The Bismarck Park Board made the commitment to televise its meetings on Community Access Television, with the first live telecast expected to be on Sept. 13 at a time yet to be determined.

The unanimous decision at Thursday's meeting will lead to having future meetings televised. Usually, park board meetings begin at 4:15 p.m., but this may change, particularly for the next meeting, which will include the 2008 budget hearing.

Park board members Mike Gilbertson and John Sagsveen met with CATV executive director Mary Van Sickle to discuss arrangements for televising the meeting.

"It's open to us, and I personally think that we have to go," Gilbertson said.

The City/County Building's Tom Baker Meeting Room is the only venue now available to the park district to televise from, Gilbertson said. Plans are to add another cable channel, which in the future could mean more venue for meetings.

Sagsveen said the meetings could either be taped or televised live, but he favors live broadcasts. The live broadcasts will be taped and replayed several times at later dates.

Board chairman Mark Zimmerman said there was a possibility that, in the future, the district may have to provide funding to CATV. If this does occur, he suggested, the board will have to revisit the issue.

In making the motion to have meetings televised, board member Paul Quist applauded the effort of the district to improve its communications with the community. He said that voters in the last election made it clear to him that the district needed more communication.

"I think moving to TV is an outstanding idea," Quist said. "They just want to know what's going on. I think they will be happy with this. I think it's a good move."

Zimmerman said he was hesitant to jump into televising, and remains concerned about the budget issue.

The motion was approved on a 5-0 vote.

The issue regarding the time for the Sept. 13 meeting resulted in Quist's request to have the 2008 budget hearing moved to 7 p.m. Quist said he wouldn't be able to make the proposed 5:15 p.m. hearing time and he did want to participate. The board left the time open, allowing district director Steve Neu to work out the time with CATV.

The 2008 budget introduction was met with a little resistance. Quist opposed the $12.8 million proposed budget because of an overall $620,000 in increased tax revenue ($347,345 in the general fund) the district will realize if the budget remains unchanged. While the district's mill levy actually drops from 38.77 to 38.65, increased property values will bring higher tax revenues.

Neu said that the budget is balanced and remains consistent with past budgets in that about 52 percent of the district's revenues will come from fees and other sources, while 40 percent will be generated through property taxes.

Rather than increase taxes, Quist wants to see changes made in the fee structure. He made a motion to raise BLAST program charges from $85 to $100 in 2009 and $125 in 2010, but the motion failed for lack of a second.

"I'm hesitant to do that now. We've talked about having a complete review of fees and charges, and I think we wait until we have a study," Sagsveen said.

"We're asking citizens for $619,000 more than last year. How can we keep the majority of fees the same? People are saying taxes are too high," Quist said. "Those using programs should be paying more."

Sagsveen said that, as far as the entire budget was concerned, he believes it is good and he has no problem with it. He then made the motion to introduce the budget.

"I think it's ill advised to go forward with a budget that has a tax increase of nearly $620,000," Quist said. "As an elected official, I'm hearing the citizens saying enough is enough."

Quist added that unless the board was willing to show taxpayers that the district was cutting the budget or increasing its fees to meet them part way, he wouldn't vote for the budget.

Gilbertson said, "There are a lot of constituents out there who think it's smart government by asking for what we need. … I see it as responsible government to be only asking what we need to provide the services people ask for."

Introduction of the 2008 budget was approved on a 4-1 vote.