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Finance Commission Minutes October 11, 2016 – Draft Minutes Page 5 of 8 Commissioner Zeller asked if there had been a guiding policy when the residents had been asked 178 to prioritize CIP items. 179 180 Finance Director Miller stated there had been categories but the break down started when there 181 were dollars assigned to the priorities that had been established. There was not enough funding 182 for all of the projects established as priorities. 183 184 Chair Schroeder stated the Commission could look at broader guiding principles to allow for 185 flexibility. The City may have to make hard decisions regarding what projects, good and/or 186 services are funded and having guidelines may make it easier for the public to understand why 187 something was funded and something else was not. 188 189 Finance Director Miller stated successful organizations do prioritize and the City’s actions do 190 signal the priorities of the City. The physical exercise of writing down the priorities is best 191 practice but the City of Roseville has had a fair amount of reluctance to putting their priorities on 192 paper. He stated the Commission would have to consider how to overcome what has been a 193 barrier in the past to establishing this practice. 194 195 Commissioner Hodder pointed out the essential items in the City would be considered top 196 priorities and are the largest part of the budget. If the priorities were such that the City would not 197 make cuts in the top priorities then there would not be a way to fund the lower priorities in the 198 CIP, even though these may be important services or projects. 199 200 Commissioner Harold stated guiding principles would allow the Council to look all the 201 Departments and determine what the highest priorities are in each department to establish the 202 priorities. Having the policy would make it easier to make hard decisions when there are budget 203 shortfalls. 204 205 Chair Schroeder stated one of the things that the Commission has repeatedly stated is that the 206 City should maintain the assets they have before buying new or additional assets. This could be 207 a guiding principle for the City when making budget decisions. She suggested the Commission 208 look at adding funding guiding principles to the City’s Investment Policy and continue 209 discussions at a future meeting. She stated she also liked having the justification shown in the 210 Edina CIP. This may not be something that is done for the 20-year CIP but for the current year it 211 would make sense. 212 213 Commissioner Harold stated he likes the 20-year CIP as providing a clearer picture of where the 214 City is going and he likes the idea of including a justification piece for the current year CIP. 215 216 Finance Director Miller stated the City use to provide a justification for the current year CIP but 217 stopped doing this because it was no longer valued. He clarified the Commission is looking for a 218 more formal published document that included schedules and supporting narrative. Staff does 219 prepare a 20-page memo for the City Council that would similar to the supporting narratives the 220 Commission has but the creation of the justification pages is not something Staff is doing. There 221 is a cost to prepare these. He asked who would benefit from having these justification 222 Item 3: Attachment A