Finance, Taxes and Insurance

FINANCE COMMITTEE March 14, 2016 – Official 5:00 p.m. Members Present: Brian Lauer, Tom Roanhouse and Jim Schneider Excused: Gil Amborn and Ron Kluth Also Present: Rebecca Ewald, Lori Peternell, Stephanie Charapata, Rick Mueller Lauer called the meeting to order at 5:00p.m. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to approve the February 8, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to approve the February 22, 2016 Joint Finance and Village Board Meeting Minutes. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed Resolution 791 – Amending the fee schedule for cross connection fees. This changes the method of collecting the fee for commercial cross connection inspections from being invoiced by the Village to a special charge on the tax bill. This was tabled at the February Finance Committee as there was a question regarding what the actual cost would be for a Complex Non-Residential facility. Staff followed up with HydroCorp and received the following: “Based on the account list and a better understanding of the Village, there are no complex facilities. All facilities will fall into the standard Commercial, Industrial or Public Authority category”. Based on this clarification, the Complex Non-Residential Inspection fee language was removed from Resolution #791. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to recommend Village Board approval of Resolution 791 – Amending the fee schedule for cross connection fees. Motion carried. The Chief is requesting to add an item to the rescue capital budget, 2 video laryngoscopes, a camera used to identify the correct opening in someone’s throat for an advanced airway (intubation tube) procedure. The cost of these two items is over $5,000 and requires capitalization. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to recommend Village Board approval of the purchase requisition in the amount of $5,063 for 2 video laryngoscopes. Motion carried. Discussion was held regarding the RA Smith contract amendment. Ewald stated that pursuant to the direction of the Board, the RA Smith amended agreement reflects the plat services required for easement acquisitions identified for East Main Street that were identified as a result of the design, underground signal design for the E. Main Street/Milwaukee Street intersection and the design of S. Milwaukee Street to Elizabeth Street to address storm water management issues related to E. Main Street and Elizabeth Street. On 2/22 the Board amended the contract for RA Smith to include these expenditures. To date $74,874.71 has been expended on the contract and the amendment increases the total contract amount to $124,255. The capital budget sheet was updated to reflect this contract change and allocate the additional expenditures over the next three years. Motion made by Roanhouse, seconded by Schneider to approve the additional allocation of capital funds for the RA Smith contract amendment. Motion carried. The Committee reviewed the January and February monthly budget to actual reports. Amborn, Schneider, Ewald and Peternell met on 2/10 to continue the review of the Village’s financial policies. It was discussed that the budget to actual reports will be reviewed monthly instead of quarterly and will be at the beginning of the meeting instead of at the end of the meeting as part of the Treasurer report. Schneider requested that the capital improvement spreadsheet be included in the monthly review beginning in April. Discussion was held regarding the request to review the solid waste ordinance. The Village President received an inquiry from a property owner living in a condominium that is located in a building with more than 4 units and therefore required to contract for garage services. Village ordinance requires that any building with 4 or more units be required to contract individually for garbage services. Garbage disposal is included within the levy for the Village and any modifications of the ordinance may have a budgetary impact. At the February 8th Village Board meeting the Board requested the ordinance be reviewed by the Finance Committee for possible changes. The assessor provided a listing of all condominium units which was crossed checked against a listing provided by John’s Disposal of customers receiving garbage/recycling pickup to determine what condominium units are not receiving pickup through the Village. The following condo units are not receiving service through the Village: 420 Racine St – 10 properties 300 Foxwood Dr – 80 properties 240 Marina Ct – 34 properties 314 – 320 Jefferson St – 14 properties 921 – 925 Prestwick – 25 properties 217 7th St – 17 properties If the ordinance is amended to include service for these properties, and they were provided with (1) garbage and (1) recycling container, the additional cost to the Village would be $25,358.40/year. Because of the configuration of these buildings, the costs of using individual carts versus dumpsters in these types of developments should be evaluated. Current levy limit law specifies that if the Village were to move the cost of garbage collection out of the levy and include a special charge to be placed on the property tax bill, the Village would be required to reduce the levy by the amount. (This does not apply to recycling) The 2016 budget amount for garbage collection is $183,448. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to have John’s Disposal review the properties that are not receiving service through the Village to determine the best method of collection and provide a quote for adding those properties to the contract. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to move up agenda item #13 - Village invoices. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse, to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village prepaid invoices in the amount of $1,982,273.87. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to recommend to the Village Board approval of Village unpaid invoices in the amount of $205,542.60. Motion carried. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to move up agenda item #1 – Sanitary Sewer Agreement. Motion carried. Discussion was held regarding the sanitary sewer agreement for Racine Street Area Project. At the 2/22 meeting the Board agreed to offer the special assessment process to homeowners seeking to make additional sanitary improvements beyond what the Village was requiring to a maximum of $5,000 per year for five years during the Racine Street Area Project. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to recommend Village Board approval of the sanitary sewer agreement for Racine Street Area Project. Motion carried. The Board requested the Finance Committee review the rescue billing policy to discuss providing discounts on accounts prior to being turned over to collection. Revenue from rescue billing is used to reduce the amount of tax dollars needed to support the Rescue Department. The 2016 Rescue operating budget is $325,615, of which $190,000 is expected to be generated from rescue billing revenue. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to not make any changes to the rescue billing policy. Motion carried. Peternell provided an update on Resolution #795 – Preliminary Resolution for Special Assessments for the Racine Street Area Project. On 2/22 the Village Board acted on the process for special assessments on the Racine Street project by way of passing resolution 795. Peternell discussed Waterford Hospitality (Baymont Hotel) delinquent room tax payments. On January 26th the Treasurer contacted Kathy Gellendin, manager of the Baymont to notify her that the Baymont was delinquent on the November and December room tax payments. The Baymont was sold in June 2015 to Waterford Hospitality Inc. and was paying the monthly room tax on a timely basis until this point. Kathy has been trying to get this resolved with the owner since January but has not been provided with status on when the payments will be made as the owner is currently out of the country. Section 23-10E of the Village codes states “All late taxes under this section shall bear interest at a rate of 1% per month from the due date of the tax until the day the tax is paid or deposited with the Village Treasurer.” Furthermore, Section 23-10J(1) of the Village Code states “Any person who is subject to the tax imposed by this section who fails or refuses to pay such tax, fails or refuses to allow the inspection of his state sales tax records by the Village Treasurer after such inspection has been requested by the Village Treasurer, fails to file a return as provided in this section, fails to remit the taxes due within 60 days of the tax due date or who violates any other provision of this section may be required to pay forfeitures as provided herein, together with the cost of prosecution. Each day or portion thereof that such violation continues is hereby deemed to constitute a separate offense.” In the past when room tax was delinquent, the Finance Committee directed the Treasurer to notify the Baymont that they will be imposing the 1% penalty on all delinquent payments and request a written response from the Baymont within two weeks that provides a payment date on all delinquent payments. If a payment date is not received within that timeframe, penalties per Section 23-10J(1) will be imposed. Discussion was held regarding changing the ordinance to require an escrow account for room tax and whether the delinquent room tax can be added to the tax bill. Peternell will contact the Village Attorney about the questions regarding the ordinance changes. Further discussion was held regarding reviewing the promotional room tax distribution at the April meeting. Motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse to have the Treasurer send a notice to the Baymont that the Village will be imposing the 1% per month penalty on all delinquent payments and request a written response from the Baymont within two weeks that provides a payment date on all delinquent payments. If a payment date is not received within that timeframe, penalties per Section 23-10J(1) will be imposed. Motion carried. Upon motion made by Schneider, seconded by Roanhouse, the meeting adjourned at 6:23 p.m. Motion carried. Submitted by, Lori Peternell, CMTW Village Treasurer 2