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• • • CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION May 21, 2012 DRAFT 83 fully understand a gap. The council discussed the perspective of not focusing on a levy 84 number but rather on needs and the cost of those needs. Administrator Karlson noted 85 that the council will want to see revenues and expenditures and work with the budget 86 from there. The mayor suggested that a direction to staff is to show the council how they 87 can maintain the same level of services to residents as in 2012; he'd like to see if there are 88 any services that are beim, provided that are obsolete. Council Member Stoesz added that 89 he'd like to receive a graph that indicates who (residents) benefits from what elements of 90 the city budget. 91 The council discussed possible savings in the snow plowing budget and heard that the 92 spending of those funds isn't final until the end of the year. When asked if forfeiture 93 funds will be available, Chief Swenson explained that use of those funds is strictly 94 controlled under law. Suggestions from Council Member Roeser: consider new revenue 95 from newly built homes in the city, leasing of equipment to other jurisdictions, 96 outsourcing if called for by wage increases, and health care alternatives. 97 Council Member Rafferty asked for a breakdown of the 13.75 positions, how and where 98 did they go. He would also like to see information on best practice on how long to keep 99 equipment. 100 Council and staff discussed the unpredictable variables such as a tax cap. The variables 101 have to be considered as much as possible in case they do happen. 102 Administrator Karlson noted that staff is still looking for efficiencies and will present a 103 preliminary budget in late July. Council Member Rafferty suggested that he'd like to 104 have information as early as possible because the more review the council can do, the 105 better informed the decisions. 106 Council Member Stoesz added that he is interested in increasing the IT efficiency of the 107 city, such as by providing more city information and forms on -line. He suggests that 108 resident visits to city hall be logged so as to determine the best way to provide those 109 services they need on -line. Administrator Karlson pointed out that there are some IT 110 projects underway right now that are demanding much time so it may be difficult to 111 engage new IT efforts now. Specifically the document imaging conversion project will 112 be a huge efficiency but since the project is being undertaken without outside assistance, 113 it is challenging. The mayor added that the council needs to hear about challenges to 114 projects; the council supports greater improvement and efficiencies but understands the 115 stress of more work with less employees. 116 Council Member Roeser suggested that interns (paid or otherwise) may be a good 117 resource for the city right now. He also noted that the city should be seeing some energy 118 savings through recent retrofits. 119 The council concurred that they would continue the discussion at a special work session 120 on June 25, 2012 after the regular council meeting. 121 122 The meeting was adjourned at 7:52 p.m. 123 3 P23