Property tax increase coming?

LAKE FOREST PARK

Lake Forest Park residents could be randomly asked to participate in a short phone survey about the future financial health of their city in early May.

The 10-12 minute survey would help the city assess residents’ attitudes toward city services and the city’s long-term financial health, gauge community opinions about priorities and possibly test public reaction of a potential levy lid lift, according to Andrew Thibault, principal with EMC Research Inc.

“We’ll get a good picture of where people are on the given paths and if there are any particular issues the public at large is so against,” he said. “We’re not trying with the research to select a path; we’re just trying to give the task force a broader sense of data.”

The City Council Committee Task Force on Property Tax Levy Review discussed the idea April 16. The Task Force was established in January and consists of council members Alan Kiest, Sandy Koppenol and Catherine Stanford, who serves as chair.

Mayor Dave Hutchinson and seven council-appointed citizens are also part of the group tasked with reviewing all options for balancing the city’s budget and providing recommendations to the council by July 1.

Discussion of the phone survey comes on the heels of an April 7 citizen workshop about the city’s financial future and multiple budget cuts since last December.

In February, a once balanced budget for 2009-2010 was decreased by $500,000 due to the declining economy, a smaller than anticipated sales tax revenue and the realization that a $20 vehicle license fee could not be implemented by the state until November.

Cuts included the elimination of two city staff positions, the state lobbyist position and a 2010 salary freeze on non-represented employees, among other cuts.

The city currently anticipates a $500,000 shortfall in the General Fund in 2011, councilman Kiest who serves as the chair of the Budget Committee, told members of the Task Force. Additional cuts to the current budget are also likely to occur, he said.

“The current biennial budget is going to collapse for the second time in four months,” he said. “By July this group has to produce a product … to take back to the city council and hopefully add some value to the discussion of the elected officials.”

Cuts that have already happened have been almost “invisible” members of the Task Force mentioned.

That perception can be difficult to change, Thibault said.

“You’ve had to cut back and people have not seen the impact and that’s great on a policy side,” he said. “It makes it more challenging to make a case for needing more revenue.”