The public will have the opportunity to listen to City Finance Director Peder Schaefer outline his five-year fiscal forecast to the City Council at one of its two September meetings, Council President Steve McAllister confirmed in an email Tuesday. But McAllister won’t entertain public comment or questions at that time.

He said Schaefer’s report that is available on the city’s website will come up during the executive communications portion of the meeting and that under council rules, “he will present the report, and then we will move to the next item on the agenda.”

He went on to say, “Council members and members of the public can send questions to the mayor’s office before or after the presentation.  This has been a public document since July so everyone has had plenty of time to ask for and receive any answers they are looking for.”

That’s not what some members of the public were looking for at Monday’s Council meeting.

Pointing to the debt retirements costs will assume to pay off the $350 million bond to build new high schools, Rob Cote said future generations will be saddled with the debt.

Cindy Wilson, who like Cote frequently attends council meetings and addresses the council during the public comment portion of the meeting feared rising taxes to cover the debt could force her to raise prices on her Airbnb to the point where she would not longer be competitive. Ward 7 independent candidate Roger Ceresi called for a public meeting to educate residents on the financial outlook for the city.

McAllister put calls for a meeting to discuss the 5-year forecast in a political context.

“The only people calling for a special meeting are political candidates or individuals running/supporting a political campaign.  I am happy to call a special meeting after the election and that takes the politics out of the meeting.  I do not support turning a council meeting into a political gathering,” he wrote.

He observed that none of those asking for a meeting now sought one last year.

“The only thing that has changed is it is an election year,” he said.

McAllister also said people have misunderstood the report as presented confusing the tax levy with the tax rate. Under Schaefer’s best case scenarios, he assumes the levy will increase by 4% each year.

The levy represents city revenues, which Schaefer is assuming will grow as new development is added to the tax rolls. He is not forecasting a tax increase of 4% annually.

McAllister points out, “The individuals who keep saying we are in line for “maximum tax increases” either don’t understand the difference, or are just playing politics.  The city council votes on the tax rate every year.”

He notes that the council sets the tax rate during the budget process, “so no report can predict what a future council will do.  In fact, some individuals have been predicting ‘maximum tax increases’ every year for years.  In the past eight budgets there has been zero ‘maximum tax increases’ and the majority of that time there was a zero tax increase.”