2.0. SR 08-22-2005 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Budget Worksession August 22, 2005 Page 5 of7 increase more than 10%. (Our residential growth from mid-2003 to mid-2004 was 7.9% according to the State Demographer's Office.) Regarding personnel, in 2005 we added seven full-time and two part-time positions. The draft 2006 budget includes five full-time and one part-time employee. However, some of the expenses for the engineering technicians are not in the general fund as it is planned that some of their time will be charged direcrly to projects and programs. In order to help address the budget gap and based on a conservative approach, I am recommending that the full-time administrative assistant in the Legal Department be reduced to part-time. This amounts to about a $25,000 savings and further reduces the budget gap to $34,000. Some departmental expenditures to note include the following: . Mayor and Council. . . Includes $9,000 for Heritage Preservation Commission expenses. . Cable TV.. .The full-time position that was in the 2005 budget has been reduced to a part-time position. . Elections.. .There is a statewide election in 2006 and accordingly, expenses are up; however, these expenses are "equalized" by the $18,000 transfer in that shows up in the revenues. . Finance. . . The other professional services line item includes $33,000 for Sherburne County assessing services. . Legal. . .As noted above, the personnel services category should be reduced to reflect a part-time position versus a full-time position. . Planning.. .All of the expenses for the community development director are in this budget. The other professional services line item includes $15,000 to begin the Highway 169/ County Road 33 Master Plan study. · City Hall.. .There is a new expense of $4,850 for a professional lawn care contract for mowing, spraying, bush/shrub maintenance, etc. so that City Hall can have a more professional look like some of our local banks. Simply stated, the Parks Department doesn't have the manpower to do this type of quality work. · Contingency. . . This budget is up $20,000 to increase Council flexibility (however, this is likely to come down $10,000 in order to help balance the budget.) · Police.. .Part of the equipment repair/maintenance expense is to implement the Visionaire paperless program to improve efficiency and reduce redundancy for officers making out reports while on patrol in their squad cars. Part of the supplies increase is due to a $15,000 expenditure for tactical body armor. Also in supplies for