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The Shafer City Council held its organizational meeting Jan. 6, starting with the swearing-in of two new council members.

Debbie Kline and Eric Garner were seated and participated in their first city council meeting since being elected in November. Kline and Garner replace outgoing council members Jeremy Vitalis and Patti Kowalski.

As part of the annual organizational meeting, the council filled several committee assignments and selected official designees.

Committee assignments are as follows:

Parks Committee: Garner and Patty Mattson

Planning Commission" Garner and Mayor Kyle Johnson

EDA: Chad Mittelsteadt and Johnson

Street Commissioner: Johnson

Water and Sewer Committee: Mittelsteadt and Johnson

Finance Committee: Kline and Mattson

HR Committee: Mittelsteadt and Kline

Joint Powers Library Committee: Johnson and Mattson

Ordinance Committee: Garner and Johnson

Weed Inspector: Johnson

Civil Defense Emergency Response Coordinator: Johnson

Joint Powers Fire Department: Kline and Mittelsteadt

Hwy. 8 Task Force: Mittelsteadt

Cable Commission: Mattson

City Attorney: Johnson, Grundhoefer and Alliegro

City Engineer: BDM

Building Inspector: Jack Kramer

Law Enforcement: Chisago County Sheriff Department

Official Depositories: Riverbank and Lake Area Bank

Official Newspaper: Chisago County Press

Assistant Mayor: Mattson

City Treasurer Richard Hill gave a cautious, yet positive report on the city's financial standing as of the end of 2008.

He said while revenues were slightly under budget and expenditures were slightly over, because of capital outlay, the city is in a strong financial position.

The 2009 certified levy came in at $22,000 under the 2008 levy, Hill said, and the city moved around some investments last fall to get better rates.

Hill explained that because the majority of city revenue comes in the form of property taxes twice a year, cities must have funds available to sustain operations from December through July, when the first property tax payment of the year is made.

The state recommends that cities have at least 40 percent of their annual budget available in January. Currently, Shafer has funds to cover about 68 percent of its 2009 expenditures.

Hill said that is a very good number, particularly given the current economic situation.

"Other cities are only around 40 percent, so this is a strong start for the year," Hill said.

He also said that the water/sewer reserve level is at a good amount.

"That means we can weather the storm of no new development and no new WAC [Water Access Charge] and SAC [Sewer Access Charge]," he said.

The positive news for Shafer out of the state's budget crisis is that because of its size, Shafer did not lose any LGA (Local Government Aid) funding with its December payment.

"Of course we have not idea what's going to happen in 2009," he said.

Hill said he would bring the anaudited 2008 budget report to the next council meeting.

Upon his request, the council discussed employee wage increases and health care reimbursement for 2009.

Hill told the council that a 1 percent wage increase for city employees would amount to an additional $1,861.

"Have we budgeted for raises?" Garner asked.

Hill said the previous council budgeted around 2.5 percent wage increases for 2009.

Johnson made the motion to freeze wages with no increase, which was unanimously approved.

Hill explained that given the small number of city employees, the city policy has been to offer health care reimbursement up to $450 per month per employee. He recommended raising it to $525, which was included in this year's budget.

"I'm not opposed to an increase, but if we don't get any LGA this year we're going to have to cut somewhere and it's hard to take something like this back," Garner said.

Hill cautioned that the city's current reimbursement amount is low compared to other municipalities, and they want to stay competitive.

The council approved increasing the reimbursement amount to $475.

As an aside, Mayor Johnson said the city of Shafer welcomes snowmobiles and hopes that riders will enjoy themselves and patronize Shafer businesses.

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