CC_Minutes_2013_1202 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 2, 2013 Page 11 When final 2013 expenditures are known in several months, Mr. Grefenberg ex- pressed his interest in the City adding another step to the budget process by publi- cally presenting actual expenditures as well as surplus remaining. Peter Ryan,316 N McCarron's Boulevard Mr. Ryan advised that he had spoken at Ramsey County as well as providing writ- ten comments to all City Council members; however, he expressed his frustration that he continued to receive basically the same response. As a successful business owner, Mr. Ryan noted that he needed to operate within a given budget, and dur- ing the recession he could not always expand or increase his business more than the market could bear. During that same time over the last decade, Mr. Ryan ad- vised that his overall taxes for Ramsey County and the City of Roseville had gone up over 300%. Mr. Ryan questioned the level of insight or fiscal responsibility being used by the City; and whether all of the money bonded for was actually needed for parks, or the overall; and opined that to him it seemed like frivolous spending with that spending needing to be refocused. As a lifelong Roseville resident, and thoroughly enjoying living in Roseville, Mr. Ryan questioned if he could continue to do so based on those ongoing tax increas- es, and whether or not he could continue to afford his home, opining that living in Roseville was very expensive and didn't provide a real draw for people to move into the community as it once did. Mr. Ryan opined that it would be nice to see a budget with no increases; and further opined that it could be done and that many of the increases were not necessary. Mr. Ryan questioned why he needed to keep absorbing those increases, which was wearing more and more on taxpayers who were forced to do with a lot less to pay for those increases and serving to drive people out of the City. Mr. Ryan opined that the City was no longer bringing in a lot of high-class houses, only apartments; causing his house values to decrease, but taxes to increase. With no one else appearing to speak, Mayor Roe closed the Public Hearing at ap- proximately 7:52 p.m.; expressing appreciation to those speaking for their good questions and willingness to participate in the City's budget process. Recess Mayor Roe recessed the meeting at approximately 7:52 p.m. and reconvened at approximately 8:04 p.m. b. Volunteer Coordinator Discussion Interim City Manager Patrick Trudgeon briefly reviewed the RCA dated Decem- ber 2, 2013, and his recommendation based on previous discussions on this pro- posed position. Mr. Trudgeon suggested a pilot project to determine not if but how the position would function in the future. In his recent discussion with Department Heads as directed by the City Council, Mr. Trudgeon advised that he found acceptance