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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 8,2014 Page 17 those monies to offset the levy, in particular given the restructuring by Ramsey County of residential and commercial property values for 2015. If the City Coun- cil used the numbers proposed by Mayor Roe, Councilmember Willmus noted that this would get the levy increase for 2015 to be consistent with the rate of in- flation over the past year. Councilmember Willmus opined that this would not limit the City moving forward and would be a prudent step that he could support. Councilmember Etten stated that he was not a big supporter of using one-time money to patch together a budget. However, Councilmember Etten stated that he was somewhat amenable to the proposal by Mayor Roe this year given the severe shift of property values from commercial businesses to residential family homes, which was hitting homeowners significantly hard for 2015. Councilmember Etten noted that the use of those reserves as proposed was significant and put the City at a $540,000 hole before talking about anything for 2016. While comfortable using some reserves, Councilmember Etten opined that that number was a large hole to dig out of, and at some point would hit the City hard and limit future decision- making. Speaking specifically to the comments about meeting Consumer Price Index (CPI) percentages as part of the additional $220,000 for capital needs out- side operating increases, Councilmember Etten stated that he was more comforta- ble with the$280,000 as part of that, but adding in the remainder to bring the total 2015 levy increase to just over 2% in an effort to acknowledge the City Council's attempt to keep things down for residents while not limiting the City's future. Mayor Roe clarified the intent of Councilmember Etten to reduce the increase suggested by staff from $655,329 to $400,000; with Councilmember Etten agree- ing by using $220,000 to the CIP, bringing the levy increase to a little over 2%. Mayor Roe clarified that he did not subtract the CIP. Councilmember McGehee concurred with the comments of Councilmember Et- ten, stating that she had the same reservations stated by him. Councilmember McGehee expressed her dislike to continuing to do this at year-end without ad- dressing some of the fundamental issues and making recommendations to reduce spending. Councilmember McGehee opined that $540,000 was a huge amount, and she supported retaining the CIP amount. Councilmember Laliberte noted that she had long advocated for reduced spend- ing, and after another year's budget process, that had yet to be achieved. While respecting the recommendation of the Finance Commission for options available where reserves are over reserve targets, and those two funds specifically proposed to be used by Mayor Roe, Councilmember Laliberte expressed her opposition to using reserves to fund recurring expenses. While not having a problem using them or an investment for 2015, and recognizing that it was taxpayer money that should be used for refunded and not stockpiled, Councilmember Laliberte ex- pressed concern is borrowing from reserves and then needing to repay them. De- pending on how it was considered, Councilmember Laliberte questioned if it