Minutes - Council Work Session - 08/22/2017

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position would be valuable in providing the services necessary and would also be valuable in the long-term not only for a growing community but also for a mature community. Councilmember Williams appreciated the proposal from Mayor Strommen noting that those positions would not only provide value and maintain a level of service but would also protect the investments that the City has made which provides value to all the residents. Mayor Strommen recognized that these are hard decisions in attempt to move the City forward and protect investments while also protecting the taxpayers and not getting too far ahead of themselves. She stated that the Council is at the point where they need to start making decisions and finding consensus. Councilmember Kuzma stated that the business park will also bring on additional tax base which will help the City. He asked for more information on the additional items, outside of personnel, that staff would like to leave room in the budget for. City Administrator Ulrich proposed that the tax capacity rate not be exceeded. He stated that if the Mayor's proposal was taken and left additional room in the tax capacity, he would suggest including some of that in the preliminary budget. He noted that would allow additional time to discuss if the Council wants to take a portion of that additional room to contribute to items such as road debt. Finance Director Lund provided calculations and noted that the fiscal disparities number is still not known and will have an impact as well. Councilmember Riley stated that he feels strongly that the City would only levy what they need. He did not feel that the City has a better use of the money than the taxpayers and did not support levying more than what would be needed for the budget. Mayor Strommen stated that the City needs that money for roads and it is just a question of how you would get the funds. Councilmember Riley noted that the amount available through additional levy at $42,000 or $100,000 is a drop in the bucket. Mayor Strommen agreed that is a small amount but the Council needs to start discussing how that item is going to be funded, whether it is through that type of method or whether they want to discuss franchise fees again. She stated that her proposal would include 2.5 new positions and a backfill. She clarified that her proposal is between scenarios two and three. Human Resources Manager Lasher explained that the positions are interconnected and while the IT tech is not a direct backfill, it is interconnected and would add 11 hours. She also provided information on the position reclass. City Council Work Session/August 22, 2017 Page 6 of 9