HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-08-2016 Council Special Work session MinutesCITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION
August 8, 2016
i CITY OF LINO LAKES
2 MINUTES
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4 DATE August 8, 2016
5 TIME STARTED 7:30 p.m.
6 TIME ENDED 9:30 p.m.
7 MEMBERS PRESENT Council Member Rafferty, Kusterman,
8 Maher, Manthey and Mayor Reinert
9 MEMBERS ABSENT None
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12 Staff members present: City Administrator Jeff Karlson; Public Safety Director Swenson;
13 Community Development Director Grochala; Finance Director Sarah Cotton; Public
14 Services Director DeGardner; City Clerk Julie Bartell.
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16 2017 Budget Discussion — The council requested that, in the future, the budget
17 documents that they receive should be marked as to when they are updated, for version
18 control.
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20 When Administrator Karlson asked about a starting point for discussion, Mayor Reinert
21 asked what it would take to get to a 2017 tax rate of 45.985 (what dollar amount)? Ms.
22 Cotton referred to the second page of the packet and indications of the tax capacity rate.
23 Mayor Reinert asked if that figure is a target for the council as a group. The figure of
24 $570,000 was mentioned as needing to be cut, raised or taken from reserves. Council
25 Member Maher suggested her discomfort in continuing to take from the city's reserves.
26 Council Member Rafferty remarked that the reserves are actually the taxpayer's money
27 that the city is holding. The mayor reviewed the use of reserves for the 2016 budget.
28 Ms. Cotton indicated that the 2017 budget as presented does include use of $317,000
29 from the Common Bond Fund to pay for the second year of debt service on the EDA
30 revenue bonds. Mayor Reinert noted that the tax rate was around 39 atone time and that
31 has risen through a combination of spending and loss of value; now the city is growing
32 again and value is being added so that should allow the city to not raise the rate or
33 perhaps even lower the rate. Mayor Reinert suggested that budget discussion is easier
34 with a goal in mind. The current balance in the Closed Bond Fund was reviewed
35 ($800,000+) as well as commitments from that fund. Currently there is no fund balance
36 draw down included in the proposed budget; about $900,000 was included in the 2016
37 budget. The council discussed the schedule for retirement of outstanding bonds.
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39 Mayor Reinert challenged staff to go through the 2016 budget and identify funds that
40 won't be used or can be saved, as the council did last year. The council will be setting a
41 preliminary budget in September so that allows time for review and discussion as
42 necessary.
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44 Council Member Manthey called for a review of the council's line item budget; if there is
45 any savings there, it should be identified. Administrator Karlson assured the council that
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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION
APPROVED
August 8, 2016
46 staff reviews those line items carefully and has made cuts; staff has been very
47 conservative over the past years in reducing and managing budget items. Mayor Reinert
48 noted that there will be homes added and the city needs to be prepared to provide
49 services. Community Development Director Grochala noted that the previous year's
50 budget included the use of reserves and that hasn't been plugged in for 2017 at this time.
51 Mayor Reinert suggested that he would like to keep the tax rate static.
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53 Personnel — Administrator Karlson noted the increases requested for 2017. The addition
54 of .5 FTE Office Specialist for Finance and .5 FTE Office Specialist for Public Services
55 and a CSO position in the Police Department.
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57 Mayor Reinert noted that the CSO position is related to the grant officer position and the
58 extra work create through growth of the ACE program. Given the number of complaints
59 that he is receiving from the community (due to impact on businesses), he wonders if the
60 council should consider not renewing the grant after its four year period. Of course, that
61 decision shouldn't be made in a vacuum without having concerned people directly
62 address the council and the police chief offering his opinion. Council Member Maher
63 suggested that if there is one DWI identified with one hundred pullovers, she's okay with
64 that. Council Member Manthey said he's received multiple comments also; from his
65 personal perspective, where he lives he sees a positive change in traffic operating more
66 safely.
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68 Mayor Reinert said he'd like to take a closer look at equipment budgets for the Fire
69 Division budget as well as the Public Services Division in the hopes of setting a more
70 static yearly amount. Finance Director Cotton explained the current situation of issuing
71 capital equipment notes and the past practice of contributing to a fund and purchasing
72 equipment with available funds. If the council wished to return to the cash practice, the
73 city should begin weening itself from the practice of issuing notes. Mayor Reinert noted
74 that the practice of borrowing began because the interest rate was so low it was
75 essentially free; Ms. Cotton explained that the debt was actually issued internally at an
76 interest rate just over one percent.
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78 Council Member Kusterman asked why not charge an interest rate equal to what the city
79 would make from the funds it borrows from itself Ms. Cotton said the city could go
80 lower to that rate. Community Development Director Grochala suggested that the
81 certificates involved are five year notes and there is an allowance for some variation in
82 interest rates. Council Member Kusterman asked if there are regulations over the city's
83 lending funds to itself and Ms. Cotton suggested it is based on fund availability. Council
84 Member Kusterman suggested that internal borrowing would seem to make a lot of sense;
85 he'd like to see if there is a way to better the city's return on the fund balance. Ms.
86 Cotton explained that the city's surplus funds are somewhat limited and their availability
87 limits the amount of internal lending.
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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION August 8, 2016
APPROVED
89 Mayor Reinert asked why the PERA budget (Page D38 noted), went up by $90,000? Ms.
90 Cotton remarked that the council recently heard about positions that were added to that
91 budget and that translates to an increase.
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93 Mayor Reinert asked what is happening with health insurance in 2017 and Mr. Karlson
94 explained that the city hasn't yet received a report. Ms. Cotton noted that the budget
95 includes a seven percent increase as an estimate.
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97 Mayor Reinert asked about the Forestry budget. Director Grochala explained that the
98 budget proposes an increase basically related to Emerald Ash Borer work — injections,
99 tree replacement, etc. Staff has been preparing over the past few years to address the
100 EAB situation and 2017 is the year that these efforts will begin in terms of funding.
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102 Mayor Reinert noted the personnel levels in the Police Division. He sees an increase in
103 the salary budget coming forward and would like to understand more. Public Safety
104 Director Swenson reviewed the staff level moving forward to 2017; it was noted that
105 there are standard wage increases included. The staffing level for officers for 2017 is 27.
106 Director Swenson also reviewed increases on various miscellaneous line items in the
107 budget (i.e. software, joint law enforcement system, animal control contract).
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109 Finance Director Cotton discussed her proposal to reinstate one-half of an Office Support
110 Specialist position to be funded from the water and sewer enterprise funds with no impact
111 on the general fund. The impact to those funds is just over $31,000. The goal is to
112 transfer all the daily receipting functions for utility billing and deposits and cross training
113 for utility billing backup, as well as providing front line response to basic utility billing
114 inquiries and working with plans to move to paperless finance records. The new position
115 will also provide relief on other general administrative tasks within the finance
116 department.
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118 Council Member Rafferty identified that the position requested is actually already in
119 place temporarily with a person out on maternity leave. He also recalled that half of the
120 position was cut last year because it wasn't needed. Administrator Karlson recalled that
121 the position was four hours budgeted to the Public Services Department that was not
122 needed. The finance director, since then, has identified restructuring that can occur in her
123 department and a need for this half position within that realm.
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125 The council discussed the duties involved in utility billing. The finance director
126 explained the stresses facing finance department employees with a high work load and the
127 lack of time in the schedule to work on new initiatives and the added work that comes
128 from new properties in the city.
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130 Public Services Director DeGardner reviewed his request for a .5 FTE Office Specialist
131 position. He reviewed the history of support staff positions in his office and at the Public
132 Works facility. Currently additional support staff is required to serve those needs,
133 especially to free up the administrative assistant's time from front line duties for her core
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CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION
August 8, 2016
134 responsibilities such as Cartegraph and administrative support. He reviewed the work
135 proposed for the new position. The cost of the position would be divided between the
136 general fund and water/sewer enterprise funds. Council Member Maher suggested that
137 it may be smarter to set the position at .6 FTE rather than .5 FTE since it is difficult for a
138 worker to accomplish as much in a half day; the change would mean three full days a
139 week.
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141 Director Cotton briefly explained the 2016 budget surplus she has identified so far
142 ($90,000) that could be applied to the gap.
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144 The final direction to staff was to review the current budget for surplus funds.
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146 The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
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These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at the regular Council meeting held on
August 22, 2016.
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153 `.., �- 7 - L
154 `Julia Bartell, City Cl rk
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