Finance & Administration Committee

           

 

Minutes of a regular meeting of the Finance and Administration Committee of the City of O’Fallon, held at the Public Safety Building, 285 N. Seven Hills Road, O’Fallon, Illinois on February 22, 2016.

 

CALL TO ORDER: 5:00 pm

 

ROLL CALL: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Bennett, Chairman, Albrecht, Drolet-Absent McCoskey, Smallheer, Roach, Kueker

NON-COMMITTEE ALDERMEN: Holden, Meile, Hagarty, Cozad, Gerrish

STAFF: Evans, Randall, Funk, Denton, Gentry, Van Hook, Litteken, Taylor, Stehman, Cavin, Shekell

GUESTS/RESIDENTS: Malare, Zelms, Pitts

      

Approval Minutes: - January 25, 2016 Motion Roach, Second Albrecht

 All Ayes. Motion carried.

     

Items Requiring Council Action: Motion to approve Ordinance to transfer Bond Cap to SWIDA: Director of Finance discussed the transfer of industrial revenue bond volume cap in the amount of $2,906,900 to Southwestern Illinois Development Authority.  If the city does not use or transfer the bond authority by May 1, it reverts back to the State.  As the City does not have a qualifying use for the authority in 2016, staff recommends that it be transferred to SWIDA for use in our 4 county region.  Motion by Albrecht, Second by Drolet   All Ayes.  Motion carried.

 

 

Item A: FY 2017 Budget Discussion: Proposed FY 2017 Budget: Director of Finance presented an overview of the DRAFT FY 2016/2017 budget.  Staff commented that the budget is currently balanced, however; there is one item that is not currently included in the budget, a Compound Storage building for $500,000 which will need to be discussed to see if it will be needed to include and if so, how will it be paid for.  This item will be discussed at the Public Works committee meeting.  The budget is balanced at $67,816,060. This represents an 11% decrease compared to the previous year.  Last year’s budget included the bond issue for the mine remediation and infrastructure costs associated with the new medical complex. The General Fund reflects a 13% increase over FY 16 due to the addition of the IT department in the General Fund.  All IT personnel costs as well as city-wide IT costs are now located in this department.    General fund revenue is projected at $17,802,275 which equates to a 3% increase.  This includes a 3% increase in projected sales tax and 6% increase in State income tax, which is based on IML’s per capita projection. The utility tax of $1,700,000 remains unchanged and telephone franchise decreased to $650,000 from the previous year.  Staff is projecting a 20% decrease in building permits due to less commercial construction.   IT Allocation is a new revenue listed on the revenue projection worksheet. This represents the contributions by all departments of the IT costs now residing in its own department in the general fund.

 

 Director of Finance asked if there were any questions on any of the dashboards and charts that were included in the packet for their review.   A list of capital expenditures for the various departments was then presented as well as new positions.  Staff explained that an HR clerk and two IT personnel were included in the budget.  The two IT would replace the REJIS contract personnel and in the end would save approximately $20,000 by bringing the positions in-house.   

 

Director of Finance then introduced Dan Gentry, IT Manager, who discussed the IT budget and answered questions regarding the FY 17 IT budget proposal. 

 

Director of Finance explained a new document located in the packets.  The 2013 Strategic Plan was updated to show which of those projects were included in the FY17 budget.  

 

Detailed line item budgets for General Fund Revenue, Administration, Economic Development, TIF, Hotel/Motel and Strategic Plan Projects were distributed prior to the meeting, allowing all to review in advance.  Director of Finance answered questions that were asked.  Staff pointed out that $120,000 was budgeted for a Special Census to be conducted, resulting in an additional $437,000 in revenue per year; however; it will take 9-10 months for completion.  It was also pointed out that in the Strategic Plan Fund, funding was put in for a study of the city facilities so that a review of the future use of the  Bank annex use can be completed.  Staff explained that other departmental budgets will be presented during their respective committee meetings for review.  A final review of the proposed budget will be discussed at the next finance committee meeting on March 28^th.  The complete budget will be presented for 1^st reading on April 4th and the Public Hearing and adoption set for April 18^th.  

 

 Director of Finance reminded those present to please return their FY 2016 budget binders so that they could be repurposed and reissued with the FY 2017 budget.

 

City Administrator mentioned if any alderman had any additional questions, to please email to the staff. 

 

 

Motion to Adjourn: Kuekert, Second Smallheer  All Ayes. Motion carried.                                                        

Next Meeting:   March 28, 2016  5:30pm