[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] All right, good evening. We'll go ahead and call this meeting to order for the September 11th, 2025 Apple Valley City Council meeting. Uh for any members of the audience who have signed up to speak, as we call your name, come forward to the podium to address the council. With that, the first item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. And I'd ask everybody to rise and join us in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Next item on our agenda is to approve the agenda. And Tom, I know we distributed a few changes. Do you want to walk us through those? >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. Yes, we have uh three different changes to your agenda tonight. Uh the first will be on your consent agenda. This is J 4J uh change order with Hawkins Inc. Uh this item is not ready for action. So we are going to um >> remove that >> remove that item from the agenda that will come back to you at your next meeting. Uh item 4L is a amended personnel report that was distributed again yesterday to each of you. And so that's item 4 L on the consent agenda. And then item 5B, the pickle ball item. Uh we have an updated storm water maintenance agreement that was distributed to you yesterday as well. >> Great. Thank you. So with those changes or additions, do we have a motion to approve? >> Second. Motion from council member Grenle, a second from council member Melander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? All right. Motion the agenda is approved. The next item on our agenda is our audience participation portion of the meeting. We have a total of 10 minutes for this item. Um and I did have Pete Peterson who had signed up. So we'll take those who sign up first. Come on forward. Um >> Pat Peterson, I'm sorry. I thank you. I don't know why you wrote it correctly. I read it wrong. That's okay. Pat, >> go ahead and introduce yourself and go ahead. >> Pat Peterson. I moved to Apple Valley, our family did in 1993. So when Target greatand wasn't there and we had our abandoned airfield when Menard's was down on Cedar, if you remember any of that, we had Kmart. I mean, I go back. >> You have some history to share. Yes. And we live on Fireside which goes into Penock right across from where Health Partners is. And those are the Apple streets. Fireside, Haroldson, Whitney, all those. They've been there for since 1966. So I've seen change. Change is okay. Target's great and the new Menards is great and everything else, but now that Health Partners is up for sale, my concern is the traffic and um what's going to happen with us trying to get out onto Pennock. Recently on Cedar Avenue by Cedar Park Elementary where Whitney comes out there, that's true. They restricted that turn so you can't go left. So all those town homes that have been there for a long time plus the newer apartments that have been built there are all being funneled down pan now to get to 153rd just to go grocery shopping at Cub or at Target or at Aldi's. So, we've now increased that traffic by blocking off their left turn. Again, it was okay. And now there's talk of the county cutting off a road on 42 uh when they do the redesign. Is it Kent or something? Yeah. Um so those people uh in that part of the Apple streets in that part of the area now are going to be funneled down fireside which is the cutth through for most people in that area. >> So you've got those people who used to just jump out on 42 to get to Walmart to get to Cub to get to whatever. >> They're funneling down fireside too. And that park's been there forever. It's not going to change. You can't build anything there. It's just a little strip of land. And they're going, the parks department has already decided to put in a tennis court, pickle ball court, basketball court, blah blah blah. There's no parking, which means they all these years they've been parking in the health partners parking lot and crossing the street without a crosswalk. And so far so good. Um, but if they don't have that parking lot anymore of health partners to have access to the park, you know, then they're parking on fireside, which you've now just made very busy because you've blocked off all of the streets. And I need you to consider when you're selling that property, Health Partners, and the green space next to it. We're in this. Do you remember back when we made the famous ring and we put in our red fences and our red light poles and our, you know, made the famous ring around Apple Valley. I believe we're the only residents that are across the street from those businesses around the ring. The rest of them, if you if you think about across from Aldi's, it's a pond. Farther down you got Cub and and Goodwill and over those are all businesses. Even down Penock, you've got businesses on both sides. So I just really need you and and asking you to consider what goes there. Health Partners was a Monday through Friday 8 to 5. >> So traffic was minimal, you know, and it wasn't all crazy. So, I just would like you to consider what you approve to be built there because if you even if you put a light there for people to walk across or a three-way stop sign or anything like that, that traffic's going to back up right past Fireside and and and we're not ever going to be able to get out of our street. It's we wait a long time now to get out of our street, >> especially if you're going left. Yep. >> Yep. Go ahead. So, >> so we understand and um I would say you you said something about when we sell the land and I just want to be clear that that's not ours to sell, right? That's owned by health partners. However, any change in use has to come through as a land use change and traffic will get considered as part of that. >> Doesn't mean we don't want to monitor what's going on now, but >> they can't change the use without going through a land use change process. And we have others in the audience now who are going through one of those now. So, they will tell you that's not an easy thing easiest thing in the world to do. >> No. I know it's retail and it's in the red circle and all of that, but I mean the Monday through Friday 8 to 5 business is totally different than uh >> than some other businesses in that area, especially now that you've cut off two streets and directed everybody to that intersection. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. [Applause] >> All right. >> Oh, yeah. the Aldi's. >> You guys are still working on the Aldi exit. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Anyone else in the audience? If not, we will move on to our consent agenda. These items are considered routine and will be enacted with a single motion unless a council member or a citizen request to pull an item to discuss separately. Uh council members, any items you would like to pull from consent? All right. Seeing none, any in the audience? Right. We'll take a motion for the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Bergman. Yeah, feel free to take off, guys. Thank you. >> Council me motion from council member Bergman. Second from council member Grendall. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Consent items carry. Uh that moves us to our cemetery advisory committee appointment. And Christina is going to walk us through this one. Hello, Mayor and Council. Um, we currently have a vacancy on our cemetery advisory committee due to the resignation of a former commissioner. Um, we went out and um, sought applications from community members earlier this summer. Um, and we received two applications which were shared with the council um, earlier um, prior to the meeting. Um, typically the process for filling the vacancy is we would have a council member nominate um, those that we want to consider for appointment. Um, and then I have ballots to distribute and the council members would then um, uh, select their choice on those ballots. Um, because there are two applicants and probably two nominees that means that you would select one of the two. Um, and then I will go do some extensive counting and come back. Um, and we do have um, some staff that will provide presentations while the city attorney and I are reviewing the ballots and coming back with the results of that. And then before you would be a resolution um, to appoint someone to the advisory cemetery advisory committee. >> Thank you. So, we have two applicants. We'd be looking for somebody to make a motion to approve that slate of applicants or add others, I guess, if you wanted to. >> Correct. I'll make that motion for the two candidates that nominate them. >> Second. >> Go ahead. >> We have a motion from council member Grenle, a second from council member Heert. With that, I think we can commence the voting. Normally, we have a little discussion about how we're going to vote, but I think with two, it's uh pretty easy this evening. >> Thank you. >> And should I just remind people to initial their ballot? >> Yes, I have an kept in lines through it. >> Thank you, >> Tom. Do you have some updates to uh fill some time while they uh they do their counting? Mr. >> Mayor, yes, we do. We'll start by calling up our police chief, Nick Francis, to tell us about an upcoming public event. >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members of the council. I know we do have a slide. I don't think we we probably don't have it up, but uh it's posted online. We've sent it out. Um and we'll have it um we will have it we can have it again the next uh meeting because that will be prior to our open house. So, you were all out at our police operations building on night. You got to see it. Um, and we are inviting the public out on Tuesday, September 30th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Um, parking is a little uh difficult at that location. Um, because it's not designed for a big open house, similar to maybe some of the fire departments where people have to park somewhere nearby. Um, we've worked it out with Eastview High School. We planned on a night where they don't have a ton of activities. So folks can park right at the stadium across the street at East View. Uh walk across the road. There's a crosswalk where there we'll have folks out there to help with crossing and come on over um to the police operations building. It's right across the street from um East Views Stadium. Um we're going to have some food. Um we're going to have some fun. Uh there's self-guided tours. There's a scavenger hunt, but our folks, we have about 10 to 15 of our officers working that will be stationed throughout the building. So, a really good opportunity to view the site and get to know some of our staff. So, um we're looking forward to having everybody out on the 30th uh from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. and we'll come up again before the next council meeting to um to remind folks. So, >> 30th 5 to 7 park across the street. >> Yep. >> Got it. >> Easy as that. >> Thank you, Chief. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Christina, looks like you uh exhausted your fingers and toes house. >> Is there a second ballot? >> Yeah. Mayor >> weird tie with five people, wouldn't it? >> Mayor and council, after um counting the ballots, John Kat receive the majority of the council votes for appointment. >> Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Um we need a resolution to uh appoint. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Grindall, second from council member Heert. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. >> Opposed. And John's with us this evening. So, welcome and uh thank you for volunteering. Thank you. >> All right, that moves us on to 5B, which is Pickle Hall. And I think Tim's coming up to take this one. [Applause] >> Good evening, Mr. Mayor, members council. I'm happy to present to you uh a new proposed project uh the pickle hall. Uh this is actually officially titled the village of Founders Circle third edition which is the plat name. The property is at 7169 153rd Street. That's a new address that was recently assigned. So this was just a combined address for the two parcels. So we have three land use requests before you tonight. We have an amendment to a plan development number 739 and we're amending specifically appendix F article 31 uh to allow indoor commercial recreational facilities as a permanent use in the new PED in in the existing PD. Uh we also have a new final plat before you tonight. Uh this is a combination of two existing parcels into one uh singular 3.77 acre parcel and that will be officially titled Village of Founder Circle third edition. We also have a site and building plan permit authorization and this is to allow for the construction of a just over 66,000 square foot indoor pickupball facility with 18 dedicated courts plus a class one restaurant with ground and elevated p patio spaces which we'll get into very quickly. I hope most of you are aware of the site uh that located at the what we refer to as the old central village west site or new central village lots one and two block three 7169 153rd just south of Apple Valley Ford Lincoln uh east of the US post office west of Grand and just uh north of the Goodwill Riser and Zago sites. Uh also want to point out uh we're going to talk a little bit about the central village parking lot which uh has some impact to this site which we'll get into very quickly here. The land use is currently guided as mixed use zoning again PD 73 739 subzone 4. Uh the proposed funnel plat is just as as I stated is a recombination of the old lot one lot two under the old founders circle edition. So this will be a new plat of third edition. We also have before you pre previously a public hearing for a proposed easement vacation. The easement is simply between the ease uh the lots that used to exist between there. So we are simply uh vacating those and rededicating them under the new plat. Uh in your packet you would have been notified that this original site plan that is up before you tonight. This was the one that was presented to the planning commission on 7 July 2nd 2005. Part of that plat or that, excuse me, site plan included an open storm water pond, 105 on-site parking spaces with uh uh a notation that there was 128 spaces nearby in the central village parking lot plus the 38 parking spaces. Uh when this was presented to the planning commission, there was an expectation that that 105 spaces on site with the uh uh adjacent parking spaces would be sufficient to accommodate for the site. Uh so the planning commission did recommend at that meeting for approval. However, later on we we were ver we we verified the city capacity for the site and we later determined that uh approximately just under 200 spaces 196 spaces to be honest or be to be specific were needed. So we asked the applicant could you update the plan? Originally they had planned to provide for an underground storm chamber instead of a pond and this is what they pres pro provided for us. I hopefully I can get that through. It's not working. >> So there there is an underground system on that north end on your it would be your right hand side of the screen. >> So the pond was removed. An underground storm chamber uh uh was was provided for. There's now 38 additional parking spaces. We now have 143 parking spaces which we uh feel will be uh uh suitable for that site for on-site. We also want to account for the 128 spaces in the 100 in the Central Village parking lot. Now, the owner is still interested in leasing the 50 spaces that uh Apple Ford currently leases from the city on an annual basis. There's also the 38 on street parking which are open to the public as well. Results in 198 spaces dedicated to pickball. So, they just meet the 196 that they need. also a potential for over 309 spaces when you count the 143 the 128 38. So 309 309 spaces available. So comfortably staff feels that they have met their parking requirements for the site. Our storm sewer plan again they're they're connecting back over to the storm chamber systems and this will empty out into our our our regular municipal systems. This has been evaluated by our city engineers and we feel it does meet uh their requirements or standards. A very hearty landscape plan. Again, this was revised and this was added to your storm water maintenance agreement. It reflects now the new site plan uh that was prepared by the owners. We're very happy and comfortable with this and they also are replacing a lot of uh boulevard trees which were uh in dire need of replacement. Architecturally uh this is a very nice looking building. Um I hope you had a good chance to look at these in your packet. Uh we have a lot of good materials uh represented here. Different materials, attenuations, a lot of glass uh which is very nice to see. Also see some nice renderings here from this would be from a view from Gallivant Place. Uh again just a nice uh welcoming addition with the covered walkway. You're starting to see the out outer buildings here from Garrett Avenue. Uh I love this photo with the upper and lower deck patio seating areas. So this is going to be a really really nice uh addition to this community. Also just the uh again not a plain utilitarian looking building. It's going to have some nice features to it. So they did a great design here and they should be applauded. Uh again the interior. This is a little uh uh busy, but it just shows the interior layout of the 18 courts with the seating and the office and the game areas on the east side of the building. So before you tonight, we're asking you to adopt a resolution vacating officially uh the drainage and utilities. Adopt the ordinance amending article 31 uh to that plan development 739. Adopt a resolution approving the final plat and development agreement. approve your storm water maintenance agreement for lot one block one of that village third and also adopt a resolution approving the site plan review and building permit for the new pickle hall uh I can stand for more questions uh also the modelal family is here tonight they're more than happy to answer any other questions if you have any details or specifics you'd like to ask them otherwise I will stand for any questions >> that was a lot thank you Tim do council members have any questions >> beautiful it's beautiful >> I mine It's just not so much question as around parking. We're we're comfortable with that number. The We have other areas that overparked. We have some that are probably underparked. And I think the biggest danger to this business being successful is not having enough parking in the vicinity uh when they get busy because we are typical lazy suburban folks who won't walk very far. And so if your parking's too far away um so hopefully the owner is comfortable with parking. It sounds like staff is comfortable. We have enough. >> We are. >> Perfect. Uh, with that then if we don't have any um any other questions, I'll go and take the motion or the actions and then we'll if the owners want to come up and say something when we're done, happy to invite you guys up and say a few words. Um, give you every chance you can to promote the new thing coming um as we get to it. So, let's start with the action items. The first one is to adopt a resolution vacating the drainage and the utility easements. >> Move. >> Second. >> Motion from Council Member Milander, second from Council Member Grenle. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. opposed. That item carries. The next is to adopt an ordinance amending article 31 plan development number 739 along with a recommendation to wave the second reading. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Bergman. Second from council member Grenal. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> And opposed. That item carries. Our next is to adopt a resolution approving the final plat and development agreement for village of Founders Circle third edition. >> So moved. >> Second. Motion from council member Grenall, second from council member Heert. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> And opposed. Uh item three carries. We'll move on to item four, which is to approve the stormwater maintenance agreement for lock one, block one, village of Founder Circle, third edition. >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Grenall, second from council member Milander. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> And opposed. And our that item carries. Our final item is to adopt a resolution approving the site plan review and building permit authorization for Pickle Hall. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Bergman, second from council member Grenle. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed that and all items carry. Thank you. Thank you Tim and staff. >> Um for applicants, do you want to come forward, introduce yourself and just say a little bit about what you have planned? Optional, but I want to give you that opportunity. >> Gorgeous. Hello everybody. Um my name is Randy Multilol. I'm one of the owners of this operation. Um I just want to thank you all so much for giving us the opportunity to bring this to the city. Um growing up in the area um and coming through here, you know, for the last 30 years, um I think this will be a great addition to this area. And it's going to drive in a lot of new business for everybody as well. And you know, we're bringing one of the biggest growing sports in the world into an indoor complex. So, this will bring down some noise for some of the community as well. >> Um, nice. >> So, you've been following. >> Oh, yeah. I've been following it. I've been hearing the complaints. So, uh, that's why I was like, this is a great opportunity for us in the city. So, um, I just want to thank you guys again for the opportunity to and work with us and we're willing to do whatever we have to to work with you going forward and keep a strong relationship. So, >> welcome. Happy to have you. building looks fantastic and it's fun to watch these kind of what I would call indoor recreation things kind of come up and some you know some in vacant buildings some in some new sites but uh uh it's good for an active community and it's good to pull people in which then supports all the restaurants and gas stations and other businesses that are in the vicinity too so it's a win for everybody >> perfect council member I think that was you >> along the same lines this is exactly the sort of thing that we were hoping for this site and we're just thrilled that You've come to us with this. >> Perfect. Thank you, sir. >> Ruth, >> when will it open? >> Thank you. >> That's up to you guys. Uh I'll start tomorrow if you let me. So, >> well, we got we got we got for you. >> Well on our way this evening, anyway. So, um Yep. >> Thank you. Welcome. And we look forward to seeing more of you and hearing more about the project as you move along. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. Thanks, folks. >> All right. Our next item is 5C and that's our proposed 2026 city budget and property tax levy and Ron's going to run us through this one. I will thank you guys. Have a good night. I will say that many of us have seen all of us have actually seen this kind of at length and um Ron I think you condensed slides a little bit to try to >> I did. >> It's tough. It's a lot of information and yet we're trying to make it digestible at the same time. We do um as you mentioned the city council may have seen a number of these slides before. There were a few suggested additions from various council members. So we did uh have a few additions uh to the presentation but as you mentioned um some of this is a repeat for the city council but valuable hopefully valuable or at least interesting information for the public. Uh this evening uh the schedule for today is uh we'll go over some of the significant impacts some of the changes presented in this year's budget. Some of the changes since the there was one change since the August uh 28th informal meeting and it was the updated resolution that was distributed in the packet that corrected a typographical uh error on my part. um nothing changed in the in the total numbers or impact to to the levy or taxes for that matter. Uh we'll we'll cover some of the valuation changes and tax impacts. Uh we'll look at some significant budget items of note. Um and the formal action this evening will be to adopt the preliminary budget and levy for 2026. And this will set the maximum property tax levy for 2026. This can be lowered but it cannot be increased once it's adopted and certified to the county auditor by the end of September. The other action uh at the end would be a motion to set the date to discuss the budget and levy where the public is invited to attend. We have u recommending November 25th which is a regularly scheduled city council meeting and this follows um input from the city council directing us towards that date. And those uh we will certify that to the county and that will be the date that they include on the parcel specific notice of taxes payable for the coming year that will be distributed to uh to all the property owners. The timeline uh the the staff budget preparation occurs in the uh early of the year during May through early August following what uh we input we received from the city council at the goal setting session back in uh April and March and April. Uh we distributed the budget draft uh that we discussed at the budget workshop on August 28th. uh we're scheduled the calendar schedules uh adopting the preliminary budget and levy this evening which is why we're here and then we as I mentioned must notify the uh the county auditor by September 30th of the council meeting date where we would discuss the budget and levy and invite the public to speak to attend um as part of the once the county receives the dates and they prepare the notices they they're under statute must mail them between November 11th and the 24th. Talk with the county auditor. They're uh their plans are to start mailing on the very first available date, November 11th. Uh, of course, countywide there's a lot of parcels. So, but council would then hold the budget discussion. Formerly, we called that the truth and taxation meeting um on November 25th. That is a Tuesday before uh Thanksgiving. and then the adopt a final budget and tax levy at that meeting. If we don't complete it that evening, a backup date would be Thursday, the next regularly scheduled city council meeting, Thursday, December 11th. One point is final certification is due to the county auditor and the state by December 29th. go through some of the uh property valuations that we're experiencing which affects our tax base. Of course, the overall property values are increasing 3.19%. This slide shows kind of a breakdown of the different property classes. residential overall residential property values are going up 3.7% commercial industrial approximately 5.1 5.1% and then uh some of the various other classes I do want to point out that the apartment property class is decreasing for the coming year going down uh by 2.56% but overall increasing the property values of 3.19% to eight 8 billion326 million. So we look at tax capacity. In a few minutes we'll look at calculating the tax capacity, but the tax capacity is based on the value of the property times the classification rates at the state. And new construction this year is providing an additional tax capacity which we'll call tax base of 46% which is down a little bit from the prior year. New construction. One way to look at new construction, new construction values adds to the tax base which benefits and lowers the potential tax rate. And then we also experience some overall appreciation in market value or in tax capacity uh appreciation of approximately 2.9% and we can see that residential is up 3 and a.5%. commercial industrial and this is in tax capacity up 3.96% utilities 1.7% and again the property class for apartments is uh declining for the coming year 2.67%. So overall we're we are seeing growth in the tax capacity some in appreciation and some in uh overall new construction increasing 3.37% for the coming year. Versus last year, even though we had a higher valuation increase, we had a reduction in the net tax capac or a smaller increase in the net tax capacity. And that was the implementation of the changes in the market value homestead exclusion prior year. Medium value home is increasing 3.7% to 371,350, recovering some of the slight decline that we experienced last year. But we can see that from the uh from this chart anyway the growth has moderated a bit for the last two years which I would suggest is a good thing. Um commercial valuation uh the value is increasing 38.3 million which we just saw. New construction is 8 million 52,000 appreciation on existing commercial industrial 30,217,000. Um this is compared to 73 million of new construction for commercial last year. We can just look at the for the most part most of the new construction value added for commercial properties is these three parcels three properties right here. The finishing of the health partners clinic, the Chief and Vet uh clinic right north of that and then the addition of the second Chase Bank in town. So most of most of our new construction is resulting from from the Orchard Place development down in this east part of town which brings us to the budget. The total budget for the city is made up of a number of different funds. We have the general fund which would be considered kind of our general government operations, police, fire, finance, everything in this building. We also have enterprise funds which makes up approximately 39% of the overall budget. This includes our water sewer utility, the operation of the liquor store, the ice arena. We have a significant piece of our budget is the road fund, $18.3 million, approximately 14% of our total budget. And then we have a number of other funds from cable TV and the uh special revenue funds that make up the other 8% of the total budget. Total budget all all funds that we budget is 130,71,375. On the revenue side we have revenues slightly less than that of 115 million and the difference between the two is the investment in capital outlay. We are experiencing a a period of high investment of capital outlay. That might be the theme for last year and this year is capital capital capital outlay capital investment taxes of the total total revenue for the total budget is 38,8,666 or approximately one-third of the total overall budget user and franchise fees which so this would include everything from building permits to uh electric store sales, water and sewer sales. We have intergovernmental revenue of 16.9 million. Most of that is related to the uh road and infrastructure replacement program. The uh state aid streets being replaced. We have license and permits other revenues. I do want to point out uh this year we have uh transfers the slice uh for transfers, admin fees, and use of reserves. The use of reserves is the Minnesota public safety aid that we received back in 2023. And we're recognizing that um the expense over time and this is actually a use of reserves fund balance not necessarily a a true revenue but it is a budgetary revenue for our total budget general fund I mentioned that's a significant part of the of the budget the general fund proposed revenues 50,572,970 of which taxes make up approximately 3/4 of that. Um, again, franchise fees, license and permits, all of that. Uh, and then again, transfers and re use of reserves for the Minnesota public safety aid makes up 6.9%. We do have, uh, on the expenditure side, we have a balanced budget um, with the use of those reserves of 50,752,970. The biggest uh department of course overall department is the police department 16.3 million uh park and recck 7.6 million public works 8.5 million natural resources 427,000 fire 3.9 million general government 2.5 million and the various other smaller departments make up the total of the general fund expenses of 50.7 million. Some of the um maybe more significant items that are driving or causing the increase in the total general fund expenditures is the COLA and STEP increases. Uh again, the budget increase for the coming year is just over 4 billion. The COLA and STEP increases for general fund employees approximately 983,000. We have increased health insurance, workers comp rates, Medicare, FICA, um, and, uh, public employee retirement 184,000. We have this year new paid family medical leave. The, uh, impact for the general fund is approximately 105,000. In the within the general fund, we have some levy property tax levy supported positions which include a mechanic, fire inspector, one half of FT full-time equivalent for a fire forester. And then we also have a maintenance traininee program that uh public works and park maintenance are are starting. We have one le non-levy supported and again this is the addition of a police lieutenant. uh cost of wages and benefits and equipment 215,000 and again I noted this as non-levy this is the use of the public safety aid for that position we have an increase in part-time wages 257,000 for the various part-time positions and then uh increase in the Apple Valley fire relief which is a pass through from the state of 85,000 the redwood pool is back in should be back in operation in 2026 it was closed in 2025 for reconstruction which will increase the um uh expenditures by 176,000 and again this will be offset by revenues have overall increase in utilities. Number of uh other items uh comprehensive plan uh where community development will be starting their it's a two-year pro process to update the comprehensive plan for the up through 2050. Um and that's approximately 75,000 for coming year as well as uh the following year be approximately 75,000 as well. Natural resource uh development of a natural citywide natural resource plan and an increase in the tree management program approximately 95,000. We did uh experiencing increased Dakota communication 911 fees approximately 105,000 uh elections. We have a general election the coming year that we uh will be required to participate in in 2026. 155,000 snow and ice chemicals 60,000 participation in Lakeville is building a training center called the first training center. Police will be participating in that approximately 33,000 in the first year. Uh we got an increase in engineering cost uh for managing the rightaway and permits for that. And then again 60,000 again that'll be supported by revenue and then capital outlay in the general fund approximately 518,000 mentioned the general fund approximately 75% of the general fund budget is uh funded by property taxes. This uh chart here uh lays out the different uh property tax levy components or uses of the property taxes. General fund for 2026 32,825,000 an increase of 2,593,200 approximately 8.58% increase. We have uh some facilities funds for setting aside money for repairs to various facilities. 325,000 for the coming year, slight decline for 2026. Continuing the maintenance or the uh support of the ice arena, 121,000 out of the property tax levy. And then we do have property tax delinquency allowance of approximately 100,000. I added a subtotal here for general operations. So it's basically everything in the levy not that isn't debt service or the infrastructure street and infrastructure maintenance program. street maintenance uh street and infrastructure maintenance program is going uh the levy for the coming year is going down 70,000 to 4 4,600. The debt service uh on the facilities capital improvement bonds will be increasing 350,000. We have uh some bonds that we issued last previous two years. We did issue a small issue in 2025 with uh debt service starting 26. Uh we did have a bigger issue for the park referendum bonds from the park referendum authority adopted a couple years ago. That debt service will be increasing 2,292,000 for the coming year. Uh total increase in the property tax levy of 5,142,000 for the coming year. A 13% increase in the overall property tax levy for the coming year. If we look at what components, what portions of the levy by the various components uh we we went went through each of these elements just a moment ago, but the share of the increase so the increase in total is 13.01% of which six and a half six six and a half% of that is for the general operations slight decline in the street maintenance. the FAC C facilities capital improvement bonds up 089% and the park referendum bonds up 5.8%. So the two related to the debt issuances is over 6.6% just over one half of the total levy increase for the coming year. I mentioned the this is a capital intensive uh budget and levy. Approximately 25.3% of the overall levy is going to support this annual street name maintenance levy and the program street maintenance street and infrastructure maintenance program as well as the debt service for the uh facilities capital improvement bonds and the park bonds. So we will continue our investment in uh in our facilities and capital outline. Overall, the property tax levy is going up 5,142,000. We just covered that 13.01%. Again, the increased voter approved debt service, that's park referendum bonds, 2,293,000. And then uh the increased uh debt service on the facilities, capital improvement bonds, 351,000. So of the total levy increase again 6.7% is related to uh the increased debt service. All the other items that we saw for the general fund are also included in the increase in the the levy drivers for what's increasing the levy. So we won't go through all of those again. We do each year when we when we uh set our uh property tax levy, we look at comparisons with other communities. This is a survey uh that updated a little over a week ago. We can see that Apple Valley is the third u bar on the pie chart on the right. So we at 13 just over 13% we're towards the high end. the new debt that we issued that 6.7% of that is for the increased debt service. And again, there's a there's a story behind every one of these community uh levies, but we don't uh we don't have the complete story of all those, but this just kind of gives you an idea of how our levy for the coming year is stacking up against the these other communities. Some are just Dakota County cities and some are the similar size cities in the metro area. We usually compare to one of the increased uh or uh uh uh recommended increase uh information in the levy is how is our levy increased over the over a longer period. This is over the past 10 years with just the some of the larger metropolitan area cities. Our average increase over the past 10 years is 5.6% 6% right in the middle of the pack with that that does include our increase uh in uh I actually I have to rewind a bit these are actual 2025 levy number levy amounts as certified to the state department of revenue so through 2025 10 years of that we are averaging 5.6%. We did have a significant bond issue that came payable beginning in 2025. So that is included in there already. If we look at just some of the larger Dakota County cities, again, our 5.6% over the past 10 years to up through 2025 uh compares uh somewhat favorably to the other larger Dakota County cities. And again, this is in through data filed with the department of revenue uh for years up through 2025. Another another way to look at the levy uh just the uh use of the levy by the different various components. Again the bottom bar general operations and levy uh we can see that that did increase following the pandemic at uh experiencing inflation much like everyone else. And then the other uh various bars for the uh debt service on the capital improvement bonds, the street and infrastructure levy and the park bond debt service. So next for the coming year 13% increase and again 6.5% of that related to uh general operations. Look at the tax impacts to the median value home. Again the median value home is 371,000. To get to a tax capacity, we apply a uh a homestead parcel will receive a market value homestead exclusion reduction in the value for taxable purposes. So, this home would have a taxable market value of 358,222. That uh is applied to the state classification rate for residential properties, which is 1% up through the first 500,000. gives us a tax capacity of 3582 which is a variable used in the calculation and then our estimated property tax rate for uh is 49 45.98% for the coming year gives us gross taxes paid of 1647. We do have an old park referendum uh debt service that we are uh paying back which is based on the market value only and that would add $52. So property taxes on the median value home for the coming year $1699. We look at that as a comparison to the prior year. Again the market value of this home increased 3.7%. Uh the taxes in 2026 $1699. uh compared to last year $1,488 increase of $211 total increase in the taxes of $14.18%. We look at uh those same levy components as it uh flows through to the tax tax bill general operations. Um again the total for 2026 $16986 increase of $210 for the coming year. Uh the of that the general operation makes up 6.6% of the tax uh increase in the tax bill. Uh street maintenance program down slightly. facilities capital improvement bonds up just over 1% and the park referendum bonds uh up 6.6%. So in total 6 point uh 7.65% 65% for increase in in the debt service levy of the total increase in the tax bill of 1400 14.18%. Sorry. Another uh thing we like to do uh each year when we look at our taxes is compare our taxes to other other communities and these are uh some of the larger metropolitan area cities. explain how this graph works. The percentage in within each bar is the preliminary tax rate for a uh each of the individual cities. So the tax rate in Edina for example will be 32.6%. And it's that used in their calculation of the median value home. The median value home in Edina is 735,000 would result in a tax bill in Edina from the median value home of 2589. We do that same calculation for each of the cities based on each city's preliminary tax rate in each city's median value home which gives us the the tax bills. that we are uh in the neighborhood of Bloomington and Burnsville at six. We're at 1699, Bloomington 1692 and Burnsville 1685 for the coming year based again on preliminary preliminary data that we received over the last few weeks. And again, our uh tax levy also includes the support of this annual street infrastructure replacement program, which provides us the ability for not allowing or not having special assessments to to the various property owners. Another way to look at the the tax bill is what are the taxes going to support in in our general government operations. We can see that uh uh we mentioned the street and infrastructure replacement program. So of the impact of the uh taxes in the coming year, the street maintenance program is approximately $195. Debt service for the facilities capital improvement bonds $85 on debt service on the park bonds $200. government buildings. The biggest piece again as part of the biggest piece of the budget is the police police area. So of the tax bill, $467 will go to support the police department. One thing I want to point out is various departments have revenues. So it's their total expenses. If they have revenues that exceed exceed their expenses, for example, building permits, they would not have any levy support going towards building inspections. One of the requested items is kind of how has our taxes uh stack up over the past uh few years. This one goes back to 2011. Again, this is final certified uh levy certified tax rates and certified median value homes as certified to uh Dakota County. So, the medium value home in Apple Valley uh for all jurisdictions and again this is up through 2025. So it's uh we don't have the preliminary 2026 data for these other communities has uh went up last year total tax bill from $4,070 in uh 2024 to $4,89 in 2025. So slight increase and the that increase last year was moderated by the changes in the market value homestead exclusion program for taxes payable 2025. You can see that over the over the past years each of the uh uh change in the tax bill for each of the jurisdictions enterprise funds. We it makes up a significant piece of our our budget which includes the liquor fund, the water sewer fund, the ice arena, storm image fund, streetlight utility cemetery fund. So all total the uh revenues for the coming year is 39,785,000. The expenses um is approximately 33 uh,463,000 which doesn't include the capital outlay. So capital outlay for the coming year is 17,69,000. Capital outlay is not necessarily an expense. So it'll be capitalized depreciated into the future. But uh you can see a significant uh capital outlay in the storm drainage uh utility fund. So all told with capital outlay total expenditures 50,532,55 for the coming year related to the enterprise funds to support the water and sewer and storm water and streetlight utility funds. uh the uh utility rates as included in the budget are up 5% for each of those utilities uh with a 10% increase in the storm water rate. So, uh, for a typical user of 25,000 gallons per quarter of water, which would have a typically a $15,000, uh, or 15,000 gallon sanitary sewer consumption. Total increase of 5.9% uh, $12.58 per quarter or approximately $4.19 a month for the increase in the utilities for the coming year. One of the uh requested items is hey how do our utility rates stack up against uh other communities. So these are uh some of the same similar large similar size metropolitan area cities and these are 2025 rates. So these are the actual rates in place for a u utility in each of these communities. We can see that uh this is for water and sewer. Um, so we're we're in the lower quadrant of the uh typical water user of 25,000 for gallons of water, 15,000 gallons for sanitary. If we look at uh higher users, we are on the low end and that's our we have a tiered rate structure and our uh as we do the comparison, our highest tier is lower than some of the other communities. There are reasons for that. uh Woodbury for example has a higher uh higher rate and related to PIFA when we look at in a moment. So for water and sewer for a high user $341 per quarter which is towards the low end of uh of these communities. If we look at u the storm water side of the bill which is a flat charge for for well for each of these communities there's no way to measure it. So Edina uh has the highest storm quarterly storm water bill at $55 per quarter. Apple Valley is next at $36 per quarter along with the various communities. Just want to point out some of these communities. Maple Grove, for example, is just starting. I think two years ago was the first time they they established a storm water utility. So it takes a while for uh for these uh activities to uh to get established. One of the requests was how does our 2026 uh preliminary utility rate increase? How does that stack up against the various communities? And this is a a list of the uh responses that I received for a for a query of these cities ranges anywhere from 3% across the board in Eden Prairie to uh various components. Maple Rosebond for example 9% in water 9 5% in water 9% in sewer 5% in storm water. Maple Grove 5% across the board. do want to point out that four of the cities uh are in the process of updating their utility rate studies and they uh don't have the coming rates for 2026 at this time. Preliminary budget in summary um residential property taxes on the median value home is expected to rise 14.18%. approximately uh two $210.98 per year, $17.58 per month for the median value home and again at $1699 for the year and the city portion of the taxes only of course continues the city council goal of uh not specially assessed for the infrastructure maintenance program which we're maintaining the support of that program for the 2026 levy of 4,600,000. want to point out the state imposed paid family medical leave impacts for 2026 will be the first year the budget assumes uh of the rate of 088% of the wages paid 50% share with employees and then again as we saw earlier impact on the levy was approximately 105,000 for for the year there are a number of property tax uh refund programs circuit breakers one of which is the homestead credit program for 2024 returns. They haven't released the 25 amounts yet, but there uh information and those homestead credit refunds are filed with the Minnesota form M1PR. There is a renters's property tax refund that is now going to be collected or uh requested I guess refund on the state income tax form. That is a a change in the way that used to be done. used to be done on the M1 PR. So now it'll be right on the uh individual's income tax return. There is a special tax property tax refund. If your t total taxes have increased more than 12% and that increase was uh more than $100, there is a refund and again that'll be available on the form M1 PR. There is in addition to all of these there is a senior citizens property tax deferment. If your property tax exceed property taxes paid exceed 3% of net income the amount that exceeds that is deferred on you through the future the state would pay whatever that uh difference would be doesn't uh necessarily go away. it's an unpaid tax and it becomes a a lean on the property and then when the property changes hands it would be taken out of proceeds at uh at the time of sale. There is a disabled veteran property tax exclusion. So we when we looked at the tax uh calculation, there is a market value exclusion for homestead properties. This is an additional one for disabled veterans. couple different exclusion levels, 150,000 and 300,000 depending on your disability status. And again, this program is administered by the counties and there uh will help you get enrolled in that. The uh timeline remaining is uh one of the actions this evening is setting a budget meeting date for November 25th, 2025. And then uh we will file and certify the levy and the county will begin sending uh parcel specific notices on November 11th through the 24th. Council would hold the uh truth and taxation meeting budget discussion on November 25th. We would then adopt hopefully that evening if not that evening backup date would be the next city council meeting on December 11th and we would uh need to certify that uh to the county to county auditor by the end of December. So the action this evening is the adopt a resolution adopting the 2026 proposed budget property tax levy. Again, this sets the maximum levy for the coming year. Can be reduced, cannot be increased along with uh hopefully a motion to set November 25th as the truth and taxation meeting at 7 p.m. >> Thank you, Ron. Why don't you take a breath and a drink and that's a lot of nice presentation. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we we went through this a few weeks ago, kind of the chance to show this to the public and move it forward. This is the maximum amount. We still have two monthsish to to uh work on areas we might want to reduce, but I want to see who has questions or comments for Ron this evening. Um you mentioned much more techn less budget question, more timing question. The timing of the notice is 11th November 11th to the 24th. It just you mentioned earlier you talked to the county and they think those will be out early because that that comes really close to our >> our budget meeting and we certainly want people to be able to see their specific tax notice right before they get here, >> right? And that um uh that is true. So hopefully the county does get them out earlier towards the 11th and that's when they said they were going to have their mailing service start mailing. Um and I forget how many hundreds of thousand notices they send. So there's quite a few. If all else fails, those would be available online where people could access them before that meeting on the 25th. Correct. >> Good point. So they the day they start mailing, they are available on the city on the county website. >> Uh the the whole notice is available there and again the meeting would be on the 25th. One I guess disadvantage of being in November, our city newsletter comes out uh at the beginning of December. Mhm. >> So we would uh typically we use that to also invite the public. But so that meeting will or that newsletter that comes out in December will be probably more of a just kind of a budget update uh that we're looking at. >> I would just point out this is what that looks like if you choose to print it. All of this is available on the website. Uh right. So where can people go to find if they want to dig into detail or they have questions, where can we send them? The uh easiest way to go would be to go on the city of Apple Valley's website and there's a search button. If you search on budget, it'll take you right to that section. So that's that's the easiest way. >> If you do that, um the budget memo is out there too. The one that Tom and staff prepare. >> Yep. Everything's out there along with 10 years of budgets and >> yeah, that's a great resource and uh if you don't want to get stuck on the spreadsheets and the details, it gives you a pretty nice overview of all the things that you talked about in a little more detail. So, any questions for for Ron? If not, um two items to uh two item action items. One is to adopt the resolution adopting the 2026 proposed budget and property tax levy. Do we have a motion to do so? >> So moved. >> Motion from council member Lander. Do we have a second from council member Bergman? All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. Opposed. >> That item carries. The second is a motion to set the November 25th, 2025 as the truth and taxation meeting at 7 p.m. >> So moved >> from council member Eird, second from council member. Uh all those in favor, you need a name tag. I'm struggling over here tonight. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed. Those both carry. Ron, staff, everyone, thank you for the time and effort into this. We got a little more work to do, but um thanks for getting us this far. That brings us to staff and council communications. And Tom, I know we had a couple others uh to talk about. >> Mr. Mayor, we do have two. Uh I'd like to call up our park and rec director, Eric Carlson, to talk uh one more time a reminder about the food truck festival coming up. Mr. Mayor, members of the council, members of the community. So, Saturday, this Saturday from from noon to 7:00 p.m., we will have food truck festival at Quarry Point Park. There'll be lots of food trucks, lots of music, lots of fun activities. So, if you're hungry, if you want to listen to some music, if you want to just get out um because I think the weather's supposed to be halfway decent on Saturday, come to Corey Park between noon and 7 and join us in the fun of the fall food truck festival. Thank you. >> Weather does look good on Saturday. I just checked. Thank you, >> Mr. Mayor. One more. Uh, we'd like to have Charles Gro come up, our assistant administrator, and give us a preview of another event that is an annual event that people really look forward to, our fall cleanup day. >> Uh, good evening, mayor, members. Um, we've got cleanup day coming up on Saturday the 20th. Uh, it's between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and it's at the aquatic center or Splash Valley. Um, it's it's now called. um parking lot. Um there's a few things that are different this year and so I want to try to highlight those. Just uh in general, the uh concept of cleanup day is a opportunity for residents to dispose of non-hazardous waste, things like appliances, tires, scrap metal, furniture, and remodeling debris. Um it's there are unit based prices for things like appliances. Most of the rest of it is weight based. Um, there are prices on our website that can give you a pretty good estimation of what something might cost. Um, so there are fees. Our goal is to break even, not to make money on this event. Big change from last year. There is no shredding this year. Um, we're going to do that as a separate event. I'll get to that more in a minute. But there's a lot of construction and we're going to also get more to that in a second on this uh site and around it. And there's just no way that we can really uh accommodate the shredding truck and the hundreds of people who come with shredding and our clean up the uh activities without potentially creating safety issues. We just don't want that. So in order to keep it safe um with the constraints on the site we have we are just doing the cleanup day traditional uh modeling debris and that kind of thing at this event. We'll do a separate shredding event in a couple weeks and I'll get to that. Um, see if I can Can you There we go. Uh, we joke about this a little bit and it's kind of backfired to me. Um, the event opens at 8 and uh, our biggest line of the day has is always at 8. People come early and unfortunately um, people maybe didn't realize, no, we're we're kind we're serious about that. It it's not helpful. Um, and we've had more people like last year, uh, we've had people showing up at 7:15 and it's what's happening is you get 50 cars that are parked on the driveway. Um, and we're trying to move heavy equipment and these large containers to the site and set up and it it's just detrimental to getting the event off and um, and then you have to wait longer. It took us 45 minutes last year to clear out that initial wave. Nobody else waited for more than a few minutes the rest of the day. Um, so it's everybody's benefit if don't come early. Please don't do us a favor. Come after we open it. We'll be able to move you through faster. It'll just create a safer >> a lot of really nice coffee shops in town. Maybe maybe home at 7:15, grab a cup of coffee, enjoy their Saturday morning, and roll up about 8 8:15. That'd be Yep. >> Yep. That would that would be much preferred. I think everybody benefits that way. Um, I think I Somehow I skipped. There's my Oh, >> that's we lost. Okay, thank you. Um, this is this is a map of the uh the detour because there is road construction. So, please note that Johnny Cake >> north of 142nd and south of 140th is torn up right now. You can't go that way. So, if if you traditionally would go to this site from 42 from the south, you'll be fine. You can come up Johnny and Cake. If you traditionally come from the east and you're coming across on 142nd, you're fine. You can take that route. But if you go on 140th, and a lot of people do, you're going to need to go a little further east down to Pilot Knob, go down to 142nd, and then come across. So, there is a detour. It's pretty simple. I I don't expect to create problems, but people should be aware there will be signage where those uh little detour signs are to direct people as well. Uh and then finally, just to uh uh paper. I am having a heck of a time tonight. Um, >> I'm not responsible. >> Paper shredding. So, we are going to have a special event for uh paper shredding on Saturday, October 11th. It will be in the site that's in the upper parking lot that's right around Gina Cake. We think there's a possibility it will be open by then, but even if it's not, we'll be able to handle it. Uh, there the shredder um is there from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. So, it's a little shorter period. Uh but I think that that generally work fine. The cost is free. Uh but we do limit to four small paper bags, you know, regular grocery bags or small boxes. Um and if you have a commercial account, you have a bunch of business forms, call us directly. We can help get that shredded, but this isn't the right venue for collecting those. So, lot of information, but thank you for letting us make people aware of that. >> Charles, one question on the the fees to to drop stuff off. How do you take payment? Cash, check, credit card. How how would you like people to show up prepared? >> Cash and check are great. We do have a credit card reader um that we are using now and so we can do it that way as well. >> Perfect. Wonderful. Thanks for the work in putting this together and uh giving people a place to get rid of their stuff. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Tom. Anything else? >> That's it. >> Well, I I just just one quick thing for me and I always hate to end this on a sad note, but um I will. Uh last weekend uh we lost two uh good residents and actually friends of mine here in Apple Valley, Pete and Trish Olsen and a very tragic car accident down by Randolph. Um many of us who knew their daughter Lexi who worked out at Valleywood was kind of the face we all saw. I know it served many of our fire banquetss uh out there over the years as well. Um yeah, when I used to work with Trish and Pete both they both worked at Wings. Uh probably wasn't a day go by. I didn't see Trish where I got a Lexi story one way or the other. So they'll be missed and uh Lexi, sorry for your loss and uh a pretty tough weekend for those of us who knew uh Pete and Trish. So thinking about the family and the friends and the co-workers uh when things say changed very very suddenly on Saturday morning. So um that's all I've got on that one. Anyone else have anything to add? If not, we'll move on to our calendar of upcoming events. And our next city council meeting is Thursday, September 25th at 7 p.m. Do we have a do we have a motion to approve the calendar? >> So move. >> Second. >> Motion from council member Grendall, second from council member Bergman. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. I. >> Thank you. And do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Motion from Councilman Grenall, second from council member Heert. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. >> Thank you. We're adjourned. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]