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The last area relates to coordination with other projects. Given we have discussed upgrades to <br />City Hall, we may want to tie some or parts of that project together with the Public Works <br />building to take advantage of economies of scale. We may also want to consider upgrades to <br />other building at the same time, especially in the area of energy efficiency. Your comments on <br />that possibility are needed. <br />Financial Planning "What Ifs" <br />Now that we know what our Local Government Aid will be for 2014 ($344,818 or an increase of <br />$148,975) and we know that we have levy limits in place for 2014, we have generated some <br />planning scenarios for your consideration (copies attached). You will note that we projected all <br />expenses at a 3% increase except police and fire is projected at 4% increases. Revenues are held <br />constant except for LGA and property taxes. Here is a quick summary of the options generated: <br />• The first scenario has no levy increase in 2014 or 2015 while removing LGA from the <br />general fund. This shows we have large deficits to make up in both years. <br />• The next option has a 0% levy increase in 2014, a 3% levy in 2015 and maintains LGA in <br />the General Fund at 2013 levels. We still have large deficits to address in this option. <br />However, you should keep in mind the increase in LGA will be going to a capital <br />improvement fund of your choosing as new money. <br />• With the third option, we levy back for debt in the amount of $24,068 in 2014 and reduce <br />LGA by that amount in2014. In 2015, we eliminate LGA from the General Fund and <br />increase the GF tax levy by 3% while also making up for that amount plus the 2014 debt <br />levy used to help in the reduction of GF LGA. We are still dealing with large deficits. <br />• In the fourth option, we use LGA in the general fund to balance the budgets in 2014 and <br />2015, while also using levy limits plus the debt levy in 2014 and sticking to a 3% <br />increase in 2015. As you will note, we are now using $193,078 of LGA in the GF in <br />2015! <br />• In option five, we use the debt levy and LGA to balance 2014 and the eliminate LGA in <br />2015 by using a tax levy of 10.24 %. <br />• In option six, we stick to levy limits in 2014 (no debt levy) and then eliminate LGA in <br />2015 with an 11.2% levy in 2015. <br />Staff is not recommending any of these options at this time, but we wanted to show you the <br />range needed to address past goals. We will be able to modify sheets at the workshop if you <br />would like to look at other scenarios. Perhaps the key issue to be decided is what levy increase <br />are you comfortable with. Then we can discuss the use of LGA, the use of the debt levy in 2014 <br />(we aren't clear on our ability to do this, but we believe it is possible), and possible expense <br />reductions. <br />Website Enhancements <br />As you know, we had authorized $2,000 to enhance the City's website through GovOffice. After <br />further evaluation, staff isn't sure that expenditure makes sense. GovOffice also has a premium <br />package for $4,000. We are not sure that will accomplish our objectives either. <br />One of the primary concerns is the photos in the banners. We learned that one the photos are <br />selected, they are locked in unless we pay an additional charge to change them. We also looked <br />at some other websites and liked the feature where photos are larger and are presented in <br />2 <br />