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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE November 2, 2011 ROOM 406 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, November 2, 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, Tom Pech Jr., Jeff Herzig, and Jason Hirschberg Members Absent: Doug Pearson and Deb Allison-Aasby Staff Present: Peggy Steeno-Finance Director, and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant Others Present: Brian Chapman, Management Assistant I.APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 MINUTES No discussion/changes. Motion by Pech, Second by Simons, to approve the Committee Meeting Minutes of September 7, 2011. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT None. III.INFORMATION SHARING/HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS (~5:04 – 5:25) Chair Buchholz reiterated the decision of the Committee to adjourn the meeting by 6:30 and the process of being recognized when speaking/providing input. Staff provided the 2012 Preliminary Budget Executive Summary, and the 2012 process and timeline were discussed. The dates and upcoming meeting times were shared. Schulz requested the status of employee contributions regarding Health Insurance and Retirement. All non-represented employees started paying 5.8% towards retirement in September, this was required by the State Budget Bill passed and enacted as of July 1, 2011. As of January 1, 2012, all employees, with the exception of those that are still able to bargain for this, will be contributing 11% to Health Insurance and only one plan will be offered. In 2011, the contributions are 6-7% with two plans offered. Also on January 1, 2012, all employees, again with the exception of Police, Fire, and Transit, will be contributing the 5.9% to their retirement plan. Schulz asked about the sanitation automation. Staff stated that we will be going from eight vehicles to four automated and one manual with one on backup. Thoms questioned the $150,000 revenue we may be forgoing that City Manager Rohloff mentioned in his budget message on page vii, first paragraph. Steeno explained this. Schulz asked for an update on the flyer for the tax bills, Steeno said that staff is still working on this, and that, since the bills will go out prior to the next meeting, she will bring a copy of the final insert to the Committee at the next meeting. Steeno shared the results of the four bond sales the City just completed. Our Moody’s rating held on all sales, and Moody’s commented very positively on the City having a formal fund balance policy now. IV.DISCUSS THE CURRENT TOPICS LIST AND OTHER SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS (~5:25 – 6:25) Pech shared the Council’s intent for the workshop. This will occur after the budget process. Staff will let the Committee know as soon as it is scheduled. Prioritize Topics List – Committee Discussion and Vote Chair Buchholz discussed the 10 – 4 voting process members would be doing on the current topics list. Discussion continued regarding each item. Voting took place at 6:00 and commenced at 6:12. Votes were tallied with the following results:  Feasibility and Functionality of an Seventeen votes going to each of the: Equipment/Project Fund, 3 – 5 Year Budget Plan topics and the  Long Range Debt Planning Nine votes went to:  Communications Seven votes went to:  Shared Services Issues – Both Within Oshkosh and Four votes went to: With Surrounding Communities  Creation of A Fund Balance Policy – Three votes went to two topics: other funds and, Handling of Special Assessments In/Out of Oshkosh  Update Current Investment Policy, Two votes went to several topics: Growing the Tax Base, Sustaining and Growing Revenues, and Budget Survey Follow-up  One vote went to all the remaining topics. All topics received at least one vote. Follow-ups Thoms commented on the topic of Communications. This topic description will be changed to include Education. Communications / Education are something the committee feels needs to done all the time, with every topic. Steeno will change the wording and explanation of this topic. Prepare for Workshop with Council Steeno will put a topics list together for the Council. Council Member Pech will let the Council know what will be presented to them at the workshop which will take place in either December or January. All members of the Long Range Finance Committee are encouraged to attend this meeting and provide input. A suggestion was made each member is assigned an item/topic to speak on. This will be discussed more at the December LRFC Meeting since that will be before the Workshop with Council. Steeno will include the Enabling Ordinance and the “Summary of Meetings” that was compiled for the committee from August 4, 2010 to August 3, 2011 in the information for Council. V.FUTURE TOPIC SUGGESTIONS / SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS (~6:25– 6:30) VI.ADJOURNMENT Motion by Herzig, Second by Pech, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.