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<br />Mayor Ramsey stated that for the $1 million or so tp.e City will be short in 2010, he is not <br />opposed to taking half of that amount from the landfill fund or something to offset that amount <br />or even an' internal loan to cover half of it. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that he agrees, but perhaps not with the landfill fund. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look stated that he feels this is still a "Band-aid" fix because it doesn't deal <br />with the expenditures that the City has. He stated that he would like to use personnel as the last <br />option and cut anywhere else that can be done. He stated that the City has been doing internal <br />loan transfers as a regular part of the budgeting process and this will eventually run out. He <br />stated that the City needs to trim expenditures. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated that he isn't a big fan of the transfers either. He stated that he <br />would like to see where the City can make the million dollar cuts rather than just putting on a <br />"Band-aid". He stated that he knows it will be hard but feels it needs to be done. <br /> <br />Councilmember McGlone stated that if City Administrator Ulrich comes back with numbers, he <br />would like to see all the details of the savings, for example, for a staff cut: salary; benefits; their <br />phone or Blackberry; their car, etc. He stated that it is tough to consider letting people go and he <br />is an advocate of finding ways to cut everywhere else first, but he doesn't want to be afraid to <br />pull the trigger because you are just delaying the inevitable. He stated that he would like to look <br />at the self insurance policy for unemployment to see if the way the City is doing it makes the <br />most sense. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that the City is working hard on how to' cut costs and he would like <br />to talk more about how the City is going to earn more money. He asked about the planning costs <br />for the Comprehensive Plan and asked if the costs were capped. <br /> <br />Community Development Director Miller stated that there were various contract changes and <br />additional meetings that had to be attended because of the Ramsey3 process. She stated that it <br />exceeded the original budgeted amount by about $23,000. <br /> <br />City Administrator Ulrich distributed a proposal from staff to provide payroll functions for the <br />City of Oak Grove. He stated that this came out of a proposal by Paychex to provide payroll <br />functions for our City. He stated that this would allow the City to bring in some revenue and <br />work cooperatively with another City. <br /> <br />Finance Officer Lund reviewed the proposal and noted that it will be brought to the Oak Grove <br />Council next Monday. She stated that there would be one designated person for the Oak Grove <br />contract and is based on the hourly amount that she is paid. She stated that their payroll runs the <br />opposite week as ours and they also use the same LOGIS database that Ramsey can access. She <br />reviewed the current cost for payroll and compared the cost of Paychex and our current costs and <br />noted that Paychex does not include the PERA calculations so there would still need to be staff <br />time dedicated to that function. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session I February 3, 2009 <br />Page 8 of 15 <br />