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Gem Lake News Page 2 of 8 <br /> <br /> <br /> Gem Lake Final 2024 Budget <br />Approved (Continued from page 1) <br /> <br />Here are several notable items in the 2024 budget: <br /> <br /> The budget includes $20,000 for road maintenance <br />and repairs and $10,000 for trimming boulevard <br />trees. <br /> Based on 2023 expenditures, the salt/sand budget <br />was reduced $3,000 and the snow plowing contract <br />was decreased $3,000. <br /> The City does no longer qualifies for small <br />government aid, which reduces revenues by <br />$7,000. <br /> The police budget from the City of White Bear Lake <br />was increased 12.38% to $129,466. This includes <br />$115,877 for police services and $13,589 for debt <br />payments on their new public facilities building. <br /> The fire service budget from the City of White Bear <br />Lake increased 43.04% to $48,669. It includes <br />$31,982 for fire services, $7,746 for fire marshal <br />services and $8,941 for debt payments on their new <br />public facilities building. <br /> It is notable that the City of White Bear Lake is <br />asking the City of Gem Lake to pay $22,530 for the <br />next 20 years for their new facilit y. <br /> The Heritage Hall budget includes $12,000 for <br />building improvements and $12,000 for an irrigation <br />system. <br /> The City Council contingency budget item was left <br />at $9,000. <br /> <br />Using the 2024 property tax levy of $697,081 and the <br />city’s tax capacity ($1,760,258), combined with the <br />median valued home ($429,600) for Gem Lake, that <br />median valued home would pay city property taxes of <br />$1,530.99. This is an increase of $80.04 from the 2023 <br />final levy amount. <br /> <br /> <br /> Gem Lake’s MS4 Permit <br />Audited (Continued from page 1) <br /> <br />Gem Lake’s city engineers, representatives from the <br />firm Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH), along with <br />councilmember Jim Lindner, the city’s designated MS4 <br />contact, met with two members from MPCA and <br />reviewed several pieces of documentation submitted <br />prior to the audit. While Gem Lake did not have a <br />flawless audit, the deficiencies cited were limited to <br />cases of staff training documentation and the need for a <br />formal snow and ice policy, a draft of which is already <br />scheduled for the upcoming January city council <br />meeting. <br /> <br />While audits are never fun, and can be a bit intimidating, <br />Gem Lake’s first-ever MS4 audit was relatively painless <br />and all participants managed to remain awake <br />throughout the process. Now that the city knows what to <br />expect, it’s anticipated that future audits will proceed <br />without anxiety. <br /> <br /> <br />