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<br />City Council Business Retention & Development Committee <br />Meeting Minutes <br />March 2, 2009 <br />Page 2 of 3 <br /> <br />PRESENTATION - CITY BUDGET REVIEW AND <br />LONG-RANGE FINANCIAL PLANNING <br />City Manager Malcolm Fleming gave his budget presentation. Highlights <br />included: <br />. Basics of City fund management, debt service, and internal service funds; <br />. Overview of revenue sources; expenditures, and capital improvements; <br />. Long-term modeling and assumptions; including: <br />o How fund balances will be severely affected when the open space <br />and parks tax sunsets and is not reauthorized; <br />o If revenue levels stay consistent, by 2014 or 2015 declining <br />revenue and rising expenses will likely necessitate service <br />reductions; <br />o Many capital project requests are currently not funded; <br />o Many service and program requests are currently not funded; <br />. Should additional review be considered necessary, sources for funding <br />include: <br />o Additional property tax mil levy; <br />o Consumer use tax; <br />o Increased sales tax; <br />o Building use tax; <br />o Increased lodging tax; <br />o Increased fees. <br /> <br />Fleming asked the Committee the following questions related to the presentation: <br />. Are we doing what it takes to sustain Louisville as one of the best places <br />to live? <br />. Do we need to cut more? <br />. Are we maintaining our assets? <br />. Should we consider raising more revenue, and if so, what options would <br />you support? <br /> <br />Lathrop suggested the City work to become debt free so as to allow for more <br />options in the budget. <br /> <br />Dalton suggested staff spend more time planning for long-term maintenance of <br />service levels and save money for projects. <br /> <br />Michael Menaker, 1127 Choke Cherry Drive, stated that certain things make <br />sense to finance as an investment (the library), and for others it is reasonable to <br />save for in advance to pay for. <br /> <br />Hogan noted that from a business perspective, the most equitable approach to <br />raise new revenue is to increase the property tax as that would affect everyone. <br />A use tax would disproportionately affect businesses. <br />