Council OKs 2021 budget, police upgrades

While the Cloquet City Council passed the city’s 2021 budget and tax levy Tuesday, the Cloquet police department got a one-time boost from unspent funds in this year’s budget.

Police chief Derek Randall presented the council with a list of requests, mostly for equipment and technology upgrades, to be paid for out of the department’s 2020 budget surplus, which Randall estimated at a minimum of $139,200, including planned expenses through the end of the year.

Many of the items are urgently needed, including laptop computers for the squad cars, five replacement Tasers and 24 portable radio batteries.

Randall said that since he was appointed police chief on a permanent basis in June, he’s been able to get a better grasp on the department’s needs, which were substantial after several years of interim and short-term leadership.

“As I started to be able to dig deeper into the overall operations and functions of the PD, some things hit me square in the face,” Randall told the council. “As we started to peel some layers back, we realized we had some operational issues that needed to be addressed sooner than later … I learned in mid-2020 that seven out of our 10 computers in our squads will quit working in January 2021 because they’re not compatible with Microsoft 10, which has become the new standard for the criminal justice system requirements.”

The current computers were purchased refurbished, which contributed to their shortened lifespan, he said. “We want to increase longevity, not update antiquated systems,” he said.

The cost of 10 new computers and docking stations will be $35,625.

Randall also advocated for new squad car video cameras and a new server at a cost of $57,708, noting that the current cameras work sporadically and don’t capture all events, and the server is so old that officers often have to purge data to make room for new videos. Replacing only some of the cameras would require the department to run two servers.

“It has been an issue with the county attorney’s office where they requested video for cases, only to hear that the officer was in a squad where the video either didn’t work or we couldn’t export it or we just don’t have it.”

The new system would be the same one used by the Minnesota State Patrol and Carlton County Sheriff’s Office, so the county attorney’s office would not have to juggle between different players and viewers, he said.

“The system’s also body cam-ready, whenever we choose to go with that,” he said, adding that they would also be purchasing nine new wireless body microphones.

Other expenses include almost $3,000 for five refurbished Tasers to replace non-working equipment, two laptop computers and an iPad at $1,666, the 24 portable radio batteries at $1,344 and nearly $13,000 on making the police station more secure by adding six building door locks and one outside camera.

Randall said someone threw a frozen chicken through the back window of an officer’s new pickup truck when it was parked in the parking lot. He also noted that the department had cameras in its old location and was able to use video and audio footage from that in more than one case where people had driven up or run to the station when there was some type of disturbance going on.

Peterson pointed out that most of the CPD expenditures are “needs” versus wants.

“This is a one-time situation where we can solve a number of problems in a department all at once without having an impact on the budget,” Peterson said. “I think it’s a win-win. I strongly urge approval so it doesn’t impact the police department of the budget as we move forward into future years.”

The council approved all of the police department requests unanimously, for a total of $109,170 in expenditures, leaving an estimated surplus of over $30,000. It will likely be more, said city administrator Tim Peterson, noting that Chief Randall was very conservative with his figures.

Council approves smaller levy increase

After setting the preliminary levy increase at 4 percent in September, Cloquet city councilors and mayor Roger Maki unanimously approved a 2.89-percent levy increase for next year, making the total levy $3,130,800. The increase over last year’s levy amounts to $87,800.

City administrator Tim Peterson pointed out that the Carlton County assessor’s office estimated that Cloquet’s taxable market value increased by 5.12 percent last year, which means the city’s overall tax rate is actually decreasing (from 39.606 percent to 39.093 percent). That means property owners should not see their taxes rise by 2.89 percent, because the impact of the increase on individual homes and businesses will be offset by the added taxes being paid by new and improved properties.

Levy dollars will be used specifically to pay $2.18 million of the general fund’s total budget of $7,840,800. An additional $340,000 will go toward the public works reserve, $400,000 to the library, $110,000 toward swimming pond debt and $98,850 toward facilities bonds.

There were few changes to the city’s budget since the council approved the preliminary budget three months ago; the city saved about $50,000 on a new loader, and set the hire date for a new part-time parks staff member for March. Insurance costs were mixed, with the city planning on a 7.5-percent increase, but getting a 2.975-percent increase from the Teamsters — which covers the police department -- and a 9.7-percent increase for all other city employees. They also decided to wait on an update of the city’s zoning and subdivision ordinance, instead waiting until the scheduled Comprehensive Plan update in three years.

General fund expenditures for 2021 are estimated at $19,434,050 with revenues of $17,933,750. The difference between the two will mostly come from $1.6 million in sales tax revenues.

The council unanimously approved the 2021 budget, tax levy and a five-year capital expenditure plan. There were no public or council comments on the motions.