HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-20-25 - City Council Special Work Session MinutesLino Lakes City Council
Special Work Session
Minutes
DATE: October 20, 2025
TIME STARTED: 6:00 P.M.
TIME ENDED: 8:11 P.M.
LOCATION: Community Room
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mayor Rafferty Councilmembers Ruhland, Lyden, Stoesz and Cavegn
Staff Members Present: City Administrator Karen Anderson, City Clerk Roberta Colotti, Finance
Director Tracy Thoma, Financial Consultant Kelly Horn, Community Development Director Mike
Grochala, Chief of Police Curt Boehme, Fire Chief Dan L'Allier, Public Services Director Rick
DeGardner, and Public Works Superintendent Justin Williams.
1. Call to Order and Roll Call
Mayor Rafferty called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
2. Setting the Agenda: Addition or Deletion of Agenda Items
Councilmember Lynden requested to add three items to the agenda including discussion
of a police garage, city survey question, and posting of the MN Flag.
The agenda was adopted as amended.
3. 2026 Budget Updates and Discussion
The Finance Director presented the updates to the 2026 Preliminary Budget and Levy
recommended for inclusion in the 2026 Final Budget and Levy, scheduled for adoption
on December 8tn
The City Council adopted the 2026 preliminary tax levy on September 22, 2025, in the
amount of $18,120,307. Staff updated the personal services budget, including reduced
expenses for the MN Paid Leave budget and wage and benefits based on actual
numbers vs. projections for new hires. As a result, 2026 Final Tax Levy is recommended
to be reduced by $50,642, bringing the revised total to $18,069,665.
The City Council discussed the proposed final budget and levy.
Councilmember Ruhland requested that the City Council begin the process of reviewing
options for providing ambulance services. He asked if the approximate $50,000 should
be retained in the final budget to study and prepare for the establishment of an
ambulance service.
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The City Administrator stated that based on prior discussion on the matter, the Fire
Chief is currently working to prepare a report on the legislative rules, costs, staffing and
other considerations related to offering ambulance services as part of the Fire
Department operations and will be bringing that forward at a future meeting.
Councilmember Ruhland stated that the financial impact of operating an ambulance
service was of interest as it is possible that the costs will be off set.
Councilmember Lynden stated that even with the reduction the impact is significant,
and taxpayers will be facing a combined impact of the city and other taxing districts
increases in the tax levy.
Mayor Rafferty stated that he supports reducing the amount of the final budget and
levy as presented by staff, with recognition that the final budget and levy will be set in
December and can be further amended if needed. With the total amount being able to
be reduced but not increased from the preliminary levy amount.
Council Consensus
It was the consensus of the City Council to direct staff to remove the $50,642 from the
2026 Final Budget & Levy report to be presented on December 8, 2025.
4. 2026 Utility Rates
The Finance Director presented the proposed 2026 Utility Rates. She stated that the
rates are tied to the 2026 Enterprise budget and are based on the 2021 Utility Rate
Study. She stated that the full fee schedule for city operations will be presented for first
reading on October 27th and adoption on November 10, 2025. She stated that the
planned public works facility has funding identified through future utility rates. She
stated that a revised utility fee study is planned for 2026 as the current study runs from
2021 to 2026.
The City Council discussed the need for a utility fee study in 2026. Staff outlined that the
2026 study would provide updated numbers related to the number of users,
consumption rates and revised costs for operations and capital costs such as the public
works building.
Councilmember Ruhland stated that he would support a revised study if a preliminary
report of the actual number of new homes compared to the estimated number
presented in the 2021-2026 study could be prepared.
Councilmember Stoesz stated that the public should be advised of the 2025 legislative
impact on water testing fees, with a 36% increase in the fees having been adopted by
the state and passed through to the consumers.
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Councilmember Stoesz asked if there should be additional categories/price points for
the sewer fee.
The Public Works Superintendent stated that since the sanitary sewer fee is based on
winter water use numbers, they generally stay within the first tier of the fee chart, so
adding additional categories above that would have limited impact on revenues.
The Finance Consultant also provided clarification that there are customers with water
service and not sanitary sewer service, that are excluded from the sanitary sewer fees.
Council Consensus
It was the consensus of the City Council to support the utility fees as presented.
(Councilmember Ruhland stated that he would reserve an opinion until the report of the
actual projected number of homes was presented.)
5. 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Program
The Financial Consultant presented the 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
for review prior to the final adoption in December. The CIP has been updated to reflect
the proposed 2026 projects. She presented the number of projects by department,
number of projects by year, cost vs. funding by year, funding summary, department
summary projects by program, projects by type, projects by funding.
The Financial Consultant stated that the next item on the agenda this evening is the
discussion of the funding plan for 2026 improvements, which includes the two large
capital projects of the Public Works Facility and Otter Lake Road Extension project.
The Financial Consultant reported that under the current draft CIP the 10 encrypted
radios for the fire department were moved from 2026 to 2027.
Mayor Rafferty confirmed that the public safety rescue boat had been moved. He
requested that city staff set a meeting with Anoka County and Council representative to
discuss the county's plans for providing a rescue boat for the area.
Funding Plan for 2026 Improvements
The Finance Consultant stated that in 2026 there are two significant projects planned
including the public works facility at an estimated cost of $31 million and the Otter Lake
Road improvement project at an estimated cost of $12.3 million. The city will be using a
combination of bonds and cash on hand to pay for the public works facility. The public
works facility bonds will be paid through the tax levy and utility fees. Otter Lake Road
will be paid for using bonds, cash on hand and Municipal State Aid (MSA) funds. She
presented the payment chart for the two projects.
The Community Development Director presented an overview of the City Charter,
Chapter 8, requirements related to Special Assessments for the Otter Lake Road project.
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It was identified that the nature of the bond under a special assessment would be
taxable vs. non-taxable bonds. With special assessments the costs would be higher than
without assessments. The net gain without assessments is $30,750. Therefore, it was
not recommended to include assessments with this project. It was also noted that the
property owner's that would be assessed in this project area already have 1-35
assessments which many have been deferred under Green Acres rules.
The Community Development Director stated that the timeline for the Otter Lake Road
project is construction in 2026 with property owners being able to begin land
development projects in 2027.
The Community Development Director noted that the City of Hugo was interested in
paving up to 80th Street and that we have been in discussions with them regarding the
proposed improvements to Otter Lake Road.
Councilmember Lyden asked for a status update on the City's negations to purchase the
Winter Property to establish wetland banks.
The Community Development Director stated that based on the most recent Army Corp
of Engineers report he did not believe the city would be closing on the property and that
the current purchase agreement would expire.
Council Consensus
It was the consensus of the City Council to support the 2026 CIP projects and funding as
presented, with no assessments for the Otter Lake Road project.
7. Franchise Fees
The City Administrator reported that the City Charter requires a franchise agreement
with utility providers. She stated that city staff are working to draft new and renewal
agreements as needed.
The City Administrator stated that another consideration is franchise fees. The City has a
franchise fee ordinance for Centennial Utilities, which generated $57,000 in revenue in
2024. The City also has a franchise fee for Comcast that is administered by North Metro
TV, which provided the city with $17,000 in revenue and the cable broadcast services.
The City Administrator presented a list of current utility providers. She presented
information on franchise fee schedules for area cities for comparison. She asked if the
Council would like to consider franchise fees as part of the discussion on franchise
agreements.
The Council discussed the pros and cons of a franchise fee as presented in the
presentation on franchise agreements. Noting that a matrix of the franchise fees and
revenues for Xcel Energy would be useful in considering the matter further.
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Council Consensus
It was the consensus of the City Council to continue the review of franchise fees and to
direct staff to prepare additional information for future consideration.
8. Notices and Communications / General Business
Councilmember Lyden asked if there was interest in obtaining a cost estimate to build a
10-car garage space for police vehicles. He estimated that the cost would be around
$200,000 but the value would be to protect the investment in vehicles.
Councilmember Lyden suggested that the 2025 resident survey being prepared this fall,
include a question regarding cannabis retail operations.
Mayor Rafferty stated that there was not enough time to include that question in the
survey.
Councilmember Lyden asked the status of the plan to re -post the MN state flag.
Mayor Rafferty stated that the city should focus on posting the city flag as there
currently isn't a city flag posted at the municipal campus.
Adjournment
Mayor Rafferty adjourned the meeting at 8:11 p.m.
These minutes were approved at the regular Council Meeting on October 27, 2025.
Roberta Colotti, CMC b R erty,
City Clerk Mayor
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