Finance Minutes 9/7/2010

Minutes of the Finance Committee meeting held on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010 at city hall pursuant to notice duly given.

1. Meeting called to order at 4:03 p.m. by Chairperson Maas.
2. Roll call: Jack Maas, Dick Doeren, Ed Young and Roger Reed. Also present: Mayor Fulton, Atty. Calvert and Linda Belongia Administrator and as recording secretary.
3. Moved by Doeren seconded by Reed to approve of the agenda as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes
4. No correspondence/public appearances
5. Discussion/recommendation on:
b. Request for line item transfer from Airport Commission. Present representing the commission, Jerry Beekman and Eileen Duffeck; Beekman stated within the airport budget line item #811 new fuel system was put in this summer, didn’t get completed as quickly as thought, had to purchase additional fuel until the new system as in place, this line item is over budget; also put in new gate; Duffeck stated they have approval from their state engineer that the commission can use the revenue received from the sale of the sand at the airport for the shortfall of $1530; Belongia gave updated balance on remaining funds from sale of sand…$48,172.34; Duffeck stated the commission has to still replace an above ground gas tank;
Moved by Doeren seconded by Young to recommend to Com of the Whole approval of transferring from the sand revenue $1,530.00 to 202-53510-811for the new gate.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

Beekman stated that line item #231 is for workers compensation and they did not budget
for this; Belongia refreshed everyone on meetings with Atty. Mraz and Kevin Hamann
regarding how the airport manager was treated in the past as a contracted employee; true
contractual employees must provide a certificate of insurance showing they have workers
compensation insurance; Airport managers and laborers are now employees of the airport,
but covered under the city’s insurance which is charged annually to the airport budget;
Beekman stated they will go back and adjust their 2011 budget request to include funding
for the workers comp coverage;

a. Tax exempt properties; Atty. Calvert provided his opinion on charging for services; committee reviewed original listing with estimates from assessors as to valuation of properties; need to determine who are we going to charge; Atty. Calvert stated take the list from the assessor’s records…feels some of the estimated assessments seem a little high; Maas stated some of these nonprofit properties have a hard time making ends meet; Atty. Calvert stated trying to charge some will be somewhat of a timing issue…such as the schools, they would need to know for budgeting purposes…this will not be a popular issue; Belongia noted for record email from Dan Olson, legal counsel from the League of Municipalities…at this time the league has not developed any guidelines for utilizing 66.0627 against tax-exempt properties; Maas suggested we table this till we get more information on this; Doeren suggested waiting until the league comes out with something…instead of being the only one who’s charging; Maas stated how we approach this will be critical….need to work with these nonprofit entities; Atty. Calvert agreed, suggested having a meeting with the schools and even the county on this; Doeren stated the report should be revised so that all the schools are together, the churches, government building and even the City of Oconto properties; Mayor suggested we have a special meeting just on this issue; Maas advised Belongia to put this on the November Finance agenda; Young stated when we started this, he didn’t realize the impact…takes from one pocket to the next; Maas stated we need to look at any revenues these entities maybe receiving;
Moved by Doeren seconded by Reed to table to the November Finance meeting.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

c. Moved by Reed seconded by Young to recommend to Council the agreement for engineering services for the Smith/Brazeau Conceptual plan between the City of Oconto and Robert E. Lee & Associates.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

d. Belongia stated per city ordinance Sec. 3-2-12, any special charges for services may be imposed by the Common Council to the property served; Invoice for wood chips for 421 Erie Avenue, Oconto past due for $200.00.
Moved by Doeren seconded by Young to recommend to Com of the Whole applying to the tax roll charges for 421 Erie Avenue.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

e. Budget meetings set for Wednesday, Sept. 15th, 2010 beginning at 8:30 a.m.

f. Moved by Doeren seconded by Reed to approve and recommend to Com of the Whole the listing of accts payables for $585,642.52; payroll for $212,326.27 and financial reports as presented.
Motion carried upon verbal voice vote. 4 ayes

6. Moved by Young seconded by Reed to adjourn.
Meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.


Minutes submitted by
Linda M. Belongia
Administrator