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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE DECEMBER 1, 2010 ROOM 406 The meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, December 1, 2010, in Room 406, at Oshkosh City Hall, 215 Church Avenue. The meeting was called to order by Chair Harold Buchholz, at 5:05 p.m. Members Present: Harold Buchholz, Bryan Schulz, Don Simons, Jeffrey Thoms, Burk Tower, Staff Present: Peggy Steeno-Finance Director, and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant Absent: Jeffrey Herzig, Jason Hirschberg, and Bob Poeschl Others Present: U W O Student I.APPROVAL OF NOVEMBER 3, 2010 MINUTES Amendment made by Chair Buchholz to show Ben Schneider as absent. Moved to change and approve by Thoms, seconded by Bryan Schulz. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT 1 attendee - UW-O student in the MPA Program observed meeting as part of a class requirement. Information Provided Buchholz briefed the committee on the open position and members shared information on a possible candidate for the vacant position. Thoms asked if any people, due to their professional positions, would not be allowed to serve on the committee, and it was confirmed that that would not be an issue. As long as there is no direct conflict in serving, all would be considered. Follow-Up - There was a discussion on how often the committee should meet; monthly or every other month. Even though the enabling ordinance states that it is every other month, the committee can decide if they would like to meet more often. Those present felt there is plenty to discuss for the continuation of monthly meetings but would like to hear the opinions of the other members first. Absenteeism was also brought up and the question posed was, is there a rule about missing a certain number of meetings before you are off the committee. Staff does not believe there are any rules to that affect. It was decided that this item (monthly or every other month meetings) would be placed on the January meeting agenda so that the committee could have a formal discussion and vote on this matter. Steeno provided information on the upcoming tax rate and final budget. III.CITY FEE PROJECT – Wrap up (~5:10-5:55) 1.Review/Finalize Cover Memo Thoms suggested the Taxpayer Alliance Study be included in the packet that gets sent to the Council to establish a point of reference as to where Oshkosh stands in regard to other Wisconsin communities. Thoms suggested adding to the second line of the first paragraph, “and ongoing maintenance of these fees.” Schulz recommended adding that best practices methods were utilized in the creation of the process. Tower suggested explaining the 30% in the second paragraph and discussing the dollar amount the fees make up of the 65 million dollar budget. 2.Discuss Draft Recommendations to Council Under the “RECOMMENDATION” section, Schulz recommended that the committee suggest that the Council become very active with this, getting it out there for public education by means of the newspaper and the possible use of OCMS. There was a discussion on the statutory fees, and the options involved with covering costs for those fees. Simons questioned whether Ambulance and Transit were run as enterprise funds. Neither of these is operated in that manner, differences were discussed. Thoms discussed having ambulance run by itself, the cost split between ambulance services and firefighting services, and inside and outside the city rates (shared services), and the committee decided to add this as a future discussion / ongoing topics list. Steeno shared an example of the Fee Analysis form that would be used by the City. Suggestions made were; add a date area at the bottom, add an area for annualized impact, add an area to show what departments are all involved in the particular fee. The labor area was discussed; committee would like to make sure that the labor rates are based on the full costing method, including benefits. In addition, the committee would like to suggest that Council use this same process to assist in deciding if newly proposed fees should be adopted. Staff will make all requested changes and resubmit to committee members early in the week of 12/6 so that committee can give the final ok and the entire recommendation packet can be forwarded to Council on 12/10. The City Manager will report to the Council on 12/14 that the committee has provided the recommendation and ask the Council to review prior to a discussion in 2011. IV.INVESTMENT POLICY (~5:55 - 6:20) Review of State Statues and Current City Investment Policy Steeno introduced the investing requirements as outlined in State Statutes and the current policy, and gave an overview on where we are at...policy hasn’t been updated in a number of years, what the statutes allow, what kind of balances we have, security, the funds that flow through the City, etc. However, this is not a high priority at this time. The committee would like some time to review and discuss in the future. The plan is still to review the current policy, and recommend updates to the Common Council at some point in the future. Staff will continue providing the committee with investment information and the discussion will be continued in the future. V.SINKING FUND POLICY (~6:20 – 6:55) Discuss the Potential Creation of a Policy and Brainstorm on Policy Details The discussion on a potential sinking fund was brought up at the last council meeting, and the Council is interested in the development of a policy that will help the City fund future capital purchases and certain types of projects. Steeno explained the Capital Outlay section of the budget and the City’s Five Year Capital Improvement Plan. The Committee does not agree with the name that has been attached to this policy. It should not be called a “Sinking Fund Policy”, and some suggestions as to what would be more appropriate were brought up. This will be discussed in more detail at the next meeting. The committee will also be defining, in detail, what the policy and fund would cover and what it would not cover. The committee will also discuss options for funding these items and how the saving and spending would occur. The newly created policy needs to be comprehensive in that it needs to cover all City needs of this type, not just certain areas. Staff will put together a discussion packet for the January meeting so that the committee can begin detailed discussions on this topic. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Schulz, Second by Simons, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.