01/13/2003 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • COUNCIL MINUTES JANUARY 13, 2003 APPROVED address, and Council provided no additional direction except to express displeasure about some of the numbers. Mayor Bergeson stated the Council has been fooling around with this plan for six months, it is required by the Charter, and cannot wait to get additional costs on repairs to the City Hall or what the State will do. He stated this is a responsible plan and to quote 7% is misleading since it is a combination of growth of the City and inflation. He noted the original plan that was presented, which included both inflation and growth of City services and City staff proportional to the City really resulted in numbers of 10% or 11%. Staff was asked to cut back and got to a number of 7% which he thinks is realistic. Mayor Bergeson stated the Council needs to move ahead and when the City gets answers to some of the questions, the Council may have to revise this plan. He stated he is pleased with the work staff has done since they have followed the direction of the Council and the Council must now "get off the dime," make a decision, and move ahead. Councilmember Dahl asked when this will be reviewed in 2003. Finance Director Rolek stated that review will begin concurrently with the 2004 budget preparation. Then the 2004-2008 financial plan will be reviewed. Councilmember Dahl asked if this plan sets the stage for next year's budget. Finance Director Rolek stated this plan includes projections of what staff, at this point in time, feels will be needed to conduct business and deliver services at the same levels as in the past. He explained that as with any budget, staff always re-evaluates what the situation is, the economics, what has transpired at the State Legislature, factors of growth, and those type of issues. He stated that staff may or may not come up with the same numbers as in the Five -Year plan, but his projection would be that they will not -- since there will be additional information then that may alter the budget proposal for 2004. Since that information is not yet available, there is no way to prepare for it at this time. Councilmember Dahl asked, hypothetically, if it would stay the same or go down drastically due to what will be heard from the State or if it will more likely go up. Finance Director Rolek stated this plan must maintain some flexibility and the numbers may go down. He stated he has known the projections to remain the same at times in the past but, again, the information is not yet available to make assumptions at this point. Councilmember Dahl stated she likes the diversity of the Council and also the diversity in the answers because through that diversity the Council finds a lot of things she would not have come up with on her own. She stated the Council makes big decisions that affect the entire City and she takes that very seriously, as do all Councilmembers. She stated that she listens to each Councilmember and if they want to take more time on something, she never says anything since they are respectful of her concerns and questions. Councilmember Dahl stated she respectfully disagrees with some of what Mayor Bergeson said but each has their own opinion. Councilmember Reinert stated the budget for next year will be whatever the Council wants it to be, 10% or 2%. This year it started at 11% and ended up a little over 4% because that is what the Council wanted. He stated this plan only provides a guideline for staff to manage and he supports giving staff that guideline and then during the budget discussions it can be discussed what needs to be changed. Motion carried 3 yeas (O'Donnell, Reinert, and Bergeson) - 2 nays (Dahl and Carlson). 6