Questions about the city budget

1.  Capital Projects    $4,193,911

a.  To be reviewed at a later date as I pull together additional facts.

2.  Police        $3,864,269

a.  As this is a primary responsibility of the City, I will review later.

3.  Parks and Recreation $2,911,496

a.  This to me stands out loud and clear, let’s start here.

4.  Streets       $2,398,824

a.  As this is a primary responsibility of the city, I will review later.

i.  But I am concerned this doesn’t have a higher level of interest by the council.

5.  Fire        $1,308,809

a.  As this is a primary responsibility of the city, I will review later.

6.  Library       $ 901,950

a. I will review this next as I review more details.

Please provide the following information:

Parks and Rec.    $2,911,496 budget:

A. Recreation

a. Total Payroll, benefits, retirement, etc.   $_____________

b.  Sports; i.e. Kids, Swim, softball etc.

 i.  How is this money appropriated or spent?

c.  Community Arena            $395,885.00

 i.  I understand this is the ice arena.

1.  How does this cost $395,885?

2.  Is this reoccurring annually?

B.  Parks

a.  Total payroll, benefits, retirement, etc.   $_____________

 i.  I understand the city has some 30 parks.

1.  This is high in comparison to other cities.

C.  Forestry

a. Total payroll, benefits, retirement, etc.   $_____________

i.  What is considered “Forestry?”

D. Trails

a.  Land

i.  What/how is the $1,000,000 going to be spent on?

1.   In addition to the capital projects of $4.2 million.

I look forward to the council’s review and explanation for the betterment of Fergus Falls.

Mark Leighton

Fergus Falls