2010 Budget Update

The City Council passed our 0% tax increase and -3% spending cuts unanimously. We have been cutting spending for the last several years which has helped us to weather the fiscal storm. A greater storm seems to be hovering over the horizon. We are anticipating a significant drop if property valuations next year that will impact the 2011 budget. The good news is that individual property owners should be getting some relief. The bad news is we will have significantly less tax revenue to fund City operations.

I expect the State to continue to not live up to its obligations. The promised LGA will continue to disappear and the so called mandate reducing legislature - you guessed it - added another costly mandate to local government.

The City of Isanti has healthy cash reserves but we are already using some for 2010 and will need to use a significant amount for 2011. This may seem far away but I believe it is necessary to make sure our City cost structure is in line with anticipated falls in revenue. The other option of course is to start the steady climb back up the mountain of property tax increases. This is not acceptable as the poorest among us are hurt the worst by this regressive tax.

Escalating insurance cost -18% increase this year alone - a negligent State government and lower property values make the next 2-3 years very challenging. We start our union negotiations and continue to work on lowering our health care cost in this environment.

One other quick note from the meeting - we had the last Mayor's Great Yard Award for the Summer. This has been another great success and I want to thank Landmark Bank, Startac Construction and Northland Landscaping for their great sponsorship that makes it all happen.