Ben Sorensen
speaker
8,458 appearances
38 recordings
1 series
first heard Sep 2023
last heard 2 Sep
Ben Sorensen’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 9 in all, peaking in Jun 2026 with 3.
Appearances
And yes, it will affect
jobs, but there's more efficiency and there's a way to handle those job losses through attrition, not filling vacancies, perhaps buyouts.
There's other opportunities as we move forward.
But this is the trend in the nation of all municipalities as we move forward incorporating AI and especially the larger municipalities such as ours.
We also recognize that there's revenue loss, but there's also with some revenue losses come opportunities for additional cost recovery and enhancements, which we've looked at and we are putting together a report in more detail that when we come back in August, we'll report back on some of our ideas.
I'm pleased to report though that some of those, the city manager and OMB and department heads have already taken
TAKING SOME OF THOSE COMMENTS AND THEY'RE LEANING FORWARD TO START WORKING TOWARDS WITH THIS COMMISSION TO TRY TO RECAPTURE SOME OF THOSE ENHANCEMENTS AND SOME OF THOSE ADDITIONAL REVENUE SOURCES.
AND THEN OUR BUDGET APPROACH IS OBVIOUSLY TO WORK WITHIN OUR MEANS AND A BALANCED BUDGET WITH BALANCING STRATEGIES.
AND THEN THE MILITARY AND BENCHMARKING ON THE MILITARY.
As you know, we went 19 years up to this year with no millage increase.
We've been fortunate enough to have assessed values increase.
However, when you look historically now, those assessed values are trending downward.
We're not in the double digits like we were three and four years ago.
We're in 7%, 8%.
And with the downturn of the housing market,
CONSTRUCTION MARKET AND COMMERCIAL, THERE'S A POSSIBILITY THAT FOR THE NEXT TWO TO THREE YEARS UNTIL THE INDUSTRY MAKES AN ADJUSTMENT, WE'RE GOING TO SEE THAT DOWNWARD TREND.
SO THE BOARD HAS TAKEN ALL THESE PROJECTS AND BROKEN IT UP AS TEAM, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS AND DOVE IN, AND WE'LL COME BACK AS I MENTIONED IN AUGUST WITH A MORE DETAILED REPORT ON THAT.
WE ARE FACING A TURNING POINT IN OUR BUDGET.
THE EXPENSES ARE FAR OUTSIDING THE REVENUES COMING IN.
AS YOU KNOW, 61% OF OUR BUDGET IS PUBLIC SAFETY AND SALARIES AND BENEFITS.
Showing 401–420 of 8,458 · page 21 of 423
← Previous
Next →