Agenda - Council - 08/23/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Woestehoff asked if there is another big purchase that they should be worried about for next year. Fire Chief Kohner explained that last year, they put in the budget a refurbishing amount to extend the life of the tanker. Based on some major repairs that had to be done, they did not want to put this money back into the vehicle so these expenses will be corning up next year. He added that this is something they will not see in 2024 because of the length of time that it takes to build these fire trucks. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if a tanker costs around $400,000. Fire Chief Kohner said that is correct. Acting Mayor Riley asked Finance Director Lund what the next step is in continuing the discussion of these expenses. Finance Director Lund said that she will break up the price difference of the roads. She will also add the listing of what the extra items will be in regard to what was added in 2022 that has been committed to and the discretionary items. Councilmember Specht asked about the delays on other equipment. He said that in past years the Council has supported a 5-10% increase but wanted to look at anything that could be cut out of the budget. He noted that one year they decided not to stay members of one additional organization and he wanted to know if they could find something like that to save money. Finance Director Lund gave a brief summary of the general fund levy, noting she has broken out the historical levy amounts of what they have done in the past. She said last year, they had done a 5.89% increase. She explained that represented about a $550,000 increase on the tax levy. She said that for 2023 it is presented as a 13.82% increase and $1,600,000 in tax levy. She said that is over a $1,000,000 increase from last year's amount. Councilmember Woestehoff asked if this was without the pavement. Finance Director Lund said yes. She mentioned that when comparing the different charts, she wanted to be able to show a comparison to 2022 in each option. Within the general fund, it is difficult because it is locked in to all the things that are already committed and with rising gas and utility prices, everyone is facing increases. Acting Mayor Riley said that he would challenge Council that if they do not like this number to come up with a number they do like or figure out a goal that can be discussed in later meetings. He added that they could also come up with a percentage that could be given to department heads so they could determine how they use the funds. Councilmember Woestehoff said that based on his calculation including the general fund and roads, to drop the increase by 1 %, they would need to cut $31,000. City Council Work Session / August 8, 2022 Page 17 of 19