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City of Gem Lake City Council Meeting Minutes September 16, 2025 1 City of Gem Lake City Council Meeting – September 16, 2025 Meeting Minutes Mayor Gretchen Artig-Swomley called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Councilmembers Len Cacioppo, Ben Johnson, and Joshua Patrick were present. Councilmember Jim Lindner was a planned absent. Also present: City Attorney Martin Norder, City Treasurer Tom Kelly, City Engineer Justin Gese, City Clerk Barb Suciu, Gem Lake and residents Deb Suhadolnik, and Jim Wilson. September 16, 2025, Agenda A motion was introduced by Councilmember Cacioppo to accept the agenda, seconded by Councilmember Johnson. Motion carried 4-0. Minutes A motion was introduced by Councilmember Cacioppo, seconded by Councilmember Johnson to approve August 19, 2025, City Council Meeting minutes. Motion carried 4-0. Special Presentations/Public Hearings 2024 Audit Presentation – James Eichten, CPA, MMKR MMKR CPA James Eichten gave a report on the 2024 audit that was conducted on the City of Gem Lake. Based on MMKR’s audit of the City’s financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024: • MMKR has issued an unmodified opinion on the City’s basic financial statements. • MMKR has reported two matters involving the City’s internal control over financial reporting that is considered to be a material weakness: o Inadequate segregation of duties which is due to the limited size of the City’s office staff. o Software conversion and error correction which provided challenges during the audit process. • The results of MMKR’s testing disclosed no instances of noncompliance with Minnesota law and regulations. 2026 Preliminary Budget Presentation / Public Hearing – Tom Kelly, White Bear Lake Township Finance Officer Tom Kelly, Finance Officer, stated under state law, cities must adopt a proposed property tax levy by September 30 of each year. The proposed levy will be used to produce parcel-specific taxpayer notices, also referred to as truth-in-taxation notices, which will be distributed to taxpayers in November. If a city fails to certify its proposed levy to the county by September 30, the council auditor is required to use the authority’s previous year’s final levy as the levy for the following year. Mr. Kelly stated the 2026 preliminary property tax levy is proposed at $768,005, which is a 4.667% increase from the 2025 certified preliminary property tax levy. The 2026 preliminary property tax levy consists of a debt levy of $85,778, an increase from the 2025 preliminary property tax levy, and general operating levy of $682,227, and increase of 4.955% from the 2025 preliminary tax levy. Mayor Artig-Swomley informed those in attendance that the Council would begin with the preliminary levy public hearing, and that the public would have a chance to provide input on the topic. Councilmember Cacioppo introduced a motion to open the public hearing at 7:23 p.m. on the 2025 preliminary budget, seconded by Councilmember Patrick. Motion carried 4-0. The public had no comment on the subject. Councilmember Cacioppo introduced a motion to close the public hearing at 7:25 p.m. on the 2025 preliminary budget, seconded by Councilmember Patrick. Motion carried 4-0.