Finance, Taxes and Insurance

FINANCE COMMITTEE December 14, 2015 – Official 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Gil Amborn, Brian Lauer, Ron Kluth,Tom Roanhouse and Jim Schneider Also Present: Rebecca Ewald, Lori Peternell, Stephanie Charapata and Rick Mueller Lauer called the meeting to order at 5:00p.m. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to approve the November 4, 2015 Joint Finance and Village Board Minutes. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to approve the November 9th, 2015 Regular Meeting Minutes with one typographical error corrected. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the update on 2016 room tax distribution. Peternell stated that the amount collected will be disbursed as follows: Administrative Room Tax-30% of total collected will be considered general revenue of the Village. Promotional Room Tax-70% of total collected. It is fully disbursed by the following percentages: Chamber of Commerce (25%) Balloon Fest (20%) to a maximum of $5,000 Baymont Hotel (15%) Real Racine (10%) Any amount received in excess of the $5,000 for Balloon Fest will be distributed proportionately based upon the allocations above to the remaining three organizations by the first quarter of 2017. Ewald provided an update on new room tax law. Ewald stated that Village staff, a representative of the Chamber, Baymont Hotel and Racine Visitors Convention Bureau participated in a conference call presented by the League of Wisconsin Municipalities regarding the changes in the room tax law. At this time, staff is recommending that we continue to monitor the matter closely and revisit it in March of 2016 when perhaps more direction has been provided by the state on implementing the new law. Discussion was held regarding the method of payment for commercial cross connection inspection. Peternell stated at the October Finance meeting discussion was held regarding including the commercial cross connection inspection fee on the 2016 tax bill. If the Village approves placing the commercial cross connection inspection fee on the 2016 tax bill, Ordinance 626 (section 112E-4) would need to be changed to state that the inspection charge would be included on the tax bill as a special charge instead of fee. We would need to submit the changes to the DNR for approval and the fee section of Resolution #781 would need to be rescinded. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Kluth to recommend Village Board approve the method of payment for commercial cross connection inspection be changed from sending a bill to property owners to including it as a special fee on the tax bill. Roanhouse-Nay, motion carried. Chief Mueller was present to discuss the purchase requisition for radios. Mueller stated that in 2015 there was $38,000 allocated in the capital budget for radios. Approximately $14,000 has already been spent. The Department applied for a FEMA grant for additional radios and was not successful. This purchase requisition of $24,412.50 utilizes the remaining funds to purchase radios for the department. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Kluth to recommend Village Board approval of the $24,412.50 purchase requisition for radios. Motion carried. Discussion was held regarding the 2015 capital budget allocation of $30,000 for turn out gear. The Village has entered into a partnership with Gateway to utilize their gear for new members until such time that the member has demonstrated some commitment to stay with the department. At that time the Chief orders the member their turnout gear, a cost of approximately $2,500 per member. To date, $23,509 has been expended on turn out gear. The Chief is requesting that the balance of capital budget funds be kept available in 2016 for utilization on turn out gear. If it cannot be allocated for turn out gear in 2016, he will order turnout gear to expend the remainder of the funds before the end of the fiscal year. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn to recommend Village Board approval to allocate the remaining 2015 funds of $6,500 in the 2016 capital budget for turnout gear. Motion carried. Ewald provided an update on the 2016-2017 MSID grant for 2nd Street and Division Street rehabilitation. Peternell provided an update on the completion of the canoe/kayak launches and associated grants. Discussion was held regarding an invoice from Waterford Oil. Peternell stated that the Village received a bill from Waterford Oil in the amount of $967.68 for fuel charges incurred by the Tichigan Fire Company for an automatic response in the Village’s contracted area of the Town of Waterford. The Rochester Fire Company was the first on scene and established command. This incident went to a Tichigan structure fire box alarm which brought in Vernon, Wind Lake, Big Bend, Mukwonago, Union Grove, Kansasville, Tess Corners, Racine Firebells, Town of Burlington & Burlington Rescue. The Tichigan Fire Chief originally submitted the bill to the Town of Waterford and was told that it was their responsibility since they are a private contractor. At that point the Tichigan Fire Chief directed Waterford Oil to send the bill to the Village of Waterford. Staff has requested input from the Village Attorney on how to proceed and her recommendation is that it be disallowed for the following reasons: - The Automatic Response Agreement (ARA) is unwritten. I can find no trace of its approval in the Village Board minutes on line. Historically, all departments and companies providing the immediate response under the ARA have covered their own costs, and receive mutual benefit by virtue of the automatic response. - Without the ARA, a Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) or box alarm would have been called earlier. The Tichigan Fire  Department participates in MABAS. Under Section five of the MABAS agreement, response by other departments is at no charge to the requesting unit, see attached. Each participating department and company is benefited by being part of the agreement. - Paying this bill would establish a precedent for all three ARA companies and/or municipalities to start billing each other for fuel and other costs. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Kluth to recommend Village Board deny payment to Waterford Oil and directed the Treasurer to send a response approved by the Village Attorney, to Waterford Oil, Town of Waterford Board and Tichigan Fire Company notifying them of the Board’s decision. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the Treasurer’s response to the Waterford Post regarding the November 27, 2015 article about the Village’s budget. Peternell discussed the revaluation impact on 2015 property taxes. The Village’s assessed value dropped from $440,649,200 to $426,327,100 which is a 3.36% reduction. When a community’s assessed value decreases it results in an increase in the mill rate. Further discussion was held regarding other taxing jurisdictions (State of Wisconsin, Racine County, Waterford Graded School District, Waterford Union High School and Gateway) levies. There have been some questions about changes in the amount of taxes shown on the tax bills for Racine County and Waterford Graded School District since their levies remained the same as last year. Each year the taxing jurisdictions appropriate a portion of the levy to each municipality located in their district. For example, the WGSD levy for 2015 is $10,507,991 and is collected by the Village of Waterford, Town of Waterford, Village of Rochester, and a portion of Town of Dover and Town of Norway. The portion appropriated to each municipality is determined by the community’s equalized value. Based on the Village’s current equalized value, the Village of Waterford is responsible for approximately 31% of the WGSD total levy. Because equalized values can change year to year, the amount collected by each municipality will also change year to year. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Amborn, to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village prepaid invoices in the amount of $24,502.31. Motion carried. Motion made by Kluth, seconded by Schneider to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village unpaid invoices in the amount of $530,091.46. Motion carried. Upon motion made by Schneider, seconded by Kluth, the meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m. Motion carried. Submitted by, Lori Peternell, CMTW Village Treasurer 2