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rr <br />TO:Mayor and City Council <br />FROM:Ron Moorse, City Administrator <br />DATE:August 22, 2000 <br />SUBJECT: Updated 2001 Budget and Tax Levy Information <br />GENERAL FUND BUDGET <br />f <br />In response to Council ’s direction at the initial budget work session, staffhas reviewed revenues and <br />expenditures in the General Fund in an effort to reduce the tax levy. Although staff was able to <br />increase revenues by $ 10,000, this was offset by an increase in expenditures of $ 10,000 for the City ’s <br />share of the costs of additional water patrol staffing on Lake Minnetonka. The proposed 2001 <br />budget has minimized expenditures as much as possible. The only way to significantly reduce <br />expenditures is to reduce staff and reduce services. Staff is not recommending this option. <br />Cost Reduction Efforts <br />Staff continually makes efforts to find the most cost effective and efficient ways of providing city <br />services. Several examples will illustrate these efforts. <br />% <br />Comprehensive Plan Update <br />The entire Comprehensive Plan update process was accomplished by in-house staff, particularly <br />Mike Gaffix)n, including creating the entire new Comprehensive Plan document, with the exception <br />of updated maps. Tliis update process would have cost $75,000 - $100,000 if done by a planning <br />consultant, and would still have involved considerable work by City staff; including familiarizing <br />the consultant with the City ’s unique philosophy and ensuring that philosophy permeated every <br />element of the Comprehensive Plan. <br />Personnel Policy Update <br />Rather than hiring a consultant to update the City ’s personnel policies at a cost of $ 1 0,000 - $20,000, <br />staff coordinated with several lake area cities, and requested three of the top municipal human <br />resources directors in the metro area (from Plymoutli, Hopkins and Shoreview) to lead us through <br />a review of personnel policies and the key issues related to the update of these policies; including <br />obtaining a model set of personnel policies. All this was accomplished at no cost. <br />Page 1