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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, September O8, 2008 Page 8 genuous for the City Council to invite public comment on the budget. Mr. Houck opined that the public comment from the recent Imagine Roseville 2025 commu- nity visioning process should have provided substantial resident feedback; and opined that, only in government, could a tax increase to obtain more money due to expenditures exceeding revenue be considered anything other than bankruptcy. Mr. Houck noted that years ago the City of Roseville had initiated massive infra- structure improvements (i.e., OVAL, etc) which seemed good at the time; how- ever, now it was "payday" and their upkeep and maintenance were now taking a toll. Mr. Houck suggested that, similar to corporate sponsorship and advertising rights at the OVAL, the City encourage businesses to put their name on various park and recreation facilities to offset costs. Mr. Houck suggested mobilization of residents in specific neighborhoods with parks to determine interest and possible sponsorships. Mr. Houck opined that he feared that when the infrastructure drained the budget, it was always the public safety and street maintenance that got cut; and that those were the core services that government was responsible to pro- vide to the public; with the remainder being just a plus. Mr. Houck opined that the City needed to put more emphasis on the essentials, rather than the pluses; and concluded by stating that "we're not satisfied with a tax increase." Gary Grefenberg, 91 Mid Oaks Lane Mr. Grefenberg commended the City's efforts to encourage tree preservation; however, expressed concerns with the need to improve efforts for newly-planted trees, specifically noting those planted along County Road C, suffering stress due to continued draught conditions, and regardless of who initially paid for the trees. Mr. Grefenberg opined that the City was overall doing a good job budget-wise, based on his experience as a taxpayer in Roseville for the last 10 years and com- pared to recent increases in other communities. Mr. Grefenberg opined that he was supportive of minor reasonable increases, as long as they were below the cost of living, and to continue community improvements, suggesting that they repre- sented agood return on his investment. Mr. Grefenberg opined that the Police Department's designation as the "sacred cow" may not be warranted, and questioned if they should be immune to budget cuts. Mr. Grefenberg offered two examples over the last four years that he'd per- sonally observed, and that made him question the efficient and economical use of the Department's vehicle and staff assets, and his perspective on those incidents. Based on those incidents, Mr. Grefenberg further noted the need for the Depart- ment to remember that they were civil servants, and needed to develop their cus- tomer service skills and protocol for interacting with citizens. Mr. Grefenberg opined that City taxpayer monies paid for the well-earned compensation of Police officers; and that should earn citizens some level of civic respect and considera- tion, and patience in addressing fear of and providing assurance to residents when an incident occurred in their neighborhood.