08-14-2017 Council Special Budget Work Session Minutes

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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION August 14, 2017 APPROVED 46 Mayor Reinert remarked that there is a raise system inherent. However he feels there can 47 be bumping up occurring at cities that then causes other cities to feel they have to follow. 48 Mayor Reinert also remarked that there can't be a comparison to the private sector 49 because those salaries have dropped. Again the mayor said he'd like a full review. 50 51 On the police officer position that will no longer be paid by grant funds, Mayor Reinert 52 said he supports the position. The council concurred. Council Member Kusterman 53 commented that the safety of the city is highly important. 54 55 On the utility maintenance position requested in Public Works, Mayor Reinert noted that 56 he understands it is enterprise funded. Ms. Cotton explained that there is no impact to 57 the General Fund but the water and sewer enterprise funds would be impacted and they 58 are driven by rates. Director DeGardner noted that the responsibilities within that 59 division have grown and the utility system has expanded. He has held off on requesting 60 the position for several years but now he feels it is prudent to act. Council Member 61 Rafferty asked how this fits into the future retirement of the Utility Supervisor. Mr. 62 DeGardner said this position is intended for current needs; the retirement will be another 63 strong need in the future. The budget impact is noted on Page 91, with impacts to the 64 water and sewer fund individually. Mayor Reinert said he supports the new position. 65 The council concurred. 66 67 On the matter of the 3`d Community Service Officer position for the Police Department 68 that is on hold based on ACE Program participation, Mayor Reinert asked why the 69 vehicle for that positon isn't a vehicle moved down from within the fleet. Director 70 Swenson explained the individual demands of that position (including animal control) 71 and the need for a truck. Mayor Reinert asked the Public Works Director if there are 72 trucks that could be passed down to the CSO function, and Director DeGardner said all 73 vehicles are being fully used. 74 75 The council moved on to review of the tax levy. Finance Director Cotton pointed out that 76 while the city will be seeing a reduction in debt service it will soon be impacted by 77 payments coming on line for the street reconstruction project. The mayor pointed out that 78 there will be unused funds from 2017 that will lower the 2018 figures. Ms. Cotton said 79 there are two buckets of money the council has traditional looked at: utilizing the city's 80 surplus down to a 50% level; and seeking funding through revenue or expenditure 81 changes. Mayor Reinert asked if staff would like to perform that last exercise and Ms. 82 Cotton said yes, and she added that it's usually occurred after the council adopts the 83 preliminary levy. Administrator Karlson remarked that the management team has worked 84 very hard this year to bring in numbers that are very close to the bone. Mayor Reinert 85 suggested that would be 2018 numbers though, not 2017; Mr. Karlson said it was a 86 combination of both. 87 88 Ms. Cotton explained how close the city's projections for this year are matching with 89 actual current revenue and expenditures. Mayor Reinert suggested that he believes 90 there's interest in taking the 54 down to 50, utilizing that 325, and guestimate savings in 2