11-23-2015 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2015 noted that with these changes, the total levy increase is 3.52%, and that includes dealing with the $29,600. City Administrator stated that the Council had talked about wanting the levy increase to be 3% or lower, and by his estimate, it would take roughly $15,289 deduction from the budget to get down to 3%. City Administrator stated that Councilmember Torkelson had asked about lowering certain budget amounts. City Administrator recommended keeping the same dollar amount for election judges because the upcoming presidential election will likely have a high turnout. He recommended keeping the same dollar amount for administration supplies since it is based on what the average has been for the last four years. City Administrator suggested that the amount for postage could be dropped by $1,000. He stated there had been a suggestion of reducing the cost of the City Attorney advance, but he noted that the amount is used as a place holder in the budget because the cost varies every month. The City Attorney costs an average of about $5,000 a month, and maybe it could be dropped by $500, but it depends on how much work the attorney is needed for. City Administrator stated that Councilmember Torkelson also asked about the new city public works building heating budget and could it be lowered. City Administrator stated that amount should not be reduced this year since the building has only been open for a few months and hasn't gone through a winter yet, and it is unknown what the costs will end up at. He noted the last item asked about was the temporary park employees, which is mainly the rink attendants. These costs depend on the weather and how long the rinks are actually open. City Administrator stated that with these small changes, it brings the amount down to about $t2,000 that would be needed to lower the levy increase to 3%. City Administrator stated that we could transfer $10,000 from the cable fund, but Councilmember Montour doesn't think this is a good idea. He stated that the internal plantier position could be eliminated, then a new part-time utility billing clerk would not be needed. Other budget reducing options are with Parks and Recreation administration. He stated that a part-time assistant position could be cut, or reduce the parks director down to half time, which would also save additional health insurance costs. City Administrator stated that the costs for the Old Fire Hall are on the capital improvement side. The building is currently used as a rental hall downstairs and equipment storage upstairs. City Administrator stated the annual operating costs were $7,800 in 2013, $8,700 in 2014, and were budgeted to be $10,600 in 2015, but the final numbers are not in yet. He noted that it can be assumed that the annual operating costs will continue to run around $10,000 per year going forward. He stated that the Council had asked about looking at the rest of building's condition and other needs 0