Budget Town Hall at City Hall

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:02:46]for the Witchaw City Council budget town hall hosted by city manager Dennis Marstall. I want to recognize that there are council members here with us this evening. From district number two, council member Becky Tuttle [applause] from district number one. Joseph Shepard [applause] from district number three. Mike O'Hisel [applause] from district number four. Dalton Glascock and from district number five, JB Johnston.

[00:03:28][applause] I appreciate uh such a packed room this evening. By show of hands, can you please raise your hand if you live in district 1?

[00:03:45]If you live in district two, >> if you live in district three, >> if you live in district 4, >> if if you live in district five, >> and if you live in district six, >> thank you all very much. And for those that don't live in the district, you can also raise your hand outside of the district.

[00:04:08]>> Thank you again uh for being here this evening. Uh, I know that the city manager has a full uh agenda, so I don't want to take up too much of your time. I do want to recognize that justice together is here this evening [applause] and I remember going to the very first Nehemiah assembly and one of the promises made was the Witchah Municipal ID.

[00:04:38]I can tell you that the recent number that we received is over 2200 individuals have now gotten a municipal ID and I want to recognize the Witchaw city staff for making that happen. So again, um I hope [applause] So again, I hope uh the city manager now can take over and we will have a lively conversation and engaged uh community.

[00:05:09]>> Thank you, mayor. Great to see everyone tonight. [applause] This is the sixth of seven town halls that we're doing. We've done one in each of the districts. We have our last one scheduled for Saturday. And so what this uh been really how it came about was the conversation in March when we had the voter referendum about the sales tax.

[00:05:34]And so after that defeat, the city council said, "What do we want to learn from that sales tax?" But in context of what the overall city budget is. So the city council came to the voters for a new revenue source which is sales tax.

[00:05:54]We get some through the county but wanted a dedicated sales tax. I know a lot of people in the audience were lobbying for different ways for against and on different parts of that. So what tonight we want to do is we do have um some paper to let you know to begin with the end in mind. We have some paper and some questions around the room and we have post-it notes where we want your input and we are putting together the input from all of our town halls to capture everyone's opinion and thought about the re uh the um referendum feedback. And so we'll give you an opportunity for that. We'll also have some opportunity to share some verbal thoughts. But I wanted to kick off the night to give you a little bit of the context about our budget as we get into um where we are. You know, some of the conversation during the referendum discussion was what was the financial health or fiscal health of the city? And so I think the things that describe like your own personal um income and your own personal expenditures is are you paying your bills? Do you have money in the bank? and how you're running your basic operations. Are you meeting your own specific needs for you and your family?

[00:07:08]Look at the same way for the city. We have our general fund and remember there's been a lot of conversation about how the city budget is structured. And so roughly we have 28 different funds for the city. So when you talk about the airport, we try to keep the airport revenues and expenditures contained within the self-sustained airport fund.

[00:07:34]You pay the water and sewer, you pay the water rates and sewer rates. Those expenditures and revenues are contained within those funds. So we have that through a couple different services with the city, but the primary fund is the general fund. A lot of the revenue from their property taxes go into the general fund and that is where we pay for basically the police services and fire services. So if you look here as of December 31st, we do have reserves for the general fund. That's one reserve fund, one of the saving funds at roughly 51 million. And then we also have what we call a stabilization reserve fund, a second savings account where we have about 35 million. So, one, we're clearly paying our bills. We pay our employees.

[00:08:22]Our police officers, our firefighters are being paid. We have a great credit rating. When you think about your credit score, if you're going to get a mortgage or whatever, we have a AAA bond rating, which means we have the highest financial rating, so we can get the lowest rates when we go out for debt service and bonding. And we have reserves. So everything means that we have a healthy financial picture for the city of Witchaw. Um also if you've been following the mill levy rates as we have here on the screen for you the mill levy rate for the city of Witchaw is the 17th lowest of the 26 first class or basically large full service cities but we're the lowest of the first class cities without a city sales tax. So the other jurisdictions as you heard during the discussion such as Derby and other places have a sales tax as well. Um if you look at our mill levy rate, we're the fifth lowest among the metropolitan statistic area. That's the whole region here. And then we the mill rate is the second lowest of cities in Seduit County when you take all the communities in Seduit County. So again, we wanted to uh level set some of the information um as was discussed during the March referendum. And if you see here where the revenue rate or the I'm sorry, the mill levy rate has gone down.

[00:09:42]The city council also lowered the tax rate by half a mill during last year's budget. Now, it's hard to feel that when your assessed value is going up. So, many of you have had your home values appreciate or increase when you got your assessment from the Seduit County Tax Assessor. So, good news, bad news. I'd rather be in a community where at least values are going up versus declining.

[00:10:14]And so, when you look around the state, you can see different communities maybe having an impact because some of their values are going down. Um, as a growing community, yes, we've had growth. We've had new homes. And so, we have seen the assessed value go up. So, it is hard when you also look at your tax bill. I know the mayor um has a lot of her palm cards that we highlight with basic information. And on the new one, we have the mill rate for all the taxing jurisdictions or the main taxing jurisdictions within Cedric County. So you are paying property tax for Cedric County, property tax for the school, property tax for the city, and there's also a property tax millage on there for a little bit for WSU. So we try to highlight what all the revenue generation goes to and where your tax dollars go to. um to give you a bit more granular. So our total budget that we run the city of Charlotte on Charlotte City of Witaw is $778 million. And so when you look at this with the all funds, this is the breakdown of revenue. So the property tax revenue generates about 23% of the revenue for the city. When you look there, we do charge for services. This gets into the revenue for water, sewer.

[00:11:40]This does get into we do charge for some parks programs. We do charge for some library services. So, we do have charges for services in there, but we also do get a little bit of the sales tax that is levied by the county that we do get some sales tax revenue, roughly 11%. And then if you look on there about the franchise fees, the different utilities that work within the rideway and different things, the city does get revenue. So, we wanted to make sure that everyone had a picture of where all the revenues coming from, just a level set.

[00:12:13]Um, of course, intergovernmental, there's things that go around between the city, state, and federal. Um, so that's just a simple overview of where the entire funds are generated.

[00:12:26]And then also if you look at where they go, what are the expenditures?

[00:12:34]And the largest expenditure as you see on there is for salary and benefits for our 3,400 employees. And of course, public safety will highlight a little bit more with fire and police is part of that. But 42% of the budget goes to salary and benefits. And then when you think about some other things like get the contracts, the different things we do for road projects, whatever it may be, the various contracts that we have, but also if you look at debt service, we pay a lot of money in debt service. That was part of the conversation with the sales tax would have been a pay as you go process where we weren't incurring debt. If you would have paid for some of those projects over the long term, it could have been up to $25 million in just interest payments that we would have paid on some of that. So, this kind of gives you a sense of where the money goes.

[00:13:25]And then we talk about the general fund.

[00:13:26]This is just a slice of the 778. This is a slice of our main operating budget, which is $342 million. And again, when city council says their priority is public safety, this is demonstrated by where the money goes. So in the general fund right there, 64% of the general fund money goes to cover our police and fire. And so we've got that broken down for you. And then you go out and you look at parks and recreation. That's a $23 million operation. Our libraries is in there, court, certainly other key civ uh city services that we provide are all spelled out there. So you can see what makes up the expenditures from the general fund and what we're operating with this fiscal year. Our fiscal year started in January. So we're five months in to our fiscal year with these numbers.

[00:14:22]So future challenges as we talked we had a budget workshop just yesterday with the mayor and city council. So we do have everyone's budget the wage and benefit growth. We are in the process some of our contracts with our union employees police and fire maybe on year two or year three and they have factored in growth in those. So those are factored in when we start looking at the budget. Also a decline in the interest earnings. We don't know where the economy is going with the interest rates. Actually, we may be revising our interest earnings. Um, but when we have our stabilization or our reserve funds, we invest that money very conservatively, but we invest that money so that it makes more money through the interest. Um, so that's still kind of the wild card. We've done very well on our interest um earnings over the past and we want to continue, but we're not um programming as high of return on interest going forward. And then again, potential legislative action. There was a lot of conversation in this last legislative session about property tax relief from the state level.

[00:15:29]And so if there's conversations, again, there was one proposal that was discussed among the state legislators that could have had a $21 million reduction in the city of Witchaw revenue.

[00:15:43]And so when we don't know what some of the state legislation's going to be, that will have an impact on our funding going forward. So something we've got to continue to have those conversations with our state representatives as they think about their legislative agenda.

[00:16:00]And then the overall economic conditions, we know what the environment is today with the cost of oil and different economic factors and how long will those last. So again, just like your own personal budgets, these are things that we have to factor with the city's budget.

[00:16:16]So as we uh get into the 26, the financial plan. So you can see when we're talking about the general fund again, the revenues we were showing is 342 million. Um we show for 27 we're looking out 351 million and then 2028 355 million. So you will always see from me as city manager a balanced budget recommendation to the city council. We will always have a balanced budget. Um as we look though for expenditures we see that expenditures are going up.

[00:16:52]So looking in the outyear there in 2028 and into 2029 that's basically factoring in some of the increases from the union contracts knowing that we have increased um insurance costs just like everyone else increased road costs the cost of asphalt and pavement is more than it was three years ago. So we have the increased costs. So we are showing in the out years that yes, we're going to have higher expenditures than revenue because again we don't know some of our revenue from interest earnings and other things or what may happen at the state level when it comes to property tax. So we have conservatively said yes, we're going to have a delta there between revenues and expenditures, but when it comes to 2028 and 2029, I will recommend a balanced budget. But the forecast shows that we have some revenue pressures going forward is really what this is saying when you look at this graph.

[00:17:54]Then when you look at the uh 27 budget the forecast again we are on track balanced budget we do have um stabilization we have that reserve fund that I talked about um with roughly 35 million in it. We are pulling some money in from there to do some one-off projects and different things. Um, so we do have that for a cushion if we need it going forward. So we wanted to highlight that for you as well. And then we wanted to move into the background on the sales tax. So one, we just wanted to level set of what comprises the city budget. So thank you for uh taking the time for a civics lesson and understand that all of our stuff is very transparent on the city website. You can get this information and much much more detail.

[00:18:37]We have our line item budget as well on the city website. So you can get more information on the budget. Happy to share. But we wanted to take that information and talk about the sales tax conversation. So back on March 3rd, voters were uh given the referendum question to increase the local sales tax by 1% for seven years, which would have generated around $150 million. And it was targeted for five different projects or areas. One was to expediate or to speed up our public safety capital improvements for 225 million. It was to revitalize and do some investments in Century 2 and upgrade or expand the convention center for 225 million. Have a built-in property tax relief for 150 million. Address some of our funding for homeless and housing services for 150 million. And then consider the development construction of a performing arts center for 75 million. So, some of you may remember that from the ballot question. And so, the voters rejected that referendum with over 80% or of 50,000 voters who said no. And so, based on that, we wanted to give you a little status update of where we are from those proposals and then you can give us some feedback on how you would think the city should look at the sales tax going forward, property tax, whatever it may be. Um but based on the current so the first one was public safety capital improvement and basically when you see the city budget we have a 10-year plan for expenditures for the city new fire stations new vehicles new fire trucks um new um police we're doing the police west um bureau office. So all these major expenditures for public safety, we've got them programmed out for the next 10 years, the sales tax referendum was to accelerate that to shorten that 10-year window to address a new fire station um earlier, but also to get some more apparatus and to make some investments on a pay as you go basis and not have to bond for the new stations.

[00:20:46]And so, as we highlight here, these are still things within the city's current plan. These are still on track to be funded through debt service. And so, you hear it. Our funding strategy for our big capital investments like new stations is half cash, half debt. And so, we try to have a mix when we do our bonded projects, as we call them, to still use cash when we do some of these.

[00:21:15]Um, so there's even in the out years a new police training facility. We do need some communication radio equipment enhancements within the next 10 years.

[00:21:25]Some of the special vehicles, special vehicles in the next 10 years. So the status is instead of seven years of accelerated investment pay as you go, we are maintaining our current 10-year CIP funding and then we will continue to prioritize those. Every year the CIP gets a updated look and we can move some projects forward or backward um as we run it by city council for the annual budget adoption. So that's how we will proceed or continue to proceed with our public safety capital improvements. When you think about property tax relief, the sales tax proposal would have taken money from the sales tax and reduced the annual mill levy property tax by 3.7 to four mills. So that was going to be a commitment from the council to lower the mills annually um based upon having revenue from the sales tax. So we did reduce the mill levy by half a mill in 2025. And so in the future the city will just continue to evaluate the millage rate on an annual basis. So as we talk about the 27 budget which will be adopted in August, that is where we'll have the millage rate finalization conversation with the mayor and city council.

[00:22:46]And again like um was done in the past, the millillage can go up or down depend upon how we prioritize things with city council and the mayor uh making the final decision during the budget adoption.

[00:23:00]The other conversation was around Century 2, an amount not to exceed 250 million for revitalizing Century 2. We talked about then some of the upgrades to bathrooms, different facilities and things needed, but also expanding and upgrading the convention center. Um, we do have, as we just talked about with the capital improvement program, the CIP, that we do have $21 million outlined over the next 10 years. Um, it's currently outlined. Um, but again, it can shift depend upon different competing priorities, but we do have money identified to invest in Century 2.

[00:23:34]Um we will continue to look at the hostity and tourism leadership in the community such as Visit Witchaw and others um to address ideas for the expanded convention center. Um again a modernized convention center um can bring in more convention and tourism business to the city that pays the sales tax. So that's part of the thought about having assets that would capitalize on the sales tax and that would be part of the convention center. But that is just a conversation. There's not an active conversation uh related to that. And again, we'll look to the hospitality and tourism industry to uh see if they have some thoughts and hear from you all tonight as well. Then we have um the homeless and housing services. This was an amount not to exceed $150 million. it would have been allocated to a restricted special fund and those earnings would have been reinvested. So, as we said, kind of like an endowment fund where we could generate over hundred million to $150 million and live off the interest to support a lot of our housing and homeless initiatives. Um, that did not go through with the defeat of the sales tax. So, we still are working within our budget to look at annual funding for homeless programs and services. We get significant amount of funding. Many of you are aware from the federal government from housing urban development or HUD funds. And so we will continue to deploy those federal funds within our housing program but to address some of the other local needs here. Um when you think about our low barrier shelter or second light and some of the other service providers that is really to operate those programs anywhere from 250 to $2 million a year to fund those different agencies to address our homeless services. As of now our only revenue source for that is a property tax or the general fund. And so that's part of the budget conversation with the mayor and city council is how much money from all of our revenue do we think we can allocate for homeless services and homeless programs. So we will continue to have that program. But again, also seeing if we can look for private support to support with local foundations or corporations or whatever it may be, how they can um help give directly to some of the nonprofits who are doing the homeless and housing programs.

[00:25:58]And then the last item was generate $75 million to the development construction of a downtown public performing arts center as long as 75 million was also generated from private funds. And so there are no excuse me there are no plans to address a new performing arts center. The private sector arts community will need to spearhead any effort of a new performing arts center including land acquisition, design and construction. So this kind of gives you an overview of what was on the ballot and where things are now. So we really get now into the town hall um conversation that again we've asked residents all across the um city to give feedback by individual districts. But tonight, um, we'll pass the microphone around a little bit, but in order to capture some of your information, what we're going to do is take your notes and different things tonight, put it with the other comments and feedback that we got from the other town halls, and then have a final report on what people thought or gave us feedback on as it related to the sales tax referendum or the overall budget. So, the primary one as we start out here and we can um ask if some people want to address some of these. What are your funding priorities for the city? Again, the referendum had five different things on it and voters gave us the feedback on that. But what we want to know on post-it notes and on some of the boards back there, if you'll give us some of the specifics, if you think animal shelter is your top priority or if you think roads is your top priority or the environment or homelessness, whatever it is, we want to capture that. And so if you can write some of that down on the post-it notes that are around, um, you can share that.

[00:27:42]But again, it will help council and me as we're getting into the heart of our budget conversation to hear what folks are saying as it relates to different priorities among the citizens. Then also, how would you like to see the city balance the budget? And that means what different revenue streams does the sales tax is that of interest? Property tax is still our main fees for service. Do you want to see fees for service? Kind of pay as you go, get the full cost recovery for whatever a service may cost to then charge for that. So, there are different ways that you can get at balancing the budget using some of the reserves that we have or go lobby the state and federal government for more money is definitely a revenue stream for us as well. Um, so give us a little bit of feedback on that. And then what feedback would you specifically give to city council on the sales tax referendum?

[00:28:39]You can say try again. You can say let it die. You can say whatever you want, but it's an opportunity to talk about that. So that's a an opportunity for everyone to give feedback. But again, we're not going to pass the mic to everyone. So, we want to make sure we capture your um your comments on paper on the postit so we can write it all down. And then lastly, are there any proposals from the sales tax referendum that you think we should still address?

[00:29:11]If you still think there are some things that we can do with homelessness or whatever, um certainly here come the post-it notes around. um if there's some things that you think the city should still address from those five. If you're a supporter of the arts and you want something from the arts or there wasn't something on there um how should we address that? So this is how we want to uh spend the bulk of the time um is getting some of the feedback from you.

[00:29:38]So what we have is one I want to um let everyone take a few minutes to write down the question or write down your um answers to these. We do have the um white papers. If you could first put down your post-it notes on this piece of paper, then we're going to have a opportunity to share the microphone and you can verbally share some of your thoughts. But we'll make sure we give you time to write your notes and put them on the stick note. So I will give you about eight minutes to write down on the sticky note these four questions and put on the post-it notes and then we'll come back.

[00:38:14]What we've done at the different town halls is we've uh kind of had a variety of formats. Um so one I want to make sure I know some people I see have the presentation from tonight. There are still more hard copies of the slides um from the presentation that you can get on the way out. There's some other information about what we call the palm cards about who's your representative and some information about city council.

[00:38:41]So, you can grab that on the way out.

[00:38:43]Um, but what we want to do now is offer remember you're live streaming tonight.

[00:38:47]So, if you don't want to be seen on TV or live stream, but for those who want to come up, we have uh used at other town halls. Uh can you be succinct and share on any one question for 30 seconds?

[00:39:05]If you would like to come line up, you can share with everyone but the council members. Um, if you hear the same thing already said, please monitor yourself and keep it brief and succinct, but feel free to address if you can keep your comments to the topic at hand because we're going to gather your comments and put them with what was shared at the other town halls. So [snorts] again, if you can keep it uh 30 seconds or maybe come back around that way, we can make sure that everyone has an opportunity to share. So thank you again for coming.

[00:39:46]We'll do the um public uh comment and then we'll call it a night. So thank you again for being here. Go ahead, say your name and what you want to talk about.

[00:39:55]Sure.

[00:39:58]>> Thank you everyone. My name is Greg Barlo. At the Nehemiah Assembly, we proposed a solution for the issue of gun violence in our community. And that solution was a community violence problem analysis. This is a proven first step that cities like Columbus and Lexington have used to dramatically reduce homicides. We want this for our taxpayers who are spending millions on court costs, investigations, and enforcement for deaths that could have been prevented. We want this for our police who need help preventing the preventable so they can focus on keeping us safe. So uh this question is for you city manager Marstall. This is within your authority. It's within your budget and people are dying. Will you within 30 days initiate the process of working with a group recommended by the council on criminal justice to conduct a community violence problem analysis?

[00:40:45]>> Thank you for the question. I've addressed that um in email. I'll be glad to share that with everyone and I'll be glad to discuss it afterwards tonight.

[00:40:54]Um, but for tonight's town hall, I want to make sure we stick on topic for everyone who came out for what the topics were tonight, but I'll be glad to address that with you afterwards.

[00:41:06]>> Good evening. Can everybody hear me?

[00:41:08]>> Thank you very much. My name is Billy Anderson. I'm concerned we're beating the same old dead horse and I want to talk about two billionaires. I just read this in Chase Billingham's book, uh, All-American City. It's about Witchah's attempt over the years to revitalize downtown and the problems associated with it. Omaha, which is a thriving city, has a resident billionaire, Warren Buffett. Buffett has invested over hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure there. We have a resident billionaire who refuses to invest a scent in our infrastructure. There's a real difference. So, if you want to get some money, go after the guys who got money. Shame them.

[00:41:50]What? A a sales tax goes after the weakest people. The referendum that didn't didn't give any any relief to renters. I checked. 60% of renters in Witchah are black people. Uh no no not 60%. 60% of uh black folks in Witchah rent. 60%. And they weren't getting zipped for it. And they were the most vulnerable population in terms of that was the highest number of renters is in the among black folks. So, quit quit with the sales tax crap because it's fallen on the wrong people. Go after the people who got some bread. Leave them alone. Thank you very much.

[00:42:35]>> My name is Jan Schwarzenruber. I live in District 6. Um, on question three, the sales tax referendum went far too fast. We never heard about it till sometime in December and the vote was in March. It had five buckets of money to be spent and we had to vote either yes or no regardless of what we thought about any single bucket of money.

[00:43:00]There's a lot of consensus about the problem of homelessness in Witchah. The solution to homelessness is affordable housing. I would suggest [applause] I would suggest that we consider a smaller timelmited sales tax that is for one bucket, a standalone, one issue problem of affordable housing and not have everybody have to decide whether they'd like four things. We have plenty of time to put that before the people. We don't have to do that until a year from now, like next August or next se next next November. Let's give it the time it takes and think about one thing at a time. And I think people that are don't have shelter are our priority.

[00:43:53][applause] >> My name is Richard Swisser. I live in district three and um I want to speak on item one. Um, uh, Director Stang has a proposal that would, uh, fund, uh, 10 million a year to affordable housing for the next three years. I would, it's already passed the first vote. I encourage you to keep it in the budget and pass it again for the next vote when it comes up. To me, this is a matter of dignity. the the people I I I used to teach at Calvin Elementary.

[00:44:33]I'm retired school teacher. And if anybody knows where Calvin is, they Yes.

[00:44:39]The uh the children there, they're wonderful kids. Um but those families just don't have money to afford any place else but but Plane View. And the housing is not good there. And um with this fund, you would think that they would be able to um build some housing and develop some housing where these people can um live with dignity uh without having to put so much of their income from a job at McDonald's or sacking groceries or whatever it might be, a low-end paying job, so much of it is going to cover rent. And so they have to make a lot of tough choices as families. So I would encourage you to keep that in the budget and pass it when it comes up for the next vote uh later this year. Thank you, [applause] >> Margaret Shabbaz. And um I just I think two things that um we do need to have um a sales tax for would be homelessness prevention, an endowment created to help prevent homelessness.

[00:45:59]And the other thing I think that we would need is um to build an incentive fund to bring some grocery stores to our two desert in Witchah. We don't have to have Dillons. They're expensive anyways.

[00:46:14]Let's try Piggly Wiggly or something, you know? Let's bring some new ones.

[00:46:18]Let's bring Albertson's back or something. But let's create an incentive so we can get them a real grocery store.

[00:46:27]Not just I love farmers markets. No shame on any of that. But we want a real grocery store.

[00:46:34][applause] My name is Kathy Manweiler. I grew up in Witchah. I live in district 2 and I'm speaking as a donor of justice together.

[00:46:47]Um I want to speak on uh the priorities of affordable housing. That's very important. And the mentally ill are a key driver of homelessness here in Witchah and no mentally ill person should ever be homeless. It is not their fault. And I also want to speak to the problem of gun violence and the importance of funding uh gun violence analysis for Witchah because gun violence has been out of control in Witchah for decades. [applause] Just in my graduating class alone at Southeast High School from the class of 1989, three of my friends were murdered years apart from each other by someone wielding a gun. Now, that is a tragic statistic. Those were three bright lights that were taken from our community. They would have been wonderful additions and we lost them to guns. And that problem is just getting worse over the years. Please do that analysis. It's very important. And I also um I also uh want to say that gun violence really taxes the health care system in our city. So that's another important priority. Thank you.

[00:48:04][applause] >> My name is Sarah Calling. I'm with District 2. I'm formerly homeless. I'm from Grassroots Bridge. Also, um I am so happy to see everybody here. I watched this city like come together on this topic and I've I heard somebody say today faith without works is dead. and we can talk about things that are projected or we can do something right now. Um everything I hope that everything turns out the way it's supposed to be. We all know that God will take care of all of this. Um but like when we have action before planning sometimes it works. Today we had an event for at Chapen Park where a lot of the unhoused live and we had amazing turnout. everybody that we invited a lot of like I don't know how many in house we had at least 70 showed up for services and we had services available and if we keep doing the best the next best thing and love thy neighbor as we love oursel we're not going to have to worry about sales tax because we will all be sharing the wealth [applause] >> thanks my name is uh Donna Garcia I am the other half of Grassroots Bridge Builders and Sarah is correct we want to come to you today and let you know that when we invest in homelessness services and we don't do a huge investment, we we are self-funded 100% and we are out there and we're housing people day in and day out. So, our priority, our prioritization that we want to share is investing in homelessness services because it works. It works because we're a community and we're coming together and we are all here because we're willing to share that burden. And we can see that if we continue to invest in the ways that make sense, maybe a short-term 1% sales tax, three to five years. I don't live in Witchah. I live in Maize, but I work here and my clients are all here. So, we can share that burden together. So, that is our recommendation from the field and we're just so happy to see everyone here today and sharing these um these this hope and this dream to solve homelessness. So, we hope that is also a prioritization of our council.

[00:50:05]Thank you.

[00:50:07][applause] >> I'm WDE Miller from District 1 and uh pleasure to be here. That's right, District One. Um and uh part of what what I wanted to share is just how much pressure there is on every generation right now when you start looking at finances. And a big part of that comes back to housing. when housing costs have have exceeded wage growth twice as fast over the past 20 years, that catches up real quick. And it's showing a problem here. And we've got to get creative.

[00:50:44]We've got to invest. And people that are willing to invest, they need to know that the funding is going to be there con consistently over the years. and and our investment in affordable housing is going to continue to be there uh through those years. Uh we're excited about the possibilities. The uh the affordable housing fund has a lot of promise uh and and is already beginning to work. Now, we just need to make sure that we're continuing to invest in it so that it makes a bigger difference in our community. So, thank you very much.

[00:51:21]>> [applause] >> Uh, my name is Sharon O'Neal and I live in district 1. And I just want to comment when we're talking about the city of Witchah's budget and difficulty making ends meet. We need to think about people making a fair and living wage.

[00:51:39]That there's always going to be problems affording food and housing when the minimum wage has not kept up with the cost of living.

[00:51:50]>> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Laura King. I do not live in any of the districts.

[00:52:02]Um, I do worship in the district and I got involved in justice together. I left Witchah for safety reasons.

[00:52:13]I left Witchah because my husband and I could not afford housing, the kind of housing we wanted. I live in Holstead. I'm back with justice together because I think we can make a difference.

[00:52:31]I think we need to talk to each other. I think we can do affordable housing. And I think the gun violence assessment is incredibly important.

[00:52:42]My daughter, we pulled out of Witchah schools because my daughter would have been in a cat fight every day. She's now 29, so that was a while ago.

[00:52:55]But we had gun violence then in middle schools.

[00:53:00]The assessment has told us the age is much higher now.

[00:53:05]But for people like me not to want to live in the city that has so much to offer >> because of that kind of thing, there are lots of people that are feeling that way. And I think if we could get this assessment and we could move forward as a group, police, fire, city council, county, justice together and show that everybody cares.

[00:53:33]we might get something done. Thank you.

[00:53:36][applause] >> Me again. Again, my name is Greg Barlo and I've got another question regarding number two. How would you like to see the city balance the budget? As it was expressed tonight, uh we have a great deal of our city expenditures going towards public safety. Clearly, that's a top priority for all of us in this room.

[00:53:59]Um given that the costs towards public safety are so high, we actually have a letter from the city of Columbus. And in that letter from their gun violence steering committee, they say the mayor of Columbus reported earlier this year that the most recent data shows that murders in Columbus had a 64% decline from 2021 to 2025. That was after they initiated a community violence problem analysis in their city. So given that could be a potential solution to help balance our budget, uh would you be willing to meet with us within the next 30 days to discuss this kind of community violence problem analysis for our community?

[00:54:50]I understand this isn't really the venue to have a back and forth, but yeah.

[00:54:53]Would you be willing to meet with the community with the justice together community at large just for this specific topic within the next 30 days?

[00:55:12]>> [applause] >> Okay.

[00:55:19]>> All right.

[00:55:26]>> My name is Jenny FA. I'm from district six. And I was thinking about number two about how to um balance the budget. And in the organizations where I've worked, we look at the mission and that drives the budget. So I was I just picked this up back there. The city's mission is to keep Witchah safe, grow our economy, build and maintain dependable infrastructure, provide conditions for living well. So, I was just going to see if it would be possible uh the next town hall to also have slides uh showing how many people have died from homelessness, which would correlate with keeping Witchah safe. Uh I know we've done a lot of research on how much it costs the city to have homeless people on the streets. Uh how much it costs when we have to um when people are dying. So, another slide about how many homicides we had and like correlate that to how much money we have been spending on those things. Really looking at like a preventative style.

[00:56:29]And I called your office the day after Nehemiah. I was worried about you. Just wanted to make sure you were okay because we had not had a person show up.

[00:56:38]So, I'm glad you're okay. But I really do think my husband said to me, "Well, Jenny, justice together is known for being um strong armed or what's the phrase?" And I was like, "Oh, I didn't know that." Um I do just want to say, city manager that if nothing else, we want to be preventative and we really are about [applause] we really are about the biatitudes and we really are about the least of these because those people aren't here.

[00:57:09]We have to be the voice for them. And I see you at the top of every single thing.

[00:57:19]So I welcome you to Witchah. Thank you.

[00:57:24][applause] >> I'm Gretchen Ike. I live in I lived in district one for 18 years and then I moved to district six. So, I lived in a district and I've experienced both um I did experience a lot of gun violence in the community in which I lived in and now I live in I live on North Park Place and we experience a lot of homelessness right directly right near us. Um we are very concerned about both issues. Um and we think that the the most important thing is that you understand that there is expertise out there. I mean, I'm talking to all of you, city council, mayor, uh, city manager, um, and to all of us that we understand that there is expertise out there and the, um, Nehemiah project has marshaled groups of people who have done a great amount of homework to plan and to look at how other cities deal with these issues and what are the solutions they've come up with that have worked. So, please don't uh discount the amount the seriousness of this venture. We're not here, as the previous speaker said, just kind of strong arm. I mean, that's not it. The issue is how do we work together to build a city that really does something viable and impressive about gun violence, reducing gun violence, reducing homelessness, re providing housing that is affordable. I uh my husband is going to speak next and when we we took a um live strong program at the Y, one of the people we worked with in that live strong program uh was a woman who was a professional woman all of her life. She's moved to Witchah and she doesn't have enough money to find housing. She said, "I can't find anything that's under $1,300 a month." You know, this is ridiculous.

[00:59:21]I mean, seriously, this is crazy. Uh we have we have got to recognize we are a workingclass city primarily. We have one large group of very wealthy people but the majority of witchons are workingass and they're the ones who are being disadvantaged by are not taking seriously enough the prior to prioritize our budget to address low-income housing and and affordable housing. Thank you.

[00:59:51][applause] Where are the rest of you?

[01:00:04]Come on. Get get up in here in front of the microphone. Um really the folks are here to listen to us. This is a town hall meeting.

[01:00:18]Um right, Bill?

[01:00:20]>> Absolutely.

[01:00:21]>> Bill. Bill's a good friend and I believe in Bill. Um [laughter] and and um my name is Reverend Michael Po. I'm a retired preacher. So start the clock.

[01:00:42]I had a my church was a Fair Mountain United Church of Christ, one block south of WSU. Our house was one block from the church. Um, it was a great work.

[01:00:57]Uh, we were the only church in the that neighborhood. So, I was the only pastor in that neighborhood for a while.

[01:01:06]I saw I I did too many funerals, not just, you know, people my age, you know, but kids who had been shot. Um, two 14year-old girls who were at a sleepover. They were at the wrong place at the wrong time and they were shot and killed by a driveby.

[01:01:38]It's the only time the church was packed.

[01:01:44]Two kids and then we buried them in Maple Grove.

[01:01:49]Um, so I I am here to ask you I I I can't remember your name, so I'm sorry. I apologize for that.

[01:02:01]But I know you're you're the city manager and I know that the city manager's office can work with us.

[01:02:11]This is a good sample of the city. I've been since 94, 1994, working on the elimination of gun violence. It's guns that kill people and I'd like to just get rid of them all.

[01:02:30]Yeah, I'd like to come and take your guns. You know, I'm not going to because but I am here because I was called by Justice Together to present to you the the plea to to right away.

[01:02:54]30 days is okay. 10 would be better to get a look at the community violence uh problem analysis.

[01:03:06]We really really really really need that.

[01:03:10]Thank you. [applause] My name is Sarah again. I I'm this time I'm speaking as an unhoused person, someone who lives on the street. We're here today talking about money. money that people out there don't have. Um, we talk over $850 million in an eight-year time period when so many people will pass away. So many people will have so many opportunities that we can take without worrying about what we're going to spend on our sales tax. You know, like if you really want to do something, I support anything that is for future growth. And the one thing that I really would like to see more of is equality because what I've had double homicide at my house where two people were shot to death. I've had to live on the streets and be unhoused and fight the system when people expect you to always be able to have things that most people don't realize you can't always get. To live in a house is something that's a comfort, but to have an address so that you can have an ID and a paycheck is something that's taken for granted. Um, I'm just learning to use my voice because there's so many people out there that don't have one. And just standing here right now, whether or not they have $850 million or whether or not we get to decide, you know, money, if we're going to keep having increases, then things will get more expensive. We need to find other solutions that don't include fund.

[01:04:34]You know, some of the things that we have are unrealistic. I would never imagine having a paycheck that's 1,500, let alone 15,000. and what $800 million could do for a whole town when we could do a lot of it just for like back labor and experience, you know, but I'm thankful for you guys here and I'm thankful for everybody. Um, I love Justice Together and their initiatives because they brought two things that I have experienced, homelessness and gun violence. And I think I hope they will spread more awareness to the people that don't have that voice, don't have that recognition. And with big churches with a lot of money, if you can put that towards things that make everything a little bit more equal, maybe that we can have a lot less of everything else.

[01:05:20][applause] >> I'm Pat Gan. I live in district six, five, I'm sorry, five. And uh >> pardon >> six is better. Okay, sorry. Um, the I am also on Stephanie Wise, the county commissioner's citizens advisory board, and I am a proud member of Justice Together. And I'm here today to speak about the gun violence problem in our community and the homelessness affordable housing problem in our community.

[01:06:07]The Mr. Marshall, you attribute you gave us slides five of the 15 of which were related to the sales tax proposal that died and died because a lot of people thought that was taxing poor.

[01:06:29]And so we are here to say that is dead.

[01:06:34]We need to move on and we can move on with a sales tax proposal that is not so oppressive and that is not so long and is not so broadly focused that nobody knows what the money is going to go for. We need the sales tax that we need of a quarter percent quarter of a cent and that should be voted on by the council in the next before 2027 and should give the people of Witchaw an opportunity to do that. Okay. So, those are the things we're asking. They're the same things we've been asking in all the district meetings and the same things I asked in the district five uh six um meeting that I attended. Thank you. [applause] My name is Diane Sherwood. I live in District 5. I'm an attorney, a divorce attorney. I'm a mediator. I'm a social worker. and I teach people how to forgive. Five years ago, I founded the Center for Peace and Forgiveness.

[01:07:50]I'm here because today in a mediation, I am presented photographs of a 15-year-old holding and his friend holding four guns, one to their head.

[01:08:04]Gun violence is my issue.

[01:08:07]Every week I get a notification on my Apple Watch saying someone else has been shot.

[01:08:14]That is my issue. I drive friends around. I support the Union Rescue Mission in their effort to end homelessness. I support Breakthrough Club in their effort to reach the mentally ill.

[01:08:30]I'm not sitting here because I'm not charged enough because I don't want to pay. I pay extra.

[01:08:38]I pay extra to get those things I can.

[01:08:42]There's not some place I can donate money to to end gun violence.

[01:08:49]I can work on mental health. I can work on homelessness by donating to those charities established for that. There is no charity to end gun violence. And I looked at a boy with a gun to his head today.

[01:09:06]I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it on my watch. I don't want to see it in this city. And I don't can't do it without justice together.

[01:09:16]>> I can't do it on my own as an attorney and social worker in this city. Born in this city, educated outside of this city, and back in this city. I'm 65 years old and there's a lot of work to be done and I have no avenue to do it.

[01:09:35]Thank you.

[01:09:37][applause] My name is Martin Holler and I'm a retired United Methodist minister and I'm currently interim at Mount Vernon and Bethany United Methodist Churches.

[01:09:53]Our pastors on renewal leave. Uh, I've been on the steering committee for affordable housing for the last year.

[01:10:01]I've met with every city commissioner, been at meetings with you. I've been I'm from District One and uh I've been to uh posted my stamp my poster at District One meeting. Affordable housing is the foundation upon which so many of the other issues that we're lifting up comes to. You can't address the other issues if people don't have affordable housing.

[01:10:28]I am so thankful [applause] to our city commissioners for the work they've done. They've expressed an interest and a concern and they've met with us. Uh, and I appreciate that and I thank you and I know that the city commissioner has on his heart the I mean city manager has on his his heart these issues and I affirm of the willingness of us at justice together to work with you. We're not your enemy and you know that we we're your friends and we want to work on it together and we will address our 40 to 50 uh churches that are involved in and religious groups and try to recruit our people to support. I strongly support a sales tax in afford affordable housing and homelessness set aside by its own to not be confused with other issues in 2027.

[01:11:27]And uh we need stable funding and I appreciate the braided funding that uh Sally has come up with for the next three years.

[01:11:37]And we're committed to working with you.

[01:11:40]And I wish everybody from Justice Together that's here raise your hand so they'll know we're here. We care. And we're going to keep caring. And you're going to keep hearing from us.

[01:11:52]>> That's right.

[01:11:54]>> 14,000 [applause] 1,400 of us gathered out at WSU's uh annex to to let you know that you've got our support.

[01:12:11]We're with you and we'll work with you.

[01:12:15]Thank you. [applause] Hi, my name is Grant Phillips. I live in district 1. I'm actually not from Witchah. I actually grew up in Fateville, Arkansas. And that'll be uh information I want you all to keep in your back pocket.

[01:12:34]But uh just for additional context, I'm 25 years old right now. So when I turn 26, which will be in two months, I will be off my parents insurance, which means that will be another expense to my pocketbook. People still say pocketbooks.

[01:12:50]Just making sure. Just making sure. Um, and I bring up Fatville because I think they're an example of what not to do relative to affordable housing. They prioritized uh luxury or not hotels, excuse me, apartments, a lot of student ones, which is fine, but it's also temporary. And now when you go over there, you want one, excuse me, you want a one-bedroom apartment and cost 1,600 a month. So, I can't tell you all what to do. it wouldn't be my place as someone who's relatively new to Witchaw. But I can tell you what not to do, and that's that if you borrow from Favville, Arkansas's playbook, you're not going to do very well. It's going to end up in very high prices for affordable housing.

[01:13:28]Actually, it wouldn't be affordable housing, I suppose, if it's 1,600. But that's just something I want you all to keep in mind. Um, especially with younger people who just left college like myself who have to deal with things in the future like uh paying for insurance, making more car payments, things like that. So, just keep that in mind.

[01:13:45]>> [applause] >> My name is Stacy Swisser and I District Three, right? Is that what we decided?

[01:13:55]>> Um, I never expected to be here talking like this today, but here I am. I've grown up in Witchah, have been in Witchah ever since I can remember from tiny tiny girl. And you know, growing up, it was unusual to hear about somebody being killed by a gun. And you know, when it happened, it would scare me to death. And I'd go to bed at night and thinking, "What's gonna happen to me?" And as in the last few years, gun violence has gotten to be almost a nightly thing.

[01:14:27]And we're just saying, "Oh, well."

[01:14:32]And I have two sons. I have seven grandchildren that I love dearly. None of them are here in Witchaw, but nevertheless, their safety is something that concerns me and the safety of Witchaw kids. Also, when Justice Together decided to take on gun violence as a an issue to to evaluate. I was so excited to get involved and then I got scared. I got scared because I realized the enormity of gun violence. It is not just in between a husband and a wife who are mad at each other or gang violence or somebody who's crazy and goes off shooting violently. There is so much more entailed in gun violence that seeps into so many different walks of life.

[01:15:28]And I mean my husband and I, we don't have guns and we don't want guns. But nevertheless, that is still something that impacts us and it impacts everybody here. One thing I've heard about the what's the justice together gun violence program, so many people saying, "Oh, we're they're just going to try and take your guns away from you." And you know, in all of the meetings that we have had, that has never been an option that has been discussed because there are so many ways to address gun violence that don't involve taking away the second amendment.

[01:16:08]I I humbly ask you, I'm not going to be humble about it. I'm going to boldly ask you, please, let's do a survey of gun violence in Witchduck, Kansas. There are a lot of entities here in Witchah who have tried doing surveys, but when you're working in a group, you're usually looking at the things that affect you. And so, it gets to be kind of circumscribed.

[01:16:36]In order to actively and efficiently and effectively intervene in gun violence, we need to know the extent of gun violence, where it starts in our communities, why it starts in our communities, and other ways, social ways, perhaps in parenting or just learning to get along with each other rather than pulling a gun and ending the situation. So, I really do support.

[01:17:03]Let's do this sur and get the information we need and then we can get active and change this. Thank you.

[01:17:10][applause] I'm Sean Cheser and I live in East Witchah and I was affected by gun violence in 2003 when I was pregnant with my son. I was held up at the Dairy Queen that my husband and his parents owned at gunpoint. So I have a personal connection to that. But it's really easy to sit in our airond conditioned or heated houses looking at our nice cars that we can drive that don't break down on us and our walls that are standing and our roofs that aren't leaking and our cushy jobs that pay us enough so we can pay our bills and we can get along in life and ignore the homeless situation, the gun violence situation, the affordable housing situation. It's hard for me to drive downtown, which I did for over two years, picking up my son's girlfriend at her house near um Lincoln and Broadway [snorts] and seeing the homeless on the street and not feel like we need to do something and then everybody wants to pass the buck. Oh, the faith community should handle these things. Oh, there's just not enough money. Oh, they should take care of themselves. But I'm tired of looking at it. And I think of things like our NCAA tournament that was downtown and everybody flocking to that and what they must have thought looking at our streets right down there with all the homeless people sitting on the street. Just the other day I saw a person walking with no clothes on at Central and Hillside, probably mental health or drugs. But we have to do something.

[01:18:45]It's not. And God says we're supposed to do something. And he says, "When you do for the least of these, you do unto me."

[01:18:52]And that is Jesus Christ. So these people that we're looking at on the street and with the gun violence and the affordable housing, they are all Jesus Christ. And [snorts] that's who we're called to love and that's who we're called to serve. And that's where our money should be focused.

[01:19:10][applause] Hello. Um, my name is Dewan Wash. Uh, I am newly returned to Witchah. Was a former, sorry, a former community organizer. I guess I'm pretty tall off down a little bit. Um, but my spirit was eating me up because I heard someone mention that like there's no place to donate to folks that are addressing gun violence in Witchah and my spirit was like, "No, you got to say something."

[01:19:43]So, I did do want to do a shout out for Cure Violence ICT [applause] and Destination Innovation, right? Who is doing really amazing violence interruption work, right? And so, gun violence is a issue that impacts all of us. You know, when I was 6 years old, my father was actually murdered while I was at home. Um, I have a nephew that was murdered uh by police. He himself was a former police officer. I have another nephew. So like the the gun violence touches all of us, but there are real solutions and I think that investing in community oriented solutions uh will be a successful way of addressing gun violence in Witchah. As example, the cure violence in Brooklyn recently saw a year of no violence by not investing in the police to come to the neighborhood, but investing in the people that are already in the neighborhood who know those people, who know the people that got the guns and can interrupt uh th those situations before they boil over.

[01:20:45]And in addition to that, Brooklyn or Baltimore uh from 2021 to 2025 also saw a decrease of 60% of gun violence by investing in community. So there [snorts] are already people in Witchah doing the work, right? And I think the the what what needs to happen is a portion of the city budget needs to invest in people that are already engaged and already have the relationship. So we're not sending new people into the neighborhoods. We're uh empowering and equipping people who already live there and and already have these relationships to address the problem. Thank you. [applause] Okay. Well, he's tall. I'm not.

[01:21:37]And I don't think I'm going to grow any taller. My name is Nancy Denell and I am glad to see so many people are still here even though some of our officials ducked out. I'm glad for those that have stayed. Um I am a member of Justice Together. I'm been on the steering committee for affordable housing for the last two years and um I've also been on the steering committee for mental health the first year and why that's incredibly important to me is um I have family members that have been affected by that um for the mental health and I'm really thankful that Our faith communities felt that that was important. We helped with the 988 system and it has saved not only family members, friends, community members from getting help but onto the affordable housing and why I want to continue to encourage our city council to make that additional um vote of yes for that $10 million.

[01:22:58]for the next three years. Um, as you know, we have people that are needing that affordable housing and um, people that are out sleeping on the streets.

[01:23:11]Um, until recently, I attended First United Methodist Church here in the inner city and so many people don't have the housing that they need. um being a um victim of domestic violence, uh many people have to leave their home uh quickly and they may be needing a shelter. Um people are homeless for many reasons.

[01:23:41]Don't judge. You don't know their story.

[01:23:47]>> Don't judge.

[01:23:49]I can't tell you. We don't know mental illness, addiction, so many reasons. And it's easy to look at somebody on the street on the curb.

[01:24:03]You don't know. I don't know.

[01:24:08]Let's do the work that we're supposed to do of helping a person in distress.

[01:24:17]We need the city to help us. People from the church can't do it all. We've done the work of mercy. We've made the dinners. We've gathered the clothes. So on and so forth. Gun violence.

[01:24:32]I was raised in a family where I know how to shoot a gun. I hate guns. I never had a gun in my house.

[01:24:40]I don't want a gun in my house. I detest them. I don't like to shoot an animal. I used to make noise when I was a kid. I was banned from hunting with my dad.

[01:24:52][laughter] He said, 'You making noise.' I said, 'I know.

[01:24:57]He was like, go pick flowers, Nancy.

[01:25:01]I want to encourage you, city manager.

[01:25:07]Please, please meet with us. We want that assessment done about gun violence.

[01:25:16]I'm glad to hear your encouraging words tonight.

[01:25:20]We're a good organization and I know other cities have done this assessment of the gun violence in their cities and we're smart people and I know you're smart too or we wouldn't have hired you.

[01:25:36]I'm an HR manager. We know these things.

[01:25:40]Um but we can work together as other cities um have done and we can save lives and that's the goal. [applause] That is the goal is to save lives and to prevent prevent um mental illness, addiction, anger, whatever is causing these these lives to be lost. So, I'm gonna take you at your word because that's what HR people do is they believe until they know different. So, I'm excited for what lies ahead. Thank you so much.

[01:26:37][applause] Hello everyone. Uh my name is Renee Dgs.

[01:26:47]I'm with uh I'm on the steering committee for uh gun violence and I also know a young man who is a violence interrupter.

[01:26:58]>> Oh, I know a young man who's a a violence interrupter with uh Cure Violence ICT. Um I have known him since he was like seven years old. Um, I had a recent talk with him and he told me that when he started getting into trouble, it was because he had no hope.

[01:27:18]Um, kids don't have options.

[01:27:24]Their parents are the ones that they rely on and sometimes their parents don't really have options. But when someone tells you that they have no hope, whether they got in trouble and went to juvenile detention, uh, Lard or wherever juvenile facility, and when they came back home to the same situation, again, there was no hope. So, we talk about a lot of things, but if we can't provide hope and support for those that are impacted, I don't know what our purpose is.

[01:28:04]>> That's all I have to say.

[01:28:07]>> [applause] >> Wow, you all are good. It's 7 o'clock and so didn't know we had a time frame on this, but um one last opportunity. Um thank you all for coming. If you do want to put some more post-it notes on the um paper, feel free to do that on your way out. Like I said, we're going to capture all that and then you will see from the other town halls um the full collection and everything. And so I'm going to journ. I'll be out in the lobby and look forward to catching up with you all there. Thank you.

[01:28:41]>> Thank you.

[01:28:43][applause]