Finance Committee

City of Verona Finance Committee City Hall – 111 Lincoln Street Verona, WI 53593-1520 MINUTES FINANCE COMMITTEE October 23, 2017 The meeting was called to order by Alder Elizabeth Doyle at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room D110. Roll Call: Alder Jack Linder and Alder Elizabeth Doyle were present. Alder William “Mac” McGilvray was absent. Also present: City Administrator Jeff Mikorski, Finance Director Brian Lamers and Jim Ferolie from the Verona Press. Discussion and Possible Action regarding approval of October 9, 2017 Finance Committee minutes: Motion was made by Linder, seconded by Doyle, to approve the October 9, 2017 Finance Committee minutes with no amendments. Motion carried 2-0. Discussion and Possible Action regarding the payment of bills: Motion was made by Linder, seconded by Doyle, to approve the payment of bills totaling $463,205.01. Motion carried 2-0. Discussion and Possible Action on City Investment Report-September 2017: Lamers went through the September 2017 Investment Report and Cash Reconciliation report. Lamers explained that there was a drop in the fair market value in the investments. Discussion took place about having a representative from DANA Investment to do a presentation in January. No action taken Discussion and Possible Action regarding bid exemption for upgrade in audio and video technology in the Council Chambers: Mikorski explained there was $100,000 approved in the budget for Council Chamber technology upgrades. AVI Systems is currently the company that we have now which includes their proprietary software. If we went out for bid a new company would have to start from scratch with the software and programming. AVI Systems’ quote would be $69,383 which would include $41,730 for equipment which is priced with the state contract and the remaining would be services. Mikorski explained that the policy allows for waiving of bids over $25,000 if it is in the best interest of the City. After further discussion a motion was made by Doyle, seconded by Linder to approve the bid exemption for the upgrade in audio and video technology in the Council Chambers. Motion carried 3-0. Discussion and Possible Action regarding 2018 Proposed Budget recommendation and authorization for publication of notice of public hearing: Mikorski went over the budget highlights including the 3% COLA, the 3 new positions included for a Police Office, Case Manager at Senior Center and the position at the Public Works for overseeing projects. The proposed levy before TIF’s would be $1,329,215 which is at levy limit. He explained that we www.ci.verona.wi.us have not gotten the amount of the expenditure restraint program from the state but felt confident we would be within the program. The levy percentage increase before the TIF’s was 1.86%. The Equalized Value is up by 12.34% and the Assessed Value is up by 7.10%. The tax rate would drop from $6.0349 to $5.7744 or a 4.32% decrease overall. The budget also includes utilizing$200,000 from fund balance to use in the capital fund to reduce the amount of 2018 borrowing. Doyle asked if this still included funding of Sunday hours at the Library in which it does. Linder voiced his concern on funding for the Badger Prairie Needs Network for $20,000 and $5,000 for the Verona Road Business Coalition with these being donations and should the City be utilizing taxes for those programs. Discussion took place on the capital request and the amount of debt being presented. The debt portion would be $8,488,000. Linder asked about what is being paid off in principal in 2018 compared to what is estimated to be borrowed. Lamers explained that $5,870,717 of principal will be paid off so the difference is an increase in debt of $2,617,283. Discussion took place on the concern of the future debt in the 5-year plan and some of the major projects. Motion was made by Linder, seconded by Doyle to approve the recommended budget and authorize the publication of notice of public hearing. Motion carried 2-0. Adjournment: Motion by Linder, seconded by Doyle, to adjourn the Finance Committee Meeting at 6:50 p.m. Motion carried 2-0. Respectfully submitted, Brian Lamers CPA, Finance Director www.ci.verona.wi.us