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LAKE ELMO CITY COUNCIL MINUTES DECEMBER 1, 1992 5 Arlyn Christ, 8929 36th St. N., stated that in 1993 the park bond will be taken off. If you include that as something that has been required as a funding in the past, we no longer need the funds, it seems the 32% increase is extremely unconscionable recognizing that 5% more. You are funding the future expenditures through reserve funds and paying off an equipment certificate at an accelerated rate. I'm not so sure if I am against the budget if that is what we are trying to do, although I don't like the increase. To sit here and say it is because of commercial taxes --it is not at all. It is because we are paying off some equipment certificates. Wyn John, 8883 Jane Road N., stated Lake Elmo incurs a certain amount of costs every year to run the city. If you want it to stay as it is and maintain it as it is, there are certain cost levels which the council has looked at responsively and ended up with a total. This total then gets distributed to each household individually. The way the total gets split may be considered unfair by you, individually, which is something the council has very little control over. We recognize that with I-94 we have an area which is appropriate for commercial development. With the appropriate commercial development coming across, it will not be resisted any more strongly than we indicated during our campaign. Everybody has told me during our door knocking to keep Lake Elmo rural. This is one of our intentions, but at the same time we have to be realistic and we are trying to get a well balanced tax base as we can easily manage. Bob Eischen, 11674 Stillwater Blvd. N., stated his personal feelings is that the large percentage increases reflected in the budget is managing Lake Elmo rather than Lake Elmo is managing the budget. Example given was the large increase in the Public Works Department. This increase is out of line in terms of ordinary people who live in ordinary homes cannot understand. These projected increases did not come overnight. They came with legislation and it looks like we were not proactive, but reactive, which resulted in these large increases. Can the Department Heads come up with a 5% cut rather than a 100% increase. We are looking at what is absolutely minimally necessary. If this trend continues, many of the people in this locality are going to be taxed out of their homes. M. Sarkissian, 8290 Hidden Bay Court, question the increase for professional services for the city engineer and for the recycling program. In Burnsville Waste Management agreed to recycle the mass mailing (junk Mail) --Is Lake Elmo considering doing this? Is there a way of considering a 5% salary increase each year for two years? I suggest trying to freeze the actual 1992 expenditures, use that as the 1993, and take the additional amounts and make them into