2014 Vol. 8 Issue 5 October - Laserfiche WebLink

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mail boy October, 2014 Volume 8, Issue 5 Gem Lake News Special Interest Articles: • 2015 Budget Approved • City Considers Water for Business District • City News Page 4 • Profile: White Bear Montessori School Upcoming Recycling Dates:  October 1  October 15  October 29  November 12 Gretchen Artig-Swomley, Newsletter Editor A preliminary 2015 General Fund Budget for Gem Lake of $431,108 was approved by the Gem Lake City Council on September 16. This includes a General Tax Levy of $369,819, a Tax Levy of $120,000 for 2015 bonds and a Debt Tax Levy of $49,500. State law requires cities to submit preliminary budgets to their county well before the end of the year, so preliminary notices can be sent to residents, outlining what their property taxes might be for the year ahead. Because the final budgets cannot, by state law, go any higher than the preliminary budget submitted, most cities have to plan in a little "wiggle room" as they finalize figures for the year ahead. (Continued on page 2) 2015 Preliminary Budget Approved for City Can City Bring Municipal Water to Hoffman’s Corner? The Gem Lake City Council recently began looking into the idea of bringing municipal water to the Hoffman’s Corner Business District. Initial steps have included asking our city engineer, Justin Gese of SEH, to look at where the water would come from (possibly from the City of White Bear), how it would get to the edge of the business district, (possibly under the railroad tracks), and how it would be paid for (possibly through a combination of assessments, grants and city funding). Multiple steps would be involved in bringing water to the business district, many of them controlled by state laws. These steps include doing a feasibility study on whether the idea makes sense, and is practical, from an economic and logistical perspective. (Continued page 2)