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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE APRIL 6, 2011 ROOM 406 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, April 6, 2011, in Room 406, at Oshkosh City Hall, 215 Church Avenue. The meeting was called to order by Chair Harold Buchholz, at 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Harold Buchholz, Bryan Schulz, Jeffrey Thoms, Burk Tower, Jeffrey Herzig, Don Simons, Doug Pearson, and Jason Hirschberg Members Absent: Bob Poeschl Staff Present: Mark Rohloff-City Manager, Peggy Steeno-Finance Director, and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant Others Present: None I.APPROVAL OF MARCH 2, 2011 MINUTES No discussion/changes. Motion by Tower, Second by Herzig, to approve the Committee Meeting Minutes of March 2, 2011. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT None III.INFORMATION SHARING/HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS Committee Member Schulz asked for a status report on the budget survey being completed by UW-O. City Manager Rohloff will be attending a class at UW-O on April th 30 so that the students that completed the survey can provide him with the survey results and additional details regarding the survey. The results will be shared with this th committee at the May 4 meeting. Chair Buchholz asked Committee Member Tower about the possibility of Tower remaining on the committee once he assumes the position of Mayor, and about the Council appointments for the upcoming year. Tower stated that he had not made any decisions at this time. This is something he will be doing in the upcoming months. The st new Council appointments are assigned as of June 1 of each year. 1. Water / Storm Water / Waste Water Rate Increase Details (~5:05 – 5:25) Staff shared the Council resolutions and rate information on the current increases for Storm Water, Sewer, and Water. Discussion followed as to the details of each of the Utilities and why each of the respective increases is needed. The last increase for the Storm Water rates was in April of 2009, and the last increase for Water and Sewer were in July of 2007. Staff is now reviewing each of these Utilities every year, at budget time, to determine the need for rate increases in the following year. This will help to maintain current rates. The rate increase process was also discussed. The Storm Water and Sewer rates are approved locally (by the Council) and the Water rates are approved by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) as the Water Utility is a regulated public utility. The new Storm Water and Sewer rates are effective for service on and after April 1, 2011. The Water rate increase is still in progress. The Council will th consider the increase at their regular meeting on April 12, and the Public Service th Commission will hold a public hearing on the matter on April 14(now changed to May nd 2 due to a conflict at the PSC). PSC originally recommended a 16.74% increase, but after further review of Utility operations, changed that recommendation to 9.2%. The new Water rates are expected to go into effect in May of 2011. 2. Annual Trust Fund Report (~5:25 – 5:50 pm) Staff explained the City’s Annual Trust Report in detail. Discussion followed on the reason for so many separate trusts, and how they came into being. Each trust was set up for a specific purpose, therefore kept separate. However, Steeno is currently working to see if similar trusts can be combined. This may include working with the Courts to ensure that the conversions are done correctly, without compromising the original intent of the trusts. Thoms agreed that making bigger buckets, larger trusts with sub-trusts, would be beneficial. Questions followed regarding the costs to maintain these trusts as they currently exist. Bank fees are currently about $12 per trust per month, which is part of the motivation to do the conversions. Not only will the city save bank fees by reducing the number of trusts, but will also have larger investment purchasing power which will increase the interest rate/income. Currently, bank fees are not charged to the individual truss; rather, they are absorbed by the City’s General Fund. The Museum’s Durow Trust process was discussed. This is a very large trust, approximately $2.8 Million, which was donated in the past year. Staff is working to create a policy for the Durow funds that can be used as a model for the other trusts. Discussion also commenced on the Police and Fire pensions, and staff provided the purpose and history of those. Staff will bring additional information back to the committee as we work through these processes. IV.CITY BUDGET 1.Impact of the Proposed 2011 – 2013 State Budget Bill on the City of Oshkosh (~5:50 – 6:10) Staff shared the analysis that was originally done (discussed with the Committee at the th March Meeting) as well as the updated one that was done on March 17. The reason for the updated analysis is that the League of Wisconsin Municipalities put together a slightly different format for all cities to use so that uniform information would be presented when all cities complete the analysis. The purpose on a state wide basis is to see if the cuts being proposed by the Governor are able to be absorbed by all cities. Included in the updated analysis is a reconciliation of that one to the one previously completed so that the changes are clearly marked. Discussion followed on the proposed State Revenue cuts and the implementation of the proposed savings. After all the “tools” that were provided by the Governor are used, the City is still $1,062,000 short. Staff and Committee Members also discussed potential change in federal aid in the upcoming year, most notably the CDBG funds. The cuts have not yet been determined, however, a 25%- 40% cut is being discussed. This would have a very large impact on the City as we currently receive over $900,000 in CDBG funds. 2. Overview of 2011 City Budget (~6:10 – 6:40) Manager Rohloff gave an overview of the message he prepared for the preliminary budget document. Discussion followed on the changes that were made by the Council during the discussion and approval process; no steps increases or percentage increases for the non-represented employees, and additional funds to be put towards Police cars that are past their expected lives. In addition, fuel and diesel costs were discussed. The City is currently paying approximately $0.15 more per gallon than was budgeted. Uncollectible accounts were also discussed, with the two main reasons for delinquencies being bankruptcies affecting Utility collectibles and ambulance collectibles. The discussion then moved to a potential increase in ambulance rates to help with these uncollectible amounts. This is another item that the Committee will be discussing in the future. In addition, staff will ask the City’s financial advisor, Ehler’s, to come to a future meeting as an introductions and to discuss the use of Moody’s versus S&P, or DBRS. 3. Discuss Revenue and Expenditure Charts (~6:40 – 7:00) Staff explained the charts and there was discussion regarding the collection of the real estate tax bills and the City’s role in that process. Revenues were discussed in detail including State Shared Revenue, Interdepartmental revenues, and other revenue details. 4. Timeline / Important Information Staff provided a budget timeline and some details on the City’s existing Collective Bargaining Agreements. These items were reviewed. 5.Brainstorming on Topics for Further Research (7:00 – 7:10) Discussion ensued regarding future topics for the Committee to research further and some suggestions were: indirect costing analyses, budget modeling – 3-5 years out, debt, and a Fund Balance Policy. The City Manager feels that due to the nature of the committee, long range, the committee should focus on the above items rather than a one year budget. However, during the budget process, items of interest can be referred to the committee for further research. It was decided that the next topic that the Committee will tackle is the Fund Balance Policy. Since the City does not currently have one, this seemed to be the highest priority. This is the item that the Committee will take up at the May Meeting. 6.Next Steps V.FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS / ONGOING TOPICS LIST Discussion included the need for a Fund Balance Policy. Staff has been discussing this with the rating agencies for some time. Since the City doesn’t currently have an approved policy, it was felt that this is the top priority. Staff will provide the Committee examples and details on this item. There was a discussion on whether the Committee should consider meeting more than once a month. While there are certainly some benefits to this, it was decided that unless there is a specific need, it would remain at once a month for now. VI.MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT Motion by Thoms, Second by Hirschberg, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.