08-25-25-SWS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ARDEN HILLS SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — AUGUST 25, 2025 32 Councilmember Weber said we are probably going to be revisiting this. We won't get through it in 12 minutes. He asked for the high-level outline so Council can begin to digest it. Finance Director Yang shared the slide that shows the City-wide tax levy assumptions as it is today. She walked through the included changes which amount to $742,866, or a 12.32% levy increase. Based on the CIP levy increase of $152,000, that would be an additional 2.52%. That would mean a total levy increase of $894,866 at 14.85%. This provides a leveled increase on the revenue side and the expenditures. It doesn't account for the underfunded balance from the 2025 budget. We passed a budget deficit in 2025 of $122,009 that will continue to sit there. If we want to fund and fully balance the budget, we would add that amount which would get us to a total balanced levy of $1,016,878 , or a 16.87% levy increase. Councilmember Monson said this does not include the $50,000 increase in the PIR fund that was discussed earlier. Finance Director Yang said that is not included. Councilmember Monson said any changes we make will be on top of this. She is looking at the maintenance worker position. She asked how much that is of the $48,000. She has an appetite to push that. Finance Director Yang said the maintenance worker is $50,000. It is funded 45% through the General Fund and 55% from the Enterprise Fund. Councilmember Monson said the $48,000 would go down. Finance Director Yang confirmed. Councilmember Monson would like to see what it looks like when leaving the Lead position in there but without the maintenance worker. Her final comment is she is aware we underfunded $122,000, she asked if we will come out ahead on revenue. Finance Director Yang said for 2025 we are looking good in terms of planning cases and permit revenue. We are looking better. It is hard to say because we're still five months until the end of the year. City Administrator Jagoe said we had some personnel savings, too. Mayor Grant asked if we put any large buildings into the 2025 plan. Finance Director Yang indicated we did not. Mayor Grant said we lost some of the revenue because we lost our inspectors. Councilmember Holden said the Rec to Go program playground leads are funded from something else. She asked if we are double counting them in the $8,000. Or are we hiring more?