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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, June 14, 2010 Page 7 Councilmember Pust observed that past discussions and considerations had also been within the context of a major recession as well as state-mandated levy limits. Councilmember Ihlan noted that the City. applied a levy increase of over 7% in 2010 during a recession, and now appeared to be considering a higher levy in 2011; and suggested that the discussion needed to consider long-term outlooks for taxpayers with ongoing .significant increases .annually and compounding upon each other. Councilmember Ihlan suggested that it maybe more prudent to antic- ipate areas of reduction in the size of vehicle fleets, equipment holdings and not maintaining current levels; and also to consider cost-sharing, pooling vehicles, and reducing fleets. based on energy efficiencies or maintaining the current fleet. Councilmember Ihlan expressed concern in using Equipment Certificates, essen- tially away for the City to bond without a referendum and approval by the City's taxpayers. Mr. Miller noted that the CIP made some assumptions based on status quo opera- tions and anticipated growth for service and/or program levels; however, noted that if and when other models of service were considered (i.e., fire service model), significant savings could be realized on the fleet itself and long-term facility needs. Additional discussion included impacts of new facilities versus maintenance and repair of existing over the long-term; anticipated ten-year payback for a new fire station; funding through borrowing money for one-time purchases (i.e., for con- struction of new facilities) versus advantages of having reserves built into the sys- tem for ongoing maintenance needs. Mayor Klausing cautioned the need for discipline by current and future City Council's to avoid dipping into those reserves to maintain artificial levy rates to consider long-term rather than short-term community needs and benefits. Councilmember Johnson spoke in support of perpetuating savings, recognizing Roseville's identify as a low-tax community and different options taken by past City Councils. However, Councilmember Johnson noted the stresses those ac- tions have placed on the City's day-to-day operations and resources in all depart- ments, and expressed his sincere interest in considering all options with an open mind, including raising the levy if there were not other obvious options. Mayor Klausing expressed his interest in pursuing a referendum to provide a bet- ter sense to the City Council on whether they were addressing citizen values and allowing taxpayers to make those decisions on specific proposals. Councilmember Roe noted the need for community input for all the issues and funding caps currently before the City to consider the proposals put forth by the City Council to resolve those issues as part of the upcoming budget discussions.