03/12/1980 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. L i euallen stated that if a two-thirds process cont inues, voters wi 11 .a have an opportunity to vote on taxes other than property taxes. These · would not be under the six percent limit. Mr. L ieuallen stated that a two-thirds. vote of the Budget Committee would define the core budget for the City. This would continue to work even if other resources besides property taxes are found. Mr. De1ay:said that by dwelling on the limitation numbers one could lose the focus of the proposal. He stated that he would have argued against putting the limitation numbers in at all because he was afraid such figures would make it more difficult to explain to the voters. He stated that the City could be looking at other revenue sources in the future and that would make the limi- tation numbers less meaningful. The process of guaranteeing the community an annual vote would become more important. He stated that after a while all that would be needed would be to update the tax base from time to time and the Budget Committee can deal with the public on an annual basis with a supplemental budget. Ms. Miller felt the three limitations numbers were there more as an act of good faith on the City's part. She hopes that the City can live within them as a core budget. It is her hope that after three years, the process would be working smoothly so they would not need to tie it to a limitation number or they could make a more accurate determination for the core budget. She supports the two-thirds process. She would like it to stay in the charter because she thinks it will work but if it does not, they can revise the charter later. This is making along-term commitment. It is such a basic budget that the Budget A Committee will pr-obably be voting unanimously. .., Ms. Schue stated that what is being said is that as long as the proposed budget is approved by two-thirds of the Budget Committee and within the tax base, that amount can be levied without the vote of the people. She felt the concept miqht be hard to sell to the public. The whole idea of indicating lim~tion numbers is to tie the City into the State program. She felt removal of the numbers would make things a lot more difficult to explain to the voters. Mr. Delay stated that the limitation numbers are there. These figures may become more irrelevant because of circumstances beyond control or by a vote of the community as time passes. Ms. Schue asked Mr. Delay if he was in favor of the proposal as outlined in the March 12. memo from Orval Etter and Mr. Delay responded that he was. Mayor ~el1er stated that the figures give credence to the proposal, although they may become obsolete later. Mr. L ieuallen stated that, to his understanding, although the base is at $19 million, and the first year the Budget Committee can only levy up to $14 million, he does not see any language to that effect. He asked for clarification as to whether the City could go outside the $14 million in the first years with a supplemental budget. Joyce Benjamin, City Attorneyls office, stated that the .. 3/12/80--12