Budget retreat emphasizes reputation, social media outreach and options to stabilize revenue

Council members spent a large portion of the retreat discussing two interlinked priorities: improving the city's reputation and communications, and identifying ways to sustain the city's budget amid inflation and program requests.

On communications, staff reported the city reaches roughly 100,000200,000 unique individuals monthly through social media and about 35,00040,000 monthly website visits. Staff and council discussed hiring or designating a social-media specialist to push resident-focused content, using influencer outreach selectively, and creating regular, smaller stories to change public perception. Staff cited a recent outreach success with a FOX13 reporter who visited the city and arranged follow-up stories.

On budget sustainability, Councilmember Lars (first referenced during the retreat) urged a "sustainable budget" approach, including periodic small property-tax increases tied to inflation rather than large, infrequent hikes. Council members debated indexing to CPI or setting an annual modest percentage (examples discussed included 12% annually) and the messaging required to explain increases to residents. Staff reported program-month requests totaling roughly $44,000,000 and noted that bond maturity schedules and existing debt structures (including some bonds with coupons over 67%) influence the city's capacity for new spending.

Council discussed trade-offs: relying on one-time asset sales to fund operations creates short-term relief but not recurring revenue, whereas incremental property-tax adjustments would provide predictable revenue but require careful public messaging. Staff noted a potential bond-rating benefit if the council adopted an explicit revenue policy for small annual increases.

Council did not adopt a revenue-resolution at the retreat; members asked staff to prepare options and messaging for future deliberation as the budget process continues.