1.  CALL MEETING TO ORDER
 
President Mielke called a special meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building.

2.  ROLL CALL
 
On call of the roll, members present were:

LaVerne Behrens
John Mielke
Jim Simdon
Steve Tesmer
Mark Zastrow
Also present were the City Manager, City Engineer, City Clerk/Treasurer and various department heads throughout portions of the meeting.

3.  REVIEW OF THE 2009 BUDGET.
 
The Council continued its review of the proposed 2009 budget.

Police Department
The Police Chief reviewed the Municipal Court and Police Department budgets with the Council. The initial salary account is under-budget due to two vacancies for a portion of 2008. The overtime budget in contrast is $23,000 over budget which makes up for those two vacancies and the two new-hires are still in training, so it's as if there are still two vacancies. The holiday pay is a little over because of the way the schedule falls. Overall they are approximately $10,000 under budget in all salary accounts. The salaries for the union employees were calculated at a 3% increase, and the non-union employees at 2-1/2%. The main reason for overages in some of the supply accounts was due to utility bill increases and the increase in the price of gasoline.

Fire Department
The Fire Chief reviewed the Fire Department budget with the Council. For 2008, he does not predict any overages in the salary accounts. For supplies and contractual services, the Fire Chief said the overage in the telephone/radio/internet amount is due to the number of pagers that needed repairs and the older they get the more repairs they need. Everything else is pretty much on line. For 2009, the increases represent the 2-1/2% increase in salaries.

Municipal Building
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Municipal Building budget with the Council. He indicated a lot of repairs have been done to the Municipal Building without using the capital outlay funds, including roof work, brick work and replacing doors. They are hoping with lighting fixture upgrades, door replacements, etc., we will see a decrease in utility bills in the future.

Recreation
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Recreation Department budget with the Council. Accounts for 2008 are all on target and 2009 increases all fall within the established parameters. Revenues for 2008 are going to be slightly above the estimate for the year.

Parks
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Parks Department budget with the Council. He said the full time salaries are down due to the amount of time their employees spent on flood clean-up, which we are anticipating to be reimbursed through FEMA.

Aquatic Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Aquatic Center budget with the Council. He informed the Council the concession supplies are over because of fuel surcharging for delivery of items. They survived without a pool heater for almost two months of the summer due to flood damage, therefore the fuel costs were down for the year. The number of participants at the Center has stayed very consistent.

Senior Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Senior Center budget with the Council. The Senior Center budget tends to be steady from year to year.

Youth Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Youth Center budget with the Council. The attendance at the Youth Center stays pretty consistent, and there are no major changes for 2009. They had approximately 300 students purchase annual passes to the Center at $10 each.

Electrical Department
The City Electrician reviewed the Electrical Department budget with the Council. No major changes were cited. The amount for civil defense was raised for next year because of a siren failure at Well No. 7. The Electrical Department also assisted the Project Lead class with the installation of the pedestrian crossings on Madison Avenue and on the bike trail.

Library
The Library Director reviewed the Library - County Resource and Library - City budgets with the Council. The County does give the Library funding to provide library service to rural residents in Jefferson County. They have been very dedicated to honoring their obligation to reimburse them for past service. The overall budget is down from 2008.

The Library is allowed to make requests from adjacent counties for funding, which is based on library circulation. The Library - City budget will include 2-1/2% wage increases and contain no other unusual items or increases.

Water Utility
The Water Utility Supervisor reviewed the Water Utility budget with the Council. The Supervisor said the cost of chemicals has increased substantially. He said the increase in supplies and expenses is partially due to the heating for the building at 800 Hackbarth Road. For the revenue portion of the budget, the Supervisor indicated the revenues for pumping are down approximately 8%. This is basically due to the flooding. The City Manager stated that when you put everything together, the net operating income for 2008 is estimated at $375,000, which includes $1,640,000 for revenues and $1,265,000 for expenses. The net operating income is at 5.2%, and is expected to be right on a break even status.

Miscellaneous
The City Manager presented the following 2009 budget figures:

• General Fund Operating Expenditures = up 3.2%
• General Fund Operating and Capital Outlay Expenditures = up 1.3% (this number is used for expenditure restraint purposes)
• Total General Fund Expenditures (Operating, Capital, Debt Service) = up 1.2%
• Total General Fund Expenditures; Less Revenues; plus Capital Projects = up 2.0% (this number is used for levy limit purposes)
• Taxes Levied for City Purposes = $6,083,248 (up 1.87%)
• City Tax Rate = approximately $6.842/thousand of assessed value (up about $0.038 from 2007)

Cm. Zastrow, seconded by Cwmn. Behrens, moved that the 2009 City Budget as proposed by the City Manager be approved, and that a summary of the proposed Budget calling for operating expenditures of $7,946,702; debt service of $553,062; capital outlay of $358,300; capital projects of $400,000; tax increment of $120,029; and total revenues of $3,294,845 for a total of taxes levied for City purposes of $6,083,248 be published for a public hearing at the regular City Council meeting to be held November 18, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

OVERDRAWNS
The City Manager presented and reviewed the following list of overdrawn accounts and requested the Council approve a transfer from the General Fund to cover these amounts. We basically had $60,000 in the contingency account which will be used to cover the overdrawn monies. We do this to cover the overdrawn accounts and to protect our bond rating. 22% of this was for gasoline and 54% was for snow and ice control.

Cm. Zastrow, seconded by Cm. Simdon, moved to transfer $198,187.27 from the General Fund to cover the overdrawn accounts, and transfer from the Contingency Account to cover overdrawn accounts in the amount of $60,000.00. On call of the roll, the motion carried unanimously.

Cm. Simdon said he is very pleased with the way this budget worked out, especially with the flood situation this year. Cwmn. Behrens agreed. Cm. Zastrow said on all the years he has been on the Council, this is probably by far the most difficult one due to all the added expense from the current year. He said the City Manager and all Department Heads are to be commended for putting together a budget that allowed us to stay within expenditure restraint and levy limits without significantly impacting the overall operation of the City.

4.  ADJOURNMENT
 
Cm. Zastrow, seconded by Cm. Simdon, moved to adjourn the October 29, 2008 Special Council meeting at 8:29 p.m. The motion carried on a voice vote.

/s/ Matt Trebatoski
City Clerk/Treasurer