09-25-2019 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 25, 2019 increasing property values will help offset the budget, and noted that the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department costs are the city's largest expenditure at 41.4% of the budget. He stated that the city does have some debt, but they are all funded by assessments, tax increment revenue or utility funding sources, so there is no debt levy which is unique for a city. Montour noted that the City's bond credit rating is the highest that a city of our size can be. Montour asked for some explanation on the four options in the staff report. The City Administrator explained that Options 1 and 2 are similar, but Option 2 includes an increased contribution for the fire pensions. Keis made the statement that no matter which option the Council chooses tonight, this is only the preliminary levy, which cannot be raised, but can be lowered for the final levy is set in December. Montour stated the other option is whether to take $15,000 from the 10% Fund for police services. He noted that he is not a fan of using the 10% Fund to pay the Sheriff's Department costs since that needs to be paid no matter where the money comes from, and he does not want to become dependent on that fund since it could easily go away. He noted that by keeping policy services in the general fund, it helps control spikes in the levy amount each year. The City Administrator explained that the 10% Fund is money paid to the City from the charitable gambling organizations, but State Statute limits the allowable uses for this money, but one of the uses it can go towards is contracted police services. Keis stated that while he agrees with Montour, he also feels that the 10% Fund has a fairly healthy balance, so just because we use it next year does not mean it has to be used after that. He noted that the amount of 10% Funds coming in can be monitored and the budget slowly adjusted over a few years if the funds disappear. He stated that we cannot raise the levy after it is set tonight, so he is more comfortable setting it higher right now. McGraw stated he would prefer to set the preliminary levy at 4.99% tonight, which will give staff time to make sure everything is addressed and get some of the unknown things worked out by December. Montour introduced the following resolution and moved its adoption: RESOL UTION NO. 2019-9-109 —APPROVE SETTING THE PRELIMINARY LEVYA T $3,505,960 (A 4.99 % INCREASE) The foregoing resolution was duly seconded by Torkelson. Ayes (5). Nays (0). Resolution declared adopted.