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<br />A Ramsey resident came forward and reiterated Mr. Farrell’s question of what the future will look <br />like. He agreed that a lot of the City roads are in bad shape. <br /> <br />Councilmember Musgrove shared that she appreciated the residents coming forward and asking <br />about the future. She shared her ideas for the strategic plan from the Council and thinks that hearing <br />these things directly from the residents is very valuable and will help the Council move forward <br />with their strategic plan. <br /> <br />Councilmember Riley stated that he is looking at the budget increase as a two part increase, the <br />first part being the bonding for the roads, which is 7.1% of the total 19% increase, and the second <br />part is due to the cost increase of City business, which is up for debate. He suggested that this be <br />more of an inflationary rate. <br /> <br />Ms. Fluegel came back up and asked how the growth of the City is factored in when taxes are <br />being calculated. She stated that with the growth of the City and all of the new homes coming in <br />if this will affect the taxes. <br /> <br />Councilmember Woestehoff stated that the growth of the City will help everyone individually <br />when it comes to property taxes. He discussed the tax capacity number and how this affects <br />individual taxpayers. He stated that the roads and inflation is what makes the increase so high. He <br />stated the roads need to be fixed and the City had to go for bonding because the roads could not <br />have waited to get worse. He stated that this is a complex budget and understands that this is a <br />frustration but these are the investments that the City needs to make. He stated that the complaints <br />are challenging as this current budget is set to build an investment plan for the future. He stated it <br />will take time for the new developments to help the tax capacity of the City. <br /> <br />Rick Farrell, 15795 Juniper Ridge Drive, came forward to make a comment concerning lobbying. <br />He shared that he heard about the $17,000,000,000 surplus that the State of Minnesota has and that <br />part of the surplus goes to reduce property taxes. He asked if all of this State and federal money is <br />available, is there a lobbying effort from the City and County to the State. <br /> <br />Councilmember Specht thanked the resident for bringing this forward. He shared that Ramsey is <br />unique in that they do not qualify for local government aid that a lot of the neighboring cities <br />qualify for. He shared that the Council has put together a legislative agenda with things they will <br />be lobbying for with the State. He said they are working with the State to get some of the surplus <br />to help with the water treatment plant. <br /> <br />Councilmember Heineman added that part of the legislative agenda is lobbying the State for funds <br />from the surplus. He explained the tax capacity change and how that will be changing in the future <br />with the growth of the City. He stated that the Council also feels the pain of the increased taxes <br />and property values. He shared that the Council had lots of hard decisions to make when it came <br />to the budget. He thanked all of the residents who came out to voice their concerns. He said the <br />Council will have to look into the future on how to deal with this, as house values decrease and <br />property taxes go back down, so does the City revenue. <br /> <br />City Council / December 13, 2022 <br />Page 8 of 17 <br /> <br /> <br />