Agenda - Council - 11/14/2000 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

people will not see. He stated that he understands that the City had to generate funds to.:MnG . these issues, but feels it is an unfair charge at this time. Mr. VeVe stated that he with the underhanded way that they received ~e charge on their utility bills an¢:.'~ ~)crongly urged the Council to take action on stoppin= these charges and complete ~rili~ on the unfairness of the way it is being billed and the actual cost. ~ ~fi?'~"~!~"~ r,h~,.1,,,,~ u~,,~r,~ q'~O0 156' Lane NW, Ramsey, stated that not ever~ subscribes C~,~. '-'~ ..... ~ni~n'*~o*'~_n-o~ what is going on in the City and to have residents the charge 34.'i~:~;::~., .... re the addition of Ramsev Resident was recei~e'd~:expta~mng~me proposed storm drainaoe utility was very unfair, She stated that she feelS~-,the Cxty~[s:}~ctouole rapping oy char~ng ta~x~s and adding another assessment. Ms. Han~i.~xplamed that she reviewed the revenue of the City for 1998 and 1999 and the City spenti4Zfp'ercent mot} in 1999 than they did in 1998 and thinks that the City is trying to scramble fO¢:~'oney any ~<~ they can to cover up their overspending. She stated that the.City is chargi~!'~'~'~i~0r/ty ligh i~.y. cllng, and now a' storm drainage utility which is politically incorrect and has tCSi?:.. ::,~?> Wayne Davis, 6530 Green Valley Road, Ramsey, stated that it w°h~ve taken ~ three percent .tax increase for the City to receive the funds needed to maintain'~!¢::eurrenf~!~0rm drainage system. He explained that h/s city l fi & :of.taxes is $890 and the $6?0?~t6rm~drainage utility fee on his house would have been:athree 15~rCeh(incr:~ase, but instead h~r:~iceives a $4,600 storm drainage utility fee for. the sam,~?ParCeJ:isf landY ~ue:gcted~,}hat w~at the business own_ers .are pleading is that they don't m/nd~}ayin~'t15eir taxes, butTlhey d~:hav~?~ problem paying a t~e that is considerabl hi~her than their annual~:'C[.tY taxeS":~':~i:~{;%eemk*'~-~ if:''~he process did not happen right and he felt that the City needs to lob~;at. 0~er opt~ons¢:~clud~ng increasing overall taxes three percent. Mr.,Davis noted that he i~ ~b~:through tt~:~"process of filling out his credit application, but ~:tS"~ake the point that;.t:..!~e utility is wrong. Councilmefi~b~}~Hendrikser~?~dted that in some!~-~s'~he was surprised about the amount of anger over theUti~[ty. He explai~e-~ that the Counc~i~ally felt they were handling the issue in the fairest iw~Y~6~sible becau-se~5[would have~g~easy for the City to hide the cost in the overall _~'5~V~::Davis repliedr~he thought the Council would be upset to if his fees went up five times .~;i?'~'~n0i-'e::tha~-his taxes. ~{:Smted%at Connexus put in $150,000 into a storm drainage plan and inquired}~ey will rece;iN~'$y50,000 back. He explained that he was informed by the Public Works Co~}f'tee that hi§~!b;~st hope would be to receive a 50 percent credit, but only if he constructs a holding pond~n his property. City Engineer ~on replied that Connexus will be returned the $150,000. ~:::~i~...~ :: Davis,. ~d that the issue will become a legal, issue because it is worth it for the business o~er t0!'fiiCe attorney's to research the legality because the City of Ramsey will be setting pr~3en~for other cities. Everyone drives down City streets and that is where the majority of · th~:St0rm, ~ sewer water is from and for that reason he felt that there is no fairer way to handle this -80- Ci~ Council/September 26, 2000 Page 24 of 36