Eden Prairie Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens offered the following opinion piece in the Thursday, November 3 edition of the Eden Prairie News about the proposed 2006 City budget. It is a clear statement of how the Mayor feels about the proposed City budget for 2006.
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Commentary: Response to questions about city budget
By Mayor Nancy Tyra-Lukens
In the Oct. 27 edition of the Eden Prairie News, Mr. Randy Foote of the Eden Prairie Taxpayers Alliance posed a number of questions and offered his opinion concerning the city’s proposed 2006 budget. I do not typically respond to rhetorical questions on city government issues posed publicly in the media, but the tone of the article concerns me and I think it best to respond to Mr. Foote’s concerns in the same manner in which he expressed them.
The proposed dollar increase in the city’s proposed Total Tax Levy is $2,201,102. It should be of interest to citizens to know that about a third of that total, $629,000, is property taxes that Eden Prairie residents pay to fund a state property tax credit program called the Market Value Homestead Credit program. We must levy this extra property tax because earlier this year the state Legislature reneged on its promise in the 2003 Tax Bill to restore full funding for the program, starting in 2006, for cities like Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina and other similarly situated cities.
Mr. Foote’s article asked why the city’s social services program spending is increasing 23 percent from 2005 to 2006. While it is reasonable to make this conclusion by looking at the budget numbers, the city is actually proposing to move an employee who is working for the city now in a grant funded position into the city’s General Fund budget. This budget change accounts for $57,450 of the proposed increase of $77,684 for our Social Services division. The city is proposing to increase its level of grant funding for local nonprofit organizations 5 percent in 2006 which accounts for $9,470 in growth in this part of our city budget. The Council believes that these services function as a safety net, albeit small, for those among us who find themselves in need, but may not be served by state and county services.
Another question posed by Mr. Foote concerned the apparent growth in the Recreation Division’s administration line item from $175,954 in 2005 to $244,371 in 2006. Part of the answer to this question is that the city is realigning this part of our budget. We are going to account for an employee in this line item in 2006 who was accounted for elsewhere in previous years. There is no net growth of employees as a result of this change. The total increase in spending for our Park and Recreation program in 2006 is proposed to be 3.9 percent, within the 3-4 percent range that Mr. Foote in fact termed “modest” and “under control.”
Mr. Foote expressed concern about the apparent growth of the city’s spending on public facilities maintenance. Intelligent people will disagree, but I have a strong sense that being a good steward of our public facilities is just as important as being a good steward of our public treasury. Facilities and money are both assets and it is important that we care for them with equal attention.
Yes, the city has made major changes in the manner in which it maintains public facilities in 2004. After careful research and planning, the city reduced its custodial workforce of eight fulltime employees and outsourced the work to a private company. At the same time, the city canceled its building management contract with United Properties for City Center and its liquor stores and used that money to hire an in-house building management staff. The end result of this change has been improved building cleanliness and operations at about the same cost structure as we had before the change. It’s never easy to eliminate jobs in government, but in this case it has proven to be the right move for our facilities and for our citizens.
Mr. Foote asked about a $35,000 “management fee” in this part of our budget. The management fee may appear to be an expense in the city budget, but it is reimbursed to the city by the Eden Prairie School District and C.H. Robinson Co. for building management services the city provides to them as occupants of City Center. The city’s operation of City Center as a multi-tenant office building brings its own set of challenges, but it also generates over $900,000 a year in operational revenues that would otherwise be part of our annual tax levy on Eden Prairie taxpayers.
There is a proposed increase in 2006 city spending on facilities maintenance of $351,475 exclusive of staff and utilities. This increase is the second largest categorical spending increase in our 2006 budget behind only the increase in employee compensation and benefits costs. The increase in facilities maintenance spending is to fund building improvements such as roof repairs; landscape repairs; window replacements; floor covering replacements; heating and ventilation equipment replacements; and other similar building maintenance projects at the city’s 24 public buildings and park shelters. These improvements, paid for by today’s taxpayers, will benefit current and future Eden Prairie residents. I think it’s a good investment of your tax dollars and part of our duty to be good stewards of public assets.
Mr. Foote wonders about several budget line items in the city’s Human Resources Division such as $30,000 for employment advertising, $20,000 for new software and $17,000 for employee testing. These three costs are not new costs in 2006. The city has traditionally budgeted these three line items in a larger line item in previous budgets that was less descriptive than the proposed budget line item titles. This is not new spending.
Concern was voiced over the level of city spending on employee travel, training and conferences. These training costs include training for our city employees to respond to your homes in the event of a fire; to answer your 911 call in the event an emergency; to move snow from our streets so we can get to work; and to inspect the buildings and structures we work and live in everyday to make sure they are safe. The city has budgeted $224,770 for employee training, travel and conferences for 2006. This sounds like a lot of money, and in an absolute sense, it is. But, $224,770 represents just over 1.6 percent of our total payroll costs. When judged against this benchmark, I think it is a good investment to train and develop our city employees, especially as we expect them to be more efficient and effective in their work every year.
Another question from Mr. Foote: Why does the Planning Division have a proposed budget line item of $100,000 for “other contracted services?” Because the city must update its Comprehensive Land Use Plan to remain compliant with State law, the city will contract for this service with a private planning consultant.
It’s not difficult for me to respond to Mr. Foote’s questions because they are the same questions posed to staff by members of the City Council during the budget preparation process earlier this year. Council members have been involved in the budget preparation process for months. The proposed 2006 city budget, in my judgment, contains the spending that I believe is necessary to support the city services that citizens have grown accustomed to in Eden Prairie.
It is difficult to inform citizens about complex city budget issues through disjointed weekly dialogue in the local newspaper. Council members and city staff are open to receive and respond to questions about the city’s financial plans for 2006. The council is scheduled to give final approval to the city’s 2006 budget on Dec. 5, 2005. If anyone has questions or comments about the 2006 budget, we are interested in hearing from you between now and then.
It is much healthier for democracy and for the community if the questions with easy answers get asked upfront before being placed in a commentary that attempts to cast doubt on the elected officials who are working hard to provide residents of this city with the services they desire at a reasonable cost.
Nancy Tyra-Lukens, Mayor
Eden Prairie, Minnesota