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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, December 07, 2009 Page 2 amount of $14.3 million, an increase of $1,161,140 or 8.8%, unless revised by the City Council before year-end. Councilmember Ihlan opined that the City Council was going forward with this Budget Hearing meeting without the benefit of the line item budget actually proposed to support the requested tax levy increase; and for the record advised that she had requested this in- formation several times informally during City Council discussions over the last few months; and had ultimately been forced to make a formal public information request based on the City Council majority of Mayor Klausing and Councilmembers Roe and Johnson voting her motions down. Councilmember Ihlan advised that she had still not received this information, even after her formal public information request, other than for receiving information related to non tax-supported funds, and a response letter from staff and their advising that the information had not yet been developed for the 2010 budget related to tax-supported programs and services. Councilmember Ihlan advised that this would make it difficult for her to respond to public requests for this information. Mayor Klausing opened the Public Hearing at 6:33 p.m. to receive comment on the pro- posed 2010 City Budget; and reviewed the process, respectfully requesting that speakers keep their comments within a five minute time limit to allow all those wishing to speak the time to do so. Public Comment Dick Lambert, 800 Brenner Avenue Mr. Lambert provided a bench handout and referenced his perspective and research on property tax comparisons in contract to those presented by Mr. Miller, including per cap- ita comparisons and trends. Mr. Lambert noted the annual Roseville tax levy increases versus annual Roseville resident average wage increases; and asked that the City Council consider the impacts of the proposed tax levy on those unemployed or on fixed incomes. Mr. Lambert advised that he didn't understand the BFO process and offered no specific solutions; but asked that Councilmembers take the skills and experience from their suc- cessful personal lives, and use them for their extended Roseville family of constituents. Alan Wolhaupt, 3000 Asbury Street Mr. Wolhaupt expressed his opposition to the proposed increase on his taxes over the 2009 payable, in the amount of $38, even though his real estate value decreased. Mr. Wolhaupt advised that he was on disability and would not be receiving any COLA on this income, and that this increase, even though small, would be difficult on his fixed income. Gary Grefenberg, 91 Mid Oaks Lane Mr. Grefenberg provided his interpretation of the statistics presented by Mr. Miller, opin- ing that 50% of the average homeowners in Roseville saw less than a 5% decline or that their taxes remained stagnant. Mr. Grefenberg advised that his property value remained the same; but noted that Roseville led the pack this time with its proposed levy percent- age increase, higher than that proposed by either Ramsey County or the School District. Mr. Grefenberg advised that he would experience an increase in taxes of 10.9%, opining that his situation was not unique for property owners, and that others were seeing signifi-