Minutes - Council Work Session - 07/31/2007

Home

Councilmember Elvig stated it is a much bigger picture with the street maintenance and he does not know that they want to enter it in as a budget item at this point. Councilmember Look stated some communities do not charge for overlays, but the lion's share do. To keep stride with neighboring communities Ramsey should take care of the sealcoat, and not deal with public hearings and the time involved. Interim City Administrator Nelson indicated staff can provide the comparables of other communities. One piece missing in that puzzle was LGA, which has a large effect. Councilmember Look stated he would like the City to do a service interview and figure out what people deem to be necessary service. If the City is spending dollars on service the people do not think is necessary it should be cut loose. You can start down the slippery slope of service and people may not even be taking advantage of it. He would like to compile a list of the services provided to their constituents and conduct a poll. Councilmember Elvig stated the City does a fair job year after year of hearing people that come in and the complaints that are lobbied. He does not think any service comes on to the City that just popped up; everything that has come up is because it is a need or demand. The City has only been incorporated for 30 years and public works has only been in place for 25 years. Interim City Administrator Nelson indicated Mr. Paul Donna of Northland Securities is present to discuss the Municipal Center debt restructure. Mr. Paul Donna, Northland Securities, Inc., provided an overview of the City of Ramsey Schedule of Projected Tax Rates - 10 Year Window (growth rate 8.5%): · Without Debt Restructure · With Debt Restructure · Additional Tax Base from TIF De-certs (TIF District Nos. 1, 10,2 and 4) Mr. Donna provided an overview of the following preliminary calculations of the City of Ramsey EDA, Public Project Lease Revenue Refunding Bonds, Series 2007 2005A (Full Net Advance Refund 2009-2012 Maturities) dated 7/27/07: · Refunding Summary · Debt Service Comparison · Debt Service Schedule · Debt Service To Maturity and To Call · Escrow Fund Cashflow Mr. Donna indicated he and Ms. Lund have discussed having the bonds rated to get the best interest rate. They may want to have the rating agency visit the City to get a better feel for what is happening. He pointed out that the City is pro actively managing its debt to meet revenue streams, which is certainly positive. Growth slow down is not positive, but it is happening everywhere and the rating agency will ask the question on how the City is working with that. City Council Work Session / July 31, 2007 Page 14 of 18