Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the July 23rd, 2025 meeting on the proposed budget recommendations to Council on the preliminary maximum millage rates. And Ms. Begaro, if you please call the roll. Councilmember Anderson? Here. Councilmember Andreu? Here. Councilmember Fadgen? Here. Councilmember Horland? Here. Councilmember Reinstein? Yes, here. Mayor Sortel? Here. Assistant City Attorney Morgan? Here. Thank you. And if I didn't specifically say it, it is 5.01 p.m. as requested. All right. Thank you very much. Ms. Finance Director, Ms. Antiano, you're up. Good evening, Mayor, Council President, Councilmembers. Welcome to the City of Plantation fiscal year 2026 maximum millage meeting. I want to remind Council that tonight is a maximum millage, which means we are voting, or you are voting, to tell Broward County the maximum rate that you will charge in fiscal year 26. You will have the opportunity of reducing that millage in September at either of the public hearings. The budget presentation I'm about to give you is a brief overview of the fiscal year 2026 budget. I'm going to discuss the changes, the significant changes, between fiscal year 25 amended budget and the proposed budget, and I'm going to discuss the reasons behind those changes. So without further ado, we'll get started. The fiscal year 2026 proposed budget for all funds, including ad valorem revenue, was approximately $282 million. This is a 0.3% increase, or $969,000 increase over the previous fiscal year amended budget. The significant increases are in the areas of the special district funds, which increased 22.2%, or $1.9 million. The capital project funds for non-advalorem bonds, which increased 108.1%, or $437,000. The enterprise funds for water waste water increased 1.8%, or $1.5 million. And then the plantation preserve, which increased 21.1%, or $1.2 million. The significant decreases are in the general fund, which decreased 1.8%, or $2.9 million. The special revenue funds, which decreased 2.6%, or $510,000. And then also in the ad valorem bond capital projects, which decreased 26.1%, or $596,000. As we go through the budget presentation, I will go into each one of these and the details as we go through the presentation, and we're going to start off with the general fund. So the general fund proposed budget is based on a proposed millage of 5.8 mils. This is a zero increase since fiscal year 2019. According to the Broward County property appraisers, property values in the city of Plantation increased 6.99%. Property values, between the property value increases and the proposed millage rate, we will generate approximately $82.3 million in ad valorem revenues, and this is estimated at 96% collections. Additional revenues over previous fiscal year at this proposed millage rate and these taxable values is approximately $4.3 million. Of the revenues in fiscal year 26, 0.8% is, or $641,000, is related to new construction. The proposed millage of 5.8 mils requires a two-thirds vote, or four votes from council. So looking at the general fund revenues, you can see from the slide, ad valorem revenues are the largest source of revenues for the general fund. They actually make up 54.2% of the general fund, which means they support 54.2% of the operations. As I mentioned on the previous slide, they are estimated at $82.6 million, which is a 5.5% increase or $4.3 million increase over the previous fiscal year amended budget. The utility service tax category totals $9.9 million. This is a 4.3% increase or $410,000 increase over the previous fiscal year. The increase is directly in the utility service tax line item for electricity, and this increase is related to FPL and the schedule of increases that they put out a few years ago. I will say during the year we actually met again with FPL. The mayor and myself met with FPL, they are getting ready to put before their commission another schedule of rate increases. So we anticipate we're going to see this revenue source increase over the next few years as well. The utility, the other general taxes category totals $4 million. This is a 0.1% decrease or $5,000 decrease. The decrease here is in the business tax receipts line item for the county, and this decrease is associated or attributed to weakened consumer spending and small business closures. Permit fees and special assessments. This category is $12.7 million. This is a 3% increase or $375,000 increase. The increase here is, again, related to electricity. It's the franchise fees for electricity. Also in this category, increasing is franchise fees for solid waste, which this increase is related to increase in rates for those services as well. The intergovernmental category, this is the category that houses the sales tax and half-cent sales tax. This category totals approximately $15 million for fiscal year 26. This is a 3.1% increase or a $456,000 increase compared to the previous fiscal year. 70% of the increase in this category is related to sales tax and half-cent sales tax. This revenue source has been increasing steadily over the past few years, and actually over many years. But I will say for fiscal year 26, we are holding back a little bit. We are projecting very conservatively in this category due to the focus that the Florida legislature had this particular session on sales tax. They want to reduce sales tax from 6% down to 5.25%. Now, it did not pass in this particular session. However, we don't feel like this focus is going to go away. We believe it's going to come back again next year. So we are conservatively estimating these revenues for fiscal year 26. The other 30% in this category is related to the premium tax for the firefighter and police, also known as the 175 and 185 monies. Those are approximately $162,000 of this increase. Those are not a revenue for the city. Those are actually monies that the state disports to the city, and we are required to, within three days, disports those to the firefighter and police pensions. So those are not a revenue for the city. The charges for services category tolls approximately $21.2 million. This is a 1.7% increase or a $358,000 increase. 45% of the increase in this category is related to solid waste pickup and recycle revenues. Those are also not a revenue for the city. Those are fees that are paid by the resident on the utility water bill. The city collects those monies, and on a monthly basis, we provide those to waste management. So those are not a revenue for the city. They come in as a revenue over here, and when we get to the expense side, you will see where they actually are paid out. The other two items in this category, the other 55% of the increase in this category is related to the police special detail and to cost allocation fees. The police special detail is estimated to increase about 12.5% for fiscal year 26. This is about $150,000, and the increase is related to demand for those services. The cost allocation fees, you may remember, is the fees that we charge to the special revenue funds, the building department, the enterprise funds, golf, and the utilities. It's a chargeback for services provided to them by the general fund departments, which are administration, finance, HR, city clerk, procurement, public works. And so we charge them back a fee. That is estimated to increase at 4% for fiscal year 26. It equates to about $134,000. 4%, why 4%? The increase is tied to personnel increases for merit increases. Whatever the raises are for the general employees is what we raise the cost allocation fees by. Fines and forfeiture categories, approximately $717,000. This is a 3% increase or a $21,000 increase. The increase here is directly in the court, the county court criminal fines, and the increase is attributed to the county clearing out a backlog, collections. They are offering more ways for people to pay online and with credit cards, and they've been able to collect a little bit more, and that's what we're estimating for 26. The miscellaneous revenue category totals $2.4 million. This is an increase of 2.8% or $65,000. The increase is in two areas. The area is tower rentals and investment income. Tower rentals is increasing approximately 3%, and this is the regular scheduled annual increase. And then the investment income is just an estimate. It's a very conservative estimate because we don't want to estimate too high in terms of investment income because we don't know the volatility of the market. Looking at expenditures, you can see that personnel expenditures are the highest cost for the city. We are a service provider, so it makes sense that most of our costs are related to manpower. The category totals approximately $108 million in fiscal year 26. This is a 4% increase or a $4.1 million increase over the previous fiscal year amended budget. Now, in personnel services, we do have a very small amount, $162,000 that I talked about for the firefighter and police premium tax. That actually is in that category, so we remove that. The increase is actually about $3.9 million and 3.8%. The increase in this category is related to the request for six new full-time positions in the general fund, 4% increases for general employees, increases associated with position reclassifications or promotions, estimated increases for fire rescue pending their negotiations. They're negotiating their contract right now, so we have an estimated increase in there, and then scheduled increase for FOP based on their already approved contract. Also included in personnel services, we have benefits. So the benefits are mainly medical. Medical is estimated to increase 2.3% in fiscal year 26. This is a very modest amount considering when other municipalities, they're increasing 20%, 30% in medical. But because we have a good strategy in terms of we are self-insured, we have stop-loss insurance, and then we have an employee health care center on site. This center is estimated to save us cost savings of about $9.6 million since inception, which is 2011. In addition to that, just to note that some of the costs of the increase in the medical, there is an increase for employees in terms of their contribution went up 2.3% to offset some of the increase for the medical this year as well. So operating expenditures, that's the second largest category of expenses for the city. It totals $29 or almost $30 million. This is an increase of 7.8% or $2.1 million. I will say 50% of the increase here is the solid waste and recycle. It's about $1.1 million. So that is not really an expense for the city. That is, it comes in on the revenue side and it goes out on the expense side. Here's where it goes out. So if you remove that from the category, the actual increase in the category is $1.1 million or 3.9%. During the budget process, and I'm sure you've heard this before, at the beginning of the budget process, department heads wait for direction from administration as to how much they can increase operations. It's typically by CPI. But CPI, although CPI is coming down, cost of goods and services is not coming with it. So the direction for operating increases this year was up to 4%. Now, a majority of the departments came in under the 4%. However, there are always some that have additional services they need or contracts that they can control. Those departments came in above the target. Those departments were, we're going to talk about who they were. We have the first one coming in is the other general government department. So this is where the insurance premiums are. So they increased above the target $286,000. So that's related to insurance, property, and casualty insurance premiums. This is not just a problem for the city. This is statewide. Everybody's dealing with it. Municipalities, commercial, residents, everybody's dealing with the same problem. And the city, unfortunately, is not exempt. And so that was that department there increase. We had the police department came in a little bit of $120,000 above the target. And their target increase was primarily related to R&M equipment, contracted maintenance. So their contracts and those are equipment and software that they need that you can't control the cost there. So that we have no choice but to pay them. Administration, City's Office of Mayor, Administration, Risk Management came in $88,000 above the target. And that increase is related to monies for a consultant to help with a solid waste RFP. And then there's also additional monies that were put in the solid waste working group, which is the member contribution that increased a little bit as well. The next department that increased above the target was Public Works. They increased about $40,000 above the target. And that increase is tied to a new GPS diagnostic system that they want to purchase for the cars. This is going to help with asset management. It's going to help with knowing where the vehicles are and then the diagnostics of, like, what's going on with the vehicle. So that's hopefully going to extend the asset management, the life of the vehicle. So we're hoping that that's going to help with that. And then last but not least, Parks and Recreation. They came in about $20,000 above the target. And that increase is related to the request for security cameras for the various community centers. And then also a new program that they want to implement for an arts festival for the residents. So grants and aid section. In the grants and aid section, this is the category where we actually pay the TIF, the increment, the tax increment to the CRA. The increase here is 4.1% or $86,000, $87,000. This increase is tied to property value increases. The capital outlay, the category is approximately $11.8 million. This is a 43.9% decrease or a $9.2 million decrease. That's a significant decrease. But it is not because we didn't have enough capital requests. We actually had capital requests. And we have a lot of capital needs. But we unfortunately didn't have the funds in the budget to fund them. So this is not because we didn't have enough requests. It was because we had to balance the budget and there wasn't enough funds for any more capital. The debt service. I'm going to go into the capital a little bit more on the next slide. But I just want to finish off this last slide here, the last item on the slide, the debt service. This is the debt service for the general fund only. It's $1.9 million. And there's no increase between $25 and $26. And this is the debt service associated with the Motorola Dispatch Center. So going back to capital items, the focus for administration and I believe for council over the past few years has been asset management. That continues. The effort continues in fiscal year 26. We have of the $11.8 million capital budget, we have 7.4 that's related to asset management. Of that 7.4, 2.6 is in public works related to roads, sidewalks, swales, swale trees, public works, administration, and maintenance buildings. They're going to do new roof drawings there. It's going to be a new roof, but we only have the money for the drawings. So that's what's going to happen this year. And then next year we hopefully will put on the new roof. Also includes the citywide AC program and then miscellaneous equipment and vehicles. Parks and Recreation is $4.6 million. This $4.6 million is related to the pump room upgrades, bridge and pier improvements. Four turf fields, two in Pine Island Park, two in Central Park. Playground upgrades, which include shade structures and safety surfacing. And then also sports course resurfacing, walkways, and fencing replacements, as well as miscellaneous equipment and vehicles. The other general government department has approximately $200,000. This is related to the ADA transition and multimodal transportation plan. This project has been in the budget and has been moving right along every year. They're making headway. And this is just what the costs are associated for fiscal year 26. Other capital items, not asset management that are in the budget, $4.4 million. This is $2.9 of which is in public safety. Of this $2.9, $1.9 is related to the police department for the body-worn cameras and tasers and for replacement vehicles and equipment. Fire and Fire Rescue have a combined total of $1 million in capital for vehicles, CAD system, stretcher lift system, Lucas resuscitation system, ventilators, new alerting system, and fire station for a redesign. IT upgrades in equipment include $1.5 million. A majority of this cost is for the new ERP system. It also is for network file management software, network devices, Acela cloud upgrade, servers, and application. Now, these are all the projects that we have in the budget. This is all the capital. The next slide is going to talk about capital that we don't have in the budget but is in play. We have been aggressively going after grant money and any other funding that we can get. There was an individual who was hired to help with that. We've been very successful. She's been very successful in acquiring grant funding for several projects. But grant funding, it doesn't come free. You get grant funding but then you have to have matching. And then even the grant funding and the matching together don't cover the project. So, what we're having to do is we're having to use fund balance. So, the total of these are just, this is not an all-inclusive. This is what we have right now and these are projects. Some of the projects, there's about three projects on here that doesn't have any grant associated with it. But they are projects that are in play and they need fund balance. The rest of the projects have, they either have a grant that was awarded or an appropriation that was awarded. So, we're giving you this list but again, this is not exhaustive. There is a lot more other projects behind the scenes that are in need. But this is what we have. It's approximately $25 million and of which is about $5.4 million. That's a combination of grants and appropriation. And then it's going to need about $19.5 million of fund balance. So, as I said, you get the grant and you want to take the grant but the grant comes with matching. Sometimes it's a little matching and then you still need to put more money in for fund balance because you don't have enough to close the project. And sometimes it's a lot of funding, a lot of matching. So, this is what we're looking at for right now. We just kind of want this on your radar. I believe a lot of these projects are already some that you might have seen. You knew that we got the body-worn cameras for year one. We do have the body-worn cameras in the current fiscal year budget for 26. But for year one, we did get $400,000 and we're required to match $200,000. So, even though we have in the budget next year, we don't have grant next year. We have the full thing in the budget next year. So, I don't know. Just kind of take a picture of that. Okay, so moving on to special districts. The special districts, we have gateway. We have gateway and midtown development districts. The gateway development district's budget is based on a proposed millage of 1.7108 mils. This was reduced. This millage rate was a new millage rate that we did in fiscal year 25. We came in with a rate of 1.8, but it was reduced down to 1.7108 mils. The property values in the gateway district increased 8.32% according to the Broward County property appraiser. The combination of the increase of property values and the proposed millage rate will generate approximately $850,000. This is estimated, again, at 96% collections. Additional revenues over the previous fiscal year with this combination is approximately $25,000. New construction of the ad valorem revenues for fiscal year 26, 3.5% or $29,000 is related to new construction. The proposed millage of 1.7108 mils requires a two-thirds vote or four votes from council. Taking a look at the gateway district budget, the total budget for fiscal year 26 is approximately $400,000. This is a decrease of 23.3% or $118,000. The decrease in this particular area is related to the financial incentives. Last year there was $137,000 in the gateway budget for incentives, but it was removed in fiscal year 26 because they do have incentives in the CRA budget, so we're going to leave it over there. There was a slight increase in operations of $19,000. This increase is related to a new tax collector fee that was voted on in the most recent election in November. Commissions, they've now become paid, and so they charge 2%. I think it's on the first $5 million project or property, and then it goes up after that. But we're estimating it to be $16,959 for the gateway district in fiscal year 26. The proposed budget for the Midtown district is based on a proposed millage of 0.9707 mils. This is a zero increase since fiscal year 2018. According to the Broward County Property Appraiser, Midtown property values increased 5.72%. The combination of the increase in values and the proposed millage rate will generate approximately $2.3 million in ad valorem revenues. The additional revenues over a previous fiscal year amended budget is $35,000, $36,000. Of these revenues, 2.2% or $49,000, $50,000 is related to new construction. The proposed millage of 0.9707 mils requires a majority vote and three votes from council. Looking at the Midtown development district budget, the total budget for fiscal year 26 is $10.2 million. This is an increase of 25.1% or $2 million. The increase is primarily in the area of capital projects. The operating budget is $2.3 million with an increase of 1.6% or $36,000. The increase in the $36,000 increase is related to that new fee for the tax collector, which we're estimating at about $47,000 for fiscal year 26. The capital budget for the Midtown district is approximately $7.9 million. This is an increase of 34.2% or $2 million. And the list of the projects, a lot of them you've seen before. We did add a couple of new ones. The Southwest 78th Avenue was still there with the Cleary Boulevard drainage improvements. That's definitely a new one for this year. Special revenue funds. We have about eight special revenue funds. We have the library board, road and traffic, CDBG, SHIP. We have forfeitures, the federal and state forfeitures, the building fund. So, for fiscal year 2026, the special revenue funds category for all the funds under that umbrella is $18.8 million. This is a decrease of 2.6% or $511,000. The decrease was in the areas of the state housing initiative program fund, which we call SHIP, the road and traffic fund, and the building fund. The decrease in the state housing initiative program is 31.1% or $343,000, and the decrease is due to the reduction in grant funding that we got for fiscal year 26. The road and traffic fund had a decrease of 10.4% or $356,000. Decrease here is related to the reduction of paving in this particular fund. So, if you remember last year, we started budgeting for paving in the general fund. We had never done that before. It was always managed through road and traffic. Well, unfortunately, road and traffic doesn't have the fund balance to cover the amount of paving that needs to be done. So, we did put a million in the general fund this year again for road and traffic, and there's very little in the actual road and traffic fund, which is why there is a decrease. The building fund actually increased 3% or $248,000. The increase here is related to personnel costs. The building department is having a lot of problems finding building inspectors. They're finding them and they're interviewing them, but they're not able to hire them because the money that's being offered is not enough. So, the building department requested from administration that they could increase the salary ranges for building inspectors because they're finding really good ones, but they're losing them to other cities who's paying them more. So, they increased those ranges, which equated to the increase you see on the screen. Debt service funds. The city has two types of debt service funds. We have non-advalorum debt service and advalorum debt service. The non-advalorum debt service for fiscal year 26 totals $325,000. This is a decrease of 6.7% or $23,000. The decrease is due to the payoff of the acre note that we paid off in fiscal year 25. The advalorum debt service for fiscal year 26 totals approximately $3.9 million. This is a decrease of 0.1% or $250. The decrease is in the, we have a allocation schedule and it's a decrease in principle. This advalorum debt service is supported by a voted debt millage. The debt millage rate for fiscal year 26 is 0.2710. Homeowner with a save our home value of approximately $200,000 with a $50,000 exemption is estimated to pay about $40.65 in debt service. The capital project funds like the advalorum, like the debt service funds, there are two types. We have non-advalorum capital projects and we have advalorum capital projects. Non-advalorum capital projects in fiscal year 26 total $842,000. This is an increase of 108.1% or $438,000 increases primarily in the area of capital projects. The operating budget is $6,500, which is bank fees that they have to pay because any money in fund balance, they are required to pay bank fees. The capital budget total is $836,475 and the projects you see below, the lighting at bus shelters, pedestrian amenities, sunrise and 441 improvements, heighten, pedestrian crossing and green mill senior housing, that's a new one for this year, all totaled at $836,000. Advalorum bond projects in fiscal year 26 total $1.7 million. This is a decrease of 26.1% or $596,000 approximately. This decrease is related to the fact that we have been completing most of the projects in the bond silos. The only silo that remains at this moment is the parks and recreation silo and there are only two projects remaining in there. The Pop Travers restroom, which is $185,000 and the Central Park multipurpose building improvements is $1.5 million. Enterprise funds. The city has three enterprise funds. We have the utilities, the golf course and the stormwater. The utilities fund is the largest of the three. They make up 89.3% of the enterprise category. In fiscal year 26, the total budget for utilities is all utility funds is $83.4 million. This is an increase of 1.8% or $1.5 million. The personnel budget for fiscal year 26 in the utility funds totaled $17.8 million. This is an increase of 3.8% or $648,000. The increase is related to 4% increases for employees and current staff and for various reclass positions and salaries adjustments. The operating budget in utilities is approximately $21.3 million. This is a decrease of 1.8% or $385,000. The decreases in the area is the R&M mains, meters, and hydrants in the water and wastewater funds. What we did there was we actually reduced those this year because based on the actuals, we felt we would bring the budget more in line on what we're actually seeing in the actuals. The total projects for all the utility funds in fiscal year 26 is approximately $36.8 million. This is an increase of 5.8% or $2 million. $6.8 million are the projects under the operating fund, $28.5 million in the R&R, which is the repair and replacement fund, and $1.5 million in the water and wastewater capacity funds. The preserved golf course fund makes up 7.5% of the enterprise category. The total budget for the golf course in fiscal year 26 is approximately $7 million. This is an increase of 21.1% or $1.2 million. The increase is primarily in the area of capital projects. The operating budget for the golf course is $5.8 million. This is an increase of 7.7% or $414,000. The increase is in outside service fees, electricity, R&M grounds, structures, and equipment. The capital budget $1.2 million. This is an increase of 208.6% or $800,000. And the new projects there for fiscal year 26 are clubhouse renovation and a re-grassing of the mutated grass areas and bunker reconstruction. The stormwater utility fund makes up approximately 3.3% of the enterprise category. The stormwater fund was established in 2013, and it's supported by a non-advalorum assessment. In June 25, this year, Council approved a CPI increase for the stormwater assessment, 2.2% to be precise. The monthly fee went from $4.46 to $4.56. And then the annual fee per ERU went from $53.56 to $54.74. The stormwater budget in fiscal year 26 totals $3.1 million. This is a decrease of 2.3% or $71,000. Personnel budget for stormwater is approximately $1.9 million. This is an increase of 2.8% or $51,000, $52,000. The increase is related to 4% annual increase for employees and then also increase in payroll allocations. The operating budget for the stormwater fund is $782,000. This is a decrease of 8.1% or $68,790. The decrease is primarily in the area of R&M tires and R&M grounds, and also in the supplies materials expendable. The capital budget for the stormwater fund is approximately $425,000. This is a decrease of 11.3% or $54,000. Projects in the capital budget for stormwater this year are the citywide waterway restoration plan and the basin 2 drainage improvements. The fiscal year 2026 recommendations from administration to council tonight are to adopt the preliminary maximum millage and the assessments, the assessments you've already voted on. But the City of Plantation proposed millage of 5.8000 mills requires four votes from council. The Gateway Development District proposed millage of 1.7108 mills requires four votes from council. The Midtown Development District proposed millage rate of 0.9707 mills requires three votes from council. And then the voted debt millage for the City of Plantation, not for the General Fund, requires three votes. That's a rate of 0.2710 mills. And then the stormwater assessment. This is just here for information only, as council has already voted on this, $54.74 per year, you annually. We also would like to recommend establishing a date, time, and location for the first public budget hearing, which we are recommending September 10, 2025, 5.01 p.m. in City Council Chambers. The fiscal year 26 budget calendar from here now, we will, after this evening's vote, we will provide this information to the Broward County property appraiser on or before August 4th. September 10, we will have the first public budget hearing to adopt the tentative millage rates and the tentative budgets at 501 in City Council Chambers. And then on September 12, we will have the final stormwater non-advalorum assessment at 501 in City Council Chambers. And this is a Friday. And this is a special meeting just for stormwater because we can't, stormwater has to be, non-advalorum assessments have to be heard in a particular window. You cannot hear it before the 12th and you must be finished by the 15th. So we're having it on the 12th. The second public budget hearing is scheduled to adopt the final millage rates and final budgets is scheduled for September 17, 5.01 in City Council Chambers. Thank you very much. So we will now begin with council discussion on, we'll start with item one. And after we have given all council an opportunity for discussion, we will take a motion and then we will have public comments followed by a vote. And we'll take each item one at a time. So let's begin with item one. If you have questions for our finance director or discussion, I see first, Council Member Fadgen. You're recognized. Thank you, Council President Reinstein. First, thank you, Anna, for leading this endeavor. I know it's you and your finance department team and then all the departments. It's a huge task and everyone's working together like we always expect and come to appreciate year in and year out that everyone's making thoughtful and difficult decisions when it comes to our budget. Our millage and I'm proud that we're a responsible city and that we try to be good stewards of the public, the public's money in the presentation in the capital projects, not funded by budget funds. I have a question regarding Dyke Auditorium. So we're not budgeting that. So is that on hold? No. Because that's a regular question I'm sure all of us get. No, that's actually in. That's actually on the street now. Okay. So it was just given as an example of something that's coming from fund balance. Unfortunately, that was one that given the public's interest and obviously the interest demonstrated by council, we were not going to try to strategically hold back to leverage some grant funding because it's kind of a dire need and it's been offline for too long. Right. So that is on the street and it will be coming from fund balance. And I think we had a conversation. Do you want to tell, it's on the street now or is it going out? It is. And it had previously seen. You gave me like a timeline when I asked you about it the last, a couple, like a month or so ago. Do you want to just say the timeline? Unfortunately, we're looking at 15 to 18 months. Do you want to start from the day it went on the street? It will be on the street for about 40 days. It will come back. It will have to be reviewed by obviously procurement staff. It will be brought to council as expeditiously as possible. There will be, I believe, a 10 or 15 day period where we've got to wait for any protests. We'll execute the contract as soon as we can, hold a pre-con, get the construction underway. Capital project staff have worked to try to make it as clear as possible as far as the bid documents so we don't have any misfires there. But unfortunately, the process itself takes what it takes. The construction is going to take what it takes. And we're still looking at, you know, from today, a good 15 to 18 months. Okay. I just want to try to get that out in the public realm because it is a question that we get asked a lot. Yes, sir. We are, I think originally I think we determined that it was a much more complex fix than we originally anticipated. It was more than just fixing the roof. Is that accurate? We did. There were some structural failures there, similar to what we experienced at the library. And then looking at it, we decided to do more as far as some of the wood repair. So we're just 100% solid on the structure. Okay. I just want to make sure that people can hear this and understand that we are trying to get the thing fixed. And it's a burden to the other facilities. It limits our meeting spaces for our community organizations and city things that we're trying to host. So this might be Anna. This might be you. So Jason. So regarding the golf course and the clubhouse renovation, so I know we're going to, the plan is, is that we're going to hopefully in 2026 or is it 2027, that we're going to try to redo the golf course. It's likely 2027. We'll be able to give you more details on that. We're hoping to pre-qualify our architect pool we just secured. So if we can pre-qualify them, it's going to, we're going to be able to leapfrog and move a little bit quicker. I'm just concerned that we put a half a million dollars into rehabbing something that maybe we're going to be digging up or moving around. I don't want to spend money on something that, you know, if we're going to re-trift the whole field and we're re-grassing parts of the course before we actually do the renovation. Yeah, we definitely won't do that. What we know is that we have to re-roof. So we're anticipating that. Okay, so you said re-roof? Yes, sir. Okay, so that's primarily the most, probably all of this, $500,000. We also have some structural issues. If you look at the floor, there's a little bit of an issue with the flooring, so we're trying to determine what's going on there. We also, if you've been in a facility, which I believe most of you all have, it's got a constrained kitchen. There's a lack of storage. So there's some of those areas we want to address as well. So we're pursuing those concurrently as far as the clubhouse and some of those needs while also pursuing the golf course reno. And as far as seating and things like that, that will be done to maintain the playability, but we're not going to go nuts. So more operational than rehab. And I don't want to go too much more into it because I want to get into my other comments and wrap up my thoughts. But are we going to have an assessment of the clubhouse to see what kind of expansion it can be to make it a more viable catering-type place that some people would possibly want to host? You're just packed in there when you have a golf tournament or any kind of formal event. It's very limiting. We're definitely looking at that, but there's also some companion constraints like parking and things like that. So we are having that. So it might go hand-in-hand with kind of the renovation of the golf course and maybe redoing the parking and stuff like that a little bit. It does, but frankly, we want to cure the basic elements in the clubhouse, but the golf course is a priority because that's the moneymaker. That's the priority. And then if we come back and do some renovations there, further expansion for events. But our emphasis is on the golf play. Okay. I just wanted to make sure we're not spending money on something that's just going to be dug up. So I appreciate the comments, and thank you for the comments on Dyke. Yes, sir. Okay. So I've said this last year. You know, these are good numbers. They're not as good as the last three years. Our revenue with keeping the millage at 5.8 is a 5.5% increase in revenue, you know, which is off from the prior year, which was like 9.3, and the year before that, 9.7, and the year before that, 9.7. And fiscal year 22, we're at like 4.6%. So it's been a while since we've had under 9% increase year-over-year revenue. Fiscal year, from fiscal year 21 to fiscal year 26, that's a 45.5% increase in revenue, which is a lot of money. We have not had a reduction in our millage since fiscal year 20, well, yeah, fiscal year 20, 2019. So I would like to propose that the millage gets reduced to 5.7, which would, by my calculations, constitute a 3.69% increase in revenue. So when we come back to do the first vote on this, I would like to know what those numbers are, if my calculation is correct, on that 5.7 proposal. My research, and you can double-check this, based off the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the 12 months ending June 2025, the CPI was 2.7%. You know, and I know that this process is a responsible process, a difficult process. I'm asking for it to be a painful process. I would like to give our residents relief with the property taxes. It's long overdue, but I think it can be done. So that will be my ask. I would like the general millage to be reduced to 5.7%. Thank you, Council President. You're welcome, Council Member Favgen, and since nobody else has chimed in just yet, I will add in. Thank you for starting us off. I appreciate your details and jumping in and starting the conversation. So I would agree with you that I would like to see what the numbers would look like in terms of our general operating budget if we were to roll that back to 5.7%, and I see that in our backup, it's 5.7066. So I would like to see that. I'm okay with today, since this is a preliminary maximum millage rate of approving the numbers that we have before us, but I would like to see that the next time around. Does anybody else have any other comments on item one? If not, I'd like to ask for a motion, please. Motion to approve the maximum millage rate at 5.800. Do we have a second? Council Member Andreu for the second. With that, we will have discussion from the public. We have a number of cards that have already been turned in. I'd ask the public that if you would like to speak on any one of these legislative items, that you please fill out the form located in the back, and you turn that in to our city clerk. We'll begin with Mr. Conklin. On item one only, please. And just a reminder for everybody that has now, that maybe wasn't here when we first got here, I mentioned it just in my comments, but this is a preliminary maximum millage rate. We are not setting the rate tonight. This is only a preliminary discussion on a proposed budget for a maximum millage rate. Go ahead, Mr. Conklin. Thank you. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest CIS Court. I noticed that we didn't have invocation and pledge allegiance, so I heavily hope to protect you and all of your families. I'm requesting to know what the rollback millage rate would be. Please. I believe that it is 5.7066. Is that? Adjusted rollback. That's the adjusted one. So what is the? 5.766. 5.7066 is the adjusted rollback. Okay. Mr. Conklin, if you just step over for a second so Anna can have the microphone. The rollback rate is 5.4603. The adjusted rollback rate is 5.7066. Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Conklin. I would request the rollback rate, not the adjusted. So that's the 5.4 umpity ump, and not to affect the debt service, obviously, right? And the reason for that is if you examine your CAFR every year for the last 10 years, the mountain of money has grown from over $100 million to over $300 million, okay? And what that means to me is you guys are collecting the money, but you're not spending it. So that's good because I got other uses for that mountain of money, right? Namely, the pensions and the rollback rate. How much is the difference between your maximum proposed and the rollback rate in dollars? Take it out of the mountain of money. And last comment, I still got a minute. I've been sitting my buns in a pew back there for years, and I've noticed that whenever the millage rate gets read for maximum, it doesn't get rolled back. The rollbacks occur at this time when you are directing them to do the rollback rate. 5.8 will be the doggone rate if you don't act now. I yield back. No yielding back, but thank you for speaking, Mr. Conklin. Next up, we have Marsha Johansson, and on deck is Catherine Rollins. And again, when everyone approaches, please state your name and your address for the record, please. My name is Marsha Johansson, 305 Northwest 78th Avenue, and I would like the millage rate to be rolled back. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Mr. Johansson, did you also want to speak on the other items, or was that just your general comment, just so I know? That's just it for now. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Ms. Rollins. Is there a Catherine Rollins here? Welcome. Yeah, he's here to also request that the rollback be turned out as previously submitted. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, we have Mr. Rico Petricelli. Good evening, Council Mayor, Council President. Quentin, it's good to see you, man. It's been a long time. You know, I've been in your seats and in your position, so I know what you're going through. And I know what these people here are going through also. I was voted in like you were to do what's best for our city residents. So my question is, is that what you're doing? Our property values have once again risen, and that's a good thing. These extra dollars to our city belong to the residents. Our reserves are way past the what if something happens. They've been saying that for years, past administrations. And Dennis is right. If you don't do something tonight about that 5.8, that's where it's going to end up, okay? I had to remind them every year, every time that other government agencies are going to want to tap into that money. Who do you ask? All right, let's see. Anna said waste management and all these other people. What about the hospital district, Broward County taxes, the hospital districts, along with children's services, paid, South Florida water control, FP&L, all of these people. We can't control them, but the voters cast their precious one vote for you all to use their money wisely. Will you? Have you? These are all cumulative. They add up. Fixed income residents lose money based on this, okay? All of you have the opportunity tonight to show real courage, to remember why you were elected. You should realize the residents are asking for help, and you have the life preserver in your vote. Do the right thing tonight. Someone should make a motion to roll back the taxes. Which one of you will vote for the people? Which side will you take? Which one of you will be doing what's best for all a plantation? I remember I did. I was up there. I voted against those increases, along with Councilman Fadgen's father, Jerry Fadgen. Okay? So I've seen this movie before. Okay? Sometimes it doesn't end well. The people knew where we stood on our taxes. I'm hoping that your residents, the ones that voted for you, can depend on you tonight. Please show us tonight what you really think about the taxpayer and who comes first in the city. Your vote tonight will be remembered next November. Thank you. God bless you. And thanks for all you do for the city. Thank you. Ms. Carol Sword, please. Carol Sword, 1621 Northwest 82nd Avenue. I would like to see a roll back on the millage. I'd like it to be more than 5.7. I'd like it to be, you know, as close to 5.4 as possible. We have a lot of fixed income residents here, and they can't afford all the inflation, the taxes, and so forth. So I'd like to see this roll back. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Any further comments? Any further discussion? One more thing. Property values are going up, and that's another reason we need the roll back. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sword. I do not have anyone else signed up for millage rate. Mr. Buehler? Yes. Carol Buehler, 6831 Southwest 11th Street, Plantation, Florida. I thank Mr. Fadgen for his concern about, you know, us being fiscally responsible here in plantation, which actually the city has a reputation for. And, you know, I'd like to also thank our fire department and our police department, because they've been run very efficiently. We have a very efficient public safety department, and that's why I'm supporting the millage rate, because I would not want to see that protection to our public reduced. I remember a comment made about how underpaid our building inspectors are, and we cannot get building inspectors. Well, I know a way around that. I knew a building inspector. He confessed to me years ago how he took a $50,000 bribe in the Sawgrass Project that was in Sunrise. Actually, it turned out to be $150,000, but he felt entitled because he was underpaid all those years, and it was his last year. He was retiring. There's some grant funding. I know you want to get matching funding for that, and I'm not sure where that is in the budget. But, again, we need to protect ourself. I mean, I'm so glad we finally got a grant writer. I asked for that for years, and now the result is we have an opportunity here. You don't want to pass up that opportunity. I don't know when we get to talk about some of the issues like asset management capital items. I'm concerned about the soil trees and sidewalks because, as I spoke with the mayor earlier today, we're cutting down hundreds of trees, and we're not replacing them, and we're doing that needlessly. Also, we're talking about the maintenance roof drawings for the re-roof at Diki and Preserve, and I'm hoping that those roofs are not only going to be 100-year metal roofs, but they're going to have solar panels. It's 12 years of asking for solar panels, and, well, we had a $282 million budget, and still no solar panels. Let's see here. What else have I got? I don't know. I got something here. Oh, yeah. I see the Plantation Midtown Bridge Improvement 700K. I think that's for planning and research on that. That's the one that's going to go over to Canal to 84. That's not for that. It is. Okay. So that's basically research and development. Again, no? Huh? All past that. So what's the 700K for? Oh, wow. Well, that's great. Then there's the Southwest 78th Avenue realignment. That's going to feed into the bridge, right? Yeah. So, again, that's important. I know Mr. Duke, who owns that parking lot there, right? He told me he has no problem with that 78th Street realignment going through the parking lot, right? So the idea is sort of trying to make that sort of a straight shot. There's a new housing project there right on the canal, and that's a perimeter road in between University and Pine Island. And that's a real good investment, you know, both for transportation. Well, see you later. Any further discussion? Seeing no further discussion on item one, Ms. Beggarrow, please call the roll. Council Member Fadgen? No. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Rhinestream? Yes. Thank you. Next on item two, does somebody from the dais wish to make a motion? Council President, may I ask a question before we make the motion? Yes, please. Ms. Otaniano, last year with the Gateway, we were able to roll back the military. Yes. Did you experience, and I don't know if you had a chance to maybe speak to the CRA director or if you have any knowledge or information, with that roll back, did you experience any negative repercussions? Not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge. Anything that we were unable to fund that we wanted to do in the Gateway? No. Okay. Thank you. Anybody from the dais wish to make a motion on item two? Motion to approve the Gateway Development District at 1.7108 mils. Second. So I need discussion from the dais. And from the audience, we have Mr. Conklin. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwest Sixth Court. With regards to the Gateway 7, as I mentioned, they have a special additional millage on top of the millage rate that everyone else that owns property and plantation pays. With the creation of CRA, which after years of adjustment, the CRA matches the original Gateway 7. At that time, I believed that the extra burden of the extra millage rate for those stakeholders along Gateway 7 should be eliminated because the TIF, the tax incremental collections that stay in that district, boundaries, have, after the second year, by leaps and bounds, exceeded what this millage rate burden is on the owners, the extra millage rate burden. I want to say that. If you look at your CRA, you'll know that it was not negative impact by a small rollback because your capital budgets and your active budgets for both the CRA and the Gateway bumped up. So that means they're adding on to this green mountain of money that you never spend. So we have a few more years left on the CRA because it was 30 years, began in 2000. We got, what, five more years? I think we could do away with the millage rate addition to the district and go for zero millage rates, zero them out for item number two, and I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. I see no further cards on item two. Is there any further discussion from the dais? Seeing no further discussion from the dais, Ms. Beggle, please call the roll on item two. Council Member Fajan? No. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. We'll next move to item three. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion from the dais? There are no cards from the public, no comments from the public. Ms. Beggle, please call the roll. Council Member Fajan? No. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. We will now adjourn the first meeting, which was our proposed budget recommendation for fiscal year 2026. Please, and we will now have a little bit of a ticket to board. We will now have a little bit of a ticket to board. We will now have a ticket to roll. Okay. Thank you. We will now have a ticket to board. Thank you. Yes. Thank you.