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City Council Minutes <br /> November 7, 2022 <br /> Page 3 of 9 <br /> biggest part is trying to manage new debt as you pay off old debt and mitigate <br /> those impacts. Council member Pederson states we're in good shape for growth. <br /> Council member Ronning said the red, yellow and green graph is really helpful in <br /> understanding the budget and he hopes Jason comes back next year with <br /> updates. Rich pointed out that the yellow is the existing debt and we cannot <br /> change that. <br /> Water and sewer does not have a lot of projects, minimal fund growth there. As <br /> you see an increase in water, Council can use water to mitigate costs. Water is <br /> performing very well. Red is new rate associated with new debt. Sewer is facing <br /> 4-5% increase a year over the next 15 years. $100 a month impact in sewer. But <br /> we're applying a lot of growth to it. Something as we look forward to the future, <br /> do we need 1.6 million in sewer? $1.1 million in reserve and water?Where are <br /> you comfortable with your reserve? It is challenging. It is because we have 2 <br /> large projects in the near future. Tim said pre-1999 the chart for water would <br /> have looked like the sewer chart. We have good infrastructure, but we need to <br /> make some investments and how do we manage this. Mr. Spiczka asked how <br /> other cities have handled this. Jason said there are two things: Fund it through <br /> sewer and pledge property taxes. Try to manage it with levy dollars but because <br /> of the health of the water fund that might be where the city should look to help <br /> the sewer fund. Mayor asked questions about using levy dollars. Can we take <br /> property tax dollars to help pay for the sewer project? Then citizens are paying <br /> 40%? Yes. Jason showed the Council the impact of using levy dollars with his <br /> chart. Used the 3% COLA on a $175,000 home, roughly 5000 gallons per year. <br /> Sewer grows, water and property taxes stay consistent. So many variables when <br /> go out 5-8 years. Council agreed the presentation with the charts was great to <br /> see. <br /> 5.3 Patriot Avenue Study Sketches <br /> Tim Houle addressed the Council and handed out potential ideas/sketches. He <br /> encouraged comments before the December meeting. First page is scope. It is <br /> the study level, transitioning from a rural highway to urban street. Next page, <br /> what are the primary goals. Tim listed the three he noted at the last meeting. <br /> Next page, he listed potential resources: summary of the 2019 traffic study. Next <br /> page, picture of Patriot Ave and Main Street intersection and annual average of <br /> daily traffic. 2019 counted, 2024&2039 projections listed. In 2019, Pedestrian <br /> and Bicycle counts were recorded via traffic cam. Data was collected over 3-4 <br /> days and averaged. Patriot Ave Redesign Committee was another resource <br /> used. Next page, another resource used was the temporary test sections. He <br /> listed comments that he heard, he asked the Council to add what they heard. <br /> Last page is a summary of the downtown plan. Houle liked the nature of how <br /> things are interrelated. As an example of interrelated nature: July 6, 2021, <br /> approved looking at interchange over to the stoplight but please hold until the <br /> Patriot redesign is looked at. Next steps: look at info, get comments to Mr. <br /> Spiczka. Anticipating meeting again with Patriot Redesign Committee and then at <br /> subsequent council meeting, we can go over what was heard at committee level. <br /> Get updated costs and sketches for Jason. Study did not include open houses or <br />