Finance Committee

City of Verona Finance Committee City Hall – 111 Lincoln Street Verona, WI 53593-1520 FINANCE COMMITTEE MINUTES SEPTEMBER 25, 2023 The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Chad Kemp at 6:12 p.m. Roll Call: Chairperson Chad Kemp and Alder Mara Helmke were present, Alder Christine Posey was excused, Also present: Mayor Luke Diaz, City Administrator Jamie Aulik, Finance Director Brian Lamers and Police Chief Dave Dresser Discussion and Possible Action regarding approval of September 18, 2023 Finance Committee minutes: Motion was made by Kemp, seconded by Helmke to approve the September 18, 2023 Finance Committee minutes with no changes noted. Motion carried 2-0. Discussion and Possible Action regarding any Updates or Information on the 2024 Budget, Department Budget Presentations: Chief Dresser asked the if there were any questions with the memo sent to the Committee regarded the use of an open Police Officer position for a Community Service Officer. This would not have any impact to the budget or would be a savings and this is a way to test this type of position and would help out the Officers. Dresser stated he had a discussion with the Union Steward and felt there would be no issues with the union. The Committee was in agreement with this change. Lamers went over the Administration Budget and stated cost for personnel were down 1.98%, even though there was an increase to COLA and health insurance increases. The decrease is due to not funding the Utility Accountant that was partly charged to the Administration budget and charges for certain positions to the Library, such as Administrator, HR Coord and Finance Staff. Wages for election costs are up due to 4 elections instead of 2 and that will also reflect in an increase in the operation budget for election, which is the majority of increase in the operational budget of $18,800. The Administration capital budget includes $98,000 for a boiler, which will come out of Facility Replacement funds and 4 Election tabulators for $32,000, which will be levy. Lamers went through the Verona Economic Development Commission (VEDC) Budget and stated the only outstanding loans remaining are for the Seventeenth Radish and for Alice Good for a total of outstanding budget at the end of the year of approximately $75,000. Lamers stated that the estimated amount available in the VEDC is at approximately $473,280. Lamers went through the Debt budget and pointed out that the Library debt levy dropped by $81,716 and general debt levy dropped by $62,545. He stated with the reduction in borrowing in the past couple years and the increase in impact fee usage contributed to this reduction. He www.ci.verona.wi.us pointed out from last year the general obligation debt outstanding in 2022 was $38,128,000 and at the end of 2023 was $36,140,000. Lamers went over the TIF budgets and stated we will not know the TIF increments until we get the other taxing entities levy. He stated in TIF 4 the only expenditures are repayment of debt, administration cost and a pay-go for the Keller-Burke properties. TIF 8 has a pay-go for repayment. TIF 9 there are agreements currently being worked on. TIF 10 includes the ACS project and a pay-go is in place for that. Lamers stated the staffing table changes for 2024 have not been updated yet until the decision of the requested positions are discussed, right now there are changes with an addition of a PW Staff, and funding of the 50% Administration Assistant at the Fire Department. There will be reduction of a Police Officer and an addition to a Police Office/Community Service Officer with no changes to the proposed budget pending approval. Lamers went over if there was a 5% COLA included. If we reduced the solar funds by $35,000, eliminated the $10,000 to Badger Prairie Needs, eliminated the $20,000 from overtime for the Police, and eliminated the $10,000 for facility analysis in Parks, the total would be $75,000. The estimated remaining levy was about $198,000, with the $75,000 would be a total of $273,000. The new positions of Police Lieutenant, Fire Battalion Chief and the Senior Center Case Manager would be a total cost of approximately $324,000, so we would be about $51,000 over. Lamers stated if the same scenario as above, but with 6% COLA across the board, we would be approximately $90,000 over. Lamers stated if the COLA is increased and with the increase of Health and Dental the Library would have to find funding of between $30,000 and $40,000. After discussion with the Library Director the recommendation would be to reduce the sorter by what is needed and fund the rest in 2025 and could be ordered for replacement in the beginning of 2025. Lamers stated the Library will have more than enough minimum funding that they may not have enough needs to be able to spend it in 2025. Lamers stated a couple ideas could be not approving one of the new positions requested or only funding a portion of the year, which there would have to be an understanding this is going to hit the 2025 budget. Another reduction could be up to $80,000 for Facilities Replacement Fund, however Lamers stated then the levy for capital would be reduced from what there was in 2023 budget, which is not the best alternative, but it is an alternative. Discussion took place on some of the reductions to the budget and the amount of COLA. The Committee asked if we could get what the levy would be for the City portion of the EMS budget if the new Deputy Chief was not included. Lamers stated he would contact Chief Anderson to get that information. After further discussion the Committee would like Administration to try to look for additional savings in the budgets to help cover some of the overage with additional COLA. The Committee would like a calculation if the COLA was at 7%. They discussed utilizing debt in the levy limit calculation to cover some of the overage with additional COLA. The Committee discussed having another Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. www.ci.verona.wi.us Discussion and Possible Action regarding Resolution R-23-026 Approving the Fee Schedule for 2024: Lamers stated that the changes to the fee schedule were mainly Recreation programs and Tree Fees going from a flat rate to a rate based on street frontage. Motion was made by Kemp, seconded by Helmke to recommend approval of Resolution R-23-026 Approving the Fee Schedule for 2024 to Common Council. Discussion and Possible Action regarding the payment of bills: Motion was made by Kemp, seconded by Helmke to approve the payment of bills totaling $942,279.92. Motion carried 2-0. Adjournment: Motion was made by Helmke, seconded by Kemp to adjourn the Finance Committee Meeting at 6:58 p.m. Motion carried 2-0. Respectfully submitted, Brian Lamers CPA Finance Director www.ci.verona.wi.us