09-21-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

15. 16. Comm. Minutes--September 21, 1992 923 COUNTY PARKING LOT, Committee recommendation accepted County Engineer Keith Berndt said the county parking lot subcommittee met following approval of the county plan for the former Gethsemane Cathedral property by the Fargo Planning Commission and Fargo City Commission. A designing firm was selected, Lightowler Johnson Associates, Inc., and Mr. Berndt recommended signing a contract for $11,700 to design the lot, plus $975 for the survey and $1,000 for soil testing. He said the base work will be done with county forces. MOTION, passed Mr. Shannon moved and Mr. Risher seconded to authorize work to begin on the parking lot east of the Courthouse in order to relieve immediate parking problems, at a cost of $13,675 as outlined. On roll call vote, motion carried unanimously. HEARING, County budget for 1993 County Auditor Michael Montplaisir said this date and time were set in order to receive public comment on the proposed 1993 county budget. He said the Commission scheduled the final budget meeting for 3:00 PM on October 1, 1992. The budget must be adopted on or before October 1st each year. The Chairman opened the public hearing. Jeannette Stanton, Fargo, asked about the number of mills, and Mr. Wieland said the mills are currently at 68.66 in the proposed 1993 budget. Mr. Montplaisir said the Commission has reduced the preliminary budget requests by $673,697 as of this date. He said the water resource districts have reduced their budgets by $123,000 in addition to the Commission reductions. Mrs. Stanton asked about the total budget for Cass County Social Services, and Mr. Montplaisir said state and federal dollars which do not pass through the county budget are not added to the county budget, which is consistent with state and federal policies. The Chairman closed the public hearing and Commissioners were given an opportunity for comment. Mrs. Toussaint said she has spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the budget and she noted that one of the departments with the most un-funded mandates, Social Services, kept their levy the same as last year. She said commissioners have informally agreed upon an additional levy of 2.7 mills for economic development. Therefore, she proposed changing the budget policy whereby the Commission will attempt to budget in a manner that will maintain the mill levy at 62.7 mills or less. Last year, the mill levy limit was 60 mills. MOTION, passed Mrs. Toussaint moved and Mr. Shannon seconded to adopt policy change to the Cass County Commission Policy Manual, Section 10.00, Budget Policy in paragraph 2, Page 2 of 5, to add the following underlined language: "The Commission will attempt to budget in a manner that will maintain the mill levy at 62.7 mills or less." Motion carried on roll call vote with four members voting "Aye," Mr. Eckert opposing after asking if the 2.7 mills for economic development is included in the levy.