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Item No: 7A <br />Meeting Date: May 11, 2009 <br />Type of Business: CB <br />Administrator Review: ______ <br />City of Mounds View Staff Report <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Jim Ericson, Clerk-Administrator <br />Item Title/Subject: Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 819, an <br />Ordinance Amending Chapter 7, Section 7.03, of the City <br />Charter Relating to “Fees” <br /> <br />Background: <br /> <br />The Charter Commission has adopted a resolution to amend the City Charter in Section <br />7.03 relating to “fees”. The amendments serve to clarify which fees are subject to annual <br />increase limitations and referendum requirements. The limits, generally speaking, are as <br />follows: <br /> <br />Either the prior year tax levy dollar amount increased by a maximum of 5%, or <br />the Minneapolis / St. Paul CPI plus 2%, whichever is less. <br /> <br />The Charter Commission approved Resolution 2009-02d at their meeting on March 12, <br />2009. The resolution is attached for your reference. <br /> <br />Background: <br /> <br />A public hearing was held on April 13, 2009 to consider the first reading and introduction <br />of the subject ordinance. While the first reading was ultimately approved, there were two <br />questions raised regarding the language which I will restate and address in this report. <br />The ordinance was reviewed and discussed again on April 27, 2009. One minor change <br />was agreed to, however because not all Council members were in attendance, action <br />could not occur on the ordinance. The Chair of the Charter Commission, Jonathan <br />Thomas, was in attendance for the April 27th meeting of the Council and agreed that the <br />change would not alter the original intent of the Commission’s recommendation. <br /> <br />Discussion: <br /> <br />One of the proposed amendments to the Charter contemplated by Ord 819 is to exclude <br />the annual reauthorization of the utility franchise fee from the limitations imposed in <br />Section 7.03. Without the proposed exclusion, a strict interpretation of the Charter would <br />require that the City conduct a referendum EVERY year to continue with the gas and <br />electric franchise fee, which sunsets annually. The Council asked what happens when <br />the Franchises agreements expire and new Franchise agreements are adopted—would <br />the proposed exclusion apply even then? Staff’s interpretation is that the annual <br />reauthorization applies to the franchise fee and is not tied to approvals of new Franchise <br />agreements, which would occur Nov 2012 in the case of Xcel and July 2019 in the case of <br />CenterPoint. Chair Thomas did not disagree with this interpretation. <br />