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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,August 27,2012 Page 13 ler noted that Roseville's water rates were higher than average, but its sewer rates were lower than average, with Roseville then remaining near average. Since this was to be the first opportunity for the public to comment on the 2013 budget, Mayor Roe reiterated subsequent opportunities in September and De- cember; as well as encouraging individuals to contact Councilmembers or staff with their questions at any time during the process. Mayor Roe reviewed guidelines for public comment; and asked that speakers be respectful of the time they took to provide their feedback to allow others to speak; as well as respecting the other business needing to come before the City Council yet tonight. Mayor Roe advised that questions raised during public comment would be addressed by staff after all speakers had been heard, but if the information was not immediately available, staff would respond as that in- formation became available. Mayor Roe opened the Public Hearing at approximately 7:16 p.m. Public Comment Dick Houck, 1131 Roselawn Avenue Mr. Houck opined that the City Council was already aware that many people in Roseville were living on a fixed income or no income; and needed to live on a budget as individual Councilmembers and staff did with their personal finances. Mr. Houck noted that, if you overspent on those budgets, you went bankrupt; and this was obvious to everyone. However, for some reason, Mr. Houck al- leged that when individuals became "public servants," an often misunderstood term, it seemed to become easier to simply grab money from taxpayers, while those taxpayers living on fixed incomes had to do without. Mr. Houck further alleged that the City Council was at least partially responsible for making them do that; opining that they were already living on as much as they could afford, and when the City took more, they had even less. Mr. Houck opined that the government seemed to have no sense of doing without, but simply going for more money and continuing to take more money from those not having it to give. Mr. Houck strongly encouraged the City Council to figure out how to live within its income, stating that"this has to stop, we're going broke, and cities are as well, when spending more money than we can afford to give you. Mr. Houck opined that it was embarrassing for him to have to tell the City Council this fact; however, someone has to say it. Karen Schaffer,2100 Fairview Avenue Ms. Schaffer expressed appreciation for the tremendous amount of detail pro- vided in this proposed budget documentation. While not claiming to understand each line item, Ms. Schaffer advised that she had several questions of the City Council and/or staff, and for their consideration moving forward. Ms. Schaffer opined that the proposed tax levy was high from her perspective and somewhat