About Me

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I have served the City of Isanti as Mayor since 2007. We have accomplished great things together and I look forward to building on our success. United, we move forward to a better future. You may contact me at 763-442-8749 or e-mail me at george@georgewimmer.com.

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Summer 2013 Isantian Article


Our summer will once again be filled with great events at our soccer fields, Rum River BMX, Redbird Baseball, Vision Wakeboard Park, Rodeo/Jubilee Days, Farmers’ Market, Street Dances and many more. We have decided to bring back the Farmers’ Market and Street Dances under City direction to help market our wonderful downtown area. We believe it is vitally important to support our local businesses by attracting potential customers to our business districts. By the City offering these events, we accomplish this principal Goal of the Council at a reasonable cost. Please visit downtown Isanti each Saturday from 9am to 1pm weather permitting to support our new market and enjoy a free Street Dance on July 27th and August 24th.

 

A few changes you will be noticing in the next six months revolve around a reorganization of some City services and the anticipated cost of new State mandates. First, we are eliminating the costly, inefficient and poorly handled customer service outsourcing operation that has been handling our utility billing services. We are bringing this under City control, which will save us money, offer better control, and provide a better product to our businesses and residents. The Community Center grant the City applied for was denied. This along with the failed referendum last fall has left the Council with the tough decision. The Council could still vote to fund the needed repairs and continue to subsidize the facility but that would be directly opposed to the vast majority of voters’ wishes last fall. The Center means so much to the numerous non-profit groups that have used it free of charge for years. The next item is the newly state imposed storm water regulations that we will be forced to comply with soon. This will add significant costs to the City, which is estimated at roughly $250,000. We are looking at a storm water utility to pay for this which is what most other cities have implemented. The average estimated cost would be $7 per month per home with businesses, multi-family units, empty plots and other buildings paying their equivalent share. These are very preliminary numbers and nothing has been approved by Council. A presentation on this issue will be provided at the 2nd Council meeting in June. The State is also increasing the cost of our water and sanitary sewer operations due to higher fees and greater restrictions.

 

Finally, I want to share the City of Isanti’s 2012 Audit Report. The report shows how efficient and well run our City is when compared to peer communities. It points out that the Long Range Financial Plan I developed in 2007, and manage each year, has made us financially stable and improved our ratings in all categories through one of the worst economic crisis in our Country’s history. I have listed a few of the highlights below:

 

City Administrative cost 26% lower than Peer Cities

 

Public Works 39% lower than Peer Cities

 

Park and Recreation 38% lower than Peer Cities

 

Public Safety 5% higher than Peer Cities

 

Economic Development 380% higher than Peer Cities

 

Net debt per Capita down 40% in last 4 years

 

2004 to 2007 Taxes per Capita rose 49%, since taking office in 2007 we have lowered it by 10%

 

Net Taxes per Capita are now 26% lower than Peer Cities

 

Net Cash to cover Debt is up 220%

 

Cash on hand as a % of Budget is up 63% since I took office in 2007

 

2013 Budget is 14% less than the budget set in 2006 before I was elected Mayor

 

Liquor Store operating income has risen 160% since I have become Mayor

 

Our Long Term Financial Plan is working and with each change we make we have made City operations in all areas more efficient and have provided a higher level of services. We have more police protection, higher rated fire protection, safer water supply after building the treatment plant, more efficient and lower cost administration, great parks and trails, a growing business sector and the list goes on and on … we have so many things in the pipeline for our Great City that I am even more excited about serving Isanti as Mayor than I have ever been. Regardless of all the new State pressures and mandates, we will make Isanti as efficient and productive as possible. I look forward to all the challenges and opportunities we face in the years to come and hope to bring brighter days to all the Generations of our Community.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please contact me at 763-442-8749 or email me at George@georgewimmer.com . You may also follow me and keep up to date on all things Isanti on Twitter at twitter.com/mayorwimmer Facebook at www.facebook.com/MayorGeorgeWimmer or my blog at georgewimmer.blogspot.com

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