03/15/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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X002 William Marquardt Council Representative Ward 1 5/31 /04 , Input to Minutes of Special Council Meeting of March 22, 2004 The following is submitted as input to the formulation of minutes to record the discussions at the special meeting of March 22" where the agenda item was the 2004 Mayor's Budget. Suggested format improvements: Summary Tables - pages iv and vi. It was suggested the formats for the summary tables of village revenues and expenditures on pages iv and vi would provide better information if the categories concerning village operations were separated from the categories concerning capital improvements. Separation and grouping of these categories would help clarify the village's coverage of ongoing operational costs by ongoing revenue streams and coverage of capital improvement costs by debt, T.I.F. revenues, grants and special assessments. Summary of Debt Service and Corresponding Revenue - Appendix B The Summary of Debt Service and Corresponding Revenue in Appendix B could be improved by the addition of a total of outstanding village debt. Justification of Full time Firefighters - Page 13: Both Council Representative Marrie and myself felt that more detailed justification was needed for the expansion of the fire department by three fulltime firefighters before actual additions are authorized. Mr. Marrie felt that a breakout of services to other communities was necessary. 1 questioned the stated rationale of delaying or accelerating the addition of personnel based on availability of village revenues. A suggested change in the fire and police utilization reports to group utilization into categories and plot trends rather than single point reporting would provide better information for council to base decisions on. Village Debt: The Finance Director provided a summary explanation of the village debt situation. He explained that the debt level was high due to the large number of the capital improvement projects currently in process and would remain high for the next several years. He anticipated that capital improvement revenues from T.I F.s, grants and special assessments would, likely, not fuliy cover debt service and that revenue from the general (operating) fund would be needed to make up the difference- He explained that general fund revenue to cover debt service would be necessary based on current projects. Additional capital projects such as a new police station would exacerbate the debt coverage issue. .