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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 9, 2013 Page 20 Councilmember McGehee admitted that she was not a big fan of using reserves; however, on the other hand, she was also not a big fan of being understaffed, opining that this had been the case. Having done her own research on personnel costs and operating budgets of other communities, Councilmember McGehee not- ed that she found other communities well above the City of Roseville's General Fund personnel costs. Councilmember McGehee opined that she found other cit- ies at 75%, with St. Louis Park as an example at 76.2% of their General Fund; and further referenced news articles in the weekend paper related to taxes in general and Roseville specifically. Mayor Roe clarified that total expenditures for 2014 from tax-supported funds were $23 million, of which $12.6 million was for personnel costs, or roughly 54%. Councilmember Etten noted those percentages quoted in weekend news articles also depended on which School District was represented in Roseville, with two (2) districts incorporated in the city. Councilmember McGehee provided her calculations for both School Districts 623 and 621; and expressed her difficulty in reconciling the fact that, unlike many communities, the City's personnel costs were not very high based on the popula- tion and size of the City, especially when comparing it to the Cities of Edina or St. Louis Park and their employee counts based on their square footage and popula- tion. Councilmember McGehee opined that the City of Roseville had more things, more equipment and more buildings in its asset inventory than it did peo- ple; and expressed one of her concerns going forward is not adding personnel to address ongoing maintenance or a plan for those things being added (e.g. fire sta- tion or park renewal program buildings). Councilmember McGehee noted that, in spite of asking for that information several years ago, she had yet to receive it; and opined that a bigger policy discussion was needed whether to take money from reserves now or look at the bigger Roseville picture and address the values of citizens and what they wanted to pay for. Councilmember Willmus clarified with staff that the License Center was not an Enterprise Fund, and therefore the comparisons being made by Councilmember McGehee were not an "apples to apples" comparison, since the City of Roseville had twenty-two (22) different funds. Councilmember Willmus opined that this did not provide for a fair comparison when the City and its citizens were looking to find a way to offset the levy somewhat in areas that were available, his main focus tonight through this discussion. If the City of Roseville was going to be compared to other cities on a fund level, Councilmember Willmus opined that there was a need to know what those funds were. Councilmember McGehee recognized that aspect of comparison.