Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City Council 2/25/2026

Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2026
Place: Manassas City Council, Virginia
Length: 0h 24m (video)
Official meeting video (Wistia / RegionalWebTV): https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/rku5thibnd

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-17. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:01] 1.1 is to talk about what we want to make as priorities on the March 6th all day budget planning session yes ma'am a couple of the items that that staff have identified that we would propose to include one we want to just go give you a brief overview of the website that our finance department has developed so you can see what's available to the to the to our residents as well as that there is the ability for our residents to provide comments about the budget and we will be tracking that so just want to walk you through the website again just so that

[00:00:40] you have an idea of what is available for residents we want to talk to your personnel we received health insurance information today and we'll be sharing with that the impact of that with you at the 6th talk about staffing just to go through again we are at supposed to add some additional positions and just want go through that so you have the opportunity to understand that better and then retention talk through what we're looking at as far as the proposed cola and merit increases then talk through social services just give an

[00:01:14] overview of the additional budget that has been included to cover some of their costs and then similarly for fire and rescue go through since we are not Proposing a reduction in the fire levy just to talk to you with y'all what is included the budget for our apartment Enhancements the the funding that's available for y'all to identify just talk through that So if there's any additional items that we That you want us to go into more detail with please let us know

[00:01:52] sure Do things Number one, I guess we have a discussion about whether to maintain the fire levy. It's a separate tab of the name of the general fund.

[00:02:13] Personally, I doubt it's usefulness. Number two, and most important, I would appreciate staff doing a deep dive and presenting a five-year budget projection.

[00:02:30] I'm just talking general fund. Focused on incremental or anticipated revenues by broad category, I would probably suggest we had a 4% standard guidance increase on the expense side, a little more than the norm, but just cover.

[00:02:59] And frankly, where I'm going with this is I appreciate the feedback from staff about the out years. I want to see more details so I get the numbers and I can be more analytic about it and understand the assumptions more like what I've done for 40-plus years in the corporate world, Five-year, 10-year, you know, P&L projection.

[00:03:27] And frankly, it's doing that so that I and the council has a better understanding, therefore, of what we can do with being set aside council, but frankly, the million-and-a-half reserve that staff has talked about.

[00:03:47] I'm willing to sit with Diane or whoever and walk through what I'm sort of looking for on that. I think that's it. Easy. Mr. Ossini. Question, so what percentage increase is there in the budget, both on the revenue and expense side?

[00:04:11] Sorry. So what is the percentage increase in your proposed budget on the income side and the expense side? We are looking at a, are you asking general fund or the total budget?

[00:04:34] Total budget. Increase of 29%. For all funds. For income, right? To match the expense, yes, sir. Okay, and so expenses? 29%. How about just the general fund?

[00:04:50] General fund, 17%. 17.6%, if you want to be exact. So, you know, dovetailing on the Vice Mayor here, I demoted you for a moment here, 4%, you know, maybe should not be 4%.

[00:05:10] Go ahead. A lot of, I would have to get a true increase number, not just this current year. I have to back out all the one-time costs because there's a significant use of one-time reserves in there, bringing that total to the 29%.

[00:05:25] So if you'd give me a minute, I can do that calculation too. To his point, I agree. What I'm interested in, what I heard you say on Monday was that looking ahead, the financial situation looked good, and I want to understand what does that mean, meaning what are the pieces that fall into place we expect.

[00:05:51] or we're anticipating or we're whatever you know but to be discussed yes sir so that not only about the the contingency amount of money but also you know kind of big picture so we're not just doing this year and then waiting for the next year to have more of a kind of thinking ahead sort of like we do with our cip and that's where uh what we would do is uh typically assume a four or five percent growth on some of the expenses but then also add into that the

[00:06:27] cip because within that five-year window we are looking at uh floating a bond to do some of the improvements specifically out for the fire department and for the community center so yes sir we can we can do a presentation of of a five-year anticipated forgive my inaccuracy as a layman here but read my mind and then you'll know what i want no uh but i i get it you you want to to give us what we're asking for not waste time and i don't want to do that either but i think that's that's very important uh along the way to see see that picture as far as you as you were

[00:07:05] working with your staff along the way you know if it was a year it was a year if it's five years it's five years you know what in other words share with us the more of the detail along the way um I do know we have a work session specifically on utility rates, but I think it's important that we, at our March 6th meeting, overview that somehow.

[00:07:34] I mean, for all of us to understand a little bit more what might be coming along. If I could, we have already scheduled four representatives from the Utility Commission and from our consultant to be at your 18th meeting.

[00:07:54] And I understand wanting to be able to get more into the details. But as we've scheduled it, it would be our preference if we could do the more deep dive at the 18th, because we will have a lot of the individuals that can provide more detail than Anna might otherwise be able to.

[00:08:16] You heard my suggestion, at least. I always am a believer in getting ahead of news, even if it's somewhat general. I mean, those are some numbers, you know, percentages that you presented in your annual, in your proposed budget that, you know, are sitting out there and what have you in terms of that.

[00:08:40] We can definitely provide you. Especially since we're spending a whole day. Whatever, with the caveat that a lot of more information is being developed. We can definitely provide you with an overview of the recommendations from the consultant, which definitely exceed what staff are proposing.

[00:09:01] So, yes, we can have that ready for y'all. I'd like to, if I may, continue, Mayor, for a moment, a list of items that were posed to the budget from various departments but not included.

[00:09:19] Yes, sir. just so we can see what what those were uh along the way um those are my initial you know thoughts for for march the sixth yes sir thank you thank you mayor um thank you uh i think the list that you've provided is a really good um jumping point i think all that would be a good framework for the sixth um i want to echo councilman osina's suggestion about talking about utilities i think that the i think our the state of our utilities is going to be a big big deal this year and i don't

[00:09:55] want to put that off i want to be addressing that from the front um so that's probably one of my big priorities this year is talking about utilities i'll just say it out loud in this as she stated at this time particularly from my perspective things that are held out for the social services discussion and then for some subjects that would be very valuable to us in planning so i'm fine with that kind of a question i want to just kind of recap something about uh the personal property

[00:10:34] tax rates um the data center computer equipment tax rate of 360. if i recall that cannot go above the personal property tax rate is that right okay uh tangible personal property when we're talking about the car tax that is not is that something locally we can adjust yes ma'am It's basically a $25. It used to be the sticker fee the $25 sticker fee. We don't hand out the sticker anymore That is the car tax the $25

[00:11:15] My the million dollars is the $25 But the car tax yes, yes ma'am, that is The card like the car tax that we would refer it to can we also do anything to adjust that rate or is that the state?

[00:11:34] I believe we can adjust it yes ma'am but if since the data center tax rate is now tied with that if we would lower that car tax rate we would also have to lower the data center tax rate is that right i think we can do it independent um but i need to confirm if there's something you want to discuss we can definitely yeah i would like to know that yes ma'am thank you madam mayor As we go into a more hybrid or more intense day, I just want to make sure that the agenda,

[00:12:12] I know it's hard, but if it's a way to allocate the time because people want to come and listen in, I just want to make sure that we are clear and that people have the information on residents or anybody who wants to be in session.

[00:12:32] Even though it's a day, it changes on the schedule. I want to make sure I have an answer. I know it's too early, but, you know, I will be trying to look for the increase.

[00:12:50] And for me, what was mentioned is important. No, the list that we have, but I believe Councilman Ossina talked about it. Before, we used to get the list of those items, but they were not relevant or they didn't make it to the top this year.

[00:13:10] So I think that that's important. I believe at the beginning, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to those new capital items that come through the five years. And then as we have worked so successfully in those, I just want to make sure that I keep a close eye on that, that we don't just click the page, because I want to make sure that we understand that when we fund it, because a lot of them are, like, through the years.

[00:13:42] I just want to make sure that we're trying to divide it. I worry that we might have a bigger increase this year on the income and the following year's projections. I would like to continue to be conservative, if it's possible.

[00:14:01] But I know I'm, like, going to be too deep into it. My apologies. But I really, you know, those are the things that worry me. Yeah, I'll be looking into it. see if we can get our support to decrease the rate.

[00:14:22] I'm looking forward to getting into this, but I really want to make sure not only that the staff is available when they present it, but also the public is knowledgeable of when the staff is going to present. Now, in previous budget sessions, we were, I don't know how to write it, this is the tax rate for a flat tax bill.

[00:14:55] Do we know what that is? We can provide that, yes, ma'am. Okay. Just a question on page 35, revenue overview.

[00:15:13] There's a list here, and it says machinery and tools used in semiconductor manufacturing, TBD. Can I explain? I know it can. 35? Page 35. And then there's a list of tax rates, and the second one in the bulleted items, machinery and tools used in semiconductor manufacturing.

[00:15:40] That's the agreement that we have with Micron, I believe, that uh would they there's a prescribed amount that we increase that i'm hopefully getting head nods from yeah so what when they when they file their returns with tim he'll be able to back into the rate that that's needed and that's the rate that you'll set to honor the agreement to come up with a four percent increase okay thank you it's four percent thank you if i can the the

[00:16:16] the list that i have tentatively and if there's other items please let us know before we schedule it but again walking through the website personnel issues fire and rescue specific to their current budget fire fire levy social services five-year projection of our expenses and revenues the enhancement discussion utilities unfunded items discussion of our cip and then a flat tax rate

[00:16:47] what the equivalent our real estate if there's other items please just let us know make sure that we get the agenda and we will include times for individual items more procedural so when we meet march the 6th over there at the community center uh the uh our meeting will be recorded we are planning to have have it being recorded we are planning to have projector and screen there

[00:17:23] excellent thank you thank you madam i'm not sure if it's the right time that i would like to share When we went to our jurisdiction first ever meeting, they talk about how clerk and everybody goes to provide them everything, not only asking for more, but also providing the reports and things.

[00:17:53] And I was wondering if we're in agreement, if something the council would like to consider, if there will be follow-up with those offices.

[00:18:08] that if we're gonna get a report or feedback on what they do because they do represent us and I think all the things coming to one coming to and we never heard from them oh asking them to attend we can we can you don't have to share his office clerk and yeah we have not reached out to them yet but we can definitely that is on our agenda to do yes yes I'm not sure if it was I just want make sure that we do mention because we we never you know i think i might have we get maybe mailers

[00:18:45] and stuff but i wouldn't i don't want to impose if that's not something you guys are interested in i just wanted to bring it up because i thought that you know it was an eye opening that you know they always go there because that's who supposedly paid them and we get often overlooked when they are representing i take it we've heard from excuse me i heard from omni ride and gre and things like that what what kind of increases in general yes sir that's that's been incorporated

[00:19:25] into the anticipation and you don't anticipate that they need to come and talk to us i'm just asking i don't believe we i think the omni ride was increased but that doesn't mean they can't come

[00:19:36] talk to us about. I'm going to ask you for more. Okay. I don't want to use our time. I'm not saying that. Don't wake them up. That's right. That's all. I'm just asking. That's all. Oh, did you want me to answer the flat tax bill question now? The rate? I was going to have that at the 6th. Thank you, though. It's efficient. I'll explain this real quick. I'll explain this real quick. Explain what? Before you go there.

[00:20:16] I will have to check on that I believe that everything included in your book is It's on our website, but I will confirm that because that is something that you have to adopt.

[00:20:35] We'll be requesting you to adopt as part of the budget. So I had a curiosity, just basic research.

[00:20:55] $6,000 is the pre-close, plus or minus, the average revenue the city will receive from property tax. this year, the average residential property, $6,000. $4,000 is what Faulcare County gets. $7,000 is the bill in the park. $8,000 is the average residential bill. It's a little over $8,000.

[00:21:30] Fairfax and Mountain County, Arlington, Alexandria is more like $8,500. $9,000 is the amount of revenue the city of Fairfax receives in the average house. What was the seven? I'm sorry?

[00:21:47] What was the seven? Seven is the park. My point, and you know, we all end up paying the same, essentially, for the city manager or fireman or policeman.

[00:22:05] Other jurisdictions get a lot more revenue, the average house, than we do. Therefore, it drives rates. Just an interesting little aside.

[00:22:21] Tidbit. Yeah. Anything else? Comments, questions? The priorities are laid out for the 6th, 8.30 sharp.

[00:22:37] Yeah, well, we're bang. Eight for breakfast, 8.30 sharp. We eat. Eight. So eight for breakfast. And lunch also. Omelette Cafe. Oh, omelette. Listen, me and the center, we're playing.

[00:22:54] We're playing. We're playing. Yes, we're playing at the movie center. No, Mr. Smith, we're all going to be giving $10, and we'll go to Wawa and pick up breakfast there. In lottery tickets, you might win a million dollars. That's right, in a lottery ticket.

[00:23:09] No. Okay, anything else? So the 6th is the next budget meeting, 8 o'clock, and 8.30 we'll start the meeting, so be there until 5. We have a question. Have we had a broadcast?

[00:23:26] It's not being broadcast, it's just live again, like our retreat, are they doing the same thing? Yes, I don't believe we have the ability to broadcast from the community center. We will check that out. I do know we have the ability to record. And I will note, I've already just talked to AMS about it.

[00:23:45] We'll have the ability to pause and start the stream while we're there. So hopefully that will be good. Are you going to control it? Thank you. Anything else? Any other comments, questions? All right, we're here.

[00:24:01] Thank you.

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