06-06-2018 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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(3) The City operates under the “Optional Plan A” form of government as defined in Minnesota Statutes. Under this plan, the City Council composed of an elected mayor and four elected council members. The five-member City Council is responsible for policy-making and legislative authority. The City Council is responsible for, among other things, passing ordinances, appointing committees, and hiring City staff, including the City Administrator. The City Administrator is responsible for carrying out the policies and ordinances of the City Council and for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the City government. The City Council is elected on a nonpartisan basis. The Mayor serves a two-year term and each of the Council Members is elected for a four-year term. Elections are held in the fall of even numbered years and the Mayor and City Council are elected at-large. The City provides a variety of municipal services which include: police protection, fire protection, street maintenance, parks & recreation, refuse collection & recycling, building inspection, planning and zoning, public improvements, general administrative services, public water and sewer utilities. The City’s financial planning and control foundation is the annual budget. The budget incorporates the City’s financial policies related to operations, management policy, debt management, reserves, investments, and amendments to the overall documents. All departments and agencies of the City submit requests for appropriation to the City Administrator by August of each year. The City Administrator and Finance Director use the requests as the starting point for developing a preliminary balanced budget to be presented to the City Council prior in early September of each year. Before the end of September, the City Council sets the preliminary tax levy, which must take into consideration the maximum tax levy adopted at the annual meeting and must be certified prior to September 30th of each year. This preliminary tax levy can be lowered but not increased. The City Council and staff reviews and refines the preliminary budget and until a final budget is acted upon in December with resultant levy certifications. FACTORS AFFECTING FINANCIAL CONDITION The information presented in the financial statements is best understood when it is considered from the broader perspective of the environment within which City of Little Canada operates. LOCAL ECONOMY As part of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area, the City has experienced a strong and favorable economic environment for a number of years. The metropolitan region has a strong and diversified business base, including companies with headquarters or divisions located within City of Little Canada’s boundaries or in close proximity that include St. Jude Medical, Inc. (recently purchased by Abbott Laboratories), Slumberland, Frattalone Companies, and Q3. These strengths result from a highly educated work force; access to high technology; available capital and an excellent transportation system including major state highways and federal interstate highways which allows easy mobility in any direction. The transportation network is a very positive factor in making the City an ideal location for commercial/industrial development and redevelopment. The City is located in a region with varied economic base which has resulted in an unemployment rate that has consistently remained near or below national and state averages. While the national unemployment rate stood at 4.1% at the end of 2017, Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 3.1%, the City has a regional unemployment rate of 2.8% according to the Minnesota Department of Economic Security. Unemployment is expected to remain at or below the state average.