Yeah, >> I figure if I get enough No. >> No. >> Well, then I could pick on you for a minute. >> All right. All right, everyone. Let's call the meeting to order. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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. Amen. >> Thank you so much. Roll call, please. >> President Miy >> here. >> Vice President Matthews >> here. >> Treasurer Bramshire >> here. >> Council representative McKenzie >> here. Absent today are member Nath, member Galardi, and member Gogra. Staff and ex officio members present today are executive director Frannle, community development director Roberts, EDA secretary Churnney, and finance director Winnick. >> Thank you so much. Appreciate that. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda, please? >> So moved. >> So moved. Council um member McKenzie. >> Second. >> Second. Member Matthews. That's it easy. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you very much. We will have presentation, but poor Andrew probably is stuck somewhere with the snow, so we can wait till the end of that if he does show up. >> Yeah, say just a nice thank you to him. I sent him an email, but yeah, it'd be nice, too. >> Great. >> All right. >> So, uh, we'll move on to Well, meeting open to the public. >> Yep. Do we have to adopt the We don't have to do approval of minutes or other stuff anymore. >> I thought you just did that. I apologize. What >> did I do that? >> Yeah, you did that. >> I did the I did the adopt. Was that the whole agenda then? All right. Meaning, nobody's here in public. Nobody's crazy enough to go out in this. >> He didn't do that. >> Did you do the approval of the minutes on that though? >> No. >> Oh, >> that's what I said. >> I apologize. >> And I have a motion to approve the minutes from the last meeting, September 9th. >> So moved. >> So moved. Council member McKenzie or member McKenzie. >> Second. >> Second. member Matthews. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Nobody's here for the public. On we go. >> So, we have two items on action items. And the first item is item A for EDA and city budget overview. And we have uh Dan Winnick, our finance director here to discuss. >> Don't they work? >> They still does work for the So, yes, please. >> Oh, okay. President, council members, um commission members, um want to go over the 2026 budget and levy overview. So, Brian, um the city manager had asked me if I would come here tonight and kind of present and kind of give everybody up to speed of where we're at with the 2026 budget, which will be approved uh next Tuesday. Uh kind of give a overview um of that. The last time I was here in September 9th, we kind of just focused on the EDA. But I think it uh Brian was spot on. It's really important that the EDA understands um what the city is doing, where we're at, some of the difficulties um that we have, some of you know based upon the needs um and the planning that we've done. But it's going to cost it's going to cost um our residents um through the property tax system. And so want everybody to be aware of that. Um especially because you know in the EDA and you're looking at uh you know potentially of of you know maintaining and and holding businesses and in addition to attracting new businesses in the city um which again um you know they pay property taxes. So we want everybody to be on the same page. So I'm just going to kind of walk you through this. You can stop me at any time and ask any questions. And really what I'm trying to do is is to kind of get this group's overall feeling of are we on the right track? Um what are some things that we should be looking at maybe a little bit differently? Um any input that you have that can help us out as we move forward. We're pretty much set on the 2026 budget. Um this last Tuesday we had the truth and taxation. Um it was attended um just by less than a handful of individuals. Um, I had a few phone calls from from residents um that had concerns about their property taxes, but that's been basically about it as far as feedback from the the residents. Um, so we're really trying to to get more information and and I think it's very important to to hit this group and and to get and then I'll show you at the end um where your EDA is currently in a financial information, you know, presently for the budget, what you have, fund balance and so forth. Uh so tonight we're going to go over the general fund budget. Uh take a quick look at the 26 to35 capital improvement plan. We're going to look at what we have for proposed levy. Um what that is as a tax impact um preliminary market values and then we'll have the EDA current financial information and the EDA preliminary 2026 budget which you approved in September 9th. Um and then open it up for a discussion. But again, you can stop me at any point in time if you need clarification or you have some thoughts or insights. Um that totally welcome. So in our general fund um from a revenue standpoint um you can see that uh almost 58% um of our revenue comes from property taxes. That's the orange section there. That's the Ed Valerum taxes. And then the next component um that is big is the yellow slice over there that's a little over 21% which is intergovernmental. Uh so the inter intergovernmental the biggest component to that is local government aid that comes from the state of Minnesota. Um in our budget discussions we had talked about you know some of the projections that were out there um as far as uh the state of Minnesota's bienium for 2028 2029. And I think the latest one um ca u that I'd seen um came from uh the state auditor's office and there's they're looking like this year they're going to be a surplus I think of about 2.8 billion um but they're looking at um by 2829 that there's a $3 billion deficit. So now, how do they go in through legislation um and kind of balance that out um so they don't have another big hit um you know, as far as um cutting funding for different programs. That's where we're exposed to. Um if they were to cut some of that LGA money, that would have a direct impact on us. We would end up having to if we were going to keep service levels the same, we would end up having to generate and and raise our our levies up even higher than what you're going to end up seeing here. >> And those Can you explain what that is? Because I was kind of interested when you explained it to us about how some cities give some people some cities receive as far as the >> That's I think what you're referring to is fiscal disparities. >> Oh, that wasn't Yeah. No, the fiscal disparities. So the fiscal disparities pool, so what we actually levy isn't necessarily the exact amount that's going to end up coming from our taxpayers. So I believe in 1971 the um they established uh fiscal disparities which is basically the metro area >> and it's the commercial growth. And so they took a base of 1971 and what they were trying to to look at is that a city doesn't have the power to say, "Hey, a highways going through right here." Um that's a bigger um metro area, you know, met council decision. But what does it have? It has a great impact on what commerce is going to do. you know, commercial buildings attracting um so the commercial property can benefit, industrial property can benefit greatly from where a new highway is located. Um and so what they tried to do was take a base and then whatever growth is in they have a calculation for every growth in between it. So we we put a part of of our commercial property you contribute in value and then they do this calculation and then you get a uh fiscal disparities value count or uh distribution back. You multiply that by the prior year's tax rate and that becomes real dollars. So right now we if we we if we levy we'll see the exact amount but if we levy $7 million our fiscal disparities is about 1.3 which means that our taxpayers are actually only paying for 5.7 of that levy. The fiscal disparities is is from the metro area is red is redistributing some of that benefit that um you know of commercial growth. Obviously, we haven't had a lot of commercial growth, so we're considered a winner in the fiscal disparities pool. Um, and so that's where there is a balance between um I didn't um put any in here, but I've shown the city council some charts and back in 199 or n or 2021 um because of COVID, city council made a decision and passed a 0% levy. What that ended up doing because market values had gone up, it actually dropped our tax rate down. So it it it kept it at 0%. But in the next year, you actually lost some fiscal disparity dollars. And so you actually had you actually had an impact on taxpayers right off of the the get-go. If if the city would have done another 0% levy and let's just say all market values stayed exactly the same, taxpayers still would have paid more because there was a loss in fiscal disparity dollars. And so we've been trying to to look at look at things from that standpoint of when we raise the levy, we want to try to make sure that we're kind of in that average of what other cities are doing. And that's why there is a slide here that kind of shows you where the average is of Ramsey County cities and what they've levied. And so um for the past 5 years we've kept ourselves pretty much in that middle. We're not on the high end. Um you know you'll see some um outliers. I think this year I think the highest is maybe 16 to 18% levy increase but then there's some lower ones that may have a 3% levy increase. we've kept kind of more of that middle ground um levy or uh road to be able to also protect the fiscal disparities which has incrementally increased in the past 5 years. >> So it's like a one-two punch. >> It's like a one-two punch, right? If we if we reduce it below that average and we get that, you know, kind of that hit uh unintended consequence of the fiscal disparities, we could end up having a another a bigger, you know, another added impact on our our uh taxpayers. Um, and at the end of the day, you know, I always look at it and and recommend and and our city manager gives the direction to all of staff when we're looking at it is that, you know, we build a budget based upon um our needs. Um, and you're going to see some of our needs and one of the biggest pieces that you're going to see is that our levy is being driven by our infrastructural needs in this city. Um and so we'll we'll kind of go through that but you can see that we you know if you take those two groupings you know we have you know 78% is dependent on you know intergovernmental revenue which is from the state um and property taxes. Um so we have a heavy heavy reliance on that. Um if we look at our expenditures in the general fund, you're going to see that, you know, our personnel costs are 69%. Um by far the biggest component um of our expenditures. If we look at those expenditures by department, you're going to see that the police department, you know, um total expenditures makes up about 47% of our general fund and our fire and code enforcement is just, you know, below 16%. So, if we look at those, you know, those two together, you know, you're you're looking at 63% of our general fund is for public safety. So there really isn't a great deal that's going to other components onto it. And if you look at the the next biggest after uh fire and code enforcement, it's street maintenance, which again makes sense. Those are your basic services that are in, you know, in any, you know, municipality. Um, so right there, you know, you're already looking at threequarters of your your budget is between three departments that are, you know, critically needed within the city. So again, not a lot of room to find things that, you know, you could end up cutting um and trying to get yourself down. You can you can look at that. you know, our our park system. You know, if you look at parks and recreation, you've got a total of $550,000 out of our budget that that goes to general parks and and recreation. If you look at comparison to other cities, that's a very very low um number um that's in there. And just take a quick look at our 26 to 20 uh 35 CIP. So, what we've adopted is that uh we we try to do a 10-year plan um on our capital improvement plan. Um all of the department heads um submit um requests. They put it into the plan. Um we still have some adjustments to make as far as cash flow issues um that need to be addressed in some of these um I'm showing you as as uh funding sources. Um, and um, I didn't I didn't give you all of the breakdown of everything that's in there, but you can look at after 10 years, you know, you know, we're talking, you know, a little over a hundred million dollars worth of needs. your biggest components to it are, you know, your your streets um facilities and um and then it and then the next big big component to it which is related to streets in a large part are your utilities. um where you see some needs of the water with the exception of the water tower which is about $5 million of their total 12 but the remainder of that in a large part of it is is due to if we do a major street reconstruction which we have been having scheduled every every other year um that also impacts wastewater and that also impacts surface water and then >> you putting that >> I'm sorry >> are you putting that under the asset preservation fund >> no the asset preservation fund is is used for facility maintenance. >> Okay. >> And you know, um, you know, if you look at >> 2031, I'm looking at >> roofs. Roofs. >> Yep. That's kind of what I was >> going to jump to. Yeah, absolutely. You're spot on. And if you look at the age of our facilities, I mean, you know, there's been, you know, discussion publicly about the community center. Well, the community center is not too far off of the age of this facility we're sitting in or our public works facility. So, we're looking at facilities that are all that 20 plus years. Usually, HVAC systems are 20 to 25 years useful life. You're looking at roofs, depending on where they're at, they can be 25 to 30 years. And that's where you're seeing in that 2031, they're they're hitting that that time period where yeah, there's going to end up being a a roof replacement. If you look at that public works itself, um you know, that's a three $3.5 million job. Yep. >> Um so that's where there's some some big costs and those, you know, if you just take those two facilities um being the public works and in the city hall, you need those facilities to be able to house your your assets of your vehicles and to be able to perform your your functions within the city. Well, I think lesson to be learned too with the community center is negligence can cost you more money in the long run. So, um, you know, this is important outlining a lot of this stuff and I hope moving forward we learn from those those mistakes. >> It's a big thing. >> Oh, yeah. We've had >> it's a huge thing. >> We started we started that a couple years ago. We got the funds now that we're working on and and Ryan have done a great job of we got we have we're thinking about them now, >> you know, and and that's where the first part to it is, you know, when when I stepped into this role here, there really wasn't a comprehensive capital plan. You know, there was, you know, a vehicle um replacement cycle. Um, obviously street maintenance was was looked at, you know, on a five-year basis because you need to to do that when you go out for a bond issuance as far as streets are concerned. But we've added some other components um, you know, within the street program that were being ignored before. And what we're looking what we changed is, you know, with the help of our our engineer WSB is to look at what is our road rating in our in our city. and um and so we've instituted a outside of that um every other year. So how it was working was just every other year that we would go out and bond and do a major reconstruction. We've also now on that that opposite year when we're not bonding, we've added in a we call it a pavement preservation which um can be a mill and overlay. it can be a spot um replacement of of infrastructure of water and wastewater and surface water, you know, in addition to um to that. And so our plan has that um on the street portion about $2 million and then um with the water, wastewater and surface water comes to approximately, you know, somewhere in the ballpark of a little over $3 million. what we're trying to do um over time and and it you know and it it it is an impact that um you know to our residents but what we're trying to do is one of the components that I had shared with city council was that um a lot of people compare compare this city because of um ge uh I think size and then population um will comparison to view and so I I pulled up some information and and kind of asked some questions for city council and I shared with what Mound's views debt is and then what do you think our debt is and our debt is four to five times higher than what Mound's view is. Well, you're all aware if if you have debt that means I'm paying interest on to it. And as a rule of thumb, I always just use if I were to to borrow $1 million at 5% interest for 20 years, that's going to cost me $80,000 a year. Well, over 20 years, then it means that $1 million cost me $1.6 million. Um, and so we're losing some purchasing power by doing that. And so what we're trying to do in the you know with this overall plan and it requires to raise the levy and you'll see where we're looking at uh or what that means you know as far as the levy is concerned is that we're trying to move oursel to more of a cash basis um so we're not having that heavy debt but again it's all um uh the basis of it all is is what's your needs >> and we have some huge infrastructural needs that like you stated have been ignored. >> Um, and so what did we learn from that? Um, so that's where we're trying to to shift ourselves and make sure that we're planning for things and we're putting money aside to be able to handle those instead of, you know, letting something get to a point where um, you know, it it's not cost effective or you're going to end up having to rip it down and and build something brand new which is going to cost you, you know, twice as much. And how like how are we handling, you know, like the 10-year plan of of having the opportunity to pay down debt? So, what I built in with the the street plan, you know, both the payment preservation um with the major reconstruction and um then they they have some annual things that um they do. Um I combined all of those with our debt and I have it projected even though our debt may go up. I have it projected as that is the a straight cost. So in other words if our debt goes up then we contribute a little bit less in cash to the street program. But the street program, if we continue to levy what you'll end up seeing, we'll pay for all of this related to the street reconstruction, the debt, everything accord, you know, with that as as time moves on. >> Thank you. >> The last couple years, we've got our house in order where we got a double A went from double A to double A plus bond rating, >> which is huge. >> Well, I was just that was going to be and you know, the past it's also affected I know the bond stuff. if it had to have. >> So now, >> um, >> first time ever, >> and that's not that's not a good spot to be in, uh, when it's harder to negotiate bond stuff. That's not a good position to be in. Um, so sorry to interrupt you. No, no, you're making very good points and and yes, it's a support of city council with these plans and and um and and our city manager that you know we changed our fund balance policy to be more in line with what the state auditors recommend and you know and and there's there's it it makes sense and um it was at 35% we've moved it to 50%. And when you just stop and think about the, you know, for the general fund, the dynamics of it is that property taxes are due in May and October. You saw we got a 57% dependency on property taxes. So that means we don't actually get any money in a year. The first allotment is in June >> and then the next one we just received towards the end of the year. So June, you know, cuz it'll it'll come into about the middle um towards the middle to the end of June. 6 months. So 6 months is 50% of your budget. So you should be having a fund balance to be able to carry yourself through that component to it. So you're not running negative or having to borrow from another fund. And we've achieved that. Um last year, um you know, at the end of the year, we hit over that 50%. Um and um and um Brian and I have uh made a commitment to the bond council that we will maintain that moving forward um as we as we go out for you know the every other year bond issuance. So we're we're trying hard to make sure that we can can do that. But this is a lot of money and it's really your driving factor um on the levy itself. And this is kind of what it means to the impact of this capital plan is that that street and street debt um that we need to have an annual increase of $248,000 which is a 3.2% 2% levy increase. Um to fund parks um you know we need to have a levy increase or we have to have a levy of about 1% and for asset preservation or facilities um it's about 1.8%. You add those together for this year and it came out to 6.01% levy. So you get a 6% levy increase right off the beginning just to be able to fund this capital improvement plan. itself. Um, so what we have proposed and and um I believe that city council will approve next Tuesday is 8%. So all we did you know for all of those other services, the police, the fire, the streets, everything that you saw in that pie chart um actually went up 2%. Um and um that's pretty good when you think of the cost of living. Um step increases for personnel and you remember personnel was a big part of our expenditure 67%. Our department heads have underneath Brian's direction have done one heck of a great job of cutting and tightening um you know the operational costs as much as possible. Um and it has this wasn't their first year. They've been doing that for the past uh three years ver, you know, tightening it and tightening it. >> 1% increase in the levy brings in what? 74. >> Yeah. >> And I've >> Go ahead. Sorry. >> And I've gotten, you know, phone calls. We have so many more people now, you know, that live in North St. Paul. Why are my taxes going down because of all the new Well, we have tiff. So, it's going to take about 20 years before we can realize that, too. So there's a lot of stuff that was paid up forward that now we just have to hold on until >> you're never with scenarios you're never going to feel an impact right away. Correct. >> It's just never going to it's never going to happen. It's a 5year. It's a 10 year 15 20 year. >> But I think one of the scenarios and people need to understand this is um we can't go backwards. >> Nope. uh because you're going to we're going to end up costing so much more money in the long run going backwards. People need need to understand that. I understand when we when we talk about levies, when we talk about tax increase, it's the same thing with the community center. It's got to be outlined of why it's not fiscally response uh responsible to go in that route and and let people see it visually. Um >> yeah, I think we've done a much better job of laying it out over >> No question. you know, it also, you know, to to be able to afford this capital improvement plan, it also will will um, you know, have an impact on our rates for that we charge for water, waste water, surface water um, you know, and so forth. Um, right now, and again, these get adjusted every year um, based upon how we perform um, in our, you know, at the end of the year, but we're looking somewhere about a 6%, you know, increase on on those rates. this this in 20 for 2026, we have no rate increases. We just have the 8% um levy and it's not just 8% levy, but that's kind of, you know, where we're at. Um we had a a workshop with city council um to make sure that are you comfortable of of being at that 8 to 10% each year knowing that you have this capital improvement plan um that's costing you 6% on an annual basis. and there seemed to be support to keep moving towards that. Now, that can all change. Um, but that's kind of where we where we're at right now at this at this present moment. And um and so that's definitely something we'll be looking at and and it gets adjusted depending on how we perform u we you know when you know how we perform in our enterprise funds, how we perform in our general fund. Um and this gets adjusted absolut you know every single year. The one thing that you're not seeing how we generate this, you know, those those increases is that we do 10-year financial plans. Obviously, there's assumptions that you make, but we do that for every one of our funds to make sure that we're we believe that we're on track and and and and we're looking and then um you know, at the end of the year, we look at, okay, how did we perform, you know, based upon against what we projected. Um >> and we've been flexible like with the cameras for the cops. we moved it to this year and uh we had the other one for the locks of the building. So, we're able to see where we're at and be able to move things out and forward for needs. So, it's been going well because there was two things this year. You know, once it was nice because all of us staff got together with, you know, the council and that and everybody, the leaders of the staff and you know how what it took Jason, he had to go to every single door with the old locks and anybody leaves or starts, he had to reprogram each individual door throughout the city. Mhm. >> Well, think how much effort and time that is once you hear what he needed to do. The new system, he does it by a computer, you know, that type of thing. So, it's some of these things just turn into, wow, look at look at the difference what we're spending here to have him go door todoor and be able to do that anytime somebody changes to be able to change on the fly for anything. So, that's where we're flexible enough we're able to move things around, which has been good. Mhm. >> And in that workshop also then, you know, city council kind of, you know, trying to trying to get to the point where and and I'll describe it as I got $1 to spend, where would I spend it? You know, if this is where we're saying this is our our max um but we have additional needs, how would we go about spending that? And so, city council, you know, is more kind of giving staff direction of how to look at that as we prepare our capital improvement plans and and looking at that. So it was very beneficial for for myself for for staff. >> That was the first that was the first year we did that was having the staff with the council. Usually we do our meetings. So we we we open it up to all the all the leaders as far as the city's, you know, supervisor, everybody else. So and then we're going to keep doing that because that was so beneficial because we're able to hear and be able to understand. We're all in the same room instead of us, you know, who are only here so often figuring out things. let's talk to the people that live it dayto-day. And it was very beneficial. They they liked it and us as counel as council liked it as well. We're able to get together. >> Well, it turned out to be a good partnership too because it's so important not just for staff handil >> talking about transparency. >> Correct. And it was >> I mean that's what it I mean that's what it comes down to needs and wants. >> Mhm. >> You know and being and >> it wasn't two groups and then all of a sudden they try to get to you know somebody puts it together and tries to facilitate. We all were together. So it worked out really well. >> So this is where we're at with uh the 26 proposed levy. Um and you can see the city has a number of components to it. It has the general fund, street maintenance, park, asset preservation. And those are the three funds I kind of talked about. And then our debt uh our debt payment um and uh those amount to um $8.4 million. HA staying at $11,000 and EDA staying at the $200,97. Um overall with all three of those levies, it amounts to an 8% levy increase for the residents here in the city. This just shows this is the debt that we're carrying right now um in the general fund um and uh and the the amount that we have to levy um for our payments. And so, you know, we're required um to levy uh 105% of our debt payments. Um, and that's where over a 20-year period that and if you end up refinancing that you can end up having um funds available or left over in a debt fund. Again, debt fund is really kind of restricted to paying for the debt. >> Um, and that's where we were able to and city council was was uh made aware of it on a number of occasions. That's where when we had the the need for u body cams and and car cams for our police department, it was like, okay, how do we pay for this type of component to it, um we had a bond that was um the final payment was in February of this year and it ended up having, you know, a half a million dollars left into it. So then it was city council's, you know, decision. Um we'll we'll tell we till the city council B and city council made the decision to utilize you know a part of that to to be able to purchase those um uh cameras. Uh the HA and EDA levies um again are the are being the same. And so I kind of put this graph together because you can see um our plan, you know, what you see in the blue is is really the beginning of of trying to move ourselves for two things. One, to be able to afford that capital improvement plan. And then two, to be moving us into a cash basis to be able to pay for for for those items. And you can see, you know, since um paid 23 um all to the current of of property taxes that are payable in 2026, you know, that we we're now at $1.4 million. If we look at our levy that's, you know, part of the city and the HA and the EDA, you know, during that same time period, we've gone from about 6.7 to 7.2. So, we've raised our levy, you know, I'm not going to say only, but a half a million dollars. Although our residents have seen it, you know, an approximate $2 million levy increase and that's because most, you know, the majority of it is going towards um infrastructure. I, you know, call it the streets, um the parks, the facilities. Um and this is the graph that I referenced earlier that kind of talks about where we try to keep ourselves in the middle of the of the playing field um for our our proposed levy increase. And you'll see it, you know, Ardan Hills had the highest, you know, um, at the Truth and Taxation time. Again, things can go down if they vote um, you know, for their final, but for truth and taxation, they were at 18.32 where you have Falcon Heights on the low end at 3.88. Um, we're, um, at 8% and you can see we're, you know, we're just below the the middle of the of the pack. Um and uh so there's a lot of cities that are in that range of 7.8 um to just underneath 10. Um and and you know we're again on the low end of of that you know as far as a median component to it. I think the overall average and and the average is obviously skewed downwards because of St. Paul at 5.3 because St. Paul um has you know a much bigger levy in comparison to many you know if you combine a lot of these cities together I think the overall average is 7.6 uh% levy increase for for all of the cities that are that are in uh Ramsey County. Um we always take a look at you know what does that impact um obviously you know this is a a snapshot under certain um particular um assumptions you know from our assessor's office you know we know that um 2.4 um about a 2.4% 4% was the increase in our median um value home uh residential home. If we have that 8% uh total tax levy, what that's going to amount to for the city, all the city components to it is 6.75% um increase. Now, if your value went up 20%, obviously you're going to be having a a much bigger bottom line impact on to it. And this is the city component. you know, when you get your property tax statement, whether it was your truth and taxation statement or whether it's your property tax statement, you're going to end up having a bottom line, but it's also going to be including Ramsey County, the city, the school district, and then I call some others that are in there. The three major ones are are all pretty close to about a third of the property tax um bill that you see. This next chart kind of shows all of the cities that are in Ramsey County and that um what is the percentage of change that um you know that they would end up seeing. Um and so you know the city of North St. Paul in the middle there um I know it's kind of hard to see um has about uh 3,800 parcels and you're going to see from a decrease or a 0% um change and this is aggregate. This isn't just North St. Paul, this is bottom line property tax impact. Um would see, you know, about 373 parcels that would meet that fall within that range. 0 to 10. Um there would be about is the majority and and you'd see about you know a little under 2,200 and then 10 to 20% you're going to see a thousand and then you know anything over 20% you're going to see maybe you know a couple hundred. Um residents are going to see that. The biggest driving factor again is that their market value has gone up um quite considerably and which the city has no control over that. That is the county assessor's office um that determines a property um value but kind of want to just kind of talk about you know where we're at with market values. You know, I think everybody, you know, after the COVID time, we had some huge increases in in market values. Those days are done and we're seeing it, you know, for payable 26 and we're seeing, we saw it for payable 25, we're seeing very modest um overall changes in our market value. Um and you can see by this you know you know if we look at a me median uh valued home you can see how it you know from from 2020 it went from 213 to 310 um you know that 22 to 23 was a huge spike and now you're seeing it flattening out um towards the top. If we look at all of our estimated market value of all of our properties, again, you can see that same tendency and tren um trend that, you know, after you get past that 22 to 23 um 3 to 4, it's now, you know, very much flattening out um within the the city. And we're not alone. This is this is what what you're seeing in in many cities um in the metro area. And then just to kind of provide some current um EDA financial information um at uh on December 4th when I ran this um for this uh presentation, you can see that your um fund balance is um is at uh $615,000 u for a fund balance. Um and you have cash of uh about $567,000. So, you've gone up uh about 6,200 from the beginning of the year. Actually, if I run this in about uh a week and a half, you're going to see your second half property taxes being put in there because it's not accounting for that at this point in time. So, um you've uh will see another $100,000. So, your cash will go up another 100,000 to about 666,000 and you're going to see your fund balance going up to about $79 um,000 because that is not included in here because again remember May October we don't get the second until um December >> and the land that we own is the one next to Burger King. >> Correct. >> Okay. and then just kind of shows you the revenue and expenses of of where we're at. Um, and nothing's been um out of the ordinary at this point in time. Again, your property taxes on the revenue side, you've only you're only showing half of it. Again, in a week and a half from now, we've received the money. We just haven't gotten the settlement report so I can do all the journal entries. uh as soon as we get that that'll be up there and you'll be you'll see that you've you've uh have $200,000 versus the $103,000. And then there's uh some investment income and and market value adjustments um that are done um on an annual ba or on a monthly basis that we do journal entries for those. Um and you can see that uh you know the the biggest part of your expenditures is is personnel costs. And again that's where we've uh last year we kind of made a a decision that the community development um allocation of time um was too high and we're moving it downwards. So we moved it down this year. We're going to move down again in 2026 and we'll continue to move down to what was agreed upon um with the um economic development authority. And if you remember in the September 9th meeting, we kind of went through what your preliminary budget was for the upcoming year. Um and again, you can see the personnel costs are going down. um even though that there's been cost of living increases, insurance increases and such and that's because we're reducing the um percentage of allocation going to the economic development authority. Uh revenues are are you know are being projected the same as 2025. We again the levy we kept it u flat. Um so you can kind of see where where that's it. we've we really haven't um as you can see from you know 23 and 24 we've increased our our our net position. Um 2022 we had a reduction in our net position but if you remember that was um in overall contractual services component to it. um we did um a loan um that went to a a local establishment here. Um and so that's where that was paid out in 2022. So you're seeing that, but uh in 23 24 and you're going to see in 25 we haven't spent the whole budget um part to it. So we've been increasing our fund balance um since 23. And then um here you can see where the community developments um allocation was at 50% in 2026. It'll be down to 30% and I think we agreed to I think 20 or 25. Um I've got notes on on that that will we end up reducing it again. So that's all the information that I have to share and and really kind of looking for your your reaction, your thoughts. Are we on the right track? um any insight that you can give would be you know very very much appreciated. >> Thank you Dan for the presentation. >> Thank you very much. >> So we've absorbed quite a this is our third time through this for us on the council. So but it's good to have business owners you know being able to you know people that be able in the business to be able to look and see where we're at because you know we have this the EDA part of it is you know but the whole city is included. So, we want to make sure that, you know, the whole budget's represented so we all are on the same page. So, that was where >> That's great. Yeah, >> I really appreciate that. Um, I think the transparency is is phenomenal. I appreciate that. Um, I'd find it hardressed. Well, there might be people out there, but there's a lot of there's a lot of maintenance that needs to happen, you know, in the city and talked about it for for years and having the game plan, sticking to the game plan and executing the game plan, you know, I see it happening. So, uh I appreciate all your guys' hard work. Really do. Um I think when there's not transparency and you say, "Hey, we're going to have an 8% levy increase." and not knowing where the money's going. That's that's a harder cell. Uh this is pretty I don't think you can be any more transparent than than this. >> Yeah. And he's done a great job. >> He's done a fantastic job. Um so >> numbers are there. We just get them out. >> How do you guys how do you I mean how does the how does the council feel about where you guys are at right now and and moving forward and an 8% increase. >> Well, I think it's st just flat right now. I think we can leave it because as Dan has explained, if we go down, we're going to have a higher jump in the next two years. If we have a if we have to have a steadier income or increase, it'll be a smaller hit for our residents. and for the way they've got it laid out before I got here with the plans for our infrastructure and our streets. I think that's worked out good. I mean, if we can't do a project this year for some reason, we'll have to postpone it. But if we can continue to do parts and pieces of stuff to continue to go, it's stuff that this city is in dire need of. >> There's no question about it. >> It's always easy to build things. >> Yep. Uh it's the funds very hard to maintain things. >> It's not fun. You know, building is fun. Maintaining isn't. >> So I look at it as too is 6 and 12% of the levy every year is just cost of doing business. >> Then what we put on top of that is what we try to get out of some of the other things we can do. >> So we're trying to keep that right around two 3% is what we've been looking at trying to do. We had contracts were done. Is it this year or last year? Time flies. Last year that was usually three years, right? >> Yeah. So, we're we'll be going into year number two of that contract in 2026. >> What contract >> for all our our positions, our workers. So, we have five unions. Is it something like that? Five unions that are part of it that we had to negotiate. And >> so, that was done last year. That was this year goes by so fast. Okay. So that's off the table until we got home. Then we have to start thinking about it. 27 trying to start working our way figuring out. >> Yeah, >> I I think the street plans are are phenomenal the way they've got them every other year. And if we can do roads that are not with a lot of underground maintenance that needs to be done that they get done like every other year and just suggest suggest or select which roads we're going to do and keep it to a minimum cost and and do what we can to upgrade the streets cuz there are certain streets that don't have much underground underneath them like you're sewering that because if you got north south streets you got east and press where the uh sewers and all that run into the north south. You can you can uh just do the road top road tops at a that'll you know last for a lot longer because they don't have to dig underneath there unless there's an absolute sewer break at the corner or something. >> Yeah, we're at the for pavement restoration pavement number we were at one of the was like 56 wasn't it or something like that was really super poor. And what are we up to now? 70, I think you said. Something like that. >> I think it's just about where it's at. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we come a long way. When a couple years ago, they did a pavement score. They go out, they look at the streets, and they do all that stuff. We were at 56 and upped out of 100 >> and then we So, we've worked our way up to sea level now. That's good. >> That's great. >> Reconstruction projects, we weren't gaining no rating of the streets. And we got rid of the assessments, property assessments, which as far as street assessments, I mean, for that. So, I mean, there's not that big bill. So, they did that. The the previous council got rid of that. And, you know, it was kind of contentious is but it was gotten rid of, but there was no funds put towards doing it. So, it was get rid of, but we didn't add. So, we've added one 1% one and a half% now two two and a half% I think we're up to now, I think, or something like that. So now we're where we should have done right from the beginning is okay we got rid of that but we're putting in that and there's a lot of older people Dan did a told us a lady called an older couple trying to figure out how much money they were going to have to over in Gerald take out how much money out of their IRA to pay for the street assessment and he told her nothing. I mean that's a that's for for the age and for the income of a lot of our residents that's a big deal. I was one of the last ones and I'm over by the lake and mine was $8,000 for the the one house. So, I mean, not, you know, everybody can jump and you can keep it like we're doing it, then that works. And I know there was a lot of when you mentioned Dan, there was a lot of different cities suing because of the assessments and it it's got to be quite, you know, that. So, we got away. We didn't go back and uh but we're starting to put enough money away where we can do that and just share it with everybody. So I I had come across I think it's the city of Edina um and they're moving towards moving away from special assessments. So they're starting to ratch up ratchet up their their levy to be able to hire that. I think they were saying they had something in the what I was reading that if they were to assess a property for the true costs of what it would be, it would be like $40,000 for each house. And the the legal battle is is that you have to prove for a cities that say you have to prove that that parcel benefited by that amount of that special assessment. So >> how many lawyers live in Adina? >> So I mean >> that had to be quite a battle. >> It's getting tougher and tougher. So there there is some movement to moving over um towards um levying it versus um you know having the special assessments. And I it's one of those uh pieces that you know uh city manager Frannle and and uh city council has talked about you know do you you went away from it you put it back in and then there you know some people feel like they've been the halves and have nots. I I was contributing to this. Now I have to pay again for something and I may end up having an 8 to9 8 to $10,000 bill. And if I don't pay it upfront, which do I have the money to pay it up now? Um it's going to go on my property taxes and I'm going to be charged an additional 6% interest on it. Um so it's a tough it's it's a tough battle. >> Rip the band-aid off. We just >> Yeah. and and that's what what our uh our president here, our mayor in the in the in the other other big chamber um has said and that's what we're trying to do is rip off the bandaid. Now, this 6% levy isn't going to continue forever and ever. You know, right now we're looking at we probably got another about 8 to nine years and we should be at a good level of where we're at um to be able to pay for things. And that was where that this last last workshop was very beneficial is that, you know, we we've done a good job of identifying our our needs, you know, by putting the capital improvement plans. Um, seeing where we are from a financial standpoint and so forth. Um, then it's kind of like, okay, well, we now we now have to put like a cap on it. And so now we've put the cap on to it means that, okay, we need to start prioritizing within that CIP. And um we got to give a our city council a lot of credit in that workshop because uh you know they had to make some really tough decisions and there were some that even I walked away from going wow that got ranked pretty low and I can remember I was driving home and thinking about it and some of it came to me and said okay yeah I can see that and the next day I had to to sit down and kind of go through things and and then at the end of the day it was kind of like I looked at I said you know dog on it I think they got it right. Uh, but it was just kind of an initial shock to to where things got ranked, but then when you look at it from a lot of different perspectives. I think city council's done a a fantastic job of of guiding the city and making tough decisions. You know, it's much easier to do a 0% levy for for an elected official than it is to do an 8%. >> Yeah, boy. >> Yes. >> All right. Well, thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Couple other quick little notes. I know we're a little bit after now. We got a little bit late start with the weather. So, I appreciate everybody with going through everything. See if I get back to it. >> Yeah. So, we'll just do a uh just quick update from staff. Couple of items. Um want to talk about the Pine Tree Center. Um so, I still haven't heard officially. Um, I know it's in the process of getting the finances together, but it sounds like a a guy that already owns kind of strip malls like that. Uh, a local person. Um, you know, they have the the two businesses in there now. Um, the pizza factory and then the uh shop right next to that. Take care, Dan. And uh then uh it sounds like they may have a gas station lined up to go back in there again. >> Really? >> Yeah. >> Um and it sounds like there's a store that used to be a tanning bed place there that when they left they just left everything there. So they might have somebody interested in opening that back up. So and it sounds like he is interested in putting some money into the place and making it look a little better too. So um nice to see that come around. It's uh needed some work. Um, I know Andrew's not here, but um, I just do want to tip our hat to him. Thank you for being on here. He had a lot of good input when he was here. I know he's a very busy man. Um, we will be having a uh, replacement member and that's going to be Caesar. Um, he will be at the next meeting come March. So, um, it'll be a good addition to it. >> Very good. And thanks Andrew for all he did. Indeed. Uh we talked about the uni center. Um just to give you guys just a quick update on the unfortunate incident of getting the call form in our water supply which comes from um you know when you're doing these road reconstruction projects and you're putting in new water mane. Um, you know, you might have pipes that are sitting out in the yard for a year from the last project and now they they're brought out to the site and they sit there for a while and you know, you get a leaf blown in there, you get some dirt blown in there that uh didn't quite get all washed out and that's when you can have this caulifform. And thankfully, it's not the other form of like E.coli or something like that because you'd have to have a boil u water in place uh alert. You'd have to be on the news. Um, but that's more for like feces getting in there, you know, animals, what have you. Um, but it's quite amazing how the rumors start flying and people don't know, so they just start uh filling in the gaps. Talked to somebody that said, uh, well, I knew they had that big hole open in the middle of the road and they were doing water and sewer, so the sewer must have got into the water. I said, no, no, no, no, no. That is not what happened. But, uh, yeah. So, but the good thing is uh so we've been well we test water uh every other week and send it into a lab and make sure everything's safe already. Um it's now been a little over two and a half weeks that uh we've been putting um chlorinating the water supply um to take care of this bacteria. The uh test results this week have come back clean. They they were negative. So, um, >> we probably will cuz in talking to the department of health, they've had that before. It's not terribly uncommon when you use these road reconstruction projects that, uh, this can happen that you don't want to go and just until the first time you get a clean, um, you know, lab results and then you quit because it's still going to be little pockets here and there. So, um I'll be talking to the public works director and going off of the direction of the department of health, but uh um it'd be nice to see it in there for at least um you know, finish out a month anyway of it before taking that chlorination back out of it again. So, >> one of the things that the city crews are doing, they're filling up the water tanks on the water truck out there. They're reusing that water that's got the chlorination in it for um flooding the uh hockey rinks. >> Reusing the water, so it's a good idea. They're not wasting it. >> We'll see if they skate faster. There you go. Um, one last thing, just kind of plant the seed and get your guys' feedback. Uh, we're not looking for answers right now, but um, you know, what do we want to do moving forward? We right now we have the facade improvement program. We've had, uh, two applicants that have come through that have gotten funds for it. Sounds like we have one more that might be in the works that we're aware of. Um, but and the next one might be a larger one. So, the way it's set up is you can get up to $20,000, which is half of what they spend. So, if they spend 40 or more, then they get that 20,000. Um, we initially put $200,000 into this program. Um, we haven't spent a lot of it. Um, so I just wanted to bounce the idea off you guys. Do you want to expand this program? you know, do we, you know, start throwing in some kind of the mechanicals, uh, heater or, you know, AC for some of these businesses that are downtown, too. I mean, certainly is a big hit when they have to replace it. So, it is helping the businesses down there. Um, do you expand it that way to just incur other things? I mean, other ideas that were thrown out there. Do you do a solar or something like that? I mean, that's probably not very practical, but uh you know, just think about those things if we want to expand that. Um, as you saw with going over the budget numbers, um, we're in a good place, you know, and if, um, our funds stay up like that, you know, in the future, you may cut back the levy a little bit on that, but, uh, we've got the funds there and it's just it' be good to help the businesses out in any way we can. So, just certainly open for input on that. And >> and we have been focusing on downtown. Is that still good as far as what you're considering as far as the business? Just the downtown district. You still good with that? >> I mean, that's the heart of the city. >> We're right. Yeah, we're right here. >> Yep. >> I was just wondering what do we do with the VFW? you know, we had turned them down and at a while back we had suggested to have them re come back in and refile a different one or something. Now, actually, the sign that they've installed down there does look pretty good, but I realized that was not part of the facade. Is there anything else they could possibly do? You know, they wanted to put all that lighting up around the building. Is that something that would still be qualified to do this? I wonder if they've ever thought of putting a mural on the side of their wall as people come down the hill from top of the hill. That'd be the first thing they see coming into the downtown is a nice mural off the BFW also. >> And that's one of those unique things. So it would have to come back to the board and >> um >> you know our input on just lining the upper ridge of the right >> that light just didn't quite fall into the way we parameter set up. >> Um but yeah, you get something unique like that. Uh I think that input needs to come back from the board >> and it is 50/50. So they need to put their money. So I'm sure they probably want to think, you know, what's best, how much money they have to spend to get the 50%. and you know it's the ones that are easy that um to go through are the practical ones. I mean whether or not it's doors or windows. Um um the one that might potentially be coming through is a might be a whole facade frontal redo. So that'll be nice. >> Um but that's up to the business owners on what they're willing to spend and what they're willing to do. that large antique store. Those windows between that and Sweeties really look nice on there now. >> Great. >> They And I think they've warmed the whole building up quite a bit. >> Mhm. >> Was like uh like a new roof. Was that on one of one of the items that was that we would approve or was that not >> not in this stage because it was more for the actual facade something you could see from the street but that's that's why we're having this conversation. We feel that we can >> do you need to >> I'd like to see the money used for infrastructure. >> Right. >> That's what I always go back to. And I'm I'm I'm open >> to having I just think infrastructure is >> I'm a big fan of solid infrastructure all across the board. So I'm with you there. >> Now has Hillrest Break and Alignment contacted you guys yet? >> That's a potential. >> Yeah, he's a potential. Yeah. >> Have you guys heard anything for permits or nothing? Not yet. But yeah. >> What did What do you What do you want to What would you consider the infrastructure cover? wall. Obviously, the facade was, you know, more the exterior of the building and how it looked, >> you know, but >> you know, if >> like roofs you're talking or different different what >> Yeah. You know, they're old these buildings. >> Mhm. >> So, that's why >> Yeah. >> Uh, you know, infrastructure, you know, I think it's money wisely spent. >> Well, I think so, too. There's a return on the investment >> to keep the buildings up and at it. >> Yep. >> Correct. >> That's the >> we can talk about I mean I you know AC top units. >> Yeah. >> I mean I you know we can get into those those those topics you know. Um >> it's a partnership. I mean it's 50-50. You're you're you're going hand in hand with with the owner the building. >> Yeah. How about >> some of those older buildings I think are really a huge part of their character. If we can support that and keep those buildings, >> you know, that's that's our town. >> Mhm. >> Well, especially the old ace, the bank right along this whole strip here where that uh who the uh senior center came in here. That's an important set of bricks along there, you know, and whether he has a needs a roof, who knows, you know, but I think if we're I mean, how do you I know that uh there was a few businesses during the summer that, you know, got new HVAC units on the top. Do we >> like a rebate program almost? >> I mean, how do you move forward? You know, I I think it'd be hard. Yeah, exactly. A rebate like, hey, we didn't consider this because >> uh people weren't taking advantage of the parameters that we had set up just with the facade. >> Yeah, >> here are the new parameters. I think we absolutely should reach out to them just say, "Hey, >> way you work our rebate program is as long as they have their receipt in hand." >> Exactly. Go back a year. >> Yeah. And we >> And if it's probably just do it with the start of this year that because that's when our program was up and going. >> Absolutely. Not 10 years ago. >> Yeah. Absolutely. >> But I know there were there were some we I would think we would want to honor that. go back to that business owner and say, "Here, this is what we could offer you." >> Yeah. And I could tell you those commercial HVAC units, it's not going to make 10 grand ain't going to make a big deal. >> But they'll be happy with something. >> Yeah. Exactly. >> You know what I mean? >> Yeah. >> It's like ours, 250K for top of >> I mean, they're they're six figures. >> Mhm. >> It's crazy. >> Yeah. I mean, that's something where we want to be able to because, you know, it's all the money. The bottom line is you got to pay for that to be able to do this and, you know, it becomes part of it. So, like I said, it's a partnership and we're the utility, too. So, we want to encourage people to >> do the insulation, do the >> that type of infrastructure, too, because it helps the bill and helps us, you know, as far as energy, too. You know, one thing I wanted to throw out there, um, you know, we we made it at the minimum amount of $5,000. I mean, some of these businesses, their bottom line is pretty tight. And, uh, even dropping that down to half that to $2,500. I mean, do you still have to spend that kind of I mean, that's a big help to on some of these smaller businesses down there if they are spending that. I just throw it out there. >> So, do 2500 is the B is the >> I think that would be helpful. >> Okay. So they do 25 then they can 25 can go in up to five grand. >> No, it's it's not a it's not 100% match. It's a it's a half match. It's 50%. >> That's what I'm saying. Yes. Yes. >> So if they did 25 and there' be 5,000 all together or you're saying if they did 25 it would be we would pitch in the the half of that. >> So really the way it is now that um you would have to spend $10,000 before we even give you anything. >> Yeah. >> That's why I'm saying if we do half 2525 is >> or do you want even more? >> Yes. If they now they can go down to if they spend $5,000, we will be able to give them $2,500. >> I like that idea. >> Yeah, why not? >> Because, you know, that's it. I mean, to if they're, you know, some people are they're living tight, but if they can do that >> because that could be a a commercial window. >> Absolutely. For them >> or that new door that's been leaking forever. >> Yeah. Now, what kind of buildings are you looking at in downtown there that are in that type of a need now? Is that pizza village pizza? Is that in a need of a lot of work in there? I guess I haven't been in there for a while. >> That I don't that I don't know. >> I can only assume it's been there forever. >> Yep. I mean it's you walk in and >> even the barber >> got your poodle scooted on >> but you know some of that's our character too >> word out and we can get in newsletter I can go to the business association meeting and you know >> go retro on a little bit of this >> I would like to see that go down like I said that could be a door which they've you know wanted to replace that type of thing. So, I mean, it's we're still a partnership. We're still 50/50. >> Maybe that would help. >> Correct. >> Maybe that would help the VFW, too. >> If they had a qualifying >> one. Yeah. >> So, I guess um you could really spend a lot of time on this. If we're going to widen it, um I can't imagine it's anything, but um we would still have to consider what we would spend that money on. I mean, if you're putting up Christmas decorations or a light that goes around top, is that still going to qualify? You know, are we are we talking about infrastructure type stuff or Well, I mean, signs aren't necessarily infrastructure, but you know, we've talked about those. Um, and I don't think we're going to be able to name every single thing correct right here, but >> um, something that could come back and talk to you guys about when we get the permits that come in. >> You know, the biggest thing is that clock on the quarter bank here. That's still a >> eyes sore. And someday I'd love to have that be back up to running. >> Yeah. >> Are they is anybody using that building right now or anything? I don't think or no they >> is it the food place right next to it? >> Next in the day in the adult day here next to that. So they're using two of the three buildings but the one on the corner with the clock is the one they're not using. >> Yeah, >> it seems like >> I don't I don't know who owns that space. Is this is that that clock is kind of been on my mind for years. >> Oh gosh. I drive town. I think Oh, I wish it was. that something that we could just pay for if we didn't get involvement with the uh the property owner. Is that something that the EDA could say, "Okay, it's it's a big enough high enough profile improvement that we could just cover that or >> I would want to run that by the attorney." >> Oh, forget that. >> I don't think we could I don't Yeah, I don't know how we could force >> Well, I'm not saying force anyone. I'm just saying >> Yeah, we just find out who owns that piece of Yeah. building. Must be that age. >> It's just it's just it's it's so high profile. I'd really love to see it. I mean, you could do something really cool with that. >> Oh, yeah. >> facade there. >> Yeah, for sure. >> Be cool if it was a nice fancy one that they >> Yeah. Well, I know it's getting late and traffic is going to be terrible for everybody. So, I'd like to thank everybody and I'd like to ask for a German at this time. >> So, move. >> So, move. >> Second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> All right. Thanks again, everybody. Appreciate it. See you next year, brother. We'll see you before then. >> Let's go to lunch or something. >> Yeah, let's do it. >> All right, brother. >> Good to see you guys. Pick up kids. >> All right. >> Good luck out there.