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City Council Minutes <br /> May 5, 2020 <br /> Page 16 of 19 <br /> ----------------------------- <br /> Council Member Seils said if you look at some of that stuff she is sure there is <br /> some of that that can go but it is hard to tell at point because we do not know <br /> what's going to happen in the future. She stated that she would hate to be into all <br /> the projects that are listed under 2021 and not have the money for them. She <br /> believes it is a bad time to make these decisions. <br /> Ms. Malecha reminded the Council that there is a budget work session in August <br /> and a preliminary budget will be presented to the Council and that is when we <br /> thoroughly go through all of the budgets. She stated that is where decisions are <br /> made as far as what the Council is comfortable with to set that preliminary <br /> budget in September. She said there is a lot of work that will go into it and she is <br /> unsure on how specific the Council wants to be at this point. Ms. Malecha asked <br /> what kind of directive they want to give her to relate to staff and reminded them <br /> that a lot of those deep diving specific conversations will be had in the coming <br /> months. She stated that this is just kind of a broad overview of what kind of <br /> direction the Council wants and asked if they want City Staff to maintain a tax <br /> rate that stays the same with the idea that we need to possibly reduce our tax <br /> rate and to come prepared with ideas of how we can do that. <br /> Council Member Swanson agrees with Ms. Malecha with the fact that it is too <br /> early and we do not know what is coming and when we open up how quickly will <br /> we get back to normal. She said she thinks they should put this on a burner and <br /> just think about it until the August meeting. <br /> Council Member Seils thinks they should really have to start thinking about ways <br /> they can maintain and have the staff really look at the budgets carefully at this <br /> point and look at this list that we have here and how important the stuff is or is it <br /> something that they can put off for a year until we know what the future holds. <br /> Council Member Pederson said he agrees with Council Member Seils a hundred <br /> percent and staff should look at that list and say do I absolutely need it and can't <br /> work without it or can we put it out for a year. He said the same with the budget <br /> he would make a directive to look at it at a 45% tax rate reduction and show us <br /> what that looks like. <br /> Ms. Malecha stated that each department is compiling their numbers and their <br /> numbers are due by the end of June and then Angie Duus and Jenny Peterson <br /> will start putting that into the software. She stated that they can set the <br /> preliminary budget in September but they can still whittle it down or decrease it <br /> before December when the Council has to set that final levy. <br /> The Council directive is to carefully review budgets and save wherever we can. <br /> They discussed that they do not believe that there needs to be a set number to <br /> reduce the budget by yet and to review the budget line item by line item with the <br /> Council. Council Member Pederson discussed looking at the 2020 budget to see <br /> if anything can be cut from there and asked if all non-essential expenditure be <br /> frozen. Discussion ensued about looking at the budget and how if you cut <br /> expenses now that it can cause problems in the future. The Council also directed <br />