Prior Lake City Council debates ways to lower 6.8 percent preliminary tax levy

Prior Lake American

The Prior Lake City Council discussed ways to reduce a proposed preliminary tax levy of 6.83 percent increase during a work session last week.

A tax levy determines the amount of property tax for the year and is based on the value of a home. A preliminary tax levy, once approved, can be lowered but cannot be raised. The effect the levy would have on a home would depend on the home’s value.

The proposed $32 million 2019 budget includes mandatory payments such as salt and ice management replenishment for $60,000, increased fuel prices for $40,000, debt service for $127,000 and more. Are those new items for 2019? Yes

The budget also includes projects from the Capital Improvement Plan such as trail replacement funding for $50,000, street overlay funding for $95,000, equipment replacement funding for $50,000 and more.

For staff, the 2019 budget proposes adding a full-time police officer starting in the middle of the year as well as a full-time city clerk and removing the $85,000 budget for the city engineer position. Both the city engineer and public works director are staffed by the same person.

For the second year, Prior Lake had the highest crime index in Scott County. The department also has the fewest sworn officers with 27. Savage has 34 officers and Shakopee has 50 officers. Prior Lake has the third-largest population, not including the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which accounts for about 15 percent of calls the department receives annually, also contributes financially to the department’s budget, as well as public safety resources.

“They are the best public safety partner we have in this community,” Prior Lake Police Chief Mark Elliott said.

Total calls for service increased from 17,312 calls in 2016 to 18,323 in 2017. Prior Lake police officers are on track to have overtime hours equal to 3.5 full-time employees by the end of 2018, according to council documents.

The overtime equates to an additional 10-hour shift per week per officer.

“We can’t sustain that and expect our officers to stay healthy, to stay safe,” Assistant City Manager Lori Olson said.

For metro area cities with a population of 20,000 to 30,000, Prior Lake is the only city without a full-time dedicated city clerk. A city clerk would be responsible for preparing council agendas, scheduling meetings, managing records, administering elections, issuing licenses and more.

The proposed use of the general fund reserves in 2019 would be $170,000. The reserve is currently at $6.3 million and would be $6.15 million after 2019.

A phone system replacement is also included in the preliminary 2019 budget for $70,000 with funding from the reserves.

Council members said they were not comfortable with the preliminary tax levy at 6.8 percent and proposed several ideas to prioritize the budget or lower the percentage. These ideas included using the reserve budget to pay for salt replenishment and fuel, maintain the $50,000 for trail maintenance, have the police officer start at the beginning of the year, add a website redesign for $45,000, take the phone system replacement cost from reserve and more.

“It’s a stretch for me to get to 5.8 (percent),” Council member Annette Thompson said. “I can’t tell you what it is we don’t need. ... I think the staff should get together and decide.”

City staff will look into the various options before the council meeting on Sept. 17, when the council would adopt a preliminary levy and budget. There will be another budget work session on Nov. 6 and on Dec. 3, there will be a public budget meeting and the adoption of a final tax levy and budget.

The council approved a 4.4 percent tax levy increase in 2017.