ANYONE WISHING TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL REGARDING ANY TOPIC ON THIS EVENING'S AGENDA IS REQUESTED TO COMPLETE A CARD AND RETURN TO THE CITY CLERK.  SPEAKERS ARE RESPECTFULLY REQUIRED TO LIMIT THEIR COMMENTS TO THREE (3) MINUTES.

“Please turn off cell phones”

Mayor Nina Rodenroth called the meeting to order at 10 am.

Jamie Booth, City Manager, led the meeting in an invocation.

Councilman Dan Lewandowski led the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.

City Manager Jamie Booth called the roll:

Mayor Nina Rodenroth-present

Councilman Dan Lewandowski-present

There were no public comments.

Councilman Lewandowski requested that Action Item #7, May 2026 Financial Documents for all accounts, be edited to correct $100,00 to $100,000. Also, the date on the current agenda should be edited to read July 28th, 10 am rather than June 28th, 9 am. Minutes approved as amended.

Wendy Harris, Office Manager, amended the minutes and republished them. 7.29.26.

Councilman Lewandowski pointed out the term “Gross Profit” was showing again and that government does not make “profits.” The City Manager agreed but summarized that, for cost reasons, the city utilizes QuickBooks as a low cost off-the-shelf accounting system and the Gross Profits terminology is embedded in the software. The committee reached consensus to use the standard reports out of QuickBooks. 513300 Liability/Fire/Auto appears to be over executing but is the full year payment showing completed in June as we pay in advance of the quarter. We will adjust the budget schedule to correct this error. 513140 Health Insurance is over executing by $13K and is likely an underestimated expense this has been corrected in the Draft Budget for FY26/27 and may need to be amended in a second FY25/26 budget amendment. 513530 FRS is over executing by $6K this may be influenced by an additional pay period ($4K/ pay period) in May influencing the monthly budgeted estimate as well as a slightly under budgeted expense. It has been corrected in FY26/27 budget and may need to be amended in the current year budget. The City Manager still need to discuss cleaning up outdated information in the General Fund Balance Sheet under the “Other Current Liabilities” section with the City’s CPA. (Note- This discussion occurred after the committee meeting. Our CPA will consolidate all the old accounts payable and liability entries into one accounting line in the balance sheet, but they will likely have to stay indefinitely because they arise from liabilities that were not closed out at the end of previous fiscal years. Once the fiscal year is closed, accounting principles do not allow the book to be reopened for correction.) Finally, the CRA Profit and Loss report is printing in font / pitch too small to read. This needs to be corrected.

The City Manager summarized the future process to get the Auditor Request for Proposals released through the State of Florida’s Vendor Information Portal.

The City Manager stated that he has not worked on budget amendments in anticipation of the pending property tax amendment as balancing the FY26/27 budget is complicated enough. As a City Council Agenda Item, the Committee will discuss the draft budget and recommend the council adopt the max milage rate for fiscal year as a buffer against future revenue reductions expected if the Property Tax Amendment passes. The City Manager summarized recent legislative changes (SB4F and HB1329) that require a workshop be held to discuss how the city would accomplish a 10% reduction from the current year budget. This workshop must occur 15 days prior to the final workshop, our tentative budget must be posted online 5 days before the tentative budget hearing, and that we must post of names, job titles, and salaries online.

The city manager stated that the staff has been able to nearly balance the budget with the newest draft only showing a $20K draw on reserves. If the City Council opts to retain the current milage rate, the additional revenue would balance the budget. One of the major changes is the reduction of events down to Boo on the Blvd., Christmas Market/ Parade, and 4^th of July Celebration. The Events Director would then apply 50% of labor effort to grant writing. The committee was in favor of this plan if a Spring event (Chautauqua) was funded. The city manager stated that Heritage Commission funds to conduct the Chautauqua are retained in this draft of the budget. This effectively maintains a city supported event each season of the year. The city manager will send the Mayor a cost estimate for the other city events that will not be funded in the draft budget. Future draft budget analysis documents need to have matching numbers, so the analysis matches the budget document. Over the next month the City Manager will work to update the Capital Improvement Plan Schedules for the Infrastructure and Community Redevelopment Trust fund to ensure the 5-year plans do not reduce the funds below their reserve thresholds.

Meeting adjourned at 11:59 am