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City Counci12009-03-04 6:00 p.m. <br />Minutes of Work Session <br />~~ <br />0 ~~~ <br />aaa <br />Present were Mayor Capra, Council members Jeff Paar, Tom Lee, and Ben Fehrenbacher. <br />Also present were City Attorney Kurt Glaser and Deb Barns reporter for the Citizen. <br />1) Budget Administrator Larson presented a budget estimate showing cuts in <br />Market Value Homestead Credit Aid and other revenue reductions for 2009. <br />Revenue losses of about $83,000 are expected. He reviewed the areas that <br />savings in costs are expected totaling about $116,000. Savings will result from <br />the temporary vacancy in the Finance Director position and shifting inspector <br />expenses from the General Fund to the 2009 Street Project. Staff has implemented <br />a policy of holding off on most discretionary expenses and training. Only training <br />required for state licensing will be allowed this year. <br />Council reviewed a draft budget for 2010. The estimated budget would have <br />about a 2.5% decrease in overall expenses in the General Fund. The requirement <br />to make certain debt levies and the levy for the 2009 Street Project will result in a <br />levy increase of about 14%. Making up for the Market Value Homestead Credit <br />Aid will result in an increase of about 3% in the levy. Making up for those items <br />and in addition adjusting for other revenue losses would result in a total overall <br />levy increase of 18.9%. The estimates are very preliminary. <br />2) Downtown DevelopmentBeard Group Update. Mr. Ron Mehl of Beard Group <br />was present to share their company's outlook on the Centerville Downtown <br />Redevelopment. They have seen a steady erosion of interest in doing the <br />townhome portion of the project. He indicated that last summer, they had <br />expressions of interest from Centex to do the development, but they were offering <br />50% less for the lot sites as compared to the prior year. Now Beard is unable to <br />get any developer interested in doing anything. Many of the home developers <br />have substantially reduced their staff so it is even difficult to talk to anyone. <br />Mehl indicated that the Block 8 portion of the development is probably bankable, <br />but they will need to have an anchor tenant for the commercial space before they <br />can move forward. Residential space would probably need to be rental, as banks <br />don't seem interested in financing units for sale, unless at least 75% are presold <br />without contingencies. <br />Mehl stated that Beard has received a commitment of $150,000 in Home Funds <br />for the Block 7 rental project. They plan to reapply for the Tax Credit funding in <br />June. They are optimistic that they will be successful this time, which would <br />mean breaking ground in the spring of 2010. When they reapply, they will be <br />asking the Council to extend the purchase agreement on the City property in <br />Block 7. <br />The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:30 p.m. <br />Dallas Larson, Administrator <br />