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Home My WebLink Aboutweekly newsletter Date: January 18, 2013 To: Mayor & City Council From: Mark A. Rohloff, City Manager WEEKLY NEWSLETTER Subject: TRANSIT RIDERSHIP CONTINUES TO INCREASE 1.: The final numbers are in, and 2012 was another good year for ridership for GO Transit. Bus ridership was up by 5.8 percent over 2011, which included an over 18 percent increase in UW-Oshkosh ridership. The bike racks on buses program has continued to be popular, with nearly 7,000 uses of the racks during 2012, more than a 30 percent increase over 2011. Total system usage in 2012 was approximately 1.09 million rides. If you have any questions on any of these statistics, please contact Transportation Director Chris Strong. REFUGEES COMING TO OSHKOSH 2.: This week, I had an opportunity to meet with Myriam Mwizerwa, local director of World Relief Organization, and Sue Panek of the United Way, who is a member of the Resettlement Task Force, a local group that assists in helping newly arrived refugees adapt to the Oshkosh area. Ms. Mwizerwa informed us that as many as 85 refugees will be relocating to Oshkosh in 2013. It is expected that the first refugees will be arriving in February. These refugees can be from anywhere in the world, but Ms. Mwizerwa believes that these refugees will be from the Middle East (Iraq, Iran), or from the Congo. World Relief’s responsibility is to manage the funds that are allocated for the adaptation of the refugees into the local area. The Resettlement group and other area agencies will assist in making the newly arrived refugees familiar with social services that are already available, and try to stretch the funds that are provided by the State Department to assist in making the refugees as self-sufficient as soon as possible. Ms. Panek and I explained to Ms. Mwizerwa the various resources already available in the community, and encouraged her to focus her energies on resources that are currently not available through Oshkosh agencies. Ms. Panek has asked me to have our staff assemble a map that may be used by World Relief to provide to newly arrived refugees to show them the locations of various resources in the community. I also explained to Ms. Mwizerwa that the GO Transit System will be a great resource for people wanting to get to various locations. We discussed ways in which her refugee clients may become aware of resources available to the city, as well as anywhere else in the community. I appreciate Ms. Panek setting up the meeting so that I could become acquainted with this group. It appears as though many of our staff members have already been involved in previous refugee relocations, so we stand ready to assist World Relief in any way that we can with existing city resources. Weekly Newsletter January 18, 2013 Page 2 PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX CHANGES IN 2013? 3.: I had an opportunity to attend the Chamber Governmental Affairs Committee this week at which the Wisconsin Manufacturers Council (WMC) made a presentation on their legislative agenda for 2013. During discussions with area businesses, some of the discussions gravitated toward the personal property tax. This tax is difficult to administer, as much of it is self-reporting, and the administrative paperwork is significant. At the same time, the loss of property tax revenue from personal property would be equally significant. Based upon my understanding, it may be proposed that the personal property tax be eliminated, with the possibility that there would be a “back filling” of this lost revenue similar to what was done when computers were exempted from the personal property tax some years ago. I certainly would be willing to consider the change in personal property taxes if there was some way that the state would make us whole on this loss of revenue. This is probably more of an issue for small businesses, and it does become somewhat of an administrative burden on the city during that time of year when staff is collecting information, so there would be some benefits to eliminating this tax. As this discussion makes its way through the Legislature, I will keep Council apprised. SPECIAL ASSESSMENT INTEREST RATE 4.: Along similar legislative lines, I became aware that there may be some discussion in Madison to limit the interest rate that may be charged by municipalities for special assessments. I became aware of this issue because Curt Witynski, Assistant Director of the League of Wisconsin Municipalities, asked me for information that we had provided to Council back in May, 2012, during our special assessment workshop. Mr. Witynski had heard that this workshop provided a great deal of information, and he asked me for some background on the history of our special assessment policy, particularly the interest rate. I am providing a copy of that excerpt from the presentation on interest rates for the Council’s information. As you can see from the handout, our interest rate was somewhat in the middle of the road, and has been decreasing since 1999. I suspect that any talk of legislation is probably coming from people in cities that are charging even higher interest rates than we currently charge. I think that our policy discussion explains our rationale. From a philosophical standpoint, I remain a “home rule” advocate, and believe that this is not an issue of state-wide concern. Local officials, such as our Common Council, are more than capable of making policy decisions on what the interest rates should be on special assessments in their communities. I wanted to make Council aware of this potential development since we have had recent discussions on special assessments, and some of the provisions we have in our policy are intended to address the affordability of special assessments. If you have any other questions on this, please contact Public Works Director David Patek or me. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS & UPDATES 5.: Other items I’m enclosing with today’s Newsletter include an announcement of three public input meetings from the Winnebago County Parks Department on their Five-Year (2013-2017) Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. As you can see from this announcement, the county is working with East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission in order to facilitate the development of the plan, and staff from both the Parks Department and ECWRPC will be in attendance at these meetings to answer questions. All interested parties are encouraged to attend one of these meetings. Weekly Newsletter January 18, 2013 Page 3 st UPCOMING MEETINGS 6.: Meetings I have scheduled for the week of January 21 include the following: At 7:00 a.m. on Monday, Mayor Tower and I are meeting to go over Tuesday’s Council Agenda. At 8:15 a.m., I am on WOSH Radio to discuss city issues with Bob Brunell. At 9:30 a.m., I will be meeting with the facilitator to discuss the upcoming Economic Development Stakeholders meeting. At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, I am meeting with David Ward of North Star Consulting, the group hired by the Joint Marketing Group (i.e., the group that was responsible for developing the Opportunity Oshkosh Campaign) regarding the Economic Cluster Study that is going on. At 5:00 p.m., I will be attending the Martin Luther King Day Celebration at UW- Oshkosh. At 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, I will be attending a board meeting of the Business Success Center. On Wednesday, at 10:15 a.m., I will be participating in the Youth Leadership Oshkosh Government Day. On Thursday, at 7:15 a.m., I will be attending the Chamco Board of Directors meeting. On most of Friday, I will be in West Allis, attending the Urban Alliance Board meeting. If you have any questions regarding my attendance at any of these meetings, please contact me. MAR/jdc Enclosures