06-24-13 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION June 17, 2013 DRAFT 1 CITY OF LINO LAKES 1 MINUTES 2 3 DATE : June 17, 2013 4 TIME STARTED : 5:30 p.m. 5 TIME ENDED : 7:05 p.m. 6 MEMBERS PRESENT : Council M ember Stoesz , O’Donnell, 7 Rafferty (arrived at 5:55 p.m.), Roeser and 8 Mayor Reinert 9 ME MBERS ABSENT : None 10 11 12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Public Services Director Rick 13 DeGardner; Community Development Director Michael Grochala; F inance Director Al 14 Rolek; Public Safety Director John Swenson; City Clerk Julie Bartell 15 16 1. 2014 Budget Preparation - Mayor Reinert announced th at the council will be again 17 be discussing how to fill a budget gap. There isn’t really an y new information si nce the 18 recent discussions this year. The city has been facing a similar challenge for the past four 19 to five years and he feels the challenge has been met. He feels that the council would like 20 to move to fill the gap as efficiently as possible, hopefully without cuts or any loss of 21 service. There is a light at the end of the tunnel as far as property values since projections 22 are much better for next year. He envisions a two part meeting – discussion of the 2014 23 budget and considering the possibility of bringing on a consultant to help with a drill 24 down. 25 26 2. Legislative Actions 27 a. Sales Tax Exemption 28 b. Levy Limits 29 c. PERA Police & Fire Pension Fund 30 31 Finance Director Rolek provided an explanation of the legislative actions. He distributed 32 a docum ent indicating sale s tax paid by the city in 2012 and estimating possible savings 33 due to the legislative sales tax exemption provided to cities. Although the city pays an 34 estimated $125,000 in sales tax annually, the exemption is limited in scope and may only 35 include general fund expenditures. There is the possibility of including some additional 36 exemptions for a total possible savings up to approximately $73,000. For retail 37 purchases , the city will provide exemption information to the stores. 38 39 Mr. Ro lek reviewed the situation relative to Public Employee Retirement Association 40 (PERA) pensions. He noted that public employee retirement funds have faced certain 41 challenges in recent years, particularly the Police and Fire Funds. The State Legislature 42 thi s year followed the recommendations of the police and fire pension funds by incre asing 43 the required contribution percentage for both employees and employers. The increase to 44 the city is an addition al cost of $23,000 for both 2014 and 2015. Council Membe r 45