Agenda - Council - 05/12/1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I City of Ramsey ~153NOWTHEN BOULEVARD N.W., RAMSEY, MINNESOTA 55303 · (612) 427-1410 I I I I I I '1 I I I I I I I I I May 1, 1992 Mr. Charlie Blesener Community ~uc,a~ion Director School DistriCt #728 1230 NW Scl~ooll Street Elk River, Minnesma 55330 Dear Mr. Ble~ener,: On TuesdaY, ~P'fil 28, 1992 the City of Ramsey Budget Committee met to discuss reductions in expenditures ,?d['u'/: ito impacts of the most recent legislative session. It was recommended by the Committee~ 'ds p,'&,'t of the $49,000 in cuts, to eliminate the $3,500 which had been designated towards com~unity education in School District #728. Later that same evening the Ramsey City Council ratifi~ t~t recommendation. During the d~scUision at either the Budget Committee or Council meeting, several issues were raised to w~¢h you should be apprised. Several of these issues relate to an ongoing policy dilemma which We have within our organization. These are as follows: 1) inthit SChool District #728, as well as School District #11, have the ability to levy and do in f~t fury levy for community education, is it not true that the citizens are already funding any dome. j unity education programming which occurs in either school district? It follows thltt ~f D~strict #728 community education decides to offer a program for any specific puepese, the Ramsey citizens are in fact contributing to that program through your levy. Fuetl'ier, it would be interesting to determine the amounts of revenue received through the levy ~om each community in the school district in total and on a per capita basis. 2) There have been ongoing discussions at both the Staff and the Council level as to Ramsey's ability t0 provide ongoing funding in these times of fiscal constraints for programs or aCtiv~ities~ not directly within the purview of city government. Community education, of course, iS one such area that invites such a discussion. 3) As we have discussed before, it is difficult to provide funding to a school district which pro,des! programming entirely outside of the community. Hopefully this situation can ch~ge ~ the future. 4) Within .~he area of our community outside of School District #728 there are, in place, exis~ng ~volunteer organizations running youth athletic pro~amming entirely supported by Participant fees and entirely programmed by volunteers. Within these youth organizations, anylreS!dent of the City of Ramsey is welcomed regardless of school district affiliation. It didr got s, eem appropriate to the Council to provide funding for recreation programming to a school district that represents a small portion of the community and which does not operate