Laserfiche WebLink
<br />The following factors were discussed as having an impact on the tax rate comparison: LGA, <br />franchise fees, and other revenue sources. <br /> <br />Councilmember Look pointed out that two of the six comparison cities do not assess for <br />sealcoating or overlays. He suggested a good starting point would be to look at the Ramsey <br />taking care of the sealcoat assessment and continuing with the 50% overlay assessment at this <br />time. From his standpoint there is more of a perceived benefit to the property owner with a mill <br />and overlay than a sealcoat. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec stated the benefit with the assessments is that a lot of people inform the City if <br />there is a problem. The feedback is important. He indicated he would like to review the total <br />cost figures prepared by Finance Officer Lund. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson requested the financial information prepared by Finance Officer .Lund <br />include similar sized cities in a similar situation as Ramsey that are not receiving additional <br />f)mding like LGA. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated staff firmly believes that the property maintenance will make <br />the streets last as long as possible. To date the City has not done any street reconstruction <br />projects. The City of Anoka does not overlay, which was a choice they made, and their streets <br />go to reconstruction faster. In Ramsey they are trying to capitalize on the sand base they have <br />and the roads are being built bigger now, so hopefully they will last 40 plus years. The <br />reconstruction assessment in Anoka is about $4,700 per home for an 80 foot lot. The cities of <br />Anoka, Coon Rapids and largely Elk River are mostly developed with urban service so their lot <br />sizes are smaller with the front footage for each lot smaller. Ramsey has some lots in urban <br />service, some 2 1'2 acre lots, and some bigger. Every bigger lot has a lot more street in front of it <br />to maintain. When a city has a more dense population there are more funds available for <br />maintaining the infrastructure with the cost spread among more people. He indicated he hears <br />the Council's discussion heading towards at least honing in on sealcoating. He asked if it is a <br />general consensus to look into this. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec stated the first thing would be to have the cost information provided by Finance <br />Officer Lund. They could then look at this in consideration with next year's budget. <br /> <br />Councilmember Strommen pointed out the budget is very tight and in order to eliminate the <br />assessments the additional $190,000 would need to be discussed during the budget process. She <br />stated the perception on the importance of the regular street maintenance should not be changed. <br />She agrees it would be best to find a way to include these services in the taxes. It would be good <br />to challenge themselves to meet that goal, but it will need to be done in the context of the budget <br />because in the end it is about choices and tradeoffs. She struggles in maintaining a direction on <br />this absent the rest of the budget because what is done here will impact something else. <br /> <br />Mayor Gamec stated one city knew the goal they wanted to reach in eliminating assessments and <br />the first year put a certain amount into the budget and still assessed. When the assessments were <br />eliminated there was not such a large difference needed in funds. <br /> <br />City Council Work Session / May 15, 2007 <br />Page 4 of9 <br />