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City Administrator Ulrich agreed targets are important and requested Council input on what it <br />wants, as a group, for a tax capacity rate and budget for road reconstruction. He indicated the <br />City would not have staff in the community development area so there will be an impact and <br />efforts may need to be prioritized or consultants /commission members used going forward. City <br />Administrator Ulrich stated there was Council consensus to reduce operating expenditures to <br />allow funding street maintenance but it would be tough to get to $3 million through cuts alone. <br />Staff would appreciate input relating to where the Council wants to end up and staff will then <br />target expenditures to get here. <br />Mayor Ramsey stated he found the numbers the Council is working with to be troubling <br />considering the City has not funded road maintenance through the general fund budget for the <br />last several years but used TIF to cover that cost. Now the City is taking on seal coating and <br />$15 million only covers general maintenance (seal coating and overlays) and not road <br />reconstruction. Mayor Ramsey stated he has been studying this issue for five years, it is not <br />going to go away, and there is no public support to raise taxes to address this need. He believed <br />it would be palatable with Ramsey residents if services had to be reduced to fund roads, but they <br />would not support raising taxes. That is why he liked a "30/40/50" plan that would solve issues <br />for staff, policy, and direction in the future. Mayor Ramsey proposed the City spend 30% of its <br />dollars on roads, have a tax capacity rate of 40 %, and not spend more than 50% on staffing <br />including police. He believed this plan would give direction to staff and as the tax base grows, <br />the funds also grow allowing the potential for more staff and roads later on. In addition, citizens <br />don't pay more taxes. Mayor Ramsey stated he will not support a franchise fee, thinks residents <br />won't support it, and that raising taxes is not an option. <br />Councilmember Strommen noted something lost in the road project conversation is that the <br />City's current and past policy is to pay in part through assessments. Assessments are an added <br />cost to residents, one residents cannot budget for, it hits all at once, and the assessment process is <br />cumbersome for the City. She stated she is concerned about where the City may make other <br />cuts. She agreed that roads are a fundamental responsibility of the City but so is police and fire. <br />Councilmember Strommen stated she has not heard from residents that services are so grand the <br />City should cut them back and suggested a conversation needs to be held about that issue. She <br />indicated she does not want to raise taxes, but the Council needs to be realistic about costs. <br />Councilmember Strommen stated road projects are an add -on cost and some mechanism may <br />need to be considered until the City has the ability to take on more burden. <br />Mayor Ramsey noted that during the Town Hall meeting there was mention of closing a park and <br />people were upset until it was explained the Council had to look at the whole system. He agreed <br />there are important core functions but he believed the current budget was out of balance and the <br />Council needed to make the tough decisions. Mayor Ramsey noted the City of Andover spends <br />significantly less for police protection than Ramsey and fire services may go the same way. <br />Councilmember Strommen stated she has had no resident tell her that Ramsey has too much <br />police protection and it should be cut back. She stated if core services are to be cut back, <br />residents may not notice but the Council needs to hold that discussion and get input from the <br />people who live here and pay for core services. <br />City Council Work Session / March 20, 2012 <br />Page 3 of 12 <br />