Agenda - Council - 05/26/1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

-3- Be categories for that year. These projections form the basis for the property tax and local aid revenue projections. These projections assume that the city does not hold a referendum to allow it to exceed its levy limit during this projection period, although that may indeed necessary, as will be shown later. Other Revenue The other revenue categories show no trends as to whether they are increasing or decreasing, so for projection purposes, they are assumed to remain at a constant level over the next five years. Since Ramsey is about to begin to provide sewer and water services, the revenue derived from the user charges will be a new category to be added to the operating budget. For projection purposes, however, it has been assumed that the user charge revenue will equal the operating expenditures, and will have no impact on the projected revenue surplus or deficit. Summary of Operating Revenue Pro~ections The levy limit base and other revenue projections are added to get the operating revenue projections by year for each of the population growth assumptions. Operatin~ Expenditure Pro~ection~ The operating expenditures by category from 1978-81 were analyzed to determine the rate of growth. During the period when population was growing 7.4% per year, expenditures ~rew by 25% per year. Some of this growth was due to inflation, some due to the greater numbers of people to receive city services, and some was due to the expansion and improvement of services as Ramsey was becoming more urban in character. The two budget categories that increased fastest were public safety averaging 41.8% per year and parks operation and maintenance at 74%. The large percentage for parks is somewhat due to the small base from which it started. The high, medium, and low expenditure projections were made in the following manner. It was assumed that 8% of the annual increase had been and would continue to be due to inflation, the rest of the increase was assumed to be due to population growth and the increased service levels that an urbanizing population demands· For the high projections, the same rate of increase from ~978-81 for each budget category was continued for~982-88, since the inflation rate and population growth, rate, and expansion of services would also continue. For the medium an low projections, the growth rate for each category was reduced proportionately, after allowing for an 8% inflation rate.