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Memo - City Council 2017 Proposed Preliminary Budget and Tax Levy 4 4 General Fund Expenditures Salary & Benefits 56,162$ Sheriff Contract 72,211 Fire Contract 19,252 Dispatch Contract 1,052 Comprehensive Plan Costs 100,000 Addition of Working Foreman 36,658 EDA Transfer 30,000 PIR Transfer 100,000 Other Misc Adjustments (14,496) 400,839$ OPERATING BUDGET Salary and Benefits The 2017 preliminary budget is currently being prepared assuming a 2.5% wage adjustment for non-union staff and 2.7% for union staff. Medical benefits are increasing by 14.3% and the cost share allocation was changed for 2017 so that the City will contribute 40% of the increase and the employee would contribute 60% of the increase were as previously it was a 50/50 split. In surveying surrounding communities most have included a 2.0% - 3.0% COLA increase in their preliminary estimates for their 2017 budgets. General Fund At the June 20, 2016 worksession, the Council directed staff to construct a budget with a 2.5% COLA and the 60/40 change to the benefit contributions as reference above. Council also directed staff to set a preliminary levy for discussion purposes at 2% plus the increase in public safety costs. This results in a levy increase of 4.7% or $162,515. Other directives were to restore the PIR transfer to $200,000 from $100,000 in the 2016 budget and to show what was added to the budget. In addition to the salary and benefits increases the major increases from the 2016 budget to 2017 are shown in the chart to the right. The Sheriff’s contract includes the addition of an investigator. The case load in 2009 was approximately 518 and has grown over the years to 1148 in 2016. Ramsey County has been subsidizing this cost up until now and the need is very real. The additional investigator was put into the budget with an April 1, 2017 start even though it is currently doing work for the contract cities with Ramsey County funding it. All other items were put on hold to help hold budget costs down. Dispatch increases are down as we had the call center and the CAD system into our formula in 2016. Fire increases are down as the Duty Crew had been fully implemented for the 2016 budget. Per Council discussion, $100,000 was added to the budget for the Comprehensive Plan update – this could be considered a one-time expenditure which would be appropriate to use reserve funds for.