Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE February 1, 2012 ROOM 406 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, February 1, 2012, 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, Tom Pech Jr., Jeff Herzig, Jason Hirschberg, and Deb Allison-Aasby Members Absent: Doug Pearson and Don Simons Staff Present: Peggy Steeno-Finance Director, and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant I.APPROVAL OF DECEMBER 7, 2011 MINUTES No discussion/changes. Motion by Hirschberg, Second by Thoms, to approve the Committee Meeting Minutes of December 7, 2011. Motion passed unanimously. (Note: There was no Meeting held in January of 2012 – no quorum present) II.CITIZEN INPUT None III.INFORMATION SHARING/HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS (~5:05 – 5:30) Steeno presented the 2012 Budget Executive Summary and walked the Committee through the documents. There was special mention of the note regarding the approved Fund Balance Policy. The 2011 results will be available mid-summer, when the 2011 Audit is completed. The actual fund balance is not known until this time. Steeno also presented the preliminary work that was completed on the five year budget model. To date, it contains five years worth of history as well as a forecast for five years (was expanded from a three year forecast in the previous version). This item will come before the Committee at the next meeting as a discussion item, as this was just meant to be a preview. Some clarifications followed; however there was a decision by the Chair to delay discussion until it comes back on the agenda next month. Thoms requested that the excel file of the model be sent to him. Steeno will email the file to all members following the meeting. Buchholz questioned how the model will be used in budget planning. Steeno stated that it will be a long range tool as well as be used on the short term to make estimates prior to all of the departmental budgets being completed. While it will not be exact, it will provide general direction on what the budget challenges will be. IV.DISCUSS THE JOINT WORKSHOP WITH COUNCIL THAT WAS HELD ON DECEMBER 13, 2011 (~5:30 – 6:25) The workshop notes (handout), as completed by staff, were discussed with each bullet point being reviewed. The Committee as a whole felt that the Workshop went very well and there was some great dialogue between the Council and the Committee. The Committee added the following to the future topics/priorities list: (1) Budget Format Improvements, (2) Comparison of City of Oshkosh Spending (By Function) to the Spending of Other Communities, and (3) Evaluate Potential Uses of the City’s Portion of Remaining TIF Funds after Specific District Closures. These additions were based on the workshop with Council Steeno also explained that there is work being done with performance measures and having a new intro format (for the budget) showing what the department is responsible for, what they did during the year, what they are planning next year, and then the detail to follow. This will be discussed with the Committee when the item of ‘Budget Format Improvements’ comes up. Thoms also suggested more charts as they are great visual snapshots of results. The topic of “are we balanced as a City w/ Budget Priorities” was also discussed. The questions that were asked were, ‘How does our spending compare to that of other communities?’ and ‘Are we spending too much or too little?’ Steeno will do some research to get some comparisons and report back to the Committee to get us started on this topic. TIF funds, specifically how to handle them after TIF closure, was also discussed. The Committee would be interested in talking to the Community Development Department before taking this topic on. It was decided that the Committee will take the lead from Council and staff with regard to timing on this one. The Committee feels comfortable that the sharing of information back and forth with Council and Committee is working well with having two council members on the LRFC. V.TOPICS FOR THE MARCH MEETING The Committee will discuss the 5 year budget model and one additional topic (likely the Purchasing Policy) at the March Meeting. The Committee is also interested in beginning to work on Comparison of City of Oshkosh Spending (By Function) to the Spending of Other Communities in the near future. Staff will begin the research on this as soon as possible and bring information to the Committee. VI.ADJOURNMENT Motion by Pech, Second by Schulz, to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.