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Finance Director Lund reviewed the staff report and recommendation to adopt Resolution #17- <br />12-302 adopting the 2017, payable 2018 municipal tax levies in the amount of $11,374,395. <br />Public Hearing <br />Mayor Strommen called the public hearing to order at 7:27 p.m. <br />Citizen Input <br />There was none. <br />Motion by Councilmember LeTourneau, seconded by Councilmember Kuzma, to close the <br />public hearing. <br />Motion carried. Voting Yes: Mayor Strommen, Councilmembers LeTourneau, Kuzma, Johns, <br />Riley, and Shryock. Voting No: None. <br />The public hearing was closed at 7:27 p.m. <br />Council Business <br />Councilmember Riley stated that this is the same budget and levy that was voted on earlier this <br />fall. He stated that there was hope that amount would be decreased and asked if there were <br />options reviewed to decrease the levy and budget. <br />Finance Director Lund stated that staff had reviewed the budget in depth prior to the preliminary <br />adoption of the budget and noted that there were multiple worksessions with the Council to reach <br />the preliminary budget and levy figures with the understanding that those would be the final <br />amounts. <br />City Administrator Ulrich noted that there were not additional budget cuts made since the <br />preliminary adoption and the figures are reflective of the adoptions made in September. <br />Councilmember Riley stated that he is disappointed that zero cuts were made to the preliminary <br />figures. He stated that this is an 8.5 percent increase which seems out of line and therefore he <br />will not be supporting this as proposed. <br />Councilmember LeTourneau stated that it is a fair question that Councilmember Riley asked, <br />noting that Councilmember Riley was not present at the last worksession discussion regarding <br />the budget where the Council delved into the line items to find out the reasoning behind the <br />amounts. He stated that he received feedback from the community and wanted to be aware of <br />the reasons behind requests. He stated that he came to the conclusion that the budget is driven <br />by the growth of the community, which allows the Council to make the appropriate decisions for <br />the community. He stated that there was a discussion regarding the service level the City would <br />be able to provide and that is the test he used, as there were promises made to the community to <br />provide those services and items such as road improvement. <br />City Council / December 12, 2017 <br />Page 5 of 12 <br />