Council members reviewed committee budgets and asked staff for clearer categorization of revenue and donations tied to committee events and programs.

Council members and staff discussed the Public Safety Committee's planned car show and an earlier-proposed appreciation breakfast. Carlos Andres, the Public Safety Committee chair, said the car show is planned as a revenue-generating, sponsor-supported event but the first-year budget includes a modest advance for vendor deposits: "...the expenses is a combination of DJ, video ... vendors in advance because we won't have those sponsorship funds till we get closer to the show," he told council.

Committee funding practices prompted additional questions. Council Member Sanchez pointed out that the veterans committee carries a relatively large budget but much of that funding is sourced from sponsorships and donations that are accounted for in the committee lines when received. The communications director said some committees rely on mayoral-gala proceeds or other specific fundraising and that those line items can appear as budgeted revenue only after funds are collected.

Council members also questioned town support for elective school courses and library programs paid with town funds. Claudia LucEz, an Education Advisory Board member, said elective AP and STEM courses were created to make K-8 centers more attractive to local families and to maintain property values; "If we want these creative electives to, again, appeal to the Miami Laker, let's take a few thousand dollars and let's invest it and let's see what happens," she told the council. Council members asked staff for enrollment, performance or program-attendance data so the council can determine whether such subsidies should continue.

Why it matters: committee budgets, sponsorships and town-funded community programs were singled out as places to find savings; at the same time committees generate public engagement and donations and some programs have measurable educational goals. Council asked staff for updated, itemized budgets, data on program participation and documentation of donations so the council can weigh cuts against program outcomes.

Next steps: staff will request updated committee budgets, identify funding sources (sponsorships, mayoral gala, donations) and provide program participation or outcome data for school elective and library initiatives prior to the next workshop and the first budget hearing.