Minutes - Council - 10/28/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Andre Champagne, 14721 Unicorn Street NW, Ramsey, stated that he has worked for the city of Fridley and currently works for Anoka County and has yet to see any government agency that could not cut 5 to 10 percent of their budget. If the City does not implement the franchise fee they would only be looking at a five percent cut in the budget, which he did not think was a lot to ask of the City. The School District is trying to raise taxes, and so is the County. The tax increases have to stop somewhere and this would be a good place for them to stop. In his opinion he did not think the franchise fee was needed. Jeff Uecker, 17721 Variolite Street NW, Ramsey, stated that his biggest disappointment with the whole process has been that the focus is always on the revenue side and not on the expenditure side. He did not think that the opinion that the City is not able to cut back was right. If cuts have been made then the Council should publish what those cuts are. Once the City starts collecting the fi'anchise fee the likelihood of the City eliminating the fee is slim to none. He was concerned that the City is going to be adding hundreds of townhomes in the Town Center that will need services and that will be an excuse for the City to keep the fee in place. He questioned why the City would not look at increasing permit fees to help raise money for the City rather than adding fees to the citizens. Mayor Gamec replied that the Council has spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and comparing the expenditures with the revenues. The City of Ramsey is growing and people are expecting more services and implementing a franchise fee is the one way the City is able to increase revenues. The City was not able take into consideration their growth factor, which has had a great impact on city budgets. There are currently about 56 cities that are looking at adding fi:anchise fees. Mr. Uecker stated that it seemed that the Council had already made the decision months ago that they were going to be implementing a franchise fee. Mayor Gamec explained that when the Council first discussed the idea of implementing a fi'anchisc fee they were looking at needing $525,000 and now they have reduced that amount to $404,000. Ed Hamilton, 6615 Highway #10 NW, Ramsey, stated that the additional fees are very difficult on the senior citizens that live on a fixed income. He felt that the City should be making more cuts. Mayor Gamec noted that he did meet with a group of senior citizens that meet regularly at City Hall to discuss the issue. Mr. Hamilton stated that the Council has indicated that they will probably only need to collect the fce l~or one year, but the ordinance includes a three year sunset date. Councihnember Cook replied that the ordinance does include a three-year sunset date, 'but the Council is very committed to eliminating the fee in one year. City Council/October 28, 2003 Page 6 of 18