City Council April 4th

The April 4th City council agenda is fairly light.

The Council is being asked to accept $65,324 as payment for the balanced owed to Isanti from District 911. The School District has not made payment since a partial payment in the 2003-2004 school year. The School District has not said they would actually pay this amount but have asked for a bill stating the total balance owed. The District and the City split the cost of this Officer.

The School District has also stated they may no longer being budgeting for a School Resource Officer starting this fall. I hope this is not true. Having an Officer working directly with the schools is an asset for all of us.

Lexington Textile is asking the City to postpone their obligation to add one new job. This is part of the business subsidy agreement. The EDA, which is supposed to represent the best interest on f the City, has recommended that the City waive this requirement for 2006. This agreement has been changed once before. Letting companies that receive City subsidies out of their agreements is akin to allowing residents slide on their property taxes. The City would not accept this from residents so I see no reason to accept this from businesses.

These business agreements have very minimal requirements in the first place. Adding one or two employees in a 3-5 year window should not be too much to ask for when receiving subsidies from the City. This is only an issue for those companies that ask for money from the City to operate their business. We must make sure they live up to their commitment.