MINUTES
FINANCE
COMMITTEE
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Chairman John VanderLeest, Vice Chairman Tony Theisen,
Tom Weber, and Steven Deneys
MEMBERS EXCUSED: None
OTHERS PRESENT: Doug Daul, Dawn Foeller, Allison Swanson,
Chief Roemer, Julie Van Oss
1. Roll Call
The meeting
was called to order at 6:40 p.m. Roll
call was taken and all were present.
2. Approval of the
Agenda.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to approve
the agenda as amended, moving Items #9 and #8 after Item 3.
3. Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of January 27, 2009.
A motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald. Deneys
and carried to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of January
27, 2009.
4. Request by the City Attorney to submit the
quarterly report of the Claims Committee.
City Attorney Allison
Swanson submitted the report and Ald. VanderLeest
asked if there were any noteworthy items.
Attorney Swanson indicated the largest item was that of a motor vehicle
accident with a Dept. of Public Works leaf vehicle, which was paid. Other than that, no items were out of the
ordinary.
A motion was made by Ald. Weber,
seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to receive and
place on file the quarterly report of the Claims Committee.
5. Approval of
Service Agreement between the City of Green Bay and the Oneida Tribe of
Indians.
A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber and carried to table
approval of the Service Agreement between the City of Green Bay and the Oneida
Tribe of Indians until the next meeting.
6. Request by the Fire Chief to accept a donated vehicle from Wisconsin Public Service.
Fire Chief
Roemer stated that WPS was giving the vehicle to the City to be used for public
education by the Department.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to accept
the donation of a vehicle to the Fire Dept. from Wisconsin Public Service.
7. Request by
the Fire Chief to enter into a MABAS (mutual aid) agreement with County Rescue.
Chief Roemer
explained that this agreement will give us backup for EMS. There is no payment made by any municipality
to another under this agreement. The same
would be true with County Rescue, a non-profit organization. This agreement is a replica of the one the
City has signed with the surrounding communities. Chief Roemer estimated that mutual aid occurs
about once each month.
A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber and carried to approve a
mutual aid agreement with County Rescue.
8. Request by
Jeffrey Bloch for an adjustment to the property taxes for 2008 at 1224 Cass St.
City
Attorney Allison Swanson explained that Mr. Bloch requested an adjustment on
his 2008 tax bill in December, 2008. He
did not appear before the Board of Review and thus it is recommended by Mrs.
Swanson that this request be denied.
A motion was
made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber and
carried to suspend the rules to let interested parties speak.
Jeffrey D.
Bloch, 1818 Zion Lane, Abrams, Wis., addressed the Committee and explained what
he did to improve the property and why he had to raze the building. Ald. Theisen had
several questions, and Assessor Russ Schwandt explained that property values
are only reviewed upon request of the property owner. The value on that land was determined in
2004, and has remained the same since then.
If Mr. Bloch had asked for a review upon purchase in 2007, it could have
been done for 2008 values. The assessed
values that exist on a property as of January 1 remain until a review is
requested and the process dictated by State Statute is followed. The Assessor’s Office is not allowed to go
back in time and say that a parcel was worth a different amount at an earlier
time because State Statute requires that an actual review of the property be
made before amounts can be changed.
The first
time the Assessor’s Office had contact with Mr. Bloch was last fall, too late
to appeal to the Board of Review, which is held in May. It has since been reviewed, and the value
will be adjusted for 2009. The deadline
was not met, paperwork was not received in a timely fashion, and changing
values for a past tax year would not conform to State Statute.
Candy Bloch
said the property was condemned by the City as not worth the value to fix up,
but their tax bill was not lowered. Mr.
Bloch said they were not aware of the procedure to follow.
A motion was
made by Ald. Deneys and seconded by Ald. Theisen to value the property at $35,000.
Finance
Director Doug Daul said the City may have no statutory authority to change
these values. Assessments begin on
January 1, and houses that burn pay the full tax bill. Those constructed during the year do not pay
on the value of the improvement if it was not there January 1. There is a statutory process in place, and
this process must be followed.
The earlier
motion made by Ald. Deneys and seconded by Ald. Theisen was withdrawn by both.
A motion was
made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber and
carried to return to the regular order of business.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber and seconded by Ald. Deneys to deny the request
by Jeffrey Bloch for an adjustment on his 2008 taxes at 1224 Cass St. The motion carried.
9. Report of the
Purchasing Agent:
a.
Request
for approval to award annual contract for Parks Dept. to Sunnyside Hatchery for
the amount of $10,400.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to award
the annual contract for Parks Dept. to Sunnyside Hatchery for the amount of
$10,400.
b.
Request
pre-approval for 2009 budgeted vehicles purchased through the V.A.L.U.E.
purchasing consortium program.
Purchasing Agent
Julie Van Oss informed the Committee that she is seeking authority to buy 11
black and whites, 1 Supervisor’s car, and one vehicle for the Parking Utility
that were budgeted in 2009. The
Committee gave her approval on the condition that she report back to the
Committee for informational purposes.
A motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber and carried to approve the
request for pre-approval for 2009 budgeted vehicles purchased through the
V.A.L.U.E. purchasing consortium program.
10. Request to
transfer money from the general fund reserve to fund leave payout for retirees.
City Comptroller,
Dawn Foeller, referred to page 10b of the packet and indicated the average
value of expenses that have hit this fund in the last 3 and 6 years. The average for the last 3 years has been
$946,000 and the last six years averaged $750,000. She has done some analysis of the retirements
for active employees and noted that currently we have at least 30 employees who
could retire this year that meet the normal retirement age. The concern is that there is a liability the
City has to its employees that is currently not funded at the level it should
be. Alderman Weber asked if we should be
levying more tax dollars into this fund to cover the liability, and Comptroller
Foeller stated, yes, and that will be taken into consideration for the 2010
budget. The goal would be to place a
level amount of money into this fund to avoid the erratic fluctuations in
funding like we saw in 2006 when she had to request an additional $750,000 to
fund the large amount of retirements that occurred during that year.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, and seconded by Ald. Deneys to transfer
$200,000 from the General Fund to the sick pay escrow account. The motion carried.
11. Finance Director’s Report:
a. Introduction of 2010 Commercial Revaluation.
Assessor Russ Schwandt
presented a plan to revalue commercial property in the City. Commercial property is currently valued at
only 85% of sale value and the State will order that the City conduct the
revaluation to bring this property class back in line with the valuation of
residential property.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to receive
and place on file the introduction of 2010 Commercial Revaluation.
A motion was made by Ald.
Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys and carried to adjourn
the meeting. The meeting adjourned at
8:10 p.m.
2009
Contingency Fund
$109,930.00
Any person wishing to attend who,
because of a disability, requires special accommodation should contact the
Mayor’s office at 448-3005 at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting time
so that arrangements can be made.
Please take notice that it
is possible that additional members of the Council may attend this committee meeting,
resulting in a majority or quorum of the Common Council. This may constitute a
meeting of the Common Council for purposes of discussion and information
gathering relative to this agenda.