HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-12-05 City Council Work Session MinutesMINUTES
OF THE EDINA CITY COUNCIL
WORK SESSION
COMMUNITY ROOM, CITY HALL
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2023
5:30 P.M.
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Hovland called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Answering roll call were Members Agnew, Jackson, Pierce, and Risser and Mayor Hovland.
Staff in attendance: Scott Neal, City Manager; Alisha McAndrews, Finance Director.
2024-25 BUDGET AND TAX LEVY PRESENTATION
Finance Director Alisha McAndrews reviewed the budget timeline and process and said it was a
culmination of nine months of work that included staff, City Council, and the public. She explained the
biennial budget (2-year) process which was even year approval of the CIP and odd year approval of the
budget and CIP levy. She spoke about the strategic framework and how they inform the biennial budget,
the implementations levels and the guiding principles of the budget pillars which were broad goals to
achieve the budget, the values as the moral compass for decision making and the strategies and actions that
advanced the goals. She reviewed specific strategic actions in the 2024-2025 Budget Work Plan that
strengthened the four pillars – Strong Foundation, Reliable Service, Livable City and Better Together. She
reviewed the 2024 Proposed Consolidated Budget that included the Government Funds ($106.8M),
Enterprise Funds ($73.8M) and the Internal Service Funds ($9.1M). Manager Neal spoke about enhanced
services and functions the City provides that other communities do not, like Public Health, Assessing, 911
system, Ambulance Service and more, that are supported by property tax revenue.
City Council discussed the following:
• How to message property tax increases and services to residents so that residents could decide
which services they could live without. It was noted that several years prior, residents were asked,
and agreed, that keeping the ambulance service in Edina was important to them.
• Levy increases of peer or neighboring cities ranging from 7-8% and how to get Edina’s levy within
this range without reducing service levels. Neal said the Council could approve the levy at 8% and
asked staff to identify tradeoffs; however, this approach should have been taken before final budget
approval. McAndrews added that some costs are fixed. It was also noted that differences in each
city made it difficult to compare one against the other.
• Staff was asked to present the data in a way that would show tradeoffs, example, what would
happen if fewer police officers were hired.
• In response to increased questions from residents about their water bill, staff explained that the
2022 Utility Rate Study recommendations were to raise money and incentivize behavior to
consume less water. The City’s consultant, Ehlers, reviewed data and recommended a tiered billing
approach where high volume residential consumers pay more. Neal said irrigation systems
consumed most of the water and water bills increased because behaviors did not change.
McAndrews said the plan was to evaluate at least one year of data to see if changes were needed.
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Hovland adjourned the meeting.
Respectfully Submitted,
_____________________________________
Sharon Allison, City Clerk
Minutes approved by the Edina City Council Dec. 19, 2023.
_____________________________
James B. Hovland, Mayor
Sharon Allison (Dec 20, 2023 10:26 CST)