Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/11/2014

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Commissioner Zaetsch questioned whether the Commission is here to discuss the proposed Ordinance from the City Council or to discuss whether to move forward with the Niska amendment. Commissioner Deemer stated that he would like to see that the language is amended to remove the double charging as some residents do not have gas service and therefore would not be charged as much as others. He suggested that the language from the proposed Council Ordinance be amended to only apply to electric utilities. He stated that while he does not disagree with the intent of the Niska amendment, he believed that amending the proposed Ordinance would be sufficient and would provide the Co sign wig a more relaxed atmosphere to discuss the Niska amendment issue. Commissioner Zaetsch stated that in that regard there are a • e amount of renters that are using the roads but are not paying property taxes. Chairperson Field noted that the issue of fairness would ne everyone to pay an equal amount or whether it is fair for the amo the property. cided wheth is fair for e linked to the value of City Attorney Langel read language from the onnexus energy Fr. ise Ordinance which references an equivalent fee requirement and lained that it is outlined that if one utility is billed, the other utility must be billed as w Commissioner Deemer therefore re would not be possible. d his proposompromise off the table since it Chairperson Field made suggestion for creating a compromise between what is desired by the Charter Commission and the City Council. City Attorney Langel referenced ,,langua e referring to defraying increased utility costs and state at while it is not known what that value is, the value would not be sufficient to cover the roadvimproviment costs. He noted that the 20 percent limit may limit what is able to be collected am:may not match what is needed. He stated that perhaps a flat fee should be spelled out in the Charterwhich would provide the funds needed for road improvements. Commissioner Zaetsch stated that perhaps a cap should be placed on the franchise fee ability, which would provide the Council discretion under the set cap amount. He stated that the intent is that this would help tcfget the roads improved, as the roads are deteriorating and will be worse in the next five years, he questioned if this would come back before the Charter Commission in five years then when this agreement sunsets. Commissioner Deemer stated that he believed that in five years the levy limit would be increased to the point where road improvements could be included in the levy. City Administrator Ulrich confirmed that the intent after the five years would be to build in the road improvement costs into the tax levy and explained that the method utilizing the franchise Charter Commission/ January 27, 2014 Page 6 of 10