http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal Scott Neal, Eden Prairie City Manager Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:13:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It's almost the 4th of July in Eden Prairie. Our community 4th of July celebration is one of the largest 4th of July celebrations in the Twin Cities. There's a Kiddie Parade, a sand volleyball tournament, food booths, live music and fireworks. Our 4th of July celebration is hosted at ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2073/ Last week I did an interview in the Eden Prairie News with Leah Shaffer about the City's upcoming budget process for 2010-2011. It's not going to be pretty. My goal is to hold our quality services together while flattening our tax levy for the next two years. That's going to ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2068/ Do you remember the Round Lake Tennis Courts? That's them in the photo to the left. They're gone. History. Poof. The tennis courts were in rough shape. The City is engaged in a project right now to reconstruct them. We hired a construction company to remove the old courts, reshape the ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2065/ Governor Pawlenty announced his state budget unallotment decisions today. The cuts fell heavy on city government budgets. For cities that rely on the state for a significant share of their annual budgets, today was a dark day. We're fortunate in Eden Prairie that we're not all that connected to the ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2062/ If you've read my blog for any length of time you've probably come across a post (or two) that I've written about the State's Market Value Homestead Credit program. The MVHC program is a property tax relief program devised by the State government to give local property tax payers relief ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2061/ There was a pretty interesting article in yesterday's Star Tribune about the feared impact of the Emerald Ash Borer. That's a close up of the critter in the photo on the right. To the left of that photo are two photos of ash trees that show the symptoms of the ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2060/ Governor Pawlenty received this important letter today from Mr. Tom Hanson, Commissioner of the Department of Management & Budget. This letter is the first official step toward the unallotment process. The Governor has said that he will reduce the State's operating budgets to reflect the anticipated revenues. Now he has ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2053/ The City hosted a continuing education session last night for City elected officials, advisory commission members and staff. The session was led by Eric Willette from the Minnesota Department of Revenue. Eric gave us a comprehensive overview of the Minnesota property tax system. The first thing we learned was the five ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2050/ I had my annual performance review with the City Council at the Council's May 19 meeting. The review is organized as an internal 360-degree review facilitated by an outside consultant. The Council likes it that way because it provides a little greater separation for employees to be honest and forthcoming ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2047/ We've got a couple of big projects started on city facilities right now. There are new roofs going on the water treatment plant (L) and City Center (R). Together, the two projects will cost the City over $1,000,000. It's a lot of money, but it's money well spent. Not fixing ... http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/2043/