Council Meeting Update

A couple items from last night. We got a resoundingly good audit report. The City is in excellent fiscal health which is especially significant due to the many financial issues that surround us. A few highlights that I shared with the Council:

General Fund Balance is 26% higher than 2006

The City Budgeted spending is less than 2006

City property tax levy rate was 38% higher in 2005 than today's levy rate

Per capita non-enterprise fund debt is down 47% since 2005

(2005 it was $1,904 per person and 2008 it is down to $1,010)

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The great fund reserves allow us to weather the difficult couple years ahead of us. This ties nicely into the next item.

The City has been cleaning up many past financial issues with money owed the City. We again last night took care of another area of concern. When development was booming many project cost were not properly billed nor dollars collected when billing was done. This left tens of thousands of dollars owed to the City that tax payers ended up paying for instead of the responsible parties.

I have been getting a great amount of pressure to lay off collecting these along with back taxes and assessments still outstanding. If I or the Council allowed this pressure to sway our decisions the City would be on a quick path to financial ruin or much higher taxes (those that pay taxes). One of the main reasons our fund balances are higher is that we have taken a strong stance with those that have outstanding bills to the city whether for taxes, assessments or other fees. By making sure we collect what is owed the City everyone gets to enjoy lower taxes.

For those that believe our taxes are still to high, and I agree with that sentiment, they would be 38% higher today if we had not changed direction after I was first elected Mayor.

The last item that caused some discussion was the idea of how the City should manage its money in banking institutions. We have given direction to place funds in the highest yielding safe/secure institutions.

The other idea presented was that we should place City funds in multiple City banks and credit unions regardless of interest paid the City. We simply can not do that and be good stewards of City's funds. In the past few years we have earned tens of thousands of dollars more in interest income do to better investment practices than in the past.

I understand the desire to want to spread the funds out but not at such a high cost. City staff is constantly checking rates when dollars are needed to be moved and local institutions are given the opportunity to match these rates.