Council Retreat Report

3/27/13

The "Retreat" was held on Saturday, 3/25. Blog readers may read the agenda and presentation at:
http://weblink.ci.shorewood.mn.us/weblink8/0/doc/164185/Page1.aspx

A video was not made. So, actual discussion is not public. Yes, you needed to be there if you wanted to know what was really said.

From the materials, one could get the impression that the City was going to run out of money in the next 10 years.

Basically, for four years there have been no property tax increases and no meaningful changes in fees for things like sewer. Yet, costs have gone up and will continue to do so. Looking at the materials one can see that staff is recommending Council increase taxes between 1% and 2% per year along with reviewing/changing some fees and possibly using excess funds in some reserves to fill holes.

So, the City is not going broke unless Council does something incredibly stupid. In fact, there is about $14 million in the bank.

Watch for more on tax and fee changes as well as measures to manage expenses such as sharing services with other cities.

Happy Reading!
The Insider