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The City provides a variety of municipal services. These include a full -time police department, a volunteer fire department, engineering services, street and park maintenance, building inspections, planning and zoning, public improvements, general administrative services, and public water and sewer utilities in the urban service areas, The City adopts an annual budget for the General Fund, EDA Special Revenue Fund, and BRA Special Revenue Fund. Legal level of control is at the function level. Department heads may transfer resources within a department as they see fit. Transfers between functions, however, need special approval from the City Council. LOCAL ECONOMY The City has an unemployment rate of 6.7% in comparison to the state average of 6.8 %. Ramsey has an employed labor force of 13,981. Anoka County, in which Ramsey is located, has an employed labor force of 190,298. There are approximately 6,686 single - family homes and 1,529 multifamily units located within the City. In addition, there were 57 single - family homes and 18 townhome dwellings constructed in 2008. The City has two major industrial parks with a combined capacity of 320 acres and 25 businesses. Currently both industrial parks are near capacity. The City's General Fund has property taxes as the major source of revenue (71 %). Licenses and permits accounted for the second largest category of revenue (9 %) and intergovernmental revenue dropped to 5 %. In prior years, intergovernmental revenue was the second largest category of revenue for the General Fund. Intergovernmental revenue includes state aids, such as Local Government Aid (LGA), Market Value Homestead Credit (MVHC), Highway Maintenance Aid, Fire Relief Aid, Police Aid, and County grants. Due to severe budget deficits in the state of Minnesota, the City has seen a total reduction of LGA since fiscal year 2003. Due to a significant budget shortfall at the state level, the second half of the expected Market Value Homestead Credit was eliminated in 2008. LONG -TERM FINANCIAL PLANNING The City of Ramsey prepares a five year capital improvement/capital outlay plan in an attempt to anticipate major capital expenditures in advance of the year in which they are budgeted. The City has a policy to maintain an unreserved General Fund balance in an amount equal to 60% of the following years adopted operating budget. This policy is designed to establish a fund balance at a level which is sufficient to avoid issuing debt to meet current operating needs. MAJOR INITIATIVES Since 1990, the City has been attempting to provide improved services to a dramatically increasing number of households in a time of fiscal constraints at the state level. From the 1990 census to the 2008 projection, Ramsey' s population has increased by 94 %. At the same time, aids from the state of Minnesota have decreased. The purchase of land for a future public works campus took place in 2008. The development of that public works campus is not expected in the near term. -v -