Laserfiche WebLink
Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,November 13, 2017 <br /> Page 5 <br /> mercial to residential property taxpayers and potential impacts to single-family <br /> homeowners in addition to the significant school district bonds just passed. <br /> Commissioner Hodder noted that when talking about the Pavement Management <br /> Program (PMP), the commission made this recommendation along those same <br /> lines, that by making a little adjustment annually it would make for more sustain- <br /> ability as opposed to a sudden shock in the system or a one-time event. <br /> To that point, Councilmember Etten noted the rationale in the not-to-exceed levy <br /> when the city doesn't yet know what those reserves will look like by year-end, as <br /> well as the CIP to some extent, allowing for some flexibility. However, due to <br /> other factors, Councilmember Etten sought concurrence from the commission that <br /> this was a good time to take a bigger step as median valued homes would be im- <br /> pacted less making it a good time to make some of these corrections due to other <br /> factors at play this year. <br /> Commissioner Zeller noted that the rate of increase in the tax levy so far had far <br /> exceeded the annual rate of inflation over the last decade, and another 3.7% ap- <br /> plied in 2018 would improve that trend and eventually coincide with the rate of <br /> inflation for taxpayers. <br /> Councilmember McGehee noted that in the past decade the City had embarked on <br /> some capital improvements including a new fire station, six park buildings, re- <br /> cently approved a new golf clubhouse and a 3.6 million dollar per year program to <br /> repair and replace the aging water, sewer, and stormwater systems. These chang- <br /> es had resulted in an approximately 33% increase in the levy as well as a 60% in- <br /> crease in the base utility fees in about 2 years. While not discussing more back- <br /> ground, Councilmember McGehee simply stated that these actions had resulted in <br /> the large increases over inflation in the budget in the past decade. <br /> In principle, Commissioner Harold agreed that now was a good time to play <br /> catch-up, but by spreading it out over three years versus one year as recommend- <br /> ed, it aligned appropriately with approximately inflation over last year. <br /> Councilmember Etten agreed in theory as long as things remained the same; how- <br /> ever, he noted the many unknowns that could make that $250,000 recommenda- <br /> tion for 2019 unsustainable and create a larger increase for taxpayers, a great con- <br /> cern for him. <br /> Mayor Roe noted that it was worth pointing out the net impact on average single- <br /> family households in terms of the tax levy, plus the utility base rate changes at <br /> 2% even though, it was a 4.7% levy increase in 2018. Mayor Roe noted this <br /> helped to see a more complete picture than just looking at the levy as had been <br />