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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,June 16, 2014 Page 10 Finance Director Miller advised that, specific to the value or merit of developing multiple budget scenarios (decreased, frozen and/or an increase) it was the con- sensus of the Commission that such a practice would be conceptually healthy for any organization. However, Mr. Miller noted that they also understood the sensi- tivity of doing so in a public forum in which the City operated. Mr. Miller ad- vised that the Commission's guidance to the City Council was to go ahead and do so, but as program impacts were discussed, those impacts should be broad-based, and not specific programs and/or service cuts unless really determined to go down that path, at which time it would be appropriate to let the public know what was being contemplated versus not simply unnerving the public for the purpose of an exercise. Mr. Miller clarified that the consideration of the Commission was for a plus 5%, zero and minus 5% levy scenario exercise. Mayor Roe clarified, with agreement by Councilmember Willmus, that this exer- cise was specific to the levy, not the overall budget.. From the last discussion, Councilmember McGehee suggested a broad policy dis- cussion first, following the most recent community survey, indicating that citizens are satisfied with the level of service they're receiving and the level of compe- tence in which is being delivered. Councilmember McGehee suggested assigning to the City Manager and Department Heads the task of reviewing the entire City and bringing forward areas in which the City currently contracts out for service and/or provided services in-house and if any of those areas could be changed to see cost savings. Councilmember McGehee opined that this is the way she would like to see the City do their budget work; tasking staff with trying to provide sav- ings and review expenses on the basis of providing citizens with existing services and retaining the existing tax level. Also, Councilmember McGehee addressed cash reserves, opining that she wanted staff to have the opportunity to review this as a whole, rather than having the City Council "dig in the weeds" for specific things as done in the past; but to have the City Council take a higher policy re- view and allow staff to do their job. Mayor Roe opined that staff did that now, looking at the entire budget as a whole and services. Councilmember McGehee opined that staff did so at the City Council's direction; but if they find any significant cuts to be had, it would be more appropriate for them to do so on a larger policy level, as they were much more aware of the con- tracting aspects and could find more efficiency. At the prompting of Mayor Roe, Councilmember McGehee stated that she was not interested in pursuing the three proposed budget scenarios preferred by Coun- cilmember Willmus, but more interested in staff coming to the City Council with proposals, knowing that the goal was not to raise taxes but to do the best job pos- sible, while finding any savings possible. Councilmember McGehee opined that