PONDERING THE POLICE PROPOSAL;
VERY NICE, BUT NOT ALL AT ONCE
On August 26th, after pondering the cost of the 2005 police proposal as pre-sented two weeks ago by Sheriff Bud Olson, Victoria city councilmembers agreed that $293,000 is not only not affordable, it's not feasible. 
But they did agree that a full time Town Cop is a good idea, and they'd also accept five hours of daily patrol time in addition to the Town Cop.  Total estimat-ed cost for 2005 would be around $215,000.  More than five hours of daily patrol time could be added next June in time for the busy summer months.
City Planner Mark Kaltsas said he met with County Deputy Bob Vanden-broecke about the new contracting pro-posal being offered throughout the county.  "One of the things they're concerned about is getting it up and running by Janu-ary 1st, 2005," said Mark.  And Mark also told the deputy that the City of Victoria would not want to jump into a $293,000 police contract.
"He felt we need a full time police officer from 8 to 5 for routine patrol, in-vestigation, someone in and out of the city office," said Mark.  "He would be identi-fied as a Victoria police officer, and get visibility.  He'd come to understand what Victoria is and what Victoria needs."
Stated Mark, "The sheriff is adamant about getting the full time [Victoria] cop, and that daytime hours are an important time for the Town Cop to serve."
Contracting for an additional five hours per day would help get the program up and running, and yet keep the police budget for Victoria more compatible with the city budget.
Mark pointed out that the Sheriff is getting rid of the "hours of daily service" program and is looking to contract with cities formally under the Town Cop pro-gram.  At this time the specific program for Victoria would not include a Commu-nity Service Officer. 
Mark explained to councilmembers that a Community Service Officer cannot enforce traffic infractions; a CSO has no power to arrest.  His function is really targeted at animal control.  But Victoria only gets a couple dozen calls a year on animal control.

VICTORIA GROWTH SPURS EXPENDITURES
AND GROWING PAINS IN CITY BUDGET WAYS

Council held a workshop to review the first draft of a new city budget.  In rough numbers, it appears the budget could increase from $2.4 million for 2004 to $2.9 million for 2005.  That's roughly a 20% projected increase in expenditures.
Jylan Johnson, the city's finance director, told councilmembers there are three ways to avoid a tax increase:  reduce the average general fund balance from 25% to 20%; increase the tax rate; or increase the estimated number of building permits from 200 to 235 homes for addi-tional revenue.
Staff said that taxes generate about 67% of the city's revenue, while building permit fees generate about 25% of city revenue.  Regarding the number of new homes forecast for 2005, City Planner Mark Kaltsas said, "Two hundred is a good number.  It's conservative, but not overly conservative."
Median value on a home in Victoria is $293,000, according to the finance director.  Definition of "median" means half the homes in Victoria are valued higher than that amount and half the homes in Victoria are valued lower.
For taxes payable in 2004 on a $300,000 home in Victoria, the total tax is $3,935.61.  Of that amount, the city's share is $1,212.55.  The rest is school, county, and metro tax.
Mark said that this year the city is "blowing the budget off commercial" rather than residential.  According to Jylan, the city issued 41 new home building permits so far this year, as of July 31st, 2004, with a total valuation of nearly $13 million.  This puts the average value of a home built in Victoria in 2004 at $317,000.  This includes 36 single family homes and 5 multi-family units.
But there were also permits for a $12 million condominium project on the south shore of Stieger Lake, a $3 million elementary school, and a $7 million new Catholic church.  Individual owners of the condo units typically pay property taxes, according to Mark, and sometimes an association pays taxes for the common areas.  The school and the church do not contribute property taxes, but building permit fees on the large projects contribute to city coffers, however.
Other city revenue comes from miscellaneous city fees such as cellular antenna rent for space on top of the city's water tower, liquor licenses, and dog licenses.  Mark suggested that additional city revenue could be generated with utility franchise fees.
Planner Kaltsas pointed to the "three big pieces" that are largely responsible for the budget increase:  an extra $150,000 for the police budget; an extra $100,000 for legal and engineering fees; and an extra $160,000 for three additional city staff members.  These "extras" are only estimates at this time.
Stated Mark, "For the last three years we've had a flat budget, but we've been growing by 10% each year."
The increase in police costs is related to the brand new contracting proposal from the Carver County Sheriff whereby Victoria gets a full time Town Cop plus other deputy patrol hours and perhaps a Community Service Officer  (CSO) down the road.  [See related story on the Sheriff's visit.]
Increase in population, commercial buildings, and large development projects contribute to the increase in legal and engineering fees. 
The three additional city staff would include one for the Planning and Zoning Department, one for Building Inspections, and one for Public Works.  The proposed budget also includes a 3.6% cost of living increase for city employees.
Said Mayor Jerry Bohn about options, "I'd be very hard pressed to increase taxes.  Next year we could have three new councilmembers who'd have to face that when people receive their tax statements.  We should be trying to increase non-tax revenue ... And it'd be troubling to see our fund balance drop ... We do have some choice on this policing thing.  Going from six hours of daily patrol time to two full time officers is quite a jump for Victoria.  We don't want to leave money on the table ... We do have to manage our professional [legal and engineering services] services and think twice about using them or asking them to do things for us."
Click here to continue city budget discussion.