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<br />Councilmember Look stated that residents had recently dealt with an increase in the school levy <br />and the increase in gas and electric prices. He advised that if the Arts and Environments Levy is <br />passed there would then be another increase in taxes. He thought that the council should be <br />aware of the needs and wants of the residents and to be aware that there are increases everywhere <br />you go. He stated that some families are having difficulties affording their mortgages and if the <br />increases keep coming they would force more people into foreclosure. He proposed to the <br />Council that they remove $100,000 from the budget. He advised that he did not know whether it <br />should be $25,000 per department or split another way but he thought that they should put a good <br />foot forward and show that they are tightening their belt too. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen did not think that they would get the answer for that until they knew <br />what the details of the budget were. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamecadvised that most of the costs are coming from the Federal and State levels. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen advised that part of the dilemma is that the burden is shifting and <br />some of that was beyond their control. She realized that some of that is from the State and some <br />is because there are not as many properties being built. She advised that they have done a lot of <br />tightening and are right in line and have been pretty stable. She stated that this is an intimidating <br />situation and thought that they should be happy that they are not in a worse situation. She <br />reported that they have been able to keep their services stable and the tax rate in range. She <br />stated that the department heads have done tremendous since the first draft of the budget. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec mentioned that there was talk of cutting the market value homestead credit and <br />local government aid, but he was not as concerned with the aid since the City does not receive <br />that now. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson questioned when the overall assessed value of the property in Ramsey <br />would be revealed. <br /> <br />Finance Officer Lund stated that the value the County had given was a 3.7 percent increase. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look commented that the value would decrease in the next year. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig confirmed that the reflection is from the previous year and that it should <br />decrease next year. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson advised that there were five divisions within his budget. He <br />advised that within traffic engineering is signal light maintenance, electric service for signals, <br />and the signals that they already have. He advised that they were trying to remain constant with <br />what they had last year, which required them to cut ~d pull a little bit. He advised that a few <br />years back they had purchased a sign making machine, which has enabled the City to make their <br />own signs. He advised that the engineering department is only increasing by $250. He advised <br />that they have had to do more with less as far as personnel. He stated that street maintenance is a <br />big portion of the budget and a large portion of that is the street maintenance program. He <br />reported that they would be changing the amount that the City covers for seal coating from 57 <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / July 29, 2008 <br />Page 9 of 15 <br />