MINUTES JUNE 25, 2024 6:00 P.M.  TOWN COMMISSION WORK SESSION  CALL TO ORDER:  This meeting was held in-person and livestreamed as a Zoom webinar. Mayor Taylor called the Town Commission Work Session to order June 25, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. at the  Town Meeting Hall. ROLL CALL:  COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Commissioner McMullen  Commissioner Polland Commissioner Ramos Vice Mayor Satterfield Mayor Taylor  COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: None  NEW BUSINESS  2024-2025 FY Budget Work Session  Town Manager Stewart stated that we are here this evening to go over the proposed 2024-2025 fiscal year budget for the Town of Oakland. He said just a little history fact, 137 years ago, a meeting was called to incorporate the town with 31 qualified voters listed and Peter Demens was listed as the mayor. Town Manager Stewart said you cans see how far we've come since the town was incorporated in 1887, and this budget will move us forward into the future, and it provides a sound financial plan for the town as we look Town Manager Stewart read the following portion of the budget message for the record:  forward to the next fiscal year.  Honorable Mayor Members of Town Commission Residents of Oakland, Florida  Iti is with great pleasure that I present to you and our community the Fiscal Year 2024/2025 Annual Town Budget and Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan for the Town of Oakland, FL. The budget is presented using the highest principles of governmental budgeting in accordance with the Government Finance Officers Association along with requirements set forth by the State of Florida. This will be the second budget I have prepared since having the honor to become the Town Manager in June 2023 and experiencing a full year of Town operations. The budget proposes no increase to the  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 1    Town's existing millage rate of 6.3 mills and projects total Revenues of $9,149,168. The budget was prepared using conservative revenue projections using data from the State of Florida, Orange County, and analyzing historical data from previous fiscal years. During the budget process Town Department Directors focused on maintaining or exceeding existing service levels within all Town Departments while diligently working to prioritize expenditures within the confines of the Town's operating budget. The Town of Oakland's population has grown from 3,516 to 5,402 residents between 2020 and 2023 representing a 54 percent increase in population. The rapid population growth along with continuing growth for the foreseeable future has placed a significant demand on all Town  services as well as the Town's workforce.  In 2020 the Town employed 52 full and part-time employees and the proposed FY 24/25 budget funds 50 full and part-time positions. While the number of residents served by Town employees has increased exponentially the number of employees has been reduced. This fact alone is a testament to the level of commitment, hard-work and dedication Town employees display daily. It goes without being said that this budget is focused around providing the Town's greatest assets The Employees' the resources and tools necessary to continue moving the Town of Oakland forward as the Town continues  to grow at a rapid pace.  Financially, the Town of Oakland remains in a stable financial condition in both the General Fund and Enterprise Fund with fund balances remaining untouched in the proposed budget and the Town continuing to experience a consistent increase inj property values year after year. However, even with the consistent increase in revenues generated from residential construction and increasing property values, expenses due to inflation and demand on existing services due to residential growth is absorbing a percentage of these revenue increases each year. The proposed budget is fully capable of funding the essential costs of doing business, however, there is little yearly operating revenue remaining after expenses for large capital expenditures identified in the Town's  Five-Year Capital Improvements Plan.  Funding capital projects with yearly operating revenues in both the general and enterprise fund remains a challenge in the proposed budget, but the Town remains well positioned for an influx of revenue with new commercial growth along S.R. 50 and other vacant commercially zoned properties. The Town's commercial property tax values make up approximately 18% of the total ad-valorem revenue for the Town. As commercial developments occur in the future this additional tax revenue will shift a portion of the tax burden from the residents and onto commercial developments. This additional tax revenue will assist the Town with not only providing more robust services in the future but also provide the revenue necessary to begin funding more Capital Improvements. Increased growth of public utility revenues because of more commercial development will also help spread the service delivery costs of utilities over a larger customer base.  The proposed annual balanced budget for FY 2024/2025 is hereby submitted to  the Town Commission for consideration and approval."  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 2    Town Manager Stewart further went on to say that he would like to just really put a focus on the hard work and dedication of our town employees. He said he thinks the town is in between and we have experienced rapid growth over the past 10 years. Town Manager Stewarts said he feels that the town is well positioned financially to continue to grow the town, and he believes the town is in a good financial position moving forward. This budget does fund all the necessary expenditures to maintain and run the town and it does have a good mix of smaller-type projects. He said that the town has been phenomenal in the past with our department heads receiving grants for things. Town Manager Stewart said itis obvious that this town has not grown from general fund revenue, it's grown from grant funding, it's grown from the hard work of our employees and their dedication to the Town of Oakland, sO he really feels it is appropriate to dedicate this budget, particularly this year, to our town employees and recognize them for their hard work and dedication. Town Manager Stewart provided a presentation of the FY 2024-2025 budget and millage rate. Please see attached presentation for more details. Highlights of the presentation  included the following:  General Fund - The main fund for the town is the general fund. This fund accounts for the services that you don't generate revenue such as your streets, parks, maintenance, lawn cutting, public works employees, police department, fire department, public safety, the town clerk, the administration and everything that it  takes to run a community.  Total General Fund Budget - $9,149,168. Property values increased by 10.05%. General Fund Balance Projection - $2,101,336.  Budget based on millage rate of 6.3 mills, which is the same as last year.  Audit presentation being scheduled in July or August.  Millage Rate - The presentation provides a 10-year snapshot of the millage rate. As the town continues to grow, the town has been able to reduce the millage rate. Just like anything else, services cost money, and the quality of those services cost money as well but the town has done a good job over the past years. Since 2016, the town has taken the millage rate from 6.75 down to 6.3, and the town's been able to be hold consistent with that 6.3 millage rate since 2023.  General Fund Highlights =  Revenues - The largest revenue source for the town is property tax which went up about 10%. In the fiscal year budget, the town budgeted about 7- 8% because we like to budget our revenues conservatively, in case some of these revenues are not collected throughout the year. The budget does reflect a 7% increase in the ad valorem tax as of right now and as we get closer to the final budget, and we get more solid numbers that come out from the property appraiser, we may increase that revenue amount. If you look in the general fund revenues, you'll see all the revenues that the town collects from sales tax to property tax to franchise fees toi the half-cent sales tax which the town receives a portion of, the building permit fees, all the fees and revenues that the town collect is accounted for in the revenue section. There were not very many changes outside of the increase in ad valorem revenue for the town, with the exception of an increase to the  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024- - Page 3    building permit fee revenue of 85,000.The reason for this is that the town is going to be looking at their building permit fees that were reduced in 2022 and since that time it has actually cost the town over the past year some money to provide this building department services for the town. We are looking at increasing those fees sO that department pays for itself, mainly paid for by new development, sO he thinks this will be a positive source of Expenditures - These expenditures are outside the day-to-day expenses that you typically see. Town Manager Stewart said he wanted to point out those expenditures that are outside the day-to-day expenses that you typically see. $30,000 for contracted grant writing services - Town Manager Stewart says he has heard the town commission be an advocate for chasing after some additional grants for the town. The backbone of this town has been built on grants however, as we continue to grow, there's more grant opportunities and more need for somebody that can give more focus to grant writing for the town and possibly leverage some of our impact fees and fees in our reserves to go after some of that free money that is available through the $60,000 for serverless migration - Right now we have a server room in our town hall and technology has moved to places we never expected. We are looking to take everything and move that into the cloud and in order to do that, our information technology consultants said it would cost about $20,000 for meeting hall ANV upgrades - We hear a lot of complaints about not being able to hear during commission meetings and are possibly looking at doing a different setup for the town commission, with the AM and the Finance and Administration Reductions of $120,000 - We have done some combining of positions. The town had a human resources position at one point, and we have combined that with the payroll specialist having taken over the duties as the HR Director. Gaby has been promoted to Finance Director sO her position, as of now, remains vacant. Between these two mergers, this results in savings of about $120,000 for the town. We'll analyze this as things move forward throughout the year. There is going to be a need, as the town continues to grow, to eventually start to increase some of the staffing to meet the needs of the residents but for now we felt we could combine some positions and save the town some money moving $50,000 for dirt road maintenance - We hear in most of our meetings here recently, dust has been a problem with our dirt roads in town and the commission is looking at various options to hopefully address that. This provides some starter money in the budget to do sO when we do come up $75,000 for road repaving All these streets that are owned and maintained by the town will eventually have to be repaved sO whether or not we repave this year, this $75,000 is intended to be as a reserve to begin establishing  revenue for the town.  state and federal government.  $60,000.  microphones, sO we can all participate in meetings.  into this fiscal year.  with some sort of solution.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 4    a fund sO that those monies are available when these streets need to be repaved. If there's a street that needs to be repaved next year, then we've One additional police officer - The general fund allows for one additional police officer, which is much needed. Most recently turnover has been fairly stable, but we do have turnover in our police force every once in a while, when an officer wants to go to a larger agency or goes because of pay or whatever the case may be. We put a lot of resources and training into our police officers, and it costs quite a bit of money to give them uniforms and all the training that's required to be an Oakland police officer. We are adding an additional position sO if there's a vacancy, that full-time position can fill Employee Salaries and Benefits - This is the largest expenditure in the town's budget and it's that way across all municipalities and all cities. The town has budgeted a 4% cost of living adjustment which is based off the CPI for April 2024 of 3.4%. We have budgeted an additional 2% to sworn law enforcement officers' retirement plans; we are a small town, and we are trying to get closer to some of our surrounding agencies as far as benefits because that is a big way to keep our officers and our employees. Our goal is to try to get as close as we can to some of our surrounding municipalities because there is a high cost when you lose an employee, especially in law enforcement. Most agencies have for law enforcement, a vested retirement plan where they work 20 years and they're out. The way we do it here is a 457 contribution sO it's a one-time expense and the town isn't on the hook for any long-term expense due to a pension plan, SO we fund ita as we go. The town is continuing to fund 100% of employee health insurance. We estimate that being a 5-8% increase this year but that is a benefit to our employees, and we'll continue to try to fund 100% as long as we're able to afford the premium increases. Ini this budget, the town has added a $50,000 contingency. The town is in the process of conducting a compensation study, SO we know where we're at market-wide with our employees. Ifthere's anything that comes out of this salary study where we need to make some immediate adjustments to our employees as a result of this, there's some funds available in this year's budget. The Town Commission plans to get that back in October sO that gives a little bit of leeway if there are adjustments that need to be made but it's always good to know what your market is, where you're at, and work to the best that we can to keep up Utility Fund - Water, Wastewater, Solid Waste - This is also known as the enterprise fund, and this houses our water, wastewater, and solid waste  got available funds to do that.  ina and we maintain an adequately staffed department.  with that within our workforce.  departments,  Total Utility Fund Budget - $8,657,650. Water Department - $5,976,750. Solid Waste Department - $360,000 Wastewater Department- t-$2,330,900 Utility Fund Balance Projection FY2425-51251.896.  Utility Fund - Water  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024- - Page 5    Revenues:  4,000,000 Grant Funding - Alternative Water Project State Appropriation 2023-$2,000,000 FDEP Grants 2024- -S $2,000,000 Consumptive Use Permit - $50,000 New Water Meter Installation - $275,000 Alternative Water Project-$4,000,000  Expenditures:  Utility Fund - Wastewater Revenues:  The governor vetoed the $650,000 request for a septic to sewer project that would have tied in the town hall facilities here and 17 other residential properties however we are going to look for other avenues through FDEP. Public Works Director Parker has already contacted FDEP to submit for grant funding as requested by the governor to do sO that will be removed from the budget when you see that come back  before the commission in September. $985,000 Lift Station #7 $500,000 State Appropriation o $485,000 Impact Fees  Expenditures  Lift Station #7  Impact Fee Budget The town receives funds from new development for water, wastewater, recreation, law enforcement, transportation, and fire protection so, as a house is built in town, the developer has to come in and pay these impact fees. The town is currently reviewing our impact fees to make sure we are where we need to be with charging new developments for impact fees but the town has banked these fees over the years and so this budget points out what the town's intentions are to spend some of these funds in our impact fees. All expenditures have to show that it is due to growth and the funds have to go towards projects and infrastructure to help offset the impacts of growth in the town. Town Manager Stewart said that unless there's another budget work session between now and September, Budget Public Hearings for the Town of Oakland are proposed to be held on Monday, September 9, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. and Tuesday, September 24, 2024, The next thing that the town started to adopt last year as part of the budget process was the five-year Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). What the CIP does is to identify projects within the departments that we need over the next five years. This is a planning tool for capital projects over $5,000 and some of the expenditures are in the general fund. As the budget allows, items make their way from the CIP into the budget while other projects may have to be pushed out depending on the funding available, but they always stay  at 6:00 p.m. Both public hearings will be held at the Town Meeting Hall.  within that five-year plan.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 6    As a recap, we intend to submit a millage rate that will go out on the resident's TRIM notice. The property appraiser will send out a tax notice that says the town anticipates charging a 6.3 millage rate which will be your millage levy for the year. Town Manager Stewart said we are able to balance the budget on that 6.3 millage, sO he doesn't see a need for any type of property tax increase at this time. He reiterated that there is not a lot after we budget for our expenses and some of these much-needed capital improvements for the year. There's about a $60,000 contingency left over and that is in case we have  an overage or a shortfall.  Town Commission discussion was as follows:  Mayor Taylor said he wanted to thank staff for their hard work and dedication to Commissioner Ramos said the staff has been doing an extraordinary job. This is ale lean operation the way it is run. To see where we came from, he said he was looking at the taxable property value history and in 2010 the property value was $390 million and now we are at $837 million which is a 120% increase in four years and the town is running with two less employees. Commissioner Ramos said he was looking at some of the future taxable value properties that we have coming in and with the handful of projects that we have already approved or are halfway approved, he thinks between now and 2030, the town will have an additional $700 million of taxable property. He said kudos again to the staff. Commissioner Polland said that the was been having quite a few conversations with Town Manager Stewart about our building inspection fees and back in 2022 when Jack Butler was Interim Town Manager, he reduced our fees to less than half of what they currently are. Then we made a switch from PDCS to Willdan and since we made that change, it has resulted in sizable losses. Commissioner Polland said he asked Town Manager Stewart about this, and Town Manager Stewart let him know that the state did freeze permit fees sO we cannot raise fees until October. Town Manager Stewart did get Willdan to do a fee study to find out what other municipalities are charging sO that we can get that fixed but this is something we need to fix as soon as we can because these losses are a major substantial loss. Commissioner Polland said that another thing with Willdan is that you used to be able to go on the computer and you can pull up and see permits on your house and your neighbor's house and we don't have that anymore. Town Manager Stewart told him that Willdan is working on that also sO hopefully we will  the town residents and the town.  get that fixed in the future.  Town Manager Stewart said that as of now, the plan was to try to stay with the same contractor. We were able to look at, kind of try to look back in history and figure out where the issue was as to not collecting the revenues that we once did and what he is being told and what he can see is it's a result of the reduction to the building permit fees for whatever reason when we changed to this company. He said he thinks that had to do with the previous administration from what he can see. Town Manager Stewart said as we go in to do a study, it will help us justify our fees based on the town's costs, because, as was said, the residents should not be paying for new development building fees. He  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024- - Page 7    said he thinks it is just an issue that can be easily corrected, and he believes the town, over the next several years, if they're good years like we've had in the past would start generating a profit to offset the down times when things are not as good in the building department. Town Manager Stewart said he will be presenting a study. The Town Attorney iso currently looking at the proposal for the software licensing agreement that Willdan was wanting to propose and then also the building permit fee study that he plans to bring before commission because we can adopt those rates on October 1st of 2024.Town Manager Stewart said we can go ahead and get that study in place, but we can't adopt them any sooner or we would already have done that. Commissioner Polland added that since we have a lot of development coming on board with The Grove and Briley Farm it sure would be nice to get that fixed before  they get cranked up.  Mayor Taylor said we are missing the boat if we don't jump on it as quickly as possible with that. He said as far as the residential side, the residential development completes in five years or SO. Then we got the commercial and that is a totally different fee structure that you have there that we need to look at as well sO not only on the residential side, but on the commercial side fee structure. Mayor Taylor said that when he was looking through the department memos, he was looking through Public Works and one oft the things he circled was the $2,500 connection fees for water. He said he didn't know if that was sufficient or if that's going to be looked at as well as any type of impact fee connection for sewer that comes in, sO we probably want to look at that as well and make sure we're in line ora above line where we need to be. Mayor Taylor said that he knew Public Works had some road resurfacing in mind and wanted to see if there were specifics to Public Works Director Parker said going back to the earlier question about the impact fees, we have been in touch with Raftelis who has historically completed our impact fee studies and most of our impact fees are in that three-to-five-year range of being completed last.so they have already started that as far as transportation and utilities at this point. And then the other question, the streets that we had in mind were Millholland, Vandermeer, and Demens. Millholland shows the worst wear. There is a pavement assessment program that we could be using that will break it down into the street segments and actually rank each segment one to ten, sO that would give us a better idea. Public Works Director Parker said he has looked into that, for the future we may do it that way, but right now it's basically the appearance of the streets. Trailside brings up a close second. Commissioner McMullen said the salary assessment, are we looking at FTES as well or just the salaries? Town Manager Stewart asked if he meant full-time employees, yes, we are looking at the local market. Commissioner McMullen asked if we are looking at all of it? Town Manager Stewart asked if he meant benefits and everything? Commissioner McMullen said no, he meant are we looking at if we are staffed adequately as well or is it just the salaries? Town Manager Stewart said we are looking atj just the salaries. Commissioner McMullen  resurface?  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 8    said he feels that we need to look at if we are staffed adequately as well. He said hei is on that because Public' Works Director Parkeri is not going to be here forever, and Public Works Director Parker has been a godsend. He said like he mentioned before, he goes to other places and people talk about Public Works Director Parker being here and they are excited. Commissioner McMullen said he just wants to make sure that we are preparing for the future because like Commissioner Ramos has said our growth in the last decade has been tremendous and of course there is no more land and it is going to come to capacity and he wants to make sure that we prepare, even with the police department, as we continue to grow. He said he hopes we have a full comprehensive study because he is concerned about staff because they are working hard. Commissioner McMullen said he remembers when Mr. Dennis came on board, he really put this structure together with the department heads and making sure that people are working within certain departments to create the structure that we have now and it's showing us the fruition. He said it is showing what we look for to produce but he does think we have a capacity, and he thinks we need to make sure that we look at that. Commissioner McMullen said he is very pleased about the grant writer, he has been talking about bringing on a grant writer for years and he is very happy that we can have that, because, as we've talked about, there's millions of dollars that we can bring on board. Commissioner McMullen said he is glad we have that resource to help write grants because we have the portal with FLC that lists various grants. He said he is pleased with the process because he is really concerned about making sure that we don't lose staff or lose police because our salaries are not where they should be, and he wants to make sure Vice Mayor Satterfield said that most of his questions were pretty well answered by Town Manager Stewart earlier today. He said he is very pleased with what we have got in it and where we go, the only real question he has, and we are going to look into it as we bounce in between the school and town with the budget and the $81,000 and what that is for because there are some things that we do need ati the school also. Vice Mayor Satterfield said he just wants to make sure iti is fair Mayor Taylor said that the school budget comes later so we can discuss it then. He said he has comments on the budget and will start with Community Outreach. Mayor Taylor said he was looking at the town events that were there and it amazes me how much those events cost and the hard work that goes into those events as well. He said he is looking at this as the new guy and from a different lens with a fresh set of eyes. One of the things on the festivals and events, Santa's Lane is a great one, Heritage Day, Celebration Among the Oaks, we've got those as well but when you break it down to what we're spending on some of these and the attendance that goes to these events, for example, Santa's Lane, we spend $9,500, there's 2,000 people that attend sO that is about $4.75 a person. Heritage Day is $14,500, there's 3,000 people that attend so that is $4.83 a person. Then Celebration Among the Oaks, which is the Easter Egg Drop, which he said he knows there are partnerships inside those with the Lakeside Church that helps contribute, that's a big event, that's $1.90. Then there is Music Under the Oaks,  that we get to where we need to be.  all the way around.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 9    we spent $10,600, that's $21.20 a person and that's 500 people that attended sO, ify you look at that and see if there's reallocations that need to happen there. Mayor Taylor said that in the Finance Department, for health insurance, he said he knows that the Florida League of Cities is our health insurance provider. He asked if that health insurance needs to be shopped out at all every year just to see if there's any savings out there? Finance Director Leon said yes, every year we meet with our rep to see what the best option for our employees that will include full coverage of the employee and also try to reduction the family Mayor Taylor said that we have some asset replacement listed on computer services and last he heard, maybe it is time for some changeout on equipment. He asked how often we change out the computers. Assistant Town Manager Hui said that the reason the amount is really high this year is, number one, the serverless migration but we're a little behind the ball on computer replacements sO need to catch up and then they should be replaced every 3-5 years. Mayor Taylor said he was moving on to the Police Department. He said he has talked with Chief Esan and the Oakland Police Department has two officers that patrol full time, and he knows that Chief Esan's wish is to have a third officer out there at some point, especially with the geographic layout of the town where you've got one end to the other, sO he really hopes and thinks the commission backs it up as far as trying to get that third officer. Chief Esan said that they just completed a grant submission for a federal grant to try to get two of the four. The grant was due June 15th, and we should hear sometime in August, and we'll know ifwe get that. Ifwe do get it, the federal government funds 75% ofi its value. Mayor Taylor said it blew him away a little bit when Chief Esan talked about starting pay for agencies like Belle Isle, Edgewater, and Windermere and they are at $51,575 compared to Oakland's starting wage of $49,926. Mayor Taylor said we are only talking a 3% difference in that sO we'll have to try to see if we can get comparable to something like that. Chief Esan said there are other things that he did not include ini that, and it would make the disparity far greater, mainly being Edgewood and Belle Isle. He said he just looked at comparable size agencies, but they pay over 25% per officer their pensions, both of them are in pension plans and we are currently at 14%. Mayor Taylor said he saw that, and he saw Chief Esan's memo too about there was supposed to be an increase of 2% per year to get to 20% Mayor Taylor said on the legislative budget memo that Town Manager Stewart sent out, he knows there are some memberships on there and obviously the Florida League of Cities is an important one, Florida League of Mayors, West Orange Chamber, and Tri-League of Cities, he said he thinks those are good. He said we have on here the support of the Central Florida Boy Scouts, and he does not know how much dealings we do with those guys and what it is. Mayor Taylor said he knows the Central Florida Boy Scouts are pretty big, Ir mean, the support of Boy Scouts is pretty big, and they have a lot. Commissioner Ramos said that he deals with them a lot and they help a lot. Troop 145, which the town benefits through the Oakland Nature Preserve and does a lot of Eagle projects around town sO it is shaping the future of our kids, which is going to end up being full  contributions.  from the 14%; it is supposed to be a slow incremental increase.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 10    circle, creating safety which he can attest to. Most Eagle Scouts don't end up in jail, they go to college or end up CEO of a company. Commissioner Ramos said itis big, but if it's not something that the town wants to push for, then it doesn't Mayor Taylor said he is moving on to meetings and workshops that we have that are coming up. He said he thinks Commissioner Ramos is going to be the delegate to represent the town at the upcoming Florida League of Cities conference. He said that it looks like we budgeted somewhere around $3,500 in there and he wants everybody to think about this area. Mayor Taylor said in some municipalities such as Orlando and Orange County, each commissioner gets an equal amount of a stipend to use as they feel needed, he doesn't know if anybody is open to that where you say take $3,500 divided by 5 and that's what you can use it for during the year and then that's it. He said instead of the commission double dipping and saying, Igot to go, you got to go, if Commissioner McMullen has a particular event that he wants to go to then here is money to go to that and it applies to Commissioner Ramos and the other commissioners as well. Commissioner Ramos said he doesn'tknow what was budgeted but hei is not sure that is what they spend when they go to Florida League of Cities, he thinks that is inflated. Town Manager Stewart said that he thinks most municipalities talk about the conference like the Florida League of Cities conference and decide who is going to go for this year. Mayor Taylor said that he noticed that it has been Commissioner McMullen has been the point person for the town, sO it's just a matter of the commission's preference on how they want to handle the Florida League of Cities and anything else that the commission wants to do. Commissioner Ramos said a lot of these budgets are overinflated. Town Manager Stewart said in the budget, he included just one attendee, but he said at the last meeting that Commissioner Ramos was appointed to go sO that would be two people attending the conference and that would be in this year's budget. The budget that the commission is looking at is for next year so we may need to look at all those things and come up with whatever the commission decides they want to do with the entire commission. Town Manager Stewart said there are municipalities that let the entire commission go to the Florida League of Cities conferences, there's some that only do one, there's some that do three, and there's some that do two; that is upi to the commission. Commissioner Ramos said that at every one of the events that he attends, he never brings a gas bill, toll or dinner bill back. He said it is just whatever the night was, he thought the $3500 was for all five of them. Mayor Taylor said that is for all the events for the entire year. Commissioner McMullen said that the challenge with that is when we look at conterences, you send one person and what you bring back with only one person cannot be impactful. Commissioner McMullen said he has asked for years to get more oft the commission to come because ifj just one person goes, there are a lot of resources out there and the reason the town got the free grant service is because of him going to the FLC conferences, interacting with the FLC, being on the board of the FLC, and understanding how all that works, and how we got the pension fund and other opportunities sO we can look at it and penny pinch when itcomes to these conferences but it's not about fun. He said it is about learning  have to happen, but we will have missed promoting the future.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 - Page 11    and bringing back best practices. Ifyou send one person, you're going to miss out on a lot of opportunities. Mayor Taylor said he 100% agrees, if all five commissioners can go to a place, he is all for it. Ift they can all go to every one of these events that is great, but they all have to live within that dollar amount set in the budget SO unless they want to try to reallocate some money, and make it $5000 instead of $3500 then what do they need to cut, what do they need to do to do that? Mayor Taylor said that is all he is saying, we all need to live within our means. Commissioner McMullen said he definitely believes that100% but you also have to look at the return on investment too. He said he knows Commissioner Polland doesn't even like to go to those conferences, that's not a thing he wants to do, that is not a thing against he, he just doesn't want to do those things. Commissioner McMullen said he thinks that talking about a $3,500 ticket on a budget that's $9 million, that's a small percentage and he is advocating that we really look at some of those things that are important to this town, because he is not going to be here forever either and we need someone to engage in those conferences on a regular basis. Commissioner McMullen said he does not think that it should be looked at as something bad or looked at something that needs to be scaled down when you bring back sO much to this town from an education level. Commissioner Ramos said there is sO much education to pick up, he is looking at 2030 and the plan for 2030 and what the property value is going to be and what we are going to be bringing in and if the commission is all gone and whatever new members are here, they need to start learning, and this place is a great place to learn how to navigate and how to deal in this position. He said it helps bring back all that intelligence to our town. Mayor Taylor said it does and he will say that the whole networking connections, it's not what you know, it is who you know type thing, and it does help out a lot. He said there's no doubt in his mind that's it but if we've got these parameters, we've got to try to either manipulate the parameters or we've got to stay within those parameters. He said he knows he is looking at the ants, he is trying to keep the elephants from happening, it all adds up. Commissioner Polland asked the $3,500 includes hotel fees. Mayor Taylor said it does, it includes everything, it doesn't seem like a lot of money, does it if you go somewhere. He said he is sure The Diplomat is probably more than $100 a night. Commissioner Ramos said how long has it been $3,500 is his question, like 20 years? He said if we're talking about increases for pay and living, that should be looked at. Vice Mayor Satterfield said that this year he is going to go off our insurance plan, there's a big bucket right there, we can take and move that around and put it where it's needed. Mayor Taylor reiterated that this is for next year, this year is already set so it sounds to him like we have a little bit of time to look at this before September. If anyone has other questions, they can be directed to Town Manager Stewart. Town Manager Stewart said yes, that is fine, we will look at it and then we'll bring it back but if the commission is going to go next year, let's just get that nailed down, and then we can maybe work out however the commission would like to proceed with that. Commissioner McMullen said he does like the part about putting the number on there, because he really feels more than one person needs to go to these conferences and that is what he  has been advocating for a long time.  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024 Page 12    Commissioner Ramos said before we close out, he wanted to mention that on the capital improvement plan, he did not see anything for Polland Park, and he wanted tos see if the commission would agree to put something there for the basketball courts. We had an event there this year and by next year, he told a lot of the residents that we're going to try to do something, anything because it is in bad shape. Public Works Director Parker said that we're taking care of that this fiscal  year.  Mayor Taylor opened up the floor to the public, there were no public comments. Mayor  Taylor closed public comment. ADJOURNMENT:  The work session was adjourned. at 6:59 p.m.  TOWN OF OAKLAND  -L  Shané Taylor,Mayor  ATTEST: SWihi Elise Hui, tTown Clerk  Town Commission Work Session June 25, 2024- Page 13    TOWN OF  FLORIDA  Oakland  FY 2024/2025 Budget and Millage Rate  JUNE 25, 2024    Purpose  To present to the Town Commission a summary of the FY 2024/2025 Budget, the Millage Rate, and the Budget Public  Hearing Dates.    Presentation Outline  Budget Principles General Fund  Employee Pay & Benefits Enterprise (Utility) Fund  Impact Fees  Millage Rate and Public Hearing Dates 5) Year Capital Improvements Plan  Requested Action    Budget Principles  Analysis of the Millage Rate  Salaries and benefits  Maintaining adequate reserves  Positioning for growth    General Fund  Total General Fund Budget $9,149,168  Property values increased by 10.05% Budget based on millage rate of 6.30  General Fund Balance Projection: $2,101,336 Audit presentation being scheduled in August    Millage Rate History  IOYear Millage History  6.75  6.75 6.75 -  - 6.3  6.65  6.5  6.5  6.4  6.3  6.3  FY2016  FY2017  FY2018  FY2019  FY2020 FY2021 Millage  FY2022  FY2023  FY2024  FY2025    General Fund  Highlights - Revenue  Increase in Building Permit revenue = Est. $85,000  Highlights - Expenditures  $30,000 for contracted grant writing services Serverless Migration - $60,000 Meeting Hall AV Upgrades - $20,000  nance/Adminstration compensation- = ($120,732) Funds $50,000 for Dirt Road Maintenance = Dust Mitigation  Funds $75,000 for road re-paving  Funds (1) one additional Police Officer position    Employee Salaries & Benefits  4% COLA  Est. CIP April 2024: 3.4% All Items  Additional 2% contribution to sworn law enforcement retirement plan  Funds 100% of employee health insurance premium - Est. - 5%-8% increase  Budget $50,000 Contingency = Compensation Market Study  Evergreen Solutions, LLC Pay Study    Utility Fund - Water, Wastewater, Solid Waste  Total Utility Fund Budget - $8,657,650 Water Department - $5,976,750 Solid Waste Department $360,000 Waste Water Department - $2,330,900  Utility Fund Balance Projection FY 24/25:$1,251,896    Utility Fund - Water  Revenues:  4,000,000 Grant Funding - Alternative Water Project  State Appropriation 2023- $2,000,000 FDEP Grants 2024-52,000,000  Expenditures:  Consumptive Use Permit $50,000  New Water Meter Installation - $275,000 Alternative Water Project - $4,000,000    Utility Fund - Wastewater  Revenues:  5650,000-State-Apprepriation ewA-septcte-sewerPrejeet  $985,000 Lift Station #7  $500,000 State Appropriation $485,000 (Impact Fees)  Expenditures:  Town Septic to Sewer & Lift Station #7    Impact Fee Budget-55,240,676  Water System Alternative Water Design Reserves for Future Projects Wastewater System  1,174,862  319,00 855,86  451,361  Longleaf WW Expansion per Developer Agreement Triplex Lift Station 1 Expansion - Construction Reserves for Future Projects Parks and Recreation  212,000 100,000 139,361  597,877  Oakland Nature Preserve - Pavilion  30,000 250,000 317,877  Sadler Park Phase 2: Landscaping, Trail, Golf Cart Access  Reserves for Future Projects    Impact Fees  Law Enforcement CAD/RMS System Start Up Costs Reserves for Future Projects Transportation Roundabout Landscape Roundabout Brick Planter/A Acorn Intersection Improvements - Winters Landing & Macchi Oakland Avenue Turnouts Jefferson St. /Oakland Avenue Improvements Transportation Study & Design Reserves for Future Projects Administrative Facilities Reserves for Future Projects Fire Protection Hydrant Upgrades Reserves for Future Projects  212,338  36,000 176,338 30,000 75,000 100,000 25,000 75,000 75,000 2,040,202 260,716 50,000 73,320  2,420,202  260,716 123,320    Millage Rate and Public Hearing Dates  Budget was prepared using 6.30 millage rate  Public Hearing Dates  Cannot conflict with Orange County Public Schools or Orange  County Board of County Commissioners Labor Day - Monday, September 2, 2024  Recommended Dates:  Monday, September 9, 2024 - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 24, 2024-6:00 p.m.    5 YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PLAN    EXAMPLE OF 5 YEAR CAPTIAL MPROVEMENT FORMAT  (Included in Final Budget) 5Year Capital Improvements Plan Fund Source Administration No Requests Town Clerk General $ 20,000 $ $ 20,000 $ Finance No Requests Information Technology General General  Capital Project  FY24/25 FY25/26 FY26/27 FY27/28 FY28/29 5Year Total  Town Meeting Hall AV Upgrades  $ $  $  $  $ 20,000 $ 20,000  Serverless Migration Computer Equipment/laptops  60,000 $  $  $ 60,000  $ 23,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 103,000 Subtotal: $ 83,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 20,000 $ 163,000  Communication & Community Relations General $ General $ Subtotal: $  Banquet Chairs Meeting Hall (OTY110) Outdoor Workout near Westly'sGarden  $ 12,000 $ $ $ 12,000 $ 15,000 $  $ 15,000 $  $ $  $ 12,000 $ 15,000 $ 27,000    Capital Improvement Projects 24/25  General Fund: Town Clerk  Town Meeting Hall AV Upgrades-520,000  Information Technology Serverless Migration - $60,000 Computer EqupmentLaptops - $23,000 Streets & Maintenance Public Works Street Resurfacing Program - $75,000 Dirt Road Material - $50,000 Truck Purchase - $30,000    Capital Improvement Projects 24/25  Enterprise (Utility) Fund:  Water Department Public Works  Gulley Avenue Line Upsize (12'to 167-$50,000  Alternative Water Public Works  Alternative Water Irrigation Facility (Lake Apopka) - $6,000,000 Note: $4,000,000 secured in grant funding  Wastewater Public Works  Wastewater Pumps/Utility Crane -$ $40,000  Tow?-Septc-to-SewerPrgecE-S650,00/Sate-AppropHaton) Lift Station #7 & Force Main Extension -$ $985,000    Requested Action  Approve the tentative millage rate of 6.30 for FY 24/25 which will be included  on the TRIM notices  Approve the FY 24/25 Tentative Budget  General Fund: $9,149,168 Utility Fund: $8,657,650 Impact Fee Budget: $5,240,676  Approve the dates and times for the Budget Public Hearings for the  Town of Oakland  Monday, September 9, 2024-6:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 24, 2024-6:00 p.m.  Adopt the tentative Five-Year Capital Improvements Plan    WN  Oakland  FLORIDA  QUESTIONS/COMMENTS