MINUTES
FINANCE COMMITTEE
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
City Hall, Room 604
Immediately following
Personnel which begins at 5:30 p.m.
MEMBERS
PRESENT: Chairman John VanderLeest, Steven Deneys, Tony Theisen and Tom Weber
OTHERS
PRESENT: Dawn Foeller, Allison Swanson,
Russ Schwandt, Russ Veeser
1.
Roll Call
Roll
call was taken and all were present.
2.
Approval of the Agenda.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald. Deneys, and carried to approve the agenda.
3.
Approval of the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of June 9,
2009.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Weber,
and carried to approve the minutes of the Finance Committee meeting of June 9,
2009.
4. Request
by the owners of 925 Goddard Way for a refund for overpayment of property
taxes.
Finance
Director Dawn Foeller summarized the document enclosed with the finance
packet. A revaluation took place in 2004
and the new values would be in effect as of January 1, 2004 and reflected in
the tax bills issued in December 2004.
Notices were sent to the property owners in August of 2004 notifying
them of their new assessed rate.
Additional dates were set aside in September for property owners to meet
with the Assessor’s office if they had concerns over the new value. Finally, they had an opportunity to meet with
the Board of Review in November if they wished to appeal or object to the
revaluation.
Mr. and
Mrs. Veeser had opportunities in 2004 and never came
forward to discuss the assessed values.
In 2005 they discussed their valuation and had a reduction in their
improvement value from $515,200 to $385,300, but the land value remained the
same.
City
Assessor Russ Schwandt explained the Assessor’s
office followed procedure and adhered to state statute throughout the revaluation
process and took the necessary steps to communicate the changes to the assessed
value.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen and seconded by Ald. Deneys to suspend the rules and hear from the public.
Mr. Veeser was present and presented his objections to his 2004
revaluation. He thought his increase in
taxes for 2004 was unfair and an error on behalf of the City Assessor’s
office. Ald. Theisen
explained that it was not a question of fairness but a difference of
opinion. Mr. Veeser
was given several opportunities to present his objections in 2004, but did not
do so until 2005, at which point it was outside the state statute to change the
value for 2004.
Ald. VanderLeest, Ald. Theisen, and
Mr. Schwandt went on to explain the City’s revaluation
procedure in accordance with state statute.
An assessment notice is issued to the property owner, along with dates
at which the property owner may appeal the assessed value to the Assessor’s
office. The first is the open book
process whereby the property owner meets with the Assessor’s office to discuss
any objections. If the assessor finds
the property owner made a good argument for an adjustment, a reduction will be
done administratively within the department.
If, however, there is a difference of opinion between the property owner
and the assessor, the case will be brought before the Board of Review later
that year whereby a decision will be made.
In the
case of Mr. Veeser, no such action was taken by him
in a timely manner for an adjustment to be made in 2004. Furthermore, the City does not refund
property taxes after the fact. It never
has, and doing so would be against state statute. The City did all it could to provide
opportunities to hear any objections to revaluations, but Mr. Veeser missed the deadline for 2004. Overall, it is the responsibility of the
property owner to review the assessment and make any objections to the
Assessor’s office in a timely manner.
This process is standard for all property owners wishing to contest
their reassessment and no exceptions will be made.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen and seconded by Ald.
Weber to return to regular order of business.
A
motion was made by Ald. Deneys, seconded by Ald. Theisen, and carried to deny the request by the owners of
925 Goddard Way for a refund for overpayment of property taxes.
5. Request by Ald. De Wane to verify all
outstanding taxes and special assessments owed by Riverfront Lofts, LLC and
other John Vetter companies to see if they are paid in full.
There
are no taxes due at this time.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald.
Weber, to receive and place on file.
6. Report
of the Purchasing Agent:
Finance
Director Dawn Foeller explained that the City put out a bid for wood chips and
the bid was awarded to the lowest bidder, Best Landscape, the same vendor that
supplies all the wood chips for the schools.
The wood chips are needed for under playground equipment and
significantly help to reduce the amount of accidents in parks. The value of these specific wood chips lies
in its purity factor – these wood chips are the main product, not a bi-product
of lumber yards, but engineered wood fiber and are therefore more effective at
reducing injury. Additionally, the
product has been thoroughly tested and is ADA accessible.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald. Deneys, and carried to approve the award of annual wood
chips to Best Landscape for the amount of $16,800.
b. Request
approval to award in-squad mobile data computer systems to Hub Data 911 for the
amount of $112,000.
Finance
Director Dawn Foeller explained that the Police Department did its research on
various products and recommends this specific product, which will replace the
current laptops in all squad cars. Once
Police completed its research, they turned the request over to purchasing where
Rick Jensen researched alternative quotes for this product. Mr. Jensen was able to save an additional
$36,000 off the pricing received by Police by finding this product on the GSA
contract. In contacting the vendor
regarding the GSA contract, the vendor actually gave us more favorable pricing
allowing us the pricing they had given to New York State. Money has been set aside for this purchase
since 2005. The laptops that are being
replaced may be donated or reused.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald. Deneys, and carried to approve the award of in-squad mobile
data computer systems to Hub Data 911 for the amount of $112,000.
7.
Request by the Finance Director, on behalf of the City Assessor, to
cancel certain real and personal property taxes.
City
Assessor Russ Schwandt explained that this is a self
reporting form of which, if one is not turned in, the Assessor’s office uses
the previous year’s value. For those
before you, the property owners delayed their response to the tax assessment
notice and a tax bill was issued. The
Attorney’s Office steps in to collect, and the property owners claim they were
out of business. This comes back to the
Assessor’s office to investigate whether or not they were out of business. If this is the case, then a request is made
to rescind those taxes.
Ald. Theisen questioned the legality of rescinding taxes for
2008. Mr. Schwandt
explained that state statute allows for the City to go back two years and
cancel personal property taxes if there was a mistake and equipment was not
located in the community in which it was assessed.
A
motion was made by Ald. Weber, seconded by Ald. Deneys,
and carried to approve the request by the Finance Director, on behalf of the
City Assessor, to cancel certain real and personal property taxes.
8.
Request by the Finance Director to implement a standard charge to
customers for NSF checks.
Finance
Director Dawn Foeller stated that the City Clerk Chad Weininger requested to
table the item.
A
motion to table was made by Ald. Deneys and seconded
by Ald. Theisen.
Motion carried.
A
motion was made by Ald. Theisen, seconded by Ald.
Weber, and carried to adjourn. The meeting
adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
2009
Contingency Fund
$74,130.00
Any person wishing to
attend who, because of a disability, requires special accommodation should
contact the City Safety Manager at 448-3125 at least 48 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.
RECORDING
SECRETARY: Andrea Canadeo