C. KFS Comparison Cities IOW MEMORANDUM
TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
CITY FROM: Laurie Hokkanen, Assistant City Manager
CHANHASSEN Sticha, Finance Director
7700 Market Boulevard DATE: July 18, 2012 �.
PO Box 147
Chanhassen, MN 55317 SUBJ: KFS Comparison Cities
Administration
Phone: 952.2271100 BACKGROUND
Fax: 952.2271110
One of the City's Council KFS goals for 2012 is to examine the list of cities that we use
Building Inspections for comparison purposes.
Phone: 952.2271180
Fax: 952.2271190 The Key Financial Strategies process was initiated in 2002. The goal of the original plan
Engineering and ensuing, ongoing process is to give staff, the Council, and residents a common
Phone: 952.2271160 understanding and vision for financial decisions that lie ahead for the community. In
Fax: 952.2271170 2002, the City of Chanhassen recognized that just under half of its land area was
undeveloped, so understanding the capital and operating needs to accommodate growth
Finance was critical. The City currently has about 40% of undeveloped land, and is also at a
Phone: 952.2271140
Fax: 952.2271110 stage of development where we need to reinvest to maintain our infrastructure. The
financial plans that are updated each year, including the CIP, Pavement Management
Park & Recreation System, Utility Rate Study, and KFS Annual Goals, identify activities to prepare for
Phone: 952.2271120 maintenance and infrastructure reinvestment.
Fax: 952.2271110
As part of the original process, staff worked with Ehlers, Inc. to identify a list of
Recreation Center comparison cities to be used in establishing and examining benchmarks. Staff uses these
2310 Coulter Boulevard
Phone: 952.2271400 comparison cities in a variety of situations, often to compare service levels and /or
Fax: 952.2271404 salaries /benefits. The comparison cities were chosen as a mix of cities that looked
similar to Chanhassen in terms of demographics and available land for development/
Planning & infrastructure needs. The ten comparison cities (2011 population) are:
Natural Resources
Phone: 952.2271130
Fax: 952.2271110 • Andover (31,044)
• Chanhassen (23,179)
Public Works • Champlin (23,089)
7901 Park Place • Chaska (23,770)
Phone: 952.2271300 • Farmington (21,086)
Fax: 952.2271310
• Inver Grove Heights (33,880)
Senior Center • Lino Lakes (20,000)
Phone: 952.2271125 • Oakdale (27,099)
Fax: 952.2271110
• Prior Lake (22,796)
Web Site • Savage (28,360)
www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us • Shoreview (26,855)
Chanhassen is a Community for Life - Providing for Today and Planning for Tomorrow
Mr. Todd Gerhardt
July 23, 2012
Page 2
Staff worked with Ehlers to examine the continued validity of these communities as
comparisons. Attached please find a spreadsheet that details the variables examined.
Based on the analysis, staff recommends removing Inver Grove Heights, Shoreview, and
Champlin from the list. Both Inver Grove Heights and Shoreview have nearly reached
complete build out. Champlin's tax base per capita, home values, and growth over the
last ten years are much lower than Chanhassen's.
Ehlers proposed a list of communities to include in the comparison list. Staff
recommends Stillwater, Rosemount and Elk River for inclusion in our list. All three have
similar characteristics in terms of growth rate, available land for development,
population, percent of tax base comprised of commercial /industrial properties, and tax
base per capita.
In addition, we discussed comprising a list of neighboring communities to use for
comparison purposes. Staff recommends the following communities be adopted for that
list. These represent the cities that share a border with Chanhassen.
• Chaska (already a KFS City)
• Eden Prairie
• Victoria
• Minnetonka
• Shorewood
• Shakopee
• Excelsior
ATTACHMENTS
1. Ehlers Spreadsheet
g:\admin \Ih \key financial strategies\2012 kts \update comparison cities - staff report.doc
Population. 2010 % Growth (Since 20002 Pop per So Mi Median Value Occupied Housing Median Household Income Total Tax Base Real & Personal Property Tax Base Per Capita CI % of Tax Base Bond Rating
Chanhassen 22952 12.9 1123 $360,400 $100,284 39,444,165 1,719 26 AAA
Current List:
33880 13.9 1220.3 $234,000 $67,661 36,670,672 1,082 26 AA
Prior Lake 22796 43.2 1476.5 $299,800 $90,360 28,406,791 1,246 10 Aa2
23089 4 2826.8 $233,600 $80,279 20,902,723 905 18 AA+
Oakdale 27378 2.7 2501.4 $217,900 $67,061 28,129,078 1,027 34 Aa2
Lino Lakes 20216 20.4 716.4 $284,500 $94,728 19,801,201 979 18 Aa2
Andover 30598 15.1 903.2 $264,000 $89,586 26,225,722 857 11 AA+
Chaska 23770 36.2 1400.6 $250,100 $70,707 26,215,410 1,103 29 AA
Farmington 21086 70.5 1435.4 $229,200 $80,494 16,598,938 787 16 AA-
Savage 26911 274 1721.3 $280,600 $89,183 30,664,282 1,139 27 AA+
25043 -3.4 2324.4 $262,000 $80,762 32,825,011 1,311 25 AAA
Suggestions:
18225 20.4 2617 $263,500 $70,090 22,442,880 1,231 26 Aa2
Forest Lake 18375 170.3 601.4 $256,400 $67,293 21,776,471 1,185 23 Aa2
Cottage Grove 34589 13.1 1028.7 $230,000 $80,830 29,775,833 861 19 AA+
21874 49.6 658.5 $254,300 $82,395 24,332,169 1,112 26 Aa2
Ramsey 23668 27.9 821.5 $233,600 $81,598 22,994,059 972 27 AA+
Shakopee 37076 80.3 1323.9 $239,100 $77,018 44,597,021 1,203 39 Aa2
New Suggestions:
22974 39.7 543.2 $233,200 $72,944 25,087,945 1,092 31 AA+
Rogers 8597 139.6 1067.6 $294,100 $92,202 15,121,656 1,759 55 Aa2
Monticello 12759 62.2 1427.2 $186,800 $64,141 17,400,280 1,364 28 Aa3
Hastings 22172 21.8 2165 $209,800 $64,248 18,236,151 822 23 AA
St. Michael 16399 80.2 501.1 $253,400 $86,427 14,513,347 885 17 AA-
Sources:
http: / /ouickfacts.census.gov /ofd /states /27/2759998.html
http: / /www. metrocouncil.org /m etroarea /Fiscal Disparities /i ndex.htm
http://emma.msrb.org/Search/Search.aspx