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-4- <br /> for the City" in any effort to reverse that vote, but the Mayor <br /> told him the deadline for such action had passed and the only re- <br /> course open would be to lobby for a change in the law. She added <br /> that, since -400 residents had indicated through the referendum <br /> they didn' t want that direction pursued, Council members had opted <br /> not to lobby for further changes in the levy limits. <br /> Mr. McMullen said he would oppose any liquor operation which would <br /> hurt the quali-ty of life in any area of the City and was concerned <br /> that the residential quality of the City be maintained, insisting <br /> that principle rather than dollar profit should be considered no <br /> matter which site is chosen. He advocated consideration of commer- <br /> cial areas first and was "willing to pay more taxes rather than have <br /> the liquor operation developed in a residential neighborhood. " <br /> Duane Stanley, 3012 39th Avenue N.E. , said he lives directly behind <br /> the Twin City Federal building and has noted the increase in traffic <br /> down Penrod since drivers go through the bank ' s parking lot in order <br /> to bypass the traffic lights on Silver Lake Road. He saw the Council <br /> as open to the charge from the residents of contradiction between <br /> their stated expectations for the area through the Hedlund PUD and <br /> the message they will be conveying if they change their minds and <br /> allow a high-volume business with higher traffic generation in the <br /> same location now. He also questioned whether the City should be <br /> in the liquor business at all and wanted to know just what level of <br /> income the City was hoping to generate by updating the liquor opera- <br /> tion. <br /> • Mayor Haik responded that the City's principle concern is to stay <br /> ahead of inflation in order to maintain the existing level of <br /> services . Mr. Fornell anticipated yearly expenditure increases <br /> for the City of up to $100 ,000 for which the City will only be <br /> allowed a six percent levy raise on a 1979 base of $500, 000, which <br /> could result in yearly deficit amounting u p t o . $70,000 . He saw <br /> the only other "business" alternative to deficit spending would be <br /> to raise the rates for water and sewer services, the only other <br /> businesses the City has, but this he viewed as taking from the <br /> residents in the same manner as raising their taxes . The Mayor <br /> agreed that alternatives to maximizing the income potential of the <br /> liquor operation would be raising the rates for water and sewer <br /> services and cutting out such services as tree trimming, branch <br /> removal and edging of the curbs. <br /> She saw it as almost impossible to cut the Maintenance staff who <br /> i <br /> are very flexible about filling in their regular jobs with doing <br /> much of the required construction work and repairing their own <br /> vehicles and equipment. She also felt the use of Certificate of <br /> Indebtedness for equipment purchases was a very costly way of <br /> operating. <br />