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I I I Council Meeting Minutes December II, 2000 Page 4 Public Hearing. continued Non~tax revenues such as water and sewer bills, building permits, FSC rentals, and interest earnings provide the majority of financing for services. New customer charges are proposed to help pay for expanded services and result in $147,000 in revenue. New customer charges include: School District paying a share of Middle School Liaison Officer position; fire inspection and occupancy license to help pay for full-time Fire Marshal position, stormwater and water enterprises to pay for Maintenance Worker position; and swimming program fees to pay for Aquatic Coordinator position. The amount of property taxes is detcrmined by taxable value of the parcel and community valuation. Residential properties valucd at $75,000 and $300,000 would see annual increases of $19 and $40, respectively. A tax rate comparison table shows that New Brighton is in the median amongst surrounding cities. Samuclson asked the reason for using reserves to fund the budget. Egan said the reserves are from several categories and used for different purposes. For example, interest earnings finance the budget, and the Environmental Restoration Fund provides debt payment of infrastructure projects. The General fund has a higher reliance on property taxes due to the services types do not involve customer charges. Rich Morse, 1405 29th Ave. NW, noted concern of the 13% increase, and requested justification of the new positions. Fulton said three positions reflect the conversion of Fire and Police to a Public Safety Department which provide an increased focus on fire administration. The Fire Marshal would be partly funded through inspection fees, and the Code Enforcement Officer would provide expanded inspection services. The MIS position will kcep the City focused on technology, and the Aquatic Coordinator will be paid through program fees. Fulton believes all the personnel changes are clearly justified. Fulton added that Council prefers to find alternative ways to fund operations instead of increased taxes. The proposed franchise fee was recently discussed to offset costs relating to the use of the City's right-of-ways. However, the community clearly felt this cost should continue to be collected through the general fund tax levy. Because New Brighton is a fully developed community, it continues to be a challenge to determine ways to tinance operations. Morse does not vicw a 13% increase as creative tinancing, and asked why the Licensc Bureau is not self funding. Egan said the License Bureau is a great example of keeping property taxes down and represents $40,000 in property tax assistance. Larson explained that increases are needed in order to continue services, provide enhancements and maintain excellent staff. Larson believes this is an excellent, safe community which benefits from an superior police force. Hoffman strongly supports the new Public Safety organization and believes the residents receive a high quality of service. She feels the proposed budget is reasonable. Egan noted that the formal adoption ofthe budget and tax levy will occur on December 20. There were no other comments from the audience. Motion by Hoffman, seconded by Samuelson, to CLOSE THE TRUTH IN TAXATION PUBLIC HEARING. Public Hearing Truth in Taxation Hearing Report 00-302