Welcome everyone. I would like to call tonight's meeting of the Monroe County Council to order. It is
a beautiful evening here in Monroe County. It is Tuesday, October the 20th, and I want to note for the
record that those present here are Kate Wiltz, David Henry, Liz Fiddle, Trent Deckard, and myself, Peter
Iverson. We do not expect the other two to join us tonight, so those present will be at the
leave. We are going to look at the agenda tonight.
The agenda is available for everyone on the county's website. That's in.gov slash county slash Monroe.
And you can find the same agenda that we're looking at as well as the packet in case you want to follow
along with all the details. Council, does anyone wish to amend tonight's agenda? Council, I move to
add item eight, a discussion regarding the 2026 general obligation bond.
We have a motion and a second. Is there any further discussion on tonight's agenda? All right, all those
in favor of adopting tonight's agenda, please say aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously.
So council, tonight,
is the second reading and adoption for the 2027 budgets for the Monroe Fire Protection District, the
Monroe County Public Library, the Waste Reduction District, and of course, Monroe County Government.
We're glad you're joining us here in the NatU Hill Room, or for those of you joining us on Teams, thank
you for joining us as well. So that brings us to item number three on this evening's agenda.
As a reminder, Ordinance 2026-29, Monroe Fire Protection District 2027 budgets was read in full at the
October 6th meeting. Given that there are no changes to the budgets, we will not read the ordinance
in its entirety unless requested by a Councilmember.
I'm sorry, should I start again? I'm sorry. Council, I move to approve ordinance 2026-29, the Monroe
Fire Protection District 2027 budgets. Second. We have a motion and a second. Are there any questions
from council?
we're not taking are we taking question public comment on on these budgets okay is there any public
comment on the Monroe County fire protection district budget here in that you hill or on team simply
raise your hand seeing none may we please have a roll call vote counselor Iverson
Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Motion passes unanimous five to zero.
Thank you so much council. Thank you to the Monroe County Fire Protection District for all their work
in this community. This leads us to item number four on our agenda.
Council as a reminder, ordinance 2026-30, Monroe County Public Library 2027 budgets was read in full
at the October 6th meeting. Given that there are no changes to the budgets, we will not read this ordinance
in its entirety unless requested by a council member. Council, I move to approve ordinance 2026-30,
the Monroe County Public Library, 2027 budgets. Second. We have a motion and a second. Are there any
questions from council on ordinance 2026-30 for the Monroe County Public Library? Seeing none, are there
any public comments either here in the historic NatU Hill Room or on Teams? Seeing none, may we please
have a roll call vote?
Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor Iverson? Yes. Motion passes unanimous five zero.
Thank you so much. Thank you. This leads us to item number five on our agenda. This is the second reading
and approval ordinance 2026-31. And council as a reminder again, this ordinance 2026-31 waste reduction
district 2027 budgets was read in full at the October 6th meeting.
Given that there are no changes to this budget, we will not read the ordinance in its entirety unless
requested by a council member. Council, I move to approve ordinance 2026-31, the waste reduction district
of Monroe County, 2027 budgets. Second. We have a motion and a second. Council, do you have any questions
about this budget?
Seeing none, we'll go to the public. Are those in the NatU Hill Room or those on Teams? Please raise
your hand if you have any questions about or statements about this budget. Hearing none, may we please
have a roll call vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor
Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feige?
Motion passes unanimous five zero. Next we move on to item number six in tonight's agenda. Council as
a reminder at the October 13th meeting council directed the auditor to adjust the levies to ensure funds
for 2027 would be sufficiently funded. I would like to ask Councillor Deckard read the first half of
the updated ordinance 2026-32
of the Monroe County Government 2027 budgets. And then I request that Councilor Feidl read the second
half called the home ruled funds portion. Councilor Feidl, would you please make the motion to approve?
No, it's okay. Okay, government 2027 budgets. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. And
so I would ask Councilor Decker to begin. Testing. Okay. The remainder of ordinance resolution number 2026,
and the preceding clause remains the same. These tables have changed. I'll read them now. Fund code
0061, rainy day, adopted budget, $3 million, adopted tax levy, $0, adopted tax rate, 000. Fund code
0101, general, adopted budget, $49 million,
million eighty five that pardon me yeah forty nine million eighty five thousand three hundred twenty
five dollars adopted tax levy thirty five million dollars adopted tax rate zero point three seven one
three fun code zero one zero two election registration one million adopted budget one million seven
hundred fifty thousand nine hundred dollars adopted tax levy
$2,100,000 adopted tax rate 0.0223. Fund code 0124-2015 reassessment. Adopted budget $916,640. Adopted
tax levy $1 million. Adopted tax rate 0.0106.
Fund code 0180, debt service. Adopted budget $9,454,400. Adopted tax levy $18,758,067. Adopted tax rate
0.1990. Fund code 0203, self-insurance.
Adopted budget, $12,509.00, pardon me, $12,509,960.00. Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.0000.
Funds, 0.254, local income tax. Adopted budget,
$4,530,089. Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.0000. Fund code, 0256, public safety local
income tax.
Adopted budget $4,176,508. Adopted tax levy $0.00. Adopted tax rate 0.000000. 0616 Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Adopted budget, $6,187,742. Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.0000. Fund code, 0702 Highway.
Adopted budget, $6,626,647. Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.0000. Fun code, 0706, local
road and street. Adopted budget, pardon me.
Adopted budget, $1,720,007. Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.000. Fund code, 0790 cumulative
bridge. Adopted budget, $1,819,376.
Adopted tax levy $2,357,553. Adopted tax rate 0.0213. 0792 County Major Bridge. Adopted budget $9,434,058.
Adopted tax levy $3,685,751.
Adopted tax rate, 0.0333. Fund code, 0801-HELP. Adopted budget, $1,183,572. Adopted tax levy, $788,000.
Adopted tax rate, 0.0084.
All right, Fun Code 1310, non-reverting park, non-reverting capital, adopted budget $100,000. Adopted
tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.0000. Fun Code 2102, aviation airport, adopted budget $1,679,089.
Adopted tax levy, $1,400,000. Adopted tax rate, 0.0149. Final Code 2391, cumulative capital development.
Adopted budget, $3,211,000. Adopted tax levy, $3,685,751.
Adopted tax rate, 0.0333. Fund code, 2402, economic development. Adopted budget, $9,496,413.
Adopted tax levy, $0.00. Adopted tax rate, 0.000.
And then I'll read the totals here for adopted budget would be $126,881,726. Adopted tax levy, $68,775,122.
Adopted tax rate, 0.7144.
So are you gonna announce it? Okay. Thank you Mr. Deckard. Thank you Mr. Deckard for reading. We're
having some microphone issues so we're gonna take a short break here to allow technical services to
reset the microphone.
I grabbed a cherry diet coke. I have my Weibo wobble bottle. Oh, yeah, yeah. It matches your shirt almost.
M&Ms. You know, we've met, Kyla.
Councilmember Henry a second to come back.
Nobody needs to invite me back into the meeting. Thank you. All right. Check one, two.
All right, we are back. Thank you for giving us that brief little intermission to reset the technology.
I think this will work better for those of you who are watching on Teams or watching this recording.
You can hear us a little bit better. So we just had Council Member Deckard read the first half of the
Mineral County budget. And now we will look to Council Member Feidl to read the home-ruled funds portion
of the Mineral County government budget. All right.
Fund code 9-5-0-0, extradition and sheriff's assistance, fund name, adopted budget 0. Fund code 9-5-0-1,
surveyor's corner perpetuation, that's the fund name. I'll try to get better at this. The adopted budget
is $89,966. Fund code 9-5-0-2, the fund name is local public health services, 1161,
Adopted budget is $1,167,000 and $762. Fund code 9503, fund name Monroe County 911 fund. The adopted
budget is $688,730. Fund code 9505, fund name auditors
Ineligible deductions. Adopted budget $348,648. Fund code 9507. Community corrections fees 1122. That's
the fund name. The adopted budget is $117,503. Fund code 9508.
The fund name is user fee, jury pay. The adopted budget is $38,000. Fund code 9509, user fees, juvenile
probation 2150 is the fund name, and the adopted budget is $7,079. Fund code 9510, fund name, user fees,
adult probation,
2100. The adopted budget is $119,403. Code 9512, supplemental PD services. Adopted budget is $1,022,838.
Code 9513. Clerk's name is Clerk's Record Perpetuation. The adopted budget is $103,193. Fund code 9514.
The fund name is User Fees Diversion slash Prosecutor. Adopted budget is $95,437.
Fund code 9515. The fund name is user fees, court, alcohol, drug. The adopted budget is $270,175. Fund
code 9516. The fund name is local health maintenance. And the adopted budget is $190,089. Fund code 9517.
The fund name is Emergency Planning Right to Know. Adopted budget is $25,950. Fund code 9519, misdemeanor
slash, I presume that's community corrections, and the adopted budget is $128,500. Fund code
9521, alternative dispute resolution,
is the fund name and the adopted budget is $27,700. Fund code 9522, the fund name is sales disclosure
county share, is $8 in the adopted budget. Fund code 9523, the fund name conventioners, visitors, capital
improvement and maintenance, and the adopted budget is $100,000.
Fund code 9524. Fund name County Offender Transportation. The adopted budget is $2,500. Fund code 9525.
And the fund name is Local Health Department Trust Account. The adopted budget is $35,420. Fund code 9526.
The fund name is user fees, problem solving courts, and the adopted budget is $22,544. Fund code 9527.
The fund name is West Side Economic Development, Richland Township, TIFF. And the adopted budget is
$2 million
$2,572,000 and $692. Fund code 9528. And the fund name is 46th Corridor Economic Development Bloomington
Township TIF. And the adopted budget is $67,001. Fund code 9529.
Name is Fullerton Pike Economic Development TIF with an adopted budget of $388,001. Fund code 9530 with
a fund name of Platt Book and the adopted budget is $500. Fund code 9531 with a fund name of Convention
Center Operating, 4005.
with an adopted budget of zero. Fund code 9532 with a fund name of user fees cable franchise with an
adopted budget of zero. Fund code 9533 with fund name of firearms training with an adopted budget of
$100,000. Fund code 9534 with
with a fund name of Sheriff K9-4108 with an adopted budget of $4,500. Fund code 9535 with the fund name
of PSAP Interlocal with an adopted budget of $4 million. Fund code 9543 with the fund name of Public
Health Emergency Fund with
a adopted budget of $2. Fund code 9544 with a fund name of identification security protection with a
adopted budget of $18,000. Fund code 9548 with a fund name of not, excuse me, park non-reverting operating
with a adopted budget of $300,000.
Fund code 9551, with a fund name of Recorders Records Perpetuation, with an adopted budget of $572,793.
Fund code 9552, with a fund name of Stormwater Management, with an adopted budget of $3,416,689. Fund
code 9559.
with a fund name of county elected officials training with an adopted budget of $24,000. Fund code 9564
with a fund name of Sheriff's Sale Administration with an adopted budget of $54,000. Fund code 9569
with a fund name of aviation construction with an adopted budget of $51,251.
Fund code 9571 with the fund name of Lane Mile Direct Distribution 1242 with an adopted budget of $421,932.
Fund code 9580 with a fund name of Lit Correctional Rehab Facilities 1233 with an adopted budget of
$3,242,151.
Fund code 9585 with a fund name of Donations Youth Shelter with an adopted budget of $2,250. Fund code
9586, Donations Emergency Management with a budget, adopted budget of $1,628. Fund code 9587 with a
fund name of Donations Veterans Affairs
4114 with an adopted budget of $160. Fund code 9588 with the fund name of federal award title IBD with
a adopted budget of $58,518. Fund code 9589 with a fund name of Curry Profile TIF with an adopted budget
of $15,000.
Fund code 9590 with a fund name of Donations Safe Place with a budget, adopted budget of $1,000. Fund
code 9591 with a fund name of Donations Sheriff's Department with an adopted budget of $12,000. Fund
code 9592 with a fund name of Donations Prevention General
with an adopted budget of $1,495. Fund code 9593 with the fund name of donations BTCC with an adopted
budget of $11,800. Fund code 9598 with the fund name of donations parks with an adopted budget of $200,000
and the total
for the adopted budget is $20,138,808. Thank you so much Council Member Feidl for reading the home ruled
funds portion of the county budget. Now that we've read all of those funds and their rates into the
record, I'm gonna look to council for any comments or statements that they would like to make
on this budget, then I'll go to the public for any comments or statements that they would like to make.
So council members, would anybody like to make a statement on this year's budget? All right, go ahead.
Council member Deckard, please lead us off. Well, I hate to have long comments and I never draft things out.
for this for very specific reasons. But I made some notes I wanted to kind of remark upon with this
budget, which I believe is heading towards adoption this evening. If it's not, then I'm sorely worse
at this job than when I first started back in January of 2019. If things in life go to plan and current
events kind of tell me that it will,
This may be the last budget I work on from this side of the table.
as a council member. And as I think about what is happening in this budget, I think a lot to
some fundamentals I come back to every time and where I was in 2019 when I first looked at one of our
budgets. And I just want to kind of compare some things and talk about it just for a second. In 2019,
when Councilor Wilts and I started together in January, although she has about 13 days seniority on
me, she remembers that, let me tell you.
we started that the state funding landscape at that time seemed a little bit more stable than what it
does now. Things that she and I talk a lot about up here and kind of our cross talk about home rule
funds and this and what you do and what the legislature might tweak or not. That was a little bit more
stable. We were in a period of lower inflation. Costs were a little bit predictable. Costs for construction were much
more manageable and predictable. But sitting in 2019, we had no idea what was going to happen in 2020.
And when I think about those comparisons, I think things are there. Workforce dynamics in 2019, counties
were preparing for a time where they were unstable with what they could recruit and what they could
do. And we've gone through several periods of kind of upheaval with that.
Largely, as we do in this budget, we're trying to continue to invest in our employees best that we can.
I have a historical memory of when councils, not this council, but councils way back could not do that
for a variety of reasons, some their will, some the forces that they were dealing with. And I think
any budget that has a year where there is a COLA in there,
of any amount is a strong star. It could always be better. But the fact that this council is thinking
actively on that always makes me feel better about some of the work that we're doing as we continue
to battle forward and figuring out how to best take care of our folks who take care of public services.
Thinking again to 2019, some of the same issues then have become maybe a little bit more difficult,
right? Affordability, housing affordability.
affordability period. I think about my own home affordability, mental health issues, substance use issues,
judicial facilities that we are still talking about and still trying to figure out. Now we have more
parties involved in all those things. We've had elected official turnover. We've had departmental head
turnover. We've got all of those things that are happening.
At the same time as I look at this budget, and I think back to those times, we absolutely then, as we
absolutely now, do not have much of a mind towards what is gonna happen in our future. In this budget,
the minute it is passed, and again, I think it's heading for that tonight, the minute it is passed,
it will be wrong in some way, and we will start correcting it, maybe even the next meeting. The auditor
often will come in and have a,
correction of some sort or the other or there'll be something that we didn't do or we didn't get some
detail right. And so I would say to any member of this body or the public, if there's something you
did not like here, don't worry. We'll come back to it again and again from multiple sides of the table.
I will say I have a mind for something that
I'm thinking more like I was in 2019 or I should have been in 2019 towards 2020 is I have some fears
on economic uncertainty that may grip our community. I have some fears on state and local government
law uncertainty on how things are going to work. And I think that that's going to continue to be before
us. I also think that we
With leadership transitions, with things going on, the mandate is still there that somebody goes to
a counter and they get service in a community and they get those things and everyone here is treated
with dignity, that they're treated with access and they're treated with affordability. Now I don't have
to say that in talking about this budget any more than anything else because the reality is every one
of our counters will open up in the morning
and departments will figure out how to do that. And I think that for our challenge on this budget is
recognizing the minute is past, what else still needs to be done? How do we get to the bigger questions
in our community? How do we still take care of the things that we need to take care of? And more importantly,
friends, how do we do it together?
because the way that we are structured doesn't permit much of anything else. And so the ledger of what
we deal with, that keeps changing. The circumstances keep changing. It's the things in the future that
always give me the most heartburn, but we will do what we always do. We'll react to it, we'll adjust
to it, and we'll move forward. And so for those that there's something you love about this budget, try
to hold onto it. For those that there's something we want to fix, let's do it together and figure out
how we get there from there.
and I think that's all I have to say. Thank you. Councilmember Deckard. Are there other council members
that would like to speak on this 2027 budget? Councilmember Henry. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you,
members of council. Thank you, staff, for another budget season and working us through to this point.
And I appreciate Councilor Deckard's, I don't know how to call it, a valedictory at this point. We may
have a few more of those coming between now and the end of December, but thank you for the
the sagely words there as someone who's been through this a few times. I've given a lot of thought to
this over the past few weeks about how we've moved through our budget. It does get the job done.
On a menu, it would be a ham sandwich. It still delivers, it fills up, it gets the job done in our county
with the resources that we have. When I think ahead to next year and I think even the next day,
Yeah, there are things that continue to be. We need to continue to refine as as our revenue changes
as our circumstances change with the state to make sure that we are proactive and how we address challenges
in the community and instead of reactive when they happen.
It always seems to me that we can find money in our account lines, especially this time of year when
money is moving around with reversions. We see a lot of in-house transfers, like we talked about last
week, that we pass a budget where a line item seems to be $50,000 and we discover through the ledger
it changes mightily over a year. I don't look at that as a flexibility point. I look at it as a challenge
to say that maybe we're not budgeting right in account lines still.
that if we have so much flexibility in our ledger that we can move money around for purchases that we're
not discussing those purchases in a public setting. And those are things I think we need to start surfacing
in future budgets. It's good accountability and transparency to the public. It also help us find the
resources we need for emergent challenges. I think, again, we've met the measure of what we needed to
do this year. Budgets have been presented by departments for what they need to operate or what they
project they need to operate.
But when it comes to, when we as elected officials hear from members of the community what their priorities
are and how to start implementing new policy programs and opportunities to address the emergent challenges
in our community, just not the historic ones or the routine ones, it's on us to find that budget. And
it's gonna take a lot of work to do so, I think, in the next term, next year, to start to find in the
sheets, in the ledger lines,
the resources we need to start to really address endemic challenges in the community that people continue
to bring to us. And if we are to continue down a path where we can fund and participate in helping to
reduce homelessness in the community, to reduce substance abuse in the community, to protect our friends
and neighbors who are asylees and refugees that come to this county as emergent issues, we need to find
those resources to do that from here. And that starts early.
It's not something I think that we can pull off in August and September. It's something that really
starts in January about what the long-term finances and challenges of the county are to fund the values
of the community that puts us here every few years to serve. And so I'm proud of the work. Again, I
think it's gotta get the job done. But now it's time to look ahead to how to innovate and use the resources
we have to both meet what we've promised and also meet the future that we need to start to address in
the community.
with the dollars that we collect from taxpayers. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Henry. Are
there any other comments from council? All right, I want to conclude with my own support of this budget.
I think it's important to note that if you sum up what Councilor Deckard and Councilor Feidl read, that
number is the budget that we're adopting this year. That is $147,020,534.
A $147 million budget is an important one. I will note that that is a 16% increase from the 2026 adopted
budget. And I think there's a lot of things in here that we can be proud of. The first thing is that
it supports people. This budget is not about creating life that is harder for people. We are not putting
up obstacles for folks
This budget really does reach out and understand that folks living in Monroe County right now are really
having a hard time. We have from day one worked really hard to make sure that there's a 2% COLA in this
budget. And I think working closely with the commissioners, this is something that we're going to be
able to do.
This is the second year in a row that we've been able to, in rather difficult economic times, accomplish
this. And this gives us hope for next year that we'll be able to continue this process. We also, I think,
are getting a better grasp on self-insurance. This is, as I said before, this is the number one most
expensive item
or single item in our budget. And I think that's going to be something that we're going to continue
to wrestle with. I'm very proud of the fact that we were able to create space in the budget to handle
this, and particularly working with the council office and the auditor's office to really make sure
that in terms of the audits and the accounting that we're dealing with those in a really professional manner.
I will note also that the third way that this is dealing with people is that this budget appropriates
$1,162,000 to direct relief of our neighbors experiencing homelessness. We know that this is a crisis
that is hitting not just Monroe County but other places as well and that the crisis is getting worse.
rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage just hit 7.4. That means that folks who have a home are not going to
be moving anytime soon and that the increased number of apartments geared towards students will make
it even harder for those on the margins of our economy to be able to afford shelter. This council
by appropriating this $1.162 million. Working directly with the commissioners is going to be making
a difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness, and I think this is something that we
can be really proud of. The second reason I support this budget is because it came about through team
mentality. When Councilmember Crossley sent her president's letter in June, she asked every single department
to hold their budgets flat, and that's what happened.
The only reason we're able to sit here today with revenues that are exceeding expenditures is because
our departments worked directly with this council to keep their budgets manageable. And for that, I
think we owe our departments a great deal of thanks for helping us get to this point with a strong budget.
I think this budget finally
that. We continue to experience a strong bond rating. We continue to have balanced levy funds- the with
strong- financial balances that exceed both- what the auditor standards and- find F. S. G. standards.
And we also when you're looking at the four B's that with the way that we look at revenues over
They are, by and large, all very positive. So we are able to not just pass a $147 million budget. We're
able to do so with a majority of our revenues exceeding our expenditures. I do want to note a little
bit about what's coming next in 2027 that we're going to have to be keeping in mind in this budget.
Number one, the jail is going to come back.
we are going to have more jail conversations next year. It is guaranteed. Number two, relying on edit
is not a long-term fiscal strategy. We can continue to do so. We might be able to do so for a time,
but it's not a long-term strategy. Number three, keep your eyes on the long-term finance group. They're
going to have a lot to deal with coming up. We also know that the shift in FY29 from lit
are too lit to income tax, excuse me, is going to be disruptive. And so we will be closely watching
this year's biennial budget session up at the State House to see what changes are going to be made.
And lastly, I'll note that salaries and job classifications are going to need to be looked at in the
next year. We have too many departments that are coming to us with reactions to the current labor market
that we cannot keep things as a status quo. So we are going to be taking a close look at some solutions
next year to this very tricky problem. Let me conclude with thanks. We absolutely could not have done
this without council staff. Thank you so much for your assistance. To our legal staff, thank you so
much for your assistance and to the auditor's office, half of which are at conference. So thank you
for being here and your support through all of this. We really appreciate you.
All right, is there any other council comments? Seeing none, let's go to the public. Is there any member
of the public that wishes to speak on this budget? We have one person here in the Not You Hill Room.
If you're on Teams, please raise your hand. Please state from the record your name and if you're a Monroe
County resident. Hello, my name is Julie Thomas and I am indeed a Monroe County resident. I am president
of the board of
commissioners and really want to thank the council staff and legal and auditor's office. How did they
have a conference this time of year? I mean, is that crazy? Okay. Anyway, I do want to thank the council,
too, and getting near the finish line is great, as fleeting as it may be, but we are compelled by the
recent sequence of events
of the surveyors. We understand why the pay was set at 90% for the surveyor. So that they can earn one
and a half times their pay if they can become a
unusual outlier on the elected official salary grid, which you're going to be talking about next. We
are both the legislative and executive branch of county government. The legislative side requires a
great deal of research preparation. The executive side makes this a 24-7 on-call position. We must make
decisions with deliberation when we can. Some decisions we have to make quickly.
We operate with an extremely small yet dedicated staff, which has been one shy for a few years now,
and we've left it that way. So we fully manage ourselves numerous administrative tasks, and we can accomplish
pay equity without impacting county general.
The tens in the stormwater fund can be increased by $45,485.39 to bring us 200% pay as elected officials,
and this includes the fringe for the additional amount. There are funds available in stormwater, and
we have worked with stormwater to determine this, and we can make this change at the next stormwater
board meeting.
And with pay equity, this issue can finally be closed. So with that, again, congratulations. Thank you
for your time. Thank you for your hard work. And I'm sure we'll be talking about a million things in
the near future. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Commissioner. Are there other members of the public, elected
or not, that wish to speak? Please raise your hand on teams or come forward in the NatU Hill Room.
We have someone that we know very well has raised their hand on Teams. Madam President, the floor is
yours for three minutes. Hi, you missed me. Hi, this is Jennifer Crossley, Council President of Monroe
County Council District 4. It's really weird saying it on this
side over yonder. Thank y'all so much as I'm still recuperating from my procedure, which I was there
with you all, but you all are doing a fine job. So I just wanted to just also echo the sentiments of
all the counselors, Deckard, Henry and Iverson. You know, obviously nothing is perfect, neither are
we. However, the job, you know, the game starts
tomorrow and we get back on the saddle and we do it again. And I'm sure all of us will reflect on what
we did during this budget cycle, what we didn't do and what we could do. And just like Councilor Henry
said, I think that work starts as of January 1st. I know that there's some things that long-term finance
could address such as step increases, longevity, those different types of things.
Um, and so I think we definitely need to work on that, you know, at the beginning of the year so that
we don't have 11th hour surprises and we can prepare because a lot of things such as what we see with
insurance and our county employees are going up. So we have to, you know, make do with what we have.
Um, we are in the spooky season and we know that, um, our state legislators definitely believe that
because we have, you know, their budgets that they'll be looking at and.
things like the sequel to SB 1 where property tax, excuse me, elimination could come about. So I think
that we all need to keep in mind what is coming ahead for 27 so we can move on through 27 beyond. But
beyond that, I definitely want to thank all of the department heads that really kept everything flat
with increases that were necessary.
I definitely want to thank my colleagues for doing their due diligence and doing a fine job with working
with your departments as liaisons. I think this was the strongest year yet that we've done that, and
I'm very thankful for that. Definitely I'm thankful for the staff, the auditors, and you know,
Ms. Turner-King and Luhua and Kim for all the work that they've done and a lot of headaches that we've
given. And plus, you know,
the partnership with the commissioners with use of edit. So I appreciate that very much. And I look
forward to continuing the work. And I urge you all, because I cannot be there, because I can't vote
on this virtually, to pass this budget. Thank you. Thank you, President Jennifer Crossley. And I will
note, I love your speaking style. You're the only person that could work in spooky season into your
analysis of the budget. So well done.
All right, we are back at public comment. If you'd like to make public comment on this 2027 Monroe County
budget, please raise your hand on teams or come forward in that room. All right, seeing none, may we
please have a roll call vote? Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker? Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feinold? Yes. Motion passes unanimous 5-0. All right, congratulations.
Yeah. All right, that moves us on to item seven. We are going to, as a reminder, Council, we're going
to be talking about ordinance 2026-38A.
This is the elected officials salary ordinance. We read that in full on the October 6th meeting and
given that there are no changes to the salary ordinance, we'll not read the ordinance in its entirety
unless requested by a council member now.
Council, I move to approve ordinance 2026-38A, the 2027 elected official salary ordinance. Second.
All right, we have a motion and a second on the elected official salary ordinance. Are there any questions
or comments from council members? Mr. Henry. Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you, Council, again,
and staff and everyone on the work on this issue. I want to take an opportunity to reiterate a statement I made
in some shape or form last week or last time we met, especially in regards to the comments of Mr. Thomas,
that, again, I think, as I mentioned with the other, the passage of the budget, there's always
an opportunity, I think, at the end of a budget cycle here to look under the hood or try to find account
lines that might make something happen, right? And we need to have those conversations, not at a podium
for three minutes and then never to hear again, but over the course of a year.
and to really understand executive pay and county governments in the state. As I said last week on this,
and I still think this is true, I think we can count on one hand how many counties in the state of Indiana
have a full-time county administrator position and a full-time executive legislative county commission.
And so we have to holistically look at the executive pay structure of a county to say, you know, what
are those hours doing?
know if you do elevate three positions to a full-time pay or compensation in the county then then what
is the purpose of having a fourth person paid a 40-hour a week benefit salary pension that is the county
executive statutorily right they are the county administrators statutorily even though we don't call
that here the same name by local ordinance so that's going to take work
And if that is an honest effort that the next term of the newly seated board of commissioners, which
is entertained, that would be my offering back is to say that's a January conversation and not an October
one, as we try to figure out
what executive compensation is in the state of Indiana for that kind of office. As for the remainder,
I think we've done a great job, and I thank our elected officials who hold parity because these are
positions that are of public trust. People run for office to sit here and contest these seats, and some
people win and some people don't, but it's about the public service for me. It's not the primary income
in my family, I'm sure in others that are serving government.
compensation for a little bit to get through the time that it does take in our life, but it's not, at
least in county government, that's not it. If you're looking for those kind of pay scales, you can always
run for Congress. But thank you, Mr. President. All right. Thank you, Mr. Henry. Are there any other
council comments on the elected officials salary grid?
Seeing none, let's go to the public. If you have any public comments on this elected official salary
ordinance, on how we compensate elected officials, please raise your hand on teams or come to the podium
here in the historic NatUHO room. Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote. Councilor Henry?
Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right
thank you council. Next we're going to take up the employee salary ordinance and that is ordinance 2026-38B
and council as a reminder that ordinance 2026-38B
the 2027 Monroe County government employee salary ordinance was read in full at our October 6th meeting.
Given that there are no changes to the salary ordinance, we will not read the ordinance in its entirety
unless requested by a council member. All right, seeing none. Council, I move to approve ordinance 2026-38B,
twenty twenty seven Monroe County government employees salary ordinance. Second we have a motion and
a second council do you have any comments Mr. Henry thank you Mr. President I did not say this at the
front end of the adoption of the general budget but I am. Yeah I'm proud of where we ended up here with
this yeah I know a year ago we were sitting here in the face of.
Shifting sands and the state house. We were very concerned about whether or not we could have a cola
increase at all. And we spent most of this year messaging to our, our county employees that it didn't,
it wasn't looking great. And yet through again, the reiterating the statements made by others,
the partnership with the board of commissioners, we were able to meet that 2% cola. We're able to continue
to meet self-insurance and provide something.
And I think that's important as a moment in time. Now, does that mean that in future fiscals, starting
as early as tomorrow and after January 1st that our employees are experiencing inflationary pressures
in the county? Yes. Does it mean that it's so hard to live here and afford to live here on a county
salary? It sure does. To get next level on that without
overburdening our tax base, it's going to take some work to find the additional nickels in the budget,
which seem to be there for other things, right? And so I think, you know, I'm proud of what we did this
year to get here, but there's always opportunity to keep looking ahead and with hopefully
not too much more disturbance in the manner by which we collect income and property tax in the state
of Indiana. I'm hopeful that we can continue to support our good employees through the benefits, the
salary that we offer, and then also find the resources to improve their quality of life in their offices,
where they work in our buildings, and taking care of the spaces that we provide them to work in, and
opportunities to telework from home when they can't.
that's part of the package. But I'm proud of what we've done here this year. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. Henry. Councilmember Feidl. So I would be remiss with the history that I have in this
community by not saying that I would definitely like to see the salaries higher. I would be interested
in seeing if there's a way to look at this after maybe the first year after we know what the final numbers
are and everything.
potentially reconsidering it. That's where I'm at. Thank you, Councilmember Feidl. Any other comments
from Council? Councilmember Deckard. I know I gave the retrospective earlier, but one thing I want to
kind of point out is, again, the COLA discussion that we have had in this last session is not unlike
previous years that we've had. And we, as folks out in the community,
whether you're at a door or you're listening to folks here or there or in the lobby at the bank, you
recognize what is happening among this economy to individuals. And people are very painstakingly discussing
that. And I'm hearing it. I absolutely hear it all the time. I sometimes call it informally the misery
index, et cetera. Our employees are not immune from that.
And I think that when Councilor Feidl is talking about keeping a monitor on things and adjusting accordingly,
this council has done things in the past to meet our employees, sometimes even beyond COLA. We've done
that around training, and training is not something that anybody salivates over because, again, your
validation is around what you're paid, right? But we also have done things in the past around retention.
efforts when we struggled with that. And so I just think keeping an open mind as this moves forward
and being able to adjust to where our folks are at and what their needs are is kind of the order of
the day. But that is sort of the order of the history that we've had to
and being nimble with whatever is happening out there as it does to take care of our folks that work
those counters, that make things happen, that answer those calls, that do the 24-7 worries right alongside
and most of the times better than we do altogether. Thank you. Mr. Deckard. Let me just say, I've got two kids.
And when it comes time to sign up for insurance, it can be really expensive. And just getting the kids
into the dentist or getting the kids into their medical appointments, and then you pile on top everything
else, summer camps or even sporting programs, the costs really, really escalate.
This council is very aware that on the same night that we passed a 2% COLA increase, there was a significant
increase in your healthcare costs here in the county. At least I feel that, and the costs sometimes
feel like they just keep on coming.
I think this is where Council Member Deckard was correct, that as soon as this budget is passed, we
are all of a sudden working on brand new challenges. And part of those challenges is as stark as on
this first day of enrollment for healthcare coverage, folks are really questioning whether or not they
can afford healthcare. And I just want you to know, we are hearing that.
and some of us are feeling it. And so we're gonna start working on that very soon here. So let me conclude
that with, let's look to the public. If you have any comments or questions, frustrations or anything
else, raise your hand on Teams or come to the podium here in the historic NatUO room. All right,
seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
during the elected officials salary ordinance. It was brought to my attention and I'm gonna share my
screen really quick. TSD, can you give me permission to share? But with the assessors in the elected
official, they get an additional 2,000 and they get the additional 5,000 if they got the certified.
inadvertently put, it is divided over 26 pays, but that's not what we've always done. I was just doing
a copy paste. I don't know, it's not allowing me, sorry.
Yeah, go ahead, so. So what Ms. Schell is saying is there's a minor change to those two account lines
to remove the language that says over 26 pays and reflect what previous salary ordinances have, which
is that the supplementals are paid in a lump sum per year. Yeah, so it's this little piece right here.
It says over 26 pays. That's going to be removed and it'll just follow what we've always done. I just
accidentally
did a. That's my record yeah Mister president I moved that the salary ordinance amendment for our salary
ordinance for elected officials be a minute is counsel's noted and to reflect the traditional language.
As noted second. All right we have a motion and a second and just a technical question we need to open
that but that ordinance before we. Change it. Scriveners errors
I don't even think you have to make the motion. I think that it's going to be corrected just as Mr.
Henry said as a scrivener's error. It was never supposed to be there. I think we've got a motion and
a second in the will of Council. I think this is important to make Councilmember Feidl. So where was
this in the public eye that Kim wants to change? Where did it appear? In the packet. It was in the packet, okay.
that was there. So there's a part of me that says we need to do something to make it right, officially.
All right again. We have a motion and a second. Is there any further conversation on this motion? All
those in favor of this motion, please say aye. All those opposed. The eyes have it unanimously.
Thank you. All right, the 2027 budget process remains concluded.
All right, we're going to go to our last item, which was just added at the top of this meeting where
we need to have a very quick conversation on the twenty twenty six general obligation bond. I would
like to first have invite our legal counsel, Ms. Molly Turner King, to remind us where we are at the
process and why on earth we're talking about at the end of a budget session.
on October 13th, there was the first reading in public hearing on ordinance 2026 35 and 36 ordinance
2026 35 authorizes the issuance of general obligation bond. And in that ordinance, the amount was to
not exceed $6,500,000. Ordinance 36 is the corresponding appropriation ordinance. During the discussion
on the 13th, there was some conversation whether council desired to amend those ordinances.
Um, and so I wanted to check to see if, if there was a proposed amendment, um, so that we could prepare
documents accordingly for the 27th, which is when those two ordinances will come back for a potential
approval. Thank you, Ms. Molly Turner King. Uh, council, uh, pursuant to the conversation we had just
one week ago, were there any thoughts about a, maybe a not to exceed number on those general obligation bonds?
Council member Wilts. Well, first, thank you for putting this on the agenda, because I do think it's
worth a formal consideration. And I did bring this up a couple of times that I am personally uncomfortable
with the existing amount and feel as though we should,
bring it more in line with our historical levels of bonding. Well, I guess first, I would like to hear
what others think and whether or not that feeling is shared and to what extent. But I know that the
response from the commissioner's administrator
last week was to question what projects would be cut in order to reduce that amount. I would suggest
that perhaps that's not up to us, at least not exclusively, and that projects that
maybe would be cut out of a bond could certainly be brought back at the beginning of the year to be
considered for appropriation out of any reversions that we might have. That way we are paying for it
with money we know we have and don't have to pay interest on. All right, that's my start. Okay, Council
Member Henry. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilor Watz
for all that. Because the question is now the what, the what, right? And it's, I think as we talked
about last week, that we end up talking about the items and then it's about the items and not about
the bond, right? It's the credit limit, not the, you know, which item are we not getting on the wish
list this cycle? Maybe I'll just ask Charlotte, do we, I mean, I think we've just brought it into the
room a few times. Do we have a handle on a reversion projection right now, like what we think might
be coming back?
Is there any way to, hey, I know, I know what I'm asking. Not at this time, but I can get one for you.
Yeah, and so I think to Councilor Wilts's point to know, for example, if we knew there was significant
reversion coming back, some of the capital purchases here on cash would make sense, but it's hard to
tell the which, right, of them. On the other hand, I reflect on what Councilor Deckard had said last
week, too, that, you know, because now you got to pick, right, or like, where do you start?
In terms of, we've scored these collectively with the board of commissioners and the council. I admittedly,
and I'll admit to the public too, I did not participate in the scoring process on here because of the
general indifference I have about the Goban process at this point. We're paying for an elevator in this
building, but not in the court, in the justice center, which I found to be challenging for my safety
perspective.
In our current justice facility, but I appreciate that work needs to be done and the consequence of
not doing now is deferred maintenance later.
and then the cost goes up there. So I know that's sort of a rambling meditation to say, I like the idea
of saying, well, here's the new cap, make it fit. The question is, as I stare at this list again about
things that we have committed ourselves to using this bond for to pay over a term every year where we
have to make payments on certain gear, I think the emergency management sirens or that, I believe some
of the sheriff's office equipment is that, that we're now back to a place of,
what's getting redlined or what can departments come back and say, can you make this fit inside a reversion
or something in your budget rather than asking for the bond for it? That is a meditation at this point,
but there's some additional remarks I have. Thank you, Mr. President. All right, thank you. Are there
any other comments or questions or more germane to this conversation, a motion? Yes, Councilor Wilts.
Can I just have a question? Yeah, yeah, yeah, please.
Makes me feel kind of dumb. But the elevator that's listed in the bond projects is for this building?
My understanding was it was for the justice building. Oh, OK. Well, it says commissioner. Again, the
PowerPoint we were presented was commissioner's item elevator repairs new at 250,000. The previous item
was the jail at 2 million for the elevator. So it's either it came down 90% or it's a different elevator.
We don't know that?
I thought it was for a non-jail building, and it's a tenth of what was offered for the justice center.
What are you referring to there? I'm looking at the PowerPoint presentation on the Go Bonds that was
presented by the commissioners. Thank you. And it's a revised version of the initial presentation, and
it has projects from New York. Does someone have that we could all see? I could try to throw it on screen,
I guess. Thank you. Yeah, let me work on that. Thank you. Sorry. No worries.
That just took me by surprise because I missed that. And, wow, okay. So, my understanding, may I talk?
I'm sorry, I just started while he's doing that. No, no, no, the floor was yours, so please continue.
Yeah, no, no, you're good. My understanding is that
The number from last time, the number in the resolution is overstated because it's the advertised number.
The number that is being requested is closer to 4.1 million. Is that correct? I think if you add up
all the projects, it's slightly under 4 million, but I think 4.1 would include the necessary amounts
for closing cost. Okay.
And in previous years, not including last year, but in previous years, we've kept it at 3 million,
but 3.1 kind of encapsulated those other costs and things. And that had been fairly stable the entire
seven previous years, I guess, or six previous years that I've been on. I would feel more comfortable
if we kept this
at that previous level, especially given just some of the other volatility that has already been brought
up about the future. And by that previous level, if you were to numericize that, that would be a $3.1
million. I'd say not to exceed number 3.1 million. OK. Are there any comments or reactions to that from
council? Love it? Hate it?
Any difference? Just surprisingly not to answer. I did put the presentation on the screen. And if you'll
permit me, you'll notice again, the line item, elevator repairs, new 250,000, but you'll notice in the
projects removed from the initial presentation, elevator 2 million, which was the separate project,
I believe. But even that apparently needs a point of clarification. Let me see if I've got it in here. Nope.
Please, Ms. Molly Turner King. I reached out to the commissioner administrator for clarity on the elevator
project and the project included is repair parts for the current elevator in the jail. I think originally
it was adding a second elevator and now they're just repairing the current one. But it's still for the
justice. Still for the jail. So it's parts and not a new elevator.
I'll leave that up. Is there any way to make that a little larger for some of us? As big as they can get.
Ms. Molly Turner King, the ordinate or the resolution that the document that governs the geo bond is
a resolution, correct, is an ordinance.
there was a resolution in the packet. There's a resolution 202635 and ordinance 202635. The ordinance
authorizes the issuance of the bond. Okay, in order to move the conversation to keep it going, does
anybody have any questions about what they're seeing on the screen?
Sorry, Council Member Feidl. I don't know if I have a question, but I have a comment, which is I really
like the idea of bonding as little as we can so we don't have as much interest. I don't think that I
or the public would probably feel that comfortable about that in these times. Okay. Is making
So what is the desired result from today's discussion? The reason why we're having a discussion tonight
is because in one week, we will do the second reading of ordinance 2026-36. If this council wants to
make a change, it would be nice to make a change tonight, one week ahead of the adoption or the second
reading and adoption, rather than doing it the night of. Otherwise, you're doing this again.
And I will just point out to the council that in section two of the now therefore clauses that did not
to exceed amount is $6,500,000. Councilmember Henry, sorry. Sorry, let me press right button. Councilor
Wilts, what was your number again? I was suggesting 3.1. 3.1, okay. And what would that cover, do we know?
It looks like of this list, this list goes to 4.1. So it would be eliminating 1 million from somewhere
in this list. And we would leave that up to the commissioners to decide. I think. Council member Deckard.
I mean, I tell you, as I've looked at this list and I did it,
last time, too. I recall this vividly. I struggled to see the obvious like pluck that, change that,
do that. A compromise option could be that we put the amount Councilor Wilts intends or amount to that
and ask for the commissioners to help figure out some prioritization or economies of scale.
The one thing I would say in their defense for this, and maybe their objection, if a shoe comes flying
at us, is again, what I said to start, there are things on there that you have to do because you have
to do, and some of it because you haven't done. And other things that I think we don't always see, but
the people making the original request do for a million good reasons.
I almost wonder if that compromise would let them assist in that process and that the language could
be advertised at the amount. Or it could be advertised at the amount that Councilor Wilts is saying
with these items on there as options for it. I don't know if that's lawful or not, but it could please
two things and maybe we could find some economies.
Councilmember Pytel. Is it possible that, I didn't count the number of items on this list, but what,
10 or 12, whatever it is, is it possible that not all of them could be funded totally, that they could
go back and just do a partial funding of some of those lines? Yeah. I think almost anything is possible
except using the bond to pay for something that's grossly outside of this list. I mean, even when they
do it, they phrase it in ways that we're able to,
you know, by some other type of camera than the camera that was initially intended. So, I mean, we are
able to do a little bit, but I think maybe that's, I do like what I think I'm hearing from Councilor
Decker, which leave the list, leave the categories, and then set the limit, and then we have more time,
you know, to figure out how we can make adjustments. But I hope that that would work. Well, in the past,
I think you yourself, Councilor Wilts, raised this a number of years ago, and then Councilor Henry brought
it up as well. These bonds, once they, once the broad, essentially this is a project management headache,
a good headache to have, but it comes back in to,
get all of this done with all the corresponding departments. And it never looks on the other side, just
how that list looks there. I could almost bet my mortgage on that. Things change, something vanishes.
I think the gel locks issue, I think that was more of an ARPA thing. But my gosh, we chased that one
until literally, I think it was Chief Deputy Parker was like, it can't be like that or the solution
is not going to be. So I almost think that that
I hate to use this word, the squishiness of this process anyway may manifest within that 3.1 and some
of this as it materializes that it's not, the elevator repair is not quite 250, it's 220 or 210 or the
estimates tell this. That I don't know, but it could be that it works within that.
Council Member Henry. To that point, we know that because of the residuals of previous year bonds, right?
And so I brought this up a year ago. And this is why, thinking again, my whole approach to this budget
has been about scales in my head. It's mostly good, and then there's things I'd really like to get into,
and there's just no time. This is one of those. Because the other way to look at how, and I presume
somewhere in a project management space, is what you'd call a basis of estimate,
in the federal government, where you would start with, well, how many radios is 120,000 radios? How
many cars equal 128,000? And then you just start lobbing off each car until you get to the price point.
Somewhere in there is a list. We never really see it at this level. It's often considered too granular
for council to get that into the weeds, but that's where you find it, right? And so to Councilor Decker's
point, if the repair comes in under budget,
that residual gets moved around a little bit. That's a little more specific with elevator repairs, but
something like cameras general can end up being other things, which means we overbonded at that point,
right? Because then there's too much flab. So if the message is, and I agree with Councilor Wiltz's
messages, just because we can doesn't mean we should, and that we need to think ahead about bonding
at a traditional level,
especially when we look ahead to a future where we may need to be doing more capital projects in the
county where that bond rating might need to get flexed in other ways. Maybe, I mean, if it's kosher
or legal, I guess, to set the number and then have them come back where they've made those cuts in their
estimate for cars and parts and things that add up to things and be sure. I would support a 3.1. All right.
Right now, this is a discussion. There's no motion on the table. We need a motion. Would we like a motion?
It is your pleasure. Well, I then move council that we establish our preference for a not to exceed
amount in resolution 2026 ordinance 2026 36.
of $3,100,000. All right. We have a motion and a second to amend ordinance 2026-36 to set the not to
exceed limit, which is found in section two, to $3,100,000. Is there any comment from council or discussion
from council? I'm going to look to the public just in case.
Someone wants to raise their hand on Teams. Is there a second? There was a second, Council Member Henry.
Thank you, sorry. Yes, we do have a hand raised on Teams. Ms. Ford, you have three minutes.
Yes, my name is Jamie Ford. I'm a Monroe County resident. Sorry, I couldn't be there in person tonight,
but I appreciate the motion to cap the limit just because it sounds to me, I'm not an expert on this,
but it sounds to me like y'all don't know exactly what you're voting in favor of. I mean, it's one thing
for the commissioners to make a vague request for ridiculous things. I still don't know what they need
a drone for, but it's another thing for y'all to vote on this, not knowing exactly what
the money and the projects are. So, I mean, yeah, if you can limit the number, sure, but it would also
be great to, like, I wanna see the granular details. I wanna know what all this stuff is for. So again,
I support Councilor Wilson, Councilor Henry's motion to start with a limit for the GO bond. Thank you.
Thank you for your public comment. Are there others? Council Member Feidl. Would it be appropriate to ask
for some time between now and the next time we meet, we'll vote on it to get a better idea of what it
is we'll be spent on. I don't know. I don't know that they, I mean, they did present a lot of information
in that slideshow. So,
While I don't remember everything they presented, for instance, it says non-LEO vehicles. I know that
that means that these are county vehicles not used by law enforcement. I don't remember if we were told
how many or for what departments. But at that point, I do trust the fleet manager to be thinking about
what's needed at the same time when we're trying to
to conserve, maybe instead of buying five vehicles, we buy four or whatever that represents.
I don't know. And I think it's entirely appropriate to ask the commissioners. And I think it's going
to be there. I think it's expected when we vote on or when we do the second reading next week and to
be able to name that expectation that council has that we're looking for a little bit more information
on what exactly is happening here. So thank you, Councilmember Feidl. All right.
I think I'm not seeing any other hands raised. We have a motion on the table to amend ordinance 2026-36.
May we please have a roll call vote. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Wilts.
Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Decker. Yes. Motion passes five to zero.
All right. This show is coming back to this council in exactly one week. So mark your calendars. Our
time is up. OK. All right. We then we are at the last item before adjournment. Does anybody else have
a final comment on tonight's budget adoption process?
Seeing none, this body is adjourned. We will gather again in one week right here in the historic NatU
Hill Room at 5 p.m. We look forward to seeing you there.