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Current Events
- Election Results:
- Mayor: Dennis Fisher
- For those of you that voted for me... Thank You!
- For those that didn't... feel free to tell me where I lost you!
- Council: Stephanie Henderson and Sara Van Asten.
- Mayor: Dennis Fisher
- If you or people in your area want to meet and discuss current/future topics related to the city, reach out to me to set up a time to visit. (email, phone call, or in person)
- As you're driving on the river road by Stephens' park, you'll notice construction on the south side of the road. That's the new central water system treatment facility in progress. It is scheduled to open sometime this coming summer!
- Many of you are familiar with the phrase "rural look and feel" or "rural character." Dayton residents have said this is important to them and I agree. It's even in our mission statement. We've had a couple work sessions on the topic and I believe it'll result in a list of ideas we will be prioritizing for the future. If you have ideas, please let me know.
Item J (2025 Budget Presentation)
This item is a legal requirement to allow the public to hear and comment on the 2025 budget. What was presented was the result of the many discussions and work sessions with the council and staff to finalize department budgets and staff increases.
Some of the specific changes are listed below in the final tax levy item.
Item K (Vacation of Easement - Ziegler)
The owners of the Ziegler location at 18151 Territorial Road will be doing some replatting of this property and the neighboring one. In order to get this done they submitted an application to vacate the drainage and utility easements. This passed 5-0
Item L (Vacation of Easement - Riverwalk)
The west side of Riverview Ln N in Riverwalk has an easement defined to allow a temporary cul-de-sac put in until the property to the west develops. The developer is asking that the cul-de-sac be shifted a bit which requires the current easement to be vacated in lieu of the new one. This passed 5-0.
Item M (Parkway Neighborhood)
Over the past year or so the city has been in talks with a developer that wants to put in market-rate (non-low income) townhomes and apartments on a property on the far side of the freeway (property immediately to the south after crossing the interchange).
Here are some points relevant to the project:
- The property has had trouble getting any development proposed due to the access, wetlands, and the shape.
- In general, you can’t get commercial into an area without a lot of homes.
- This project will be done in 4 phases, the first 2 will occur fairly quickly and provide about $400k in tax revenue to the city and 340 units in about 3 years.
- When completed, the project is going to provide 650 units.
- There is quite a bit of infrastructure the city is having the developer put in including:
- Design and construction of a public road that connects this development with the Dayton Parkway (about 1,000 feet). This road will also service the property to the west and any commercial going in nearby.
- Utilities
- A traffic signal at the intersection with the Parkway.
- Trails/sidewalks outside the development.
The developer wants to be compensated for the infrastructure outside of the development which is fair but there is a disagreement as to how much that is.
This was a discussion with no vote was taken. There will likely be a work session specifically on this in January.
Item N (Final City Tax Levy)
This was vote on what was decided in last week's meeting regarding the 2025 tax levy.
Some of the primary changes from last year:
- 2 new police officers
- 2 new full time fire fighters
- 1 part time for public works
- 1 full time activity specialist
- paid on call fire fighter pay went from $17/hr to $30/hr.
To determine the amount of taxes you’ll pay on your property, the state uses the tax rate and your property value. The tax rate is calculated by the amount of tax levy the city sets divided by a number called the tax capacity. When the council decided the preliminary levy back in September, we were not given the correct capacity value.
Even though the tax rate is roughly the same as last year, the average resident taxes to the city will go up because the average property value went up.
I had 2 reasons I voted against this; a significant jump in the equipment fund and the fact it was a tax increase.
The final decision was to set the levy at $8,776,000. Last year it was $7,889,000. So that’s an increase of $887,000 or 11.24%. I still think the capital equipment jump needed to be reduced.
My reasons for voting against this was primarily the significant increase in the capital equipment fund, the fact it was a tax increase, and that the budget discussions were based off of inaccurate information given to the council by more than one entity.
The tax levy passed 4-1 (I voted against it).
Item O (2025 Long Term Plan)
There were no changes from when this was last discussed. The main changes for this year were to move the 3rd fire station and new city hall to 2031 and keep in mind neither of these implies they will happen.
Item P (closed session)
This was a discussion regarding the Police Department labor negotiations.