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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September 8, 2014 Page 12 Councilmember Etten clarified that, last year, when voting on whether to use re- serves or raise the tax levy before deciding on the budget itself, both he and Councilmember McGehee were in the minority to support not using reserves for ongoing annual levy and budget reconciliation. However, Councilmember Etten stated that this year, he was leaning toward the Mayor's suggestion based on the shifting tax burden from commercial to single-family properties; and he would support splitting the difference this time for that specific reason. Councilmember Etten stated that he supported the overall budget, including not using reserves for operating purposes. While it may sound contrary to her previous comments, Councilmember Laliberte advised that she could support the reduction in levy from 4.6%, noting that the other way to reduce the levy and budget was to reduce spending, which she fully supported and which had not yet been discussed. Councilmember Laliberte opined that she wished that discussion had been considered versus shifting mon- ey, even though the proposed motion served to reduce the levy increase by ap- proximately 1%, and therefore she would support it. At the request of Councilmember McGehee, Mr. Miller clarified that the project- ed increased was based half on debt service, which had actually gone down for 2015, and was at approximately 2.5%, with the remaining 2.5% for operations. Councilmember McGehee commended Finance Director Miller for this year's budget; opining that the City and staff had done a good job in presenting a re- sponsible budget; and stated that she would support the Council majority as long as they were committed to refunding the balance of reserve funds the following year. Mayor Roe noted, if you didn't look at the License Center or Communications Fund (not tax-supported), the unrestricted reserves were close to the high end of the target, at 43%, and reducing them to approximately 40% would provide $500,000 in estimated dollars to work with in the General Fund. Mayor Roe stat- ed that this was another reason he supports this proposal. Roll Call Ayes: Willmus, Laliberte, Etten, McGehee, and Roe. Nays: None. Discussion ensued regarding the deadline for taking action on the preliminary tax levy and budget. City Manager Trudgeon noted that he would be unavailable for the September 15, 2014 meeting.