Minutes - Council Work Session - 11/09/2021

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Finance Director Lund corrected that December 13, 2021 was the adoption of the final budget. Mayor Kuzma stated if the Council lowers the levy tonight and surprises come, then the Council cannot go back and increase the levy. Councilmember Howell commented that she wished the Council could cut the levy by 2.5%. She felt that personnel expenditures were really high and if they had discussed each position instead of pushing it through, the Council could have decided whether it was worth it to bring them all on and agree to the expenses. Mayor Kuzma replied Ramsey is growing, has needs, and he felt the salary requests were justified. He didn’t know how the Council would be able to cut out 2% and he couldn’t support it. Councilmember Heineman asked if 5% is similar to what other cities are doing. Finance Director Lund replied with the road levy being included, it is different. She has seen 3%, 4%, and some are at 0% for levy increases. She noted if you look at the tax rate of other cities, if their rate is staying constant, they are likely keeping the levy the same. Some cities are going down but Ramsey went up because of the roads. She noted if Ramsey was doing a 5% levy across the board, most people would have seen a decrease in their taxes this year because of the value increase. She looked at 5% as being part of the proposal and thought they would follow that as a starting point to go forward. Councilmember Heineman asked if those numbers, comparing Ramsey to other cities, included the 15% dedicated towards roads. Finance Director Lund confirmed this. She stated the tax rate in the case includes the 15%. Councilmember Heineman commented that although that number looks higher than it did last year, there was a bit of a hidden increase that was not evident in last year’s number that residents paid through the franchise fee. He noted that although it looks like the number has increased, when compared to the total payment capacity, what residents were paying last year, he thinks they are far better off than that represents. He stated there are a lot of taxes that weren’t captured on that sheet because of it being captured through a franchise fee. He stated he supports decreasing the number but not today. Councilmember Musgrove asked where else the budget would go down because they don’t have any other things to look at to be creative. Mayor Kuzma replied that Staff and the Council have a week to look at things and be creative. Councilmember Heineman commented his position is that if they are looking for more creative options, don’t pigeon hole ourselves by going down right now, because the Council still has the option to do that. He noted with the personnel funding requests, he didn’t see how they would get below 5%. City Council Work Session / November 9, 2021 Page 10 of 12