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P24 <br /> <br />increases have to stop somewhere and this would be a good place for them to stop. In his <br />opinion he did not think the franchise fee was needed. <br /> <br />Jeff Uecker, 17721 Variolite Street NW, Ramsey, stated that his biggest disappointment with the <br />whole process has been that the focus is always on the revenue side and not on the expenditure <br />side. He did not think that the opinion that the City is not able to cut back was fight. If cuts have <br />been made then the Council should publish what those cuts are. Once the City starts collecting <br />the franchise fee the likelihood of the City eliminating the fee is slim to none. He was concerned <br />that the City is going to be adding hundreds of townhomes in the Town Center that will need <br />services and that will be an excuse for the City to keep the fee in place. He questioned why the <br />City would not look at increasing permit fees to help raise money for the City rather than adding <br />fees to the citizens. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec replied that the Council has spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and <br />comparing the expenditures with the revenues. The City of Ramsey is growing and people are <br />expecting more services and implementing a franchise fee is the one way the City is able to <br />increase revenues. The City was not able take into consideration their growth ~thctor, which has <br />had a great impact on city budgets. There are currently about 56 cities that are looking at adding <br />franchise fees. <br /> <br />Mr. Uecker stated that it seemed that the Council had already made the decision months ago that <br />they were goin. g to be implementing a franchise fee. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec explained that when the Council first discussed the idea of implementing a <br />franchise fee they were looking at needing $525,000 and now they have reduced that amount to <br />$404,000. <br /> <br />Ed Hamilton, 6615 Highway #10 NW, Ramsey, stated that the additional fees are very difficult <br />on the senior citizens that live on a fixed income. He felt that the City should be making more <br />Ctlt$. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec noted that he did meet with a group of senior citizens that meet regularly at City <br />Hall to discuss the issue. <br /> <br />Mr. Hamilton stated that the Council has indicated that they will probably only need to collect <br />the fee for one year, but the ordinance includes a three year sunset date. <br /> <br />Councilmember Cook replied that the ordinance does include a three-year sunset date, but the <br />Council is very committed to eliminating the fee in one year. <br /> <br />Councilmember Elvig stated that it has been a very frustrating process for the Council to review <br />the budget. In the private industry you can make projections on what your sales might be and <br />then go after those sales, but in the City they have to go off what the revenues will be and they <br />have to chart those numbers low. There is concern as to what the revenues are compared to <br />expenses. If they stay-status quo the costs to the City are still going up such as, street repairs, <br />health insurance, etc. and it is a testament that the Council is doing a good job holding back costs <br />when they are bringing forward a budget $100,000 less than-last years budget. That being said <br />he personally does not like the idea of implementing a franchise fee and he does not want to see <br /> <br />City Council/October 28, 2003 <br /> Page 6. of 17 <br /> <br /> <br />