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2003-02-28 Friday News The Friday News February 28, 2003 EAW Draft th On February 19, we received the preliminary draft EAW for the Bluffs project prepared by developer Ron Clark. Staff and the City Attorney reviewed the draft agreement, and are now recommending that the City hire Barr Engineering to conduct a review of the EAW draft submitted. Minnesota Rules 4410.1400 state that the City as RGU “shall promptly determine whether the proposer’s submittal is complete.” Although there is no strict timeline for review, the rules impose a standard of reasonableness to the review period. Representatives from Barr indicate that if their proposal is approved they could have a preliminary review of the EAW completed within a two week period (preferably prior to the second Council meeting in March). The City Council will consider this recommendation at their meeting on Tuesday. Five finalists chosen for Police Chief interviews The City narrowed down its pool of 40 applicants for the Police Chief position to five top candidates. Through a written exercise, the City Council was able to narrow the pool to the following individuals: Tim Brennan, acting Chief in Mounds View, John Gannaway, Bayport Police Chief, Greg Hestness, Deputy Chief in Minneapolis, Mark Kempe, St. Paul Sergeant, and Larry Lotzer, a Sergeant in Richfield. The five candidates will undergo a th two part interview process on Saturday, March 15. They will interview with three members of the Police Department and then with the City Council. We hope to have a new Police Chief on board in April. Annual Fire Relief Association Awards Banquet Last Saturday, the Fire Department held its annual awards banquet at the Bluffs of Mendota. In all, over 100 people attended including the Mayor, Council members and retirees. Mike Maczko was honored for his 20 years of service to the community. Mike retired in June of 2002. The Relief Association customarily gives the retiree a gift of a gold ring when they retire. Since Mike does not wear rings he instead opted to have the value of the ring donated to the Shriners Children Hospital. At the banquet, the firefighters also recognized the importance of their family and spouses and presented them with gifts as a token of their appreciation. Children and spouses of the firefighters endure a lot throughout the year and Chief Maczko paid tribute to them for the strength and support that family provides each and every member. Others Recognized were Jim Kilburg for 20 years of service; Aaron Coates, Jim Perron and Kevin Perron for 15 years of service; John Boland, Tracy Wilczeck and rich Burrows for 5 years of service; and new recruit firefighters Michelle Malkes and Richard Griep. The George Lowe Firefighter of the Year award was given to Captain Jeff Stenhaug. In addition to making all of the required drills and trainings, Jeff participated in many extra activities contributing almost 500 hours to the Department. He provides a spark and enthusiasm of a new firefighter recruit and continuously helps to increase the participation and improve morale of all of the firefighters. The Department was very proud to present the Firefighter of the Year award to Jeff. Ballfield Lighting Proposal Mr. Scott Miller presented a request to the City Council and the Parks and Recreation Commission to consider installation of sports field lighting systems at Mendakota Park, Civic Center Ball fields, Sibley Varsity ball fields and the St. Thomas Academy varsity baseball field. After much discussion, the Parks Commission does not recommend a new bond referendum if lighting of one or two ball fields are the only planned projects. They would, however, support a citywide bond referendum that would encompass maintenance or enhancement of facilities throughout the existing trail and park system and construction of new facilities that may include sports lighting. The Parks commission will be seeking further direction from the City Council on the issue at Tuesday’s meeting. Governor’s Budget Proposal City officials and others who have tried to digest the governor’s budget proposal for aid reductions have been confronted with a wide array of seemingly contradictory statistics. Depending upon how you measure it, the governor’s proposal could appear to be either modest or dramatic. In the governor’s budget proposal, he portrays the cuts as a 5 percent reduction for cities in calendar year 2003 and a 9.5 percent reduction in calendar year 2004. The governor characterized these cuts as reasonable when he recently stated: “If you’re on a city council or a city manager and you can’t manage a 5-percent reduction in your total revenues without reducing police or fire services, you should be fired. Elsewhere in his budget, he indicates the cuts are 22 percent of aids and in other sections the cuts are described as 29 percent, 18.9 percent, and 38.5 percent. So which numbers are correct? As you might guess, all of the figures are, in their proper context, accurate. Starting with the governor’s 5 percent and 9.5 percent figures: he compares his proposed cuts to total city revenues. The problem is that total city revenues include revenues to all governmental funds, including the general fund, debt service funds, special revenue funds, and capital projects funds. In fact, about the only things excluded are enterprise fund revenues and proceeds from bond sales. By using such a broad number, the cut appears to be modest. However, most of the funds outside the general fund are not available for general government operations nor can they necessarily be reduced to cover state aid reductions. The 22 percent figure refers to the city and county cuts as a percentage of total property tax aids and credits. This category is commonly used in state financial reports. However, property tax aids and credits include programs that do not fund cities or counties. In fact, programs like the circuit breaker, the renters’ refund, and the targeting program—all programs that provide direct payments to individuals based on their property tax burdens—are included in this broad category. These latter, direct taxpayer programs are not cut under the governor’s proposal; therefore, including them results in the appearance of a smaller cut. The 29 percent, 18.9 percent, and 38.5 percent figures all are related to cuts in aids paid only to cities. The total cut over the two-year period is 29 percent of all city aids. All city aids include several specific programs, such as aid to police and fire, Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA) aid, as well as local government aid (LGA) and market value homestead credit. The first year cut—for 2003 aids—is actually 18.9 percent, while the second-year permanent cut is 38.5 percent. The 29 percent is roughly an average of the two annual cuts. To really make your head spin, here are a few additional statistics: The reduction in LGA and market value homestead credit for calendar year 2003 is 20.9 percent, while the 2004 calendar year reduction in these programs is 40.8 percent. City aid cuts for the upcoming biennium represent 17.4 percent of the total permanent spending reductions included in the governor’s budget solution. In the end, none of these measures accurately portrays the actual impact of the governor’s proposal on individual city budgets. Perhaps the most accurate way to analyze the impact is to look at a city’s cut as a percent of its general operating budget; or, the portion of its budget that includes the spending from which cuts would have to be made. Unfortunately, that data is not collected on a statewide basis. The House Tax Committee will begin taking testimony on the governor’s budget proposal, including the proposed cuts to cities, beginning Tuesday, Feb. 25. These statistics will undoubtedly be a major part of the committee discussion. We will keep you posted on new information as it becomes available Goal Setting Session On Tuesday, the City Council met for a six-hour goal setting workshop. Consultant Dennis Cheesborough moderated the discussion. It was a very productive afternoon and evening. The full written report on the workshop will be available in about ten days. Final Thought “I skate to where I think the puck will be”—Wayne Gretzky Respectfully Submitted, Cari Lindberg Administrator Attachments: Just the Facts, City Council agenda, Planning Synopsis, Star Tribune article “A dispute with a view: Pilot Knob,” Pioneer Press article “Five finalists picked in police chief search,” and “State Budget Crisis: How 2 cities cope,” Southwest Review article “Single family homes to replace Burow farm,” Highland Villager “Shaughnessy remembered for his friendly face, head for city finance,” Sun Current articles “Approved skateboard park inching its way to reality,” and “State aid to cities under hot debate,” Irish gazette “Ultan Duggan: An ethos of service,” AMM News and LMC Friday Fax.