2015.10.13 WS Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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IVN Of BRWKJlrfUN the city that works for you Council Worksession October 13, 2015 5:00 pm Present: Mayor Dave Jacobsen Councilmember Gina Bauman Councilmember Brian Strub Councilmember Paul Jacobsen Councilmember Mary Burg Absent: Staff in Attendance: Dean Lotter, Terri Harstaad, Brenda Davitt, Joe Hatch and Craig Schlichting Guests in Attendance: Elections Mayor Jacobsen suggested this item be discussed at a future worksession meeting in order to allow for a more lengthy discussion on the budget. Councilmember Bauman was in favor of this item being addressed after this years' election. Councilmember Burg wanted to see a change and would support the item being discussed after the election. Councilmember Jacobsen agreed. Councilmember Strub recommended that the Council discuss this item in the near future and that action be taken at the November l Otn meeting. 2016 Budget Mayor Jacobsen requested the 2016 budget discussion begin with conversation surrounding the proposed franchise fee increase. Lotter discussed how the increase in the franchise fee would impact New Brighton homeowners. He commented that one benefit of a franchise fee was that it hit a more broad range of users in the City, when compared to a tax levy increase, which only impacts property owners and local businesses. He explained that Schlichting recently attended a meeting with Xcel regarding this matter and had additional information for the Council. Schlichting reviewed the final information he received from Xcel in detail with the Council. He reported the City began the franchise fees in 2002 and was based on kilowatt hours for electric users or per therm for gas users. He discussed how the proposed increases would impact residents. Davitt explained how it would benefit the City and its residents to collect an additional $400,000 in revenues through franchise fees versus increasing the tax levy due to the fact the fees would be spread among more users.