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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,August 27,2012 Page 19 consideration for her; and while recognizing the funding gap created when the City was not paying enough attention to its capital needs and creating a lot of in- frastructure improvements and/or replacement, there were other priorities throughout the community that had yet to be addressed. Councilmember McGehee provided several examples important to her and the constituents she talked to, including continuous flooding from storm water runoff and/or failure of the City's infrastructure (e.g. sewage),and the importance of those things be- coming a priority. Councilmember McGehee referenced a front page article in the latest Sunday edition of the Minneapolis Star/Tribune newspaper about falling interest rates and those living on a fixed income having depended on their savings and that interest to augment their Social Security, but now unable to do so. While rec- ognizing that the City was not immediately responsible for this, Councilmember McGehee opined that the City needed to not further contribute to this stress for its citizens. In the opinion of Councilmember McGehee, one of those opportu- nities was to address the aggressive water/sewer base rates; and not giving citi- zens the opportunity to conserve or have control over what they were spending. While having argued this point earlier, Councilmember McGehee opined that she felt even stronger about it now as the economy continued to decline; and from her recollection, opined that the City's base rates significantly exceeded those of other communities. In response at the request of Councilmember McGehee, Mr. Miller noted that this reflected a philosophy not shared by other cities; with the City well below average usage rates. Councilmember McGehee opined that this served to prove her point. At the request of Mayor Roe to not debate rates at tonight's meeting, Coun- cilmember McGehee opined that rates figured into everything people were be- ing asked to pay; and the City Council continued to compartmentalizing ex- penditures and priorities. Mr. Miller offered to provide comparison rate information with other communi- ties at the City Council's next discussion. Mayor Roe suggested that, since the base versus usage rates had been previous- ly discussed by the City Council, Mr. Miller should be prepared to provide that- information at that time. Mr. Miller noted that, during discussions with the City Council last October and November, it had been the majority decision to address the base rates versus the variable usage rates, since there were inequities (e.g. senior discounts) that im- pacted those usage rates.