Unknown Speake
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. This week we're in Terre Haute in person with Mayor Duke Bennett. Again appreciate the time.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You know I love doing this show and it's it's good to do it in person too. I always enjoy that. It's
Unknown Speaker
nice to be back in Terre Haute, a beautiful day. Can't wait to go take a look around. I'm going to head down to the casino project is going and take a look downtown. Anything else new?
Unknown Speaker
Oh, boy. We're talking about a lot of stuff. I mean, nothing to show off. There's just a lot of activity, right? Yeah, there's a lot of planning a lot of implementing. It's it's I, it's a really crazy time, we have got probably more things going on at the same time right now than we have since I've been in this office. So there's a lot of stuff that's in the hopper. Let's put
Unknown Speaker
it that way. Well, and one of those something we touched upon last month is the budget. And we've been talking with that every mayor on the show, Jim went up from Columbus last week to know that this had a first reading with city council
Unknown Speaker
we had our public hearing last week. And then this week, we had our meeting with the council to go through the budget. And so it's it's pretty far along now that they can vote on it in the next meeting at that first reading or be the second meeting, whichever. But we're on track now that there really won't be anything other than final discussion about the budget. So the meeting went really well last night, our budgets up a little bit. We're given 4% raises, we got some capital things we want to do. So it's up a bit, but we've got new revenue that's coming in to cover most of that we're using a little bit of reserves and a few things, we have a balanced budget. Again, that's eight straight years of having a balanced budget for the city. So revenues will exceed expenses. And so there wasn't much discussion, because it's a good budget, you know, they weren't surprised by anything, we didn't try to drop anything crazy in there. It's just costs go up, you know, fuel costs, we had to build that in, or healthcare costs are going up, we had to build that in. So it's just normal economic kind of changes to the budget of just additional costs. So I feel really good after the meeting that we just, it was a lot of positive feedback, everybody felt good about what we'd presented.
Unknown Speaker
We're seeing that in the other two cities we talked to to about giving employees raises or bonuses or, you know, upgraded health care benefits. Are you seeing people like it's hard to keep city employees here? No,
Unknown Speaker
not too bad. But I'm hearing that I mean, I think it's happening more than it's ever happened. private sectors beginning to pay more money. And now it's kind of like, okay, I need to make this move. We just haven't seen a lot of that yet. But I think it's coming. So we need to stay ahead of that as much as we can. And I know 4% raises aren't going to cover the cost of inflation. There's no doubt about that. But that's a pretty good raise for what we've been able to do in the past. And so we're trying, we're trying to do all the things we can and keep those benefits in place and build on them if we can. We want to keep our employees. I mean, they're the key to us have been able to do what we do every day.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You talked about some new capital improvements and new revenue. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the new revenue is really just there's a little bit of an assessed value increase, we're gonna see some property tax revenue, we're definitely see an increase in local options income tax, so our edit our cash budget, our public safety, lift is going to be up next year, people are working or making more money elsewhere. So you know what I mean, across the board, which helps we, on the capital side, it's really vehicles, some things that we put off for a while, new radios for the police and fire departments a big expense for us. Then some parks related projects, that's kind of the biggest things that are looming for 23 where our hurts rose Park project or a park project, we're wrapping up our brittle bank project, we want to rehabilitate the pool at Deming. So next year, we'll do the design and get everything in order to do that in 24. So just some expenditures, both on soft costs and on projects themselves, that will lead us into even more capital investments in 24, and 25. So it's kind of a mix of things. So a lot of parks things, we get the big Overpass, you know, we're doing up at 13 to Eighth Avenue, we'll have our match money starts to hit next year. So that's big dollars. And so, you know, all this is is just trying to lay out that roughly five year plan on how you make all the pieces of the puzzle fit. So we keep projects moving, prepare ourselves for funding opportunities or grants so that we're ready to go if something comes up and we can't pay to build it, then we're ready to put it out there and say, Okay, this grant fits. So if we're not prepared for that we can't react to those and so it's kind of a I know it's a lot of words here But it's really important that you not are not only building things, but you're also designing and planning things. So some things will happen sooner than others. But we got to be prepared. There's a lot of money out there.
Unknown Speaker
Well, that's pretty much the definition of the ready grant from the state. Exactly.
Unknown Speaker
And if you're not ready for that you can't spend those monies and and now that we have those funds, they want you to accelerate the delivery of that. So there's challenges with all of that. And then you've got the ARPA funds behind it, there's going to be ready to I mean, it just keeps on coming.
Unknown Speaker
Have they announced ready grants to No, but
Unknown Speaker
I hear that they're there that will be there'll be a bill filed to I don't know how much or anything yet, but I'm pretty confident there's going to be a ready to
Unknown Speaker
get your take on this ambulance user fee. I read in the trip star this week, as increased one up before city council, it's $100. How does that work? When people think of ambulance, they think of health care and being paid through insurance. And what was the city council have to do with that? Well,
Unknown Speaker
it's our fee structure, since we run the ambulance service to the fire department, you know, they set the fees. And we've only had one increase since the initial Service was created. And so we're probably a little bit behind, we probably should have done this a couple of years ago. But costs have really skyrocketed over the last two years after COVID. And so it's costing us a lot of money to treat people provide them with medications and services we provide. So it's a modest increase. It's not, you know, outrageous, but you would expect to pay $100. And a little bit more than that added on to what you were paying on a run before. So it's it's still lower than other communities in Indiana. But we're up there where we need to be to make it you know, to pay the bills, basically, it's a subsidized service. But we can't subsidize, we can't keep subsidizing these increased costs. Yeah, so the council approved it, and we're good to go starts October 1.
Unknown Speaker
So another item from City Council was looking at another street. We talked about this last month, where you turn the street into one way I think you added some bike lanes. First of all, how was that working out or people adjusting to the one way
Unknown Speaker
that we're still learning how to deal with that. So I've just had a call yesterday as an example of a lady that was a little confused. And she wanted to know why we did exactly what we did. Once I explained it, it made sense. But it there used to be two narrow lanes, and it was you sometimes you had to slow down and all that and went to Rosa parking. So by putting this one continuous lane and adding the bike lane in there, the traffic flows much smoother, people aren't concerned about it, we have mirrors get knocked off cars, you know, that kind of stuff. And so the feedback has been really phenomenal. I bet I've 25 People have reached out to me in a variety of ways, say I love what you guys did with eighth or ninth street, I thought it would be more people complaining about it, who aren't bikers, you know, who aren't using that and say, and you took away a lane of traffic, but it's working just fine. And so I'm happy with that we may do some other areas where we have really narrow streets in the future, we'll see. But that was kind of our experiment to see what the community reaction would be. And so far, it's really paying off.
Unknown Speaker
Well, and that reaction wasn't the same as at 27th. Street. That is it. So you want to do
Unknown Speaker
first. So that's a that's a street that's really narrow. I mean, really, you can't even have two cars past each other. But it's more like an alley, and it's in a neighborhood a very residential area. And so the petitioner wanted to make that a one way street in order to not have cars, you know, a lot of traffic in there. But the residents of that neighborhood spoke loudly that council was not supportive of that. So, you know, they did that didn't happen. They did reduce the speed limits in the area. But you know, that's one of those things that you never know what might turn into a big community feedback session on that one was and so I think the council made the right decision.
Unknown Speaker
So I did see, as inmates aren't in the new Vigo county jail yet there's a bit of delay. They were supposed to be there in July. They were so do you have any background and when
Unknown Speaker
I talked to the sheriff last week, again, they're waiting on some part something for the fire alarm system, there's a heating, cooling, it's all related to supply chain issues. And they can't put the prisoners in there until they know and control the heat and cooling and the fire alarm systems are all working properly. They're saying any day now that'll come in when the parts command that the company will install them and then I'm gonna guess at this point, it's probably October moving prisoners and it's kind of the last I heard
Unknown Speaker
same story in Columbus Mayor Lindop just last week said they're ready to move into a court services building and I think it's a fire alarm there too, and maybe a water hit par issue and they're just waiting
Unknown Speaker
keeps control pieces and you're just he's at the mercy of these electronic parts coming in and then being installed. So I If they want to be in there, there's no doubt about that. If they could be they would, but they're just life safety issues, and they'll get them resolved as quickly as they can and begin that transition.
Unknown Speaker
Is there talk about what happens to the old jail?
Unknown Speaker
Well, some that I've had conversations with the commissioners, I don't think they've decided yet they hired a consultant to look at the building and say, you know, what parts of this are still salvageable that we might be able to use for office space, the 911 Center still in the basement, so that has to go somewhere. There's a lot of discussion and a lot activity up to happen on that. But no final decisions have been made.
Unknown Speaker
You know, there's talk of, you know, of course, the jail is bigger. The jail was one part of justice reform, and what part does the city see itself, you know, obligated into reforming the criminal justice system as well.
Unknown Speaker
So we don't play a big role in that it's more just participating and being part of the collaboration, because we don't have funding to do that the county gets that funding. But we've all had numerous conversations about how do we deal with people that are in jail while they're there to help provide some services to them that they're not getting, but then when they get out to it, so it's both while they're incarcerated, and then when they come out? And so it's going to be a multifaceted approach. And it's a big monster to take on. There's no I mean, this is big. And we need to do more. There's no question about that. And so I don't think the final plans have all not been decided. But there's multiple groups here working on how do we do a better job with those people that are in our jail, and to keep them out of the jail, obviously, is the end. That's the end game. But how do you deal with those folks to help them lead more productive lives when they are released?
Unknown Speaker
I want to just ask you about the new convention center funding. I know we've talked about this, it's a collaboration of innkeepers, tax, tourism, money, City County, there's also food and beverage, yes, tax Park going there. So Monroe County officials are worried because state legislators could sunset the food and beverage tax is
Unknown Speaker
that that would be a problem. For anybody that has a food and beverage tax. I just I don't really think that's going to happen. That's my gut. But there's conversations going on about that, I have no idea why our legislators would feel like that would be an area that you just target. If you go out to eat here and we go Kenny, you get a $25 nice meal, you're gonna pay a quarter. And nobody's complaining about that. I'm not hearing that. And it's a lot more to go in other states and other communities that you know that you're paying for those fees. That money's going to quality life projects. The first one is the convention center. If you don't live here, maybe you don't use the convention center. But it's going to bring more people, our community here, they're going to spend their funds that are going to lead to additional things for everyone to benefit from. So to me, it's a great tax, because it's a choice that whether you're going to go expend the money that where you have to pay that tax, and why would we want to eliminate that one, if you're gonna look at eliminating taxes, let's look at something and as more of an impact than that does. So that's just my personal opinion. And I've had some conversations with legislators, some say, that's just it's talk either say, oh, we'd really like to do some, so I'm not sure we'll see what the next session brings. But I will fight against that, because I just don't think that's going to have the political payback that some may be looking for.
Unknown Speaker
And I know we talked a lot about the business personal property tax last year, too. It's a little early maybe to be talking about.
Unknown Speaker
You know, it's if they give us replacement revenue, nobody cares. You know, I guarantee every city in town and every county and everybody else that benefits from that, it's gonna say, take it away with us, give us some replacement revenue, but we can't take another hit this year in 2022. We have our biggest tax cap impact over $15 million. We can't collect in an approved budget because of the tax caps. If we lose another five or 6 million a year in business, personal property tax. I mean, it's going to be devastating to our budget and so not just ours but a lot of communities and so just want them to be smart about that they'd been great to not implement anything yet. We've had tremendous Conversations, I'm confident that we'll get something worked out to have replacement revenue and then they'll get the when they're looking for for that make the state look better to outside investment. And yet it won't hurt the locals.
Unknown Speaker
We missed a couple of minutes left I want to ask you about your social I've noticed you're doing a lot more Facebook, the last few months or so this is something we even talked about years ago having a more using social media more. And I'm really noticing that these last few months of
Unknown Speaker
phase one really was to I want people to know what's going on in a community so I'm not putting a lot of heavy stuff on there. Not a lot of business rule as in city business on there. I really want people to know that there is a lot of stuff going on here, there's a lot of people making investments, I'm attending a lot of events that are good for the entire community. So really trying to help all these organizations promote what they done. Sometimes it's after the fact, of course, but set it up for next year, then we're going to start filtering in more of, you know, operational kinds of things. And it's been difficult because staffing, I haven't had all the staffing in place, but we wanted to kind of begin to build that out, we're going to be doing more proactive things versus the reactive kind of communication. So it's my plans coming together, I feel really good about that. It's just a busy time of the year anyway, so you see a lot. But you know, I want people to know that there's a lot of dynamic things going on in our community every weekend, every day. And, you know, Let's Participate. Now let's help these organizations and these other entities be successful with what they're doing. And so I feel pretty good about it. I get a lot of positive feedback, you get a few people are saying things, you know, it's just interesting what social media does and how people react to it. But I would say it's been 98% Positive.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You know, tell us I know, in a newsroom. Yeah. Is that primarily Facebook? Are you doing other? No,
Unknown Speaker
I'm just really doing Facebook when they roll that out and kind of duplicate some of it. But I really wanted that to be my base for now. And I know not everybody uses Facebook, but it's giving us an opportunity to build this system. And then we'll begin to use some other mediums. Do you have someone that's overlooking that or we are interviewing for that position right now and hope to have them hired soon. So we're doing that with internal staff. So far, that's been my biggest problem. But we are currently doing those interviews, and I hope to bring somebody on in the next few weeks, and then we'll really be able to ramp it up.
Unknown Speaker
So we have one minute left, I like to leave it up to you. Any announcements, anything else that we need to know about? No, I'm
Unknown Speaker
not really. I mean, I think it's full time in the air. It's exciting. The students are back in the community. It we're getting the budget, we'll be done here very soon with the budget. That'll be a huge relief, focus on ready focus on on ARPA, we really trying to establish some programs that we're going to fund at the beginning of the year, working on a workforce development plan right now. And we're working on a housing plan. So there's big things to come in there. Big things to deal with. But we've got some great community collaboration, and there's some amazing things coming down the road.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much for your time. I guess we'll see you in October. All right. Thank you, Joe.
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren. This week we're in Terre Haute in person with Mayor Duke Bennett. Again appreciate the time.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You know I love doing this show and it's it's good to do it in person too. I always enjoy that. It's
Unknown Speaker
nice to be back in Terre Haute, a beautiful day. Can't wait to go take a look around. I'm going to head down to the casino project is going and take a look downtown. Anything else new?
Unknown Speaker
Oh, boy. We're talking about a lot of stuff. I mean, nothing to show off. There's just a lot of activity, right? Yeah, there's a lot of planning a lot of implementing. It's it's I, it's a really crazy time, we have got probably more things going on at the same time right now than we have since I've been in this office. So there's a lot of stuff that's in the hopper. Let's put
Unknown Speaker
it that way. Well, and one of those something we touched upon last month is the budget. And we've been talking with that every mayor on the show, Jim went up from Columbus last week to know that this had a first reading with city council
Unknown Speaker
we had our public hearing last week. And then this week, we had our meeting with the council to go through the budget. And so it's it's pretty far along now that they can vote on it in the next meeting at that first reading or be the second meeting, whichever. But we're on track now that there really won't be anything other than final discussion about the budget. So the meeting went really well last night, our budgets up a little bit. We're given 4% raises, we got some capital things we want to do. So it's up a bit, but we've got new revenue that's coming in to cover most of that we're using a little bit of reserves and a few things, we have a balanced budget. Again, that's eight straight years of having a balanced budget for the city. So revenues will exceed expenses. And so there wasn't much discussion, because it's a good budget, you know, they weren't surprised by anything, we didn't try to drop anything crazy in there. It's just costs go up, you know, fuel costs, we had to build that in, or healthcare costs are going up, we had to build that in. So it's just normal economic kind of changes to the budget of just additional costs. So I feel really good after the meeting that we just, it was a lot of positive feedback, everybody felt good about what we'd presented.
Unknown Speaker
We're seeing that in the other two cities we talked to to about giving employees raises or bonuses or, you know, upgraded health care benefits. Are you seeing people like it's hard to keep city employees here? No,
Unknown Speaker
not too bad. But I'm hearing that I mean, I think it's happening more than it's ever happened. private sectors beginning to pay more money. And now it's kind of like, okay, I need to make this move. We just haven't seen a lot of that yet. But I think it's coming. So we need to stay ahead of that as much as we can. And I know 4% raises aren't going to cover the cost of inflation. There's no doubt about that. But that's a pretty good raise for what we've been able to do in the past. And so we're trying, we're trying to do all the things we can and keep those benefits in place and build on them if we can. We want to keep our employees. I mean, they're the key to us have been able to do what we do every day.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You talked about some new capital improvements and new revenue. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Unknown Speaker
Well, the new revenue is really just there's a little bit of an assessed value increase, we're gonna see some property tax revenue, we're definitely see an increase in local options income tax, so our edit our cash budget, our public safety, lift is going to be up next year, people are working or making more money elsewhere. So you know what I mean, across the board, which helps we, on the capital side, it's really vehicles, some things that we put off for a while, new radios for the police and fire departments a big expense for us. Then some parks related projects, that's kind of the biggest things that are looming for 23 where our hurts rose Park project or a park project, we're wrapping up our brittle bank project, we want to rehabilitate the pool at Deming. So next year, we'll do the design and get everything in order to do that in 24. So just some expenditures, both on soft costs and on projects themselves, that will lead us into even more capital investments in 24, and 25. So it's kind of a mix of things. So a lot of parks things, we get the big Overpass, you know, we're doing up at 13 to Eighth Avenue, we'll have our match money starts to hit next year. So that's big dollars. And so, you know, all this is is just trying to lay out that roughly five year plan on how you make all the pieces of the puzzle fit. So we keep projects moving, prepare ourselves for funding opportunities or grants so that we're ready to go if something comes up and we can't pay to build it, then we're ready to put it out there and say, Okay, this grant fits. So if we're not prepared for that we can't react to those and so it's kind of a I know it's a lot of words here But it's really important that you not are not only building things, but you're also designing and planning things. So some things will happen sooner than others. But we got to be prepared. There's a lot of money out there.
Unknown Speaker
Well, that's pretty much the definition of the ready grant from the state. Exactly.
Unknown Speaker
And if you're not ready for that you can't spend those monies and and now that we have those funds, they want you to accelerate the delivery of that. So there's challenges with all of that. And then you've got the ARPA funds behind it, there's going to be ready to I mean, it just keeps on coming.
Unknown Speaker
Have they announced ready grants to No, but
Unknown Speaker
I hear that they're there that will be there'll be a bill filed to I don't know how much or anything yet, but I'm pretty confident there's going to be a ready to
Unknown Speaker
get your take on this ambulance user fee. I read in the trip star this week, as increased one up before city council, it's $100. How does that work? When people think of ambulance, they think of health care and being paid through insurance. And what was the city council have to do with that? Well,
Unknown Speaker
it's our fee structure, since we run the ambulance service to the fire department, you know, they set the fees. And we've only had one increase since the initial Service was created. And so we're probably a little bit behind, we probably should have done this a couple of years ago. But costs have really skyrocketed over the last two years after COVID. And so it's costing us a lot of money to treat people provide them with medications and services we provide. So it's a modest increase. It's not, you know, outrageous, but you would expect to pay $100. And a little bit more than that added on to what you were paying on a run before. So it's it's still lower than other communities in Indiana. But we're up there where we need to be to make it you know, to pay the bills, basically, it's a subsidized service. But we can't subsidize, we can't keep subsidizing these increased costs. Yeah, so the council approved it, and we're good to go starts October 1.
Unknown Speaker
So another item from City Council was looking at another street. We talked about this last month, where you turn the street into one way I think you added some bike lanes. First of all, how was that working out or people adjusting to the one way
Unknown Speaker
that we're still learning how to deal with that. So I've just had a call yesterday as an example of a lady that was a little confused. And she wanted to know why we did exactly what we did. Once I explained it, it made sense. But it there used to be two narrow lanes, and it was you sometimes you had to slow down and all that and went to Rosa parking. So by putting this one continuous lane and adding the bike lane in there, the traffic flows much smoother, people aren't concerned about it, we have mirrors get knocked off cars, you know, that kind of stuff. And so the feedback has been really phenomenal. I bet I've 25 People have reached out to me in a variety of ways, say I love what you guys did with eighth or ninth street, I thought it would be more people complaining about it, who aren't bikers, you know, who aren't using that and say, and you took away a lane of traffic, but it's working just fine. And so I'm happy with that we may do some other areas where we have really narrow streets in the future, we'll see. But that was kind of our experiment to see what the community reaction would be. And so far, it's really paying off.
Unknown Speaker
Well, and that reaction wasn't the same as at 27th. Street. That is it. So you want to do
Unknown Speaker
first. So that's a that's a street that's really narrow. I mean, really, you can't even have two cars past each other. But it's more like an alley, and it's in a neighborhood a very residential area. And so the petitioner wanted to make that a one way street in order to not have cars, you know, a lot of traffic in there. But the residents of that neighborhood spoke loudly that council was not supportive of that. So, you know, they did that didn't happen. They did reduce the speed limits in the area. But you know, that's one of those things that you never know what might turn into a big community feedback session on that one was and so I think the council made the right decision.
Unknown Speaker
So I did see, as inmates aren't in the new Vigo county jail yet there's a bit of delay. They were supposed to be there in July. They were so do you have any background and when
Unknown Speaker
I talked to the sheriff last week, again, they're waiting on some part something for the fire alarm system, there's a heating, cooling, it's all related to supply chain issues. And they can't put the prisoners in there until they know and control the heat and cooling and the fire alarm systems are all working properly. They're saying any day now that'll come in when the parts command that the company will install them and then I'm gonna guess at this point, it's probably October moving prisoners and it's kind of the last I heard
Unknown Speaker
same story in Columbus Mayor Lindop just last week said they're ready to move into a court services building and I think it's a fire alarm there too, and maybe a water hit par issue and they're just waiting
Unknown Speaker
keeps control pieces and you're just he's at the mercy of these electronic parts coming in and then being installed. So I If they want to be in there, there's no doubt about that. If they could be they would, but they're just life safety issues, and they'll get them resolved as quickly as they can and begin that transition.
Unknown Speaker
Is there talk about what happens to the old jail?
Unknown Speaker
Well, some that I've had conversations with the commissioners, I don't think they've decided yet they hired a consultant to look at the building and say, you know, what parts of this are still salvageable that we might be able to use for office space, the 911 Center still in the basement, so that has to go somewhere. There's a lot of discussion and a lot activity up to happen on that. But no final decisions have been made.
Unknown Speaker
You know, there's talk of, you know, of course, the jail is bigger. The jail was one part of justice reform, and what part does the city see itself, you know, obligated into reforming the criminal justice system as well.
Unknown Speaker
So we don't play a big role in that it's more just participating and being part of the collaboration, because we don't have funding to do that the county gets that funding. But we've all had numerous conversations about how do we deal with people that are in jail while they're there to help provide some services to them that they're not getting, but then when they get out to it, so it's both while they're incarcerated, and then when they come out? And so it's going to be a multifaceted approach. And it's a big monster to take on. There's no I mean, this is big. And we need to do more. There's no question about that. And so I don't think the final plans have all not been decided. But there's multiple groups here working on how do we do a better job with those people that are in our jail, and to keep them out of the jail, obviously, is the end. That's the end game. But how do you deal with those folks to help them lead more productive lives when they are released?
Unknown Speaker
I want to just ask you about the new convention center funding. I know we've talked about this, it's a collaboration of innkeepers, tax, tourism, money, City County, there's also food and beverage, yes, tax Park going there. So Monroe County officials are worried because state legislators could sunset the food and beverage tax is
Unknown Speaker
that that would be a problem. For anybody that has a food and beverage tax. I just I don't really think that's going to happen. That's my gut. But there's conversations going on about that, I have no idea why our legislators would feel like that would be an area that you just target. If you go out to eat here and we go Kenny, you get a $25 nice meal, you're gonna pay a quarter. And nobody's complaining about that. I'm not hearing that. And it's a lot more to go in other states and other communities that you know that you're paying for those fees. That money's going to quality life projects. The first one is the convention center. If you don't live here, maybe you don't use the convention center. But it's going to bring more people, our community here, they're going to spend their funds that are going to lead to additional things for everyone to benefit from. So to me, it's a great tax, because it's a choice that whether you're going to go expend the money that where you have to pay that tax, and why would we want to eliminate that one, if you're gonna look at eliminating taxes, let's look at something and as more of an impact than that does. So that's just my personal opinion. And I've had some conversations with legislators, some say, that's just it's talk either say, oh, we'd really like to do some, so I'm not sure we'll see what the next session brings. But I will fight against that, because I just don't think that's going to have the political payback that some may be looking for.
Unknown Speaker
And I know we talked a lot about the business personal property tax last year, too. It's a little early maybe to be talking about.
Unknown Speaker
You know, it's if they give us replacement revenue, nobody cares. You know, I guarantee every city in town and every county and everybody else that benefits from that, it's gonna say, take it away with us, give us some replacement revenue, but we can't take another hit this year in 2022. We have our biggest tax cap impact over $15 million. We can't collect in an approved budget because of the tax caps. If we lose another five or 6 million a year in business, personal property tax. I mean, it's going to be devastating to our budget and so not just ours but a lot of communities and so just want them to be smart about that they'd been great to not implement anything yet. We've had tremendous Conversations, I'm confident that we'll get something worked out to have replacement revenue and then they'll get the when they're looking for for that make the state look better to outside investment. And yet it won't hurt the locals.
Unknown Speaker
We missed a couple of minutes left I want to ask you about your social I've noticed you're doing a lot more Facebook, the last few months or so this is something we even talked about years ago having a more using social media more. And I'm really noticing that these last few months of
Unknown Speaker
phase one really was to I want people to know what's going on in a community so I'm not putting a lot of heavy stuff on there. Not a lot of business rule as in city business on there. I really want people to know that there is a lot of stuff going on here, there's a lot of people making investments, I'm attending a lot of events that are good for the entire community. So really trying to help all these organizations promote what they done. Sometimes it's after the fact, of course, but set it up for next year, then we're going to start filtering in more of, you know, operational kinds of things. And it's been difficult because staffing, I haven't had all the staffing in place, but we wanted to kind of begin to build that out, we're going to be doing more proactive things versus the reactive kind of communication. So it's my plans coming together, I feel really good about that. It's just a busy time of the year anyway, so you see a lot. But you know, I want people to know that there's a lot of dynamic things going on in our community every weekend, every day. And, you know, Let's Participate. Now let's help these organizations and these other entities be successful with what they're doing. And so I feel pretty good about it. I get a lot of positive feedback, you get a few people are saying things, you know, it's just interesting what social media does and how people react to it. But I would say it's been 98% Positive.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. You know, tell us I know, in a newsroom. Yeah. Is that primarily Facebook? Are you doing other? No,
Unknown Speaker
I'm just really doing Facebook when they roll that out and kind of duplicate some of it. But I really wanted that to be my base for now. And I know not everybody uses Facebook, but it's giving us an opportunity to build this system. And then we'll begin to use some other mediums. Do you have someone that's overlooking that or we are interviewing for that position right now and hope to have them hired soon. So we're doing that with internal staff. So far, that's been my biggest problem. But we are currently doing those interviews, and I hope to bring somebody on in the next few weeks, and then we'll really be able to ramp it up.
Unknown Speaker
So we have one minute left, I like to leave it up to you. Any announcements, anything else that we need to know about? No, I'm
Unknown Speaker
not really. I mean, I think it's full time in the air. It's exciting. The students are back in the community. It we're getting the budget, we'll be done here very soon with the budget. That'll be a huge relief, focus on ready focus on on ARPA, we really trying to establish some programs that we're going to fund at the beginning of the year, working on a workforce development plan right now. And we're working on a housing plan. So there's big things to come in there. Big things to deal with. But we've got some great community collaboration, and there's some amazing things coming down the road.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much for your time. I guess we'll see you in October. All right. Thank you, Joe.
