Minutes - Council - 07/28/2020 - Laserfiche WebLink

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is an additional tax, but the other option is a large tax increase and therefore he believes that this is a better choice. He stated that these are dedicated fees that can only be used for pavement management. The Council will review this every year and the program sunsets after five years. He stated that if the program does not work, it would go away after five years, similar to the assessment process. Councilmember Kuzma stated that he disagrees with the comments of the resident. He stated that he has been on the Council for eight years and the issue of roads has been a topic the entire time. He stated that prior Councils kicked the can down the road and the roads need to be fixed. He stated that the assessment program was tried and was very financially impactful to some residents, using the example of a young couple and a retired elderly couple that were both hit hard with large assessments. He stated that the Council would like to try the franchise fee program as it will come with cost savings in terms of bonding fees and interest. He stated that this appears to make more sense and be more financially responsible with City funds to address the problem of roads. th Chelsea Howell, 5250 156 Lane NW, echoed the comments of the previous resident. She stated that a lot of residents are concerned with franchise fees. She stated that on the surface the idea seems nice but believes the problem would be that there is no limit to how much the franchise fee could increase. Finance Director Lund stated that the $7 per utility would be set in ordinance and the only change would be by coming to the Council to consider change. Ms. Howell stated that Councilmembers in the future could choose to raise the amount of the fee. She stated that unlike the debt levy, franchise fees would have no limit. She stated that people that have been assessed are not thrilled about the change to the franchise fee after they paid their assessment. Mayor LeTourneau thanked the resident for their feedback. Bryce Bottineau, 16551 Alpaca St, stated that his mom lives in another city in Anoka County and received an assessment for $9,000. He commented that his mom was unsure how she was going to be able to pay that assessment. He believed that the franchise fee method is cheaper and noted that he would much prefer to pay $7 per month rather than a high assessment. Councilmember Musgrove thanked the residents for providing input tonight. She stated that there has been feedback from residents through several City authorized methods of feedback where residents supported the assessment or tax levy methods of funding. She stated that from the cases she has heard, the $1,300,000 has been used for road projects. She stated that it was her understanding that the remaining funds were used on Variolite and asked staff for clarification. Finance Director Lund explained that the fund began with the 2013 transfer. She stated that when improvements were done, the expenses that could not be covered through bonds were funded through the road reconstruction fund. She stated that the remaining balance was supposed to go to 2020 road projects, but those did not move forward because it was determined that mill and City Council / July 28, 2020 Page 10 of 16