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<br />March 23, 2026 <br /> <br />At a Called Meeting of the City Council on Monday, March 23, 2026, there were <br />present: <br /> <br />Mayor Shannon E. Glover, Vice Mayor William E. Moody, Jr., Mark A. Hugel, Vernon L. <br />Tillage, Jr., Kathryn W. Bryant, Dr. William S. Dodson, Jr., Yolanda E. Thomas, City <br />Manager Steven Carter, Interim City Attorney Derek G. Challenger. <br /> <br />26 - 77 - Mayor Glover called the meeting to order and welcomed all in attendance. <br /> <br /> "Please attend a called meeting of the City Council to be held in the Council <br />Chamber, 801 Crawford Street, 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 23, 2026, for the purpose of <br />the presentation of the proposed Operating and Capital Improvement Plan Budgets. <br /> <br /> In addition, you may consider a motion to go into a Closed Meeting. <br /> <br />By order of the Mayor." <br /> <br />26 - 78 - The following item was discussed in Public Work Session: <br /> <br />1. Budget Presentation – Steven Carter, City Manager / Trey Burke, Budget Officer <br /> <br />Budget-at-a-Glance <br />The Proposed FY 2027 Operating Budget for the City of Portsmouth totals $752.3M, with <br />the General Fund budget totaling $360.7M, a 6.3% increase from the FY 2026 Adopted <br />General Fund Budget. The budget includes the following: <br />No increases to tax rates; water and sewer rates increase 5% to fund system <br /> <br /> <br />maintenance and service improvements <br />Continues work on priority capital projects <br /> <br /> <br />City Hall Relocation and associated projects <br /> <br />o <br />New K-8 School <br /> <br />o <br />Combined Police and Fire Public Safety Facility <br /> <br />o <br />Cradock Fire Station Relocation <br /> <br />o <br />Portsmouth Advanced Career Education (PACE) Center renovation <br /> <br />o <br />Provides $89.9M to Portsmouth Public Schools, a $7.0M or 8.5% increase <br /> <br /> <br />3% general wage increase for all city-funded employees and grade/step <br /> <br /> <br />adjustments to match current skillsets <br />53% expansion in citywide training expenditures, from $966,560 to <br /> <br /> <br />$1,480,153, driven primarily by public safety recruitment and certification <br />Gateway Revitalization initiative and new Right of Way Maintenance team to <br /> <br /> <br />improve city corridors and combat neighborhood blight <br />New Director of Public Safety position to unify oversight of Police, Fire, <br /> <br /> <br />EMS, and Emergency Management <br />Expansion of the Axon technology contract to integrate drones, AI-powered <br /> <br /> <br />detection, and real-time intelligence capabilities <br />Continued funding of $21.1 million for legacy pension obligations and $1.5 million <br /> <br /> <br />for the OPEB Trust, reinforcing the City's commitment to long-term fiscal responsibility <br /> <br />