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ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JULY 14, 2025 20 Councilmember Rousseau understands. Councilmember Holden wanted an answer to Councilmember Rousseau's question. Finance Director Yang said if we removed that, it would get us to 2029. Councilmember Weber doesn't think a $50,000 increase to the PIR Levy will be enough. He thinks it needs to be $150,000 to $200,000 moving forward. We will be in real trouble at the end of next year. We will have to bond and then we'll have to start paying for that. So we should be saving to pay for that. He thinks rebuilding the PIR fund should be a priority. He hopes the estimates on the PMP projects are high. It puts us in a really difficult position. It's not an excuse not to prepare for it now. Councilmember Holden said because bonding is so expensive she would prefer to not bond for the Old Highway 10 project. We are bonding again in 2028 for Lake Johanna. We may need to bond for TCAAP. The bonding rate may go down and our interest rates go significantly high. She thinks the projects for 2026 and 2027 could be bonded along with part of the Lake Johanna Trail. She pointed out Finance Director Yang said we have to have a list of what we want to bond for. Mayor Grant said he earlier stated some of the Trident money could go against the PIR. The other way around is part of that money not against the PIR but instead against the City portion that is not PIR. He agrees with Councilmember Holden that we are better off not bonding. We're going to have to bond for the Lake Johanna Trail. The Old Highway 10 Trail has a City cost of $1.25 million. Councilmember Weber agrees. He said the cost effectiveness we are getting out of this trail is exceptional. He wanted to clarify that the cost for the entire Old Highway 10 Trail is $4.2 million. We may get $1 million up front, he wondered if we would have to front the money for the remaining $3.5 million. Finance Director Yang confirmed. Councilmember Weber asked if we can absorb that and make it into 2027. He doesn't think the fund is big enough to do that because we still have to pay for the 2026 PMP. Councilmember Holden said we can do interdepartmental transfers. We have the 50% policy. Councilmember Weber said that is pretty well violated. Mayor Grant said it's a policy. We've had large levy increases the past couple years. That can move the goal post down the road. He thought we should be more conservative about the amount we underf ind. Councilmember Holden said the Trident money is $1 million. If we bond and have to pay $300,000 in debt service, that could pay for one of the segments that are included in this year. Mayor Grant asked if she is saying we should avoid bonding.