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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION <br />APPROVED <br />July 1192016 <br />1 CITY OF LINO LAKES <br />2 MINUTES <br />3 <br />4 DATE July 11, 2016 <br />5 TIME STARTED 7:45 p.m. <br />6 TIME ENDED 9610 P.M. <br />7 MEMBERS PRESENT Councilmember Rafferty, Kusterman, <br />8 Maher, Manthey and Mayor Reinert <br />9 MEMBERS ABSENT None <br />10 <br />11 <br />12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Finance Director Sarah Cotton; <br />13 Community Development Director Michael Grochala; Public Services Director Rick <br />14 DeGardner; Public Safety Director John Swenson; City Clerk Julie Bartell <br />15 <br />16 1. 2017 Draft Budget- Finance Director Cotton reviewed the written staff report <br />17 outlining the first draft of the 2017 Budget and Tax Levy, as developed by department <br />18 directors and reviewed by the City Administrator. It is based on resources needed to <br />19 continue city services at their current levels and also incorporates the priorities and <br />20 initiatives already identified by the City Council. <br />21 <br />22 Mayor Reinert remarked that there appears to be a request to raise taxes. He polled the <br />23 council on their desire to do so. Council Member Maher remarked that it would have to <br />24 be a very good reason to raise taxes. <br />25 <br />26 Mayor Reinert also noted that last year there were some obvious additional expenses <br />27 required and he suspects that would not be as clear this year. His goal is not to raise taxes <br />28 and accept the higher valuation without changing the tax rate. <br />29 <br />30 The mayor said that there should be a time to go through money not spent and see if there <br />31 are funds available that way first. The council discussed the timing — a preliminary <br />32 budget is due in September that can go down but not up. <br />33 <br />34 The council called for discussion about equipment replacement. Council Member <br />35 Rafferty suggested that the council would benefit from a quarterly report on departmental <br />36 needs in that area. Administrator Karlson confirmed that the council would like to <br />3 <br />7 handle that as a regular work session item. The mayor asked what percentage of the <br />38 budget is related to the Public Safety Department and staff suggested approximately 44 <br />39 percent. He concurs with the concept of having a quarterly discussion about what is and <br />40 what will be. Director Swenson recommended that the meeting be televised to reach as <br />41 many people as possible. The mayor recommended that be presented as a summary for <br />42 the public. <br />43 <br />44 Council Member Manthey said he wasn't able to go through the entire packet so he'd <br />45 appreciate a review. <br />1 <br />