Minutes - Council Work Session - 11/28/2006

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. Proposed 2007 budget of$10,610,692 with a tax capacity rate of39.8787% Proposed 2007 budget of$10,632,837 with a tax capacity rate of39.9806% . Finance Officer Lund reported she has received about five calls at this point regarding property taxes. The majority of the calls are from individuals that believe their taxes are paying for Town Center. There is a rumor circulating that the City is going bankrupt. Ms. Lund advised the City of Ramsey ranked 19 out of 36 in 2006 tax capacity. Ramsey would remain in the middle range in 2007 with a tax capacity rate of39.8%. Mayor Gamec questioned if the part time engineering position is necessary any longer due to the decrease in housing development. City Administrator Norman replied this Council has been directing staff to go heavy into transportation. A position is being pulled out of Engineering to allow the current assistant to go full time; Council discussed adding the part time engineering position when this decision was made. Mayor Gamec expressed his thought that the Communication position may be necessary to include in this budget. He questioned if the Assistant City Administrator's position is being used as it should be due to the time spent on communications work and with events like the Happy Days festival. City Administrator Norman replied this budget is very scaled back with significant cuts being made as directed by Council. Staff has made the recommendation on where the cuts should be made. Councilmember Cook expressed concern with the effectiveness of communication currently in the City. City Administrator Norman advised it should be kept in mind that the Communication position as proposed would be a mid-level position. The City's communication issues will not be solved overnight; it will be a slow process. Councilmetnber Strommen commented what the Council is actually looking at is a culture change in how communication is dealt with and to state that communicating information to the residents is important. This could be done by putting someone in a position that demonstrates this is a priority ofthe City, but it could be shown in other ways too. She suggested the City may need to move some of the culture change and then put someone in the Communication position. Mayor Gamec stated he concurs, but the problem is how to get the information out without having someone working on it. Councilmember Strommen stated she believes this position is needed at some point. She questioned whether this individual should be hired at this time, or whether to grow the culture change to show that communication to the residents is important and then put someone in the position. She indicated she does not believe the City is doing all they can do with tools like the website. City Council Work Session / November 28, 2006 Page 2 of 4