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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-09-07 - Council MinutesCITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP September 7, 2006 The Corcoran City Council met on September 7, 2006, at city hall in Corcoran, Minnesota. Present were Mayor Cossette, Councilor Grabowski, Councilor Call to Order Lymangood, and Councilor Thomas. Also present were Administrator Vergin, Police Chief Gormley, and Public Works Superintendent Pat Meister. Councilor Roll Call Jacobs was absent. Mayor Cossette opened the meeting to order at 6:03 p.m. Approval of Agenda MOTION by Grabowski, seconded by Thomas, to approve the agenda noting that agenda #5 should have more emphasis placed on contributions from all council members. Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Lymangood and Thomas. (Motion Carried 4:0) Review of Budget Mayor Cossette turned the meeting over to Administrator Vergin who provided a power point presentation to the Council to walk through the proposed budget options. A budget is a comprehensive plan for the city that identifies goals and objectives from the City Council. It identifies the activities and projects to be undertaken, the level of service that will be provided, an estimate of the probable costs, and the available revenues. Option No. 1 — This is the budget that had been proposed at the August 31 workshop. This was the starting point to provide additional options per the direction of the council. The clear direction from that meeting was that the Council did not want to see a tax rate increase, but would consider incremental increases of $50,000. Option No. 2 — This provides for a no tax rate increase. It allows 100% buy out of the comp time, and in house planner, additional staffing for the police department, additional gravel budget, '/2 of the comp plan update work, 15% contribution by the city to the dust control program, and eliminates administrative fines. This would be a negative budget impact of $95,112. Option No. 3 — This also provides for no tax rate increase. Eliminates the council training budget, allows for 100% comp time buy out, eliminates the in house planner, increases planning and park consultant fees, allows for additional police department staffing, deceases the gravel budget, '/2 of the comp plan budget, city contributes only 10% to the dust control program, and eliminates administrative fines. This allows for a positive budget impact of $73. Option No. 4 - $50,000 incremental increase, which increases the tax rate by 2.5 %. Provides a $375 training budget for the council. 100% of comp time buy out, in house planner, 1/2-comp plan update, additional police department staff, decrease in gravel budget, 10% city contribution to dust control and eliminates administrative fines. This provides $12,888 for reserves. Option No. 5 - $100,000 increase, which increases the tax rate by 4.6 %. Provides all of the same things that Option No. 4 does, and provides $62,888 for reserve funds. Agenda Approval Review Proposed Budget Page -1- CITY OF CORCORAN CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP September 7, 2006 Discussion ensued from the council. Comments and suggestions included retaining current tax rate; eliminate the creation of a woodland ordinance; need full council support; need to bring tax base into the community; allow additional building rights; suggest increasing tax revenues for preliminary levy and then during final review can adjust; need more staff people, code enforcement hours were reduced and now not enough time to get all duties done, staff is taking the biggest hit; pursue planner if there is additional monies after other adjustments; it is the responsibility of the council to . raise revenues; use TIF funds to pursue development in the SW district; reduce office hours so staff can work without interruptions; adjust comp plan budget to reflect interest free loan city is seeking with the Met Council; reduce the gravel budget by an additional $15,000; delay additional police officer, don't provide 24/7 service, work with the Hennepin County Sheriff to cover some time, look at working with Medina, Dayton and Rogers during the time frame when there is a low need (Officers patrolling other cities, crossing jurisdictions). The council concluded with direction to staff to redo the budget using Option #3 that provides for a no tax rate increase, with additional adjustments to the comp plan budget, gravel road maintenance, comp time buy out at 50 %, eliminate the woodland ordinance work, put $24,000 into the budget for business incentives and add $500 for council training. This should provide for approximately $39,500 for reserves. Administrator Vergin requested that staff be allowed to make other adjustments or suggestions to the budget, while retaining the no tax rate increase. The Council agreed to that. Announced that the next budget workshop would be Thursday, September 14 at 5:30 p.m., prior to the regular council meeting. Addressed the need to educate the public prior to the truth in taxation hearing. Need to identify what the budget reflects, including information on the tax rate comparisons. It was suggested that this information also be provided on the website. Recessed MOTION by Grabowski, seconded by Lymangood, to recess the budget workshop to 5:30 p.m. on September 14, 2006. (7:50 p.m.) Voting Aye: Cossette, Grabowski, Lymangood, and Thomas. (Motion Carried 4:0) d1-- Susan Vergin, City Ad 'stator Direction for Revised Budget Next Workshop Scheduled Education to Public Recessed Page -2-