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The City of Lake Elmo contracts with the Washington County Sheriff for police services. The number of
<br />contracted officers is not changing. Fire is requesting 3 additional positions. See Fire Chief memo.
<br />Public Works
<br />Public Works is comprised of the Streets and Parks departments under the General Fund, and the Water,
<br />Sewer and Stormwater “departments”. Water, sewer and stormwater are accounted in separate Funds,
<br />collectively known as the “Utility Funds” or “Enterprise Funds”. Staff time, and many expenses, are
<br />allocated across those functions. The table below outlines how personnel expenses within the Public Works
<br />division are allocated.
<br />Some additional wages from other departments are also allocated to the Utility Funds, as those funds benefit
<br />from work done across the organization.
<br />Total General Fund Public Works functions are budgeted to increase by 13%. One additional staff is
<br />recommended to be split between Streets, Parks, and the utility funds.
<br />Dept #Department Name 2023
<br />Actual
<br />2024
<br />Actual
<br />2025
<br />Budget
<br />2026
<br />Requested
<br />% Change
<br />3100 Streets 1,450,333 1,800,311 1,215,818 1,201,085 -1%
<br />5200 Parks & Recreation 412,051 496,013 687,513 950,815 38%
<br />Less Vehicle & Equipment Transfers 92,981 93,786
<br />Less Street Maintenance Transfer 600,000
<br />Total Public Works 1,769,403 1,602,538 1,903,331 2,151,900 13%
<br />Enterprise (Utility) Fund expenses vary greatly year-to-year, due to those funds utilizing a full accrual
<br />accounting method. Expenses within those funds include depreciation and debt payments, as well as capital
<br />expenses, which create the largest fluctuation in those budgets year-to-year. Because the city is not
<br />currently charging fees sufficient to cover depreciation, the utility funds show a net negative. Staff is
<br />working on revising the chart of accounts and our internal processes so it is easier to compare operations
<br />and capital expenses separately year-to-year. Utility Revenues are projected during the Utility Financial
<br />Plan update; most recently in January of 2025. Actual revenues can vary greatly depending how much
<br />precipitation the area gets each summer, as rainfall decreases, irrigation usage increases. The budgets below
<br />are based on the increases as planned tentatively based on the January Financial Plan update. More
<br />discussion on utility rates will occur later in the year or early in 2026.
<br />Fund/Dept.Department Name 2023
<br />Actual
<br />2024
<br />Actual
<br />2025
<br />Budget
<br />2026
<br />Requested
<br />% Change
<br />601 Water - Operations 3,887,483 3,601,421 3,356,333 3,958,646 17.95%
<br /> Water - WTP --155,723 457,257 193.63%
<br /> Water - Capital & Debt*345,103 328,512 3,514,958 2,198,606 -37.45%
<br /> Water - Total 4,232,585 3,929,933 7,027,014 6,614,510 -5.87%
<br />602 Sewer - Operations 2,139,472 2,676,191 2,535,609 2,775,659 9%
<br /> Sewer - Capital & Debt*333,335 329,701 2,236,770 1,393,638 -38%
<br /> Sewer - Total 2,472,808 3,005,892 4,772,379 4,169,297 -13%
<br />603 Stormwater - Operations 1,011,695 1,155,180 1,076,283 1,150,870 6.93%
<br /> Stormwater - Capital & Debt*40,518 35,921 544,505 584,743 7.39%
<br /> Stormwater - Total 1,052,213 1,191,101 1,620,788 1,735,613 7.08%
<br />Total Enterprise Operations 7,038,650 7,432,792 6,968,224 7,885,176 13.16%
<br />Total Enterprise Capital & Debt 373,854 365,622 2,936,998 2,435,637 -17.07%
<br />Total Enterprise 7,412,503 7,798,414 9,905,222 10,320,813 4.20%
<br />Asset and liability adjustments made at year end affect how 2023 and 2024 are represented here.
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