This time we'll call in order the special budget meeting of the Clearwater City Council for Tuesday, September 15, 2026. This time we'll move to item 2.1 on the agenda. Set final millage rate of 5.8773 mills for fiscal year 2026-27 against non-exempt real and personal property within the City of Clearwater Pass Ordinance 9936-26 on 1st Street. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Kayleen Castle, Budget Director. This is the first of two public hearings required by Florida statute to finalize the fiscal year 26-27 operating and capital improvement budget. For the benefit of residents present and watching, I have a presentation which gives a full overview of the budget you are approving. The fiscal year 26-27 proposed budget for all city funds is $800,002,476. Our operating funds and special revenue funds are $609,571,576 of this total. And the capital improvement funds are budgeted at $190,440,900. In total, this represents a 5% increase from the current year, fiscal year 26 amended budget. This slide further breaks out that last slide, the operating portion by fund type. The general fund budget for fiscal year 27 reflects a 3% increase from the current year's amended budget. And I have a few slides that will further discuss the general fund budget later in this presentation. The utility funds total includes the budget for water and sewer, stormwater, gas, and solid waste and recycling operations. In total, it's a 4% decrease from the fiscal year 26 amended budget. The enterprise fund total includes the budget for the operations of the beach marina, the air park, the Clearwater Harbor Marina, and parking. It is a 13% increase over the current year's amended budget. And this increase is mostly related to the full operations of the beach marina that are budgeted next year. We've had some of the construction years, and the budget was a little lower for the beach marina. The internal service funds include the budget for information technology, utility customer service, building and maintenance, and fleet and radio communications. And also the central insurance fund, which supports the operations of risk management, employee benefits, and the employee health clinic. It also includes the budget for all city insurances. The budget in total for internal services is a 6% increase from the current year's amended budget. Special revenue funds reflect a 23% increase from the current year, and this is primarily due to changes in Penny for Pinellas project funding. And, of course, capital funds are a 15% increase from the current year, and I have another slide that I'll discuss that also later in this presentation. This chart represents the change in taxable property values over the last 11 years. Our 2026 preliminary values received from the Pinellas County property appraiser reflect an increase in property values of approximately 2.5%, from $19.2 billion in 2025 to $19.7 billion. In July, you approved the tentative millage rate for this year. That rate is 5.8773 mills. I'm sorry, it was the rollback rate that you approved, which is 5.8773 mills. And just a reminder what the rollback rate is, it's the millage rate that will provide the city with the same property tax revenue as was received in the prior year. Using that rate, that proposed rate that you approved, property tax revenues are projected to be $110.8 million for fiscal year 27. This represents an increase of approximately $1.6 million, or 1.5% from the fiscal year 26 amended budget. Of the $110.8 million projected, approximately $105.5 million will support general fund operations, and $5.3 million represents the road millage which we set aside for the maintenance of city streets. Revenues that support general fund operations reflect, in total, a 3% increase in comparison to the current year. As discussed in the previous slide, our ad valorem revenues are projected at $105.5 million, which is a 2% increase over the current year. And this revenue source represents approximately 46% of the total general fund. Utility taxes and franchise fees combined account for 15% of total. The category of other taxes includes business tax receipts and communications services taxes. Intergovernmental revenues include sales tax, state revenue sharing, fire and EMS reimbursements, and other local funding and reimbursement revenues. The budget for intergovernmental revenues are estimated to increase 2% over the current year. And this category accounts for 15% of total general fund revenue. Charges for service revenues represent approximately 9% of total general fund. This includes fees at rec centers and the peer, as well as service charges between our operating funds. We're anticipating a 4% increase in that revenue source. Transfer in revenues include the payment in lieu of taxes from our proprietary funds and transfers for staff and admin costs from the CRA and our special program funds. These revenues are approximately 6% of total and are budgeted to increase, I'm sorry, to decrease by 1% in comparison to the current year. And the all other revenue category accounts for 7% of total. This includes building permit revenues, fines, interest earnings, and other small miscellaneous revenues. General fund expenditures in total reflect a 3% increase across all operations in comparison to the current year. The proposed budget for next year includes all personnel costs and increases in line with approved bargaining contracts. It includes anticipated insurance increases, all operating expenses necessary to support existing service levels, debt service costs for imagined Clearwater bonds, and capital funding for road maintenance and city facility improvement projects. The police department budget is increased by 6%, which represents increases related to personnel costs, related for wages with their contract, as well as pension contributions. The increase of 11% in the fire department is related to personnel costs, which include the addition of nine new medics as approved in their collective bargaining agreement, as well as costs associated with wages and pension increases. The parks and recreation budget is decreased by 9%, and that's primarily related to reduction in transfers to capital in comparison to the current year. And the non-department budget includes the cost for minor general expenses, property and liability for all general fund, property and liability insurance for all general fund departments. It also includes the transfer to the CRA for the city's share of ad valorem taxes, and transfers to the capital fund for ongoing maintenance, all the projects for general government facilities. This chart represents the total general fund budget by category. Personnel costs continue to be our largest expense at 62% of total. This represents funding for 1,172.4 full-time equivalent positions that support all of our general fund departments. Operating expenditures represent the next largest category at approximately 15% of total. The internal service represents chargebacks and costs associated with information technology, building and maintenance, fleet, risk management, and employee benefits. This represents 10.5% of the total general fund budget. Interfund transfers is 11% of total. This represents $17.3 million, which is transferred to the capital fund for repair and replacement costs, and $2.1 million for one-time major facility renovations and road construction projects. It also includes $4.4 million, which is transferred to the CRA, representing the city's TIF for both of the CRAs. And finally, debt and capital expenditures combined represent 1.5% of the total general fund budget. A total of 1,904.8 full-time equivalent positions are proposed across all funds for fiscal year 27. This is a net increase of 9 in comparison to the current year. In this graph, the sand-colored portion represents general fund FTEs, which are budgeted at 1,172.4 positions for fiscal year 27. And in total, that's an increase of 11. This includes the 9 new fire medics that I mentioned earlier, and also an increase of 2 FTEs in public works to support asset management and GIS needs. In comparison, the green portion is all other funds budgeted at 732.4 FTEs, which is a decrease of 2. 2 FTEs were eliminated in information technology. The total budget for capital improvement funds is $190.4 million for fiscal year 27, and this slide breaks that down by fund type. Funding for projects for our utilities, it includes all the planned capital maintenance for stormwater, water, sewer, gas, and solid waste and recycling. These are budgeted at $103.1 million, which is approximately 54% of the total capital improvement budget. General government projects are budgeted at $48.5 million. This represents 26% of total capital funding. It includes projects for police, fire, streets, sidewalks, parks and recreation facilities, libraries, and the maintenance of city buildings and facilities that house general fund operations. Projects in support of internal services are budgeted at $19.4 million, which is 10% of total. This is projects that support fleet, radio communications, general services, information technology, and utility customer service. And finally, the capital budget for small enterprise funds is also $19.4 million for fiscal year 27 at 10% of total. And this is funding for capital repair and maintenance at the air park, both marinas, and all of our parking facilities. Circling back to property values and millage rates, I want to talk just real quick about how the millage rate affects residents in Clearwater with an example of city taxes on homesteaded property. So, as a reminder, the taxable value is the value after all exemptions. With homestead exemption, the Save Our Homes cap limits the increase in assessed value to the lesser of CPI or 3%. So, the Save Our Homes cap for this year is 2.7%. With this cap, the assessed values of homesteaded properties may see a 2.7% increase. So, on a 2025 taxable value of $100,000, this assumes a 2.7% growth for the new taxable value of $102.7,000. So, in this example, or for every $100,000 in taxable value, city taxes could increase by $15.10. I've also listed an alternative property tax example on this slide. For a home with a taxable value of $250,000, the total city taxes would be $1,469.33, and that breaks down to about $4.03 a day. And, again, this is all just representing the city portion of the taxes. So, on that note, trim notices were mailed to our residents a few weeks ago, and these notices show an estimate of total property taxes for all taxing agencies. It's their proposed millage rates. They were all in the same process that you were setting that initial rate. This slide represents the breakdown of that total tax bill for Clearwater residents. Approximately 33% of the tax bill is related to the Pinellas County School Board. 28% is in support of Pinellas County government operations. The city's portion is 30% of that total, and 9% of total is collected to support the other taxing agencies. This slide just lists the meetings of this year's budget cycle. The proposed budget was made available on June 30th. It was posted on the city's website. And this budget was presented to the public at the council meeting on July 16th, where you approved that tentative millage rate, which, of course, this year you approved the rollback rate. Our resident engagement event, which we call Dollars to Donuts, was held on August 1st. And you also held a special meeting on August 11th, a special work session on August 11th, to discuss the budget. This is our first public hearing. And the second hearing to adopt the budget will be held on Monday, September 21st, which is also scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. The full proposed budget is available on our website, and this budget would go into effect October 1st. So this first agenda, this first item is for the reading of the millage ordinance that would adopt a rate of 5.8773 mils to support the operating and capital improvement budgets for fiscal year 2627. And, again, that rate is a reduction from the current year's rate to the rollback rate of 5.8773 mils. I'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. I'm going to go ahead and have a rating on this. Millage ordinance, ordinance number 9936-26, ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, declaring the millage rate to be levied for the fiscal year beginning October 1st, 2026, and ending September 30th, 2027, for operating purposes including the funding of pensions, debt service, and road maintenance for capital improvement expenditures at 5.8773 mils. Providing an effective date, the levy of 5.8773 mils constitute a 0% increase from the rollback rate of 5.8773 mils. Does anyone want to hear from the public tonight desire to speak to agenda item 2.1? Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, city staff. My name is Patrick Raftery. I reside in the Clearwater countryside area. Each year with the same millage rate per claim has still resulted in millions of additional revenue to the city. This year's reduction to 5.8773 mils is a reduction of about $145,000 in total. Even that small reduction took considerable discussion from this dais between the council members and the mayor before it was decided to go forward with it. My concern is Amendment 3. Amendment 3 may pass as too many voters believe government spending is wasteful and there has been no meaningful reduction of property taxes that will be done willingly. So Amendment 3 may force that to happen. The impact will be $12 million in 2027 and $8 million in 2028 to the city of Clearwater. Perhaps council will finally decide a meaningful reduction of the millage rate now in advance of the vote November 3rd. If Amendment 3 passes, council needs to ensure that resultant actions are not focused on punishing residents by the elimination of services. Reducing services should be the first choice. My recommendations are to try and retain skilled employees at all levels. Impose a hiring freeze now. Eliminate increases to employees for one year. Resuming services can be easily done. Replacing employees is not as easily done and is very costly. Eliminate or reduce all capital projects. Find that $12 million from things rather than people. Services to residents and impacted employees' lives should not be sacrificed for that $12 million. Let us know also what you have decided if you are faced with this problem so that we understand what you decided and why you made those decisions and the consequences of those decisions. Thank you very much. Anyone else from the public desire to be heard on this agenda? Ms. Norse-Wilk Miller. Hello, my name is Allison Nurse-Miller and I'm a resident of Clearwater. I'm here tonight to speak about the Beach Library branch on behalf of the friends of the Clearwater Beach Recreation Center and Library. As you all know, the Beach Recreation Center and Library was destroyed by Hurricane Helene two years ago. The Recreation Center has been fully restored and we are delighted to have it back. The library has not been completed, however. The space is available for the library. We have staff, but the interior furnishings, books, and technology have not been ordered. It is operating as a pop-up library on a very limited basis with several carts of books and limited programming for 12 hours a week. We are requesting that in the upcoming budget, funds be made available to make the library fully functional. This library is the hub for Sand Key Island Estates and Clearwater Beach communities. Residents, snowbirds, and visitors congregate at our library for information, books, programs, the use of computers and printers. Our librarian and her assistant are trusted resources regarding the wealth of information in our world and community today, particularly in this area of AI. Accessibility to these services is severely compromised when the library is not available. As just one example, some of you may well understand that going to the main library from the beach can take well over one hour each way during the beach's busiest season. One of our beach residents recently stated that the library is the heart of our community, and it is. The membership of the Friends organization would attest to this, as would those who spoke at the Clearwater Beach Association meeting last evening. The beach's library's importance is much bigger than its size. We need it completed and available to the unique community that it serves. Thank you. Anyone else? With that, we'll move to council discussion. Is there any discussion on this agenda item? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve agenda item 2.1. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 2.2. Approve the City of Clearwater annual operating budget for 2026-27 fiscal year and pass ordinance 9937-26 on first reading. This is for the first reading of the ordinance to adopt the operating budget for fiscal year 26-27. The following changes have been made to the preliminary operating budget and are included in these ordinances for adoption of the fiscal year 27 budget. In the general fund, ad valorem revenues were decreased by $103,525 to account for the reduced millage rate approved by council in July. Transfer in revenues are increased by $1,405 to align with the final CRA budget transfer for administration costs. Non-departmental expenditures are reduced by $2,120 for the transfer of the TIF revenues to the CRA to account for the reduced millage rate and the updated values as reflected in the preliminary tax roll. And in the police department, there was a decrease of $100,000 in transfers to the capital fund. And I'd be happy to answer any questions you have on this item. May we have a reading? Operating budget ordinance, ordinance number 9937-26. The ordinance of the City of Clearwater, Florida, adopting an operating budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026 and ending September 30, 2027. Authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the service programs so authorized. Authorizing the city manager to transfer monies and programs among the departments and activities within any fund as provided by Chapter 2 of the Clearwater Code of Ordinances, providing an effective date. So I want to hear from the public tonight that desires to speak to this agenda. Good evening, Mayor, City Councilmembers. I'm still Bill Johnson. I was in this room in July when you decided to initially adopt the rollback rate, which you just formally adopted on first reading. I believe that that was appropriate in light of the recent concerns that I've heard from Clearwater residents. But in addition, I look at the budget document. It's kind of an audio mixed control board. It gives us an opportunity to reduce the piccolo feed and raise the sound coming from the French horn to achieve an overall better balance across the orchestra or across the city and to identify areas of spending where there's need to reduce resource allocations and other areas where additional resources should be allocated. I continue to be amazed with the inadequacy of the landscape maintenance for our bright and beautiful from the bay to the beach city, along Gulf to Bay, Cochran Park, and our former America's number one Clearwater Beach. This is in contrast with the overly generous funding for our Phillies friends at Carpenter Field and Bay Care Ballpark. Not so much funding from Penny for Pinellas, but from the general fund, which is supported by property taxes. The budget is proposing spending as much general funds on the Phillies as is budgeted annually for both the Long Center and the Countryside Rec Center. This is even after offsetting the revenue sharing and the fees returned to the Phillies. I'm submitting a summary, which I think you have now, which includes figures pulled from documents supplied by the Finance Department for your review before the second reading of the budget. Here are some pictures that were taken on 9-11 last week illustrating the current status of our landscaping. Gulf to Bay, another Gulf to Bay, another Gulf to Bay, another Gulf to Bay. An example in Cochran Park of landscaping, not in areas where there's traffic, but just in general area. We have a dead tree in Cochran Park that's been there for more than a year. And then if you look at the beach, we use the shell for mulch. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other speakers on this, too? Okay. With that, we'll move to council discussion. Any council discussion on agenda item 2.2? If not, start a motion. Move to approve agenda item 2.2. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda item 2.3. Approve the fiscal year 2026-27 annual capital improvement budget, establish a six-year plan for the capital improvement program, and pass ordinance 9938-26 on first reading. This is for the first reading of the ordinance. It's to adopt the capital improvement budget for fiscal year 26-27. In the capital improvement fund, we made one change from the preliminary budget. The police department district one dock replacement project has been removed from the capital improvement budget. This was the $100,000 reduction in transfer that I spoke to you about on the operating side. Work is currently underway to repair that dock, and it will be accounted for in storm-related projects. Reimbursement is being sought from insurance and FEMA. Okay. And we have a reading on this one. Capital improvement ordinance, ordinance number 9938-26. Ordinance of the city of Clearwater, Florida, adopting the capital improvement budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2026, ending September 30, 2027, approving the six-year capital improvement program, which shall be reevaluated at the beginning of each fiscal year, authorizing the city manager to issue such instructions that are necessary to achieve and accomplish the capital improvements so authorized, authorizing the city manager to transfer money between projects and the capital improvement program, appropriating available and anticipated resources for the projects identified, providing an effective date. Does anyone here from the public tonight desire to speak to Agenda Item 2.3? Seeing none, any council discussion? If there's no council discussion, is there a motion? Motion to approve Agenda Item 2.3. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. Agenda Item 2.4. Approve the recommended pending for Pinellas project list as revised for fiscal year 2026-27. Through 2029-30. Council, this is the annual public hearing to approve the Penny for Pinellas project list for fiscal year 26-27 through 29-30. City ordinance requires us to hold a public hearing prior to the annual adoption of the capital improvement budget to discuss the use of Penny for Pinellas tax and also at any time in which there's a proposed change to Penny for Pinellas project funding of $500,000 or more. Attached to this agenda item is the project list. There are no changes proposed to the Penny for Pinellas project list and the proposed fiscal year 26-27 capital improvement plan. So this is the same as you saw it last year. Just one year has been taken off. Thank you. Does anyone have it in the public tonight desire to speak to Agenda Item 2.4? Yes. I'm still Bill Johnson. Because of my looking at the budget balance, I'd spend some time looking at the Parks and Rec Department. And I saw a considerable amount of capital improvement project funding coming out of the general fund. I'd like to suggest that we try to group some of those capital projects into a larger project that would apply, that would qualify for the Penny for Pinellas, kind of like we never used to fund fire trucks from Penny for Pinellas, and now we do. And there's, for instance, $6 million alone this year coming from or coming for the Phillies projects that has already $10.5 million in it. That's on your list. It was approved at a previous meeting. But we'd have plenty of Penny for Pinellas if we could just spread it around to other capital projects. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Anyone else on this agenda? I'm seeing none. Is there any council discussion? If not, is there a motion? Move to approve Agenda Item 2.4. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Unanimous. That will move to Agenda Item 3. Are there any citizens to be heard tonight on items that are not on tonight's agenda? I do not have anyone on it. Okay. But there is an individual. I don't know if he came in. Anyone here from the public desire to speak to an item that's not on tonight's agenda? Hearing saying none, then we'll move to Agenda Item 4. City Manager. I wanted to just thank all the team members that are here today and their work on the budget. This was not an easy budget to work on with all the things that are going on. And I know that our team has certainly been through a lot as it relates to this and the upcoming amendment. So I just wanted to thank you for your professionalism on this. Also wanted to thank all the neighborhoods that have reached out and asked for budget information. And so our teams are coordinating that. I think I've been through six or seven of those meetings. And the engagement with the community, as I mentioned, I was at Clearwater Beach last night, has really been outstanding. And so appreciating that opportunity to engage and looking forward to any other opportunities to continue to do that. So I know our team is very passionate about the education process with this. And so I just wanted to say thank you for that. Thank you. Agenda Item 5, City Attorney Report. Nothing to add, sir. Item 6, closing comments by Councilmembers. Thank you. Closing comments from that. Seeing none. Closing comments by Mayor. I do not have any. I wish everybody have a good evening. And thank you for attending tonight, particularly our staff. You know, it looks like everybody is here. And coming out on Tuesday night for this meeting, thank you, the staff, for coming tonight. And thank you, again, as the city manager said, for all of your departments and talking through your departments to help present the budget that was approved on the first reading tonight. So thank you for all your work. With that, we'll move to Agenda Item 8, and we will adjourn the City Council meeting for September 15, 2026.