12-18-2019 Workshop & Council Packets

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The Ramsey County Assessor’s Office estimates market value and determines the property classification for property tax purposes in the City of Little Canada. The market value is applied to class rates assigned by the State that is used to determine a property’s tax capacity. The County estimates the City’s tax capacity for taxes payable in 2020 is $11,765,847, which is a 5.51% increase. The City’s property tax levy is divided by the tax capacity to determine the City’s tax rates, which is applied to each property’s tax capacity to determine that property’s City property tax amount before any credits are applied. Between 2019 and 2020, the City’s tax rate is expected to decrease from 26.131 to 25.676 (-1.74%). Personal Services The 2020 Operating Budget includes a 2.80% cost-of-living (COLA) increase for City staff. This increase is based on a weighted average of the COLA increase from a survey of cities between 5,000 and 15,000 in population (75%), and the CPI increase for the Minneapolis/St. Paul/Bloomington region for the most recent period (25%). The City switched health insurance to the Non-State Public Employee (PEIP) plan in 2019. With this change, the City is realizing savings of approximately $37,000 over the 2019 budget (General Fund $17,400, Water Enterprise Fund $9,800, Sewer Enterprise Fund $9,800). As previously discussed, there are a few position changes requested in the 2020 Budget. The Community Development Department restructuring is included in the 2020 budget. The prior Planner/Code Enforcement Coordinator position (1 FTE) has been reclassified to a Community Development Director/Planner position (1 FTE). In addition, the budget includes a new part-time Code Enforcement/Rental Inspection position (.50 FTE). The net increase in full-time employees to the Community Development Department is .50 FTE. The Public Works Department also contains the Public Works Maintenance I position (1 FTE) that was recently filled and a Public Works Apprentice position for 2020. The net increase from this change is $70,800 ($23,490 General Fund, $23,400 Water Enterprise Fund, $24,000). The Recreation Coordinator position that was hired in 2019 has also been increased from 19 hours per week to 25 hours per week for 2020. The duties of this position have been expanded due to the skills and abilities of the Recreation Coordinator and Parks and Recreation Department staffing needs. The remainder of this memo will describe the fund types included in the budget and their activities. Further detail is included in the individual budgets. General Fund 2019 Budget 2020 Budget Increase Amount % Change Personnel Services $1,099,656 $1,199,830 $100,174 9.11% Commodities $164,800 $170,916 $6,116 3.71% Contractual Services $2,646,661 $2,749,091 $101,930 3.85% Other Items $4,500 - $(4,500) Contingency - $15,000 $15,000 Total General Fund Expenditures $3,911,617 $4,134,837 $218,720 5.71% 5