What happened
- Work session convened 1:00 p.m. and adjourned 3:10 p.m.; no formal votes taken
- $20,000 added to the EDA budget for 3 to 5 façade improvement programs
- Proposal to lump property and liability insurance costs into the general fund instead of individual funds
- Library line items mostly flat; a 10% funding increase from the County will cover other library expenses
- Police: encrypted radios needed at $5,000 each; department to receive $36,000 in local government aid; new squad car arriving in 2024
- Fire: $15,900 budgeted for three new radios because Motorola no longer supports older radios
- Public works: F350 to be traded for an F550 or F650; skid steer loader upgrade keeping attachments; $1,500 GIS cost added; $10,000 for cameras at the pool and park
- Pool chemical and utility budgets increasing; 2025 pool rates need review; mowing costs suggested to be designated to parks
- Council's first priority is hiring a long-term city administrator, advertised August 14; second is the comprehensive and classification plan
- Leases paid off in 2024 should reduce the levy; CDs and investments now earn 5%, up from .05%; attorney and engineer costs increased by 50%
- Draft budget showed an 8% maximum preliminary levy; maximum must be adopted by end of September and final levy by end of December
What was asked 26 raised · 11 settled
Every question, assignment, pending figure and unsourced claim from this meeting, quoted from the record, each checked against the county, census, listing, bid and budget data we hold.
Discuss Options for Maximum 2025 Levy The maximum proposed levy increase must be adopted by the council by the end of September.
Discussion of options for the maximum 2025 levy during the budget work session.
Resolution 2024-21 adopting the 2025 preliminary budget and levy at a maximum of 9.55% was adopted in the October 8 2024 record, on a motion by Ryan seconded by Bailey with a roll call of Bailey, Sjolander and Ryan all aye. The certification rule was stated correctly: the preliminary maximum goes to Goodhue County by the end of September, the final levy by the end of December, and it can be lowered but never raised. Kenyon has used that room only once in our records, cutting the 2026 levy from a 9.93% maximum to 9.18% final.
10-8-24_AGENDA; 10.14.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; taxes/levy.html · taken up again 2024-10-08
Discuss Options for Maximum 2025 Levy The maximum proposed levy increase must be adopted by the council by the end of September. The draft budget showed an 8% maximum levy, but this is only preliminary.
Council reviewed draft levy options at the work session.
At the meetingNo final percentage was set at the work session.
The 8% draft did not hold. By the time the council adopted the preliminary levy it had risen to a maximum of 9.55%, and the final levy stayed at 9.55% rather than being trimmed. In dollars that set the 2025 levy at $1,400,000. The pattern repeated the following year from the other direction, when the 2027 draft opened at 19.50% on July 14 2026, fell to 10.34% on August 6 and was certified at 9.26%.
The work session presented 8% as the draft maximum, but the maximum the council actually certified seven weeks later was 9.55%, and the final levy was never brought back down.
10-8-24_AGENDA; 12.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda_Updated; taxes/levy.html · taken up again 2024-12-10
After the maximum levy is adopted, it cannot be increased but can be decreased. The final levy and budget must be adopted by the end of December.
Timeline for the 2025 budget process.
Resolution 2024-28 adopted the budget and set the final 2025 tax levy, with the packet noting the December 30 2024 statutory deadline and staff recommending the final stay at the 9.55% maximum approved in September. The certified result was a 2025 levy of $1,400,000, a 9.55% increase.
12.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda_Updated; taxes/levy.html · taken up again 2024-12-10
This would increase the fuel costs to the parks. 10 The city council's first priority is to hire a long-term competent city administrator, which will be advertised August 14.
Council identified hiring a permanent city administrator as its first priority in the 2025 budget discussion.
The recruitment ran on schedule and produced a hire. Finalist interviews were held October 29 2024, an offer went to one of three candidates, and the council adopted Resolution 2024-26 approving the city administrator hiring on November 12 2024 by roll call 5-0-0. The search was run by South Central Service Cooperative under Mike Humpal at $14,500, awarded in July 2024 over David Drown Associates.
8-20-24_AGENDA; 11.12.24_Council_Packet_And_Agenda; KENYON_BIDS.md · taken up again 2024-11-12
Liquor Store Manager Bartel stated there were no major increases for the liquor store. A question for the future is whether the liquor store will begin offering THC products.
Bartel reported no major increases for the liquor store but raised THC sales as a future question.
At the meetingNo answer given; identified as a question for the future.
Yes. On April 8 2025 Manager Bartel told the council he was considering THC drinks and gummies on the off-sale side, noting that many public and private stores were benefiting from those sales, and the council voted on a motion by Brunner seconded by Bailey to authorize him to move forward with registering. The same meeting approved 4-0-0 letting him start the process of expanding the Muni into the city-owned former NAPA building at 641 2nd Street with a separate off-sale entrance. Card processing at the liquor store has grown alongside, from $18,515 in 2024 to $22,956 in 2025.
4-8-25_council_packet; KENYON_IT_SPEND.md · taken up again 2025-04-08
The suggestion was made for all mowing costs to be designated to the parks department rather than spreading it out between the other departments.
Suggestion made during review of the parks budget.
At the meetingNoted that this would increase the fuel costs to the parks; no decision recorded.
Mowing costs were not consolidated. The April 2025 check register still splits fuel four ways, police $807.59, streets and public works $547.71, sewer $124.73 and parks $39.68, a total of $1,519.71 on one account. Parks fuel then jumped to $391.52 in May 2025 as the mowing season opened, which is a tenfold rise on a line that would be flat and much larger if all mowing had been moved to parks. No council decision on the suggestion appears in our record.
5-13-25_council_packet_updated; 6-10-25_COUNCIL_PACKET_Updated · taken up again 2025-06-10
This will be discussed more at the August 2024 City council meeting. Finance Director Kyllo stated that some leases were paid off in 2024, so that should reduce the levy amount.
Factors that could lower the 2025 levy.
Retired leases did not reduce the levy. The August 29 2024 work session shows the debt service tax levy for taxes payable 2025 at $323,207, up from $276,515 in 2024, an increase of $46,692 or 16.9%, because of new bond issuances. Debt service kept pushing after that: the 2026 draft budget opened at a 27.06% maximum levy, driven by a new 2025A general obligation bond payment plus a 2023A bond payment that had been missed in 2025. By pay 2026 the bond rate had risen 35.91% while the general rate fell 0.38%.
Leases retired in 2024 were offered as a reason the levy would fall, but the debt service levy rose from $276,515 to $323,207 for taxes payable 2025 and kept rising, and a 2023A bond payment was missed in 2025 entirely.
8-29-24_work_session; 9-9-25_Council_Packet; taxes/levy.html · taken up again 2025-09-09
CDs and investments are earning 5%, which has increased from .05%. The city could look into applying for more grants to save money.
Suggestion for reducing levy pressure in 2025.
The city did pursue grants, with mixed results. Staff tracked that DEED runs Redevelopment Grant rounds every six months and advised applying close to the start of project activity. In August 2025 staff recommended reapplying for a competitive grant the city had lost in 2023, noting it is one of very few programs funding that type of work. The city and the developer went on to win a DEED grant for the Rebound project, and Kenyon also has access to the League of Minnesota Cities Grant Navigator, worth up to $5,000 per city against a $500,000 program cap. Depot Park's shelters came from a $10,000 SMIF grant.
2.11.25_Council_Packet__Agenda; 8.12.25_Council_Packet__Agenda_Updated; GRANTS.md; KENYON_DEPOT_PARK.md · taken up again 2025-08-12
There are still a few minor control issues that will be resolved prior to final completion; however, the lift station is operational, and sewer flow has been diverted.
Project status update; the lift station is operational and sewer flow has been diverted.
The minor control issues were not minor in duration. In September 2024 the contractor was still waiting on parts for the lift station controls, with drainage in the green space around the station also needing work. By November 2024 the contract's final completion date of September 27 had passed, the punch list was still open, and BCM had been notified that further delays would bring liquidated damage deductions from the final payment, with resident Diane Barrett telling the council she was disappointed the work was not getting done. Closeout, with Pay Application No. 12 and Change Order No. 2, did not reach the council until August 2025.
The control issues were described in July 2024 as minor and to be resolved before final completion, but they outlasted the September 27 2024 completion date and triggered a liquidated damages warning to the contractor in November 2024.
9.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda; 11.12.24_Council_Packet_And_Agenda; 8.12.25_Council_Packet__Agenda_Updated · taken up again 2025-08-12
Major items of work remaining include final yard/turf restoration, disconnections from the old pearl creek sewer line, and final televising/inspections of new sewer lines.
Status of major work items outstanding on the 2023 Pearl Creek project.
Two of the three remaining items closed within about six weeks. By the October 8 2024 report, final paving, full disconnection from the old Pearl Creek sewer main, and fine grading and seeding were done, leaving final pipeline testing held up waiting for parts. Pay Application No. 8 of $66,188.50 for work through August 30 2024 was approved 3-0-0. Yard restoration around the lift station carried into the November pay estimate, and the project closed out in August 2025.
9.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda; 10-8-24_AGENDA; 8.12.25_Council_Packet__Agenda_Updated · taken up again 2025-08-12
Review Preliminary Engineering Report w/ Council Regular Sept. Meeting
Anticipated schedule of reviews and approvals for the 2025 street and utility project.
At the meetingNo council action requested; information only.
The schedule held through the hearing stage. The feasibility report was reviewed at the September 2024 meeting, notices were published and mailed, and the public improvement hearing took place at the regular October 2024 council meeting. The September 2024 packet carries the report's cost summary: city costs of $3,090,887.05, made up of $1,121,166.65 non-assessable street and site, $33,606.10 sidewalk, $732,212.50 sanitary sewer, $936,991.80 watermain and $266,910.00 storm sewer, plus $567,222.85 in assessable costs, or 15.5% of the total. The project then took two bid rounds, with every bid rejected June 10 2025 before Fitzgerald was awarded $2,294,629.25 on July 8 2025.
9.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda; 10-8-24_AGENDA; KENYON_BIDS.md · taken up again 2024-10-08
The plan does increase the wage figures in all budgets. This will be discussed more at the August 2024 City council meeting.
Council's second priority, which increases wage figures in all department budgets.
The plan was built and brought forward, but no adoption vote appears in our holdings. The August 29 2024 work session describes its construction: a consultant scored every job description against responsibility criteria and sorted the positions into nineteen vertical grades across six departments, Administration, Public Works, Kenyon Utility, Finance, Library and Liquor Store, with the compensation plan built from collected market data. The August 20 2024 packet carries it as an approval item. A council motion adopting the Classification and Compensation Plan would settle it.
8-20-24_AGENDA; 8-29-24_work_session
It would cost $10,000 for cameras at the pool and park. The pool rates need to be reviewed on for the 2025 year.
Review of the pool budget, where chemical and utility costs are rising.
No 2025 pool rate schedule appears in our holdings, but the ledgers show why a review was called for. Pool expense ran $28,252.27 actual in 2024 against a $32,700 budget, then was budgeted at $35,000 for both 2025 and 2026 with $32,142.35 spent by the time of the December 2025 report. On the revenue side pool fees carry $30,000 with $24,125.41 recorded and concessions $5,000 with $3,532.07 recorded, so total pool revenue of roughly $27,700 sits about $7,300 short of the $35,000 expense budget. A proposed rate schedule with cost recovery targets would settle the rate question itself.
12.2.25_Special_Council_Meeting; 4-8-25_council_packet
Police Chief Sjoblom provided an update on the police department proposed 2025 budget. He stated that encrypted radios are needed. They cost $5,000 each.
Police department 2025 budget presentation.
No vendor quote and no unit count for police encrypted radios appears in our holdings. The fire department's figure from the same work session supports the order of magnitude: $15,900 budgeted for three Motorola radios is $5,300 each, against the $5,000 each the police chief quoted. A quote and a radio count would settle the total exposure.
8-20-24_AGENDA
Fire Chief Wayne Ehrich provided a summary of the proposed 2025 Fire Department and First Responder budgets. Motorola no longer supports their older radios, so $15,900 is being budgeted for three new radios.
Fire Department and First Responder 2025 budget summary.
The arithmetic is consistent, $15,900 for three radios is $5,300 each, but we hold no Motorola end-of-support notice and no quote. The replacement program did continue past 2025: the fire chief attributed the $1,658.17 increase in the 2026 fire budget mainly to replacing pagers and radios along with higher property insurance.
8-20-24_AGENDA; 12.9.25_Council_Agenda_and_Packet_Updated
Funds were allocated in prior years to purchase a new squad car that will be arriving in 2024. The police department will be receiving local government aid in the amount of $36,000.
Police 2025 budget presentation on revenue sources.
The police department receives no local government aid at all. Account 101-42100-33401, local government aid in the police fund, carries $0.00 in every column across 2023 through 2026. The money the chief was describing is state police aid, account 101-42100-33421, which ran $32,667.77 actual in 2023, $37,835.00 actual in 2024, and was budgeted at $33,000 for 2025 and $40,000 for 2026. The state aid certification would confirm the award letter figure.
The chief described $36,000 of local government aid to the police department, but the ledger shows police local government aid at zero in every year and budgets the comparable state police aid at $33,000 for 2025.
12.2.25_Special_Council_Meeting
There will be increases in benefits and salaries per council approval. A 10% increase in funding from the County will cover other library expenses.
Review of the library budget, where most line items remained flat.
No county funding commitment letter or figure is in our holdings, so the 10% claim cannot be checked. What our records do show is the library's funding structure and its cost drivers: the library levy fund draws on tax levy, a county contract through SELCO, donations and fines, and the 2026 library budget came in at a 9.44% levy increase driven by wages, automation and utilities. The automation line ran $4,892 in 2024 and $4,956 in 2025 against $6,500 budgeted for 2026 and 2027, consistent with the $347.55 a month the city pays SELCO for ILS support plus $230 a year for hosting.
9-9-25_Council_Packet; 12.9.25_Council_Agenda_and_Packet_Updated; KENYON_IT_SPEND.md
Twenty thousand dollars was added to the Economic Development Authority budget for 3 to 5 façade improvement programs.
Review of the draft 2025 EDA budget.
The $20,000 spread over three to five facade projects works out to $4,000 to $6,667 per project. We hold no facade program guidelines, no application criteria and no record of a project being funded. The EDA fund draws on tax levy, EDA loan repayments, donations and city property lease payments, which is the pool that $20,000 came from. The EDA facade program guidelines and any grant agreements would settle whether the money was spent.
8-20-24_AGENDA; 12.9.25_Council_Agenda_and_Packet_Updated
The city could look into applying for more grants to save money. Attorney and engineer costs increased by 50%, so the budget for these items will be increased.
Finance director's summary of cost pressures on the 2025 budget.
No year-over-year attorney or engineer billing totals exist in our holdings, and no Kennedy and Graven rate figure appears in any packet we hold for 2025 or 2026 even though the council approved the rates both years. One mechanism behind engineering growth is documented: the city left the county's shared mapping for its own ArcGIS Online through Bolton and Menk in 2024 at $14,500 for conversion plus $1,260 a year in licensing, with ongoing updates billed as general engineering rather than as a separate line. The annual rate letters and the vendor billing history would settle the 50% figure.
8-20-24_AGENDA; KENYON_DATA_IN_MEETINGS.md
The budget for chemical costs and utilities costs will be increased. It would cost $10,000 for cameras at the pool and park.
Discussion of proposed pool and parks budget items.
No camera quote for the pool or park is in our holdings and no purchase appears in the bid record. The city's camera vendor in this period is WH Security, which did the liquor store cameras and DVR in 2021 and City Hall cameras plus panic buttons in June 2024, neither with a dollar figure recorded. The item looks to have been squeezed out rather than bought: a year later, reviewing the 2026 parks and pool budgets, Superintendent Ehrich identified several items in his departments that could be cut for savings.
9-9-25_Council_Packet; KENYON_BIDS.md
The skid steer loader would also be upgraded, but the attachments would be kept. The utility costs for the sanitary sewer were increased. The GIS cost of $1,500 was added.
Review of the proposed 2025 sewer budget.
The $1,500 GIS line covers annual licensing only. The city's actual GIS move, off the county's shared mapping and onto its own ArcGIS Online through Bolton and Menk in 2024, cost $14,500 for conversion plus $1,260 a year in ESRI licensing, with ongoing updates billed as general engineering. On the sewer utility cost side, the March 2025 rate action shows the increases that followed: the residential sanitary sewer rate went from $7.40 to $7.77 per thousand gallons, the residential base rate from $26.25 to $27.57 a month, and the storm sewer maintenance fee from $9.00 to $13.00 a month, a 44% jump on that last line.
The budget carried GIS as a $1,500 addition, which matches only the $1,260 annual licensing and omits the $14,500 conversion the city incurred in the same period.
3-11-25_council_packet_(1); KENYON_DATA_IN_MEETINGS.md · taken up again 2025-03-11
Motion Approving Pay Application #7 to BCM Construction ($335,092.09)
Engineer's recommendation in the August 20 council packet for the Pearl Creek sanitary sewer project.
Pay Application No. 7 to BCM Construction for $335,092.09 appears on both the August 20 and September 10 2024 agendas, but no motion approving it is in our holdings. The applications either side of it are recorded: No. 8 at $66,188.50 for work through August 30 2024, approved 3-0-0 on a motion by Bailey seconded by Sjolander, and No. 9 at $5,438.75. BCM won the Pearl Creek Sanitary Sewer and Gates Avenue contract in June 2023 at $1,241,494.22 against a $1,536,065 estimate.
9.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda; 10-8-24_AGENDA; KENYON_BIDS.md
Currently, the city allocates property and liability costs to each individual fund (police, streets, pool, city administration). It may be best to lump them together in the general fund instead of in each individual fund.
Review of how property and liability costs are currently charged to police, streets, pool, and city administration.
At the meetingNo decision recorded.
We hold nothing showing whether insurance costs were consolidated into the general fund. The only later insurance language in our record is a contractor's comprehensive general liability requirement of not less than $1,000,000 per occurrence in a development agreement, which is unrelated to how the city books its own premiums. The adopted 2025 budget, showing whether property and liability lines still sit in police, streets, pool and city administration, would settle it.
8-20-24_AGENDA · would settle it: A revised budget showing insurance costs consolidated in the general fund
They cost $5,000 each. Funds were allocated in prior years to purchase a new squad car that will be arriving in 2024.
Police department capital discussion during budget review.
We hold no vehicle order, delivery confirmation or capital ledger entry for the squad car. The December 10 2024 agenda carries a joint police and public works item whose content is not in our extract. A purchase order or the police capital fund detail would settle the delivery date and price. The city's own policy required a lease versus buy analysis and Finance and legal approval before any lease was initiated, so a lease-purchase route would have left a paper trail.
8-20-24_AGENDA; 12.10.24_Council_Packet_and_Agenda_Updated · would settle it: The vehicle order and confirmed delivery date
Finance Director Kyllo stated that some leases were paid off in 2024, so that should reduce the levy amount. CDs and investments are earning 5%, which has increased from .05%.
Discussion of revenue that could offset the levy.
We hold no investment statements, no interest income line and nothing else that tests a move from 0.05% to 5%. The city's designated depositories are Security State Bank, the 4M fund and Northland Securities. The 4M and bank statements or the investment income line in the audited financials would settle it.
8-20-24_AGENDA · would settle it: The city's investment statements showing current rates
The F350 truck would be traded in for a F550 or F650, so the plow can be used on both hard and class 5 surfaces.
Review of the proposed 2025 streets equipment budget.
No trade-in values or purchase quotes for an F550, an F650 or a skid steer loader appear in the 43-row bid record. The equipment swap Ehrich proposed is not documented as a competitive purchase in any later year.
Truck and loader purchases at this scale require council approval plus two quotes under Administrative Policy No. 34, presented three weeks after this work session, and no quotes are on file.
KENYON_BIDS.md · would settle it: Trade-in values and purchase quotes for the truck and skid steer
Decisions
- No formal action taken; the council reviewed the draft 2025 budget and levy with department heads
- Direction given that $20,000 be added to the EDA budget for 3 to 5 façade improvement programs
- Consensus to consider consolidating property and liability insurance costs into the general fund
- Council confirmed priorities: hiring a long-term city administrator (advertised August 14) and implementing the comprehensive and classification plan
- Maximum 2025 levy discussed at a preliminary 8%, to be adopted by the end of September with the final levy and budget by the end of December
- Meeting adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
Who did what
| Person | At this meeting |
|---|---|
| Doug Henke Mayor | Called the work session to order at 1:00 pm |
| Kim Helgeson Council Member | Present for the budget and levy review |
| Mary Bailey Council Member | Present for the budget and levy review |
| Lee Sjolander Council Member | Present for the budget and levy review |
| Molly Ryan Council Member | Attended via Zoom |
| Frank Boyles Interim City Administrator | Attended the work session |
| Holli Gudknecht Administrative Assistant / Deputy City Clerk | Attended and signed the minutes; prepared agenda item summaries |
| Whitney Kyllo Finance Director | Reviewed local government aid and small-town aid, leases paid off, investment earnings, and increased attorney and engineer costs |
| Wayne Ehrich Public Works Superintendent / Fire Chief | Presented the fire and first responder budgets and reviewed streets, sewer, parks and pool budgets |
| Michelle Otte Library Director | Attended for review of the library budget, which remained mostly flat |
| Jeff Sjoblom Police Chief | Updated the council on the proposed 2025 police budget, including encrypted radios and a new squad car |
| Matt Bartel Liquor Store Manager | Reported no major increases and raised whether the store will offer THC products |
| Eggert Operations Superintendent | Attended the work session |
Organizations named: City of Kenyon, Kenyon Economic Development Authority, Kenyon Police Department, Kenyon Fire Department, Kenyon Public Library, Motorola, Goodhue County, State of Minnesota
Figures
| Amount | What |
|---|---|
| $20,000 | Added to the Economic Development Authority budget for 3 to 5 façade improvement programs |
| $5,000 | Cost of each encrypted radio needed by the police department |
| $36,000 | Local government aid the police department will receive |
| $15,900 | Budgeted for three new fire department radios |
| $1,500 | GIS cost added to the proposed budget |
| $10,000 | Estimated cost for cameras at the pool and park |
| $1,277,965 | 2024 total tax levy shown in the packet levy history table |
| $665,114 | Local government aid figure in the 2025 general fund revenue draft |
Said at the meeting
Liquor Store Manager Bartel stated there were no major increases for the liquor store.
Minutes (Liquor Store Manager Matt Bartel) · minutes, verbatim
He stated that encrypted radios are needed.
Minutes (Police Chief Jeff Sjoblom) · minutes, verbatim
Motorola no longer supports their older radios, so $15,900 is being budgeted for three new radios.
Minutes (Fire Chief Wayne Ehrich) · minutes, verbatim
The city council's first priority is to hire a long-term competent city administrator, which will be advertised August 14.
Minutes (council priorities) · minutes, verbatim
Attorney and engineer costs increased by 50%, so the budget for these items will be increased.
Minutes (Finance Director Whitney Kyllo) · minutes, verbatim
After the maximum levy is adopted, it cannot be increased but can be decreased.
Minutes (levy discussion) · minutes, verbatim
Agenda
Each item links to where it appears in the packet.
Full packet text (75k characters)
The minutes
Official minutes as adopted, from 8-20-24 AGENDA; text extracted from the PDF.
Council Work Session was duly held in the City Council chambers at 1:00 p.m. on the 30th day of July 2024.
- Present
- Mayor Doug Henke, Council Members: Kim Helgeson, Mary Bailey, and Lee Sjolander
- Via Zoom
- Molly Ryan
- Also present
- Interim City Administrator Frank Boyles, Administrative Assistant Holli Gudknecht, Public Works Superintendent Wayne Ehrich, Library Director Michelle Otte, Police Chief Jeff Sjoblom, Liquor Store Manager Matt Bartel, Finance Director Whitney Kyllo, and Operations Superintendent Eggert
Mayor Henke called the work session to order at 1:00 pm. The purpose of the work session was to review the draft 2025 levy and department budgets funded by the levy.
Review Proposed 2025 Budget and Levy
Kyllo reviewed the local government aid which is received annually from the State. She also reviewed the small-town aid. Twenty thousand dollars was added to the Economic Development Authority budget for 3 to 5 façade improvement programs.
Currently, the city allocates property and liability costs to each individual fund (police, streets, pool, city administration). It may be best to lump them together in the general fund instead of in each individual fund.
Most library line items remained flat. There will be increases in benefits and salaries per council approval. A 10% increase in funding from the County will cover other library expenses.
Liquor Store Manager Bartel stated there were no major increases for the liquor store. A question for the future is whether the liquor store will begin offering THC products.
Police Chief Sjoblom provided an update on the police department proposed 2025 budget. He stated that encrypted radios are needed. They cost $5,000 each. Funds were allocated in prior years to purchase a new squad car that will be arriving in 2024. The police department will be receiving local government aid in the amount of $36,000.
Fire Chief Wayne Ehrich provided a summary of the proposed 2025 Fire Department and First
Responder budgets. Motorola no longer supports their older radios, so $15,900 is being budgeted for three new radios.
Public Works Superintendent Ehrich reviewed the proposed 2025 streets, sewer, parks, and pool budgets. The F350 truck would be traded in for a F550 or F650, so the plow can be used on both hard and class 5 surfaces. The skid steer loader would also be upgraded, but the attachments would be kept. The utility costs for the sanitary sewer were increased. The GIS cost of $1,500 was added. The pool costs are still increasing due to the price of chemicals. The budget for chemical costs and utilities costs will be increased. It would cost $10,000 for cameras at the pool and park. The pool rates need to be reviewed on for the 2025 year. The suggestion was made for all mowing costs to be designated to the parks department rather than spreading it out between the other departments. This would increase the fuel costs to the parks.
The city council's first priority is to hire a long-term competent city administrator, which will be advertised August 14. The council's second priority is the implementation of the comprehensive and classification plan to retain full-time city employees. The plan does increase the wage figures in all budgets. This will be discussed more at the August 2024 City council meeting.
Finance Director Kyllo stated that some leases were paid off in 2024, so that should reduce the levy amount. CDs and investments are earning 5%, which has increased from .05%. The city could look into applying for more grants to save money. Attorney and engineer costs increased by 50%, so the budget for these items will be increased.
Discuss Options for Maximum 2025 Levy
The maximum proposed levy increase must be adopted by the council by the end of September. The draft budget showed an 8% maximum levy, but this is only preliminary. After the maximum levy is adopted, it cannot be increased but can be decreased. The final levy and budget must be adopted by the end of December.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.