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Finance Commission Minutes <br />January 10, 2017 – Draft Minutes <br />Page 5 of 6 <br /> <br />Chair Schroeder stated according to the last survey most residents get their information from the 181 <br />newspaper. 182 <br /> 183 <br />Commissioner Harold stated he would like to see the breakdown for the median homeowner 184 <br />included in the 2017 mailing. 185 <br /> 186 <br />Chair Schroeder suggested including the water and sewer rate information. 187 <br /> 188 <br />Commissioner Murray suggested including an area for residents to comment on concerns beyond 189 <br />the City budget. 190 <br /> 191 <br />Finance Director Miller stated they do get comments not related to the budget in previous years. 192 <br /> 193 <br />Commissioner Harold suggested continuing to include the breakdown of the taxes between City 194 <br />and County. 195 <br /> 196 <br />Chair Schroeder clarified the Commission was recommending the comment card format used in 197 <br />2016, the proposed article and include the water and sewer rate information. 198 <br /> 199 <br />Finance Director Miller stated he would provide an example for the Commission at their 200 <br />February meeting. 201 <br /> 202 <br /> 203 <br />Review Property Tax & Utility Rate Comparisons of Peer Cities 204 <br /> 205 <br />Chair Schroeder the City’s water and sewer rates look high and the tax rate looks low compared 206 <br />to other cities. 207 <br /> 208 <br />Finance Director Miller stated many cities use special assessments and this is included in 209 <br />property taxes but is not part of the tax rate so the special assessment piece was not included in 210 <br />the comparisons. He stated Roseville does not utilize assessments for funding water and sewer 211 <br />capital replacements. 212 <br /> 213 <br />Chair Schroeder suggested removing the portion of the City’s water and sewer rates that goes 214 <br />towards capital replacements then comparing this to the peer cities rates because the other cities 215 <br />rates do not include capital replacement. The other option would be to mark what would be 216 <br />fixed costs and what is based on usage. 217 <br /> 218 <br />Commissioner Hodder stated it should be noted that the City of Roseville does not utilize special 219 <br />assessments for water and sewer along with an example of what a special assessment might look 220 <br />like. Special assessments are typically a large amount that would be owed by individual 221 <br />benefiting properties. 222 <br /> 223 <br />Finance Director Miller stated establishing a peer group is difficult because there are wide 224 <br />disparities in a city’s ability and philosophy in funding city services. 225