 Thank you very much, Madam clerk colleagues will now are going to move into one of the most important items of the year. And this is the proposed budget and capital improvement plan. The presentation from our new city manager, want to page who will be making her first budget presentation. We know a lot about this budget. We've been informed in individual meetings and in small group meetings by the manager. But this is always an exciting night for us and for our community, and a super important night to hear to hear what the manager, her priorities, and, and what has finally come out of this long, long budget process. So, Madam manager, welcome, and we're excited. And I see you're at city hall to make this presentation. So we're so glad to have you with us tonight for your budget presentation. It's all yours. Mayor. Mayor school, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem Johnson members members of the council, city, and residents of Durham. As your city manager. I am honored to be before you this evening to present my first proposed budget for the city of Durham. When I think about the past year and everything we've been through as a community and the country, it really feels more like the decade. We face so many unprecedented challenges and historic events from a global pandemic and financial uncertainty to social unrest and political, the political division. But in recent months, we've seen signs of hope. COVID-19 infection rates are on a downward trend. Vaccinations are readily available. Many restrictions have been lifted. And there is a feeling of opportunity for big change. One moment of inspiration that stands out to me is the poem written and read by Amanda Gorman, the youngest in all the report in US history. She has a way with words that reveals a wisdom beyond her 23 years. The final line in her poem says, for there is always light. If only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it. That is the theme of positivity and hope that I share with you tonight. We are at a moment of opportunity for great change for our community. As you will see in this presentation, we have many important priorities and ambitious initiatives from community safety to affordable housing to COVID-19 recovery. We have a lot we want to do. We have a lot we need to do. I have confidence that we can make real progress to make Durham the progressive and inclusive city we strive to be. It's going to take a lot of hard work, determination, collaboration and innovation. We have to be willing to take it on. We have to be willing to make bold moves. I encourage our leaders, employees and our community members to be the light, the spark, the fire that moves us forward as a community and to see the light in each other. We can never forget that we are all in this together. I thank Amanda Gorman for her inspirational words. Mayor Scholl and city council members played a vital role in providing guidance as we discussed strategic plan goals and the entire budget development process. And we'll soon be asked to adopt the updated capital improvement plan in conjunction with the upcoming fiscal year's budget. As always, thank you for your continued support and dedication to our city. This time last year, we were still in the early months of COVID-19 and facing a lot of unknowns around the financial impact of the pandemic. While we did experience significant revenue losses, we've also seen gains that leave us in a better place than we might have expected. Let's start by looking at the key numbers proposed for fiscal year 2021-2022. The total recommended budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 is $524.6 million. That is a 4.38% increase from last year. This is primarily due to increases in the dedicated housing fund for affordable housing initiatives, the stormwater fund for infrastructure improvements, and the transit fund for transportation services and enhancements. The proposed general fund budget, which covers the city's core services, such as roads, parks, public safety, and more, is $235.6 million, which is a 9.8% increase from last year. The property tax rate is proposed at 55.17 cents per 100 of assessed value, which is two cents above the current combined tax rate of 53.17 cents. This will generate $15.2 million in additional revenue compared to the current fiscal year. Of this two cents increase, 1.38 cents will service the debt for the $95 million affordable housing bond that voters passed in 2019. A 0.5% increase to the debt service fund to fund green and equitable infrastructure projects and the remaining 0.12 cents will go to the general fund. What this means for the average homeowner is a city tax bill of about $1,291 per year or about $108 per month on a house value at the median house value in Durham of $233,927. Several fee changes are also in this proposed budget, including a water rate increase approved at the May 3rd City Council meeting and a storm water rate increase to be voted on as part of tonight's agenda. Customers will see an average water rate increase of about 3.6% and an average storm water rate increase of 51 cents per month. In addition, the City County Planning Department has proposed a variety of new fees and fee increases related to development, zoning, and permits to more accurately reflect the amount of work being performed and to simplify the digital payment process for applicants. Other minor fee increases for water management and solid waste are also included in the proposed budget. Proposed general fund expenditures include increases for personnel costs and pay increases and expenditures related to departmental budget requests. The City's fund balance helps safeguard against economic uncertainty and emergencies in the future. Our fund balance, developed and responsibly maintained over the years, has helped us weather the financial storms of the past year. And I am proud to share that the City continues to enjoy an outstanding credit rating by all of the rating agencies due in part to sound fiscal management and a strong fund balance. The proposed general fund budget uses $10.2 million of fund balance to cover a variety of one-time costs as shown here on this slide. Our complete budget document covers every detail of our revenue and spending for the coming fiscal year. This includes our core municipal services such as roads, water, parks, and public safety, as well as the projects and initiatives that further our strategic goals. We have used a strategic plan developed with input from our employees, our residents, elected officials, and other key stakeholders to guide our budget priorities. In tonight's presentation, I will focus on several key priority areas for our organization and our community. They are community safety, affordable housing, COVID-19 recovery, employee compensation, and our capital improvement program. Equitable engagement is a foundation for how we conduct our work. And through this engagement, we have listened to our diverse community members to identify their needs and priorities for how their tax dollars should be spent this coming fiscal year and beyond. Despite the pandemic, we were able to host virtual budget engagement events, find new ways to educate the public about the budget process, and as always, gather vital feedback through the annual resident survey to inform our budget priorities. Because we can't cover every aspect of the budget tonight, I encourage you to review the complete proposed budget that is now available on our website at Durham NC dot gov slash budget. First, I want to recognize and thank all of our essential public safety employees who work around the clock to keep us safe every day, including throughout the pandemic, the police department, the fire department and emergency communications 911 center. This is not a small task. It takes great strength and courage to step up day in and day out to protect and serve our community. And I commend all of you for rising to this challenge, even in these difficult times. One of the highest priority areas we think about and work on daily is how best to keep all of the residents of this city safe and well. It is no secret that there is great concern about violent crime in Durham, like many other cities in America. At the same time, there are concerns about the history of policing in our country and the impact on people of color. Right now, Durham has an opportunity to lead the way and find the new equitable and innovative ways to keep our community safe and well. We still need policing to help protect our community, but we also need to find alternative ways to address issues that don't necessarily need a law enforcement response. We want to be a part of this reform with the goal of saving lives. The proposed budget includes the creation of a new community safety department, which will work to enhance public safety through community centered approaches to prevention and intervention as alternatives to policing and the criminal legal system. The new department will work closely with our existing public safety departments, police, fire and emergency communications, helping them to work, focus on the work they are best trained for and equipped to handle while helping us reimagine the way we keep our community safe and well. The department will also serve as the city's main staffing resource and support for the work of the community safety and wellness task force. Based on research triangle institutes research, including a three year 911 call for 911 call data survey, use of force analysis, Durham police officer focus groups and input from city council. The new community safety department will implement pilot projects to explore alternative responses to issues that may not need an armed police presence and build upon our success. This department will also take on oversight and management of this of the city's over $1 million investment in programs, including the Bull City United balance interruption program project build and gang intervention strategy initiative, which are all partnerships with Durham County government. The new department of 15 will be staffed through a combination of new position requests, current vacancies and contract positions. In order to be the equitable and inclusive community that we want to be, we need to continue to make progress on affordable housing. Last month, we saw the opening of the Willard Street apartments in downtown Durham, a community that is setting a new standard for affordable housing and an example of what we can accomplish through the affordable housing bond. As mentioned previously, 1.38 sets of the proposed property tax increase will go to the dedicated housing fund for debt service on the $95 million affordable housing bond that was approved by voters in 2019. A proposed budget of $12.7 million dedicated to affordable housing is a $5.4 million increase over last year's budget of $7.4 million. This proposed budget also includes $500,000 to support a Durham County longtime homeowner tax grant program for residents at or below 30% of the area median income. The program would award grants to qualify recipients to help reduce the amount of property taxes due. Forever Home Durham is our $160 million program creating affordable opportunities for renters and homeowners. Through new construction, property repairs and essential housing services, we are building a more inclusive and livable community. Over the next several years, the $95 million affordable housing bond combined with local and federal funding will be used to invest in a total of $160 million to reach our goals that are listed on this slide. Two full-time employees will be added to support the affordable housing plan and the Durham Housing Authority will be one of our primary partners in implementing this program. We know the pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for our residents, our business owners and our organization. Through a combination of local and federal funding, including $2.9 million from the CARES Act and $5 million in city funds, we've implemented various relief programs and plan to continue this support in fiscal year 21-22 with $50 million from the American Rescue Plan. As you can see on this slide, we funded or proposed the fund of a variety of programs and services to support our residents during the pandemic and beyond, and these are just a few of them, and it is just the beginning. We've also funded a number of services and programs to support our business community, and this slide shows just a few of them. To support our transit operations, in fiscal year 2020-2021, the transit fund received $12 million in CARES Act funding and is expected to receive another $11 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2021-2022. During the pandemic, we suspended the collection of fares for bus service. As we continue to recover from the pandemic, I am happy to share that this additional funding will allow us to continue to provide fare-free bus service for all GoDurham riders through the end of the upcoming fiscal year. As I mentioned earlier in this presentation, during the past year, the city's total revenue loss due to COVID-19 is significant at over $8.1 million. This is due to losses in areas including solid waste and parking services, ballpark and convention center operations, and a drop in revenues associated with travel and recreation, which were impacted by the pandemic. To help the city's long-term recovery, I am proposing the use of American Rescue Plan funds to recover this loss revenue. We were fortunate that sales tax remained strong and offset some of the losses, and I am hopeful that Durham's local economy will come back even stronger than ever as we continue our collective efforts to return to normalcy in our post-pandemic lives. Our employees are essential if we are to implement the vision set forth in this budget, and we want to show these dedicated employees that we value their work and contributions to our organization and our community. These employees have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic during the critical work that keeps our city running from emergency response to water and sewer management to solid waste collection and more. To reward this amazing effort, I am recommending the use of COVID-19 relief funding to provide 5% premium pay for our city's essential frontline employees retroactive for fiscal year 2020-2021. Last year, due to the unknown of COVID-19, we suspended salary increases and bonuses to all of our employees. I am happy to report that we are recommending market rate salary adjustments and bonuses in fiscal year 2021-2022. General employees will be eligible for a 2% pay increase. Sworn personnel will receive increases based on their pay plans with police receiving a 4% increase and fire receiving a 3.5% increase. All employees, both general and sworn, will also receive a bonus of $1,000 to $1,500 based on their salary levels. To meet the growing needs of our organization and community, this proposed budget also includes the addition of 34 new full-time employee positions in several areas. Both the departments that must grow in order to support the needs of the community include solid waste management, fire, water management, neighborhood improvement services, and parks and recreation, along with our new community safety department. I also want to highlight several new positions that will help us to be a more equitable and inclusive organization and community. A new language access plan coordinator is proposed to help ensure equitable engagement and improve access to the city's programs and services for our community members with limited English proficiency. In January, City Council approved a new non-discrimination ordinance that will become effective on July 1. First, the Human Relations Division will enforce the new ordinance, which continues to prohibit discrimination in housing. It adds employment and public accommodations and expands protected classes to include military status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and protected hairstyles. In addition to adopting the proposed budget, City Council will also soon adopt our updated Capital Improvement Plan, which guides our long-term capital projects, such as infrastructure and facilities. While the proposed CIP update will be presented during the upcoming budget work sessions, some of the new proposed capital projects are noted on the next three slides. Here is a short summary of our enterprise capital projects, including water and sewer, stormwater, and solid waste projects. I am also proposing that we continue our capital commitments for our fleet replacement program, for street maintenance, and repayment, and for maintenance to the city's capital structures. Additionally, one half set of the proposed property tax increase, as noted previously, is proposed to be used to create new capital funding to support green infrastructure projects that will be developed through an equity lens after a process is developed in the coming year to identify and prioritize these new projects. Now that I've presented highlights from the proposed budget, it's time for our elected leadership and community members to take a closer look. City Council and staff will review the details at next week's budget work sessions on May 26 and May 27, beginning at 9am each day. These virtual work sessions will be live streamed to our YouTube channel to enable as many people as possible to watch our departmental budget presentations. Our residents are encouraged to share their thoughts at our virtual public hearing, which will take place during the June 7 City Council meeting beginning at 7pm. We remain committed to transparency in the budget as well as in total operations. Therefore, the complete proposed budget is now available for your review on the city's website at Durham NC dot gov slash budget. I also want to encourage you, our residents to continue to engage with us on our social media channels. We work hard to communicate what we are doing on these pages and want to engage with you there. Developing the budget is always a collaborative process, relying on the groundwork of long term financial and strategic plans and at the same time trying to predict what the future holds. Special recognition goes to our budget and management services team, along with all of our department directors for their leadership to ensure that our strategic plan guides and aligns with budget priorities as well as our growing community needs. I also want to recognize a public affairs team who always do a great job helping to develop this presentation every year. We have a lot of ambitious proposals and initiatives to make progress on our priorities and to continue COVID-19 recovery for our community and our organization. With this budget and the support of our elected leaders, our employees and our community members, I am confident that we can make real progress while exploring new approaches to our most pressing challenges. In the words of Amanda Gorman, let's embrace this opportunity to see the light and be the light so that we can create the best future for Durham. Thank you. Budget address. Well done. Thank you. Colleagues, before we, I'm going to ask if there are any comments, of course this is just our first, we've heard this officially the first time and we'll have a public hearing budget workshops and so forth. But before I ask if there are any comments by colleagues, I do have one person who signed up to speak on this, who is Ms. Hillary Ensminger. I cannot see Ms. Ensminger. However, do you in the attendees list? No, Mr. Mayor, I don't see Ms. Ensminger. All right, thank you. We'll ask Ms. Ensminger, we'll let her know about the possibility of speaking, of emailing us or speaking at the public hearing. Thank you. Colleagues, I'm going to now ask if there are any brief comments that you want to make about the city manager's budget address. I'll just start by saying I'm one of the best things about this budget address is no surprises. Madam manager, thank you for keeping us so well informed as we moved up through this process. I'm super excited about some of these new initiatives and some of the continuing ones, the full funding of the housing bond, the creation of the community safety department and staffing of that department, the language access coordinator. And there are many other city council initiatives that we, there were so many details in the budget that you weren't able to mention. I really appreciate this. I'm excited about the green and equitable infrastructure plan. It just is just a super exciting budget and can't wait to get into it a little bit more and pass this thing. Council member Freelon and then council member Reese. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to reiterate your words of affirmation and to thank city manager page for a wonderful presentation. I really like the bringing in the poetry of Amanda Gorman. I thought it was very appropriate. And it's been a really, you know, we've talked about it already a little bit today how difficult it's been over the past year for the city of Durham, but we could not be in better hands. I'm excited that I share your divine optimism for Durham, moving forward. Particularly I'm excited about the transformation that you've talked about with the community safety department, and I'm curious, we'll talk about this I'm sure next week but I'm curious what that intersection between that department and the community safety and wellness task force looks like, and just excited about I just wanted to thank you and congratulate you on a wonderful first address and I'm looking forward to voting on my first budget. Thank you Mr. Mayor, and thank you city manager page. Thank you council member I'm going to throw down a challenge for you I don't think anybody's ever written a song about a city council budget. Only if you sing the hook. I'm there. Thank you. Cal's memories. I'm going to no comment that last suggestion but what I will say is this. Mr Mayor. One thing I have often noticed in other government institutions is that when a new boss comes into an organization. There's often a tendency for that person to or takes a new leadership role there's often tendency to be careful, somewhat timid in your first set of proposals at the door. Not wanting to step on toes, or try to get a better feel for the new job. I'm thrilled to see that our new city manager want to page has swung for the fences in this budget. It is. It is an extraordinary presentation that we've received tonight. There's so much to celebrate about this. I'm not going to try to go into any of the specific details. Mr. Mayor you and council member Freelon touched on some of the most exciting parts. Also, but I will say, maybe the thing I might be most excited about is that we're using our federal relief dollars to make bus fares free through the entire fiscal year. Through June 30th 2022, and I will just say colleagues. It's going to be real hard, real hard. If you expect me to vote to re to create those fares again in a year and a half because because folks can be used to it it will have been two years. We can figure out a way to do it in any event that's next year's budget for this budget. Let me just thank the city manager that we hired to do this thing for doing this thing so well we're going to get into the details. I'm going to spend a lot of time over the next week and a half digging through what I'm sure is a very lengthy many hundred page budget book that is now excitedly downloaded on my computer right now. But let me just say thank you for going big. Thank you for listening to our community and to what what our community needs. And thank you especially to our staff who has worked under unprecedented conditions to produce what could very well turn out to be the best budget I've seen in my time on the Durham City Council. So, with that I'll let other folks talk because I could go on a long time and I won't anyway. Thank you very much and congratulations to the manager. Thank you council member. Madam Mayor pro Tim. Thank you, Mr Mayor, and thank you manager page for that fabulous presentation and for how incredible this budget already is. I was really thankful for my standing desk that I got a few months ago because it allowed me to turn off my camera and do a little dance. I'm so excited about what Wanda was speaking, because I'm so excited about how incredible things are looking and we did not at last, you know, last year at this time we were really very deeply concerned about what this year's budget was going to look like and it's really, it really says a lot about the city about our staff about the work that this community has done over the last year that we are that we are looking at such a fabulous set of new initiatives as we are. I'm so excited about the community safety department. I'm really happy about us being able to afford to hire so many new folks. I'm really excited that our, our staff are going to get the raises that they so much deserve and that we weren't able to give last year as well as the premium pay bonuses from our federal money. I don't ever want to charge a bus fare again. I'm really, really happy about where we are and where we're headed. And yeah, this, this feels like one of the best budgets we've had so thank you Wanda. Thank you to your staff to our budget staff to all the folks who are working hard on this and we're going to dig in over the next few weeks to get this to the finish line, but it's going to be great. Thank you so much. Further comments colleagues. Councilmember Middleton. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Madam manager on tonight just celebration. There's a fabulous presentation and the wonderful document. And I look forward to delving this was an important threshold. You cross tonight and for those of us that have known you this community for years. Tim it is never a word we would have ever applied to you, no matter your job description so you you did exactly what we expected you to do to come out with a with a roar and with a bang. And ultimately, our budget will be measured, not just by those whose voices are loudest or have the most access but by those who are most impacted who oftentimes don't have your organizational wherewithal to have their voices echo in city hall and I look forward to prodding and testing it for that. But this is a wonderful document it captures. I believe the values of Durham. I think it's pointed in the right direction. I don't particularly like this phrase but they say the devil's in the details so we will get into the details in coming days went on tonight. This is the time for celebration and commendation to you and the entire staff. This is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful threshold crossing for you tonight my congratulations to you and your staff and my thanks. Thank you colleagues. Thank you council member. Any further comments council member freeman and then council member caveatto. Thank you Mr Mayor. And thank you colleagues for covering all of the basis I think I'm really excited about this one division and it's just going to I'm going to use that a lot. I just want to say that I'm most excited about this office on and I have to read it exactly as it is on budget. I'm sorry. I moved right away from it as soon as I touched it. I'm sorry office on performance and innovation of our budget and management services department. I'm mindful that the, all the many pilots that we've been doing over the last few years, have to land somewhere and you know it's always a concern that we do one and done or you know that it starts and we don't finish. I'm really grateful that you've managed to find a way to make sure that everything is landing and that you're asking for the staff that we need. I will just note there probably a lot more staffing needs that aren't in this budget that I will be asking about and then I also just know that there are a few, a few areas of concerns that I then I know I've raised in the past but I really want to say that I know that this is the work that needs to be done and I think similar to a comment that was made earlier that I think this is one of the best budget documents we've seen. I've seen since I've been on council and I'm really excited about digging into the details and making sure that we're going to be attuned to meeting the needs of the folks who are marginalized or often left out of this. I know that the work ahead. Isn't just about just saying that we're going to do it but it's how we do it and so I'm really, really going to be digging in around the affordable housing area, just acknowledging that the $95 million bond is the start. And so just noting that there's going to be a lot more work around that I'm looking forward to what's ahead. And I really, really thank you. I'm looking forward to a time when we're doing the green bond on equity and I'm just going to throw all of my dreams and wishes into this one division so that they can all come to me. Thank you council member council member. Thank you all be quick. Madam manager thank you for an excellent presentation I look forward to our hearings next week and I'm really, really excited. Thank you council member. Thank you for your comments colleagues, Madam manager you can see that your initial budget has been met with great enthusiasm. We got to buckle down do some more work, but I think we're in unanimous agreement we're heading in a great direction. A lot of excitement about the initiative that you proposed. So thank you very much, and we are. We'll see you at the next double we've got a couple budget hearings coming up very very soon. And thank you so much, Madam manager.