Agenda - Council - 10/14/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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will be faced with adding three or four officers in the near future because they have held off the hiring of a new officer for the past couple of years. In regards to the proposed franchise fee, he met with some of the business owners where he suggested implementing a flat meter fee of $3.00 for residential and $6.00 for commercial, which would be about $144 per year for commercial businesses and $72 per year for a residential home. The total amount the City would receive would be $404,000. The business owners were much happier with the flat fee rather than a percentage. Councilmember Pearson inquired as to how they determine how many planners a city needs. City Administrator Norman replied that he would provide information on how many planners other cities have for Council review. Councilmember Elvig stated that there are four areas they can adjust within the budget but they are not able to incorporate figures that they don't know about. He suggested that they track the revenue projections very carefully over the year and if they go above that number then they would have the ability to possibly add new positions. He also noted that a fixed meter cost was something that he would feel more comfortable with rather than a percentage because it would be a fixed cost. Councilmember Zimmerman noted that the one problem he would see with charging a flat fee is that people would not be charged by usage and some people use more gas and electricity than others. Mayor Gamec replied that it would save people money by going with the flat fee. Finance Officer Lund explained that gas companies are talking about a major increase in gas costs so people were concerned about having to pay 4.5 percent on the higher bills. Councilmember Kurak stated that she thought the flat fee was a much better idea. Councihnember Elvig stated that he was very concerned about hiring more people because it sends politically a bad message because they would be adding the people to handle the gq'owth in the City and he thinks people would object to adding growth in their own neighborhoods. He stated that he would like to go to the different departments and ask them to stream line their costs cutting about $100,000 if possible. He thought that was the only way that they would be able to make cuts to the budget. He did not think that there was going to be a way'to get around adding a franchise fee, but the question is how much they will need. City Administrator Norman noted that he would like to have the proposed building permit fees incorporated into the budget for the next meeting. Councilmember Cook stated that he has a real concern that they add to the City everywhere except their employees when they have so much growth happening in the City. City Council Work Session/October 1, 2003 Page 5 of 8