Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/04/2003

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it happen. Mr. Elvig stated that he strongly believes that Ramsey has the ability to earn its way out of this situation. He suggested that there are other ways of pulling in revenue sources such as collecting MSA maintenance fee, raising permit fees and plan fees by 10 percent. He agreed that there are risks moving forward with a budget with some uncertainty on what revenues might be, but he felt very strongly that they would be able to balance the budget without the implementation of franchise fees and, therefore, he was willing to take that risk. Councilmember Pearson stated that he liked some of the ideas presented by Councilmember Elvig, but he was concerned that they may not be able to implement some of those fees in time to collect the money needed to balance the budget. Councilmember Cook thanked Councilmember Elvig for bringing forward other revenue sources. He wanted to discuss those possibilities further, but he was concerned that some of those things would not be able to be implemented in time for the 2004 budget. He felt that going into the year without knowing if they will have enough revenue to cover expenses would be like driving without insurance. If they find out in six months that they do not need the franchise fee then they can always eliminate it. Councilmember Kurak stated that she agreed that there may be other revenue sources for the Council to consider, but she was not prepared to hold off on implementing a franchise fee on the hope that additional fees will come in. The permit fees are a crucial part of the budget to get the City through some of the growth periods. The Council is very committed to continuously review the franchise fee throughout the year to see if it is truly needed, but for now they have to make sure they will have the funds necessary to balance the budget. The Council has taken the issue very seriously. All of the Councilmembers took the afternoon off from work yesterday to thoroughly review the budget and discuss the options. They all feel that having to implement a franchise fee is a terrible idea, but at this point it is something that is necessary. Councilmember Strommen stated that they did have a Council work session to review the budget yesterday and they talked about the franchise fee at len~h. The proposed budget is less than the 2003 budget even though there are now more people in the City of Ramsey. The Council reviewed the items that were cut in 2003 and even if they were to make those same cuts they would not even come close to the $404,000 that is needed to balance the budget. If the Council were to look at additional cuts they would have to nickel and dime the budget, which would be a huge detriment to the citizens. At this point they are left with looking at the revenue side of things. She noted that Councilmember Elvig has provided some good suggestions, which they should research further. She inquired if it was possible to delay the implementation of the franchise fee until April so that they could have more time to research additional revenue options. If it is not possible to hold off until April she would want to review the status of the budget in six months to see if the franchise fee was still necessary. Councilmember Zimmerman stated that he has not voted in favor of implementing a franchise fee in the past and he will not vote in favor of it now. That being said he thought the Council should wait until April before they implement the franchise fee to allow the City time tO see what the legislature will do for 2004. Mayor Gamec replied that if they delay the implementation of the franchise fee they would have to put a freeze on all the departments. City Council/October 28, 2003 Page '/of 17 P25