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<br />2) Budget Prioritization - 2009 General Fund <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that Assistant City Administrator Nelson had included an <br />exercise in the packet to help the Council work through budget issues. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson stated that the exercise broke up the budget into functions <br />of the City and the definitions of those functions were also included on a separate piece of paper. <br />She stated that staff discussed that there should be a longer discussion about what kind of results <br />the Council wants to see, however this process would take longer than the City has right now, so <br />this exercise was meant to get this moving forward. She stated that staff would like to get this <br />back tonight and put together some analysis information to use next Wednesday night for <br />discussion at the work session. She stated that for the right-sizing piece, she would like the <br />Council to just look for their gut perception, because staff understands that the Council may not <br />have all the information that they would need on these items to make that judgment. <br /> <br />Councilmember Jeffrey stated he thought staff was going to come forward with a list of things <br />that they think is important because they see things day to day. He stated that using the example <br />of general election supplies, he has no idea how important it is or if the City is under or over <br />budget. He stated that if you ask him if police is more important than community development, <br />he thinks so, but thinks the City needs to look at what those priorities are based on what the <br />regular operators of the City deem are really important. He stated he doesn't feel he can make a <br />judgment call from his armchair. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich stated that he understands this concern, and, at this point, the results of <br />this survey are not meant to be absolutes, but to generate discussion about what the Council <br />thinks are highest and lowest priorities. He noted that it wasn't meant to push every item that the <br />Council may not have knowledge about out the door. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen stated that she doesn't think it is a bad thing for Council to do the <br />exercise, but she struggles on things like payroll or records management because they probably <br />aren't anyone's priority, but they are a necessary function in the City. <br /> <br />Assistant City Administrator Nelson stated that what it comes down to is the 10 things that end <br />up at the bottom of the list, that the City may look at and say, okay, why is the City doing this <br />and are there things in here that can be looked at from a budget perspective and changed or <br />eliminated." <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated that in looking through some of this, he doesn't think the Council <br />can argue that any of them are unnecessary. He stated that, for example, seasonal landscaping, <br />but, without a dollar figure to know what the City spends in a year on this, it is difficult to say <br />the City can make cut backs. He stated that, picking on building inspection, with the downturn <br />in the economy and if, for example, the City has four inspectors that are not being kept busy and <br />one of them leaves, the City can say it understands it will eventually have to catch up when the <br />economy ramps up, but perhaps that position could be left vacant now. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / October 28,2008 <br />Page 3 of 6 <br />