FINANCE COMMITTEE

VILLAGE OF WAUNAKEE FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING 500 West Main Street July 25, 2023 5:30 PM Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER Chairman Joe Zitzelsberger called the meeting to order at 5:35 P.M. ROLL CALL Members present: Joe Zitzelsberger, Kristin Runge, Paul Cardarella, Robert McPherson, Sara Whitley (arrived approximately 5:45), Renee Meinholz, Todd Schmidt Also present: Karla Endres, Justin Hoagland, Nila Frye Absent: Al Dassow, Tom Wilson CONSENT AGENDA Items under the consent agenda may be acted upon by one motion. If, in the judgment of any Board Member, a consent agenda item needs discussion, the item may be moved to later on the agenda for discussion and/or action. 1 Consider approval of minutes - April 3, 2023 Motion by Kristin Runge to approve the consent agenda (approval of minutes - April 2, 2023), seconded by Paul Cardarella. Motion Pass. For: 4 - Joe Z, Paul C, Kristin R, Robert M , Against: 0. PUBLIC COMMENT None PRESENTATIONS 1 Baker Tilly Audit Report Presentation Justin Hoagland of Baker Tilly (BT) presented the 12/31/22 draft audit reports. Justin began his presentation by discussing the Reporting and Insights from 2022 audit document. He mentioned that we continue to have inadequate segregation of duties in the Village due to the size of Village staff, which is common for municipalities our size. BT also reported a material weakness over financial reporting, primarily due to material audit entries at Waunakee Utilities but also due to 2 restatements that were necessary as BT did not agree with the way that CLA had recorded certain transactions in prior years. Regarding the financial statements, Justin highlighted the auditors' opinion, which was an unmodified, or "clean" opinion, which is the highest assurance that they can give. Justin then moved on to the financial highlights document. He went through several common benchmarks to assess financial health. Several questions were asked by committee members. Justin stated there were no significant issues obtaining necessary information other than a small delay in receiving information from prior auditors related to EMS. With regards to our general fund fund balance and our policy, Justin did not recommend changes to the policy at this time. He mentioned one municipality that had a policy to transfer the excess over the top threshold to the capital projects fund year after year and then dipped below the minimum in a year of unexpected negative results. As an auditor, he would rather see the fund balance slightly above the top percentage.  No action taken. BUSINESS 1 Discuss and take action on potential creation of additional fund balance policy related to use of unassigned fund balance in the general fund in excess of Village policy Motion by Kristin Runge to carry over the item "Discuss and take action on potential creation of additional fund balance policy related to use of unassigned fund balance in the general fund in excess of Village policy" to the next meeting, seconded by Paul Cardarella. Motion Pass. For: 5 - Joe Z, Paul C, Sara W, Kristin R, Robert M. Against: 0. 2 Discuss and Take Action on Assessment Contract with Associated Appraisal Dean Peters from Associated Appraisal provided information on requirements imposed by the WI Department of Revenue on assessors. He also gave insight into how assessments have changed, particularly post-COVID. Dean then went through the various options in the proposal. He stated that he really likes the Annual Maintenance with two IMU revaluations option. This accomplishes increasing the market values incrementally on a regular basis but avoids properties being reassessed every year. Discussion ensued. Committee members present had general consensus over the Annual Maintenance option. Another Finance Committee meeting will be scheduled to discuss this and arrive at a recommendation for the Village Board. Finance Director to initiate scheduling process. 3 Discuss and take action on preliminary 2024 budget process and calendar The Finance Director went over the draft 2024 budget calendar. She asked the committee their thoughts on having a joint meeting again with the Village Board for the October 16th meeting. General feedback was that the process worked fine last year. Motion by Sara Whitley to approve the budget calendar as presented, seconded by Kristin Runge. Motion Pass. For: 5 - Joe Z, Paul C, Sara W, Kristin R, Robert M. Against: 0. 4 Discuss potential change to Equipment Replacement fund budgeting The Finance Director discussed the long lead times still being experienced when trying to obtain vehicles and large equipment such as dump trucks. The proposal would be to adopt a rolling 5 year Equipment Replacement budget wherein departments could place orders in advance of the year budgeted, as long as the item was in the 5-year budget, in the hopes that they would receive the item by the time it was needed and budgeted. Joe asked how the 5 year time frame was arrived at. The Finance Director stated that our current Equipment Replacement policy requires us to maintain a certain level of fund balance over a 5 year period and so it made sense for this to be 5 years as well. However, it could be possible to adopt 3 years, for example. Finance Director will solicit the opinions of those most impacted and report back. ADJOURN Motion by Kristin Runge to adjourn at 6:42 P.M., seconded by Robert McPherson. Motion Pass. For: 5 - Joe Z, Paul C, Sara W, Kristin R, Robert M. Against: 0. Respectfully Submitted, _____________________________________ Renee Meinholz, Finance Director