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Pope County Tribune - Starbuck Times
Written by Tim Douglass - Pope County Tribune Publisher   
Thursday, 01 April 2010 16:23

Glenwood residents asked for input on balancing 2010 city budget



Glenwood residents will have a chance to voice concerns and ask questions about possible cuts in the city's budget at a public meeting next Tuesday, April 6, from 3-4 p.m. at Glenwood City Hall, it was announced by Glenwood Mayor John R. Stone.

The Glenwood Commissioners will be meeting later that day to discuss budget cuts and to balance the 2010 budget in light of recent reductions in Local Government Aid (LGA).

Glenwood's LGA for 2010 was reduced $134,000 in 2009 by Governor Tim Pawlenty's unallotment following the 2009 legislative session. Earlier this year Gov. Pawlenty proposed reducing Glenwood's LGA another $142,000 because of bad state revenue forecasts.

Glenwood's budget for 2010 was balanced prior to the most recent LGA cut proposal. These cuts included an employee wage freeze along with cuts in every department.

The Glenwood City Commission will be meeting Tuesday evening, April 6 to discuss cuts to balance the 2010 budget.

"Members of the public may have some feelings about what should or should not be cut so it would be helpful to have that information before the commission's discussion that evening," said Stone. "This is a listening and question answering session for anyone with a question or opinion."

City staff members will be on hand to answer questions about how services would be changed with the proposed cuts.

Most city departments face proposed cuts of roughly 8 percent. Not affected are water and sewer funds which are revenue funds paid for by fees charged for water and sewer and do not receive tax revenue.

City Administrator Dave Iverson provided commissioners recently with some proposals for possible cuts to the city's general fund. By no means, he stated, were the proposals all-inclusive and many may not even be considered as viable cuts by the commission. City staff and each of the city commissioners were reviewing the approved 2010 budget to look for areas where possible cuts could be made.

Some of the proposals included looking at reductions in donations to various city organizations like the chamber of commerce, economic development and Waterama as well as reducing health care costs by increasing employee insurance deductibles, reductions in police prosecution costs, reductions in police coverage, reductions in insurance coverage on buildings and reducing city hall staff work hours.

The proposals from Iverson also looked at increasing revenue through additional fees in certain areas like camping permits and other sources.

City offered web space

Glenwood City Commissioners heard a report on activities of the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce at the regular work session last Wednesday afternoon.

The report included a Powerpoint presentation on the chamber's web site and how the chamber would provide space on the chambers web site for city use. Currently, the city does not have a working web site and chamber employees Cody Rogahn and Scott Formo showed the commissioners how the chamber's web site could provide the city with a web presence that could be used as an informational tool for city residents and visitors.

The city has been reluctant to design and setup a working web site because of the initial cost and because of the on-going timely updates that are required "to have a working site," according to City Administrator Dave Iverson.

Chamber Director Cody Rogahn and Associate Director Scott Formo told the commission that when the chamber developed its web site a year ago, the chamber reserved space for the city to be a part of that web site.

Commissioner Bill Ogdahl asked Formo about the cost to develop and maintain the site. Formo explained that the chamber spent about $4,000 getting the web site designed and operational and spends about a $20 per month for hosting fees along with a chamber membership for the host.

Ogdahl also questioned about the time the chamber spends updating the web site.

"The reason I ask is there is nothing worse than going to a web page and it's out of date," Ogdahl said. He said an out-of-date web site reflects very badly on the company or organization that is responsible for the site.

Formo assured the commission that the chamber site is regularly updated and user friendly. He said he spends 10 to 15 hours each week working on maintaining the web site.

Iverson added that sharing the site with the chamber "would be a good deal for us and it could be an asset for the city," he said.

Rogahn told commissioners the chamber would like to continue to develop the site for the city. The chamber would not charge the city for the space on the chamber web site, but hopes for no cut in the city's annual contribution of $8,000 to the chamber. That amount was paired down from $12,000 after budget cuts just a few years ago.

No formal action was taken on the issue.

In other business, the commission:

• Reviewed an engineer's report on the proposed new lift-station project in the city. The commission and staff will review the plans and specifications and consider a resolution to approve the plan and a directive to advertise for bids at an April meeting.

• Approved a temporary beer license for the Glenwood Fire Department to hold a beer garden in conjunction with a demolition derby sponsored by the fire department on May 1 at the Pope County Fairgrounds.

• Approved expenditures amounting to $92,697.76. Of that amount, $7586 was for February sales tax and $4,287 is a "pass through" for a housing rehabilitation grant.