Strategy & Budget

>>MAYOR: EVERYONE WELCOME, THANK YOU FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE HERE THIS AFTERNOON.

TURN ON THE MICROPHONE, I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT. SO GOOD EVENING AND WELCOME, EVERYONE TO OUR MEETING.

TONIGHT, WE'RE GOING TO RECEIVE THE MANAGER'S PROPOSED BUDGET PRESENTATION, WHICH OUTLINES THE

PLANS FOR ADVANCING THE STRATEGIC PRIORITIES ADOPTED AND

APPROVED BY COUNCIL THCHLT PRESENTATION PROVIDES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OUR COMMUNITY TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE INVESTMENTS

PLANNED THAT WE HAVE, FOR OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND OUR CITY. TONIGHT, IS JUST THE

INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPOSAL. AFTER TONIGHT, WE WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW AND

INQUIRE AND TO BE PREPARED FOR MAY 13th BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING.

FOR MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY, WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO US TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK

AS WELL ON THE BUDGE. SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED, IF YOU WISH, IF YOU'RE WATCHING US NOW AND YOU WISH TO SPEAK ON THE

BUDGET, ON THE 13th OF MAY, PLEASE CALL THE CITY CLERK'S OFFICE AND SIGN UP.

YOU CAN DO THIS ONLINE OR BY PHONE. FOLLOWING THE PUBLIC HEARING, THE COUNCIL WILL CONVENE ON MAY

20th FOR THE BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS MEETING, WE HAVE AN ENTIRE PROCESS THAT WE'VE GONE THROUGH OVER A NUMBER OF YEARS AND THE

PROCESS PRIMARILY INCLUDES ASKING FOR THINGS THAT MAY NEED TO BE ADDED OR CHANGES, AS A RESULT OF THE BUDGET.

AND WE DO THAT BY BASICALLY HAVING VOTES AND MAKING ADJUSTMENTS AS WE MAKE THOSE

VOTES. SO STRAW VOTES, REALLY, REALLY MEAN AT SOME POINT AS YOU GET SIX VOTES, IT'S IN THE BUDGET,

AND WITHOUT SIX VOTES, IT'S NOT. SO I WANT TO LET EVERYONE --

REMIND EVERYONE THAT IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT WE HAVE TO ADOPT OUR BUDGET, NO LATER

THAN JUNE 30th BY STATE LAW AND THE BUDGET ADOPTION HERE -- I'M SORRY, BY THE END OF THE YEAR,

AND FOR US, THAT WILL BE THE BUDGET ADOPTION VOTE IS SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 10th.

I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT THAT WE UNDERSTAND THAT MEANINGFUL CHANGE REQUIRES DEDICATED

INDIVIDUALS COMMITTED TO PUBLIC SERVICE, AND I WANT TO THANK EVERY PERSON THAT TOUCHED THIS

BUDGET, EVERY DEPARTMENT AND THE WORK THAT YOU HAVE DONE TO MAKE THAT POSSIBLE FOR THE MANAGER,

TO HAVE THIS RECOMMENDATION TO US TODAY IS TRULY SOMETHING THAT

WE RECOGNIZE AND ARE REALLY GLAD THAT YOU'RE PARTICIPATING IN.

BUT BEFORE I TURN IT OVER TO THE MANAGER, WE'LL GO AROUND AND HAVE INTRODUCTIONS.

AND WE -- WE'LL START HERE WITH OUR DEPUTY CLERK. >> AERIAL SMITH, LEAD CITY

CLERK. >> GOOD EVENING, RENEE JOHNSON, I'M HONORED TO REPRESENT DISTRICT 4. >> GOOD EVENING, MARJORIE M

MOLINA, DISTRICT 5. >> DIMPLE AJMERA AT-LARGE. >> DANTE ANDERSON, MAYOR

PRO TEM, DISTRICT 1. >> VI LYLES, MAYOR. >> MARCUS JONES, CITY MANAGER --

MALCOLM GRAHAM. >>TARIQ BOKHARI: TRIKT BOKHARI,

DISTRICT 6. >> LAWANA MAYFIELD, COUNSEL MEMBER AT LARM. >> PATRICK BAKER CITY ATTORNEY.

>> CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE. >> AND WE KNOW THAT THE MANAGER IS HERE, BUT I'D LIKE TO CALL ON

ED DRIGGS, FOR A -- >>ED DRIGGS: GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY, MY NAME IS ED DRIGGS,

DISTRICT 7, I WANTED TO LET MY COLLEAGUES ON COUNCIL KNOW WE'RE NOT HAVING COMMITTEE REPORT OUTS

NTPD, WE DID DISCUSS THE TEXT AMENDMENT ON CONSERVATION THAT THE STAFF HAS PROPOSED TO US,

AND ON WHICH THEY WANT TO HAVE A VOTE ON THE 20th. YOU MAY KNOW THAT THE ZONING COMMITTEE ACTUALLY DEFERRED ANY

ACTION ON IT, SO WE WERE TALKING ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO PROCEED WITH THAT DATE ON THE 20th, AND

THE -- I THINK UNANIMOUS OPINION IT WASN'T A VOTE BUT THE UNANIMOUS OPINION OF THE GROUP

WAS THAT WE SHOULD PROCEED IN ORDER TO STOP THAT UNINTENDED DEVELOPMENT. SO IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS

ABOUT IT, OR DON'T FEEL THAT YOU WOULD BE READY ON THE 20th, PLEASE TALK TO ALYSON OR ME AND JUST BE AWARE THAT THAT'S

COMING. THAT'S REALLY ALL I WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW RIGHT NOW, THANK YOU. >>MAYOR: WITH THAT LAST

REPORT, AND THE INFORMATION THAT WE NEED, NOW, IT IS TIME FOR US TO TURN THIS OVER TO THE CITY

MANAGER, FOR HIS PRESENTATION. MR. JONES. >>MANAGER: THANK YOU, MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.

SO I'M GOING TO GO INTO A LITTLE DIFFERENT TERRITORY, JUST TO START OFF WITH BEFORE I GO INTO

THE PROPOSED BUDGET THAT I WILL RECOMMEND TO YOU TONIGHT. I THINK IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT

TO RECOGNIZE WHAT HAS HAPPENED IN OUR CITY OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST WEEK.

AND FOR US TO REMEMBER THE FOUR MEMBERS OF THE LAW ENFORCEMENT

COMMUNITY THAT WE'VE LOST. SAM, WILLIAM ELLIOTT, JOSHIA

EYER AND THOMAS WEEKS, I'VE BEEN HERE FOR EIGHT YEARS AND IT'S

NOT THE FIRST TIME AS A MANAGER THAT I'VE LOST ONE OF OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS, I'VE NEVER

SEEN THE CITY PULL TOGETHER LIKE CHARLOTTE. AND SO WHAT I JUST WANT TO SAY IS ACKNOWLEDGE THE FAMILIES

TODAY, AND TOMORROW, AND THE NEXT DAY AND THE NEXT DAY AND THE NEXT WEEK AND THE NEXT MONTH AND THE NEXT YEAR AND LET'S NOT

FORGET. THE CHIEF AND I TALKED THIS MORNING, AND JUST THE OUTPOUR OF SUPPORT, THE RESILIENCE OF THE

CITY, THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEKEND, THE FESTIVAL, SOCCER

GAME, THE KNIGHTS GAME AND JUST HOW SO MANY FOLKS IN THE COMMUNITY CAME OUT TO SAY THANK YOU AND WE SUPPORT YOU.

AND SO I JUST LOVE THIS CITY. LOVE OUR 9,000 EMPLOYEES, AND

HOW WE HANG TOGETHER AND I'M JUST PROUD TO BE THE CITY

MANAGER. SO CHARLOTTE IS -- I WOULD SAY A UNIQUE PLACE. WHEN YOU START TO REALLY THINK

ABOUT OUR CITY, WE'RE THE SECOND FASTEST GROWING SECOND IN THE

COUNTRY, WHILE WE'RE THE 15th LARGEST, WE'RE THE SECOND-FASTEST GROWING CITY FROM

A 2020-2022 TIME PERIOD. SO WE GO AND VISIT CITIES BUT WE'RE GOING FASTER THAN PHOENIX,

THAN AUSTIN, THAN DENVER. SOMEWHAT UNIQUE IN THE SENSE

THAT MANY OF THE ENTERPRISE FUNDS THAT ARE A PART OF THE CITY ARE NOT NECESSARILY PARTS

OF CITIES IN OTHER PLACES. IN OTHER WORDS, THE AIRPORT, THE

WATER SYSTEM, OR THE TRANSIT SYSTEM. THESE ENTERPRISE FUNDS PROVIDE

SERVICES TO THE REGION, NOT JUST TO CHARLOTTEANS AND MECKLENBURG COUNTY. AND WE DO ALL OF THIS WITH THE

HIGHEST BOND RATINGS AND STRONG FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT, SO KUDOS TO THIS UNIQUE CITY AND THIS

WONDERFUL TEAM. WE'VE MANAGED THROUGH CHALLENGES AND UNCERTAINTY, AND I WILL SAY THAT SOME OF THE PRESSURES THAT

WE'VE HAD IN THE PAST HAVE BEEN STABILIZING THE WORKFORCE. IT'S GREAT TO SO MANY OF THE

EMPLOYEES IN THE ROOM TONIGHT. HISTORIC INFLATION, AND A GROWTH TACKLING THAT AND MEETING

SERVICE EXPECTATIONS, AND WE'VE DONE A LOT. ORGANIZATIONAL REDUCTIONS AND

REALIGNMENTS OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST SIX YEARS, RESULTEDED IN $40 MILLION OF SAVINGS, I

BELIEVE WE USED THE FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDS, THE CARES AND THE ARPA FUNDS BETTER THAN ANY CITY IN THE COUNTRY, MAYINGING

SURE THAT WE USED THEM FOR ONE-TIME AS OPPOSED TO HAVING PROBLEMS ONCE THESE FUNDS DRY UP

AND ONE THING THAT'S IMPORTANT IS WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT THE REVENUE THAT COMES IN, ABOUT 70% OF ALL OF THE REVENUE WE

COLLECT IN THE GENERAL FUND IS RELATED TO PROPERTY TAXES AND SALES TAX. AND THOSE ARE PLACES AND SPACES

THAT WE HAVEN'T REALLY VENTURED INTO OVER THE COURSE OF THE LAST FEW YEARS. I DO WANT TO SET THE STAGE AND

TALK ABOUT THE 12 LARGEST CITIES IN NORTH CAROLINA. AND HOW WE COMPARE AND WE

BENCHMARK OURSELVES AGAINST THOSE CITIES. SO IN THE LIGHT BLUE, YOU'LL SEE THE CITIES WITH A POPULATION

MORE THAN 250,000 PEOPLE. AND WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT OUR PROPERTY TAX RATE, WE ARE

THE LOWEST OF ALL OF THESE CITIES, 13 INCLUDING, US, BY A

MILE. AND WHEN YOU START TO LOOK AT THIS, WE HAVEN'T RAISED TAXES,

PROPERTY TAXES IN THE LAST FIVE YEAR, WHERE YOU HAVE RALEIGH, WHO'S RAISED THEM THEY TIMES,

WINSTON-SALEM, FOUR TIMES AND DURHAM THREE TIMES AND I KNOW WE'RE NOT THOSE CITIES BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO SET THE

STAGE FOR HOW WE'VE MANAGED THIS CITY, WITH THE STRONG RATINGS

AND BEEN ABLE TO KEEP OUR TAX RATE LOW. WHERE I'M GOING TO START WHERE I ENDED LAST YEAR, AND WE TALKED

ABOUT WE WERE AT THIS INFLECTION POINT IN THE CITY. AND HOW DO WE GO ABOUT BEYOND

FY24? WHETHER WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A DECLINE IN SERVICES, TO KIND OF

KEEP CHUGGING ALONG WHERE WE ARE, OR ARE WE ABLE TO THINK ABOUT PROVIDING MORE, GIVEN THE

CONSTRAINTS WE HAVE AROUND THE REVENUE SNSS? YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN GREAT, EACH

JANUARY WE HAVE THE ANNUAL STRATEGY MEETING AND YOU SET THE STAGE, IT'S THE PLAYBOOK, IT'S THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO

YOU AND YOU'VE BEEN CONSISTENT WITH THESE KEY INITIATIVES LIKE AFFORDABLE HOUSING, OUR

CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY, SAFE CHARLOTTE, MOBILITY, WHAT WE DO AROUND THE ARTS AND CULTURE,

SMALL, MINORITY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND THE SEAP AND THE 2040 PLAN,

AND WHAT WE'VE DONE IN RETURN IS YOU'VE BEEN ABLE TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THESE KEY

INITIATIVES ARE, AND WE LOOK AT THIS AS REALLY THREE BUCKETS, WE DEVELOP, WE INVEST AND THEN WE

IMPLEMENT. AND SO TWO KEY INITIATIVES THAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT OVER THIS NEXT YEAR ARE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

STRATEGY, AND OUR SMALL BUSINESS STRATEGY, BOTH OF WHICH SHOULD BE COMPLETED IN THIS CALENDAR

YEAR. BUT AS WE ARE STARTING DOWN THE PATHWAY ON THOSE TWO AREAS, YOU'LL SEE AS WE GO TO THE

IMPLEMENTATION, THAT SOME OF THE OTHER AREAS, LIKE SAFE CHARLOTTE, AND OUR CORRIDORS OF

OPPORTUNITY, WE ARE FAR BEYOND JUST THE INITIAL PHASE. AND OKAY. SO THIS BUDGET ALL IN IS A $4.2

BILLION BUDGET. WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT THE GENERAL FUND, WHICH I'LL FOCUS

ON, FOR MOST OF THIS PRESENTATION, WE'LL BOOKEND IT WITH THE ENTERPRISE FUNDS, I'LL

DO IT AT THE END ALSO. JN FUND GROWS ABOUT 7.7%.

AND THAT'S WHERE OUR STARTING POINT IS. EACH YEAR, WE HAVE BUDGET

PRINCIPLES AND WE HAVE NOT DEVIATED FROM THOSE BUDGET PRINCIPLES IN THIS PROPOSED BUDGET.

SO IN OTHER WORDS, WE HAVE A TWO-YEAR LENS, WE JUST DON'T START WITH FY25.

LOOK AT FY25 AND FY26 BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT TO DO THINGS IN FY25 THAT CAUSE US A LOT OF PAIN IN

FY26. SO THE BUDGET THAT I'M PRESENTING TO YOU TONIGHT IS STRUCTURALLY BALANCED, ONGOING

REVENUE AND ONGOING EXPENDITURES, FY26, WHICH IS

ENDS JUNE 30 OF -- TWO YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT YOU'LL SEE IS

THAT ABSENT A SALARY INCREASE, THAT'S A STRUCTURALLY BALANCED BUDGET ALSO.

SO WE ALWAYS START WITH OUR EMPLOYEES, THAT'S THE FOUNDATION FOR OUR SUCCESS.

AND IT'S IMPORTANT WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT OUR EMPLOYEES, IT'S ALMOST LIKE WE HAVE ALMOST THREE WORK STREAMS, WE HAVE

PUBLIC SAFETY, WE HAVE OPERATIONS, WE HAVE ADMINISTRATION -- ADMINISTRATIVE. SO WHEN WE THINK ABOUT PUBLIC

SAFETY, SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAD TO DO WERE AROUND RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION, THE

PAID PLAN STRUCTURE CHANGES AND ANY NEW INCENTIVES, WE HAD MULTIPLE MEETINGS WITH THE

PUBLIC SAFETY PAY PLAN MEMBERS, INCLUDING TODAY, OPERATIONS, YOU KNOW, A BIT DIFFERENT.

WE'VE HAD MULTIPLE MEETINGS WITH OUR EMPLOYEES THAT ARE IN THE

OPERATIONS, AND THEY HAVE CERTAIN OTHER CHALLENGES AROUND INCREASING MINIMUM PAY, CAREER

PATH OPPORTUNITIES AND NEW INCENTIVES AND FOR THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF, A LOT TO DO WITH FEEDBACK WE RECEIVED,

FLEXIBLE WORK OPTIONS AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES. SO WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE TO SUPPORT CAREER GROWTH IN THE

CITY, LAST YEAR'S BUDGET, WE TALKED ABOUT A SPECIAL ASSISTANT AROUND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND WE'RE STARTING TO SEE THE FRUITS

OF THAT LABOR ALREADY. WE'RE STARTING TO COMBINE WHAT WE DO INTERNALLY SO WE CAN BE

STRONGER INTERNALLY AS WELL AS EXTERNALLY, SO WE'RE CONTINUING THE PREPAID TUITION ASSISTANCE

AND CAREER COACHING, AND PREPAID TUITION ASSISTANCE IS SO IMPORTANT.

BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO BEGIN WITH, IT DOESN'T HELP YOU TO GET REIMBURSED FOR SOMETHING THAT YOU DON'T HAVE.

SO WHAT WE'VE DONE IS WE TRUST OUR EMPLOYEES AND AS THEY WANT UPWARD MOBILITIED MOBILITY, WE

HAVE CONTINUED THE PREPAID TUITION AND CAREER COACHING ASSISTANCE, IN ORDER, JUST TO GIVE A SHOUT-OUT TO ANGELA

CHARLES, WE HAVE SO MANY FOLKS THAT ARE PARTICIPATING, WE CAN LEARN A LOT FROM THE SYSTEM.

AND WE ALSO HAVE ALMOST 20 APPRENTICESHIPS CITYWIDE. SO COMPENSATION INCREASES, WHAT

WE'RE DOING FOR THIS BUDGET, AND AGAIN, I WANT TO START OFF BY TALKING ABOUT WHAT WE'VE DONE DURING THE PANDEMIC, WHAT WE'RE

DOING NOW AND WHAT WE'RE GOING TO TRY TO DO IN THE FUTURE, OUR EMPLOYEES, YOU MAY RECALL, IN

FY23, 8% INCREASE AND IN FY24, A

6% INCREASE. IN THIS BUDGET, I'M PROPOSING A 5% INCREASE IF OUR HOURLY

EMPLOYEES ON TOP OF THE 8 AND THE 6, BUT ALSO, A MINIMUM OF

$3,280 FOR OUR LOWEST PAID EMPLOYEES, WHAT THAT REALLY DOES IS IT ALLOWS OUR LOWEST PAID

EMPLOYEES TO GET CLOSER TO A 7% INCREASE AND WHAT YOU'LL FIND IS THEY'RE ABOUT 1200 EMPLOYEES

THAT WILL GET 6% OR ABOVE, SO I DON'T WANT YOU TO JUST LOCK INTO THE 5%, WHAT WE'RE DOING IS

SOMETHING SIMILAR TO LAST YEAR, AND IT HELPS US WITH COMPRESSION. OUR SALARIED EMPLOYEES, WHAT WE

HAVE IS A 4% POOL LIKE THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR, AND WE CONTINUE TO -- WE CONTINUE TO

HAVE ADDITIONAL INCENTIVES SUCH AS 2.5%, IF YOU HAVE A CDL

LICENSE, RELATED TO YOUR JOB FUNCTION AS WELL AS WE TALKED ABOUT THIS A FEW YEARS AGO,

SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL PAY OF 2.5% OF SECOND AND THIRD.

SO THAT'S WHETHER IT'S THE BOSS BUS OR THE TRAIN, SOMETHING THAT WOULD COST OVER 1400, YOU GET

$32, NOT $32 A MONTH, BUT $32 FLAT. I'M RECOMMENDING THAT WE INCREASE THE MINIMUM PAY TO $23

AN HOUR. AND IF WE START TO GO BACK TO 2018, OUR MINIMUM PAY WAS 13.50.

$28,246. THAT'S REAL TOUGH TO TALK ABOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND UPWARD MOBILITY IF WE'RE NOT LOOKING

INTERNALLY AND HOW WE PAY OR EMPLOYEES, SO THIS IS A 70%EN CREASE FROM THAT PERIOD OF TIME,

WHERE OUR MINIMUM PAY FOR OUR 40-HOUR A WEEK EMPLOYEES WILL BE

$23 AN HOUR. WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE 47,840 A YEAR.

AND I WILL SAY THAT AS WE ADDRESS SOME OF THE COMPRESSION ISSUES, AND HAVE THAT BARE

MINIMUM, WHAT YOU'LL FIND IS THAT OUR EMPLOYEES THAT ARE WITH US TODAY, WITH THOSE

ADJUSTMENTS, THEY'LL MAKE JUST UNDER $50,000 A YEAR BY NOVEMBER.

SO THOSE ARE OUR LOWEST PAID EMPLOYEES, MADE CLOSE TO $50,000 A YEAR, BY NOVEMBER.

FOR THOSE 40 HOUR-WEEK EMPLOYEES SO, COMPENSATION IS IMPORTANT BUT ALSO, THERE'S ACCESS TO

INFORMATION. SO WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM OUR EMPLOYEE SNS THEY WANT FINANCIAL SUPPORT, SO WE HAVE A

COORDINATOR TO HELP THEM UNDERSTAND HOW TO NAVIGATE, WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT INCENTIVES OR PROGRAMS THAT ARE IN THE CITY

AND OUTSIDE OF THE CITY. WE'RE ADDING NEW FINANCIAL PLANNING RESOURCES, AND PROVIDES

EMPLOYEES ACCESS TO CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER. AND WE'RE HAVING FOR THE FIRST TIME AN EMERGENCY LOAN PROGRAM,

YOU DON'T WANT SOMETHING LIKE A VEHICLE REPAIR OR SOMETHING IN YOUR HOUSE TO CAUSE YOU TO FALL

BACK AS IT RELATES TO TRYING TO KEEP UP IN TERMS OF UPWARD

MOBILITY. AND WE'RE HAVING THE EMPLOYEE ADVOCATE, AND THIS EMPLOYEE ADVOCATE WILL HAVE A ROLE, A

FORMAL ROLE INVOLVED IN WORKPLACE COMPLAINT RESOLUTION AND PRETERMINATION HEARINGS.

ALSO, WHAT WE HEARD FROM OUR EMPLOYEES, IS THEY WOULD LOVE TO LIVE IN THE CITY, SO WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THERE ARE

OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR EMPLOYEES TO LIVE IN THE CITY. WE'VE HAD THE HOUSE CHARLOTTE PROGRAM, WHICH PROVIDES $30,000

IN ASSISTANCE CITYWIDE. BUT WHAT WE'RE DOING IS, WE'RE DOUBLING DOWN ON THE HOUSE

CHARLOTTE PLUS, WHICH PROVIDES $80,000 FOR ASSISTANCE, AND

PURCHASING A HOME, ANYWHERE IN A CORRIDOR. AND WE'RE SETTING ASIDE FUNDS FOR NOT ONLY CITY EMPLOYEES, BUT

COUNTY EMPLOYEES AS WELL AS CMS, AND THAT'S PART OF THE NEST

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS. WE'RE ALSO LAUNCHING A NEW INITIATIVE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CMS, WHERE WE WANT TO CREATE A

PIPELINE OF STUDENTS WHO CAN GRADUATE AND THEN COME WORK FOR THE CITY OF CHARLOTTE.

AND I WOULD HOPE THAT OTHER EMPLOYERS COULD DO THE SAME. SO WE'RE GOING TO HAVE 17 CMS

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES COME RIGHT INTO THOSE CITY JOBS, STARTING AT $47,480.

UPON GRADUATION. WE'RE LEVERAGING OUR ARPA FUNDS, WE -- YOU HAVE APPROVED 4.1

MILLION, PREVIOUSLY, AND WE HAVE $5 MILLION THAT ARE REMAINING IN ARPA FUNDS THAT ARE AROUND

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. SO WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN THAT WILL BE FINISHED THIS

YEAR. THIS CALENDAR YEAR. REMEMBER, WE TALKED ABOUT, WE

HAVE SALARY EMPLOYEES, FOLKS THAT ARE HOURLY AND LET'S TALK ABOUT PUBLIC SAFETY AND SPECIFICALLY POLICE.

WE KNEW THAT 2021-2023 WERE GOING TO BE CHALLENGING.

BECAUSE IN THE EARLY 90s, THERE WAS AN INFLUX OF POLICE OFFICERS IN CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY,

AND WHEN THEY GOT TO THAT 30-YEAR MARK, THEY RETIRE.

SO NOT ANYTHING THAT WE DID THAT WAS NOT GOOD, BUT WE JUST KNEW THAT WE WERE GOING TO LOSE A

BUNCH OF POLICE OFFICERS. CHIEF JENNINGS FALLS INTO THAT CATEGORY, AND WE'RE FORTUNATE THAT HE IS NOT RETIRING.

SO WHAT DID WE DO? WHAT WE DID IS WE HAD A SERIES

OF COMPENSATION CHANGE, WE CHANGED RECRUITMENT EFFORTS AND WE ADDED ANOTHER RECRUIT CLASS,

SO WHAT YOU'LL SEE, THE KEY HERE IS THAT AS WE WERE LOSING MORE

OFFICERS THAN WE WERE BRINGING IN, FOR EXAMPLE, NEGATIVE 28

OFFICERS THAT LEFT THE SYSTEM VERSUS COMING IN, 22 MINUS 52,

23, WHICH WAS THE PEAK OF RETIREMENTS, 91. WE HAD, YOU KNOW, MINUS 8, WHAT

WE'RE SEEING RIGHT NOW, IS THROUGH ALL OF THESE EFFORTS, IS THAT IN 2024, WE BELIEVE THAT

WE'RE GOING TO HAVE MORE THAN 200 NEW OFFICERS COME IN, TWICE AS MUCH AS WHAT WE WOULD HAVE

HAD IN 21 OR 22 AND WE SEE THAT

SAME GOING FORWARD IN 25 AND 26. SO WE ARE HOPEFUL THAT WE HAVE

NOW GOTTEN PAST THAT 30-YEAR MARK, WITH THE FOLKS WHO CAME IN THE EARLY 90s.

BUT WE'RE CONTINUING WITH THAT PLAN. AND FOR THE PAST TWO BUDGETS, WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO DO, WHICH

YOU APPROVED, WAS TO INCREASE POLICE OFFICER PAY. AND THERE WAS A PART OF RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

PROGRAM, THE LAST TWO YEARS, STARTING PAY INCREASED BY 23%. AND TOP PAY OVER THE LAST TWO

YEARS INCREASED BY 14%, SO TOP PAY FOR A POLICE OFFICER TODAY

WITH A FOUR-YEAR DEGREE IS

99,811. AND STARTING PAY FOR A POLICE OFFICER WITH A FOUR-YEAR DEGREE IS 62,911.

WHAT WE'RE DOING ON TOP OF THAT, WE ARE INCREASING BETWEEN 5-7.5%

INCREASES FOR POLICE OFFICERS ON TOP OF WHAT WE'VE DONE IN THE PAST TWO YEARS.

AND MAYBE SOMETHING THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE NOT BEEN FAMILIAR WITH, BUT BACK IN THE 2011, AS A

BUDGET SAVING INITIATIVE, POLICE MOVED FROM A 14-DAY PAY CYCLE TO

A 28 DAY PAY CYCLE. IT'S BEEN ONE OF THEIR TOP ISSUES FOR A WHILE.

I AM RECOMMENDING THAT WE MOVE BACK TO THAT 14-DAY PAY CYCLE.

BECAUSE THE BUDGET SAVINGS BACK IN 2011 DOESN'T REALLY VIBE WITH

WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO TODAY WITH OUR SWORN. BUT WE ARE ALSO DOING MORE THAN JUST COMPENSATION, WE'RE

INVESTING IN REDUCING THE WORKLOAD OF OUR POLICE OFFICERS, THE SAFE CHARLOTTE INITIATIVE,

TALKED A LOT ABOUT AREAS SUCH AS CARES TEAM, AND CIVILIAN CRASH

INVESTIGATORS AND THIS BUDGET, THERE'S FUNDING FOR BOTH. SO WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT THE CIVILIAN CRASH

INVESTIGATORS, WHICH ARE 16 OF THEM, WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO IS BASICALLY ALLOW

OUR SWORN TO GET BACK TO OTHER AREAS OF POLICING AND THE VALUE OF THAT IS ABOUT 25,000 HOURS

PER YEAR WITH A EQUIVALENT OF 12 FULL TIME POLICE OFFICERS, WE'RE ALSO TAKING THE CARES TEAM AND WE ARE ADDING AN ADDITIONAL TEAM

AS WELL AS EXPANDING THE HOURS, AND A NEW GEOGRAPHY. AND WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT

RESPONSES TO CALLS, A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, ACTUALLY, OCTOBER OF

2022, WE HAD A NUMBER OF ISSUES, WITH TRYING TO ADDRESS 911 CALLS

WITHIN THAT FIRST TEN SECONDS. SO WHAT WE'RE DOING IS WE'VE

DONE A LOT TO HELP WITH THIS COMPENSATION WITH THE PAY THAT I MENTIONED EARLIER, BUT ACTUALLY

RECRUITING TECHNIQUES, AND WE HAVE REALLY GOTTEN THAT CALL

RESPONSE CLOSE TO 85% OF ALL OF THE CALLS ARE ANSWERED WITHIN 10

SECONDS. A LITTLE BIT LESS THAN THAT, 9, BUT VERY DIFFERENT THAN WHERE WE WERE IN OCTOBER OF 2022.

WE BELIEVE BY ADDING 15 TELECOMMUNICATORS AND BUILDING OUT THE CALL CENTER WITH

RENOVATIONS THAT WE CAN GET BACK TO THAT 90% OF THE CALLS BEING

ANSWERED, 90% WITHIN TEN SECONDS, THE SAME THING WITH FIRE, ALL OF THE FIREFIGHTERS IN THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR, RECEIVE

BETWEEN 5-8% IN TERMS OF A COMPENSATION INCREASE, AND

COUNCIL DURING THE BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS MADE SURE FOR SIMILAR ROLES IN POLICE AND FIRE, THAT THERE WAS NO MORE

THAN A 5% SEPARATION TERMS OF COMPENSATION. AND IN FY25, WE'RE GOING TO BUILD ON THAT.

AND HAVE UP TO 7.5% COMPENSATION INCREASE FOR OUR FIREFIGHTERS,

BUT WE'RE ALSO ADDING 72 POSITIONS, 57 FIREFIGHTERS, BECAUSE AS WE'RE BUILDING THESE

STATIONS, COMING ONLINE, AS WE ARE ADDRESSING THE GROWTH, WE NEED TO STAFF OUR FIRE ALSO, WE

TALKED ABOUT INSPECTIONS LAURA HARRIS -- LAST YEAR, WE'RE

ADDING 12 INSPECTORS AND 3 CIVILIAN, I ALSO -- EVERY EMPLOYEE FOR THE CITY OF

CHARLOTTE IS IN THE NORTH CAROLINA LOCAL GOVERNMENT RETIREMENT SYSTEM, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF FIRE.

SO FIRE HAS ITS OWN INDEPENDENT RETIREMENT SYSTEM. WHAT I'M RECOMMENDING IN THIS

BUDGET IS TO PUT MORE INTO THE RETIREMENT SYSTEM THAN WHAT WE HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED BECAUSE I

HAVE A BIT OF CONCERN ABOUT THE FUNDING STA STATUS, BUT ALSO RECOMMENDING IN THIS BUDGET THAT

WE HAVE THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES CFRS BOARD OF TRUSTEES WORK WITH THE STAFF TO SEE HOW WE CAN COME

UP WITH A FUNDING STRATEGY TO RAISE THAT FUNDING STATUS FOR

FIRE. WE HAVE $107 MILLION OF FIRE INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM.

AND THAT INCLUDES NEW INFILL STATIONS AND REPLACEMENT STATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY.

THE CAPITAL PLAN THAT I'M PRESENTING TONIGHT HAS $58.5

MILLION FROM FY25-FY29, TO HELP FINISH BUILDING OFF THESE

STATIONS, YOU MAY REMEMBER FIVE OR SIX YEARS AGO, THERE WAS POLICE STATIONS THAT WE WERE

BUILDING AND NOW WE'RE BUILDING A NUMBER OF FIRE STATIONS AS IT HELPS US RESPONDING TO CALLS.

I WILL SAY THAT I BELIEVE WE HAVE CREATED A CULTURE AND AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE CHARLOTTE IS A GOOD PLACE TO WORK AND THAT

THAT'S IMPORTANT WHEN YOU START TO FOCUS ON YOUR EMPLOYEES. NOW, YOU HAVE A NUMBER OF KEY INITIATIVES THAT WE TALKED ABOUT

DURING THE ANNUAL STRATEGY MEETING. AND I WANTED TO COVER THEM JUST

QUICKLY. AND SOME SPECIFICALLY AFFORDABLE HOUSING, ARTS AND CULTURE, CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY,

MINORITY WOMEN AND SMALL BUSINESS, STRATEGIC ENERGY ACTION PLAN AND SAFE CHARLOTTE.

SO LET'S START OFF WITH AFFORDABLE HOUSING, THE LAST THREE BOND CYCLES, WE'VE HAD

MORE FUNDS IN THE LAST THREE BOND CYCLES THAN WE HAD IN THE PREVIOUS NINE BOND CYCLES.

SO IF YOU START TO THINK ABOUT THIS, 150 MILLION FROM 2018,

2020 AND 22 BDD CYCLES VERSUS 1

WHICH IS ROUGHLY 2000 UP TO THE 2016 BOND CYCLE. AND IN THAT, THESE LAST THREE

BOND CYCLES, WE'VE CREATED 6,500 UNITS AND SHELTERING, SO WE

THINK THAT WE HAVE DONE A VERY GOOD JOB WITH THE TRUST FUND.

AND TO THE POINT WHERE NORMALLY WE HAVE A SPRING RFP, BUT WE HAVE RUN OUT OF MONEY.

SO THAT LEADS ME TO RECOMMENDING THAT WE INCREASE THE BOND IN

2024 TO $100 MILLION. AND IN THAT, WE'VE SHOWN THAT WE CAN DO 15 MILLION WE'VE SHOWN

THAT WE CAN DO 50 WHEN THE PRIVATE SECTOR COMES IN AND ADDS 50 TO IT ALSO, I THINK WHAT'S

IMPORTANT IS AS WE GO THROUGH THIS, AND THERE'S A LOT THAT'S GOING ON WITH THE NEST COMMISSION, THERE'S A LOT THAT'S GOING ON WITH THE HOUSING, AND

COMMUNITY SAFETY COMMISSION, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE MAXIMIZING THE USE OF THESE FUNDS AND WE'RE

ABLE TO GET MORE THAN JUST HOUSING BUT THE OPPORTUNITY FOR UPWARD MOBILITY WITHIN OUR

COMMUNITY. WE ALSO, AS ONE OF YOUR KEY AREAS, KEY INITIATIVES HAS BEEN

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAYBOOKS FOR THE SIX CORRIDORS AND I WOULD SAY THAT, YOU KNOW,

EVEN THE WEST BOULEVARD CORRIDOR, PREDATES MANY OF THE

CORRIDOR PLAYBOOKS BECAUSE IT WAS JUST AN IDEA, AND THEN THE IDEA WAS ALSO EMBRACED BY THE

OTHER FIVE CORRIDORS. SO WE'RE FINALLY TO THE POINT WHERE WE HAVE ALL OF THE

PLAYBOOKS DONE AND SO IT'S TIME TO ACT. WE HAD $10 MILLION PLANNED IN

THE FY25 BUDGET FOR OUR CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY, I COULD TELL FROM THE

CONVERSATIONS DURING THE ANNUAL STRATEGY MEETING AND SUBSEQUENT BUDGET MEETINGS THAT THIS WAS

NOT GOING TO FLY SO, WHAT I'M RECOMMENDING IS TO TRIPLE THAT AND $30 MILLION IN THIS BUDGET

FOR OUR CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY. 25 MILLION OF IT BEING RELATED

TO THE CIP AND 5 MILLION IN WHAT WE CALL PAY-GO AND WE'VE BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL WITH THESE

INITIATIVES IN THE PAST. ALSO, SUPPORTING ARTS IN OUR

ECOSYSTEM, THIS GOES BACK TO 2021 WHEN THE MAYOR PUT TOGETHER AN AD HOC COUNCIL COMMITTEE AND

IT WAS IN RESPONSE TO INSTABILITY IN THE LACK OF FUNDING IN THE ARTS AND CULTURE

ECOSYSTEM. WORKPLACE GIVING HAD GONE DOWN PRERECESSION PEAK WAS $10.7

MILLION. FOR THESE ORGANIZATIONS. BY THE TIME WE WERE AT 2021 THAT, 10.7 WENT DOWN TO $4.3

MILLION, SOMETHING HAD TO BE DONE. MAINLY BECAUSE OF A LOT OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE IN FACILITIES

IN WHICH WE HAVE DEBT ON, AND THAT WE PAY DEBT ON THESE FACILITIES AND WE COULDN'T LET THE LIGHTS GO OUT.

SO WE STARTED OFF WITH A REQUEST THAT IF THE CITY PUT IN 4

MILLION, COULD THE PRIVATE SECTOR ALSO PUT IN 4 MILLION OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, THE PRIVATE SECTOR, I GUESS, TOOK

OUR OPENING BID AND RAISED IT BY 2. AND CAME IN WITH 6 MILLION OVER

3-YEAR PERIOD FOR 18 MILLION. CITY COUNCIL MATCHED THAT 18 MILLION AND WE HAD $36 MILLION

TO PUT IN TO THE ECOSYSTEM. OVER THREE-YEAR PERIOD, ACTUALLY PRIVATE THE SECTOR CAME IN WITH

AN EXTRA $5 MILLION, SO IT BECAME AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE

CITY TO DEVELOP A PLAN, WITH THE PRIVATE SECTOR, TO SEE WHAT WE

WOULD DO AFTER THAT THREE-YEAR PERIOD, WE'RE AT THE END OF THE THREE-YEAR PERIOD AND MY

RECOMMENDATION IS TO HAVE $11 MILLION, WHICH IS THREE TIMES THE CITY'S PRECOVID AMOUNT PUT

INTO ARTS AND CULTURE. SO THAT WE CANNOT ONLY STABILIZE THE ECOSYSTEM, BUT TO MAKE THE

ECOSYSTEM GROW. SO WE'RE CARRYING FORWARD THE PREVIOUS ASC AND INFUSION FUND

ORGANIZATIONS. WITH LIMITED EXCEPTIONS. THERE ARE FEWER ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY

THAT WOULD BE FUNDED BY THE COUNTY. AND WHAT WE WOULD DO IS ADD $9

MILLION TO THESE ORGANIZATIONS, MUCH LIKE IT HAS BEEN DONE IN

THE PAST. THERE'S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR COLLABORATION WITH THE COUNTY, THAT THEY, TOO, MAY BE ABLE TO

FUND SOME OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS FOR THEIR EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS.

SO THAT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE WOULD NOT ONLY JUST STABILIZE THE ARTS AND CULTURE ECOSYSTEM,

BUT NOW, HAVE A PATHWAY FORWARD FOR THEM TO GROW. AND THEN WHAT WE FOUND ALSO IS THE INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND

ORGANIZATIONS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THE ECOSYSTEM, TOO. SO WE WOULD -- I'M RECOMMENDING THAT WE SET ASIDE $2 MILLION OF

THIS 11 FOR THAT. I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WHEN ALL OF THE DUST SETTLES, AND WE

SEE THE CITY'S CONTRIBUTION AND THE COUNTY'S CONTRIBUTION THAT

YOU WILL SEE IT'S SOMETHING GOOD THAT IS FOR WHAT WE CALL THE BIGS, THE SMALLS, THE MEDIUMS,

THOSE THAT -- THE GROUPS AS WELL AS THE INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.

AND SO I BELIEVE THAT THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE WANTED WHEN YOU SAID LET'S CHANGE THE TRAJECTORY OF

ARTS AND CULTURE IN OUR COMMUNITY. WE'RE ALSO VERY EXCITED TO BE A PART OF BLOOMBERG AMERICAN

SUSTAINABLE CITIES, ONE OF 25 CITIES NATIONWIDE THAT HAVE BEEN BROUGHT IN, REPRESENTS ABOUT 10

MILLION PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY. AND A BLOOMBERG HAS BEEN VERY

CLEAR, IT IS HOW CAN WE START SUPER CHARGE THREE OF THE EXISTING FOCUS AREAS? SO THE CONCEPT IS HOW MIGHT WE

DELIVER ON THE MOST EQUITABLE, SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE AND CLEAN ENERGY INVESTMENT IN

CHARLOTTE'S HISTORY, WHILE BUILDING BLACK WEALTH? MADE IT VERY CLEAR THAT IS HOW

THEY'RE GOING TO HELP US WITH AN INNOVATION TEAM WITH THREE STAFF

AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE. ALSO IMPLEMENTED THE MW/SBE

POLICIES AND PROGRAMS, RECENTLY, WHEN THE CITY PUT $2 MILLION IN

TO LAUNCH CHARLOTTE SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH FUND, THAT ACTUALLY HELPED PULL IN ANOTHER

$38 MILLION SO THAT $40 MILLION OVER FOUR-YEAR PERIOD, ARE GOING

TO HELP 2,000 BUSINESSES WITH 70% OF THOSE BUSINESSES BEING ESTIMATED TO BE BUSINESSES OF

COLOR. THE CHARLOTTE BUSINESS AND INCLUSION, WHAT WE'RE DOING IS FOCUSING ON MW/SBE SUBCONTRACTOR TS, TO SEE HOW WE CAN GET THEM

TO BE PRIMES AND IN BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, WE CONTINUE TO SUPPORT AMP UP AND NEXT

CHARLOTTE, THAT IS GRADUATING COMPANIES AND WE'RE SEEING SOME WONDERFUL THINGS HAPPENING IN

OUR ECOSYSTEM. I WOULDN'T BE A BUDGET PRESENTATION WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT SEAP, A FABRIC OF OUR

ORGANIZATION, SOMETIMES YOU LOOK INTO THE BUDGET AND TRY TO FIND A LINE THAT SAYS SEAP, I DON'T

THINK THAT'S THE WAY WE LOOK AT IT ANYMORE, IT'S LIKE THE CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY, IT'S WHAT WE DO. AND WE'RE STARTING TO GET

ACCOLADES, RANKED IN THE TOP 20% BY THE AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR ENERGY EFFICIENT ECONOMY.

AND WE HAVE AN A MINUS IN, YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES YOU DON'T WANT AN A MINUS, BUT FOR DISCLOSURE

INSIGHT ACTION FOR A SUPERIOR SUSTAINABLE, THE NATIONAL AVERAGE IS A B, SO I'LL TAKE

THAT A MINUS ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. WE'RE ALSO IMPLEMENTING THE

EXISTING PLAN WHILE ADDING A NEW FOCUS TO SAFE CHARLOTTE. MUCH OF THE WORK IS BEING DONE

IN THE REFERRAL PROCESS, THE EMPHASIS ON AGE 17 AND BELOW. PROPERTY AND VIOLENT CRIME AT

RISK YOUTH, FIRST-TIME OFFENDERS AND REPEAT OFFENDERS, AND SO THIS BUDGET SETS ASIDE $3.5

MILLION FOR THE WORK THAT WILL COME OUT OF THE COMMITTEE. AND IT SHOULD BE CONSISTENT WITH

WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE? BUT WE'RE ALSO HA

PORTUNITIES TODAY IN OUR CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY WITH

OUR MAYORS YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM, WHERE WE'RE HAVING 150 MY UP INDIVIDUALS IN THE

CORRIDOR THIS YEAR, A THREE-TIME INCREASE FROM THE SUMMER OF 2023, AS WELL AS NEW

PARTNERSHIPS WITH TEACH FOR AMERICA, AND OUR CORRIDORS, AS WE START TO TALK ABOUT ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENCE AS WELL

AS OUR HOSPITAL-BASE VIOLENCE INTERVENTION PROGRAM, WHICH WE

CALL BOOST, WE'RE FINDING THAT FOR EVERYONE -- EVERY $1 THAT

THE CITY INVESTS, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND I WOULD HAVE TO SAY KUDOS TO

REPRESENTATIVE ALMA ADAMS, FOR BRINGING HOME SIGNIFICANT DOLLARS AS IT RELATES TO OUR

ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENCE, AND ALSO, FOR THE RECENT AWARD FROM

ATRIUM TO THE BOOST PROGRAM, THAT IS THE HOSPITAL-BASED INITIATIVE. WE TALK ABOUT SAFETY AND YOU

CAN'T TALK ABOUT SAFETY WITHOUT HAVING A CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN UPTOWN. WE USED TO ALWAYS LOOK TO THIS

AS A THREE LEGGED STOOL OR A THREE PILLARS, THE QUALITY OF LIFE, THE PUBLIC REALM, AND

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE HAPPENING IN UPTOWN, AND I -- KUDOS TO CHIEF JENNINGS AS THEY HAVE BEEN

ABLE TO REDUCE VIOLENT CRIME, CERTAIN PROGRAMS, BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO HAVE THIS $5

MILLION INVESTMENT AS WE START TO THINK ABOUT THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT, ALSO, AND QUALITY

OF LIFE THAT WE HAVE IN UPTOWN. AND SO I'M GOING TO DO MY BEST

TO READ FROM RIGHT TO LEFT, WHICH ALWAYS CONFUSES ME WHEN SHE DOES THAT. BUT THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE BEEN

WITH MOBILITY. AND IF YOU START, JUNE, 2022, WE

HAD OUR STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN AND I THINK THAT THE ROOM MORE OR LESS SAID, WHERE'S THIS THING

GOING? AND THEN A YEAR LATER, WE HAD THE STRATEGIC MOBILITY PLAN, THE

BLUEPRINT, THAT REALLY STARTED TO TALK ABOUT AREAS. AND THEN MOST RECENTLY, APRIL

2024, WE HAD A STRATEGIC INVESTMENT AREAS WHERE WE STARTED TO TALK ABOUT THOSE 16

BUNDLES, AND IT ALMOST BECAME I GUESS, A FRAMEWORK FOR HOW WE TALK ABOUT OTHER GROWTH ISSUES

THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY. SO IT TOOK US A WHILE, BUT WE FEEL WE'RE IN A GOOD PLACE, IF

WE START TO TALK ABOUT THE FEBRUARY BUDGET WORKSHOP, WE HAD A STEADY STATE OF $210 MILLION

IN EACH BOND CYCLE. WE DID THAT, YEARS AGO, BECAUSE WE WANTED SOME CERTAINTY IN WHAT

WE COULD AFFORD, AND WHAT WE COULD AFFORD MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WE WANTED. BUT IT DID ALLOW US TO HAVE THIS

FISCALLY CONSTRAINT OPPORTUNITY AS WE MOVE FORWARD AND IN THE ANNUAL STRATEGY MEETING, WE CAME

BACK AND SAID, WELL, THAT CAPACITY HAD GROWN FROM 210 TO 228, BUT ALSO, THERE WAS SOME

PULLS ON THAT CAPACITY BECAUSE OF INFLATION. AND AS I HAVE, YOU KNOW, TALKED ABOUT EARLIER, WHEN WE START TO

TALK ABOUT THIS BLUEPRINT AND WHAT WE'RE DOING IN MOBILITY, WE HAVE THESE 16 FOCUS AREAS AND WE

CALL THEM THE STRATEGIC INVESTMENT AREAS. AND WE ALSO HAVE THE CORRIDORS

OF OPPORTUNITY. SO WHILE THIS IS JUST A BUNCH OF BUBBLES, THAT YOU HAVE RIGHT NOW, I THINK HERE'S THE KEY WITH

IT. WE NEED TO BE -- MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE FOCUSED ON INVESTMENTS

THAT CAN MAXIMIZE WHAT WE INVEST, MAKE SURE IT'S SCALEABLE, MAKE SURE IT'S

MEASURABLE AND ADAPTABLE. YOU GUYS FELL IN LOVE WITH SOME OF THE FOLKS WHO VISITED US DURING THE ANNUAL STRATEGY

MEETING, WELL, WE HAVE A COUPLE OF THEM ON THE CONTRACT, AND THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLY THIS.

WE'RE GOING TO PUT $2 MILLION ASIDE TO LOOK AT INNOVATION PILOTS THROUGHOUT THE CITY, AND

THAT IS MICROTRANSIT, MOBILITY HUBS, VEHICLE TO INFRASTRUCTURE

COMMUNICATIONS, TRANSPORTATION DEMAND STRATEGIES, HOW CAN WE TAKE TECHNOLOGY AND DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT? AND MAYBE MORE IMPORTANTLY, HOW

CAN WE GET PROJECTS SHOVEL READY SO THE COMMUNITY CAN SAY, OKAY, WE'RE NOT GOING TO PUT SOMETHING

ON THE SHELF. AND WAIT FOR 6-8 YEARS. SO AGAIN, AS COUNCIL MEMBER

BOKHARI WOULD SAY, WHAT'S THE PUNCH LINE? OKAY, SO IF WE LOOK AT THIS, WE CAN STAY WHERE WE ARE AT THE 210

MILLION, 228, BUT HOPEFULLY YOU FEEL YOU HAVE AN APPETITE FOR

SOME OF THINGS THAT I'VE SHOWN YOU UP TO THIS POINT. SO WE HAVE A COUPLE OF OPTIONS,

I STILL BELIEVE WHEN WE START TO THINK ABOUT A TRANSPORTATION

INITIATIVE, THAT'S BOLD, IT'S FOR THIS REGION, I DO BELIEVE THE SALES TAX IS THE BEST WAY TO

GO. WHEN YOU START TO THINK ABOUT THE SALES TAX, 30% OF THE PEOPLE THAT ACTUALLY PAY THE SALES TAX

DO NOT LIVE IN MECKLENBURG COUNTY SO THERE'S DIFFERENT WAYS THAT SALES TAX COULD BENEFIT ALL

OF US, BUT WE HAVE TO COME TOGETHER AS A REGION TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT. TODAY I'M SUGGESTING A ONE-TIME

INFUSION THAT'S NOT SALES TAX RELATED. SO MY PROPOSAL IS TO TAKE THAT

210 MILLION DOLLAR PLAN BOND AND HAVE IT MOVED UP TO $400 MILLION. AND WE DO THAT A COUPLE OF WAYS.

ONE IS I CALL IT PULLING FORWARD CAPACITY. REMEMBER, WE HAVE $228 MILLION

OF CAPACITY IN EACH BOND FOR THE NEXT 10-20-30 YEARS SO PULL SOME

OF THAT CAPACITY FORWARD. AND ADD SOME REVENUE INTO IT. AND LET'S SEE WHAT WE CAN DO FOR

THIS UPCOMING BOND TO SHOW THE COMMUNITY THAT WE'RE READY TO DO MORE. SO WHAT'S IN THIS UPCOMING BOND?

THE 400 MILLION? THE CORRIDORS OF OPPORTUNITY AS I MENTIONED EARLY WHYIER, WE HAD

-- EARLIER, WE HAD 10 MILLION PLANNED, ADD 15 MILLION TO THAT, THE HIGHEST ON RECORD FOR

CORRIDORS BOND. I MENTIONED THAT HOUSING, 50 IS WHAT'S PLANNED, I'M RECOMMENDING THAT IT DOUBLES

TO 100, AGAIN, THE HIGHEST ON RECORD. AND THEN, FOR THE

TRANSPORTATION, WE HAD 115 MILLION PLANNED. I'M RECOMMENDING THAT WE MOVE IT UP TO 238 MILLION, WHICH IS 123

MILLION MORE THAN PLANNED. AND THAT 238 MILLION WILL BE THE

HIGHEST ON RECORD FOR ANY TRANSPORTATION BOND. LET'S DO A DEEP DIVE INTO WHAT'S GOING ON.

SO IF WE GO AND COMPARE THAT 210 TO WITH WHERE WE'RE GOING AT

THIS 400 MILLION, BICYCLES WAS AT 8 MILLION. WE'RE CONTINUING THAT 8 MILLION.

CONGESTION MITIGATION WAS AT 10 MILLION, WE'RE CONTINUING IT AT THAT. BUT WHAT WE'RE DOING IS AS WE

START TO THINK ABOUT THE VISION ZERO, WE HAD 400 PLANNED, I'M RECOMMENDED 20 MILLION, SO

THAT'S WHERE THIS 210 IS GROWING, TO THE 400. WE THINK THAT VISION ZERO IS A

GREAT INVESTMENT. AND THIS WILL BE FIVE TIMES MORE THAN WHAT WAS PLANNED. SAME CONCEPT WITH SIDEWALKS,

SIDEWALKS, WE ONLY HAD $20 MILLION PLANNED. I'M SUGGESTING THAT WE MOVE THAT BACK UP TO 50 MILLION, WHICH

MATCHES THE HIGHEST THAT'S ON RECORD. AND THAT'S 2.5 TIMES WHAT WAS PLANNED.

AND THE NEW PROGRAM, SETTING ASIDE $55 MILLION, RECOMMENDING FOR THE STRATEGIC INVESTMENT

AREAS. THOSE 16 AREAS, WE HAD TALKED ABOUT, YOU KNOW, MAY COST YOU ANYWHERE FROM $20-25 MILLION FOR

ANY AREA, BUT IF YOU PUT THAT ON TOP OF SIDEWALKS, AND ON TOP OF

CONGESTION MITIGATION AND WHAT WE HAVE SET ASIDE FOR THE CORRIDORS, I REALLY BELIEVE THAT

WE CAN MOVE SOME PROJECTS FORWARD FASTER, AND WE'RE GOING TO CHANGE THE WAY THAT WE

DELIVER PROJECTS. LOOKING AT FUTURE BOND CYCLES, FOR THE 2026 BOND CYCLE, I'M

RECOMMENDING 243.5 MILLION, THE SAME FOR THE 2028, PULLING SOME

OF THAT CAPACITY FORWARD, BY THE TIME WE GET OUT OF THESE LAST THREE BOND CYCLES, WE GO BACK TO

SOMETHING THAT IS CLOSER TO THE 210, BUT NOT 210, A LITTLE BIT MORE, 220 MILLION IN PERPETUITY.

SO HOW DO WE IMPLEMENT THE VISION? I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO TALK ABOUT AND WE DID THIS AT THE

RETREAT, THAT I BELIEVE THERE'S GREAT VALUE FOR OUR RESIDENTS, BECAUSE THE COST OF SERVICE AND

THAT IS WHEN YOU TAKE THE CITY AND THE COUNTY SERVICES COMBINED, THEIR TAXES, THE WATER

SEWER, STORMWATER, VEHICLE FEES, SOLID WASTE AND RECYCLE, CHARLOTTE IS $1500 LESS THAN THE

NEXT LARGE CITY ON THAT LIST. SO THERE'S VALUE FOR THE SERVICES THAT WE PROVIDE. AND AGAIN, WE'VE ALREADY TALKED

ABOUT OUR PROPERTY TAX HISTORY AND WHERE WE ARE. SO WHAT I'M RECOMMENDING IS A

1.5 CENTS PROPERTY TAX INCREASE, O OKAY? NINE TENTHS OF THAT WILL BE IN

THE -- NINE TENTHS OF THE PENNY, NINE TENTHS OF THE PENNY WILL BE IN THE GENERAL FUND.

AND VIRTUALLY ALL OF THAT IS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY. WE'VE GONE BACK AND LOOKED AT A

PUBLIC SAFETY INCREASES OVER THE LAST 20 YEARS, THIS WILL BE THE LARGEST, AND THIS IS HELPING

FUND THAT. AND THEN THERE IS A .3 CENT INCREASE THAT WE'RE MOVING RIGHT

INTO THE CIP. AND PULLING SOME FUNDS FORWARD.

OR PASS FORWARD. AND A .3 CENT FOR ARTS AND CULTURE FOR A TOTAL OF 1.5, SO

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? THAT'S ROUGHLY $4.48 A MONTH.

FOR THE TYPICAL HOMEOWNER. OR ROUGHLY ABOUT $54 A YEAR.

ALSO, THERE'S $7 MILLION LEFT IN ARPA INTEREST. THAT IS NOT PROGRAMMED IN THIS

BUDGET WHATSOEVER. MY RECOMMENDATION IS THAT AS THE COUNCIL DECIDES ON HOW TO USE

THIS REMAINING $7 MILLION OF ARPA INTEREST, THAT IT CONTINUES TO BE FOR ONE-TIME ISSUES, AND

NOT ONGOING. AND SERVING OUR REGION, BOOKEND,

HOW UNIQUE WE ARE AS A CITY, SOMING THINGS, YOU KNOW THESE THING, WE START TO THINK ABOUT

AVIATION AND WE HAVE -- IT'S WORTH 5% OF THE STATE'S GDP,

IT'S THE SEVENTH BUSIEST AIRPORT IN THE WORLD, AND WE HAD 53 PLUS

MILLION PASSENGERS IN 2023, IT'S NOT A SMALL THING. WATER AND STORMWATER, IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT WE SERVE

MORE THAN 1 MILLION CUSTOMERS PER DAY IN MULTIPLE JURISDICTIONS. IT SERVES FOUR COUNTIES AND FOUR

CITIES. IT'S NOT JUST THE CITY OF CHARLOTTE SO THANK YOU, ANGELA THERE.

AND THEN, I DON'T KNOW IF BRENT IS IN THE ROOM, BUT THE CHARLOTTE AREA TRANSIT, I GIVE

KUDOS TO BRENT CAGLE, FOR STEPPING IN, 12 MILLION PEOPLE THAT ARE SERVED ANNUALLY,

RELIABILITY IS UP, A YEAR AGO, YOU KNOW, 10% OF THE TRIPS WERE

MISSED. LESS THAN 1% OF THE TRIPS, IN TERMS OF VACANCIES, VACANCIES HAVE BEEN CUT IN HALF.

RECRUITMENT IS UP. COMMUNICATIONS BETTER. MORALE IS BETTER.

AND TO HAVE ENTERPRISE FUNDS LIKE THESE THAT ARE OPERATED BY THE CITY THAT ARE EXCEPTIONAL, I

THINK THAT'S KUDOS TO THE ENTIRE TEAM. THE FEES AS WE LOOK AT THE FEE

INCREASE, SOLID WASTE FEE IS GOING TO GO UP BASICALLY 78 CENTS A MONTH.

THE WATER FEE ROUGHLY $4.30 A MONTH. AND STORMWATER 47 CENTS A MONTH.

SO WHILE THIS IS AN INFUSION IN THE 2024 BOND, I THINK IT'S

PUTTING US ON THE RIGHT TRAJECTORY, THIS 1.5 CENT

INCREASE. AND THIS COMES AT A TIME NOW, MAYOR AND COUNCIL, WHERE I TURN THIS OVER TO YOU.

IT'S YOUR BUDGET. WE STAND READY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU HAVE OVER THE

NEXT WEEKS, AND I ALSO WANT TO THANK TEAM CHARLOTTE, ALL OF THE

ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER AND THE ALL OF THE DEPARTMENT HEADS, ESPECIALLY OUR BUDGET DIRECTOR, RYAN BERGMAN, AND OUR CFO,

TERESA SMITH, IT'S ALMOST A YEAR AROUND ENDEAVOR TO PUT A BUDGET TOGETHER, AND WE BELIEVE WE HAVE

CAPTURED THE ESSENCE OF SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT YOU'VE BROUGHT TO OUR ATTENTION OVER THE LAST YEAR, SO MAYOR, WITH THAT SAID,

IT'S YOUR BUDGET. AND I APPRECIATE THE TIME THAT YOU'VE GIVEN ME TONIGHT. >>MAYOR: THANK YOU VERY MUCH,

MR. JONES. -- THIS IS OUR PROCESS FOR NOW. YOU WILL GET A COPY OF THE DECK.

FROM THE BUDGET OFFICE. AND SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT KIND OF KEEPING THE DECK AND THE SLIDES WERE.

BUT I THINK WHAT'S MOST IMPORTANT HERE IS THAT I BELIEVE THAT YOU'VE GIVEN US A TON OF

INFORMATION. AND SO MUCH OF THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING, YOU'RE GETTING THE BUDGET BOOKS NOW.

BUT I BELIEVE THAT WE REALLY NEED TO TAKE SOME TIME TO READ, ABSORB, REVIEW, AND INQUIRE, AND

THE INQUIRY IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT IF WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE TO DO THIS WORK, AND

START THINKING ABOUT WHAT WE WANT TO DO AND ACCOMPLISH, WE WILL HAVE MEETINGS AND YOU CAN

SEE THAT WE'LL HAVE THE PUBLIC HEARING ON THE 13th. BUT THERE WILL BE MEETINGS FOR

THE COUNCIL AT ANY POINT IN TIME FOR REVIEW OF THE BUDGET. AND WE'LL BE WORKING WITH OUR --

YOUR -- WHAT DO THEY CALL -- GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT SCHEDULE OUR LIVES FOR US, IT'S

CONSTITUENT RELATIONS WILL GET TOGETHER WITH BUDGET AND WE'LL HAVE THESE MEETINGS.

THEY ARE OPEN AND PUBLIC MEETINGS BUT THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY AS YOU BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT WHAT'S IN THE BUDGET

AND WHAT YOU WANT TO DO, I FIND THAT IT'S REALLY, REALLY GREAT -- HELPFUL IF YOU HAVE A CHANGE THAT YOU WANT TO HAVE.

THAT YOU GET THE STAFF TO WORK WITH YOU ON HOW TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.

MAKING SURE THAT IT'S CONSISTENT WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE. SO THAT'S WHAT I THINK IS OUR

NEXT STEP. SO WE'VE GOT SOME TIME. OUR BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING, HEARING FROM THE PUBLIC, BEFORE

WE MAKE OUR OWN DECISIONS, AND THEN WE'LL HAVE BUDGET ADJUSTMENTS IN BETWEEN THAT SO

WE'LL HAVE TIME FOR THE MEETINGS WITH THE BUDGET TEAM AND THE MANAGER AS WELL. SO WITH THAT, MR. JONES.

I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO -- AND AMPLIFY YOUR COMMENTS TO HAVE ALL OF THE FOLKS THAT WORK

IN OUR COMMUNITY, FOR OUR COMMUNITY, HERE TODAY TO HEAR WHAT THE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE.

THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACTUALLY -- I ALWAYS KIND OF REMIND PEOPLE THAT THE PEOPLE THAT ARE IN THIS

ROOM ARE ALSO OFTEN OUR CONSTITUENTS. AND SO IT'S GREAT TO HAVE YOU COME IN, I THINK YOU'RE GREAT

AMBASSADORS FOR WHAT WE DO AND WE TALK TO PEOPLE ABOUT, ESPECIALLY I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU TO THE GROUP THAT WORKS ON

THIS. RYAN, YOUR TEAM, AND TERESA, YOU YOU ARE TEAM, TERRIFIC, AND SO WITH THAT, WE WILL TAKE THIS

DOCUMENT, WE'RE GOING TO WALK THROUGH IT. YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE CALLS AND

COMMENTS WITH THE TEAM THAT'S PUT THIS TOGETHER. AND WITH THAT, WE ARE ADJOURNED ON THE BUDGET PRESENTATION

MEETING. SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, EVERYONE, AND LOOK FORWARD TO MAY 13th IS OUR NEXT

OPPORTUNITY. MR. JONES, THANK YOU. [ MEETING ADJOURNED AT 6:55 ]

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thank you

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[Music] thank you for joining us for probably

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one of the most important presentations that we will have this year as we get

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ready to remember or to review the city manager's recommended budget so I want

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to say good evening and welcome to everyone that's joining us either virtually or in the room today

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I want to do this as a reminder for the council members that the committee reports that you have for today will be

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provided again on action review on May 8th so we'll hear from everyone on the committee's work on May the 8th so you

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got a few more days to kind of work through some things but tonight we receive the city manager's proposed

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budget presentation which outlines the plan for advancing the Strategic priorities adopted by the council

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earlier this year in January this presentation provides an opportunity for our community especially

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to learn more about the investments plan for our city and tonight is our introduction and

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after tonight we will have a chance to review and ask questions in fact on May

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8th we will hold the budget public hearing that's required where members of our community have the opportunity to

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provide feedback on the budget so if you wish to think about this and have some

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comments you may sign up to do so with the clerk's office online or by phone and we encourage you to do that

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following the public hearing Council then meets on May 11 for the budget adjustments meeting during this meeting

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the city council may offer changes and adjustments for further analysis and

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discussion those adjustments that receive at least five votes will move forward for consideration in the council

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stravo's meeting scheduled for May the 25th and then after we get through our straw

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votes any proposed adjustments that receive six or more votes

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during that meeting will advance for inclusion in the final budget ordinance proposed for adoption

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this budget is a strategic document it's where you invest the taxpayers money

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we know that it is important plan for our employees that deliver services and

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we understand that this document is our guidance for the next fiscal year

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and so I'm looking forward I want to say thanks to the budget team I want to thank say thanks to all of our employees

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who work on this effort I know it's deeper than just the budget office I'm

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our finance team but more importantly those people that build this budget from their departmental heads I mean

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departments up to the budget and recognizing hard-working employees that

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serve our community every day we want you to know that we really appreciate what you do and that you really are

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truly the best ambassadors for our city with that I'd like to call this meeting order and let's go around the room for

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introductions and we're going to start with our city clerk Billy times Deputy City Clerk

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good evening James Mitchell large

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Renee Johnson good evening Luana Mayfield council member at Large

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Braxton Winston mayor Pro Temp by Lau serving as mayor Malcolm Graham

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District Two Tark bakari District Six good evening I'm Victoria Wallington your Charlotte city council member

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representing District 3. Patrick Baker City attorney Julia Martin City manager's office

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and now I'd like to turn it over to Marcus Jones our city manager so thank you mayor and members of

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council it's good to be in front of you and I really mean that in the sense that

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um and mayor you nailed it there's a lot of work that goes into this policy document and this is an effort not only

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from my office but the entire team as well as the community and I think it's

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really a good way to start with this is to go back to the FY 21 budget where we

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um I believe I was in a room with two other members of my team having a

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virtual a budget presentation and I think at that time we thought that this

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would be behind us in a short period of time we weren't right but I will tell you the key message in

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that FY 21 budget was we never stopped working we spent the last four years building a

5:48

resilient organization that allowed us to manage through covet so we went to FY 22 and we actually liked the title so

5:56

much of the FY 21 budget we just called it volume two and in that budget that

6:02

the main message was that we never stopped working we maintained reserves

6:09

we provided core services with no layoffs and then the budget that we're under

6:15

right now the concept was stronger together and really coming out of covet

6:21

and that key message was this budget was built on an intentional plan through the

6:28

pandemic supporting our employees specifically our hourly employees

6:33

and one of the key messages at the bottom is really the Charlotte Business Journal and what I will tell you is that

6:40

a couple of weeks ago I took members of the team up to New York and to Boston to talk to investors to make sure that

6:47

you're all is still a good investment because there will be a number of bonds that we're issuing over the course of

6:53

the next year or so and some of the questions that we asked them is what do you look for in terms of good

6:58

Investments well they said well we don't like cities that go into their reserves we don't like cities that use one-time

7:06

revenue for ongoing expenses and we're very worried about the cities that have taken their covet funds and put it in

7:13

their budget just to balance it when there will be problems down the road so we checked a

7:20

lot of boxes with them and I want to say it in this way we appreciate having a board having a council that understands

7:27

that a sound financial management is the backbone of any organization and in that

7:33

art article the concept was Charlotte's population growth its Diversified

7:38

economy kept the the economy relatively stable during the pandemic and the

7:43

actions that were taken by this body also played a big role in our success so

7:49

what do we have for you tonight we have a 3.3 billion dollar budget and that's

7:55

all fun so that's about 2.8 percent larger than the current 3.24 billion

8:01

dollar budget and it goes across not just the general fund but also through

8:06

our Enterprise funds let's talk a little bit about the general fund we've always had a number of principles

8:13

around the budget and I believe the top principle is to have a structurally balanced budget and that means ongoing

8:20

Revenue support ongoing services so I'm pleased to announce to you tonight that we have a structurally

8:26

balanced budget again I also want to tell you that we don't stop with one year we think about this not just FY 24

8:34

budget but the fy25 budget also so I want to tell you that the fy25 budget is

8:40

also structurally balanced and you'll say well Marcus you haven't introduced the fy25 budget but the concept is don't

8:47

do some things in the upcoming budget that you'll have to pay for in the following budget in the fy25 budget we

8:54

don't make any policy decisions about us compensation but you have a structurally

9:00

balanced budget the growth is a little bit over six percent and I'll tell you a

9:05

little bit about what's in the budget the other thing that's important is while we don't have a bond year this

9:11

this in this budget we are still maintaining our Capital affordability I do want to take a couple steps back

9:17

because it's very important about how we treat our CIP versus is how it has been

9:24

treated in the past so we think about these in terms of four Bond cycles and

9:29

if you go all the way back to 2007 there was a four Bond cycles and the property

9:36

tax was raised 2.67 cents to support those four Bond Cycles you go

9:44

back into 2014 the same concept a new four Bond cycle in

9:50

the property tax was raised 3.17 cents to support those four Bond those four

9:57

bonds I will tell you that as we started the by these next four Bond cycles and

10:03

you'll see FY 25 which is

10:09

which is going to be the 24 Bond than the 26 bond in the 28 Bond there were no

10:16

property tax increases in order to support those bonds and we've introduced

10:21

what we call the steady state so what we do is before we place something in a bond we try to make sure that we have at

10:29

least 30 percent design and that's where we had that advanced planning fund so maybe this is the last time I'll say

10:35

this so that you don't have a cross Charlotte Trail in your budget because you haven't really designed it so I feel

10:41

that we are in well positioned in terms of our capital investment plan even with

10:48

that even with some of the headwinds that we've had with some of the projects that are in these four Bond Cycles we've

10:57

addressed those in this budget and you still have 77 million of remaining

11:02

capacity that's unprogrammed over the next three Bond Cycles

11:07

so it's not just the general fund because I showed you that 3.3 billion dollar budget uh starting off we also

11:14

have our Enterprise funds and so we have the uh Aviation we have water and storm

11:20

water and we have the uh Charlotte Area Transit cats so it's important to just

11:27

bring some highlights as it relates to our Enterprise funds so we start to think about Aviation uh five percent of

11:35

the state's gross domestic product is a part of our Aviation Department it's

11:41

worth 32 billion dollars of an annual economic impact and it's the fifth busiest in terms of aircraft movement in

11:48

the world and water and storm water are both Triple A rated Enterprise funds and some

11:56

of the key takeaways from water and storm water is you know keeping that triple a bond rating but also making

12:03

investments in our corridors that sometimes don't show up as Resorts just

12:08

look at the general fund and then cats it's the state's only light rail system and it moves over 12 million people

12:15

annually so included in this grouping of departments and offerings that we have

12:21

we also have the Enterprise funds so what are the budget principles we uh listen to council especially

12:29

during the January annual strategy meeting we also listened to our own

12:34

employees and we had surveys in meetings in the community so in our listening

12:40

sessions that occurred in March more than 300 people attended either in attendance or viewed it and we also had

12:46

a budget survey that had over a thousand responses and so through that we came up

12:52

with these four budget principles which were focusing on the council priorities

12:57

remaining a well-managed government investing in our employees and investing in the residents

13:04

so you'll recall this from the annual strategy meeting back in January so we

13:11

have those four strategic priorities they remain the same great neighborhoods

13:16

safe communities economic development and transportation and planning but in terms of the key initiatives the council

13:22

had a tweak this year so we've had affordable housing we've had the um

13:28

the 2040 plan the Udo with the CF being included and they have we've had their corridors of opportunity with safe

13:35

Charlotte included in that but what occurred during the council and annual

13:42

strategy meeting I want to say retreat but we don't call it that we made sure that arts and culture which we are in

13:49

year three of that initiative became a subset if you will of higher Charlotte

13:55

but you also wanted to pull out and lift up Workforce Development and two

14:01

additional new initiatives were small business and minority business development and the digital divide and

14:07

as we go through this presentation they will show hopefully how we begin starting to address some of the

14:15

additional initiatives of the council brought up in January let's talk a little bit about uh these

14:22

three key initiatives the digital divide Workforce Development and small and

14:27

minority business development and in terms of the digital divide we've added

14:32

two positions to help implement the program which I'll talk a little bit more about later in terms of Workforce

14:39

Development I've added a special assistant to the city manager's office for Workforce Development as well as

14:46

internally we've staffed up a bit in HR and then lastly in small minority

14:51

business development we've added three positions to um Charlotte business inclusion as well

14:57

as lift it up to establish it as its own office which you will see in the budget book so as we start to think about

15:04

Council priorities I believe we begin to address and we haven't

15:10

finalized or locked anything down in terms of having an opportunity for you

15:15

to have this budget but we think we're on a good path so as we try to remain a well-managed government everything we do

15:21

in the city it's it's built on that so let's talk a little bit about the structure of the organization and some

15:27

of the things that we're doing we've talked a while about horizontal integration I think it's very important

15:32

and I think one of the best examples is what we're seeing in terms of corridors of opportunity we've got a number of

15:39

reorganizations that have allowed us to have some efficiencies and I think one of the best is the consolidation of

15:44

water and storm water and I think and I know Ansel Charles is doing a great job in terms of managing capital projects I

15:52

talked a little bit about the advanced planning program as well as the steady state of affordability and then to say

16:00

on financial management practices again we did not use any of our reserves

16:05

during covid-19 and we haven't had a property tax in increase in four years

16:11

and we have 45 consecutive years of having a triple triple AAA Bond rating

16:16

so what did we do when we started budget we always start off with analyzing our accounts and what I will tell you that

16:22

it's been increasingly difficult to find savings if you will or efficiencies in this

16:28

budget so over the last five years not including this budget those numbers total up to be a little bit north of 36

16:36

million dollars of efficiencies that we have found or Savings in the budget process I will tell you there's another

16:42

4.1 million in the budget them proposing for you today but you can see it's getting

16:48

much more difficult to find those types of efficiencies or Savings in the

16:54

Departments we discussed that the budget Workshop we have some unavoidable costs

17:00

that we are handling and one of the things that I will point out you know when we start to look at 2.8 million at

17:06

the top some of these are enhancements that we need just to maintain the

17:11

current levels of service well you say Mark as well enhancements is an enhancement I said well let's slow down a little bit if if what we're seeing is

17:18

that we are not being able to answer as many calls for services as we should

17:23

then we're going to need to have additional resources just to maintain the level of service that we had in the

17:31

previous year we're also seeing increases in health care contributions as well as contractual and inflationary

17:41

headwinds but we're also managing our resources I think this is pretty important as we start to identify what

17:49

are some of the challenges but also some of the ways we're handling it so I talked a little bit about the identified

17:55

reductions in efficiencies which is in that middle block about 4.1 million but

18:01

we also had inflation boosted Revenue sources so what do I mean by that so

18:06

when we start to think about our investments when when we have this inflation or we have the rates that go

18:14

up it actually is a positive impact on us in terms of ABC Revenue when you

18:20

start to see the inflation impact on

18:26

ABC products and you and the consumption of those we also get to see a bump in

18:32

the revenue and then uh lastly I think this is maybe maybe the most important

18:37

what we try to do is make sure that the general fund has the resources that it needs to provide the level of service

18:44

that we're trying to provide and so what we also did is take we took a look at

18:49

paygo and as we started to look at paygo we say there are some opportunities for

18:55

us to channel some of that money back to the general fund to help support our operations and that was worth about 3.8

19:01

million where I don't see it as a problem it's because as we start to think about fy24 and the current fiscal

19:09

year we'll end with the Surplus and some of that Surplus goes to pay go and as we

19:14

start to think about fy25 and Beyond the concept is are we doing the bare minimum

19:21

that we need to do in Pago in order to to support programs so there may maybe

19:26

some things that we've done in the past like having eight ten million dollars

19:31

for the quarters of opportunity that won't be the case in fy25 and Beyond

19:37

unless we see something that's different in terms of the revenue that's coming in so I just that's not insignificant to

19:44

have that that little bit of a change in terms of pay codes to the general fund but we want to make sure the general

19:50

fund was as strong as it could be so as we remain this well-managed

19:56

government it's important to check these three areas and to make sure that we're on the right track so I want to start

20:03

off with investing in our employees we we have a diverse Workforce on so many

20:08

levels and and maybe one that um a lot of individuals don't focus on is that it's almost as if we have three

20:16

different workforces in terms of what we have with our hourly workers that do a

20:21

lot in operations right and so we also have our salary workers and think about

20:27

your accountants or you know think about it that way and then we have Public Safety in terms of police and fire and

20:33

not everybody can have the same type of schedule not everyone has this the same type of pay plan so we try to be

20:40

intentional as we begin to address the concerns of our employees so if we go back to the beginning of the current

20:47

budget the FY 23 budget we started to see some um

20:53

changes in our vacancies in different areas and what became alarming was what

20:59

we saw this significant increase in vacancies needs in our hourly employees

21:04

from 7.9 percent in calendar year 21 to almost double 13.5 percent in calendar

21:11

year 22. so we saw that uptick and we were very intentional about our hourly

21:19

employees in this current budget so what did we do in the current budget and we

21:25

did more than pay because we we talked to our employees and it wasn't just compensation it was also upper Mobility

21:32

what could they do in terms of training how can they have opportunities within our organization

21:38

so one of the things that we did is that we had tuition prepayment through

21:43

Central Piedmont so it's one thing to be able to be reimbursed when you take a

21:48

class but if you don't have the money in your account to begin with that you don't attend the class and there's no

21:56

reimbursement to to be at so what we did is we basically said we'll pay it up front right you trust the employees

22:03

because you want to have opportunities for your employees we have some good news stories we also set aside two

22:09

million dollars for employee home ownership and I will tell you since that

22:14

time it's even expanded so from it we started off with up to thirty thousand

22:20

dollars as it related to employee assistance but even if you live

22:26

in the corridors There's an opportunity there's a plug to up to eighty thousand

22:31

dollars to help you move into a home so those are the types of things that we're trying to do for our employees what's

22:39

also important is that we had flexible work schedules especially for those salary employees and there was a two

22:45

percent retention bonus and that was through the arpa funds so as we focused

22:51

on hourly employees in 2023 we did some things that were different so a typical compensation increase was

22:59

three percent but it was one and a half percent married and one and a half percent Cola so you could find yourself

23:06

as an hourly employee getting the first uptick in compensation in let's say

23:12

December and that could be only worth 1.5 percent and when an employee you

23:18

know basically showed me that that was worth about 25 cents on his paycheck we

23:23

had to think about very differently how we compensate our hourly workers so what we did is in the current budget eight

23:30

percent increase and we did something different it's four percent in July and four percent in January and so that is

23:38

the feedback that we've gotten from that has has been tremendous we don't talk about this enough but last year the

23:45

minimum hourly pays twenty dollars an hour working it for the city of

23:50

Charlotte and we also had some additional incentives um like shift different shift

23:57

differential thank you mayor Pro tem and uh 2.5 for that as well as 2.5 for jobs

24:04

that were required a CDL so let's build on that for fy24

24:09

as we talk about our hourly employees we have in the budget of six percent

24:15

increase which would be three percent July three percent in January which is

24:20

twice as much as a typical increase and that would be about 14 over this

24:26

two-year period so as we start to go into FY 24 we have a different pressure and

24:34

we talked about this a little bit during the budget Workshop so we've seen some

24:39

improvements in terms of vacancy rates with salary employees from double digits

24:45

going down to nine percent and from hourly going from 3 13.5 to 11. but

24:50

we've seen something totally different in public safety specifically police

24:56

while fire has been hovering around zero percent in terms of vacancies we've seen

25:02

this uptick in police closer to 13 percent so we previously worked with police on a

25:10

and fire on a multi-year plan in order to make sure we attract and retain and I

25:17

think here the key takeaways from police what we did reduce the number of years

25:23

to get to top pay police officers all narrow if I have five percent steps

25:29

as a budget saving mechanism a decade or so ago some of those steps got reduced

25:35

to 2.5 percent we added two senior police officer steps to allow for increases for top out and in fire we

25:44

reduced the number of years to top pay and we also made some additional contributions to their 401K match to

25:52

match what police was doing the results at third box top pay increase for police

25:57

officers by 14 in firefighters by 15 that's with a four-year degree and we

26:04

also had a commitment to continue working on that so here's a big challenge I mean I would

26:09

go back all the way to the early 90s there are a number of police officers

26:15

when there was a push in the early 90s to fund more police officers those individuals are now approaching 30 years

26:23

and they're they're ready to retire okay and so what we're seeing the pressure is

26:29

going to be not just what we saw in 22 FY 22 with 87 sworn retirements we

26:37

believe we're peaking this year with estimating to be 91 and the issue is

26:42

we're not bringing in enough uh individuals to replace the folks that

26:48

are retiring as you can see in this chart we believe it starts to thin out a little bit in the out years but right

26:55

now we're just in the middle of it so what are we doing there's a couple things that we believe that will help us

27:02

in this area we're eliminating a couple of steps in

27:07

the beginning so that we can get higher starting pay for our police officers so

27:14

the and we learned that we were losing police officers at a critical point

27:21

right around that step four step five so two things we're doing in terms of Recruitment and Retention one is that

27:28

we're increasing the starting pay by 10.5 percent and we're having this Consolidated step early on in a police

27:37

officer's career so that there is this willingness to stay on for that 10 percent bump

27:43

so the new starting officer pay with a four-year degree would be almost 60 63

27:50

000 62 000 911 to be exact so let's talk a little bit about top pay

27:55

so one of the things that we've talked about with police is not just what the top pay is but getting to top pay faster

28:02

so a couple of things that we have in this budget is we are adding two

28:07

additional SPO steps if you will that allows for the ability to have higher

28:13

top pay and similarly with sergeants what we're doing is we're eliminating

28:19

the first step and adding a new Step so the top pay for Sergeants could also be higher

28:25

all done the new top officer pay would be almost a hundred thousand dollars

28:30

ninety nine thousand eight hundred and ten dollars that's with a four-year degree so we're trying to get them the

28:37

recruits we're trying to um get the folks who would typically leave after X years and then the folks who are still

28:44

with us to make sure that they have some opportunities to to get increased pay so what does this mean it's at least eight

28:52

percent for all officers and sergeants and we will continue to evaluate our

28:58

progress with uh cmpd during fy24 to

29:03

make sure that we're we're actually making Pro progress fire we're also investing in fire all employees in the

29:09

fire paid plan will receive between 5.5 percent and eight percent increase and

29:15

we're also adding 42 positions this concept of growth and we talked about this a bit in the budget workshops in

29:22

terms of response times in order for us to meet these response bunch of times we need to invest in the infrastructure as

29:29

it relates to fire one of the things that we're doing we're building five stations at the cost of almost 80

29:35

million dollars over the next five years and that's important when I first got here in 2016 we were going through a

29:43

police station master plan where we built a number of those police stations and now it's the time to do this as it

29:50

relates to fire we're also supporting our salaried employees as I mentioned earlier we have a four percent Merit

29:57

pool for salad employees that's more than the typical three percent uh Merit

30:02

pool but also we're going to continue the flexible work schedule work-life balance is extremely important and we

30:08

have found ourselves to be productive even with these flexible work schedules

30:15

talk a little bit about upward mobility and I will say that listening to the employees is extremely

30:21

important and here's some of the results of the efforts that we've had around prepaid tuition some of the training

30:29

we've had more than 160 employees have taken advantage of the prepayment at

30:35

Central Piedmont and I'll just give you a few examples and this is so encouraging we've got CDOT Street crew

30:41

member will graduate with their Associates in applied science and information technology so you know Renee

30:48

asks you you have somebody in the hopper we have a utility technician award that

30:53

will graduate with Associates in construction management so Phil watch out here we go and we have a utility

30:59

technician in water that's getting their Associates in accounting and finance okay so this is just some very very good

31:07

stuff that we're having in terms of of our employees we also launched the ace Hub which centralized all the resources

31:14

as it relates to Workforce Development and training so it's almost a One-Stop shop and we've had 130 of our employees

31:21

go to Career coaching to look at opportunities that we have within our system I do want to just read this quote

31:28

to you that we have from one of our employees before this I felt demoralized and left

31:34

out I wanted something else but I didn't know what now I feel like I'm moving towards something and I am supported so

31:40

uh always thank the council for supporting those efforts because while salary is important upward Mobility is

31:47

important to our employees too so we're going to build on this our employees are hungry for opportunities we're going to

31:54

increase Staffing around one on one-on-one career counseling coaching as well as adding

32:01

apprenticeship roles which kind of neat there's a hundred of print apprentices in the city of Charlotte

32:09

that have gone through either apprenticeship program or the career and Training Academy and those 100 folks are

32:16

still with us so I think it's not just having individuals have the training but also being a part of Team Charlotte so I

32:24

think we're making progress with investing in our employees and now let's talk a little bit about investing in our

32:29

residents if we go back to other priorities it's important that um

32:36

we focus on those things that are important to the council in this community the way that we used our

32:44

federal funds I think is very different than average cities across the country a lot of those cities took those funds

32:50

pumped it back into their operations what you did was different

32:57

you took 200 over 200 million dollars and put it back into the community that is two-thirds of all of these federal

33:04

funds that have made their way back into the community and I think that one of the keys will be for those remaining

33:11

funds how do we invest those so in January we had a first housing and job Summit and it centered around the

33:18

close connection between both of them and one of the things that occurred or

33:25

is occurring with this current budget as we set aside resources in order to

33:32

begin to address infrastructure and to reduce displacement so a little bit over 55

33:38

million dollars that have been playing for FY 23 but also there was an effort

33:45

to study what's the best way to deploy the remaining funds so we have had our

33:51

Pilots that and we've also had a number of policy oversight groups that have

33:57

looked into how we can best utilize the remaining funds one thing that's new to

34:03

us right now to add to that a pot of funds is that the transit oriented

34:09

development ordinance in the affordable housing development bonus program and

34:14

the fee and Liu option has provided us funds and it's worth the tune of about

34:20

13.4 million I will say 7.4 million is already in error Hoppers right so that

34:28

is something that we are able to use that is can help us with affordable

34:33

housing so where we are right now we'll continue with this holistic approach we have 55 million is down to about 21

34:40

million but you have done some amazing things in terms of affordable housing

34:45

and making sure that there are units available to our residents when we add

34:50

the 4.7 million dollars it's a little bit over 25 million dollars and there's

34:56

still work that's being done as it relates to the next commission Equitable development commission as well as the

35:03

housing safety and Community Safety Committee so resources there and we're

35:10

trying to make sure we deploy those in the right way so why do I bring that up so uh

35:15

revaluation I know we are deep into this and I know it's the first time I'm talking about it but I did want to set

35:21

the stage so at this Revenue neutral rate for the city would be

35:27

2604 and that's down from the 3481 we've had the conversation doing the workshops

35:34

and it's important to just say tonight that at a revenue neutral rate there is

35:40

no additional funds for the city to address many of the things that we've

35:46

been talking about I've been talking about up until this point so before we even get to what the the

35:51

rate is going to be for the city I do want to uh mention that we talked about this in the last budget Workshop that we

35:57

are partnering with the county to support our residents and I'm proposing to put 4.2 million dollars of arpa funds

36:04

into the Mecklenburg County homes program so how does this work it's for homeowners in their home for at least

36:11

three years and earning less than 80 Ami it provides assistance of 25 percent of

36:17

the city's tax bill up to the median home value and it's it reduces the tax

36:22

bill it reduces the tax bill directly while we try to do many good things with

36:30

aging in place it was a grant program and so it was difficult for us to

36:36

administrate it and you'd pay your taxes and then you could get a a check this is

36:43

very different than it reduces the bill and I've talked to the county manager and we'll work in collaboration together

36:49

with that so we're really excited about that as we start to look at our corridors and

36:55

we look at economic mobility and opportunity we have been very successful in a short period of time with corridors

37:01

but it's not just because the city it's also because of our partners so when you look forward to the next Bond which has

37:09

about 10 million dollars and is associated with corridors we have about 68 million dollars that we have

37:15

programmed for corridors but it's not just us it's some of our partners like the United Way the Wells Wells Fargo

37:21

Fifth Third Bank it's over and above that that are doing work in corridors

37:27

and that's what we try to do we try to leverage our resources from our private

37:32

sector friends so corridors we have five million dollars in the proposed budget for

37:38

corridors I mentioned earlier there's 10 million dollars in the next Bond and we're finishing those last couple of

37:45

playbooks we would have had an opportunity as we've seen some of the great projects on Beatties Ford Road

37:52

some of the great things that are happening West Boulevard and now as we Implement and as we finish out the last

38:00

plate books um I think we'll be in a position with their Partners to do a whole lot more in

38:06

our quarters of opportunity safe straw is is very important we have investments in this budget for safe Charlotte uh our

38:14

alternatives to violence we have two new sites we're expanding the cares team in

38:22

terms of Atrium Health We are continuing with their hospital-based violence Interruption program and we're one of

38:28

the few cities in the country that has both an alternative to violence and a hospital-based filing Interruption

38:35

program I put these together because and this is the story that I don't think we we talk

38:40

about enough so between what we're doing in policing and safe Charlotte in 2022

38:46

valid crime is down five percent and through the first quarter of this County violent crime is down six percent you

38:53

we've always learned when it's up if you when it's down you don't take total credit for it because it goes up and

39:00

then all of a sudden somebody says what happens but this is what's going on and I think it's because it's a community

39:06

effort and it's not just cmpd who are doing a great job one of the priorities as mentioned

39:12

earlier they got lifted up is dealing with smaller minority owned businesses I just

39:18

wanted to make sure that we put out there that we have a million dollars associated with CBI as well as three

39:25

additional positions and we'll continue to fund amp up and next CLT which are

39:30

just two great programs in terms of higher Charlotte We are continuing to

39:36

emphasize the council's recent approval of the employer job Seeker connect

39:43

platform as well as the career Navigators and then in in terms of the digital

39:49

divide we're starting to witness a success the access Charlotte program uh

39:55

while it's complete we we have some early great returns from it when you start to see

40:02

um homeowners without a computer going down by 25 and homes without internet

40:08

access going down by 16 it's time to double down on what we're doing with the

40:13

digital divide so we're providing two additional resources there but it's more

40:19

than just the digital divide it's really thinking about smart cities and sometimes we have different projects

40:24

that come up and we just don't have that resource and now having that level of expertise to tackle some of these issues

40:31

I think would help is a great deal an orientation we talked a lot about quality of life

40:38

issues we talked about Boulders rocks and sand okay and some of the quality of

40:44

life issues are things that we we just should be doing anyway and so what we've

40:49

done is we've put together a team that is our quality of life team headed by

40:57

CDOT and the manager's office is represented the city attorney's office housing and Neighborhood Services Solid

41:03

Waste Services code enforcement cmpd and we're trying to find a way to address some of these issues that have become

41:11

problematic for us so we are having we're putting proposing a four-person rapid response codes team and they will

41:20

attack truck parking parking and bike Lanes illegal signage and litter and we

41:28

also are going to add another litter crew it will be our third crew and that

41:33

comes through the center for employment opportunities and so we're excited about having this opportunity and then future

41:40

consideration is just in terms of the fines associated with illegal parking that will come before you with a

41:47

proposal to raise those so there are increases in our fees that

41:52

to maintain this level of service you'll see Solid Waste Service the monthly increase will be about 72 cents uh water

42:00

the monthly increase will be about three dollars and 10 cents and storm order the monthly increase will be about 43 cents

42:07

and we touched on I think most of those uh at the last budget Workshop but I

42:13

will tell you that we're doing this with all all this with no property tax increase okay and so

42:19

um with no property tax increase Charlotte will be the lowest property tax of the 15 biggest cities in North

42:27

Carolina which would be at that 2604. now here's the discussion

42:35

as we went through a lot today or tonight to discuss maintaining a level

42:40

of service as we try to maintain this level of service it becomes much more difficult because again it's tough to

42:49

find these efficiencies in the organization I think that as we continue on this this path there is the

42:58

possibility that we could have service level declines and we we don't want that

43:04

uh but we do have to make investments so that that doesn't occur

43:10

so I think that um it was pretty much summarized the last time we were together in this room

43:16

we have aspirational plans like

43:22

what we're doing with the CF we have aspirational plans like the Strategic Mobility plan

43:28

but let me tell you a couple things that are in that aspirational plan that I'm not sure that it should be aspirational

43:35

it should be what we do so in the Strategic Mobility plan around safety is to eliminate Transportation

43:41

related fatalities and serious injuries it's also a mode shift with half of the

43:47

commute trips will be made by means other than single occupancy vehicles through walking biking and Transit we

43:54

have a blueprint for Charlotte's Mobility investment where I think we have 2 000 projects that are set across

44:02

all of our districts right and and then maybe most importantly that housing job

44:08

Summit I I don't believe it was a one and done it shouldn't be a one and done but one of the things that as we revisit

44:15

that it is this unbending commitment to those who live here

44:21

leveraging Investments for those coming to help ensure all that live here Thrive

44:26

and then lastly understanding who are the key workers supporting this growth so so as we we do this I'm I'm saying to

44:34

you I don't know how much longer we can do this

44:42

without Revenue additional Revenue source with this reveal I thought it would be

44:49

very difficult to have a conversation about also going up on the tax rate

44:56

I do believe this budget is a solid budget it's structurally balanced for taking

45:03

care of our employees we're doing things that are important to Council in terms of their priorities

45:11

we worked hard on this budget it is just if we need time to have a

45:18

discussion about more Revenue I would hope that time starts tonight so that as we look at Future budgets if we're

45:25

having big area audacious goals we won't be able to do it with the type

45:33

of budget that I'm putting towards you tonight so with that said I am about

45:39

Madame mayor to give this to you you've talked about the next steps I don't

45:44

think I have to repeat the next steps it is the council's budget we will provide

45:51

you whatever resources you need with that I'm very thankful for uh Ryan

45:57

Bergman uh Teresa Smith the entire you know organization and

46:03

um I think I've given you time to make it to the basketball game thank you thank

46:09

you um Mr Jones I want to say thank you for your presentation thorough but now it is

46:17

the time for the council to make these decisions of what goes on so first we should be looking forward to the public

46:23

comment on again on May 8th but there are many ways to contact the city of

46:29

Charlotte for your comments and the budget will be on the um City's website

46:35

um the other thing that I think is that we know on May 11th all of us as individuals on this Council have to then

46:42

decide what they want to suggest as any change or any Focus toward the budget

46:48

that's different than what the manager has recommended so I believe that the

46:54

staff is giving us notebooks that weigh about two or three pounds I'm not sure how many pages are in it but we want to

47:01

say that to the staff and the team that put it together thank you we know that this has been a tremendous effort and

47:08

one that we should be really taking very careful consideration I think the final thing is I I heard the managers

47:15

challenge us on having a discussion about what we see long term for the

47:21

future that we have to do not just balancing this budget today and and over

47:26

the next several weeks so with that I want to say thank you to everyone this meeting is now adjourned

47:34

all right [Music]

47:53

[Music]