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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWeekly Newsletter Date: March 18, 2011 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: 1.UPDATE ON WATER UTILITY RATE INCREASE :As the Council approved on November 23, 2010, staff filed a rate increase application with the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC), the state entity that regulates public water utilities. The application staff completed showed the need for an approximate increase of 17%, however, due to the current fund balance, staff requested that the PSC consider a 10% increase rather than a 17% increase. I am pleased to report that staff has been in contact with the PSC, and an increase of approximately 9.2% has been agreed upon. This is right in line with the 10% increase projected through and included in the 2011 budget process. The PSC is currently in the "rate design" process. This process includes allocating the increase over all of the different rates that are currently in place in our existing rate tariff. We expect this process to take approximately three to four weeks. After this is complete, the PSC will schedule a hearing regarding the requested increase. Then, assuming that no major issues come up during the hearing, the rate increase order will be issued and implemented within approximately one to two weeks after the hearing. Please contact Finance Director Steeno or me if you have any questions or would like additional information on this item. 2.STATE BUDGET CUTS, LATEST UPDATE : At Monday's State of the City, I will be providing a general update to the public and the Council Members in attendance on the latest that is going on with respect to the state budget. In advance of this information, I wanted to provide the Council with some brief updates that you may or may not have heard about. Specifically, we did receive some information from the state that our state transportation aids would be cut by over $400,000 in 2012. This is a distribution of state gas tax dollars to local governments for reimbursement of costs incurred for maintenance and upkeep of our transportation systems (i.e., streets, snowplowing, etc.). All told, the cuts we are looking at for 2012 amount to over $2,000,000. Meanwhile, the "savings" from the changes to collective bargaining amount to approximately $1.2 million, leaving us with a projected shortfall of $800,000 at this time. As I have said numerous times, these numbers continue to be a moving target, and I will keep providing Council with updates as time goes on. Meanwhile, Finance Director Steeno and I have been in conversations with our counterparts throughout the state to get information that we can share amongst one another, as well as identify strategies for communicating to our legislators on the impact of these cuts, as well as suggestions on things that can be done with the legislation as proposed to make it more palatable for cities to absorb these reductions. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Steeno or me at your convenience. Weekly Newsletter March 18, 2011 Page 2 3.RECALL EFFORTS & CITY FACILITIES : Over the past couple of weeks, we have received several inquiries about the use of city facilities by groups that may be organizing recall efforts against local state legislators. These inquiries have addressed city policies regarding the use of these facilities, and if the city has any restrictions. First of all, the use of city facilities for political organizing is forbidden. This means that the use of rooms in City Hall or any of the other public facilities is not allowed. This is in the facility use policy for our various city facilities. We do not have restrictions of this nature for organizing that may take place in open public areas, such as walkways or parking lots on city facilities. To the degree that people want to use city parks for these types of activities, any exclusive use of these facilities that are normally available for rent would require these groups to rent the facility, similar to many other individual or groups that may wish to do so. With respect to gatherings at locations such as Opera House Square, if the event can be considered a public assembly, we would require a permit. Insofar as signs that may be placed along streets or other areas of the public right-of-way, we will direct people to remove these signs or we will remove them ourselves if no one is holding the sign. So far, whenever we have noticed a violation, appropriate city staff have asked people to comply with our ordinances, and they have generally complied without incident. If you have any questions regarding the use of a city facility by someone for political purposes, I would suggest that you speak with Chief Greuel for general public areas, or speak with the department head responsible for that specific facility, and they will be happy to provide you with information about how an incident may have been handled in this case. 4.DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES : Other items I'm enclosing with today's Newsletter include the latest issue of The Wisconsin Taxpayer, published by the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance, which features an article on the Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates. th Insofar as minutes are concerned, I'm enclosing the minutes of the March 9 Parking Utility th Commission meeting; the minutes of the March 8 Traffic Review Advisory Board meeting; the strd minutes of the February 21 Housing Authority meeting; and the minutes of the February 3 Museum Board meeting. The last item I'm enclosing is the 2010 Progress Report from the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corporation. st 5.UPCOMING MEETINGS : Meetings I have scheduled for the week of March 21 include: On st Monday, March 21, at 9:00 a.m., Mayor Esslinger and I will be meeting with Mr. Norm Mueller, presumably about the USH 41/STH 21 interchange project. At 10:00 a.m. on Monday, I am meeting with supervisors from all city departments to answer questions regarding the Budget Repair Bill as it relates to the fiscal impact on the city and its impact on employee relations due to the collective bargaining reform. On Tuesday morning, at 9:00 a.m., I will be having a similar rd meeting with representatives from each of the city's bargaining units. On Wednesday, March 23, at 6:45 a.m., I will be attending an employee recognition event at the Water Filtration Plant. On th Thursday, March 24, at 7:30 a.m., I will be attending the Chamco Board meeting. At 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, I'll be attending an employee recognition event at the Transit Garage. On Friday, th March 25, at 9:00 a.m., I will be attending a seminar, sponsored by East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission, regarding wind energy. This seminar will be held at the Renewegy facility on Jackson Street. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings, please do not hesitate to contact me. MAR/jdc