Agenda - Council - 01/08/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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is critical and which items could be decreased based on the value received in return. She stated that there will need to be hard decisions made in the long-term. Mayor LeTourneau stated that an assumption that has not been talked about is that the budget will continue to grow, and staff will continue to be added. He stated that there have been times in the past when the City is not growing, and the budget has then leveled out along with staffing requests. He stated that it is realistic to state that the needs for service will be based on the growth of the community. Councilmember Shryock stated that the Council cannot assume that new positions will be added each year, but the positions added this year will increase in cost in future years because of the cost of living and benefit costs. Mayor LeTourneau agreed that the role the Council is in is difficult and the discussion that began in June on the budget was based on what the Council wants for the community. He stated that at this point, the Council is saying that they do not want this level of service and is willing to let the street maintenance fall behind, the police will fall behind, and the current staff will continue to be stressed and will burnout. He stated that the proposed budget holds the standards that have been put in place. He stated that this is a choice that the Council is making, and the Council will need to answer to the residents in the community. Councilmember Shryock stated there is no question that the staff is wanted or needed, but the question is how the City can afford this. She stated that if these positions are added this year, perhaps in the next year or two there are not positions added. She stated that she wants to maintain the current staff that the City has and if they feel that these positions are necessary, they would know better than the Council. She stated that if the City needs these positions now, then there needs to be an understanding that requests next year may not be approved. She stated that she would like a review of the non -crucial line items in the next year to determine if additional budget cuts could be made in the next year based on the value that is received in return. She stated that the Council does not want to sacrifice the health of staff or the services provided to residents. She stated that if this is approved there will need to be changes made in the future. Mayor LeTourneau stated that the reality is there are development plans for key employees and specific needs have been identified in the strategic plan and therefore he would assume that there have been specific figures budgeted to support those elements. He stated that the Council would also need to change the expectations of staff. He stated that he supports having these conversations in the next year to re-evaluate the priorities of staff development but did not believe that could occur before the budget adoption in December. Councilmember Shryock agreed that would be a discussion to be held in the next year. Councilmember Musgrove stated that almost every department has an "other" column and asked if that "other" is described somewhere. Finance Director Lund replied that is capital outlay. City Council Work Session / November 27, 2018 Page 5 of 7