Grand Marais city residents can expect to see an increase in their tax levies of up to 12 percent next year following city council’s decision to pass a preliminary levy of $924,767.76 at their Sept. 9 meeting.
The unanimous 3-0 vote – Mayor Jay Arrowsmith DeCoux and Councilor Anton Moody were absent – means the proposed levy cannot increase, but could go down before final approval and certification at year’s end. The increase would be the first in three years, when the levy was raised from $815,057.51 to the current $824,152.44 in 2013.
City Administrator Mike Roth explained that the $100,000 increase is necessitated by an already-approved 16 percent increase ($44,129) in the library’s 2016 budget, bigger-than-expected health care costs, rises in wages and energy costs and higher debt service payments. “It’s a lot of things we don’t have control over, but there are a lot of things we can still talk about,” said Roth, singling out revenue-generating areas in the budget that can be adjusted such as income from the municipal liquor store and the city’s Rec Park and campground.
And despite the proposed increase, Roth said the added income “doesn’t even get us to doing what we’ve talked about” – projects such as a new public works facility, City Hall improvements including public restrooms, First Street rehab, safety improvements along Highway 61 that are now in the planning stages, and possible office and boat launch/ marina upgrades at the Rec Park. “We know we’ll have to do most of these things over the next 20 years,” Roth said, “but we can’t do them all at once.”
City councilors have held several meetings with the city’s administrators and department heads over the past few months in an effort to come up with the 2016 draft budget that shows $1.9 million in general fund spending. But Roth said council still has three months to further refine and trim the spending plan.
In a related matter, council heard a detailed report from registered architect Nancy Schultz of CR-BPS, a firm hired to conduct an energy and space efficiency survey of City Hall. As expected, Schultz said the 12,148-square-foot municipal building on Broadway, which has had a lot of additions and alterations over the years since the early 1970s, has many deficiencies and shortcomings. The building, which currently houses the city’s administrative offices, public restrooms, liquor store and council chambers, has previously served also as a jail, fire station and visitor information center.
Schultz said the building uses about $30,000 annually on utilities including propane and electricity and has many “air tightness issues,” owing mainly to its age and the fact that it was built on a swamp and therefore experiences a lot of shifting and destabilization. Schultz said the building also is “way underutilized,” is out of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, shifts and has many cracks, and experiences frequent water problems. “It’s not a healthy condition,” she said.
It is up to council to decide whether the building is worth repairing, or to come up with a plan to replace it – that was the reason for commissioning the survey. Schultz said a replacement building to meet the city’s needs would likely cost about $2 million; the price tag for the needed repairs and renovations is estimated at $1.7 million over the next 10 years, but that amount still would not address many of the bigger issues such as the building’s constant shifting and water-caused “hydro-thermal” problems.
Councilor Tim Kennedy thanked Schultz for the presentation and said the information will give council some tools to use and think about as they weigh their fix-versus replace options. “We know something’s going to have to be done sometime soon,” Kennedy said. “There’s nothing shocking here [Schultz’s report].”
Toward that end, Roth updated council on ongoing efforts to acquire available property near the Tomteboda Lodge as a site for a new public utilities maintenance/storage facility and possibly city office space. Roth said the purchase agreement has been accepted and hopefully the environmental assessment will be ready for council’s review – and possibly decision – at its next meeting. Roth explained that the city is simply doing its due diligence in requiring the assessment, which isn’t likely to change the city’s plans unless something “really terrible” is uncovered.
In other business:
. Councilor and planning commission member Tim Kennedy reported that the planning commission spent some time at its last meeting again debating and discussing the vacation rentals situation and trying to refine and define the lodging definitions in the City Code. Kennedy said that until the planning commission and council can get together for their joint meeting, the commission is uncomfortable in making any recommendations for change. “We have no choice now but to say the ordinance stands as is,” said Kennedy. Roth said he is still working on scheduling the joint meeting.
. Council approved a list of 15 businesses which applied for liquor license renewals, covering the period Oct. 1, 2015 through Sept. 30, 2016. The forms will now be sent to the state for review.
• Parks Manager Dave Tersteeg gave an update on the public water access project and ongoing efforts to pursue state funding. A local delegation was expected to travel to St. Paul to make a presentation in an upcoming bonding session.
. Council passed a resolution setting a public hearing for a proposed lot reassessment in Cedar Grove Business Park at 7 p.m. Sept. 30 in City Hall. The cost of the $375,000 project will be borne by the Economic Development Authority and is designed to attach a more fair price on the available parcels, rather than continuing the current practice of asking $60,000 for each lot.
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