Finance Commission

5/10/2022 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Jean Silva, Jason Burds, Maurice Matt, Ashley Lucht, Matt Francis, Dillon Lovell City Staff Present: Angela Aldieri, Kristine Lott Guests Present: none Call to Order by: Jean Silva Meeting Start Time: 5:33 Minutes Recorded by: Ashley Lucht II. Public Comment None III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Approved Motion by: Maurice Second: Dillon IV. Council Update Council approved to establish The Winooski Commission for Inclusion and Belonging. Liaison will be appointed to each commission 5/21 annual strategy and priority session. Open to public. Request someone from each commission to attend. 9:30-1 probably senior center. If someone cannot attend will be discussion priorities tonight can be brought to meeting New City manager to start Monday. V. Discussion: ARPA Update Received feedback from VLCT and auditors on treasury rule. Should take the standard revenue loss and expense in current year; meets the ARPA requirement and becomes GF fund balance. $250k to replenish parking enterprise fund. remainder to go to GF for future projects. $20k to grants for businesses. Some $$ for tests for staff and PPE. Still need to decide on the remainder. Maurice: is any ARPA money being allocated toward current expenses? Only on paper, but not in actuality. Only operating costs are related to PPE and covid tests. VI. Discussion: Strategies & Priorities List Review Annual living document, sets overarching big picture goals for the city. Direction from council is for commissions to review and provide feedback. Are we missing anything? For this group, economic vitality section. Most of outcome summary section is completed by staff. VI. Discussion: Strategies & Priorities List Review Annual living document, sets overarching big picture goals for the city. Direction from council is for commissions to review and provide feedback. Are we missing anything? For this group, economic vitality section. Most of outcome summary section is completed by staff. l Equity Audit report findings should be called out as separate future items. l 17 Abenaki Way—design to be presented to Counsel in the near future—TIF related and high priority. l Equity position needs additional staff and budget to fund position in future years. l CEDO position needs to be filled, missing data analysis piece, Downtown Winooski liaison. l COVID grants to business using ARPA $ was not popular, presumably because of requirements. AA looking to retool the application. l Looking to retool sidewalk permit process l Expand Downtown Designation—expanding the footprint of DT would include more businesses in tax credit opportunities from ACCD l Form based code incentives—changing incentives for builders to build the types of building Winooski desires/needs. Instead of offering affordable housing, builders have been taking the efficiency route. Who decides what kind of housing we need? UVM did a study and housing commission. Lack of ‘work force’ housing; 3-bedroom or larger units. Municipal planning grant to conduct an affordable housing audit; seeking additional grant ops to expand scope to get better results. $25k won’t likely get what we need (that’s what the equity audit cost), need more $ to get details so might need ~$50k. looking at Burlington for a comparison report, but Burlington has in-house people. l Additions: how do we get people move here? How do we get families to move here? l How do we use form base code incentives or TIF to achieve the above? l Winooski/Burlington bridge replacement project-- half of 10% of replacement of bridge is Winooski’s responsibility = 4 years of discretionary capital spending l St Stephens property development is twofold—one it is a large developable parcel in town with grand list growth potential, two is where does the senior center go? l Regional dispatch—housed at Winooski police dept; spend a lot of $$ to have 24 coverage. FY24 transition estimated, will cost as much as it does in the first couple of years, but will transition to cost sharing based on call volume, which will likely reduce Winooski’s liability. Will also increase depth of coverage l Property reassessment by FY24, in effect for FY25 tax bill. Also coming the same time as TIF revenue will be available to Winooski; decisions still need to be made on what to do with TIF rev. want to avoid what happened in Burlington with respect to property reassessment. l What do we do with TIF dollars? What is the update on TIF? Counsel has started the conversation regarding how to best spend TIF revenue. AA to produce data on how city has grown. Potential improvements to rental protection under housing commission priorities: something the housing committee has ID’d but doesn’t know much about it. What do we do with TIF money? How much of this money should support the CIP and how much should go to new programs/staff? What is already being paid out of that bucket? What are our values? l Funding new positions that haven’t’ been approved by the public l Concern other commissions see this as a new pot of money to be spent on new initiatives (like form-based incentives); want to ensure that the money is spent on projects that have already been approved (like Main St). City council is the only group that can allocate TIF dollars currently. l Spending of TIF would go through council and budget process in March 2024  l Funding new positions that haven’t’ been approved by the public l Concern other commissions see this as a new pot of money to be spent on new initiatives (like form-based incentives); want to ensure that the money is spent on projects that have already been approved (like Main St). City council is the only group that can allocate TIF dollars currently. l Spending of TIF would go through council and budget process in March 2024 l Align TIF with master plan goals as it was vetted by public l Here's a summary of what Kristine proposed: l Review historic data on growth: Grand List, Population, Inflation, City Budget, Capital Improvement - what is sustainable funding? How much TIF money do we need to sustain our current state? l Then what would be left for projects, debt, new staff or programs? VII. Discussion: Master Plan Goals – Long Term Financial Planning 1. Do we keep this one? Revise? AA doesn’t believe this is one we can check off; it is an ongoing process. On track. 2. Do we keep this one? Hiring for this position should be high priority. Hiring on hold until new City Manager starts. In process, currently stalled. Needs staff resources 3. Do we keep this one? Actively in progress. 4. Do we keep this one? Actively in progress. 5. Do we keep this one? Actively in progress. 6. Do we keep this one? All of Winooski is an Opportunity Zone but designation ends in 2026. 7. Do we keep this one? Actively in progress. Allocate an agenda item to this item at a future meeting. 8. Completed 9. Do we keep this one? Council has named the district. What does this do? What benefit would be provided by the district? Already have developers incorporating public art on their buildings. Not a significant goal, but maybe already incorporating into what Winooski does. Waking Windows may have been the result of this endeavor. Use of Rotary for a public space for art (pumpkin carving, concerts, Winooski Wednesdays) VIII. Adjourn Motion by: Matt Second: Jason Meeting End Time: 7:15 PM