11-10-2010 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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� I . * CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION November 10,2010 APPROVED 46 basis of needs versus organization. He has some concern about the process but 47 understands that a decision has to be made and he appreciates staffs reduction 48 recommendations. 49 50 Administrator Karlson asked the council to remember that there are some requirements 51 involved in the process(i.e. bargaining agreements) and overall the city is dealing with a 52 down economy that is improving very slowly; it comes down to the council deciding what 53 services the city should offer and if some services are to be eliminated, and that equates to 54 staff positions. He noted that there is a$75,000 contingency built into the budget that 55 could also be offered as a cut. Past that, cuts will involve the elimination of some 56 services. 57 58 A council member commented on the 2010 mandatory employee furloughs. Since the 59 city functioned without the 1.5 FTE that the furlough hours represent, doesn't it make 60 sense that a reduction of that size could occur without service cuts? Further the 61 advancements in technology have improved service delivery and efficiency. The 62 organizational review that is forthcoming should help to reveal more efficiencies. 63 64 Administrator Karlson further explained that each staff position cut equals 2,000 hours 65 lost and those hours represent services at some level. He asked the council to review the 66 proposed budget cuts and then discuss if more reduction is needed. 67 68 The mayor remarked that the goal isn't to simply seek reductions but to identify 69 inefficiencies or redundancies that can be eliminated. There must be less activity at city 70 hall with the downturn in the economy. It will be difficult to do a lot more without the 71 tools and knowledge about the organization. He acknowledged that council members 72 have been bringing forward ideas. 73 74 Administrator Karlson suggested that he would sit down with the directors again for more 75 review of the proposed budget. 76 77 On the question of the proposed reduction in fund reserve,the majority of council 78 members supported the proposal. On the question of the capital levy reduction, a 79 majority of the council did not support it as a reduction. On the question of the $75,000 80 budget contingency, Finance Director Rolek explained that while the amount is seen as a 81 minimum for a contingency, a contingency was not used for 2010 and the fund reserves 82 do serve as a back-up. 83 84 The mayor reiterated his idea of starting a road reconstruction fund that could be built up 85 to assist in funding reconstruction projects. Staff noted that surplus funds may be 86 available at the end of 2010 as a possible funding source. 87 88 3. Budget Request from Charter Commission—Administrator Karlson noted that the 89 council's packet for the evening includes the commission's request for funding of$6,500 2