Minutes - Council Work Session - 11/01/2005

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Councilmember Elvig questioned if the City Administrator is comfortable with the proposed budget at the 39.1985% tax capacity rate. City Administrator Norman responded in the affirmative. Mayor Gamec clarified the budget set at the 39.1985% tax capacity rate would eliminate the following from the preliminary budget: one of the two police officers, one of the two public works employees, the fire inspection employee, the communications employee, and a cut of $4,500 in depreciation. Councilmember Olson stated she agrees that the City needs to hold back with the budget and stick with what the Council told the taxpayers they would work with. Councilmember Cook stated he felt a little different about this budget one month ago. However, he has been asked to cut his budget almost in half every year lately, while this budget will still add 4 ½ new employees of the 8 that were requested. He will have to support this budget. Councilmember Strommen commented many entities have freezes in place, while the City of Ramsey has still been able to grow. The Council discussed building permits and projected revenue for housing in the City. City Administrator Norman advised the City will be able to contract services outside of regular employees if needed for assistance with building permits. Public Works Director Kapler stated it is a neat opportunity to be involved with a growing city. He believes the level of service provided by the City is not static, and the expectation of the community will be at a higher rate for services. City Administrator Norman advised the residents moving into the new housing in the City will likely have a desire for a higher level of public services than the history of Ramsey has shown. Councilmember Cook noted the Council just authorized an organizational study at the last Council meeting, and it behooves the Council to review the results of that study and determine what can be done with the present staff before adding employees. Councilmember Elvig stated looking at past studies, Coborns had an estimated value of $2.03 million and the actual value came in at approximately $5 million. The NAU building will be the same type of situation. A strong silver lining is that the estimates were conservative, and at this time the values are 50% better than anticipated. Once development starts filling out it should supercede the bell curve. The consensus of the Council was to direct staff to proceed with the budget based on a 39.1985% tax capacity rate. Mayor Gamec stated he will not be supporting this budget at the 39.1985% tax capacity rate. City Council Work Session / November 1, 2005 Page 5 of 7