July 5th Council Update

I wanted to update you on the sewer fee discussion. The Public Hearing will be held the first Council meeting in August. I was able to get a second option for discussion. The original 12% will be presented along with the 20% reduction I advocated.

Isanti has been collecting 24% more than budgeted for sewer services. This is $12,000 per month over the $50,000 budgeted. At the end of August the City will have over collected $96,000. This is almost two months extra revenue for the sewer fund.

My experience in City Government to date tells me if the money is collected they will find a way to spend it. The City has a "surplus" from 2005 of over $300,000 in the general fund. This is already being spent on "extra" projects. I do not want a large surplus to accumulate in the sewer fund or it to will be spent.

This will be critically important as we enter the budget cycle. We must make Isanti's government lean and efficient. It is important as housing and development begin to slow. We do not want to be like some cities in our region that have had to raise property taxes by double digits.