HomeMy WebLinkAbout[09c] Finance Department Report
Memo
To:
Mayor and Council Members
From:
Lori Bartlett, Finance Director
Date:
November 18, 2019
Re:
Monthly Finance Department update
Budget/Fee Schedule/Capital Plans:
The preliminary tax rates were received from Stearns County. The following rates will be used in the
proposed tax statements Stearns County mails around 11/15. Staff will present the draft enterprise
budgets/capital equipment plans and draft fee schedule at this meeting.
General City Rate 62.849%
Rural Residential Rate 25.6228%
Commercial/Industrial Annexed Properties Rate 27.43539%
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The Truth in Taxation hearing is scheduled for December 2 at 6:00pm.
Permits/Licenses:
The following permits/licenses are renewed in the fall: refuse hauler, 3.2 on sale liquor, tobacco and
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amusement. The compost site’s last day was Nov. 16. Compost permits were sold up until this
date.
Utility Bills:
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The Sept/Oct usage bill was mailed Nov. 8. The current bill schedule has been successful in
keeping shut offs for non-payment lower. The process for collection has kept us very low with
delinquents. It also has helped to shift work hours for the UB Clerk and Maintenance On-Call to later
in the evening to turn water on. This reduced over time and provided staff to get water turned back
on for residents getting home from work/school.
Street/Industrial Projects:
Finance is in the process to request DEED grant reimbursements for the industrial park project now
that expenditures are coming in. The reimbursement may be received over 2019 and 2020. The
assessments also need to be adopted for the industrial park lots. The first collection is not until
2021. There was a slight delay while Stearns County assigned parcel numbers to the plat.
The 2019 street improvement project had several prepaid assessments after the bonds were issued.
Finance will monitor the debt levy in the future. An increase may be needed since the assessments
are not going to collect assessment interest over the life of the bonds.
Finance Technician:
City Council approved the hire of Hannah Kurkowski as the new Finance Technician. Hannah
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comes from the City of Rogers where she did similar work. Hannah starts Nov. 20.