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Home My WebLink AboutCC Minutes 2025-08-13 SpecialMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD AUGUST 13, 2024 THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FRIENDSWOOD MET IN A SPECIAL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2025, AT 3:00 P.M. IN THE COMMUNITY ROOM, FRIENDSWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY, LOCATED AT 416 S. FRIENDSWOOD DRIVE, FRIENDSWOOD, TEXAS, WITH THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS PRESENT CONSTITUTING A QUORUM: John Ellisor Mayor Pro Tem Sally Branson Councilmember Trish Hanks Councilmember Robert J. Griffon Councilmember Joe Matranga Councilmember Mike Foreman Mayor Morad Kabiri City Manager Karen Horner City Attorney Leticia Brysch City Secretary 1. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Foreman called the meeting to order with a quorum present at 3:00 P.M. with all members present with the exception of Councilmember Ross who was absent. 2. INVOCATION The invocation was led by Mayor Pro Tem John Ellison 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE - United States and State of Texas Mayor Foreman led the Pledge of Allegiance of the United States and the Pledge to the State of Texas. 4. COUNCIL COMMENTS AND REPORTS No reports were provided. 5. PUBLIC COMMENT There was no public comment. 6. WORK SESSION TOPICS A. Receive and discuss a presentation regarding the City of Friendswood Proposed FY2024-25 Municipal Budget. City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Page 2 of 6 City Manager Morad Kabiri stated there had been slight changes since the draft budget was presented to Council a couple of weeks ago. He emphasized the City's commitment to achieving its goals while being mindful of the impact on taxpayers. Finance Director Rhonda Bloskas said the discussion would focus on the General Fund. Following the last City Council meeting and Council feedback, staff lowered the proposed rate to the flat tax rate of 0.5141720, which is about 1.30 over the No New Revenue Rate (NNRR) and roughly 5¢ below the voter - approved rate. All other assumptions remained the same. Ms. Bloskas also identified the changes to the proposed FY2026 revenue, specifically the projections related to sales tax revenue were increased by $240,000, and because the property tax rate was reduced from the previous meeting, this resulted in a revenue decrease of $718,000 for property taxes. She also noted that many of the deferred maintenance items noted in the previous meeting would instead be funded from the City's current fund balance rather than through a tax increase. Ms. Bloskas explained staff decided to purchase this maintenance and/or one-time capital purchases via fund balance because of the anticipated additional fund balance from sales tax receipts. Mayor Foreman cautioned against using sales tax to fund the City's maintenance fund in future years and encouraged the Council to budget the $500,000 annually for maintenance, in order to build up that fund appropriately. Councilmember Hanks suggested creating a policy to designate a percentage of fund balance for specifically for deferred maintenance. On that particular suggestion, Mr. Kabiri said this could be considered after the audit in December. Councilmember Griffon stressed the importance of saving for emergencies due to uncertainty about federal reimbursements. The Mayor added that allocations could also be made through budget amendments. With that said, Ms. Bloskas noted that page 45 of the budget provided to Council outlines the new maintenance fund policy. City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Page 3 of 6 Furthermore, Ms. Bloskas reported that overall revenues increased by about $30,000 due to a decision packet for a social media boost program. The $30,000 allocation would return to fund balance if unused. Ms. Bloskas went over the tax bill comparison for a home valued at $460,000 from the originally proposed tax rate of $0.526746 to the new proposed tax rate of $0.514172. She noted that for a homeowner that owns a home, a $460,000 valued home, and is taking the 20% homestead exemption, their annual bill would be about $47.82 more, which is about $195 less than the voter approval tax rate with the unused increment. She further noted that if a home is valued at $200,000 with no increases in their appraised value from last year to this year, there would be increase to their property taxes and it would remain flat. In response to an inquiry over how the voter approved tax rate is decided, Mr. Kabiri noted that the voter approved tax rate changes are a function of value fluctuation plus the City's revenue growth from the prior year, so the if the State says that the City is capped at 3.5%, and they decide to lower the cap to 2.5%, City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Page 4 of 6 something that is currently being considered by the Legislature, that will have an impact on the City's voter approved tax rate. Ms. Bloskas introduced a new slide in the budget presentation showing the tax rate and debt analysis. She stated that the blue bar graph indicates the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate, the yellow bar graph shows the Interest and Sinking (I&S) tax rate and the green trend line shows the balance of the debt being funded by property taxes each year. She pointed out that as the as the City issues debt, its M&O rate will fall, and its I&S rate will go up. Mr. Kabiri noted that there will never be a time in which the green line is zero because even as debt it retired, there will always be some piece of equipment that will require replacement; such as a fire truck or street replacements, which is a constant need in a community of this size. The Council stated that for a community of this sized, its balance between debt and operations was well done, particularly when compared to surrounding communities. City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Page 5 of 6 Ms. Bloskas stated that the next slide shows the "forces at work" and noted that a few of the "forces at work" and the decision packages that were submitted during the budget planning process this year, many of them that were identified as capital items, capital purchases, capital improvements, and had a one-time cost, will be funded these in FY25 with the use of fund balance. She further stated that the Council would see those purchases in an upcoming budget amendment. She further noted that the "forces at work" and decision packages being discussed were listed below and totaled $719,000. Dept Description One -Time Cost Police DP Drone Monitoring Equipment 75,825 Police FAW Mobile Data Terminals 131,000 Police FAW Replacement K9 39,100 Police DP Animal Control Security Cameras 40,000 Public Works DP VRP Addition 44,860 Public Works DP Broom Attachment for ATMAX 12,766 Public Works DP Graphtec Cutter 10,629 Engineering DP City -Wide Traffic Study 225,000 Parks DP VRP Addition 52,386 Parks DP Sports Park Security Cameras 40,000 Parks DP Tow Behind Personal Lift 48,000 As it related to the remaining funded "forces at work," that list remained unchanged and in the order of staff ranking below: OutaiOe One Time Ongoing Revenue Net Dept Description Cost Cost Total Sources TOW Citywide AutomooileInsurance Increase (27%) SO $38,191 S38,191 so S38,191 City Wide Real & Personal Property insurance Increase (14%) 0 11,312 11,312 0 11,312 FIN Galveston County Appraisal Services 0 57.997 67,997 0 67,997 PD_Patrol Axon Taser Contract 0 81,087 81,087 0 81,087 PD Palrol Drone Mornoring Software 0 11,100 11,100 0 11,100 PD_Comm Records Specialist (;1A FIE) 0 93,001 93,9D1 0 93,001 FVFD_Fire FVFD Contract Increase 0 78,810 78,810 0 78.810 DES_Admin Radio Refresh 0 88,000 88,000 0 98,000 P&R_Pk Forest Bend Easement Mowing 0 7,000 7,000 0 7,000 P&R Fac88les Star Services WAC Contract Increase 0 14,000 14,000 0 14,000 Total Forces at Work $0 $490,498 S490,498 $O $190,498 The only item that was added to this list was the previously mentioned social media post booting program in the amount of $30,000. Ms. Bloskas asked if the Council had any questions or desire to review the requested decision packages from any of the department heads present at the meeting. The Council had no questions and expressed their gratitude for the work and thought put into this year's budget, balancing the staffing needs of the organization and operational excellence with the tax impact to the residents. City Council Special Meeting Minutes August 13, 2025 Page 6 of 6 Ms. Bloskas noted that the next steps to the budget process were as follows: ✓ Proposed Budget Public Hearing — 08/25/2025, at 5:30 p.m. ✓ Budget Adoption — 08/25/2025 or 09/08/2025 ✓ Public Hearing on Tax Rate — 09/08/2025, at 6:00 p.m. ✓ Tax Rate Adoption — 09/08/2025 Mayor Foreman stated he fully intended to vote the approval of the proposed budget at the August 25, 2025, City Council Meeting and encouraged Council to direct any remaining questions to staff beforehand and to be prepared to vote as well. 7. ADJOURNMENT With there being no further discussion, Mayor Foreman adjourned the August 13, 2025, City Council Special Meeting at 3:29 P.M. Attest: Raq a inez, City Secretary