Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/07/2004

Home

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Topic Report: 2005 Budget Process By: James E. Norman, City Administrator Background: The City Council has held two work sessions in July and August regarding the 2005 budget process. A preliminary General Fund Budget was distributed on July 22, 2004. Staff was directed to make preliminary adjustment recommendations for Council consideration. Those recommendations will be presented in a work session on Tuesday, September 7. The process followed this year was to allow the City Council to discuss what they desired rather than discussing initial requests by staff. Staff learned a great deal from those discussions; primarily that the City Council needed a study of the City organization. Most of the current members of the Council were not around in 1999 when a study was performed by Labor Relations Inc., who did a comparison of the City of Ramsey to other comparable sized cities. Staffhad the study recopied and will distribute it with this work session packet. The personnel needs of the organization will be discussed in depth at the work session. Revisions of the 2005 General Fund Budget will be included with this work session packet, however, it only includes a decrease of approximately $230,000. Staff would like the opportunity to discuss the budget prior to the preliminary budget adoption required by State Statute by September 15 of each year. Staff will ask that the Council bring their 2005 Preliminary General Fund Budget and Organizational Analysis to the Council meeting on Tuesday evening. Action Statement: Direct staff to prepare a final recommendation for a 2005 Preliminary Budget adoption. Reviewed by: City Administrator Finance Officer CCWS: 09/07/04