2016_1216_FC_Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Finance Commission Minutes November 9, 2016 – Draft Minutes Page 4 of 7 2015 the County held back about $400,000 in property tax settlements, so the City was short this 137 income pending the outcome of the appeal. Most of these appeals have been completed and 138 about $356,000 has been returned to the City. These revenues are reflected in 2016 and 139 Commissioner Zeller updated the General Fund levels and graphs to reflect this. The does have 140 property evaluations every year but they are not usually as large as 2015. The City also had $1.1 141 million in surplus monies from TIF. Most of these funds have been allocated through Council 142 discussions for capital improvements and to shore up the building replacement fund. These 143 additional funds have also been included in the updated graphs. 144 145 Chair Schroeder stated these changes now put the City at the high end of the recommended 146 reserve balance. When the Commission reviewed this at the last meeting the City was at the low 147 end of the recommended reserves and the Commission had recommended not using reserve 148 funds. She stated this recommendation would no longer apply because the funds were not 149 projected to be below the recommended level. She asked if the Commission would want to send 150 a different recommendation based on the new information. 151 152 Finance Director Miller stated the TIF money was surplus money the City received when the TIF 153 District was decertified. This is not an ongoing funding source. 154 155 Commissioner Bachhuber stated the Commission’s message of maintaining the funds long term 156 within the goal range would make sense. He would recommend stating because of significant 157 one-time money in 2016 the fund balances remained within the goal range. 158 159 Chair Schroeder stated they should also provide the detail on what these one-time increases had 160 been. 161 162 The consensus of the Commission was to send the updated graphs with the updated information 163 on the one-time increases in the fund balance and to include the Commissions recommendation 164 to maintain these funds within the goal range. 165 166 167 Review Proposed 2017 Water & Sewer Rates 168 169 Finance Director Miller stated staff’s analysis of its utility operation included a review of the 170 fixed costs, variable costs, capital replacement, customer counts, consumption patterns, rate 171 structure and rates. Fixed costs include personnel, supplies and maintenance. Variable costs 172 include the purchase of water from the city of St. Paul, water treatment costs paid to the 173 Metropolitan Council, and recycling contractor costs paid to Eureka Recycling. Based on this 174 analysis staff is recommending a number of fee adjustments for 2017 resulting in an overall 175 increase in the utility bills of $2.88 per month for a typical single-family home or a little more 176 than 5%. The sewer usage fee as an individual component is increasing 19.4%. The single 177 largest operating cost to the sanitary sewer operation is the wastewater treatment costs paid to the 178 Metropolitan Council Environmental Services Division (MCES). He stated the base fee is 179 increasing and this is what funds the CIP or infrastructure maintenance and repairs. 180 181 Item 3: Attachment A