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% of <br />M <br />Or My ll w wkts Isar you <br />Memo <br />To: Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From: Dean R. Lotter, City Manager <br />Subject: Budget <br />Date: February 25, 2009 <br />One of the outcomes/decisions made at the team building retreat held January <br />29 and 30 was to add an additional worksession to the monthly regimen of <br />meetings. On the first Tuesday of each month, the Council has decided to add a <br />worksession. The group agreed to have a hard start at 5pm and a hard end at <br />7pm. <br />It was also agreed the first worksession in March would focus on the budget and <br />having a discussion about how to address the reduction in state aid. While the <br />economy continues to show signs of instability, one ultimately asks what does <br />this mean for the future of governmental services now and in the future. <br />Ultimately Council will need to decide what services are important to the <br />community. <br />The exercise of cultivating solutions to a reduction is state aid can take on <br />several different approaches depending on what the Council wants to do. I have <br />met a couple of times with department heads to discuss their ideas on what they <br />think could happen or should happen to address the reduction in state aid. This <br />memo is a summary of those ideas and will ultimately contain my <br />recommendation to the Council on a path to take. <br />I encourage the City Council to think through the reasons and openly discuss <br />why adjustments could or should be made. As is often said, there are many <br />ways to skin a cat. Some options that the Council can consider may be less <br />glamorous, but still be effective. Some decisions may result in changes that will <br />take a longer time to actualize. Others can have a more immediate affect. Having <br />good logic and reasoning behind the decisions is important to both the <br />community and the organization. Is the goal to cut services? Is the goal to lower <br />the tax levy? Is the goal to fill the gap left behind by the loss in state aid? Are we <br />weathering the storm or changing how we operate? <br />CADocumenls and Setlings\kbruno\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Fi1es\0LK58\Budget Memo March 2 2009.doc <br />