Agenda Packets - 2014/09/02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No. 3. Meeting Date: September 2, 2014 Type of Business: Work Session City Administrator Review: ______ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Mark Beer, Finance Director Item Title/Subject: 2015 Draft General Fund Budget and Levy The July review of the draft budget had a preliminary imbalance of $396,213 after considering the planned draw down of $250,000 from assigned fund balance, an imbalance of $146,213 remained. There has been additional information that staff has received that has increased the imbalance to $204,356. The fire department adjusted down their request for capital outlay and may have additional adjustments. The police department increased their request for capital outlay for a new records management and E-ticketing systems. There will be a carry-over of the election equipment purchase ($36,000) to 2015. Public Works evaluated the allocation of staff time to the various PW departments and realigned the allocation to more accurately reflect where staff spends time. This will create shifts within the various PW’s department but have no overall impact on the General Fund. These were the primary changes from July. There is no state levy limit for 2015. The charter will limit any levy increase to between 3 and 4 percent. The state has concluded the current legislative session with Local Government Aid (LGA) proposed to increase from $597,024 to $655,951. LGA was included in the 2015 budget and there is no levy increase included at this time. Preliminary valuation information from Ramsey County indicates that residential values will increase 8.1% after several years of declines. Commercial/Industrial (C/I) values will remain flat for 2015 and apartments will increase by 5.1%. Because of the uneven change in values there will be a shift in taxes to residential properties from C/I and apartment properties. This means that taxes will increase on residential properties even if there is no levy increase. The City needs to certify a preliminary levy and General Fund budget to the County by September 30th. (2014 law change) Once set the levy can go down but not up. The City will hold a truth in taxation meeting on Monday, December 1st, 2014 at 6pm with a continuation meeting on Monday, December 8th, 2014 at 7pm if needed. Final levy and budget approval may occur at the December 8th meeting. Conclusion Staff is looking for any additional direction from the Council on how they would like to proceed. Respectfully Submitted, Mark Beer