►
From YouTube: February 8, 2016 - City Council Work Session
Description
February 8, 2016 - City Council Work Session
http://www.cityblm.org
View meeting documentation:
http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=17&recordid=4782
Music by www.RoyaltyFreeKings.com
B
B
C
Thank
you
very,
very
much,
my
hair
mayor
and
councillors.
You
know
this
comprehensive
fee
study
has
been
talked
about
for
several
years.
I.
Think
anytime.
You
embark
on
such
a
study
and
I'm,
not
sure
if
the
city
has
ever
had
such
a
study
done,
but
in
the
cities
where
we've
undertaken
such
an
exercise
before,
there's
not
only
a
lot
of
work
up
front
in
working
with
the
consultant
to
complete
the
study,
but
sometimes
there's
even
more
work
going
forward
in
implementation
as
you're
going
to
hear
tonight.
C
I
think
there's
some
interesting
findings,
but
it
is
also
kind
of
a
significant
change
for
the
city
because,
as
the
next
steps
are
talked
about,
this
particular
study
in
its
implications,
it's
what
would
be
presented
in
the
future
is
going
to
entail
some
policy
decisions
of
cost
reimbursement
policies
for
a
myriad
of
services
that
we
provide
that
lend
themselves
to
having
the
cost
of
those
services,
both
direct
and
indirect,
paid
for
by
fees
and
service
charges.
We're
very
fortunate
tonight
to
have
two
gentlemen
from
fiscal
choice
consulting
to
make
this
presentation.
C
They
were
here
today
even
providing
additional
training
to
a
couple
of
members
of
our
finance
staff.
We
will
be
charging
the
finance
department
with
the
sponsibility
primary
responsibility
to
help
keep
these
the
to
implement,
execute
these
recommendations
and
work
with
the
various
departments,
as
we
continue
to
always
keep
fairly
current,
both
direct
and
indirect
costs
associated
with
the
many
fees
of
the
city
issues
now
or
may
yet
entertained
in
the
future.
C
D
You
Thank
You
mr.
mayor
members
of
council,
mr.
manager,
and
this
is
my
partner,
Jerry
wolf,
who
also
conducted
part
of
the
study.
The
plan
for
this
evening
is
to
use
not
more
than
15
minutes
in
my
running
through
a
slide
deck
to
present
to
you
how
we
did
the
study
and
what
we
found
and
then
to
leave
the
second
half
of
the
session
for
unstructured
question-and-answer
without
further
ado,
then
let
me
begin
what
is
the
point
of
having
a
fee
we're
selling
a
service?
That's
really
what
it
is.
D
If
you
are
a
taxpayer,
you
are
entitled
to
certain
services
as
a
matter
of
course,
but
there's
no
direct
link
between
the
amount
of
taxes
you
pay
and
the
level
of
service
that
you
personally
will
obtain
that
doesn't
hold
for
user
fee
for
user
fee.
We're
saying
you
can
have
all
you
want,
but
you
have
to
pay
for
it,
and
so
the
open
question
is
exactly
what
Bloomington
has
asked:
how
does
what
we're
charging
compared
to
what
it
cost
us
to
deliver?
The
services
I
have
heard
a
lot
of
people
say
I'm
already
taxpayer.
D
Why
should
I
have
to
pay
any
fees?
Well,
we're
all
federal
taxpayers,
but
we
have
to
buy
stamps,
we
have
to
pay
for
passports,
etc.
And,
frankly,
this
is
just
part
of
the
bundle
of
how
we
pay
for
government,
which
is
some
of
it
Japan
taxes
and
some
of
it
you
pay
in
fees.
The
fees,
then,
are
a
purchase
of
service
now
bundled
under
what
you
might
think
of.
D
As
fees
are
a
group
of
different
types
of
charges,
fees
or
purchase
as
a
service
and
by
a
ruling
of
Illinois
Court
of
Appeals
that
you're
not
supposed
to
make
a
profit
on
inspection
or
regulatory
services,
finds
our
behavioral
incentives.
You
do
not
have
to
link
those
two
costs,
somebody's
not
doing
what
you
want
them
to
do.
You
may
find
them
licenses,
give
you
permission
to
do
business
here,
but
it's
not
really
a
fee
and
we're
saying
who's
in
our
community.
What
do
we
know
about
them?
D
Who
would
we
contact
in
case
of
an
emergency
etcetera?
Are
they
the
kind
of
people
we
want
here?
Taxes
are
more
generalized
exactions
of
wealth.
You
earn
more,
you
pay
more
income
tax
shop.
More!
You
pay
more
sales
tax,
all
of
which
entitles
you
to
services
such
as
citizens
get,
but
it
doesn't
link
to
any
specific
amount
of
service.
You
don't
get
your
own
lane
to
drive
in
people.
D
Often
ask
me:
what
do
we
do
if
the
budgets
tight
and
boils
down
to
two
things
are
and
more
spend
less
on
the
urn
side
of
taxes
are
very
unpopular
as
a
go-to
source
to
deal
with
a
tight
budget.
It's
not
impossible,
but
it's
unpopular
fees
or
what
we're
talking
about
tonight
so
we'll
hold
that
the
other
side
of
things
would
be
to
reduce
expense.
If
your,
if
your
budgets
not
balanced
you,
you
could
say
well,
let's
just
find
some
efficiencies
and
you
can.
D
But
fundamentally
what
that
amounts
to
is
balancing
the
budget
by
dialing
back
how
fast
you
serve
people,
because
that's
what
happens
when
you
have
less
money,
you
ask
for
and
receive
to
deliverable
documents.
One
is
a
cost
allocation
plan
and
one
as
the
fee
study
of
the
individual
offices.
What
is
a
cost
allocation
plan?
It's
a
technical
term.
You
can
think
of
the
city
as
having
two
basic
functions.
D
There
are
people
that
serve
citizens
directly
and
there
are
people
that
serve
the
people
that
serve
the
citizens
directly
in
the
latter,
category
would
be
administrative
services
such
as
HR
and
Finance
and
facilities
management,
and
so
we
have
undertaken
a
cost
allocation
plan.
That's
an
analysis
of
these
central
overhead
costs
and
trace
them
out
to
the
departments
and
funds
that
they
benefit
so
that
we
can
get
specific
about
what
does
it
really
cost
the
city
to
support
offices
when
that
expense
is
not
found
entirely
in
their
own
budget
in
the
fee
study?
D
Fundamentally,
what
we
do
is
we
start
with
the
budget
of
the
department,
but
we're
drilling
down,
not
to
what
is
a
cost
to
run
the
organization,
but
what
does
it
cost
to
do
x
and
y
and
z
in
each
office?
So
it's
it?
You
would
never
budge
it
that
way.
Heaven
forbid
it
would
be
overwhelming,
but
for
the
purposes
of
this
study
you
need
to
drill
down
from
what
does
it
cost
to
run
the
department
to
what
does
it
cost
to
do?
Each
of
the
things
that
the
department
does.
D
The
cost
allocation
plan
has
some
other
potential
uses.
It
will
show
you
where
you're,
where
you
are
at
in
terms
of
charging
other
funds
in
terms
of
charging
intergovernmental
agreements,
etc.
We
used
it
also
here
to
find
the
amount
of
administrative
costs
that
goes
into
supporting
each
fee
service.
D
We
have
provided
the
files
to
finance
and
the
training.
Our
expectation
is
that
you
will
update
these
models
yourselves,
but
that
you'll
call
for
tech
support
from
time
to
time,
and
we
will
coach
your
staff
through
the
process
of
updating.
This
I
have
up
now
a
summary
of
the
findings
and
it
we're
still
packaging
the
material
for
of
Park
and
Rec
and
bring
that
to
you
at
a
future
point.
D
But
here
what
this
shows
and
is
is
very
important,
is
that
the
city
is
using
tax
dollars
to
the
tune
of
a
million
for
a
year
to
support
fee
services.
That
doesn't
mean
that
every
fee
is
under
charged.
It's
not,
but
collectively.
It
is
the
finding
of
this
study
that,
while
a
fee
may
be
a
purchase
of
service,
the
price
charged
is
less
than
the
cost
of
the
delivered
service
and
the
difference
is
coming
from
tax
dollars.
D
So
you
see
the
line
item
detail
in
front
of
you.
A
lot
of
that,
of
course,
is
clustered
around
building
and
development
services
will
treat
each
individual
department
here
or
office
one
by
one,
but
the
big
picture
is
that
the
city
is
using
tax
dollars
to
the
tune
of
a
million
for
to
support
these
operations.
D
D
There
is
a
rather
elaborate
fee
structure
right
now,
with
tears
of
your
value
of
your
projects
is
between
x
and
y
or
y
and
z,
etc.
The
city
does
not
have
detail
on
what
it
costs
to
work
within
each
of
those
bands.
We
did
explore
that
we
tried
to
get
that
data.
It
was
not
possible,
but
we
are
highly
content,
confident
from
the
numbers
that
you
are
in
fact
only
recovering
a
small
percentage
of
a
cost
of
the
work
that
you
do
for
development
that
is
30
you're,
getting
38%
planning.
D
The
big
thing
that
stuck
out
here
is
a
Planning
Commission
case.
This
is
a
almost
an
administrative
law
type
of
proceeding.
It
invokes
hearings
and
transcripts
and
additional
hearings,
and
at
the
rate
that
you
are
currently
charging,
you
are
recovering
eight
dollars,
33
cents
an
hour
for
your
staff
effort
on
that
it
is
woefully
short
for
the
cost
of
breaking
even
on
a
plan.
D
In
case
we
will
look
at
some
comparative
data
from
other
cities
and
we
will
find
that,
while
the
city's
charge
Bloomington's
charge,
125
is
maybe
half
of
what
the
peers
charge
and
nobody's
coming
close
I
will
tell
you
from
personal
experience
that
the
cost
of
your
cases-
it's
not
out
of
line,
that's
what
it
costs
to
do
it.
So
you
have
a
decision
in
front
of
you
and
I
think
you
should
think
of
all
of
these
user
fees.
This
way
cost
is
a
fact.
That's
what
it
really
takes
to
do.
D
The
work
price
is
a
policy
choice.
I
can
look
at
the
over/under
numbers
by
Department
and
I
cannot
detect
in
there
a
conscious
policy
over
how
much
of
the
cost
of
these
activities
you
intend
to
recover
from
fees.
It
appears
to
me
that
it's
just
kind
of
evolved
when
you're
at
a
time
one
department
at
a
time
one
fee
at
a
time
and
what
you
will
have
in
front
of
you
as
a
result
of
this
study,
is
a
discussion
over
whether
the
way
things
are
going.
D
The
way
you
want
them
to
go
and
whatever
decision
you
make
I
think
I
would
respect.
But
I
give
you
a
lot
of
credit
for
asking
the
question.
City
clerk
fee
services
are
actually
operating
at
a
profit.
I
think
it
might
be
fair
to
say
that
some
of
the
charges
in
this
office
and
City
Clerk's
office
trend
more
towards
what
I
would
call
a
licensed
than
a
fee.
You
want
to
do
business
there.
You
need
to.
D
The
fire
department
is
under
recovering
by
about
three
percent
that
has
a
policy
of
increasing
fees.
Three
percent
annually
we
didn't
find
it
to
be
uniformly
off
by
3%
activity
by
activity,
but
in
the
aggregate
the
policy
of
a
three
percent
fee
increase.
I
think
the
study
shows
that
that's
a
sound
policy
and
you're
on
the
right
course
on
that
one.
You
arguing
relatively
well
on
ambulance
Billings.
Typically
I'd
expect
the
forty
percent
cost
recovery
you're
getting
45,
that's
good!
That's
a
good
thing!
D
You
have
some
ambulance
standby
costs
for
sporting
events
and
that's
high
school
and
college,
and
it's
a
policy
decision
whether
to
ask
them
to
pay
a
little
more,
but
they're
paying
right
now
does
not
break.
Even
the
police
department
sells
a
number
of
services.
Police
costs
are
in
two
bundles.
Some
of
them
are
support
costs
to
activities
where
the
fee
is
paid
over
in
the
City
Clerk's
office.
So
we've
analyzed
some
of
the
police
costs
match
that
over
in
the
city,
clerk
etc.
D
But
what
you
see
on
the
on
the
screen
in
front
of
you
right
now
is
the
summary
of
police
only
costs.
You
can
see
two
columns
in
the
middle
cost
to
build
services
and
cost
to
build
services
paid.
There
are
a
million
dollars
different
in
many
cases.
These
are
activities
that
the
state
mandates
not
only
that
you
do,
but
how
much
you
can
charge
your
ability
to
collect
fully
on
that
is
not
great.
D
D
D
I
don't
have
that
to
put
up
on
the
screen,
because
the
number
of
items
on
the
page
is
just
too
many
to
be
visible
on
the
screen,
so
that
that's,
why
that's
a
hands
out
but
I
as
long
as
you
recognize
that
price
and
cost
don't
mean
the
same
thing,
it
would
be
useful
in
looking
at
your
costs
and
deciding
how
much
to
recover
to
see
how
you
compare
to
other
cities.
Nobody
wants
to
wake
up
and
read
in
the
pantograph
City
Council
raises
fees
way
out
of
line.
You
know,
that's
just
not!
D
D
Some
of
them,
you
do
very
little
of
there's,
not
much
point
in
comparing
an
activity
that
you
do
once
or
twice
a
year.
What
do
you
really
learn?
Other
cities,
don't
necessarily
title
their
fees,
the
same
way
you
title
them
or
they
may
title
them
the
same
way,
but
not
mean
the
same
bundle
of
services
etc.
D
But
you
know
it's
not
technically
possible.
Even
in
you
know
the
get
a
hundred
people
and
go
at
this
for
weeks,
you're
not
going
to
get
a
match
on
what
every
city
charges
on
everything.
Is
it's
not
not
possible
because
of
lack
of
consistency
and
how
people
charge
for
these
things?
Okay,
what
we?
What
do
we
do?
Next,
you
need
to
mull
this
over
a
little
bit.
You
will
have
chance
now
to
ask
me
some
questions
about
it.
D
D
I
think
that
you
are
fine
updating
this
annually
by
a
change
in
some
cost
index
and
I
would
recommend
to
change
in
your
appropriation
if
your
appropriation
grows
by
pick
a
number
two
percent
annually
to
increase
the
prices
by
two
percent
annually
after
four
to
five
years,
your
use
of
technology
laws
that
you
enforce
the
staff
that
you
employ,
etc.
They
change
enough
that
I,
don't
think
you
could
continue
to
adjust
this
based
on
changes
in
appropriation,
but
from
one
year
to
the
next
right.
D
After
a
cost
study,
I'd
be
comfortable,
saying
next
year's
fees
should
should
change
by
the
change
in
your
appropriation.
I
think.
That's
a
cost-based
indexing,
so
well.
That
said,
those
are
my
formal
remarks
and
we
can
now
move
to
questions
or
whatever
free
forum
discussion.
You
would
like
to
have
about
user
fees
and
user
fee
policy.
All.
D
We
did
you
have
the
list
in
front
of
you
for
that
and
we
did
not
look
at
garbage
fees
and
I
actually
had
not
much
to
do
selecting
the
fees
for
the
study.
But
if
you
go
to
the
last
page
of
the
handout
you'll
see
what
we
did
cover
and
there
are
some
dumpster
permits,
but
not
garbage
per
se
and
I
understand
it's
a
topic
of
current
interest
and
so
I
think
I
know
why
you
asked
if.
E
C
C
D
E
D
Asked
everybody
for
recommendations.
Some
have
made
them,
as
of
now
have
not
I
put
in
their
recommendations
as
you
have
them,
I'm,
not
sure
that
you
can
consciously
make
a
profit,
but
I
want
to
put
that
in
front
of
you
for
serious
consideration
that
there
are
cases
where
you're
doing
a
really
good
job
of
recovering
costs
in
cases
where
you're
not
doing
a
great
job
of
recovering
costs,
and
so
a
salute
to
the
City
Clerk's
office.
D
D
This
sheet
that
you
have
you
look
at
the
over
under
and
the
percentage
is
there
I,
don't
think
anybody
could
really
say
that
that
look
like
a
conscious
expression
of
policy,
of
how
much
cost
to
recover
I
think
this
is
an
example
of
incrementally
one
decision.
At
a
time
the
city
finds
itself
in
this
position
and
that
housing
has
an
opportunity
to
review
whether
the
way
you
charge
is
the
way
you
want
to
charge.
E
C
E
So
I
was
interested
to
see
that
ours
is
a
hundred
and
fifty
percent
of
our
peer
average.
So
when
you
see
fees
as
low
as
fifty
dollars
and
as
high
as
six
hundred
and
fifty
dollars
are,
there
are
the
rationales
behind
those
fees
that
different
from
uncommitted
community
to
another
or
their
different
situations
at
play.
I.
D
Don't
think
so,
I
think
it's
simply
happenstance
I
had
a
client
a
few
years
ago
was
a
county,
and
the
county
asked
me
now
that
we
have
legal
authority
to
set
some
prices
based
on
the
cost
study.
Do
you
happen
to
know
how
long
our
fees
have
been
at
this
price
level?
I
didn't
know.
So
we
went
down
to
the
county's
law
library.
We
found
the
oldest
Illinois
statutes
book.
We
could
from
1927
and
the
prices
in
1927
of
the
same
ones
that
are
on
the
books
today.
D
D
At
a
time
we
add
to
the
ordinance
a
new
fee
and
a
new
price,
and
it
can
just
kind
of
linger
out
there
for
a
long
time
until
you
look
at
it
and
and
kudos
to
the
city
for
taking
a
look
at
this
I
mean
you
actually
are
ahead
of
the
game
at
this
point,
because
you
know
more
than
these
other
cities
do
about
what
it
cost
you
to
do.
These
things.
F
C
I've
seen
them
different
in
many
establishments,
you
do
have
one
features
for
the
application
process
and
then
a
separate
for
the
license
because,
as
you
know,
once
you
go
through
the
application
process,
you
don't
repeat
that
every
year
it's
just
a
simple
renewal
hands.
That's
why
many
cities
have
had
a
fee
for
each
one,
the
application
and
then
a
separate
one
for
the
annual
fee.
How.
D
F
D
That's
fair
to
say
this
is
this
is
a
piece
of
it.
There
are,
and
this
is
this
is
just
a
good
question.
This
comes
up
a
lot
where
people
say
well
what
about
law
enforcement
costs
to
make
sure
that
they're
not
selling
to
minors?
What
about
drunk
drivers?
What
about
what
economists
call
externalities
all
these
things
are
kind
of
outside
of
the
transaction?
How
much
of
that
should
we
include?
Well,
that's
a
good
question.
F
D
G
Thanks
for
sharing
your
results
with
us,
just
a
couple
of
of
general
questions
on
the
results
page
or
some
of
the
next
steps
page,
you
mentioned
the
council
decides
what
ten
act.
Do
you
see
generally
and
other
communities
do
do.
Does
a
local
local
governance
board?
Do
they
set
a
they
set
prices,
or
do
they
set
a
policy
of
of
saying
we
want
or
we
want
to
work?
You
know
subsidize
at
this
level
more.
The.
D
D
D
We
need
to
care
a
little
bit
about
things
like
again
in
the
in
the
building
world.
If
somebody
has
a
five-hundred-dollar
do-it-yourself
project
and
it's
told
that
the
permit
fee
will
be
five
hundred
dollars
as
well
I'm
kind
of
what
a
lot
of
people
would
do
face
with
that
is
just
do
the
work
without
a
permit,
and
then
you
have
unsafe
structures,
so
I
I
can't
just
salute
the
cost
that
we
determine
and
say
that
would
be
a
good
policy
and
that's
one
reason
and
David
Hales
and
I
discussed
this.
D
One
reason
we
have
this
note
here
underneath
summary
of
findings.
You
need
to
tread
carefully
here,
for
the
most
part,
I
think
some
fee
increases
are
due
and
they're
justified
by
the
numbers
and
I,
don't
think
life
on
Earth.
As
we
know
it
will
see
some
prices
go
up,
but
I
can't
just
globally
tell
you
how
much
they
should
go
up.
I
think
that
the
process
we
have
in
place
here
is
staff
will
come
back
to
you
with
some
specific
recommendations
and
you
will
have
the
chance
to
decide
whether
those
feel
right.
H
Just
to
be
real
short
and
right
to
the
point
here,
it
seems
to
me
that
we
would
be
concerned
about
recovering
our
direct
costs
outside
of
externals
I.
Don't
think
that
this
is
there's
a
lot
of
science
to
this
is
pretty
simple
to
me,
I
mean,
obviously,
since
nineteen
twenty
seven
we've
had
a
high
level
of
automation,
and
a
lot
of
this
is
cookie
cutter,
one
liquor
fee
to
the
next.
H
Yes,
there's
probably
differences
in
terms
of
how
each
establishment
might
handle
themselves
etc,
but
one
builder
to
the
next
I
wouldn't
think
that
there'd
be
a
lot
of
differences
and
so
I
think
it's
very
important
for
us,
from
a
small
business
standpoint,
to
keep
very
clearly
in
mind
that
there's
barriers
to
entry
and
folks
will
not
come
to
our
city
and
engage
in
business
if
our
fees
are
too
high,
and
that's
a
very
poignant
to
me.
So
just
just
my
comment
just
my
observation:
it
if
I'm
wrong,
maybe
I'm
wrong,
but
I
think.
D
D
It
doesn't
sound
right,
it
might
be
mathematically
right,
but
I,
don't
think
it
sounds
like
good
policy,
but
I,
don't
think
you're
recovering
your
direct
costs
here.
I
think
that
I
think
if
your
policy
is
to
recover
direct
costs.
I
think
you
know
there
is
room
in
here,
since
these
haven't
been
increased
frequently
that
maybe
it's
time
to
do
this,
I
would
also
encourage
you
to
think
of
fee
increases.
This
is
going
to
take
something
on
your
part,
so
bear
with
me
on
this.
The
increases
are
reformed.
D
You
know
you
consider
what
you
might
want
to
do
with
the
price
in
the
context
of
the
overall
value
of
the
transaction
to
the
applicant.
If
your
fee
is
e
equal
to
the
transaction
cost,
probably
not
going
to
fly
if
they
small
percentage
of
the
total
transaction
and
that
might
actually
not
distort
behavior
that
might
not
change.
Okay.
If
we
permit.
C
D
Is
less
than
a
percent
of
the
cost
of
the
Touhou
project?
Even
if
that
permit
fee
goes
up
a
bunch
I'm
not
really
going
to
change
your
decision
about
what
to
do,
but
your
sensitivity
about
that
is
going
to
be
essential
for
the
council
that
make
good
decisions.
I
applaud
you
for
that.
That's
really
Anna.
B
Thank
you
very
much.
We're
gonna
we're
way
over
time
here
and
we
got
another
meeting
that
was
supposed
to
start
about
six
minutes
ago.
Thank
you
very
much
appreciate
that
anyway.
Thank
you
very,
very
informative.
At
this
point,
is
there
a
motion
to
adjourn
mumbai?
All
the
woman
schmidt
is
there
a
second
second
by
all
the
woman,
all
in
favor
signify
by
saying
aye
returned
and
we
will
be
meeting
over
in
the
fishbowl
shortly.