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ARDEN HILLS TRUTH-IN-TAXATION - DECEMBER 7,1998 6 . Mr. Mulcahy requested further explanation of the grant for the County Road F trail linkage project. Mr. Post explained, of the $115,000 budgeted for the project, the City received a DNR recreational grant for $50,000, Therefore, the net cost to the City Park Fund would be $65,000, Mr. Roger Aiken, 4360 Hamline Avenue, expressed his concern that the City has been experiencing a net loss of tax capacity over the last several years. At the same time, there has been an increase in the levy on a yearly basis, averaging approximately 2%, He noted there have been increasing costs through the 1998 and 1999 budgets associated with large projects the City has been working on over the years, He indicated his concern was that the trend will continue with a lower tax base and higher taxes, Mr. Aiken indicated his specific issue was with the planned and unplanned buildings such as the Public Works building and the new City Hall, He stated the Council created a financing method for the Public Works building after the referendum failed in 1992, The City Hall was supposed to have been paid for by previously escrowed funds. This financing method involved a tax levy component every year, subsequent to the 1992 Bond Referendum failure, This has resulted in a large amount of money coming out of General Fund tax revenues going into the Land and MLmicipal Buildings Fund, These funds have been converted for use for the City Hall construction. Mr. Aiken stated that a Public Works facility has been an outstanding need, however, there was . no evidence that ajoint facility would be any more efficient than other alternatives. While construction cost would be 20% lower, operations would not be significantly lower. He indicated no other parties have stepped forward with a financing plan for the Joint Public Works facility and the desire by the other entities to complete this plan seems to depend upon a lead role by Arden Hills, Mr. Aiken indicated this issue leads him to wonder if there was a compelling need here, or was the plan simply growing government services for which there mayor may not be an established need in the future, Mr. Aiken stated another concern was the large building and investment program of Gateway which had been planned out with long-term pay-outs, Further expenditures for the Gateway District should be moderated with the knowledge that the City has other industrial areas which have contributed tax base to the City for many years with proven success, With the exception of Roscville, the City of Arden Hills has the highest percentage of Commercial/Industrial within the northern suburbs, He suggested the City keep this in mind when considering filling out the Gateway District and spending more ofthe total amount of financing authority without going to a bond situation, Additionally, the established industries will most likely need some upgrading assistance in the same way that Gateway has received a great deal of assistance. Mr. Aiken suggested the City needs to be modest and scale down the wants and needs to seek a balance in these areas, The other alternative to building a modest Public Works and City Hall facility was to co-op services with other communities or go to contracting services and facilities. These options are expensive and may only present any real savings when compared to the large . costs of building an expensive City Hall and Public Works facility, The only way to avoid further, unacceptable cost increases to the City was to choose the least cost alternative and proceed on its completion immediately, without further delays or waiting for other parities to come to the table.