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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes MINUTES OF THE LONG RANGE FINANCE COMMITTEE June 5, 2013 ROOM 404 The regular meeting of the Long Range Finance Committee was held on Wednesday, June 5, 2013, in Room 404, at Oshkosh City Hall, 215 Church Avenue. The meeting was called to order by Chair Harold Buchholz, at 5:20 p.m. Members Present: Harold Buchholz, Jeff Herzig, Bryan Schulz, Jason Hirschberg, Jeff Thoms, and Tom Pech Jr. Members Absent: Doug Pearson, Matt Lauritch, and Deb Allison-Aasby Staff Present: Peggy Steeno-Finance Director and Lori Burns–Administrative Assistant Guests: Gary Gray, a Citizen of the City of Oshkosh I.APPROVAL OF APRIL 10, 2013 MINUTES No changes/updates. Motion to approve minutes was made by Pech, Second by Schultz. Motion passed unanimously. II.CITIZEN INPUT - (~5:23 – 5:30) Gary Gray spoke on issues/topics he would like to see the Committee look at in the future: 1.Long range debt management policy, 2. Stability of bond ratings, 3.Budgets – review recurring and non-recurring items to determine the best way to fund, 4. Income Sources - ways to increase revenues including larger PILOT payments, 5. Equipment Replacement Fund – review the definition of the fund, and look to larger WI Cities and manufacturing companies to see how they define it, 6.Base practices of FASB, and 7.Summary of the annual audit report for citizens. III.INFORMATION SHARING / HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS – (~5:30 – 6:05) A.Follow-Up on TIF Closure Policy – Presented to Council / Approved – Staff reported that the TIF Closure Policy that was worked on and recommended by the Committee was approved by the Council at their May 28, 2013, meeting. Council did not approve the Revolving Loan Fund Buy-In, as the consortium putting it together has not yet established the parameters of the fund. This item will be brought back to the Council by the Community Development Department at the appropriate time. This will not affect the TIF that is currently closing as the remainder funds that the City receives from this closing will be placed in a fund that Council has control over until a determination is made as to how to utilize the funds. Committee members also asked when the Prager study will be implemented. Committee/Council Member Pech replied to this question and stated that he does not believe this will happen prior to the creation of the 2014 budget. There will be more to come on this topic in the future. In addition, Committee members asked about the TIF #9 trail funding. Staff explained the Council’s actions in May of 2013 with regard to escrowing the TIF funds to preserve the ability to use TIF #9 funds to complete the trail if Council makes that determination in the future. Because the statutory date for spending of funds from TIF #9 ends as of 6/6/13, the only way to continue was to escrow the funds, which the Council did. The trail has been in the TIF plan since 1991, in the Bike and Pedestrian Plan since 2011, and in the 2013 CIP. If Council chooses to approve, then the money can come out of the TIF funds instead of the General Fund. To date, there has been approximately $100,000 approved for the design of the trail. If Council does not approve the construction of the trail, the funds will then be returned to the TIF, and subsequently returned to all of the taxing entities that paid the increments (taxes). B.Confirm Reappointment Committee Members -–there were three members reappointed by the Council. These reappointments for Buchholz, Pearson, and Thoms run through 6/1/2016. However, if any member chooses not to continue with the Committee, there is a resignation process. There was no formal action required by the Committee on this, as the reappointment was a Council action. C.Review of Enabling Ordinance – This is an annual review process by the Committee to reaffirm the details of the Committee. In addition, at a recent workshop of the Council, the Council did reaffirm the size of the Committee as well as the appointment of two Council Members to the Committee by virtue of their Council status. The Committee discussed frequency, time, and length of the meetings, and all agreed to keep the meetings as once a month meetings, occurring on the first Wednesday of the month, from 5:15 – 6:45. D.July 3, 2013 Meeting – Reschedule or Cancel – The Committee decided to forgo the July 3, 2013 meeting unless the Council requests some specific assistance th before the August meeting. The next meeting will be August 7 unless there is a need for an emergency meeting. E.Priority List - Staff reviewed topics list and the progress of each item with Committee. It was noted that item #16 is now complete. And, of sixteen listed items, six of them are complete, one was removed due to Council addressing it, one is ongoing (Communications), and eight are left to address in the future. The Committee will continue to add new items to the list and work on those items already on the list. Item #2 is the next one that the Committee will be addressing, and if possible, some of the smaller items will be taken on at the same time. IV. ELECTION OF CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR FOR 7/2013 – 7/2014 - (~6:05 –6:10) For the position of Chair, recognizing that Buchholz has served in this position for three years, Committee member Schulz nominated Committee member Pech as the new Chair. This was seconded by Hirschberg. Pech accepted. Motion passed unanimously. For the position of Vice-Chair, again recognizing that Thoms has served for three years, Committee member Schulz nominated Committee member Buchholz as the new Vice-Chair. This was seconded by Thoms. Buchholz accepted. Motion passed unanimously. V.2014 BUDGET PROCESS OUTLINE - (~6:10 – 6:35) Staff shared the 2014 budget timeline that was approved by the Council with the Committee. This was part of a goal Council set for City Manager Rohloff for 2013 in an effort to improve the budget process and get the Council involved earlier in the process. Rather than waiting to start the budget meetings with Council in October once the City Manager’s draft budget is released, the Council workshops will now begin in July, and continue throughout August, September, October, and November, until approval at the nd 2 Council meeting in November (on November 26, 2013). The detailed agendas for each of these workshops will be shared with the Committee as they become available to keep the Committee in the loop in case Council needs assistance with any items throughout the process. Committee members reiterated that the 3-5 year model should be used, and the City’s debt status and goals should be analyzed. Staff did mention that the current debt practice/goal is borrow no more in any given year than is being paid off in that same year. Moody’s and the City’s ratings were also discussed briefly and will be discussed more in the future. It was noted that Moody's really liked the Fund Balance policy that was implemented two years ago (a recommendation from the Committee to the Council). In order to get rating upgrade, we would need more than lower debt levels. We would really need economic development and an increase in property values. Staff will keep the Committee updated on dates and times of budget workshops, and will provide follow-ups after each workshop. Buchholz stated he would be sending a memo to City Manager Rohloff regarding the overall budget process and the continuous improvements in the budget process he has seen over the past few years. VI.EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT FUND – (~6:35 – 6:45) Staff provided an overview of the history of this item at the committee level and provided handouts from the earlier meetings that included discussions on the equipment replacement fund. To date, the Committee has done the following: (1) brainstormed the issues to consider for proposed policy, (2) defined ‘capital equipment’, and (3) established a draft policy dated 2-2-11. It is now time to pick up the process where we left off in 2011 when the Committee needed to focus on other things. Committee members asked about the current relevance of this item with Council as well as the sustainability of such a fund. These are both items the Committee needs to contemplate in future discussions of this topic. Staff reminded the Committee of the Council action last year to include approximately $1.1 Million in the budget to put towards equipment replacement so that borrowing could be reduced. The Committee also discussed the removal of equipment from the CIP, as the CIP should be for infrastructure improvements. The Committee recognized that this topic could take two to three meetings to complete, but all agreed that this is a good time to get back to this and make a recommendation to the Council in advance of the 2014 budget being approved. VII.ADJOURMENT Motion by Pech, Second by Herzig to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.