CC_Minutes_2017_1211 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 11, 2017 Page 3 Councilmember Etten noted that the tax payer's bills may increase without the city taking any action, while this proposed action serves to provide some insur- ance now for the CIP and to assist future annual budgets. Given conversations to-date, Councilmember Willmus stated that he had come in- to this meeting hoping for a levy increase in the 6%range based on those past dis- ' cussions and individual council member perspectives for the 2018 levy already expressed. With this proposed motion, Councilmember Willmus opined that it served to arrive at that projected range, while recognizing the need to wean the city off its use of reserves in the future for ongoing expenses. Councilmember Willmus stated that he was comfortable with the two-year approach addressed by Mayor Roe in his memoranda versus the Finance Commission's approach to spread out at total of$750,000 of increases over three years. While recognizing that the City Council may be made up differently in the future and after the 2019 budget cycle, Councilmember Willmus opined that to him it made sense to use a two-year timeframe; and stated that he would support the motion. While recognizing that there were apparently three of her colleagues supporting the motion, Councilmember Laliberte stated her support of the City Manager rec- ommended budget as presented. Referencing last week's discussion on various options to address the CIP over the next twenty years, even with their unknown ebbs and flows, Councilmember Laliberte stated that she was less concerned about those years showing small deficits, making her less comfortable with the using over$400,000 for the CIP. While supporting the $100,000 to reduce use of reserves, Councilmember Laliberte stated that she could not support the motion as currently proposed. At the request of Mayor Roe, Finance Director Miller estimated that with this mo- tion the average impact for single-family homes in 2018 with utility fees factored P n would be an additional forty-three cents leading to a $2.93 per month total 'im- pact, or roughly a total impact of 2.5%. Mayor Roe reviewed the impact to taxpayers with the City Manager recommend- ed budget, actually resulting in no increase, but a slight decrease in city taxes for median valued single family homes. Overall, a median valued home would see an overall increase of 1.3% with the City Manager proposed levy, EDA levy, and utility rates factored in. Mayor Roe noted that the original not to exceed prelimi- nary levy passed in September led to a 2.8% increase for a median valued single family property, or approximately 3% increase when figuring in utility fees. Mayor Roe noted the current motion would result was a total impact of approxi- mately 2.5% on average. In line with CIP changes discussed by the City Council last week, Mayor Roe reviewed impacts of city services to average single-family properties and how those services were addressed by employee costs to maintain those services, basically through COLA; and the county assessor's indication that the city's overall tax base was growing by 5.4% to 5.8%. Mayor Roe noted that