5.5. SR 09-08-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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budget should be approved by the Council. A couple of items such as the contribution to the Arts Alliance, the goose trapping expenses, the HPC expenses, attendance at out-of-state or national conferences, etc. should receive the typical City Council review and scrutiny. Balancing the budget may be more difficult if some additional expenditures are added to the 2004 proposal. Concern was raised at the last meeting regarding the cable TV programs and this relates directly to available resources (manpower). In this regard, the Council may want to consider the mid- year hiring of a full-time employee. Likewise, the Council discussed the possibility of adding a Park and Recreation Director at mid-year 2004. Both of these items would add to the expenditure side of the budget. In the budget agenda packet from the August 25 meeting, a list of the capital outlay items was presented. The tax levy resolution includes an amount based on the 2004 equipment certificate total as identified on the capital outlay page. The actual purchased items could be adjusted later by the City Council depending on how we want to proceed with the frre truck in 2005. In this regard, we may end up wanting to delay a police vehicle purchase or to move an expenditure (or two) into equipment reserves in order to free up some equipment certificate money for the fire truck chassis expenditure in later 2004. This fire truck purchase can be worked on as the year goes on, but the capital outlay page provides the framework of what is being proposed and the total expenditure. The Council is reminded that the City is adopting its proposed maximum levy at this September 8 meeting and that this amount can be reduced in the future. The decision by the Council on the maximum levy may depend on the growth in the city net tax capacity (NTC). If substantial growth in the net tax capacity is realized (about 10%), the city tax rate should remain level. The NTC estimate for 2004 is not yet available. Again, nothing has changed since the August 25 worksession. That meeting went fairly late so staff is prepared to re-discuss some of the issues and answer Council questions about how the budget got to the level that it is and how the budget options can play out in order to achieve a balanced budget for 2004. It has been two weeks since the budget meeting so maybe you have had time to think about and consider the 2004 budget situation. If so, your input is very welcome; and if not, we can again have budget and tax levy discussions on September 22, October 13, and/or October 27, 2003. At some point, and maybe this will happen at the September 8 meeting, staff needs direction on the Council policy issue on how to use the host fees. Likewise, another policy issue relates to the street rehabilitation program and the tax levy being included within the levy limit or not. At this point, the tax levy is outside of the levy limit and this is shown on the tax levy resolution. The city is proceeding with a bond for the 2003 street rehabilitation program. The city will pay its share from reserves and bond for the assessment share and the tax levy share of this project. At a later date staff will present information for the City Council to consider regarding the tirmng of future programs, the size of programs, and funding options. From now until the end of the year there will be additional budget issues and information presented to the City Council. This includes the following: net tax capacity information, the 2004 pay resolution, the 2004 enterprise funds, details on the supplemental budget pages, the truth in taxation hearing will be held in December, the budget and tax levies for 2004 will be approved in December, 2003 budget amendments will be made in December, and the five-year capital improvement program will be reviewed and updated.