Response provided by Trisha Patek, Budget Manager:
I was surprised to not see mention of our work session on 8-19 where we made some big changes. Vision, budget policy workshop and adoption, plus budget workshops on May 20 and June 26 are noted, but if someone wants to see how we got from those meetings to this tax rate and budget, the 8-19 workshop would be a place to look. It is finally mentioned in item 21.
At the August 19th meeting, City Council set the maximum proposed tax rate of 67.69 cents to better position the City to meet known current and future needs. It is mentioned in the tax rate public hearing since it is the tax rate that will generate the revenue to address these needs.
The Agenda Review Form shows one additional person paid by Hotel Occupancy Tax funds. I don’t see info in the presentation.
Please remind me of the job title and purpose of this job.
Arts, Culture, and Heritage Manager. This position was discussed during the June 26 workshop presentation on slide 68.
As the city continues to grow, so do the marketing and arts needs of the community. To better serve these expanding responsibilities, we've created an arts division. The program is currently within the Convention and Visitor Bureau. The current Creative and Marketing Manager position, which also oversees the city's arts program, will be split into two separate roles. The new position, likely to be called the Arts and Heritage Tourism Manager, will focus on implementing the city's Arts Master Plan and administering all arts and heritage tourism grants. The new role will allow us to give the arts program the dedicated attention it deserves. This position will also serve as the staff arts liaison for the city’s capital improvement projects.
What is the amount of the 25% fund balance we are required to keep for General Fund? Page 574 slide 3 doesn’t show this.
$29,962,491 is the 25% fund balance requirement from the originally proposed budget, slide 47 from the August 19th presentation. The 25% requirement amount will increase based on the tax rate that gets adopted. If the maximum proposed tax rate (67.69¢) is adopted the estimated 25% fund balance requirement would be $30,702,778.
Page 579 slide 8 shows
’”Review the take-home vehicle policy to see if changes are needed.” Is this Police Department only or are there others who may take vehicles home?
Would that be people on-call for public works type calls?
The take-home vehicle policy applies to all City vehicles. This policy will be reviewed across all departments in the City. Other departments that take vehicles home are animal control, city marshal, emergency management, fire, parks, public works, and utilities.
