Agenda Packets - 2005/09/12 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mounds View City Council August 8, 2005 Regular Meeting Page 14 1 City Administrator Ulrich confirmed noting that last year the City lost nearly three times as much 2 in local government aid and the City also experienced significant increases in the health 3 insurance. 4 5 Council Member Flaherty stated that the City knew that the LGA loss of $122,217.00 was 6 coming adding that the 8-percent is way overboard as far as he is concerned with a levy. He 7 stated that this is one of the reasons why he ran for the Council. He asked the City Administrator 8 and Staff to look for ways that would reduce this before they get to the roundtable. He stated that 9 he would not back an 8-percent levy. 10 11 Council Member Gunn agreed stating that they go through this every year and keep asking Staff 12 to find more ways to cut from the budget. She expressed concerns stating that she is not sure that 13 there is anything more that can be cut. 14 15 Council Member Flaherty noted that he is probably not saying anything new but everyone is very 16 tired of what the levies have been in this City. He stated that if they need to be tough that is what 17 they have to do. 18 19 Council Member Thomas stated that she would hold off on any comments until next week. She 20 stated that she is planning to spend the next week to review this information adding that this is 21 giving Council a starting point to begin their discussions on the budget. 22 23 Mayor Marty referenced the personnel allocations on page two of the Staff report noting that due 24 to the concerns about allocations of the salaries to the EDA fund, salaries for the City 25 Administrator, Finance Director and Community Director have been relocated to the General 26 Fund and in 2006 the General Fund will cover an additional 5-percent of the City Administrator 27 and Finance Director salaries and 10-percent of the Community Director’s salary. He stated that 28 the reason some of these were allocated out of the TIF pool is because some of their 29 responsibilities were related to TIF and in overseeing TIF and asked if any of the time and 30 amounts could be allocated to the TIF pool. He asked Staff to look at this more closely noting 31 that they might not get the percentages that are going to be allocated back into the General Fund 32 but if they could keep any of this out of the General Fund and paid for out of TIF they would like 33 to see that happen. 34 35 Mayor Marty referenced the franchise tax noting that the last paragraph reads that City Council 36 has the option to increase the percentage going to the General Fund. This would hold down the 37 General Fund’s tax increase in 2006 but increase debt service taxes in the future. He clarified 38 that the debt services taxes are probably related to street improvements. He stated that it is up to 39 Council to review this information and identify areas where they could cut. He stated that he has 40 highlighted areas that he would like further clarification noting that he would direct his 41 comments later in the week and asked Staff to clarify. 42 43 Council Member Thomas stated that it is her understanding that the TIF changes, as far as 44 personnel allocations, was not done out of a finance reason but out of concern for the 45