Prior Lake holds town hall on 2018 budget

Prior Lake American

The city of Prior Lake held a town hall meeting Thursday, Nov. 9.

At a budget workshop on Nov. 6, city staff suggested a slight reduction to the preliminary property tax levy of $12.1 million approved by council on Sept. 18. The original levy was a 4.7 percent increase from 2017 with the reduction bringing the increase to 4.4 percent.

General funds for 2018 — about $12.7 million — include 45 percent going to public safety, 22 percent to general government, 16 percent to public works, 15 percent to parks and recreation and two percent for debt transfer.

The city is hoping to align the budget with traits Prior Lake residents said were most important.

For instance, the largest portion of the budget is going to public safety — 22 percent of residents said safety was the most important aspect in quality of life in the community survey.

Mayor Kirt Briggs said the budget does align closely with what the city saw in community survey results.

“I think it lines up very closely, certainly around public safety,” Briggs said. “I think city staff and the council have done a great job at aligning the tax dollars with the needs and desires of the community. I didn’t hear any dissension here.”

Staff also outlined major purchases for the upcoming budget including a police officer, a new maintenance worker, a five-ton dump trunk, a street sweeper, a fire truck engine, and a police squad car.

Nearly 45 percent of residents with a $322,000 home with no change in market value will see a tax cut, Finance Director Cathy Erickson said during the town hall meeting.

Prior Lake residents are overwhelmingly pleased with their city; 96 percent of survey respondents said quality of life in Prior Lake is good or excellent. However, it can be difficult to identify what makes life good as opposed to fixing something when it’s bad, Briggs said.

“I would say it’s more straightforward trying to elevate a low satisfaction number than how do we maintain a high number,” Brigg said. “It’s not going to be as clean as we know what sums up to that satisfaction is this service, this service and this service.”

This is the fourth town hall the city has held so far, with a handful of residents turning out. One topic of conversation was how to get more residents involved and engaged with the city.

“Part of it is we’re going to need to change the way we define engagement,” Briggs said. “The definition of engagement that’s the traditional one is that they’re able to be with us in the room. I think we have to find a different way to engage and change the definition of engagement.”

Resident Steve Mellema said the town hall was the first he’s attended and that the current administration is working to connect with residents.

“My previous experience was here’s a pamphlet in the mail, we’re assessing you for the road,” Mellema said. “All of a sudden, you have this city council and the mayor want to meet and discuss with the people. I think they’re doing a good job here. It feels different.”

The Prior Lake City Council will approve a final budget on Dec. 4.