Cancer blessings
Winners named in art show
Scott County Relay for Life is next weekend
Local artists show their stuff
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www.savagepacer.com
SATURDAY, JULY 2, 2011
SAVAGE
$1
PACER
Tap running dry?
Liquor fund income (Before transfers into general fund)
Liquor operation is no longer city’s cash cow BY NANCY HUDDLESTON editor@savagepacer.com
The city’s municipal liquor operation is still making money, but the tap has run dry on using the fund to help pay for extras. “The liquor fund has done great things for the city over the years,” said Matthew Mayer of Kern, DeWenter, Viere Ltd. when the 2010 audit was presented last month to the Savage City Council. “There have been a lot of transfers over the years to subsidize the general fund, pay library bonds and pay for a portion of ELC,” he continued, “The city has called upon the liquor store fund to help pay for projects for many years.” But things are di f ferent now,
Mayer concluded, before advising the City Council to discontinue the practice of making transfers out of the liquor fund.
COMPETITION There’s more competition from stores in surrounding cities, especially in Burnsville where regulations were relaxed last year regarding how close liquor stores can be to one another. The city of Savage owns two liquor stores: Marketplace Liquor near the intersection of County Road 42 and Highway 13 and Dan Patch Liquor on Lynn Avenue in downtown. Liquor Operations Director Pete Matthies said several more liquor stores have opened or been expanded in the past two years, which has cut
PRIOR LAKE-SAVAGE AREA SCHOOLS
$1.68 million in spending cuts are in 2011-12 budget
into revenues for the city’s liquor operations. Those include Sam’s Club in Shakopee and Costco, Haskells, Cub Foods and Liquorville in Burnsville and MGM Liquor in Prior Lake. “That has thinned out sales in the south metro area,” Matthies said. “While our liquor operation is still making money, we’re not making as much as before. “We’re still successful,” Matthies continued, “We’re just not as successful as we’ve been in the past. We still make money. We still cover our expenses. And we still have loyal customers.”
BY THE NUMBERS The 2010 audit shows the city’s liquor fund sales decreased for the
second year in a row. In 2010, income before transfers was $155,317 compared with $276,647 in 2009, $457,562 in 2008, $574,874 in 2007 and $475,626 in 2006. Sales have also decreased to $5.09 million in 2010, compared to $ 5.47 million in 2009, $6.22 million in 2008, $6.12 million in 2007 and $5.84 million in 2006. While sales declined, the city’s gross-profit percentage increased from 24.25 percent in 2009 to 24.59 percent in 2010, according to the audit. “Historically, the city’s grossprofit percentage has closely mirrored the state averages for off-sale operations,” the audit concluded, “In 2009 the city’s gross-profit percentage was almost 1 percent lower than the state average of 25.10 percent. During
2010
$155,317
2009
$276,647
2008
$457,562
2007
$574,874
2006
$475,626
Source: 2010 city audit
2009, the city ranked 10th in the state in sales volume.”
NOW WHAT? City Administrator Barry Stock said given that information, it was not fi scally responsible for the city to continue transferring money out of the liquor fund at the same rate as it has in the past. For instance, Stock and Matthies point to a $550,000 transfer in 2008 to help fund a portion of the McColl
Liquor to page 16 ®
CELEBRATING GOOD TIMES AT DAN PATCH DAYS The weather cooperated and crowds were out all weekend for Dan Patch Days. From the beer and wine tasting on Thursday night to the parade on Sunday afternoon and everything in between, a good time was had by all.
BY MERYN FLUKER mfluker@swpub.com
Approving the preliminary budget is an annual duty for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board, but this year is a little different. While the process is the same, this year’s budget ref lects district changes and the state’s current financial uncertainty. On Monday (June 27), the School Board approved the preliminary 2011-12 budget just in time for the new fiscal year, which began July 1. General fund revenues are estimated at $62.05 million – $1.16 million less than the $63.21 million in the 2010-11 general fund. The absence of dollars from the one-time Federal Jobs Bill and the federal special education stimulus package are largely responsible for the 1.84 percent decrease. Meanwhile, expenditures are forecast to fall 2.69 percent in 201112, to $61.02 million. The bulk of that $1.68 million decrease comes from staffing reductions, some made to move the district’s secondary schools to a six-period school day – a change that will take effect beginning with the 2011-12 school year – and others in response to declining elementary-level enrollment. Salaries and benefits continue to represent the largest portion of the district’s general fund expenditures, with 60 percent going to salaries and another 23 percent for benefits. “We really are an educational service organization and people are what make up the majority of our expenses,” said Director of Business Affairs Julie Cink.
Julie Cink
Sue Ann Gruver
Typically the district’s budget process includes approval of a draft in June, with the board voting on a final version the following December. This year is no different in that regard, but wrangling between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled Legislature over the state’s budget means that school districts are in the dark about what their funding will look like once the budget issues are resolved. “Since there wasn’t an education bill, there’s no appropriation (for school funding),” said Cink. District 719 receives 77 percent of its general fund revenue from the state, but Cink built the budget on the assumption that only 53.9 percent of that funding will come through. That’s because a popular move for state education funding in recent years has been to shift aid to districts, with the state withholding a portion of those dollars to help balance its budget, pledging the rest of the dollars to districts the following year. W hen t he economy is doi ng well, as was the case in the early to mid-2000s, the state typically funds
Budget to page 16 ®
PHOTO BY ALEX HALL
Benjamin Blue of The Dweebs belts one out while singing a duet with his sister Claire on Saturday night.
PHOTO BY LAURIE HARTMANN
PHOTO BY NANCY HUDDLESTON
Alexis McColl, 2½, enjoyed the strawberry topping that was available for pancakes during the Savage Fire Department’s pancake breakfast and open house on Sunday morning. Firefighters not only served up pancakes, but also gave tours of the new fire station on the city hall campus.
The Hernandez sisters, Alyssa (left) and Angelina, were greeted by “Tigger,” one of several cartoon characters making an appearance at Sunday’s parade.
MORE PHOTOS INSIDE ON PAGES 8-9
INSIDE OPINION/4 OBITUARIES/6 CHURCH/6 POLICE/7 SPORTS/17-19 CLASSIFIEDS/21-24 TO REACH US SUBSCRIBE: (952) 345-6683 EDITOR: (952) 345-6376 OR E-MAIL EDITOR@SAVAGEPACER.COM.
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