1.  CALL MEETING TO ORDER
 
President Mielke called a special meeting of the City Council to order at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building.

2.  ROLL CALL
 
On call of the roll, members present were:

LaVerne Behrens
John Mielke
Jim Simdon
Steve Tesmer
Mark Zastrow
Also present were the City Manager, City Engineer, City Clerk/Treasurer and various department heads throughout portions of the meeting.

3.  REVIEW OF THE 2008 BUDGET.
 
The City Manager began the meeting by reviewing his Budget Message with the Council. The City will receive an expenditure restraint payment from the State in 2008 due to its 2007 budget and will also qualify for a payment in 2009 with the proposed 2008 budget. Shared Revenues from the State have been flat since 2004 and there is no increase for 2008 and 2009 in the State budget. The City budgeted a decrease in Transportation Aids; however they will actually go up 3% or approximately $6,000 to $7,000.

The proposed 1.94% levy increase is under the state imposed levy limit of 2% anticipated for the City in 2008. The City will be about $3,400 under the allowable limit. Due to a State mandate requiring approximately 1,000 fire inspections of commercial and industrial properties each year, the City will be considering a number of options to fulfill this obligation, which may include the need to charge some type of fee for this service. The Council will explore this issue further in 2008.

Another mandate by the State is for the City to conduct a stormwater study and to implement a plan which will likely introduce additional expenses for the City and could create the need to develop a Stormwater Utility financed primarily through user fees. This issue will also be further examined by the Council in 2008. No other new fees or charges are included in the proposed budget.

Proposed wage increases for employees will be between two and three percent. Salaries in the Building Inspector budget will decrease due to reduced Building Inspector backup. The Clerk/Treasurer Receptionist/Clerk account will increase slightly due to an increase from ½ to ¾ time.

The 2008 City budget for general fund expenditures is projected to increase 2.08%. This small increase, despite the rise in wages/benefits and utility costs, is a direct result of the following:

• Elimination of one time costs
• Incorporating a fire inspections fee
• A reduction in the City's principal and interest debt payments
• Negotiating a new garbage/recycling program
• A large reduction in capital costs
• Very favorable labor contracts

Some concerns for future City budgets include:

• State levy restrictions
• Health care costs
• Labor costs
• Post retirement health insurance benefit costs
• Utility cost
• Gasoline prices
• Library building program
• Stormwater management costs

The Water Utility implemented a 5% rate increase October 1st to cover debt service costs for the Sherman Avenue project. The Utility will not begin to realize the effect of this increase until December when billings are sent for October and November usage. Even with this increase, the City will still be below 50% of other communities throughout the State. There is a projected 6.58% rate of return for the Water Utility in 2008.

Expenses in 2008 for the Water Utility will increase 13.8%, mainly due to:

• Higher capital costs
• Higher debt service costs
• Higher labor costs
• Higher utility costs
• Contaminant sampling

The Wastewater Utility rate will increase from 3.30 to 3.40 per 100 cubic feet. The cost for an average family of three to four in 2007 was about $368.00 and in 2008 it will be approximately $378.30. This is still well below the average for the State of Wisconsin.

The projected fund balance for January 1, 2008 is $1,308,125 with another $1,028,108 owed to the General Fund from the TIF districts. This amounts to approximately 15% of total General Fund expenditures. The goal is to have between 10 and 15 percent of total expenses for the year, so the City will be right in that range. The tax rate is proposed to drop from $6.72 to $6.70 per thousand dollars of assessed value. There is no long-term borrowing expected for 2008.

Outlined below are the parameters the City Manager gave the department heads to follow when developing their budgets:

• Wages: 2-3% increase
• Fuel/Gas: $2.90/gallon
• Utilities: 5% increase
• Telephone: 2% increase
• Supplies/Contractual Services: 2% increase

Police Department
The Police Chief reviewed the Municipal Court and Police Department budgets with the Council. Dispatch salaries are projected to be under by about $5,000 in 2007 due to decreased overtime. The supplies account will be under and building maintenance account over for 2007. For 2008 salaries are up 2.75%, supplies are up .7% with a 2.8% increase overall. The City Manager stated benefits for the Municipal Judge may be eliminated and the salary increased for the next office term.

The Police Chief announced the Police Department should be receiving a $61,000 grant in 2008 from the State for mobile data computers. This should free up approximately $40,000 in the 2009 Capital Outlay Plan.

Public Works
The Public Works Superintendent reviewed the City Garage and Street Machinery budgets with the Council. Gas and oil were up in 2007 for Street Machinery and the 2008 budget follows the guidelines established by the City Manager. In the City Garage budget for 2007 the building maintenance account was higher than usual due to the shed addition, however in 2008 it will go back down to the previous level.

The City Manager briefly reviewed the following related accounts with the City Council: Public Works Supervision, Street Maintenance, Curb & Gutter, Street Cleaning, Snow & Ice Control, Street Name Signs, Traffic Control, Street Lighting, Sidewalks, Storm Sewers, Parking Lots, Airport, Recycling/Refuse Collection, Festivals/Art/Riverwalk, Forestry, Weed Control and Industrial Development.

The bulk of the Industrial Development budget is spent on dues to the Jefferson County Economic Development Consortium. The current contract expires at the end of 2008 and a 5-year agreement with the option to opt out at the end of each year has been proposed. The City Manager recommended extending the contract at least one year to obtain the results of a county economic development study in 2008 that the City has already paid for through past year's dues. The Council will discuss in more detail at a future meeting.

Library
The Library Director reviewed the Library - County Resource and Library - City budgets with the Council. In the Library - County Resource budget, revenues will be up approximately $10,000 with about $6,000 coming from new funding received from adjacent counties. The information sources/services account will be increased by $11,000 to fund maintenance and license software system costs that were covered with installation in 2007. The Library - City budget will include 3% for wage increases and contain no other unusual items or increases.

Municipal Building
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Municipal Building budget with the Council. All accounts seem to be on budget and many building repairs and updates have been achieved over the last few years without the use of capital funds through the operating budget.

Recreation
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Recreation Department budget with the Council. Accounts for 2007 are all on target and 2008 increases all fall within the established parameters.

Parks
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Parks Department budget with the Council. Due to the full-time employees not desiring a lot of overtime, the full-time salaries account was slightly decreased and the part-time salaries account was slightly increased for 2008. The equipment maintenance account for 2007 will be over by about $6,700 due to a substantial amount of mower and snow blower repairs throughout the year.

Aquatic Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Aquatic Center budget with the Council. The concession supplies account will be a bit over due to increased demand for refreshments at the pool. Water and sewer expenses will also be over for 2007. The Aquatic Center came in with revenues of more than $6,000 over budget.

Senior Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Senior Center budget with the Council. The Senior Center budget tends to be steady from year to year.

Youth Center
The Parks & Recreation Director reviewed the Youth Center budget with the Council. No major changes were cited for 2008.

City Council
The City Manager reviewed the City Council budget with the Council. The 2008 budget is basically the same as 2007 and salaries remain the same since 1997.

City Manager
The City Manager reviewed the City Manager budget with the Council. The budget is basically identical to the 2007 budget with the recommended increases and an added car allowance approved by the Finance Committee and Council in 2007.

City Clerk/Treasurer
The Clerk/Treasurer reviewed the City Clerk/Treasurer budget with the Council. The budget is slightly up due to an increase from ½ to ¾ time for the Receptionist/Clerk position and some shifting around of accounts to more accurately reflect the expenses in each account.

Assessor
The City Manager reviewed the Assessor budget with the Council. The budget is a contracted expense with Associated Appraisal.

City Attorney
The City Manager reviewed the City Attorney budget with the Council. No major changes were noted.

Electrical Department
The City Manager reviewed the Electrical Department budget with the Council. No major changes were cited.

Engineering Department
The City Engineer reviewed the Engineering Department budget with the Council. Wages will increase by the recommended 3% and supplies and contractual services will increase by the suggested 2%. There are no capital outlay expenses budgeted for 2008.

City Scape
The City Manager reviewed the City Scape budget with the Council. The City Scape budget is funded through the City lodging room tax. Revenues are projected to increase from $23,000 in 2007 to $24,000 in 2008.

Elections
The Clerk/Treasurer reviewed the Elections budget with the Council. Salaries for full-time workers in 2007 were about $100 over budget, however part-time salaries were under budget by almost $600. The overall Elections budget will increase from $4,815 in 2007 to $16,710 in 2008 due to it being a Presidential election year with two primaries and two general elections.

Debt Retirement
The City Manager reviewed the Debt Retirement portion of the budget with the Council. The City has issued approximately $18,574,000 of general obligation debt and is allowed to issue approximately $44,827,000. Of that debt, 27% is City, 35% is TIF, 16% is Sewer and 22% is Water. The City will pay approximately $554,842 in debt in 2008. There is no long-term borrowing planned for 2008.

Revenues
The City Manager reviewed the revenues with the Council. There are no major changes in revenues just a few minor increases and decreases. The City will collect $14,700 in omitted taxes from 2006. Operator License revenues will increase from $1,690 to $7,000 due to the two-year renewals. Interest in 2007 was budgeted for $79,000 and is estimated to come in at $145,000.

Miscellaneous
The City Manager stated City auditing expenses are slightly over for 2007 and may also exceed the $27,000 budgeted amount for 2008.

2008
Property & Liability Insurance - $45,000
School Patrol - $21,000
Ambulance Service - $83,000
Water Patrol - $5,375
Fire Inspection Service - $30,000
Sealer of Weights/Measures - $4,800
Unemployment Compensation - $2,500
Manufacturing Property Assessment Fee - $5,000
Humane Society - $25,900

Total City operating expenditures without debt and capital outlay are $7,696,313 and with debt and capital outlay are approximately $9,000,000.

4.  ADJOURNMENT
 
Cm. Zastrow, seconded by Cm. Simdon, moved to adjourn the October 24, 2007 Special Council meeting at 9:30 p.m. and to reconvene at 7:00 p.m., October 25, 2007. The motion carried on a voice vote.

/s/ Matt Trebatoski
City Clerk/Treasurer