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Current Events
- Elections... 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)
- The new water treatment facility is UP AND RUNNING! If you're on the north central water system you should no longer see discolored, sulfur smelling water. Though... for those of you not using a water softener, you'll still want to look into getting one.
- 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.
Work Session (SW Water System)
This was a continuation of a previous discussion we had on the SW water system. Unfortunately, there was no additional information since then so in my eyes we didn’t accomplish much. What’s happening is Maple Grove (where the SW system gets water) is looking at softening their water, which will significantly increase the cost of the water. In addition to that they’re looking at adding another treatment facility to their north side, and the preliminary costs their assigning to Dayton are enormous... even though we use a small amount of the water. So, the bulk of the discussion centers around if we want to create our own water system. Either way, we’re talking about roughly (very roughly) $50M. My concern is we don’t really know what Maple Grove wants or is doing at this point. All of this is aimed at a working solution around the year 2032-ish.
Item H (City Audit)
As usually, not much to see here. We have more separation of responsibilities with regards to the finances, but until we significantly add more staff (due to population growth), this will be (and always has been) the only concern the audit firms have.
Item J (Historic Village Water)
This was a more detailed analysis of the Historic Village water / sewer system capabilities. The task was to determine if the current water and sewer system will meet the needs of the Historic Village redevelopment plan which was approved a few years back. That plan allows redevelopment of low density (single family) areas to medium density (townhomes, quads, etc.) most of which would happen a few decades from today.
The analysis showed that the water system needs a water tower. We’ve known this for years and we’re currently looking at installing one in the next year or so. As far as sewer, there are 2 lift stations, and both would need to be upgraded. My guess is, over the next couple decades there may be opportunities to upgrade those as part of maintenance on the system.
Item K (Sewer & Water Comp Plan)
Dayton’s sewer and water plans haven’t been comprehensively updated since roughly 2006, though some parts have been updated. This was to accept updated comprehensive plans for both systems and was approved 5-0.
Item L (NW Water Tower)
With a grant from the state, we now have the funding to put in a tower for the Historic Village that’s been needed since the water system was put in. It’ll be a 250k gallon, spheroidal tank. As of today, there are only 2 possible spots it can go, behind the stands at the ballpark or next to pump #1 on Brockton. Nobody likes these things near them but... it’s got to go somewhere. The decision will likely occur at the next council meeting. The direction to staff was to get details for each location to help make that decision.
Item M (Communication Policy)
This was to incorporate a social media policy into the current communication policy for city staff. With a few amendments it was approved 5-0.
Item N (RFP Engineering)
This was to approve going out for bids for the engineering work. To ensure we are staying up with the market, the city is going out for bids more often on services like this. It was approved 5-0.
Item O (Budget)
This was our preliminary 2027 budget discussion. The property taxes you pay to the city are derived (roughly) by taking the value of your home, times the tax rate, times the classification rate. The classification rate isn’t very obvious but for most residential it’s 1%. Higher value homes get hit a little harder than the 1%.
A home with a value of $400,000 and a city tax rate of 36% get you a city tax of $1,440.
When city leaders decide how much money they want to take from you to run the city for next year, that’s when the city tax rate is determined. The city tax rate is roughly the amount of money they want (Levy), divided by a value proportional to the value of all the property (tax capacity). The county determines the tax capacity. If the money wanted is $10M and the capacity is $28M, the tax rate is 10/28=36%. If you want to keep the rate the same, the % increase in the levy must be the same as the % increase in the capacity. Staff knows that most of the current council aren’t at all keen on increasing the tax rate, so not surprisingly the levy increase they want always seems to match the capacity increase.
Typically, our capacity increases have been in the double digits do to all the development. That means the levy increases are also in the double digits. Much of that makes sense since our growth implies more city services are needed.
When I got in my current role, the tax rate was roughly 55%. We were easily the highest in the area and known statewide for our high taxes. Since then, we’ve brought it down to 36% and, other than Maple Grove, we are now the lowest in the area.
The focus of this meeting was to layout staff’s requests for levy items and expectations from the council members. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m ok with the levy going up to cover new properties, given those are real needs for increased services (i.e. roads) but I’m very leery of spending increases allocated to increases in property values.
Item P (Closed Session)
This was to discuss a discipline issue with a staff member.
Item Q (Closed Session Action)
This was to direct the City Administrator to take the termination action requested in the closed session.