02 Council Minutes (08/20/01) - Laserfiche WebLink

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Special City Council Meetrng August 20, 2001 Page 4 year's revenues. He advised that any amount over 3% of last year's revenues would require the city to have additional public hearings. City Manager Malone advised that it would be best to hear from all of the department heads. The City Council can make decisions of what to cut and what might be needed to be added back into the budget as a lot of things have been left out. After discussion, it was the request of the City Council that a list be prepared of the items that had been cut out of the budget by the department heads for the City Council to review. Mr. Anderson came forward telling the Council that the water and sewer contractual rates are under-performing. He cited as an example the revenue from Campbell Soup because their water consumption is down. Mr. Anderson pointed out that when Councilmen exam the budget they will notice that the city does not have a carry forward balance in the Water and Sewer Fund. He said that the city should at any given time have roughly 1 million to 1.2 million dollars of carry forward balance, given the contractual obligations that the city has under the bond covenant. Mr. Anderson advised that this did not happen overnight, and stated that the city has not had a rate increase in one and one-half years. The last rate increase should have fixed the problem, but the rate has just under-performed for various reasons. Mr. Anderson felt that a rate study was needed After discussion, the Council asked Mr. Anderson to get the figures together to show what it would take to bring the Water and Sewer Fund back into compliance. Dr James Brunette, representing the Paris Band Commission, came forward giving a brief history of the Paris Band. He stressed the need for this unique band for the enj oyment of the citizens of Paris. Dr. Brunette explained that the Paris Band uses the facilities of Paris High School and borrows their music and