Roseville City Council Meeting Focuses On Sustainable Budget

Advocating higher city taxes to balance Roseville’s $39 million budget for 2012, council member Tammy McGehee recommended raising the city tax levy by 10.2 percent to pay for parks and capital improvement projects.

In a five-page supplement to the Roseville Council meeting packet, McGhehee detailed raising the city levy by $6 a month—$5 for parks and city projects and a $1 per month surcharge on residential utility bills—to pay for future water and sewer upgrades.

The $5-per-residence charge represents an 8.5 percent levy increase, while the $1 water and sewer surcharge boosts the effective increase by 1.7 percent to 10.2 percent.

Roseville finance director Christopher Miller told Patch that the additional city levy would raise around $2 million a year to pay for a planned expansion of the suburb city’s parks system, a new fire station and ever-rising health care, labor and materials costs.

In an e-mail memo that was part of McGhehee’s levy increase proposal, Miller said,

Keep in mind that the 2012 budget calls for a $463,775 reduction of the (city) cooperating budget. There would be less money for the park improvement program, vacant positions in the police and fire departments would be eliminated, and funding for the advisory commissions would be reduced among the other areas.

This is on top of the $600,000 in on-going personnel cuts we’ve made since 2003. All of which have a negative impact on the city’s ability to deliver the programs and services the public has historically expected.

Among the projects advancing are a $19 expansion and improvement of Roseville’s parks system and a proposed $8 million fire station.

The Council approved selling bonds to help fund the parks expansion later this year and the selection of Minneapolis-based Bossardt Corp. to provide construction management services for the first phase of the fire station project during the meeting.

McGhehee suggested systematically reviewing all city programs and services, and enlisting citizens in the budget process to provide input to city staff during the lengthy process.

Before bonding for the parks system was approved over McGhehee’s lone vote against the measure, she said selling bonds was “unconscionable on the part of this Council. This Council does not have a balanced budget-focused policy.”

Other Roseville Council members will be forced to reveal how much they are willing to boost Roseville’s tax levy on Sept. 12, when the city panel will vote to determine a not-to-exceed limit for the 2012 budget.