Good evening, and welcome to the City of Plantation final budget public hearing, September 17, 2025, 5.01 p.m. Ms. Beggaro, please call the roll. Councilmember Anderson. Here. Councilmember Andreu. Here. Councilmember Fadgen. Here. Councilmember Horland. Here. Councilmember Reinstein. Here. Mayor Sortel. Here. City Attorney Ezra. Here. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to begin with Councilmember Anderson leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Yeah, because we're going to do pledge now, and I'll do comments to open the other meetings. We're just going to stand for the pledge, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty. Thank you, Councilmember Anderson. So we are going to begin with our final budget hearing, final public budget hearing. Let me point out is that after the administration has an opportunity to put forth whatever they would like to before the start, we will then have an opportunity for public comments. Please understand that we're going to take all public comments in regards to all of the legislative items prior to the votes. So please don't wait for each item to be called up and then submit your request to speak. I right now already have a number of public comment cards. If you would like to speak on the final budget, please make sure you fill out one of the public cards. They're in the back, and bring them up to Ms. Begaro, and she will get it to me, and then I will call on you. Anna, you're up. Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Anna Otteniano, Finance Director. Before we get started, we're reading a resolution. There is no presentation tonight. I am just going to read into record the information that identifies the proposed millage rates and then the increase above the rollback rate. So the City of Plantation fiscal year 2026 proposed budget is based on the general fund operating millage of 5.700 mils. This is an increase of 4.39% from the rollback millage rate of 5.4603 mils. The voter debt millage rate for fiscal year 2026 is 0.2710 mils. This is the millage required to fund the voter-approved debt service. The Plantation Gateway Development District fiscal year 2026 proposed budget is based on the operating millage of 1.7108 mils. This is an increase of 4.53% from the rollback millage rate of 1.6367 mils. The Plantation Midtown Development District fiscal year 2026 proposed budget is based on the operating millage of 0.9707 mils. This is an increase of 3.40% from the rollback millage rate of 0.9388 mils. The City of Plantation Aggregate Fiscal Year 2026 proposed budget is based on the aggregate millage of 5.9198 mils. This is an increase of 4.34% from the aggregate rollback millage rate of 5.6738 mils. The increase in ad valorem revenues in fiscal year 2026 are for the specific purpose of funding increases in operating costs, increase in personnel costs, and to fund operating capital needs. Thank you very much. First, since we have no further presentation, I'm going to begin by calling our speakers. And first up, we have Donna Andrade, and on deck will be Mr. Conklin, and following that will be Ms. Sword. Welcome. Thank you. Mayor and council members, I'm here today to comment on the consolidated millage rate that you voted on last week. First, I would like to give some kudos to the City of Plantation. I called most of the taxing authorities on my proposed tax notice, and when I spoke with the City of Plantation contact, she was patient, informative, and answered my questions. For some of the other taxing authorities, I'm still waiting on a callback from 2024 and 2025. Regarding the 5.7 milage rate, I would also like to give a shout-out to council member Tim Fadgen. I have been following him over the past few years as he has attempted to convince the mayor and other council members to work on reducing the millage rate. My question to the mayor and other council members is what took you so long. In the 2024 update by the mayor in the Our City of Plantation magazine, he noted that they were able to keep the millage rate at 5.8. What he failed to mention was that as property value assessments go up, the city would take more from taxpayers. The unchanged millage rate was a misrepresentation of success. I expect this time in 2026 that once again all of you sitting here will keep working on the budget and wrestling again with the millage rate. After all, I must do the same with my personal budget, which is directly impacted by your budget and tax decisions. This brings me to affordable housing. There is a lot of talk about affordable housing. There were speakers at the last hearing who discussed the impact of increasing property taxes on seniors with fixed incomes. It is not just seniors who are struggling. Those of us like myself who are smack in the middle of the middle class are also struggling with the dual impact of property taxes and insurance increases over the past 10 years. So please do not talk about affordable housing if you do not also address the increasing unaffordability of these issues for homeowners who are just trying to stay in their homes. It rings false if you do not. Actions speak louder than words, and though many of us are not here, we are paying attention. Finally, I would like to thank the mayor and council members for the millage rate reduction billed on last week, and especially Council Member Fadgen for his initiative to get this process started. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Conklin. Dennis Conklin, 4581 Northwestern Court. Head only hopes to protect you and your families. My comments basically are a question for legislative item number one, the millage rate for the gateway, and for item number six, the final budget resolution. On number one, I was wondering, since the creation of the CRA in 2000 and the continuance of the added millage rate to the already property tax that everybody would pay in that district, I'm wondering if now under the new Florida Agency for Fiscal Oversight, that this might come under review by the chief financial officer, Blaise N'Goglia. So that's number one. Number six, I've been after this for years. I never get an answer. I looked at the hard copy, page 215 of the budget. Item under services, 513-4905, training program. As near as I can figure, because I've never got an answer back, around the year 2021, the city instituted mandatory DEI training for every city employee. And that was with the company, Marcom, M-A-R-C-O-M, and it was a series of basically critical race theory. And I've never found out whether that was stricken from the budget, because I've asked for it ever since it started. I started to receive emails with pronouns, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, and why pronouns matter. Click on the link my.pronouns.org. The new directive is none of this stuff is going to be going on. But I'm looking at that service item number, $45,500, increase of 12.3% from last year. And because I don't have the previous years, it was something like $20,000, $25,000. And I'm wondering if with the devaluation of the purchasing power of the dollar, that it's still in the budget. So I want that removed. And I yield back my time. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. Mr. Nunamaker, the line item that was specifically referenced, do you have any insight to share as to that line item? You can keep it. This is what it was about. Sure. What I can commit to is that, well, one, we've upped our training game across the board. So I'm not aware of any DEI-specific training we're doing, but we are doing training in the areas of sexual harassment, ADA, workplace violence, you know, the topics that we need to cover. We're also going to do more leadership training. Frankly, that's something that's been woefully inadequate in the city. So we are upping our game in there. But what I will do is get with the HR director, take a specific look at this, and make sure we're not doing anything that's not in compliance with state law. Thank you very much. Councilmember Fadgin. Thank you. Dennis. Mr. Conklin? You hold on one second. And Jason, so we can put this to bed for Mr. Conklin's, this is a public records request. So when you do that analysis, if you could just summarize all of the training programs we have, and if we have any kind of, like, professional literature with a brief description as to what each one is and what they do, and then he can do his own research from that. And then he can ask any more detailed questions, so that way he doesn't feel like we've been blowing them off. Thank you. I was able to go onto the website of the company, and they did have two or three that you could look at without having to pay. Well, let us get a list of what we're using now. It doesn't matter what the past is, and then if there's a problem, then we can address it later. Thank you, Mr. Conklin. And as you heard, is that we've listened, and we will follow up on it. Ms. Sord. Carol Sord, 1621 Northwest 82nd Avenue. I just heard on the news tonight that Broward County is reducing its property tax millage rate. I don't know if they're following our lead or we're following theirs, but I'm happy to see it. For several years, I have spoken in support of Councilman Tim Fadgen's request for a property tax rollback. I am here now again to support his request for a reduction. Due to an increase in property values, our taxes will increase without the rollback. Many seniors are hurting because of inflation, so any savings is critical to their welfare. Since our residents have to live within a budget, our city should have to do the same. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sord. Seeing no further public comments, any further discussion from the dais? Seeing none, we'll first take up legislative item number one, fiscal year 2026 final millage resolution for the Plantation Gateway Development District. Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Again, seeing no further comments, no further discussion, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? No. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Legislative item number two, fiscal year 2026 final millage resolution for the Plantation Midtown Development District. Do we have a motion? So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Having a motion and a second, seeing no further comments, no further discussion. Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? No. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Moving to item three, fiscal year 2026 final millage resolution for the City of Plantation Consolidated. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Seeing no further discussion, no further comments, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Item four, fiscal year 2026 final budget resolution for the Plantation Gateway Development District. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Second. We have a motion and a second. Seeing no further public comments, no further discussion from the dais, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Item five, fiscal year 2026 final budget resolution for the Plantation Midtown Development District. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. Seeing no further discussion, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Item six, fiscal year 2026 final budget resolution for the City of Plantation Consolidated. Do we have a motion? Motion to approve. I'll second. Seeing no further comments, no further discussion, Ms. Beggarow, please call the roll. Council Member Horland? Yes. Council Member Anderson? Yes. Council Member Andreu? Yes. Council Member Fadgen? Yes. Council Member Reinstein? Yes. Thank you. Seeing nothing further on the agenda for the final budget public hearing, we will adjourn this part of the meeting at 5.16 p.m. and and and