 Good evening everyone Good evening welcome, my name is Rebecca Villagran and I am councilwoman for District 3 this area and I want to just welcome you all to this proposed budget public meeting tonight Thank you so much. I know it's it's a lot of sacrifice for you all to come out here But I want to just to say that your presence here means a lot because it means the importance of This budget this proposed budget that we're walking through and I look forward to hearing about a lot of dialogue at all of the different tables and about your reports that you see are Important to our city budget. I want to tell you this year It's very important and there are a lot of challenging decisions That we're going to make and I say we because I do not make these decisions alone. I Want to thank the city manager Cheryl Scully who is here and the city staff who will be here to just take us through What's going to be happening? But I do thank you that you all represent just the great Uniqueness that is San Antonio that shows us that we want to put Our our voice to where we see the priorities in our city. So again, I thank you for that I want to intertake this time right now and I do apologize I haven't been able to go to every table yet But I do want to do that because I do want to meet all of you. Please don't think I'm not wanting to meet you I do I do want to go to every table. I do want to introduce my staff your staff your district three staff and we have Laura Varverena the chief of staff right there Ruben Lizalda and Then we have with the camera phone Chris via right there and Debra Hosey my senior executive secretary and we have Angela Cardona and Philip Garza right there and seated seated already is I don't Ramos our senior center liaison You can raise your hand They're going to be here all evening to help answer any questions that you may have Regarding the budget, but then also any questions outside of our conversation and our conversation is going tonight It's going to be focused on the budget, but we'll be happy to talk about anything else afterwards So I do and you can meet any of them tonight, but also see them at the Brooks City base field office that we have Monday through Friday a 30 to 5 30 so we're happy to have you all there So at this time I want to invite our city manager Cheryl Scully up To just go through how the program will flow tonight, and I know you all are very eager and Please don't be shy about voicing your opinions. I know many of you are not so I look forward to that and again Please welcome Cheryl Thank you councilwoman and thank you all for being here tonight. We're excited. I think this is our biggest Meeting that we've had out in the council district. So we're excited that you're here. Yes district three Don't tell the other districts I said that Okay, so we have a number of staff here tonight Eric Walsh deputy manager wave Eric Carlos Contreras assistant city manager Ed Belmaris assistant manager and our extraordinary budget director Maria Villagomez as well and we have a staff member Oh, I'm sorry. Gloria or Tata was hiding in the back sitting down there Assistant city manager as well. So we have a number of staff here, and I'm going to ask the staff real quickly To just stand up we have a staffer at each table that is here from our executive team and they're going to Take notes help facilitate your conversation, and I want you to know that of all the comments we get tonight Not only from district three We share all of the comments with all the council members so that they hear the variety of Input that we get from all the districts, and you know we did four of these budget meetings in June before we started Regionally around the city and now we're doing five more Now since I've presented the proposed budget and this is the beginning of the process council members spent three hours this afternoon Hearing presentations from the department heads about the budgets. They're deliberating asking a lot of questions And the input that you give us tonight will be helpful as well so you're going to meet all these staff members they're going to help you in the process and We're going to show you just a short video that says here's what's in the proposed budget Then we will ask you to identify those things that you think are most important for us to focus on and Focus our resources For spending for the upcoming year and then also tell us because we our revenues are not growing as fast as the Expenses just to do what we're doing today. What do you think that we could do? Less of or without and I I don't want to propose cuts within the budget I mean I I don't relish that in fact It's very hard to decide so what do we cut? But we have some fixed expenses and just to do what we're doing today next year Costs more than our revenue is increasing which means we have to have a balanced budget by law Unlike other levels of government. We can't carry a deficit. We have to balance our budget every year So to do that we have to choose among the things we're doing. How do we best provide those services and? We have actually fewer city positions today than we did eight years ago net We've added nearly 500 police and fire personnel and we've cut Through attrition no layoffs, but we've cut 1,350 civilian positions over the past seven years and We've done that through placing people where positions were cut into other vacancies in the city Organization and we're trying to use technology to do things Smarter we're trying to simplify our business process so that we're delivering more service to you But at less cost so we're trying to do things differently and better And if you think about it to do that with fewer city positions today, and yet we have more people to serve Another hundred and fifty thousand people in the community more fire stations that we've added more park Land more libraries and yet we're doing that with fewer staff So we're constantly looking at how do we provide the best level of service to you? But it's tough council members have very tough decisions to make How do we how do we balance the revenue to the expense and the council gave me direction? Back in June at their goal setting session that they did not want to see an increase in the city's property tax rate So to not increase that rate then how do we balance that means you have to cut because it back in May when we presented the budget We estimated that our revenues would grow in 2014 by about two and a half percent, but expenses were going up three and a half percent and We know we don't want to cut the number of police and fire personnel as I said for a growing community We've actually added staff in that area. So how do we then balance that? That is that's a tough tough thing for the city council members to do So I know that many of you want to be here to say don't cut this don't cut that But we also need to hear from you then then what can we reduce in the budget? And that's important to us to have have that kind of input So the run of show tonight is to see this video that really just lays out the basics of our budget and Then we'll break into our discussion groups and ask you to identify those three things that are most important for us to focus on And then the three things that you think we could do less of that you'd be willing to see us give up and then Designate one of your residents at your table to be the spokesperson and after about 30 minutes of conversation Then we'll ask each table to report out on those three things that are most important and the three things that you would like to see Us reduce to help us balance the budget. Does that make sense? Okay, we'll ask our video people to go ahead and enroll this short short video And then we'll break into our discussion groups and the staff that are at each of the tables will help you and we'll walk Around and answer questions you might have as well. Thank you again for coming tonight Hello, I'm city manager Cheryl Scully the fiscal year 2014 proposed budget is balanced and allows the city to continue to provide quality services to the community While making the tough decisions to keep the city financially sound the fiscal year 2014 proposed budget focuses on reducing administrative costs and prioritizes public safety street maintenance Sidewalks and drainage improvements the proposed budget reflects policy direction from mayor Castro city council members and valuable input from the recent community budget hearings held in June of every quadrant of the city This video was developed to provide a summary of the fiscal year 2014 proposed budget and to enhance Understanding of city services and how they're financed it also highlights areas where the city has been able to recommend budget cuts While maintaining quality service levels to meet community needs Over the next few weeks the city council will carefully consider the proposals included in the proposed budget Mayor Castro city council members and I look forward to your input prior to the adoption of the city's budget on September 12th 2013 we appreciate your interest in the city of San Antonio's proposed fiscal year 2014 budget we are committed to keeping San Antonio financially strong and to making San Antonio a dynamic and healthy community for you and your family The city is committed to continually improving services for residents of San Antonio and nurturing an environment for future growth and prosperity Each day the city's workforce is in the community working to maintain city streets Protect you and your family preserve the beauty and integrity of your neighborhoods and offer services and programs that can enrich the quality of life for all residents the fiscal year 2014 proposed budget is balanced as required by law and does not include a city property tax rate increase The general fund which is the city's largest operating fund totals 989 million less than 1% higher than last year the budget is transparent and reflects city council policy direction and valuable input from the community in June of this year Five community budget hearings were held across the city to obtain service priorities from residents before the proposed budget was prepared Following the community budget hearings city council annually establishes priorities and the proposed budget recommendations reflect that input This year the high-priority services identified our public safety streets Sidewalks and drainage as our city core services Your city budget is more efficient and since 2007 the city has reduced the general fund budget by nearly 88 million and has eliminated 1,633 civilian positions with no layoffs During the same period the city added 307 police officers and 167 firefighters Reflecting community and city council priorities the FY 2014 proposed budget reduces 17 million in the general fund and a total of 279 positions in all funds in the general fund five-year financial forecast presented in May of 2013 Revenues were projected to increase at a slower pace than expenditures Necessitating adjustments to be made to the budget The proposed FY 2014 budget presented to the city council on August 8th is balanced and reflects the city council priorities of no city property tax rate increase budget reductions and some fee increases Included in the budget are five million in proposed revenue adjustments in the general fund Primarily an EMS transport fees hazmat inspection fees and recreational fees The proposed budget also maintains the city's financial reserves at 89 million or 9% of general fund Appropriations with the efficiencies added in this year's proposed budget general fund expenses increased less than 1% One of the top priorities recommended by the community and the city council is public safety The police department has applied for a communities organized for public service hiring grant That will allow for the hiring of additional police officers for three years The budget includes 307,000 for a city match if the grant is awarded in October 2013 for 10 officers 1.3 million is also included in the budget to add more police in-car video And other equipment the fire department provides quality fire prevention and suppression emergency medical service and rescue operations to city residents the proposed budget Enhances these efforts by adding three full-time hazmat inspectors to improve Inspections as well as three million for the replacement of two hazmat trucks and other fire equipment Improvement and maintenance of streets and sidewalks continues to be a high priority for residents The proposed budget continues funding the infrastructure maintenance program at 54 million This amount includes 35 million to improve streets and 8.5 million for sidewalks This is 2.5 million more than in 2013 and 4.5 of the 8.5 million will go to improve sidewalks to schools 3.5 million will be used for drainage improvements and the final 7 million is for pavement markings alleyways traffic signals and bike facility improvements in 2012 voters approved a 596 million bond program that includes city-wide improvements for streets bridges and sidewalks drainage and flood control parks libraries and public safety facilities During fiscal year 2014 many of these projects will be designed and approximately half will begin construction The FY 2014 budget includes 1.25 million for initiatives to revitalize and improve neighborhoods throughout San Antonio This amount includes the renew SA program C. Clovia and the fit-pass program Also included is funding for animal care services to continue to perform 26,500 spay-neuter surgeries and maintain a 75% live release rate code continues to be a priority in 2014 and No service reductions for code enforcement are recommended in the budget to ensure a continued focus on improving neighborhoods San Antonio senior centers provide daily health fitness and nutrition support to residents 60 years and older The FY 2014 budget continues to make these services a priority and includes 1.5 million in funding for the expansion of senior centers in districts 2 6 and 7 The 2014 proposed budget includes 3.5 million dollars for economic development incentives 1.75 million is dedicated for inner-city incentives and 1.75 million is dedicated to city-wide initiatives a Key piece in developing the city's budget is making decisions to maintain a strong financial position While providing quality service delivery the budget reduces 13 million by Streamlining services focusing on community priorities and reducing administrative overhead on average Non-public safety departments in the general fund reduced costs by 5% This year's budget reductions include leveraging technology and process improvements in municipal court to reduce the time Customers spend at court by 30% while reducing costs by 914,000 the budget also reduces 1.7 million in administrative overhead Which includes a 50% reduction to travel in other line item budgets as well as 11 administrative positions The city will also achieve savings by transitioning services provided at the link centers to existing facilities Including development services one-stop select libraries and other city facilities Service modifications totaling 1.3 million include realignment of parks landscape and sanitation maintenance schedules and Consolidating 10 open-play community centers with low attendance with other full-service centers in close proximity The budget includes a change in the outdoor swimming pool program that is anticipated to save 310,000 this proposal expands the existing six-day per week operation of outdoor swimming pools to a 7-day per week operation by limiting the number of days each pool is open Delegate agency funding is proposed to be reduced by 5% Consistent with the average reduction of non-public safety city departments funding for Haven for Hope However remains at the FY 2013 budget levels this proposal save 630,000 solid waste collection services are supported by a user fee collected monthly through your electric bill The budget includes funding to support a subscription curbside recycling program for organic recycling and adding two Additional neighborhood drop-off collection centers an increase to the solid waste monthly rate of 50 cents is recommended in the 2014 proposed budget raising the cost to $19.93 per month Now that you've learned about the proposed fiscal year 2014 budget we want to hear from you We encourage you to attend any of the community budget hearings There are five area-wide community meetings held across the city and two at the city council chambers as Required by law the city budget is scheduled to be adopted on September 12th The city's new fiscal year begins October 1st visit the city's website at www.sanantonio.gov to learn more about the proposed fiscal year 2014 budget and the public input process You can watch this video again on TV SA the city's government access channel as You can see the city's fiscal year 2014 proposed budget is balanced and continues to provide the community with high quality services and a strong financial position Two things a couple things that I didn't get to mention before but that I wanted to do right now before you start your work at your tables is to Recognize two former council members in the audience. I want to two former district three council members Tony Morehouse back there and Councilwoman Deborah Guerrero also SAISD trustee Thank you all both so much for being here as well as all of you And I do want to just give so much. Thanks for all the hard work of Maria Villagomez in the budget department and all of her staff Nobody was on a break with that group over there So I thank you so much now. I are the facilitators at each table will go through and again Go through what projects you all will be doing at the table. There are some Questions that they're gonna pose to you. So we're looking forward to hearing some lively conversations and Hearing all your reports back to all of us. So thank you very much and we have how much time? Okay, so we're gonna go until seven o'clock. So let's get to work. Thank you so much and I understand that table six is ready to go So if the person who is reporting could please stand up and go ahead and report out remember you only have two minutes Thank You council woman. I'm reabil Malone from district three out of the way Cover up things the three things that we feel Could be eliminated and save us some money is number one. We don't want to see fiesta increased because that is Trash police officers you name it. It's gonna cost the city more money number two Table they wanted medical insurance and uniforms that the city employees and so forth help pay for that and Number three not give abatements now the things that now the things That we are really sold on is Code compliance Streets and sidewalks pets animal care We want the libraries and parks keep and maintain what we have and Last but not least We want the city to stay out of the streetcar and rail business Thank you, and let me just say we had people from district two three Five nine and ten at our table. So they're Coming from all parts of the city and I think we did a good job. Thank you. Thank you Thank you so much miss Malone. I think right over here. We're gonna come right here What table is this table to? Okay, go ahead. I think you had some pretty I think that's a little high go ahead He's tall enough already. I'm Jim Our group came up with their priority list was our libraries was to maintain current levels and use advanced technologies Because we felt that would actually save some money using that advanced technology Residential streets maintain and improve and I we also Talk about technology maybe change the technology of how we put those roads down where they actually last longer Maybe more expensive on the front end, but then it would also, you know, they'd last a lot longer Sidewalks towards school top priority public safety Fire and police technology Maintained a big issue with us was to maintain the CRT officers the crisis response teams I think that's huge to maintain the community outreach Fifth was neighborhood revitalization expand and improve development now cuts cuts and revenue We we all sat at our table and we realized a lot of times the revenues are way too conservative on CPS revenues And we'd like more realistic numbers and also to add in that 4.7 percent. That was just an Approved rate increase here not too long ago here at council Consolidating some city and county responsibilities. I believe the city is better doing a lot of things in the county I hope there's no county people in here, and I think we could absorb a lot of that infrastructure I think we could do that Our group did tax incentives reduce, correct And this is something we kind of brainstormed around is provide city services to smaller communities Ie Alamo Heights balcony's Heights be it trash be it police services I think it would be a huge savings for them And I think it would be an opportunity For us as a city to take over some of those services and actually make some revenue generate some revenue Thank you. Thank you very much and just a point of clarification that CPS rate increase has not gone to council yet That's still moving so thank you very much. I think right over here table one Table one and we're number one here because we're all Close cohesive it not not Reba you stole my thunder Right anyway She stole more than that I better I better be careful Look with me quickly I think we have a cause-and-effect situation here pretty much so We look at the tax incentive and abatements Then we turn around we got problem with water we got problem with this we got problem with that Why do we keep giving the abatements to people come in and do this? And they're here about a year and a half instead of five years and they're going so take care cut back on that The street car allocation Dami Dami Dami. No, we know Okay All right property taxes they say no increase People look at this for a moment Well, I do not like to pay any more taxes than you do Look who is benefit from them the economic level Who benefits most for the no tax increase? All right, and for every time you get a utility bill you got another fee added to it another fee added to it those fees are Nuisance to the bookkeeping the administration how much of that money is going to administration to post all that So it's a fact of Shortage of revenue income revenue. So if they increase the tax property taxes Then we can do away with these fees for this and fees for that Right. Yes, you could Okay, then I'm going to look here for neighborhood improvements Yes, keep our parks Keep our streets clean. We're all strongly strongly in favor of that and Pets I'll take a one strong stand on pets Speak collectively and not individually But if you don't care enough for your pet to take care of it I sure don't want to take care of it. I don't want to spend public money to take care of your pets So we can go on that Anyway, those pretty well our highlights there, but we are one other thing here. They talked about freeze the salary Well, I'm gonna say that's one big figure there and if we can do that for a short time Then I feel like we might be able to get over a hump. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it Thank you All right, what table is next? Okay, right over there Okay, we're gonna go over our priorities first and we felt that police and firemen are very are very important I mean that we do need them the police to protect us personally and of course The firemen to come and protect our property. So we do need that However, we felt that there should be a salary cap and benefits I mean there should be a cap somewhere. You just can't keep getting a raise every year. I mean we don't We've done without a raise for years And then I think we need to review the union contracts and when they come up for I think they're coming up pretty quickly We need to sit down with them and have a serious conversation with them I mean supposedly what in 2030? They're not the fire and police is gonna be a hundred percent of our budget According to our city manager So I definitely think that these people should sit down and be willing to Negotiate and maybe you can't give the car a raise every year Absolutely not Let's see. We need to sacrifice now so that we can have her later Let's see we need to find an appropriate balance now and avoid future problems And I think that's when the unions you need to learn to compromise And another priority of ours of course the streets we feel that our streets are very necessary and we need them So therefore that should be a priority Animal care services we need that for our own safety and of course we want owners to take care of their animals and Of course, we have a problem. We talked to him about the problem and hopefully he'll do something about it Dogs cats are being dumped everywhere and we need we need to take and care of so those are our priorities Monday and As far as maintaining or decreasing some of these things we felt that we should review all the agencies And review the bonus programs. I mean we need to sit down with all these agencies and find out What exactly are they doing for the city? How are they spending the money? And maybe we can consolidate some of these smaller departments or if we don't need them, let's get rid of them And then the downtown development, you know, here we have all these trails new trails Bicycles, you know what I'd rather have somebody come fix my street Didn't have all this extra stuff. I mean Ken told me he says oh, but it attracts tourists and Tourists pay a lot of money. Well, wonderful. But what does it do for us? We're the citizens The Riverwalk the benches all out there. I mean here. We have a flood and they all washed away But okay, we'll find city money somewhere to repair all of that So I think sometimes we have our priorities totally mixed up the city council is it on my opinion We need protection when we need it. We need our the fire department to come and help us We need our safety to be taken care of I don't care about the tourists. I'm sorry. I don't I mean if I want to go Downtown I'll make it downtown, but I don't need a fancy trail and all of that if I want to exercise I can walk up down to my street in my neighborhood, but I need that street protected I want those dogs off of there thing And That's what we think we really need to look at. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. All right. Let's go on to this side Okay, table four Thank you This one, okay We came up with our first priority was street repairs and reconstruction a Lot of times they come in and repair. That's just Do a top job on it and and not really reconstruct it. You have to dig it out deep where the the ground or whatever you call it is is not Properly treated so that the street will last More sidewalks and curbs a lot of these neighborhoods around town not just this area, but all around town everywhere they need to be updated another thing is Animal care stray animals Like the we'd like to see What was that again Like stray dogs, they're they should be taken care of If you own one take care of him Don't let him just stray around and go into the different different houses different yards and mess up the yards and Maybe pit bulls that are dangerous That's another thing that we came up with and another one was youth Social services There's too many kids that are have nothing to do no place to go so they go out and do graffiti Which is Cost of the city some money there to clean it up I don't know if they're actually the city does go out and clean it up But we clean up our own graffiti when we see it they should have some kind of Recreation center for them like like they do for the senior citizens some place for them to go and and Spend time there to so they can become better citizens Okay, and then we have revenues How to develop more revenue? Well one way would be the liquor by the drink Taxes increase that liquor by the drink taxes that will not only Do some more revenue, but it might keep some drunks off the street at the same time and prevented accidents What is this? reductions Reductions well, we don't especially care for street cars in downtown area What is that going to do for us it may help the tourists but not not the citizens here another thing is Contributions to the developers that come up from out of town that they say okay You give me a tax break and we'll we'll we're gonna hire 500 people and and But I think they should pay their fair share of taxes just like everybody else does and not give them that that Cut you know that break so that those are the things we came up with. Thank you so very much. Thank you Now let's go back to this side over here This table Table 13 Actually George really wanted to do this, but he bowed to me The priority area is public safety Balanced park growth Funded by developers We feel like there should be an ordinance that when a developer puts in a area that they provide the park land and develop the Park instead of the city Streets and drainage code enforcement and animal control The way that we felt we could make some reductions or raise some revenue opportunity to consolidate Services between county and city or outsourced services Utilize green strategies to reduce costs and reconsider tax incentives. Thank you very much appreciate it Thank you table 13 Okay table seven Here we go. I think I'm gonna start by saying that it was suggested that the council members or the city Employees they should need to take a tour of our neighborhoods to see for themselves the concerns of the community We do plan to cut efficiencies if they're Concerns that really can we can do without eliminate the streetcar project number one Cut the seven million that's on the books for bike lanes marking signals and facilities Better coordination of government entities and we need to cap the annual races across the board Bodie Center on Rigsby apparently has been targeted for closing down That is a very touchy subject for us because of our children that are attending schools at the Baptist temple at Highland Park Elementary and They are expected to walk all the way to Southside Lions after they get out of school For any kind of protection adult protection We do feel that that is a real danger for our area Our children are we need to be considered considerate of them The reasoning that was given to us is that we don't have enough services I would like to suggest and our board was a consensus there that make Bodie Center a senior citizen Service and I think they're looking for one and we would like to be considered for that I would like to follow up in the next few weeks before the budget is Completed we do want to improve sidewalks and merge the bike lanes Now increase San Antonio police domestic violence case management and the social workers We do need more of those and that's about it. But thank you. Thank you miss Thank you very much. All right over here this table over here. These are all wonderful. Thank you so much my name is Elizabeth and I'm table eight and What we consider most important in either maintaining or increasing is the disability access for sidewalk for the Disabled people and then we wanted to maintain or increase our project quest funding and Keep up the CRT funding with the SAPD Our cuts we proposed with the tax abatements and the city executive salaries last but not least was the SAPD and San Antonio fire department uniforms and supplies To be reduced or you know, they start paying for them for some part of their own. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Wonderful, okay, we'll come back over here. So, okay, there you go Table 11 first of all, I'm not here voluntarily as a speaker tonight But the wisdom of this table was that I should speak And I went outside and I conferred with the moon and It says you can go home a coward or you can go home as a man that stole the truth So I am going to try to do that tonight our table says that We should wait do not waive any development fees Do not grant any tax abatements for new companies or developers Cut and all freeze executive salaries bonuses and a lot of that was directed at city public service and the water board and Not so much really at our city staff that I don't think the the outside agencies that are city agencies But get away with a little bit more increase the transparency and ethics Conflicts that arise Dealing like with the streetcar people where the chairman of the vehicle would happen to find a building 100 feet away from the station so and now on the Don't cut public safety in streets Especially our community response teams that deal with domestic violence That is a very critical part of life today and any reduction in that service would be harmful to the ladies of our great city Parks libraries and senior centers. We need more Sidewalks and drainage we need more and historical preservations of some buildings. I Want to take the opportunity to thank all other people from my home to come the night I'm a retired policeman and your comments were taken and I will say that without the proper wages and benefits You will not be able to Attract the quality of police officers We have on the streets protecting all of us tonight and the ladies and gentlemen's of our safe division that provide our council people What's that's it with the greatest service? I think and more able to control your desires So if you thank you for the job you do Thank the back table to appreciate you help. Thank you. Thank you All right Where are we now where are we going to go now? How about table 12? I feel honored to be the speaker these ladies Elected me here. I asked them to because this is their area in their neighborhood But anyway, this is what the table came up with We have some areas that we want to reduce fees on and we want to reduce the EMS fees we want them to come down. They're too high We've kind of got ours mixed up. So I go how mr. Jax wrote them down He wrote down. We want to increase parking and Garage fees I Not totally in agreement myself, but that's that's what the consensus of the table was so that lifted a little higher That's what's on here. Thank you. The other one is to increase The fee on the organic collection that the solid waste department does If they can increase that in order to help our solid waste department we Of course want Sidewalks we want the sidewalks. We want new ones if we want to improve sidewalks in this area in this neighborhood We want more code Enforcement the code compliance needs some help and we need our code officers and we want them so we want more animal control not a Had not necessarily a budget increase, but we want the animals controlled We've got a big problem with animals all over the dog on place. So they want more animal control The number one issue of course all of a sudden at this table were sort of seniors and we want to increase the senior services in San Antonio for nutrition and transportation We have many many seniors that need a helping hand We want to keep our Professional salaries, and I think we were sort of thinking in the lines of CPS and water board to we want to keep our Professional salaries the same no increase this year no increase for professional Not not the lay people not the people that collect the garbage and work on the streets But for the professional salaries We want to keep the library staff As is a library area the libraries are very important, and so we want to keep the libraries as they are Thank you very much. Thank you Over here Good evening. I'm with table number nine All right, we talked it over and this is what we came up with our priorities Parks parks and rec strong supporters of the parks We feel there needs to be more public-private partnerships at the underutilized venues Parks and wrecks are in charge of Obviously, don't close the parks. We love them all take good care of them and On that note for animal control More public-private ventures to offset that like the one with the animal defense league That the city is partnered with not sure if y'all are familiar with that, but You know the city is incentivized a Private company to help control that and they've built a big facility so more things like that to keep that going Libraries we feel you know with updated technology They can be more efficient and we can save a little bit of money there I'm not saying you know close any of them down, but Streamline it so it's more efficient save some of that money that we can spread out elsewhere We believe in raising taxes and reducing everything Everybody's that's property tax Here's a good one fiesta somebody mentioned this earlier Well, you can save a ton of money if we can round up some volunteers to help clean up trash after fiesta If we can do something like that we we could we could save a The city could save quite a bit of money in that cleanup because I know we spend a ton cleaning that up Yeah, same in other other events other city events and stuff like that raising volunteers to help clean up and Then corporate responsibility Specifically for events clean up private, you know just need more of it need more help from them They're they're raking in the money so we we can we can use their help and then recycling incentivize recycling with a deposit fee on glasses and Plastics, that's what we got. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, we're gonna jump back up here to table three because they haven't gone yet So we'll we'll go right over here Hello, I'm Jessica and I'm speaking for table three The few will some of the priorities that we recognized as a table were public safety Public works Parks and recreation Which some of you guys mentioned also We also wanted to keep project quest funding I saw a few questers also wearing the maroon shirts and then we we don't want to see a fee for inner library loans We think that libraries are very important in the city also a Few areas that we thought could be reduced are the center city development. We don't want to see money going there that shouldn't And the area of police in the fire department. We thought maybe that They could pay for Benefits, you know, of course, they would be covered as employees, but for their dependents They should be required to pay a fee like everyone else that works us And we thought some money could be saved in paving alleyways. There are a few Areas that we noticed The alleyways were paved and we thought that was just a waste of money So that was one area that we thought could be cut and I think that's it. Thank you. Appreciate it. Appreciate it All right, we're gonna go back there Okay, we had our three reduction areas and five top priorities I don't know if we're supposed to three of each but we had too many priorities Under what we agree with almost everybody in the room that the tax abatement situation is need to be cut out Because if they can't provide jobs and be plentiful in their production of helping the city Why are we giving them money in tax breaks? It's ridiculous cut them all out If they're not doing a good job for the city, just don't give it to them Even ones that already have it if they didn't do a good job if they're not providing for our city employment Why help them out? Take it away from them Okay, and then on going lean and cutting government waste We thought that maybe you know the firing all of that is such a huge chunk of our budget And it's we need them We definitely need them when we don't want to cut any policemen or any firemen But why didn't I have to buy a new car every year? I mean we don't buy new cars every year our cars last I've driven 2004 and it's working good, you know Why can't they have it for four years five years until it's cost-efficient to it's breaking so much then get a New one why every year that makes no sense to me and our table agrees, okay? And then also looking at the public safety budget we could we create maybe Some oversight to make sure that they're using all this huge chunk of the budget correctly Some volunteers to see that they're not wasting anything, you know Because that's a lot of money and who watches over that money for us, you know Somebody needs to volunteer so that they don't they don't have a vested interest in it, okay? Creating a what was this creating a? Watch group that's what I just said, okay, all right Put a streetcar project on hold, please We don't need a streetcar We need to be able to have the kids that don't have any money swim for free Why are we charred you know gonna charge these little children money to go swimming when they're so poor? They can't go anymore I mean maybe in the neighborhoods where they have a lot of money you can charge them But you know in the poor neighborhoods, why do we want to charge the children to go swim and what are they going to do? Then they're going to go spray the the cars and you know go have turn on the fire hose And then we can't put out our fires, you know, we need to not do that to the poor people in the city Okay, and then let's see Keep the libraries our children need to be our number one priority And we need to make sure that they are educated for our future Who's gonna take care of us when we're old they're gonna grow up if they can't read and they can't do stuff We're gonna be in trouble, you know, so we really need to look out for them so they can look out for us and People that that don't have an education and that haven't gotten they drop out of school and things We need to have programs for them to raise their raise their intelligence levels So they can contribute more to society, you know at the libraries more things for grown-ups, too And teach them how to use a computer if they don't know how free don't charge them for that You know get the people into the technology that are useful for their lives and our lives You know make us be a more productive country in the city Let's see Funding for oh and don't you dare do away with those mobile libraries I mean if they can't get to the library and they cut out the mobile library, how they're gonna get books? How they're gonna get smart We don't need done people, you know, okay Alright now, let's see funding for more green space and community based, you know The city kind of tears down houses things that are, you know Abandoned and whatever and it's weeds and then people, you know do drugs and why can't we turn those into little bitty parks? You know put in a slide a second swings that for a little gravel around a little mulch So that the kids in the neighborhood can walk to someplace to play Why don't we why don't we should leave it a break a lot of the grass-growing, you know Turn it into something that they can walk to that they can be close by and there's a lot of them all over the city Why make a huge gigantic park that you have to drive to unless those people don't have a car, you know Why can't we have little little big parks and all these city-owned properties? You know would that be that expensive a little swing in the slides? You know not too bad, huh, and then how about let's see what we have here. I Forgot where I was who's on first no Increased lighting a lot all the lighting Downtown they put it in those new lights. They say or more green But if it's if we're gonna get hit over the head because it's so dark, it's not gonna be worth it You know this guy says over here I want to be able to go stand at the bus stop at night and not have somebody go Quank cuz I didn't see they're coming, you know I can't even tell what color clothes they got or what color the car is driving down the street over there It's a green black. I don't know I can blue. I can't tell it's too dark and People with old eyes like me. We can't see very good. We need bright lights, you know bright lights So, you know old people we can't see either good, okay Let's see. We got more Practical green initiatives down at the grassroot level instead of these big old wonderful Solar panels up here for what good does that do me or you know you? Let's have some initiatives at the green level that are down where the people can use them Educate the people in the community and in our neighborhoods instead of doing it for the Hyatt Regency or something, you know And let's see how about keeping our community centers for the youth and the elderly, you know let's keep them open don't you dare close those things we need that and For the youth and for the for the seniors, maybe they could work together and learn from each other Wouldn't that be wonderful, you know maybe put those cell phones away and and you know not drive with them Maybe we could give giant tickets for anybody caught using a cell phone in the car If you don't turn it off when you drive you get a ticket wouldn't that be good or What was the other one if they live too far from where they work? They have to pay more tax So what they won't pollute the air, you know the further away they live the more taxes They have to pay or if they don't carpool we can cut it down if they carpool, you know They ride the bus to get a big tax break, you know Thank you so much. You had a great table there, too. What was definitely mr. Hodge is there We're gonna go back here to table number 14 now another Great table back here. That's a very difficult act to follow But up my name is Taryn Tickman good evening I'm from the David Scott YMCA and we had a very engaged group this evening that represented four different districts In cuts Animal care was big on our list The thought was we give a lot of emphasis to animals and not to seniors Public safety in the terms of administrative overhead and salaries incentives in tax abatement Restructure of that was a was our agreement in our area Our priorities were transportation for seniors senior services allow seniors to have Transportation to get to senior centers so they can have a good meal for the day Own versus lease of city facilities dog park and district three three was brought up One of our top areas was early childhood education for sure and crisis response team Ended our conversation. Thank you. Thank you very much All right our last table for the evening here at our last public meeting out in the community is table number 10 Thank you ladies Hi, my name is Victoria, and I'm a scene. We are senior Girl Scouts Some things on our list of higher priorities would be project quest, which is a very Great program for the community in the city of San Antonio to maintain sidewalks and streets That's very good too And our third thing was Girl Scouts and other community programs for the youth and as well for the senior citizens Yeah, so those are on our top priorities and things on our lower priorities would be the downtown streetcar Because there's a bus the buses downtown and such and something that came up in conversation in our table was recycling and The fact that we have to pay a fee or like a pretty high fee for recycling every month when we should recycle anyway because It's good for the world Yeah, so that's all. Thank you. Thank you ladies and Thank you for participating Thank you for closing us out. I appreciate it And I do want to thank all of you again for being here your input has given a Me and the city staff I know a lot to take back and to look at and to see where everything is right now on the list So this is the last public meeting in the community. We do have two more public meetings. Thank you That are citywide the one is Wednesday, August 28th at the city council chambers And then on Wednesday September 4th again at the city council chambers Your input is critical and I will tell you some of the things I've heard tonight I hadn't heard before so I really appreciate it because your input just has created that Creativity and that innovation that we need for San Antonio and that's why I love serving where I do because of all of you So again, I want to thank the city manager. Thank you, Maria and thank you all again You all made this possible. Good night. Be safe