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No response. <br /> <br />Councilmember Peterson then commented that 3.7 appears to be the right number. <br /> <br />Mayor Hardin stated he would prefer to see that. <br /> <br />Councilmember Peterson asked if anyone would be interested in going closer to 4. <br /> <br />Councilmember Beyer stated she would be. <br /> <br />Councilmember Peterson asked how far. <br /> <br />Councilmember Beyer stated that when she was looking at what's been cut - some of these things <br />we have been looking at for three to four years - for example - an additional maintenance worker, a <br />mechanic. She felt Council should seriously consider these. She stated she knows that Chief <br />Auspos brought up a patrol officer - and now that's cut. <br /> <br />Ms. Hart stated that this summary is items that have not been discussed at the staff level. We <br />(Schroeder and Hart) went through raw data and these are suggestions. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that the goal was to get the expenditure level down to what we thought was a <br />likely end result of this budget process. It's the same process we use every year. This was a <br />quick first blush of getting these requests down to what we think is a reasonable level. <br /> <br />Councilmember Beyer asked, in doing this cutting, are you looking at being able to provide the <br />best service - the best value for the money - or are you just arbitrarily making cuts to look good. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder responded that his first goal is to get the tax levy down to as low as in the year <br />before and then examine what impact that has. If cuts are too severe to provide a level of service, <br />we will talk about it at the staff level. This list is not a recommended list of cuts - it's cuts that <br />could occur to get down to that level. Do not look at this list and say "well Ryan is proposing to <br />eliminate the request for the Building Maintenance Worker". It has not gotten to that level yet. <br /> <br />Councilmember Peterson asked how in the past they went down from 3.9 levy. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder answered that once we have better numbers, staff will talk about what we would <br />recommend gets cut, added or re-figured. We have not gotten to that step yet. We will have a joint <br />recommendation to come to City Council with. He added that he is the tie breaker and that the <br />department head does have "his day in court". I have come with a budget recommendation that <br />you can increase. We want to know what Council's target is. <br /> <br />Councilmember Beyer stated that staff should be looking at the level of service that's being <br />provided right now and come back with a recommendation. Before any arbitrary brackets are put <br />in the budget - the level of service has to be looked at. We can justify increases if we know what <br />the money is going for. <br /> <br />Mr. Schroeder stated that Councilmember Beyer wants to maintain at least the same level of service <br />or better and the tax rate is secondary. <br /> <br />Councilmember Beyer stated that the level of service is the most important - all else is secondary. <br />She asked what requests did not make it this far. <br /> <br />Finance Committee/Budget Work Session/August 8, 199~o <br /> Page 5 of 6 <br /> <br /> <br />