CC PACKET 10231984 - Laserfiche WebLink

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-5- • At 8:05 P_M: , the Mayor Pro Tem opened -the .public hearing,on the 1985 City budget by-.reading the notice of the hearing which had been published in the September 25th ! Bulletin.- .Mr. Childs indicated he had .received no written comments on the budget except the October 3rd letter from Chris Clausen, the Executive Director of the Northwest 'Suburban Youth Service, related to the level of funding for his organi- zation, which had been incl-uded in the agenda packet. Mr. Childs had attached to his October 5th memorandum summarizing the $1 ,609,330 1985 budget, charts illustrating the monetary effects the proposed tax levy of 12.674 mills would have on the average $80,000 home in St. Anthony as well as one whose market value is $100,000, and documenting the primary reasons for increasing the taxes beyond the corresponding 4% budget increase, as being the 17.9% decrease in budgeted revenues from the liquor operation and a 9% drop in state aids since the 1983 allocation. As a point of reference for a discussion of Mr. Clausen's letter, a copy of the Council ' s April 10th minutes reporting on previous Council action related to the Youth Bureau funding had been included in the agenda packet. The minutes indicated the Council had at that time authorized City sponsorship of a federal grant under which youth intervention services were to continue to be provided in the City by the Youth Service Bureau at the same time the Council had agreed to give considera- tion at budget time to participation in a joint powers agreement with nine other suburban communities under which that service would be continued in 1985 at a cost to the City of $6,883, to be assessed on a per capita basis. No formal request had been received in the interim and the funding was overlooked in the budget process and not included in the tax levy. When this omission was brought to the • Council 's attention September 25th, the decision had been' to fund the service at a $1 ,500 level from the• Council Contingency Fund, the general consensus being that the project should not automatically be funded each year, but rather treated like the Chemical Abuse Information Committee support and considered on an annual basis at budget time. When the head of the Youth Service Bureau had learned of the Council decision not to participate in the joint powers agreement, he wrote to the City officials indicat- ing the $1 ,500 level of funding would force his organization to discontinue their services to the City at the end of 1984. Mr. Clausen was present and amended his statement by saying that, rather than to force a hasty decision by the Council that evening, which he perceived could have an adverse effect on the City's young people, and taking full responsibility for not making a formal proposal as he had in the nine other suburban communities, the Bureau was prepared to "live with the amount you have allocated for 1985, with some adjustments in the level of service, as long as we don 't perceive a strong flavor on the Council against signing the joint powers agreement later on, in which case the service could not be provided - in 1985 for only a funding of $1 ,500. Mr. Clausen indicated St. Anthony is the only community in either Ramsey or Hennepin counties which hasn't funded youth intervention services and he said all the other communities consider that expenditure to be money well spent to keep their young people out of health care, juvenile court, and welfare systems. The Youth Bureau official pointed out that, as indicated in his October 3rd letter., the Bureau had budgeted $21 ,000 for services they propose to provide the City for the • $6,883 investment, with the difference being made up from other funding sources. In addition to the youth intervention services the City has now, St. Anthony would also be the beneficiary of three other programs extended to the other nine com- -munities. These would be a youth employment service, a training program for school personnel to help troubled young people;, and a unique program where the skills of the youths are utilized to aid senior citizens with their home chores.