Perhaps the most pleasing – for Austin residents – item on the city council’s agenda for this Tuesday is a resolution approving the proposed property tax levy.

Sunday, September 05, 1999

Perhaps the most pleasing – for Austin residents – item on the city council’s agenda for this Tuesday is a resolution approving the proposed property tax levy. If approved, it would mean eight straight years of not raising property taxes.

Because of the Labor Day holiday, the Austin City Council will convene at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday for its regular meeting.

Set at $2,163,795, Tuesday’s vote would confirm that the levy couldn’t go any higher, although it would leave open the possibility of lowering the levy before the final vote in December. It is by state law that after Sept. 15, individual department budgets may still be increased or decreased, but the proposed tax levy cannot be raised.

Top of the agenda is a resolution authorizing and approving the filing of an application with the Minnesota Department of Finance for bonding support in the proposed conversion of Riverside Arena into Riverside Community Center. The city is asking the state for $900,000 toward the conversion, funds that would have to be matched by the city’s contribution to the project.

As it stands, the city hopes to turn the arena – now largely an ice skating/ice hockey facility – into a place that would serve a broader type of recreational and community services. The youth center would probably be moved to the arena from its current location in the National Guard Armory, plus the remodeling would make the building more useful for all ages for varies exercise activities such as basketball, volleyball, tennis, walking and running, as well as civic events and the trade and vacation show that already happens at Riverland annually.

Also on the agenda for confirmation is a resolution approving the agreement with Ankeny Kell Architects for the remodeling project. After interviewing four firms, Park and Recreation board members, city staff and city council members agreed on AKA as a first choice, provided AKA would agree to lower its fee, originally estimated at between 9-11 percent of the costs.

"That was the main thing," city administrator Pat McGarvey said. "Their fee schedule had to more in our reach or we weren’t going to use them."

AKA came down to 7.5 percent of the first $600,000 of the project, 7 percent of the next $600,000, and 6.75 percent of any costs exceeding $1.2 million.

AKA was the only firm interviewed without a history in Austin, but the company brings an impressive portfolio of work that included the Chaska Community Center as well as community centers in Maplewood, St. Croix Valley, Monticello and Inver Grove Heights.

"Ankeny Kell showed some real innovation in some of their designs," Park and Rec director Denny Maschka said.

The following items are also on the agenda:

– An amendment of the Austin City Code to allow for an increase in the salaries of the mayor, city council members and council member at-large to be effective following the next election. Set at the same level for the past 13 years – $6,000 for the mayor, $4,500 for the council member at-large and $4,000 for each council member – the increase which would put the mayor at $9,000, council member at-large at $7,800 and council members at $6,600.

– Rich Osness will address the council for the second time this year on the Courtyard I and II projects.

– An amendment to the ordinance governing the storage of Class I, II, and III liquids in residential zoning districts.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, located on the lower level of the Municipal Building at 500 4th Ave. NE. Members of the public are encouraged to attend and address any items on the agenda. There is also a time set aside at the beginning of the meeting for citizens to address any items not on the agenda.