Minutes - Council - 09/10/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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under consideration tonight will approve funding for the positions but not grant authority to fill those positions. That will require a later Council action. Councilmember Tossey stated the budget does not include filling the Economic Development Director position as it was budgeted for last year. Finance Director Lund clarified that position is not funded from the General Fund but through EDA/HRA, and TIF funding. Motion by Councilmember LeTourneau, seconded by Councilmember Riley, adopt Resolution #13 -09 -156 Adopting the Proposed 2014 City of Ramsey General Fund Operating Budget. Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Strommen, Councilmembers LeTourneau, Riley, Backous, Johns, and Kuzma. Voting No: Councilmember Tossey. 7.03: Consideration of Approving Draft Franchise Agreement and Ordinance Terms and Ordering Public Hearing City Engineer Westby reviewed the staff report and recommendation to approve the draft Franchise Agreement and Ordinance terms and order two public hearings, one for the proposed Franchise Agreement and Ordinances and one for the Right -of -Way Ordinances, to be held at the October 8, 2013, City Council meeting. If approved, staff will work with the gas and electric utilities to prepare the documents. In addition, public hearing notices will be published. The Council acknowledged that creating a sustainable model to repair roads has been discussed for many years and that regular and routine maintenance will result in lower project costs and allow continued development. City Engineer Westby answered questions of the City Council relating to the costs for sealcoat and overlay, noting this year the City seal coated 13.6 miles at a cost of $360,000. He stated it costs over a million dollars to reconstruct one mile of urban roadway. City Engineer Westby indicated that of resident's surveyed, 66% preferred use of franchise fees and 46% preferred assessments to maintain roadways. With regard to using a PACER of 7 in the analysis, City Engineer Westby explained that serviceability begins to drop and maintenance costs increase substantially once past a PACER of 7. The City Council discussed its consensus that the franchise fees would be placed in a dedicated fund restricted for roads and have a five -year sunset. In addition, the intent is to eliminate using special assessments for funding. It was noted that an estimated road reconstruction assessment is in the $8,000 range with a 15 -year term for repayment, or $533 per year. The franchise fee under consideration results in a cost of $192 per year and would take 41.7 years to pay what the assessment would total. Councilmember Tossey stated his intent to not support franchise fees as it would create an additional tax/revenue stream that he considered to be a regressive tax as it charged the same rate to a senior citizen or resident on housing assistance as it charged to a resident living in an City Council / September 10, 2013 Page 5 of 8