01-13-2020 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, December 9, 2019 6:30 o'clock p.m. Olson noted the City Council is asked to approve the General Fund Budget per state requirements. The estimated revenues are $9,143,200 and the appropriated expenditures are the same amount, which is a balanced budget. Special revenue funds budgets are also adopted including the park fund, the drug and felony forfeiture fund, and the TIF fund. Olson noted the general fund consists of $9,300,000, which is the biggest piece of the budget and biggest impact on the tax levy. The 2020 revenue budget is just under 16 million dollars and includes special revenue funds, capital project funds, debt service funds, and enterprise funds. With the combined summary of expenditures and other financing uses, it is expected to be 17 million, partly due to how capital improvement funds are collected and spent for various projects. Council members and Olson discussed what the City paid the LMCD (Lake Minnetonka Conservation District) last year, if the budget increased this year, how much it increased, then asked the LMCD rep, who was present in the audience, if he knew Orono's cost and whether it's been approved. Mr. Rich Anderson said it is being raised 2.3%. He hasn't been with the LMCD long but has looked at the budget many times. He stated it's a rounding error for the City of Orono so no one takes much interest, but after you see all the line items, you have to start asking questions. Seals noted if it's a 2.3% increase, it's about $1,300. Mr. Anderson reiterated it's a rounding error but pretty soon it becomes principle. Johnson said that is an increase even with the moratorium on. Seals asked what the LMCD used the funds for last year. Mr. Anderson said LMCD decided, for $100,000, they needed to have a survey done on their plan for going forward with AIS (Aquatic Invasive Species) harvesting. He took a strong position that Orono doesn't want to do any harvesting. There was a meeting a couple weeks ago and the LMCD was going through the AIS plan, which is a summary of what they are going to do. They added $100,000 as a line item. Walsh stated they added $25,000 as a marketing budget. Mr. Anderson said they have income on the top and expenses on the bottom. They had plenty of income. They put in a $100,000 line item on the bottom to justify the top income for the bottom deficit. Walsh said with one vote out of 14, Orono did not have a lot of impact. Mr. Anderson agreed and said he brought up the issue with the City of Minnetonka Bay and nobody is interested because it is a rounding error. It is the principle, in his opinion. Mayor Walsh opened the public hearing at 7:02 p.m. There were no public comments. Mayor Walsh closed the public hearing at 7:02 p.m. Page 3 of 34