Collaboration. Cross training. Increasing user fees for people who live outside the city limits.

Those were just a few of the ideas the members of the Albert Lea budget task force brainstormed Monday to help the city save money in light of expected local government aid cuts.

It was the second meeting for the task force, after a meeting two weeks ago in which Albert Lea City Manager Victoria Simonsen and Finance Director Rhonda Moen shared the ins and outs of local government aid and the budgeting process.

Albert Lea faces an expected cut of about $500,000 in local government aid in 2009 and more than $1 million in 2010. Those cuts come on the heels of a $400,000 LGA unallotment in December.

To handle the expected shortfall, the city formed the task force, has been seeking resident input through ward budget meetings and is asking residents to give input about city services through an online survey.

The task force will hold a third meeting, April 6, when the group’s members will continue to brainstorm suggestions and come up with a final recommendation to present to the Albert Lea City Council. That proposal will include the changes the task force thinks the public would be willing to support to the budget.

During the Monday meeting, Simonsen and Moen presented the task force with a list of discussion topics for expense cutting. The topics fell under seven different categories.

The task force members briefly discussed some of these topics in small groups and will continue to discuss them at their next meeting.

The topics included general expenditures such as whether to charge for mosquito spraying, whether to waive fees for use of facilities, whether to continue to give $50,000 in discretionary funds to non-profit organizations and whether to eliminate the city government channel or city newsletter, to name a few of the topics.

Task force member Lenore Fries said she supports a $4 fee being implemented once a summer for mosquito spraying. She said she also thinks Christmas lighting could be reduced and that the city could outsource for demolishing dilapidated housing.

Regarding recreation expenditures, some of the topics included whether people should pay their own way for recreation programs, whether a sheet of ice should be eliminated at the City Arena and whether to privatize the community theater, among others.

Task force member Mike Moore said the key to recreation is collaboration.

“These are expensive facilities, but they are quality of life,” he said.

Regarding park expenditures, topics included whether to treat Fountain Lake for algae, whether to reduce or eliminate flower beds throughout the city, whether to reduce or close warming houses and ice rinks, and whether to reduce the hours the fountains operate on Fountain Lake.

Regarding library expenditures, topics included whether to cut library hours, whether to cut or eliminate library programs and whether to cut the book budget.

For police expenditures, discussion topics included reducing the number of officers, whether to combine services with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office and reducing or eliminating community service officers, among others.

When it came to street expenditures, discussion topics included whether to reduce or outsource snow removal, whether to reduce street lighting and whether to reduce the street maintenance schedule.

Lastly, regarding fire and inspection expenditures, discussion topics included whether to have a full time or volunteer fire department, whether to consolidate with townships, whether to reduce preventative inspections and whether to reduce or eliminate rental housing inspections.

Task force member Rita Moyer said she thinks a time study should be conducted to further identify the roles of firefighters.

There is a public impression that firefighters have downtime, task force member Corrine Tims added.

Moyer said her group also talked about training firefighters to become certified building inspectors so they would be able to fulfill more duties.

The group also talked briefly with Simonsen and Moen about alternative revenues such as taxes, assessments and user fees that cities are able to impose if they choose.

Simonsen said budget strategies already being considered for 2009 include reducing seasonal employees by one-third — this would save $100,000 — having a hiring stall of four months for all open positions, collaborating with Freeborn County for information technology services, not filling a police department officer position and reducing training and conferences. The council will vote April 13 about whether to ask people to take voluntary unpaid time off and whether to offer voluntary retirement with an incentive.

Simonsen said with some of the strategies that have already been implemented, she is not as worried about the expected cuts in 2009 as she is about making sure the city can sustain those cuts in the future.

Moen said she looked at what it would cost if the budget cuts were to be handled solely through a property tax increase. To increase the levy to account for the about $500,000 expected cut in 2009, it would take raising taxes by $40 on a $100,000 home.

Moore said he thinks that before the city looks at increasing taxes, it must look at every expense it has for services first.

“Everybody in the private sector is learning to lean down and do more with less,” Moore said.

Task force member Dennis Dieser echoed that sentiment.

Dieser said he thinks the community would be more receptive to changes if the city made sure to do its due diligence first and looked at all of its services.

They encouraged the city to better publicize the changes that have already been enacted at the city level to help save money in the budget. Many people in the public don’t know about these changes, they said.

Look to the Tribune this week for other stories about what things the city has already done to save money and what people are saying in their responses to the resident survey.