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 October 26, 2015.

 

CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 pm

 

ROLL CALL: COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Bennett, Chairman- Absent, Albrecht, Drolet,

McCoskey, Smallheer, Roach, Kueker

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

STAFF LIAISON: Evans, Randall,  Shekell, P.Funk, D. Funk, Atty.

GUESTS/RESIDENTS: Malare, Zelms, Pitts

    

Approval Minutes: - September 28, 2015 Motion McCoskey, Second Smallheer

 All Ayes. Motion carried.

   

 

Item A: Hospital Bond Update: Director of Finance announced that the City of O’Fallon retained their AA+ bond rating on the hospital bond issue which would be sold this week. Staff explained that this is an excellent rating considering the economic outlook and bond downgrade for the State of Illinois. Standard and Poor’s commented that the City is doing everything right, it was just factors that were beyond the City’s control such as property valuations, per capita income, etc.  S&P were very impressed with our community when they came down for a city tour a few months ago.  Very few municipalities receive a AAA rating and the City is only one of a handful of communities south of Chicago that have a AA+ rating.

 

Item B: Strategic Plan Continuing Discussion:  Director of Finance explained the various worksheets in the agenda packet based on requests from the aldermen from the September finance committee meeting.  Staff expounded on the additional revenue/options scenario worksheet in particular the sales tax scenario should the City decide to look at increasing the home-rule sales tax rate.  A chart showing the sales tax rate of surrounding communities was also included in the packet which showed that the City of O’Fallon was currently lower than some of the other communities and increasing the rate would not put O’Fallon at a disadvantage. Staff also explained that should the Aldermen decide to increase the home-rule sales tax, there are only two times a year these changes will be made by the State. Staff will have to verify these dates and report back.  (Answer:  A certified ordinance must be sent to the state by:  April 1 to become effective July 1 of the same year or October 1 to become effective January 1 of the following year.)   It was mentioned that there is a referendum that is being circulated by the County for the school districts to possibly add a sales tax and if the aldermen are thinking of an increase, it might be best to do so before that referendum was put on the ballot.   No further discussion.

 

Other: Staff mentioned that the November meeting will start at 5:00pm since the proposed tax levy will be presented.

 

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

Tentative Next Meeting:   October 26, 2015 - 5:00pm