09/03/92 Memo & Misc. - Laserfiche WebLink

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Gross Earnings Tax Finance Officer Helling has stated her recommendation for a gross earnings tax in that it will provide a stable revenue source to the General Fund through Ramsey's future. It is expected that cities will be removed from the local government aids program in the near future. A concern has been expressed that a tax such as this may have a negative impact upon commercial/industrial growth. It is projected that a 3% tax would result in $168,000 annually in new stable revenue. Exempting commercial/industrial properties reduces this to an estimated $128,000. The proposed ordinance is attached. Git>, Facilities It was proposed in my budget recommendation that there is insufficient ability in this budget to build equity towards a future city facility improvement. It is projected that by year end 1992, $108,000 will exist in the public works facility fund. A gross earnings tax could be utilized to build this fund to a sufficient level to build or buy a replacement facility. It would be my hope that if this choice is made, that funds be set aside each year from this revenue source until the capital is raised as opposed to building a new building now and dedicating future revenues to debt repayment. The latter choice would not allow for reaction to crises in the General Fund in that the revenues would already be encumbered. Training Enclosed for your review is a table detailing training expenditures by Department. You will note that between 1990 and YTD 1992, 50% of training expenditures have been in the Fire Department. It was suggested at the last meeting that there should be an increase above the 46.24% I have recommended for 1993 ($7,707). Fire Relief Enclosed for your review are two tables relating to fire relief. The first shows that in 1992, the Department will receive an estimated $50,554 in wages and benefits. The Department has received $26,527 of this amount in a local government aid payment to their retirement. The second table shows that for the first six months of 1992, 17.08 persons respond to drills, 7.94 to calls and 6.27 to meetings. The number of total increments paid to fire fighters as of June 30, 1992 are 73.03 with an average of 18.5 active fire fighters. Annualized, these numbers divided into the $50,554 in wages and benefits expected this year is the equivalent of $18.71 for each meeting, drill or call for each fire fighter. Fire Department Tanker It has been represented by the Fire Chief that dual use of the tanker by the Fire Department and Public Works has the potential of increasing our ISO rating, resulting in property insurance increases across our entire community. I have represented that the Public Works Department is projecting significant capital replacement needs over the next few years. Given both of these comments, should money become available, Council may wish to consider a single year purchase of the tanker as opposed to the two or three year program. Tax Capacity Rate As Councilmember Beyer has recommended, a published tax capacity rate at some extraneous level can later be lowered. The opposite alternative is not available. An expenditure increase of $77,673 without any other changes is expected to achieve a tax capacity rate of 18.370 for an increase of 20.7%.