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City Manager's 2004 Budget Recommendations Police would function for a second year without a Deputy police Chief; Administration and the entire City organ i ation would func- tion again without an Assistant City Manager, Finance would function more slowly due to the transfer of an F TE to the License Center. License Center operations would improver Deducing our programming at the Mature Center would be a loss for some school children. Possibly, we can receive even more vol- unteer help from the FORHANC group. Possibly, we can forge a partnership with another agency, such as the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, to help us pay for operating and program costs at the Mature Center. • The Police Department would still operate at full sworn strength (other than the Deputy Police Chiefl. A restricted outdoor season at the OVAL would certainly disappoint speed slaters and some aggressive skate park teenagers, as the closure of the wading pool would disappoint some care-givers and children. Fortunately, there are some ether places to slate and swim.. -..,. Overall, of the roughly 5,000 programs and services the Parks and Recreation Department is proud to sponsor or conduct, approximately 4,900 would still be fully intact and alive. Deducing the number of fire apparatus will trouble some current and former members of the Fire Department, But we will still have lets of apparatus, and on these rare occasions when more appara- tus are needed it is available through mutual aid from ether fire departments. Eliminating some insurance coverage puts us at greater risk if a catastrophe strifes. In nay experience, using reserves to back -stop such a highly unlikely event is a geed and appropriate alternative and a good and appropriate use of reserves. (It is what we did with gnat success in Mesa.) This approach would a ow us to continue to safely invest our reserves and thereby reduce pressure on our tax levy. Yet at the sane time our reserves would be doing "double- duty": they would continue to be an asset earning money and, in addition, we could still liquidate as needed in the unlikely event that a catastrophe strikes. Remember that we still have substantial insurance coverage by paying $200,000 in premiums each year; , I'm net suggesting we go without insurance. I am recommending we rely more on self-insurance (by relying on our own reserves) and less on purchased insurance. we would tap City reserves only 1