06-25-2012 Council Special Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION June 25, 2012 APPROVED 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 2 MINUTES 3 4 DATE : June 25,2012 5 TIME STARTED : 7:15 p.m. 6 TIME ENDED : 8:30 p.m. 7 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council Member Stoesz, O'Donnell, 8 Rafferty, Roeser(arrived at 7:25 p.m.) and 9 Mayor Reinert 10 MEMBERS ABSENT : None 11 12 13 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Finance Director Al Rolek; 14 Community Development Michael Grochala; Public Safety Director John Swenson; 15 Economic Development Coordinator Mary Divine; Public Services Director Rick 16 DeGardner; City Clerk Julie Bartell 17 18 Financial Impacts on the 2013 City Budget-Finance Director Rolek distributed and 19 reviewed a table indicating possible 2013 budget impacts in the area of expenditures, 20 revenues and other. In the area of expenditures, the personnel impact includes some 21 decisions made already as well as some contract settlement assumptions. In the area of 22 revenues, Mr. Rolek pointed out possible loss of grant funds if certain police grants are 23 not renewed. In the area of franchise fees, discussions are still underway with Centennial 24 Utilities. There are also some cable television fees that have been used as general 25 revenue but that should be redirected for upgrades. The use of fund surplus is a year to 26 year discussion and is of course limited by the threshold set by the council; a special 27 section indicating a fund surplus analysis is included in the table. Mr. Rolek then noted 28 the possible reductions of estimated budget gap figures that are suggestions/ideas for 29 review. When asked about the budget position for 2012, Mr. Rolek noted that the figures 30 are below where he'd like them to be but the city is just getting into the busy season for 31 construction, etc. The mayor called for information on the city's snow plow budget; 32 there was very little need in that area last winter. Mr. Rolek explained that it's difficult to 33 pinpoint where that budget is exactly since funding is spread across several budget areas 34 (i.e. equipment, supplies, overtime). Mayor Reinert asked that staff put together some 35 figures for council review. 36 37 Administrator Karlson noted some potential revenues sources, including utility and 38 franchise fees, grant funding, economic development and lastly, staff reductions, adding 39 that additional staff reductions would probably result in service reductions at some level. 40 The mayor said he continues to urge the city to seek efficiencies through organization. 41 42 The council discussed economic development activity in the city. Economic 43 Development Coordinator Divine noted that new development is slow in the area 44 currently with the focus more on filling in existing areas. Community Development 45 Director Grochala added that staff is meeting with larger builders and he gave an update 1