2024.07.15 CC Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Meeting Minutes for July 15, 2024 Page 2 of 7 recap of the audit of City finances for the 2023 fiscal year. The audit report was posted on the City’s website. Jason began by saying the City had a clean audit, and he extended appreciation for the hard work of Council and staff. He explained what the audit entails and said an unmodified audit opinion was issued. He talked about a new section that required a single audit in 2023 as a result of spending ARPA funds, and no issues were found in testing. He reviewed the items that were required to be tested. He showed that property taxes were the largest revenue source, and he provided data on the different fund types. General Government Expenditures increased by 11% from 2022 due primarily to increased salaries for fully staffed Planning Department. Public safety expenditures increased by 9% due to increased fire and police protection. The highways and streets expenditures decreased in wages while materials and maintenance increased resulting in less than 1% difference from 2022. Expenditures for parks increased 30% in part due to the new Pede Pedersen Park facility. He talked about the benefit of the City’s policy to have at least 50% of the following year’s budget in reserves saying the fund was healthy largely due to ARPA funds that will be spent at a later time. Jason showed the City’s five-year debt service requirements saying payments were being made on time. He talked about recent Capital improvement projects that included Oneka Parkway, Birch tree ponds, and access control systems at the new Public Works, Lions Park Pavilion, and the Hanifl Shelter. He explained enterprise funds were doing well due to the increase in water billing revenue and good investment gains. Jason summarized by saying the City was issued an unmodified audit opinion with no single audit or Minnesota legal compliance exceptions. Petryk made motion, Klein seconded, to accept the results of the audit. All Ayes. Motion carried. Washington County Update on Highway 61 Visioning Study – Maddie Dahlheimer Washington County, MnDOT, and the City of Hugo had partnered on a corridor visioning study along Highway 61. A traffic, land use, and engineering analysis along with community input helped identify the long-range vision for the corridor that would be used to define future improvements and guide a potential jurisdictional transfer of the roadway from MnDOT to Washington County. The goals of the study included items such as evaluation of intersection improvements, defining access points, and determining right-of-way needs for the corridor for a possible expansion of the roadway. Madeline Dahlheimer from Washington County was present to provide an update. Before she began, Washington County Commissioner Fran Miron talked about the staff and partnerships that provided a great collaboration. He talked about the turnback being part of the long-range planning since 1996. Madeline showed a map of the study area and explained in 1996, there was intent to transfer the portion of TH61 in Washington County from MnDOT to Washington County. She provided background on the visioning study for Highway 61 and how it related to the Rush Line Transit Corridor, the City’s Downtown Plan and Design Guidelines, and the Corridor Access Management Plan MOU and Layout that illustrated the right-of-way needed for