Maddie Parker again when people show you who they are believe them again the mayor a word that she would face backlash as it relates to the recent Council uh initiative as it relates to 7th Street and her open statement regarding the passing of the TCU student she she ducked out a council again I'll be fitting reminds me of several months ago when her her past came up and she ducked out she ran to the back but anyway I digressed it mayor Maddie Parker my expectations of you are nothing more than what you've already shown me controlling over emotional denier of Truth high-minded and condescending to Chris Nettles Jeanette Martinez Mr Williams Miss Bivens and Mr Flores your districts or the districts that are highly affected by violence as it relates to gun violence Etc you all should be the loudest voices on any initiatives as it relates to change that needs to happen as we address these the ongoing violence that plagues our city thank you thank you Mr Smith thanks speaker Manuel Mata is Mr Mata here daily there he is hello the city of Fort Worth my name is Manuel Mata and I live in District 11. and uh my public comment is towards um a solution of sorts right so the issue is with money for the police officers well I have a couple suggestions why don't y'all um stop allowing police officers to take their cars home or have them in their off-duty jobs because there's an issue within the police department where they don't have enough vehicles to have officers in them because you have police officers that get off duty and take their car the police car to their off-duty job which forces them into overtime where they pay three different ways their current job overtime and the job that's paying them to be there at their off-duty job and I tried to explain this I have it on video and this officer conspired with uh Wells Fargo Bank to trespass me illegally and on the video that I got of his body camera he States there's nothing illegal that he's doing there's nothing wrong with what he's doing but could you help us trespass him because he lied and said I knew his schedule officers are not that important to me I'm more interested in their uh uh Internal Affairs complaints then their job schedule but that's what this officer stated the supervisor came on the scene the same thing oh you're the one that uh harassed Sergeant Young and Hoffman the ones that ran me over after they trespassed me from QT this is how I started filming police officers Fort Worth because Hoffman officer Hoffman and his supervisor Sergeant Young conspired to get me trespass from QT after they already addressed the fact that I didn't have a light on my bike officer Sergeant Young tried to hit me I did not stop because I was not under arrest and then officer Hoffman turned off his headlights his emergency lights and ran me over they still have the bike that he ran me over in in police property right now that they refused to give back to me the case was dismissed Mr Marty have 30 seconds left and please get back on point you wanted to talk about the budget and your suggestions okay yeah you're right you're right my bad yeah stop letting them take their cars stop chasing uh stolen cars when you have a flat camera program that literally follow them to wherever they stop and leave and it also identifies the suspects that are in the car that way innocent people don't lose their life because the officer is determined to pull over a stolen car that is not worthless to the owner thank you Mr Mota next speaker Mike C okay I think he left all right next speaker Aaron James here we spoke okay oh that's right okay thank you Carolyn Rodriguez okay Mr James did you speak earlier okay go ahead you know there's uh there's a lot to be said as far as budget cuts you know and and some of the things that uh folks mentioned here tonight I think that uh we are all trimming the fat and the city could do a better job of of that as well um you guys see the Departments it y'all have the the notebooks uh the data much better than we do one of the questions that I do have for you is if if y'all do increase that the tax rate um a question was posed about response times and how that will affect how long will it be before you have that data available if the response times have been increased because you're citing a budget increase necessary in order to affect the response times so that's my question for you guys and thanks thank you Mr James now Carolyn Rodriguez I just want to talk to you about maybe thinking about changing the leadership in the police department because it's obviously not working well we um I wanted to finish my story about a little boy named Jojo real quick JoJo was he ran was ran over on Berry and Berry Street hit and run and the police officers could not find out who did it but it wasn't that hard for the mom to find out who did it because she went over it and got all the Rings the videos and all the videos from the stores she asked the people in the store and the people in at their houses did the police come over and ask for your videos and they didn't so they found out who the guy was found out where he lived and they had a 200 man protest over there that didn't make the newspaper and didn't make this news I was in the protest too so there was 200 people there for the police department to arrest that man that did the hit and run the next thing I want to talk to you about is um his first changing the leadership too is making sure you guys have enough money in your budget to pay off to all of these lawsuits because the Brandon Zapata case is fixing to come up um pretty quick here Brandon Zapata was a kid that had the asthma attack at the mall the Town Center mall and the officers two officers instead of getting him medical treatment decided that the best bet would be to sit for 18 minutes on his neck and his back while he had his asthma attack I thought he was having a mental breakdown but the mom just got the toxicology report back two days ago and it was clear she said he had no drugs in his system he was just dying because he couldn't breathe and they made it go a little bit quicker for him since they sat on him and made it go really fast that way so Brynn is a pot this family is going to be suing y'all so I hope you all have enough money for that and that's all I got to say about that thank you Mr Rodriguez David Martinez I think he just stepped out Marshall's I think he went that way there it is y'all called David Martinez right just making sure she said Martinez I anyways um all right so uh I wanted to talk to you about part two uh what I said about car park uh um vice president neighborhood association that we got started the reason we got started was because of the crime and the um I don't know how we call them transients because not all of them are homeless some of them are um maybe well almost all of them that are still there are the drug addicts it's not that what we're facing is a are facing a federal matter the reason why it's Federal matter because we have international gangs like MS-13 we have human traffickers we have prostitution uh sex slaves we have it all in Carter Park in District 11 off the freeway and District 8 and District 9. yes we have three districts eight nine and eleven and thanks to councilwoman Martinez helping us out uh making this a priority uh many of the officers go up there and do their job but as soon as they arrest somebody then more come in we have videos we have surveillance uh evidence and the reason why we're talking about bringing the federal government in this is because of all the things that are happening in the prostitution the drugs the trafficking everything and if y'all know I-35 is the um Western human Fair hemisphere uh Corridor of drugs and human trafficking which is a big problem in the United States and a lot of it comes through Carter Park um and we see the effects to the neighborhood our neighborhood association president is a female and she's been attacked twice in retaliation for calling the police um the police showed up and asked her if she knew the names of her assailant or the person who attacked her and rather and say hey what's her name what's your name you know no she got out there she had her little boy with her so these are the things that are happening right now and the people who have these Newson abatement like like uh Rockies on him pill or submarine like um Days Inn uh the motel people who fit a description of what we were with on 9 11. and so Mr Martinez you have 30 seconds left and uh I think you have written here tax comments to that please well this comes with the tax increase is this is all this all ties in together with no answer law enforcement okay go ahead I'm on how to talk um we'll give you a few seconds go ahead I'm sorry I didn't order it give me a few seconds Sir go ahead no no so you too you you interrupted me I didn't interrupt you so I just want to say that like you you come at me hostile well I mean I'm over here just trying to say what's going on not at all sir not everybody knows this people don't know what's going on over here they don't see it so now you got me off topic let me get back over here so what the taxes that are going on do I get my time yes sir you have a few extra seconds go ahead Okay the reason why I'm talking about the taxes is I'm not against law enforcement I'm not against the fire department all that stuff we needed all those things the things that I'm talking about on the taxes the increase is the the increases don't go a certain way well I mean I have multiple houses and I should be living it up but instead because of my taxes and because other things are going on I I'm not living where I'm supposed to be living so if it's hard for me I can just imagine people who don't have homes or paying rent live and check the check so I empathize with them and so I'm thinking that we can do something better instead of divulging all that money into the homeless situation and building these little tiny boxes instead we can educate our children and we provide a better future and giving them job training things like that that like they need better jobs higher paying jobs I think that I think that's the solution to deal with the the rent crisis and things like that and maybe not advertise to come here for until we settle what we got going on here thank you very much thank you Miss Martinez thanks speaker James Smith good afternoon Council my name is James Smith I live in District 8. as you all are aware we're about to approach the four-year anniversary of the death of a Tatiana Jefferson four years four years and we're still awaiting accountability what is accountability what is accountability we haven't got it invited you all to uh the today festivities October 14th no 13th 14th 15th I'd like to see you there show your support to the families show your support to the neighborhood we haven't forgotten her we're not going to forget her neither will neither will forward I don't want to be redundant coming down here saying her name but her name is important and that's why I'm here in the city of Fort Worth four years we're talking if I stop to evaluate the way certain people or minorities or marginalized people are treated in the city they're treated differently I believe you guys know that I don't have to tell you that they're treated differently when is Change Gonna Come I pay taxes and yes the taxes are going up and yes my budget is stringent and you know what people like me have to do when you sit down at the table and the bills are not matching the budget you look at your wall and you think about taking your TV off the wall to go to a pawn shop to pawn it to pay a bill and guess what when the next bill cycle comes you have that same quandary because the TV's in the pawn shop so you can't find that because it's already gone you can't go get it because it's not in the budget so you lose I was scheduled to come here at five o'clock to speak on the budget but I knew you're going to pass it so I didn't you know that was a redundant thing for me to do to come in five o'clock to talk on something that you're going to pass anyway but I looked at the budget I didn't go through it thoroughly but I glanced at it enough to know that some of those things can be shaved to other things you can transfer some things to other things I'm gonna call it a balanced budget the budget the budget you just you guys just passed it's not it's not it's not it's not it's not balanced and if you give the police department and I'm not down in the police department because I'm not I'm not a I'm not a defund the police person myself but if you fund this entity let's make sure they're following policy and procedures and maybe I won't lose another neighbor accountability for talk to channel Jefferson thank you thank you Mr Smith Joe Palmer thank you Joe Palmer I'd like to First say thank you for being so attentive I've never been to a local government meeting where so many faces were looking directly at the speakers there's a lot of abuse it's a huge City so I don't envy the position you're in um the great Economist Milton Friedman talks about the four ways you can spend money you can spend your own money on yourself you can spend your own money on somebody else you can spend somebody else's money on yourself that's the best kind or you can spend other people's money on other people and that's the most dangerous kind because you didn't fully you don't fully appreciate that money because you didn't work hard to earn it it was given to you and you're not fully on the hook you don't bear the brunt of the cost or the pain if and when that money is wasted and unfortunately that's what we do in local government there's an internal fight that goes on I know that you're aware of this on whether or not to say yes or no to some expenditure you have to recognize that what's not going on enough I believe in your thoughts is the recognition that this money was not earned by you that this money was gathered under threat of violence this is accurate because if you don't pay your property taxes what happens just follow it to the end and nobody wants to go there but that's ultimately what we're talking about that's why people pay people don't pay the property taxes because they feel warm feelings about what you're doing and they they believe in the city and all these you know impassioned emotional statements that we heard tonight they pay because if they don't pay they'll lose their home or they'll the city will foul suit against them or the school district so um it was said that you know nobody's come to see me nobody's come to meetings all year long to tell me about things they want to cut but you know what I don't hear I don't hear local elected officials responding to people when people say you know what I want you to build me this or I want you to build me that I don't hear City Council Members responding and saying that's fine but it's going to cost this and it's going to make your property taxes go up and you're gonna have to Hawk your TV at the pawn shop maybe I mean we're not talking about me you're talking about people I know but there's people in the city that are dirt poor you drive through their neighborhoods and I don't know how they live multiple kids school taxes going up can't get their kid to school on time it's rough I don't know what to say um I will just leave you with a question if if this economic environment is not one that will motivate you to cut taxes to cut the tax rate and cut the budget I would like you to just think later privately when would the economy what would the economy need to look like in the future for you to consider making some cuts thank you thank you Mr Palmer Alba Camacho council members I'd like to thank Mr Blaylock and Mr Crane for voting no on the taxation without representation um we have questions yet you shame people who want to be informed you belittle people and cut people off at the microphone even removing people and banning or trespassing them a lot of people have showed up today concerned about the infamous five-letter word you all promise before you run to lower taxes t-a-x-e-s bold words Fort Worth has become an apartment infested City mostly caused by rezoning you all are rezoning Nazis you vote all day approving shattering homes business livelihoods our city is neglected by trash crack roads holes in our highways and streets it didn't happen overnight it's been in the works so this new taxes taxation you guys are trying to implement it's what have you guys been doing with our money crime is on the rise as well our mayor takes a part-time job what's up with that her focus should be 100 on her City she's not doing that you all have failed the city of Fort Worth and I demand you keep Texas now I was going to say this before but I didn't make it in time taxes below the below the level and just a reminder our Constitution doesn't have a limit of time of any kind when it comes to speaking a political speech receives the greatest protection the court has stated that the ability to criticize the government and government officials is Central to the meaning of our first amendment you guys violated and continue to violate it and just to remember our first amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances and if there's any changes on that the U.S Supreme Court decides not you guys they do so quit it cut it out it's we the people not you the government you guys made promises all of y'all made promises to cut our taxes when you guys ran so this is on you thank you Miss Camacho and that's the end of our speakers meeting adjourned thank you [Music] foreign