Laserfiche WebLink
REGULAR MEETING February 8t", 2016 <br />The Mayor responded there is a payback period that is intended in those agreements. The City is <br />now coming up to the point where we can look if we met those benchmarks that were planned <br />out. <br />Councilmember Karen White asked if the total of all those economic setbacks by the property <br />tax was over $6.5 million. The Mayor responded yes it is much larger than just the General Fund <br />setback. Councilmember Karen White agreed with the Mayor that we need to start addressing <br />those setbacks in this budget. <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis. stated during the last property tax cutbacks we had experts come in <br />to analyze the numbers and give presentations to the Council, he asked when the Council could <br />expect to see something similar from this Administration. He also asked if the Mayor believes <br />there are any proposals in the Statehouse that may roll back these reductions. <br />The Mayor responded every year a few property tax reform bills are proposed but none of them <br />are likely to succeed and they are very small compared to the property tax cutbacks of 2008 and <br />2009. The Mayor expressed that the current makeup of the Statehouse does not seem willing to <br />provide relief in property taxes. The Administration would be happy to set up meetings between <br />the financial analysts as they update these numbers with the Council. <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis asked if changing or reducing the Cities TIF areas may help <br />provide some relief. <br />The Mayor said changing TIF funds has pros and cons. The benefit is you are still keeping the <br />funds in the City. The downside is you really only get pennies on the dollar back to the General <br />Fund. While TIF areas do make up a large portion of the physical area of the City they do not <br />make up that high of a percentage based on assessed value. The Mayor agreed that creative <br />solutions need to be looked at to address these issues and the Councilmembers who worked <br />through those 2008 and 2009 cutbacks, their expertise will be needed. <br />Councilmember Randy Kelly asked if anyone is seriously looking at changing to a land value <br />taxation value in the Statehouse. <br />The Mayor responded he has not heard of anything towards that goal but would get back with <br />Councilmember Randy Kelly if he did. <br />Councilmember Jo M. Broden thanked the Mayor and the finance team who continue to win <br />these awards and thanked the City as a whole for developing the Healthcare Clinic. <br />Councilmember John Voorde complimented the financial team and believes more financial <br />information is available to the public easily than has ever been. <br />Council President Tim Scott asked if the Parks & Rec figures were not including the bonds. <br />The Mayor responded yes these are just cash flow accounts. <br />Council President Scott asked if the Health Clinic has all employee buy in and if there is a <br />projected offset in the coming years. <br />The Mayor said they have no projections at the moment but they do think it will save a good <br />amount of money in the future since the City is self - insured. <br />Council President Tim Scott asked if someone would give a presentation to the Health and <br />Public Safety Committee regarding the clinic. The Mayor responded yes that's no problem. <br />The Mayor thanked the Councilmembers and if there are any further questions please email them <br />and he will get a response as soon as possible. <br />REPORTS OF CITY OFFICES <br />Representing the city administration will be Pete Buttigieg and James Mueller. <br />