08/18/2008 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION 2 August 18, 2008 APPROVED 1 There have been certain outside funding requests received and Mr. Rolek noted that none 2 of them have been included in the proposed budget. The Charter Commission has 3 submitted a request for additional funds. The city also received requests from Alexandra 4 House, Forest Lake Youth Services Bureau, Metro Cities and Anoka County Mediation 5 Services. 6 7 Areas of reduction were noted as follows: Elections (2009 is a local election year, 8 requiring less funding), capital outlay, and prosecution services (due to service contract 9 change). 10 11 Mr. Rolek's review of the specific budget divisions included the following: 12 13 Capital Program — Public Services equipment replacement program includes some new 14 squad cars, contribution for fire department equipment, a dump truck, pick-up trucks, a 15 loader and some smaller equipment. Office equipment replacement has been scaled back 16 also. Trail extensions have been taken out completely. 17 18 Contingency — has been scaled back to $40,000 (from $50,000 last year), a very thin 19 margin. 20 21 Community Development and Engineering — includes funding for conclusion of the 22 comprehensive plan activities, including ordinance review costs. (The council requested 23 a comprehensive plan update in September, before board review). Engineering has been 24 scaled back due to less activity and the services themselves would remain outsourced. 25 The possibility of bringing engineering services in-house is something that will be looked 26 at more comprehensively within the five-year plan. When asked about the lower activity 27 level impact on staff, it was explained that there is a minimal change in staff work 28 because the day to day operations (resident issues, dealing with MnDOT, day to day 29 support) don't really slow down much because development related costs are handled 30 through escrows and other budgets. Storm damage is driving permit activities this year 31 but that does not produce as much cross departmental fee revenue as new homes. Staff 32 will take a look at the $100 fee for a repair permit to make sure it adequately reflects the 33 city's costs. Also noted was an increase in the funding for replacement of boulevard 34 trees. 35 36 Police Department — no new positions will be added as indicated in the five year plan. 37 The department has cut back in the area of supplies, other services and capital. The 38 department feels they are at a minimum level without impacting the service level. 39 40 Fire Department — the budget comes from the steering group so Administrator Heitke 41 reviewed. The twenty-five percent overall increase in costs over the last three years can 42 be attributed to making the budget more accurate — it was traditionally underfunded for 43 operations. Also this year, in consideration of the need to prioritize inspection activities, 44 the budget includes a portion of the cost of an additional fire inspector position. The 45 position would actually be partially grant funded for five years and the new fire chief