Minutes - Council - 06/24/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The public hearihg closed at 8:28 p.m. Council Ae on7 The regular ~heet, ing of the City Council was called back to order at 8:28 p.m. Mayor Gam~c e$plained that the City is not poor and is basically in good shape, but they have to look at the t ~tut~e. City staff and Councilmembers have looked at cuts and held off on adding some new st..ff, iThe number of seasonal employees was reduced this year, which will mean that · I grass around] the !parks will be longer this summer. In addition, this winter the City will probably not begin pl~' ~irig_ the streets until they have received four inches of snow rather than two inches and they will no~ be using the sand and salt as much. The Council does not want to cut services to the commani~. They looked at cutting some of the community events, but they felt it was important to continue with those events to bring the community together and most of those events have ~)ec~me self-sufficient. The community continues to grow and it is important to offer service~, to ihe citizens. The City held off on expanding the Fire Department this year and they will prOliabl~y not be expanding the Police Department for some time. In regards to property tax increases, th~ majority of that has to do with the school levy not the City tax. With the cost the City abserbs ~ith the Town Center is all being billed back to the developer and recently the City receive~ a {heck from the developer reimbursing the City for staff time. The only road going tlu'ougl.~ TOwn Center that will be done with City funds will be MSA roads, which is done using State f~nd*.. Other roads within the Town Center will be paid for by the developer. In regards to th~ deCision made by the Andover City Council, it was his understanding that they have not yetima~cle a final dems~on on franchise fees. Recently the City Council attended a League of Migne!ota Cities meeting and there was a lot of discussion in regards to franchise fees. There were ~0 gercent of the communities that will be looking at additional fees due to the changes in legisla, tion. The City is still experiencing commercial growth and it creates jobs and opportumt~es[as Well as a stronger tax base. He wants to provide a good quality of life for the people by p3,ovi~ling Police and Fire protection. At this time the Council is looking at introducing a~ ordinance establishing franchise fees. City Admini~trat°r Norman reviewed a letter from Councilmember Elvig, which stated the following: "l~ly ~pologies for not being with you this evening to enjoy the 20 plus items on your agenda. My §usit~ess has made some great and necessary strides as of the last couple months and I am present!y t~-aveling in New York City on business. As you review the possibility of instituting frahchtse fees m the C~ty of Ramsey this evemng, I would greatly appreciate that in my absence, ½~ou ~ould still consider a couple of my personal views. It's a great challenge for all of us to be in~n ~lected office at a time when poor economy coupled with the fact that the State of Minnesota Bas !produced the largest spending deficit in the States recorded history. It is even more challen~ng gow that the State has turned a significant portion of the "fix it" mentality back to us at the lo~al City government level. Unfortunately, the State has already collected our money and has spe4t iti Hence, the fact remains that the deficit is being passed back to our communities. Th~ good news is that Ramsey is in a terrific position to earn its own way out of these concem~ affd truly become a fiscally robust community. We have the ability to grow our City Council/June 24, 2003 Page 16 of 37