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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, August 11, 2008 Page 17 tunities for infrastructure improvements to be funded through sustained rate in- creases and dedicated funding availability. Councilmember Roe sought clarification on whether the budget was being shifted from tax-funded to fee-funded; and whether those fee supported programs were funded to the extent the City Council felt appropriate. City Manager Malinen advised that he had asked all departments to seriously re- view their fees for services based on community need and request; and to allow realistic capture of 100% of what those services cost. Mr. Malinen noted the need for greater emphasis, due to levy revenue limitations, to ensure that the City was doing their best in providing services, while not shifting that burden to the tax- payer through exorbitant or excessive fees. Councilmember Willmus sought clarification as to whether the 2009 allocation for principle debt service was included in the 2009 levy increase projection; and questioned when the HRA would work through their budget process and levy re- quest. Finance Director Miller advised that the Ice Arena replacement system was a separate designated levy to repay the debt over the next nine years, at roughly $350,000; projecting that the estimated impact to typical homeowners would in- crease from 2.9% to approximately 5%, or a total combined increase of $1,200,000 of 9.3%, exclusive of the HRA levy at this time. Councilmember Pust, Council Liaison to the HRA, advised that the HRA was working on their budget at this time, for presentation to the City Council in the near future. Finance Director Miller noted that the City Council would need to adopt their pre- liminary levy by September 15, 2008; and advised that the HRA was anticipating their initial presentation to the City Council at the August 25, 2008 City Council meeting. Councilmember Ihlan noted that with the combined City Manager-recommended tax levy for 2009 of 6.5%, plus the approximately 3.5% for the Ice Arena, in addi- tion to the yet-to-be-determined HRA levy, the City's taxpayers could be facing a double-digit property tax increase this year. Finance Director, Miller clarified that actual impacts could be less based on appli- cable tax rates applied by Ramsey County and home valuations. Councilmember Ihlan sought from staff an analysis of fee impacts now during the budget process so that could be taken into account to determine other impacts to