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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE July 6, 2011 ROOM 406 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, July 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, Jeffrey Thoms, Bryan Schulz, Don Simons, Jason Hirschberg, Deb Allison-Aasby, Doug Pearson, and Tom Pech Jr. Members Absent: Jeff Herzig Staff Present: Peggy Steeno-Finance Director, and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant Guest Speaker: Professor Karl Nollenberger I.APPROVAL OF JUNE 1, 2011 MINUTES No discussion/changes. Motion by Simons, Second by Thoms, to approve the Committee Meeting Minutes of June 1, 2011. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT None. III.RECAP 2011 BUDGET SURVEY (Karl Nollenberger, UW-O) (~5:05 – 5:50) Staff introduced Professor Karl Nollenberger, the sponsor of the Citizen/Budget survey to speak about the results and give his take on the overall process and outcome. Mr. Nollenberger handed out an article that he and a few others wrote based on ‘Budget Priorities and Community Perceptions’ using the Oshkosh survey as the basis for the article. This article will be published in an Accounting journal later in 2011. Mr. Nollenberger summed up the survey with the two highest priorities being (1) Road Maintenance and (2) Storm Water Retention, and the lowest priority being Administration. This information did not come as surprise as the high points have been the main focus of the City in recent years. The next item discussed was the validity of the survey and Mr. Nollenberger explained the level of validity as well as listened to suggestions that the Committee has with regard to improving the number of responses. The Committee questioned whether the City Budget meets the prioritizations that the survey results showed as high. The Committee posed the question,’ what can this committee take out of this survey?’ In discussing this with Mr. Nollenberger, the Committee discussed the need to educate the public on what is actually included in the budget with regard to priorities. Discussion ensued regarding the large number of negative responses to the question of how citizens feel about the direction the City is going. It is important to note that in 2010, 29% responded that the City is moving in the right directions, and in 2011, the number of positive responses went up to 40%. This shows improvement in attitudes towards City operations. The trending of all of the annual surveys that are completed will show if there are changes in the perceptions that citizens have. The members continued the discussion of the importance of the Common Council to work on educating the public regarding the need for economic development and how important it is in helping the City. The discussion then turned to the “Bonus Question’. This year’s question was in relation to the undergrounding of Utilities and the fact that the responses were strongly opposed to this if it meant they had to pay their own money (range of $3,300 - $6,500) to do so. Mr. Nollenberger thought that the question could have been worded differently to ask for responses based on a series of set amounts…that way, we could have found out if there was some support at a certain financial commitment level. The Committee felt that more specific questions would help the City make better decisions, i.e., ‘would Citizens rather see a steady tax increase or freeze it for three to five years and get one large increase?’ or ‘ What are you willing to give to get specific services?’ Another suggestion to better inform citizens is to include charts with the property tax bills to explain what portion goes where and how it is spent. The discussion then concluded with Mr. Nollenberger providing the Committee with a number of other pieces of information not related to the survey, that he thought they may be interested in. IV.FUND BALANCE POLICY (~5:50-6:35) Review Updated Draft of Fund Balance Policy / Council Resolution / Council Memo The Committee reviewed the drafts as follows and made a decision to update the following items to finalize their recommendation so that it could be presented to the Common Council for their consideration on July 13, 2011. MEMO: updated a few specific words to read better and make statements a little more sound. RESOLUTION: no changes. POLICY: updated a few specific words, expanded the scope, and clarified the funding/replenishment section to be more specific and clear as to purpose and process. Staff notified the Committee that the City’s Auditors have reviewed the policy and they thought it was a sound document that is well written, sets reasonable expectations, and addresses all of the necessary criteria. Motion by Pech, Second by Allison-Aasby/Thoms, to approve the policy, resolution, and th memo as revised and send them on to the Council for consideration at their July 13, 2011 Meeting. Motion passed unanimously. Allison–Aasby was excused at 6:35 p.m. V.OSHKOSH CIVILITY PROJECT (~6:35 – 6:40) Staff provided an overview on how this project started, and the action that the Council took to support the project. This is a community wide initiative that actively works to promote civility throughout the entire City. Committee Member Pech provided additional detail on the Council’s discussion and the need for civility. The Committee discussed the need to ‘agree to disagree’ at times, but concurred that the commitment to civility is necessary. Motion by Hirschberg, Second by Schulz, to support the Oshkosh Civility Project. Motion passed unanimously. VI.INFORMATION SHARING/HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS (~6:40 – 6:55) st 1 Quarter 2011 Financials Staff presented the first quarter financials. These were presented to Council during the second meeting in May, and were carried over from the June 1 Long Range Finance Committee. Quarterly financials will continue to be presented to the Council and the Long Range Finance Committee on a regular basis. Next quarter will be presented the second meeting in July as part of the 2012 Budget Kick-Off Packet. There were no major issues that occurred in the first quarter of 2011 that would negatively affect our financial position, most deviations are timing issues. Update on Impact of State Budget Bills Staff handed out the most recent information regarding the impact of the State Budget Bill on the City of Oshkosh. The City still remains about $800,000 short without any wages and benefits being figured in (based on 2011 numbers). CDBG funds will be reduced. In response to this, the Planning Division has been asked to start keeping track of the percentage of time spent on different types of planning and economic development work so that we can figure out costing allocations going forward. More information will be discussed at future meetings with regard to City budget issues. VII. FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS / ONGOING TOPICS LIST Discuss Topics for Next Meeting The next meeting will focus on the City budget process and the City Fee Analysis Project. VIII.ADJOURNMENT Motion by Pearson, Second by Pech, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m.