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Sanitary Sewer Core Charge may be increased from $1,400 to $1,650, the Water Core Charge from $2,000 to $2,250 per home for existing construction and from $3,000 for $3,380 per lot for new construction.
Sewer Lateral Benefit Charge may be increased from $3,283 to $6,200 in lieu of assessment
Watermain Lateral Benefit Charge may be increased from $4,309 to $6,600 in lieu of assessment.
No increases are being recommended for Building Permits. Many such fees were recently reviewed in 2005.
Dozens of fees for making copies, maps, and plans will probably remain at their current levels. Conditional Use Permit fees are being recommended for an increase, along with several Development fees. Dog Licensing fees and fines are relatively nominal.
Victoria Field House fees for adver-tisements on dasherboards and for mem-berships were last revised in 2005.
New Fire Inspection fees for resi-dential sprinkler systems are being recommended by Tom Gray, Victoria Building Official, with surcharges going to the state. Fire Department Service fees were reviewed in 2005 and no changes are recommended. Many other fees were itemized for city councilmembers.
Said City Administrator Dave Urbia, "We're trying to get all fees into one com-piled picture."
Said Mayor Jerry Bohn, "Every year we have to submit a report showing our costs and our fees." He pointed out that some cities have been sued by the Builders Association when a fee is beyond the scope of recouping city cost.
City Attorney Mike Norton pointed out that in some cases it has been a matter of incomplete record keeping. "Cities are finding they're just not accounting for some of their costs," he said.
WHAT ARE THE BUZZ WORDS?
COMMISSIONER REPORTS TO VICTORIA
Carver County Commissioner Gary Delaney, a resident of Victoria, reported on the state of the county at the February 9th Victoria City Council meeting. He represents Victoria, the City of Carver, and the northern half of Chaska.
"Some of the buzz words are plan-ning, growth, accomplishments, reorgan-izing, preparedness," said Commissioner Delaney.
"Four years ago when I first became elected, the county wasn't in very good condition," he continued. "The county hadn't balanced its budget for two years. There were 35 different departments reporting to the county administrator. There were around 700 employees and 27 separate department functions …
"We are going through continued re-organization and reviewing a proposal that would make three positions that are elected - auditor, treasurer, recorder -into one appointed. Their jobs have become more technical. We think we'd become more efficient and also save a bunch of money …
"Four years ago, taxes were raised every year. In the past year we raised taxes on a $350,000 home only $35. Out of the seven metro counties, we might be high in taxes but there are four of us within $50 bucks of each other. Carver County is 45th out of 87 counties in the state …
"In Carver County, only 12% of our taxable income comes from industrial. In Scott County, it's 25% …
"We have close to 1,200 to 1,500 homes under construction at any one time. Our bond rating has gone from A+1 to AA. Few counties in the USA have this rating …
"We have a $100 million budget now. We are the agent for the state that goes out and does the job. For three years we got $57 million from the state. Now we get $50 million but we still have to do the job …
"There are eleven townships in the county … We've increased our ratio of deputies per population … There are 4,000 veterans in Carver County. There are all kinds of benefits for veterans in the county …
"We have about 85,000 population today. In 2020 we're projected to have 150,000 to 165,000 population …
"The Highway 5 upgrade didn't make the cut for this year, but at least MnDOT has it under discussion …
"Currently there are 3,000 natural deaths per year in Carver County. If the bird flu arrives, we anticipate 4,000 deaths. We're taking this seriously. We need 400 medical reserve corps people. We might have to quarantine people. We need a plan. We need people to volunteer for this medical reserve corps. Please contact our Public Health Department. So far we have 140 people in this corps …"In the past, the Mosquito Control District in Carver County has been a big player …
"We've got the Carver County His-torical Society. The county was very active in the Civil War; many didn't even speak English."
Commissioner Delaney added about his job, "I do this full time, seven days a week. It's a full time gig to keep this county ship and shape. It's been a priv-ilege to be here. Anytime you have a question, I'm your servant and I enjoy it."
Gary was recently appointed to the League of Counties Insurance Trust. In that regard he said, "It is quite an honor, considering the short time I've been a commissioner."
NEW PARK SHELTER TO BE CONSTRUCTED
WITH VICTORIA'S WATER BOOSTER STATION #1
With a unanimous 5-0 vote, Victoria councilmembers accepted bids and award-ed a contract to TDJ Construction of Waconia for $530,006.08 for the Water Booster Station and Park Shelter Improve-ments.
There were 11 bidders for the project, which will be constructed near the Rhap-sody development at Tellers Road and County Road 43. It is part of the park dedication from the Rhapsody develop-ment. Including all of the contingencies and fees, total project cost becomes $650,000. The city engineer's estimate for the project was $664,000.
According to City Administrator Dave Urbia, construction of the project will begin this spring of 2006; it is tied to development of the subdivision. Antici-pated completion date is this September of 2006.
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