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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993 11-16 FCA• AGENDA BROOKLYN CENTER FINANCIAL COMMSSION November 16, 1993 City Hall Council Chambers 0 1. Call to Order: 7:00 P.M. 2. Roll call. 3. Approval of Minutes: September 28, 1993 4. Staff Reports a. Capital Improvements Fund Expenditure Policy b. Independent Auditor 1993 contract and 1994 Request for proposals c. Reinventing government, communitarianism, and mandates 5. Policy and Procedure on Mayor and Council Member Total Compensation. 7. Proposed 1994 Annual Budget. 6. Organizational Evaluation Process. 8. Truth in Taxation Notices 9. Adjournment: 9:00 P.M. • FINCOMM\MIN09193 • MINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FINANCIAL COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER SEPTEMBER 28, 1993 BROOKLYN CENTER CITY HALL, COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER Chair Donn Escher called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. in the City Hall Council Chambers. ROLL CALL Present at roll call were Chair Donn Escher, Commissioners, Ned Storla, Ulyssess Boyd, Viola Kanatz, Denis Kelly and Ron Christensen. Also present were Council Liaison Dave Rosene, City Manager Gerald Splinter, Administrative Intern Todd Peterson, and Finance Director Charlie Hansen. ADDroval of Minutes A motion was made by Commissioner Ned Storla to approve the minutes of the August 31, 1993 meeting. Commissioner Ulyssess Boyd seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Oraanizational Evaluation Process Gerald Splinter presented the data comparing the City of Brooklyn Center to other similarly sized inner ring suburbs. The comparison was based upon number of full time employees by department in each city and tended to show Brooklyn Center in the middle of range. Data was further broken down to show the number of supervisory, professional/technical, and support/front line personnel. Several difficulties emerged in collecting and analyzing this data which are listed as follows: 1. Functions such as city clerk, reception, assessing, and M.I.S. are located in different departments in different cities. 2. It was difficult to get consistent definitions from the cities as to who was or wasn't a supervisor. 3. Some cities had difficulty in reconciling the number of people they had on payroll to the number listed in their budget or the number show in the Stanton Survey. 4. Although the data showed Brooklyn Center to have an average number of employees for an inner ring suburb, it does nothing to determine if the suburbs have too many, too few, or the right number of employees. Denis Kelly asked about the availability of expenditure data and the number of full time equivalent employees for the suburbs. Gerald Splinter replied that the expenditure data will be acquired, but that most suburbs don't calculate full time equivalents. 9 . Ron Christensen asked what the timetable was for the rest of the project. Gerald Splinter replied that he wants the department heads to review the data in the next 30 days. Donn Escher stated the need for the study to get at the issue of efficient performance. Criteria for evaluation of reauests for fundina by outside aaencies or aroupss Charlie Hansen presented the draft policy he and Geralyn Barone had developed from the existing policies of the Parks Commission, the Human Rights Commission, and the past suggestions of the Financial Commission. Several commissioners raised questions which turned out to be covered in the draft policy. There was a motion by Commissioner Ned Storla and seconded by Commissioner Denis Kelly to forward the draft policy to other city commissions for their approval and then to the City Council for adoption. Unrestricted Capital Exienditure Policv Charlie Hansen presented a staff written alternative to the policy which was tentatively approved by the Financial commission at its May 11 meeting. The purpose of the changes was to eliminate restrictions which would have unduly limited the City Council from being able to act in the best interest of the City. There was a motion by Commissioner Viola Kanatz and seconded by Commissioner Ned Storla to adopt the revised Capital Expenditure Police and forward it to the City Council. Next Meetina The next meeting will be Tuesday, October 26, 1993 at 7:00 P.M. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Denis Kelly and seconded by Commissioner Ron Christensen to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed unanimously. • SEE IT 0 • • Reinventing government, C0111111Un1 • and mandates JIM MILLER n my 25 years of local government, I cannot recall a concept that has so quickly and pervasively been embraced as reinventing government. Those inside and outside of government have em- braced the notion to the point that it has almost become a cliche. The key word in this phrase is "reinventing." It implies that what government has been doing has been so far off the mark, either in providing services to those who need them or in terms of service costs, that more than tinkering is necessary. This generalization does a gross injustice to all of us, but perhaps especially to our citizens. I contend that cities are indeed doing most things correctly. It's impor- tant for us to emphasize those accom- plishments and for citizens to understand that they really do receive value for their tax dollars. Another concept, less well known, but increasingly a topic of debate is communitarianism. Very simply, the notion here is that citizens not only have rights but equal responsibilities as well. Communitarians argue that society has been quick to allow any particular interest group to cloak its particular interest as a "right," conveniently neglecting the responsibilities to society that all of us have, regardless of our individual interests. While we certainly don't call it communitarianism, I think this concept is alive and well in Minnesota's cities. The League recently completed its 1993 regional meetings. Most impressive to me was hearing story after story about how communities throughout Minnesota are accepting responsibility for their own futures, and not relying on whatever "right" they may have to help from others, including the state and federal governments. Examples are the cities of Appleton building its own prison as a means of stabilizing and creating new jobs; Biwabik entering into a partnership to retain a local grocery store in the community and at the same time building a city hall as part of the new structure; and Askov building a community center entirely with donations and volunteer help. Communities are developing creative public-private partnerships to provide housing for the entire spectrum of the market or to meet unique community needs. These communities are quietly, but effectively, coming to grips with the problems they face and developing creative solutions to meet them. But there is a major impediment to fully maximizing this creativity and that is mandates. During the regional meetings, we heard repeatedly from officials in "We need to do a much better job of telling our constituents about our successes." communities who have been frustrated because of regulations and requirements from the state and federal governments which, while well intentioned, are often a serious impediment to progress. For example, a number of officials shared their frustration over the cost of complying with ADA requirements, particularly when they needed to install elevators in very old public facilities. In some instances, this led to constructing a new building because the cost of retrofit- ting was prohibitive. In all parts of the state, city officials cited many other examples of mandates affecting local programs and services. Collectively, we perhaps tend to dismiss mandates as an unavoidable part of our daily life as public officials. And yet mandates are a major reason for the hue and cry to reinvent government. Because local governments do not have the necessary flexibility to make decisions that are rational for their situations, and because they spend considerable amounts for programs and functions which may or may not be locally relevant, they are criticized as being unresponsive, bureaucratic or wasteful of public resources. We need to do a much better job of telling our constituents about our successes. That certainly will help. But, moreover, it is time to deal with mandates in a more concerted manner. To this end, the LMC Board of Directors will be considering appointing a task force of its members to specifically examine how mandates negatively affect our ability to govern, what we might do in Minnesota to change that environment, and how we can solicit support from other groups and our citizens to address the issue. If you are interested in serving on this task force, please contact me. Is there a need to reinvent govern- ment? I think not. Perhaps some readjusting of government is necessary, and hopefully by examining this question of mandates and their impact, we can take a step in that direction. Jim Miller, LMC executive director POLICY AND PROCEDURE ON MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBER TOTAL COMPENSATION I. NEED FOR POLICY: The community is entitled to a clearly articulated, written description of the policy and procedure for establishing the total compensation of local elected officials. II. POLICY: 1. Service on the City Council is a civic obligation and an honor. The total compensation of the Mayor and Council Members should, therefore, not encourage candidacies based on monetary rather than public service objectives. However, the compensation of Brooklyn Center elected officials shall be fair and equitable in order to attract qualified candidates for local elective office. 2. The propriety of the compensation levels of the Mayor and Council Members shall be evaluated through comparisons with compensation paid to similar officials within the seven county metropolitan area. 3. The compensation levels of elected officials should be regularly reviewed and adjusted to ensure compliance with the objectives of this policy and to avoid the need for drastic or sudden compensation adjustments. 4. Compensation set pursuant to this policy and procedure shall be deemed to be the total compensation for elected officials of the city with the exception of expense reimbursement which shall be the same as provided all other city employees. III. PROCEDURE: 1. The City Manager shall biennially conduct a survey of compensation paid to elected officials of comparably sized municipalities with similarly sized budgets and tax bases in the seven county metropolitan area. Surveys prepared by the Association of Metropolitan Municipalities or the League of Minnesota Cities may be utilized in lieu of the City Manager's survey. 2. The City Manager shall biennially prepare a compensation report that contains an analysis of the survey information. The report shall compute the average amounts paid to Mayors and Council Members and correlate survey results to the current compensation of Brooklyn Center elected City officials. 3. The City Manager shall submit the compensation report to the City Council and the Financial Commission prior to June 1, for information pertaining to the applicable calendar year. 4. The Financial Commission shall biennially review the City Manager's compensation report and discuss possible budgetary and public perception impacts of the indicated changes. Prior to July 1, of the same year, the Commission shall recommend to the City Council that the compensation of the Mayor and Council Members either remain the same or be changed to some specific amount in the manner prescribed by law. 5. Consistent with the City Charter, Section 2.07, the Mayor and Council Members may, after conducting public hearings, set their compensation by ordinance. No change in compensation shall be in effect until January 1, following the next succeeding general election. IV. AUTHORITY: The authority for establishing compensation for the Mayor and Council Members is found in Minnesota Statutes 415.11 and the City of Brooklyn Center Charter, Section 2.07. • 0 • TO: Mayor Todd Paulson Council Members Gerald G. Splinter, City Manager Charles R. Hansen, Finance Director FROM: Mark P. Parish, City Assessor DATE: November 5, 1993 TELEPHONE: 569-3300 FAX: 569-3494 EMERGENCY - POLICE - FIRE 911 RE: Truth in Taxation Notices Proposed Pay 1994 Tax Rates MEMORANDUM • • Attached for your reference is an example of the Truth in Taxation Notices that will be mailed by Hennepin County in the next two weeks. This sample is from a residential property in the City of Shorewood; however, the notice that will be mailed to each property owner in Brooklyn Center will follow the same format. On this sample notice, the increase was significantly impacted by a ten percent increase in the taxable market value. Hennepin County has provided us with proposed tax rates for pay 1994. Below is a table comparing the overall tax rates from pay 1993 to pay 1994. School District CITY OF BROOKLYN 6301 SHINGLE CREEK PARKWAY BROOKLYN CENTER, MINNESOTA 55430 CENTER . ISD Ol t (Anoka Hennepin) Pav 1993 130.143 ISD 279 (Osseo) 132.469 129.613 ISD 281 (Robbinsdale) ISD 286 (Brooklyn Center) 129.328 Pav 1994 140.355 138.806 134.529 130.929 ~~an '1 1111 plk Percentage Change -0.41% +5.95% +7.33% -2.68% i Gerald G. Splinter Mayor Todd Paulson Council Members November 5, 1993 Page Two Roughly speaking, properties in half the community, or two of the four school districts, will see stable or modestly declining overall tax liabilities. However, properties located in the other half of the community, or two of four school districts, will experience increases of roughly six to seven percent. Individual property experiences will also be dependant on market value changes for that property. As you can see from the example of the Truth in Taxation Notice, the total tax statement will be broken down by jurisdiction. Therefore, the City of Brooklyn Center will be indicated as an increase for all properties regardless of school district. Therefore, we may experience some concern from residents located in School Districts 11 and 286, despite the fact that their overall tax liability will likely decline. However, I would anticipate most concern will be from owners located in School Districts 279 and 281, as they will likely experience overall increases, not simply increases in one or more of the components. Also attached for your review is a comparison of tax rates, payable 1993 to proposed payable 1994, for various municipalities, Hennepin County, and special taxing districts. If there are any questions on this material, please contact me at 569-3355. MPP: kj m Attachments: Truth in Taxation Notice Tax Rate Comparison 0 RECD NOV O 2 1993 Your Proposed ProOrty Tax for 1994 The amounts of property tax shown below are being prooosad by your county, city/town, school district and metropolitan special taxing districts. The market values shown below are final and are not a subject for the upcoming budget hearings. They were t discussed at the local board of review and county board of equalization hearings held earlier this year, The final market value for 1994 may reflect reduction under the new limited value law. Ilk- Final 1992 Market Value for 1993 taxes: 211,900 HOMESTEAD Final 1993 Market Value for 1994 taxes: 233,100 HOMESTEAD PID N0: MUNIC 26 ` Your county board of commissioners, your school board and your city council or township electors and the metropolitan special taxing districts (Metropolitan Council, Airports Commission, Transit Commission and Mosquito Control District) will hold meetings soon to decide on the amount of property taxes to collect in 1994 to pay for services they provide. r• The county board and city council or township electors and metropolitan special taxing districts will also discuss their proposed budget for 1994 and the school board will discuss its budget for the current school year. The discussion will describe the increases or decreases of the total budget, including ; employee salaries and benefits and the costs of consultants and other independent contractors for the prior year, current year and the proposed budget year. The first column of figures below shows the 1993 property tax you paid to your county, school district, city or town, and special taxing districts. The second column of figures below shows the total amounts of property tax your county, school district and city or town and metropolitan special taxing districts will collect from you in 1994 if they approve the property tax amounts they are now considering. Any upcoming referendums, legal judgments, natural disasters and special assessments could result in increasing these amounts. a• The amounts shown below for other special taxing districts - such as watershed districts - are the totals for all other special taxing districts in which' your property is located. No meeting is required for these districts. Your county commissioners, school board members and city council or township electors, and metropolitan special taxing districts invite You to attend fi. their meetings at the times and places shown below to express your opinions on the proposed property tax amounts for 1994. If you cannot attend the meetings, you may send your comments to the addresses listed below in the left hand column. County of Hennepin HENNEPIN COUNTY A2400 GOVERNMENT CTR MINNEAPOLIS MN 55487 348-3011 City of SHOREWOOD SHOREWOOD CITY HAIL 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD SHOREWOOD MH 55331 474-3236 School District 276 Excess Referenda Tax Remaining Tax: MINNETONKA SCHOOLS 261 SCHOOL AVE EXCELSIOR MN 55331 470-3431 Special Taxing Dist Metro. Spec Taxing Districts: METROPOLITAN COUNCIL 230 FIFTH ST EAST ST PAUL MN 55101 291-6359 Other Spec. Taxing Dist: Fiscal Disparity Tax: Tax Increment Tax: Totals (Excluding Special Assessments) Increase or Percent of Your Property Tax Property Tax Proposed Decrease Increase Budget Hearing Dates For 1993 For 1994 Over 1993 or Decrease Times 8 Loc JAns $1,273.76 $1,499.02 225.26 17.7% DEC 14, 1993 5130 PM COMMISSIONER BD ROOM-' A2400 GOVERNMENT CTR MINNEAPOLIS MN 55487 ` $731.63 $801.29 69.66 9.5% NOV 30, 1993 7:15 PM SHOREWOOD CITY HALL 5755 COUNTRY CLUB RD SHOREWOOD MN 55331 $865.18 $954.83 89.65 10.4% DEC 02, 1993 7:30 PM $1,782.99 $2,114.33 331.34 18.6; EXCELSIOR ELEMENTARY 441 OAK ST EXCELSIOR MN 55331 $136.85 5257.72 120.87 88.3% NOV 29, 1993 5:00 PM METROPOLITAN COUNCIL MEARS PARK CENTRE 230 FIFTH ST EAST ST PAUL MN 55101 $68.33 $70.93 2.60 3.8% No meeting required No meeting required No meeting required $4,858.74 $5,698.12 839.38 17.3% THIS IS NOT A DILL - DO NOT PAY 0 0 0 MUNICIPAL TAX RATE CHANGES PAY 1993 TO PROPOSED PAY 1994 MUNICIPALITY PAY 1993 PROPOSED 1994 1 PERCENT CHANGE Brooklyn Center 23.969 27.897 16.39% Brooklyn Park 1 22.3151 25.6451 14.92% Bloomington 1 22.7851 25.0401 9.90% 1 Crystal ( 23.3531 25.1431 7.66% Edina 1 15.0921 16.1991 7.34% Golden Valley I 25.9631 26.3371 1.44% Hopkins 1 26.3561 27.6381 4.86% Maple Grove 1 24.5671 25.2391 2.74% Minneapolis 1 33.0341 34.7871 5.31% Minnetonka 1 20.1891 20.4281 1.18% New Hope I 22.3581 24.8781 11.27% Plymouth 1 17.3901 16.0071 -7.95% Richfield 1 24.4211 25.9181 6.13% Robbinsdale 1 21.4391 22.0911 3.04% Other Districts 1 I I Hennepin County 1 35.8391 37.6521 5.06% Metro Transit 1 3.5711 3.6261 1.54% Brooklyn Center HRA 1 0.5761 0.5721 -0.69% Other Special i I I (Mosquito, Met Cncl, Parks) 1 2.4711 2.6191 5.99% p:\deptslassess~spredsht\rnppVnboxNmunitax.xis 11/5/93