Agenda - Charter Commission - 01/08/2002 - Memorandum

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city. For smaller cities - and many would say the larger ones as well - the wiser policy seems to be to leave this matter, tp the council, and this is particu- larly true in cities Which adopt this council-manager plan. If the council itself cannot appoint the heads of departments, there is little danger that it will create too many departments and offices. Further- more, in small cities the aim should be to combine functions .as much as possible into a few impo~ant offices, but just what combinations can be most conveniently made will not be known until some- thing has been learned about the qualifications of those who are t~ fill the positions. From time to .time, with changes in the official personnel, it should be possible to transfer duties from one office to another and make new combinations. Cities which adopt a commission form of government are, of course, more rigidly bound, and for them it would seem to be wiser policy tO name the depart- ments in the charter and to designate in §enera! language the functions of each. t20. The merit system. For the three largest cities there is no question as to the continuing need for charter provisions establishing and providing for the enforcement of the merit system. Through- out the country, however~ there has been a trend toward making the city personnel agency a service arm of the executive rather than a watchdog to ~,,..ve;~ evasions of the merit principle. This em- phasis is at least as appropriate for small as for larger cities. In smaller cities of the state the number of fu!l-time city employees is usually not large enough to require the elaborate machinery of the civil service commission and civil service rules. There should, however, be a just standardization of salaries and so far as possible there should be some sort of competitive test for the filling of each vac- ancy in the city's service, in small cities with the council-manager plan of government, the council might itself standardize positions and salaries, tt is not necessary to provide for these matters in the charter; they may be left to council action.16 Problems of Taxation and Finance 121o Tax and debt limitations. For various rea- sons the model charter contains neither a tax nor a debt limit for the city but merely allows taxes to be levied and debt incurred within the limits estab- lished by law. Statutory limits on the per capita in- creases that may be made in property taxes each year and older and occasionally lower limits on the 16Cities may take advantage of the enabling statu- tes to establish separate civil service commissions for their police or fire departments or a single civi[ service system to cover all departments. amount of taxes that may be levied per capita are so restrictive that any charter provision for a lower limit (a higher limit is legally impossible) seems generally undesirable. While the statutory limit on. net debt (6 and 2/3 percent of the assessed value) may be-reduced by charter, many find it unwise to fix a lower limit in the charter and rely instead ex- clusively on the statute.. The only way to keep down taxes in the long run is to keep down ex- penses. Generally speaking, this c~nnot be accom- plished by merely putting a provision in the charter or in the statutes. It can be accomplished to some extent by the constant pressure of interested citi- zens through taxpayers' and voters' associations. A' good budget system, with adequate publicity, backed by alert citizens, will succeed probably bet- ter than anything else. A municipal organization in. which the officers themselves have some incentive to attain efficiency will also be of much influence. in keeping down taxes. Miscellaneous Problems 122. Local improvements and special assess-' ments. The model charter contains very few provi- sions on local improvements and special assess- ments. In this respect it departs from the precedents set by many older city charters in Minnesota, but is consistent with recent charter practice. While there. can be no doubt as to the importance of these sub- jects, it must be admitted that there are few bran- ches of municipal administration in which there is greater need for such flexibility as is found in the statutory local improvement code, which applies outside first-class cities unless a charter adopted after ] 953 provides otherwise. (See M.S.A. 429.01- 429.11. 1 .) Certain fundamental provisions may pro- perly appear in the charter, particularly such as are designed to protect the property owner and tax- payer,.but beyond these the ch~irter'Should not go~ 123~ Franchises and public utilities. The model charter provisions upon these subjects are so draft- ed as not to hamper the council and the voters in case they desire mun;cipal ownership, and at the same time to give them ample control over the local utilities in case they are left in private hands. Provi-. sions on the re§ulation of' rates of private utilities doing business in the city are no longer of much charter concern since gas and electric companies as well as telephone companies are subject to ex- clusive state regulation of rates. -11 -