Roseville City Council — Transcript
Monday, October 19, 2026
Third Quarter 2026 Financial Report
Street Light Policy Discussion
Votes (2)
Receive Third Quarter 2026 Financial Report (Item 7A)
Dissent: None
Moved by null · Seconded by null
Finance Director Sam Magararu presented a summary of the city's financial performance through the third quarter of 2026. Key takeaways included tax revenues at 52.86% to budget (as expected due to installment collection), intergovernmental revenues at 60.95%, and licensing/permits over budget due to large developments (Twin Lakes Technology Center and Fairview Health Services). Franchise fees, particularly cable, trended lower. Governmental expenditures were generally under budget (67.63%), with personnel services leading at 68.6% (due to vacant positions and timing of overtime). An unbudgeted transfer of $219,000 in EDA funds for housing and redevelopment caused transfers to be over budget. Capital outlay was at 48.47%, dependent on project scheduling. The License Center Fund showed a positive net income gain. The city's investment portfolio of $67.5 million was discussed, emphasizing safety, liquidity, and yield, with a significant portion in lower-yielding investments maturing in future years. The overall financial health was positive, with a projected net surplus by year-end.
Street Light Policy Discussion
Dissent: Council members expressed differing views on the implementation of an opt-out policy and the balance between city-wide consistency and neighborhood-specific preferences.
Moved by null · Seconded by null
Public Works Director Jesse Firehammer presented proposed updates to the street light policy, focusing on safety installations. The 2024 policy aimed for consistent and equitable lighting, adding 152 lights over five years, primarily at intersections and curves. Staff noted that Xcel Energy owns and operates 99% of Roseville's streetlights. Research showed most cities lack a true opt-out process for standard lighting, with staff favoring policy consistency to avoid haphazard lighting. Proposed definition tweaks included a more precise definition for intersections, cul-de-sacs (requiring lights for lengths >150ft), and severe curves (20 mph or less for local roads). These changes would eliminate 4 proposed lights (including those in Chandler Hilltop) but add 20 others. Staff did not recommend a broad environmental exemption for lighting. Public comments raised concerns about light pollution, wildlife impact, neighborhood character, and requested an opt-out process. Council members expressed differing views, some favoring resident choice and an opt-out mechanism (Councilmember Graf, Power, Schroeder), while others prioritized consistent city-wide safety standards for all users (Mayor Roe, Councilmember Strong). The Public Works Commission will review the proposed changes and provide feedback for a potential council adoption on November 9th.
Notable Quotes (12)
if you aim high and you come under budget, it's a problem. Uh we would like kind of be more conservative when it comes to this type of uh budgets as well.
a thumbnail analysis of where you ought to be relative to budget is about 75% assuming everything is consistent month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter.
our reports are continually uh improving. Uh I think about where we were, you know, last year and now where these reports are now. So, thank you for continually um improving them.
the three year old the rule of three for investments for governments first is safe safety, right? We want to put those investments in safe safe safe investments, right? Like geo bonds, like treasuries, right? Um second is liquidity. We want to have funds available for us to be able to spend and then is the yield and the interest, right?
just a takeaway from this presentation is like we we're doing okay. We're in a good spot. Uh we're not overspending our budget. We're not over uh budgeting expenditures. Uh I think we're going to end up the year um with a net surplus.
Most cities, from what we could tell, do not have an a true opt-out process for standard lighting.
from a consistency standpoint, staff would prefer we apply a policy that's more consistent. And certainly if council wants to go with an opt-out process, we'd want to make sure it's very defined so we we can have a defendable approach on how we how we can get to that how that decision is made and how we can defend it.
my husband loves the northern lights and I think if you saw my email I sent you the last pictures that I took the last time we had a really big northern lights episode and I don't think I'll ever be able to see the lights quite in that same way.
our street isn't a a through thoroughfare, right? Or is that right word? Okay. Sorry. Um so we don't have a lot of traffic. All of our traffic is mainly uh local people who live in the neighborhood, and the two lights that were proposed there are on like 200 ft away from each other, so they're really they would overlap. Um we're more likely to hit a deer than a person.
I just think residents know [clears throat] better than we do up here. For me to know it what's best for every little neighborhood in town is not not realistic. [...] So, I just think that the residents know better than than the councils on some of these things.
just because you've lived in that space for 80 years, doesn't mean that I'm not also entitled to safety if I choose to walk down your street.
I'm always a big fan of options. Right? Rather where you walk, where you ride your bike, uh the roads that you take to commute, um or the street lights that you have.
Ordinances & Resolutions (16)
Financial overview of the city's performance for the third quarter of 2026.
Primary operating fund of the city, subject to reserve policies.
Fund dedicated to parks and recreation services and facilities.
Fund for community development initiatives.
Federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant.
State grant applied for auto theft prevention.
Intergovernmental revenue source.
Intergovernmental revenue source.
FEMA federal grant for the fire department.
Capital Improvement Plan used for scheduling capital outlay projects.
Economic Development Authority funds transferred for housing and redevelopment.
Recipient of EDA funds for housing initiatives.
Fund for license and passport services, showing a projected surplus.
Future budget including additional levy in anticipation of fund balance needs.
Intergovernmental revenue for the recycling program.
Previous major update to the city's street light policy aiming for consistent and equitable lighting.