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I I I I I I I I I I I Co Projqc~ediSurplus or Deficit Revenue !' a comPariSon of the projected revenues and expenditures, as shown in Figu~e~ 44 5 and 6, indicates that levy limits will have significant impaCt~ion !the City of Ramsey. Since the levy lim/t is permitted to incre'aSe ~nly 8% per year, after the homestead growth adjustment there is no allowance for the improvement or expansion of services that an urbaniZin~ community such as Ramsey may find necessary. What this will mean iS t~at the City will have to do one of the following to balance futureirevenues and expenditures: o Maint~ain City services at the current level rather than ex?anding or improving them. If inflation exceeds 8%, the levels of service would! have to be cut back to maintain a balance. o 0braiD authorization by whatever means provided by law to exceed the levy limit, such as a referendum. Under ~he high projections, the gap between revenues and expenditures is thc greatest. This may be due to the assumption that the expansion of such. services· as public safety and parks operation and maintenance will c~ntiDue at the same rate as in the past. The revenue shortfall under ~he medium projection is not as great, because the need to expand and imp~ove services under the slower growth rate would not be as great. The 1~ range provides for a small surplus; however, the expenditures are b~sled On no population growth, no capital outlay items, additions to pe~sbnn~l or any other needed additions. All of ~he!fore~oing discussion assumes that the future inflation rate will be~'8%~ If this rate is actually greater than 8%, and the levy limit percentage~is not increased, then the City will be limited to the low range ~r~ve~ue projection for property taxes and may have to actually reduce ~evels of service in order to balance revenues and expenditures. As far as ~he impact of this analysis on capital improvement programming is concerned, it appears that the City will not be likely to have surplus revenues a~ailable to finance capital improvements on a "pay as you go" basis. iIII. Capital I.~P~ov~ments Financing Methods A. Previous M~thods and Policies The City h~s used several means of financing capital improvements in the past that Wpuld seem to establish certain precedents or policies for its capita~ilimp~ovement program up to 1986. Revenue sharing funds have been used primarily for park capital improvements, equipment and studies. Park declica~ion fees are to be used for park capital improvements, and landfill feds are dedicated to restoring the landfill to a recreation area. Stat~ road construction aid is used to build and improve State ~id highwayM. Fiv~ bond issues since 1978 have been used to finance local ~t~ee~ improvements, and the bond payments are totally paid through special assessments collected from the benefited property. The bond pay- ment schedule is contained in Figure 7.