June 19th Council Update

There were three items we discussed at last nights Council meeting I want to follow up on. Police Investigator, Fee Schedule and Building Inspection position.

The Council approved a grant application to help fund a possible police investigator position. This does not mean that we will hire an investigator but does provide partial funding for two years if we do decide to hire an investigator.

The Council called a public hearing for July 17th to update our fee schedule. This fee schedule includes a vast array of fees from development to deck to dog fees. Almost all city fees are included. I hope anyone that has concerns or question will attend the July 17th Council meeting.

The last item is one of our most difficult task as a Council. We decided to eliminate one of our building inspection positions. This was in no way a performance issue but was an economic decision. As building fees have declined drastically along with the work load it no longer made any economic sense to continue the position. We have brought in only 27% of anticipated building fees due to the dramatic slow down in housing. We also need to remember the building fees pay portions of about 6 other city positions as well.

I have been warning about the impact of the inevitable housing bubble bursting for over two years. I have in the past and will continue to push to reduce city cost. The only other option is to raise property taxes. The last two City budgets exploded spending by over 40%. I voted against these budgets for this very reason.

The bonding for the east of 65 expansion was based on a little over 100 new houses per year. We are on pace for 56 this year. We had only 89 last year. If we do not bring in enough development fees to cover the bond you and I as taxpayers will have to pay. This goes against my goal to have development pay for itself.

We are entering into our budgeting process and I will again fight to reduce city expenses and our already high property taxes.