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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,December 8, 2014 Page 16 At the request of Mayor Roe, Finance Director Miller clarified that the projected $10,000 budget reduction for fuel was on the tax-supported side, with the vast majority of fuel usage for the Police and Fire Departments, and street vehicles. Mr. Miller advised that there may be some savings on the non-tax-supported side, but it would be minimal. Mayor Roe made a proposal, displayed for his colleagues and the public, and at- tached hereto and made a part hereof, as his recommendation to deal with the proposed levy by using some reserves to provide additional funding for the tax levy. Mayor Roe reviewed his proposal for use of unrestricted reserves, as well as reserves target range from the License Center Fund, and addressed policies in place that related to target fund balancesfor each. Mayor Roe opined that his proposal provided a conservative approach to retain a midpoint level for those re- serves by splitting the reserve in half, to be considered as a revenue source to re- duce the 2015 levy increase. By proportionally using $355,000 from the License Center Fund and $155,000 from General Fund unrestricted reserves, along with approximately half of the $200,000 projected by staff for 2014 operational savings, or $110,000, Mayor Roe noted that this would reduce the tax levy increase from 2014 to 2015 at $280,000. Councilmember McGehee noted that this did not pay back the full amount taken from reserves in the past that the City Council had agreed to pay back. Based on her calculations and these recommendations, Councilmember McGehee opined that only $175,000 would be paid back when it was already short. To clarify the reserves in the License Center Fund that some may choose to characterize as "hoarding," Councilmember McGehee noted that those funds were intended to be used to construct a building for the License Center versus continuing to lease space at$60,000 annually. While agreeing in principle with mayor Roe's proposal for the General Operating Fund, Councilmember McGehee opined that the City should be looking during the year for operational savings that could be found citywide, such as through out- sourcing or contracting out some services, providing savings and not requiring these drastic measures. As an example, Councilmember McGehee questioned if the City of Roseville needed its own SWAT team; or if it could raise fees going forward to achieve major savings rather than continuing to use reserves that were intended to other purposes. Excluding the License Center reserves, Councilmember Willmus noted, in large part, the reserves represented taxes paid in advance by Roseville taxpayers. Based on his review of Finance Commission recommendations, Councilmember Willmus noted that reserves remained $1 million to $1.5 million above the target goal; therefore making it very much within the City Council's purview to use