Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012
The City of Lincoln Finance Committee met in the Council Chambers on Tuesday, March 10, 2012.
Those present from the Finance Committee were Chairman Alderman Anderson, Vice Chairman Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, and Alderman Tibbs. Also present were Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman O’Donohue, and Alderman Wilmert. Department heads present were Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson, EMC Manager Mr. Palmer, and Fire Chief Miller. Also present were City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach, Mayor Snyder, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
There were four Finance Committee members present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, and Alderman Tibbs), and one absent (Alderman Busby).
Finance Committee Chairman Alderman Anderson called the meeting to order at 8:06 a.m. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss fiscal year 2012/2013 budget.
Alderman Anderson said they were going to discuss Sewer Treatment Plant and since Alderman Busby was not present they would move quickly through it. The pages 25, 26, and 27 and said they were not going to discuss salaries because they are still in negotiations.
Alderman Anderson said they would begin with page 25. This covers salaries (1/2 Joy and all the new person), health insurance, etc.
Page 26
50-72-06 5227 and 5230
Mayor Snyder said the payment to EMC is broken down into three components. Labor, other cost and $85,000.00 amount the $85,000.00 is in the contract to cover maintenance and repair items and those are for three reasons: 1) maintenance and repair items at the sewer treatments ($1,000.00 or less), 2) maintenance and repair items in the collection system ($3,000.00 or less), and 3) maintenance and repair items in the engineering contract ($9,700.00). Throughout the year EMC will incur these maintenance and repair costs and that comes out of that $85,000.00 that we pay them. If at the end of the fiscal year EMC pays more than that then the city has to catch them up the following year. If they spend less than that then it is reflected in the contract amount the following year. You have the labor component price (automatic index) and also this other cost component and the labor component cost is about $800,000.00 and the other cost component price as well. There is also an amount for the engineering contract. That’s all built in here as well. The labor component used the cost index and for the other cost component that uses the consumer price index. They have an employee count and what the expenditures are for the $85,000.00.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Alderman Anderson said in trying to budget and calculate where we go then trying to adjust. The fy13 Budget number is what EMC calculated based on their projects with the $85,000.00. They will use that number to be on the safe side.
Mr. Palmer said the capital expenses were if they had major equipment failure or plant problem.
Alderman Anderson said on the equipment line it is overstated and the correct amount in the budget for fy13 is $75,000.00. The sewer revenues running low made them have to make sure they were in line with what they have estimated the revenue to be.
Mr. Conzo thought they would see better revenues with the new program in place of shutting people’s water off. They are already seeing some increase.
Page 27
Alderman Anderson said the 57,500 and $7,500 ran together but the $7,500.00 is included in the $57,500.00 that Mr. Jackson requested. Mr. Jackson said the budget is exactly the same except for the salary part. Mr. Palmer let everyone know that Mr. Mathon was home with strep throat.
Alderman Anderson said the engineering line is split between general budget and sewer budget. That is index based on their number.
Mayor Snyder said this year the two amounts for the engineer are around $150,000.00 and then figure in m & r expenses at $9,700.00 that is about $160,000.00 that they are paying EMC for engineering services. He has talked to Mr. Kitzmiller about terminating the engineering portion of the contract at the end of this fiscal year and allow the city to go out for bids on that portion. That request is still before the management team and their legal counsel.
Street and Alley page 18
Alderman Anderson said all health, dental and life insurance has been removed from each section to one section.
Mr. Jackson went over the following:
5106 bumped that up figuring $1.00 or more per gallon.
5116 bumped
5206 radios have to change over and there are 24 radios ($50.00 each) and they have to pay for their own frequency license fee
5214 nothing budgeted currently and spent $27,515.00 and are requesting $40,000.00 this is the money they charge for hourly use and didn’t have a clue what it would be for this year but they do for next year.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Mr. Jackson thought the $66,675.00 would be enough if fuel didn’t go up more than $1.00 a gallon in an average year that would be enough.
7860 Mr. Jackson said he was looking at a planing head for the bobcat for bridge decks and taking bumps out of the road, and a walk behind planer is for some of the sidewalks.
7800 Mr. Jackson said that is the lighting line operation. They have been taking that out of the other lighting line and they have a savings on that because they have been changing all the bulbs over. They haven’t touched that one yet. Mr. Jackson said if they have to buy another pole or two which they haven’t done that this year and it would come out of there. They are right around $2,600.00 each. This year they will be buying some conduit to move some lights and some wire and the concrete base and poles also.
6430 Mr. Jackson said last year they put part in MFT and part in Street and Alley.
Page 19
7872 & 7870 Mr. Jackson said they would be getting into curb and gutter and ADA ramps in April.
8420 Schools and conferences will go to zero because he will be paying a bill out of that for medical. Someone that will be returning to work has to take a 6 hour deal that was actually $500 and some dollars.
8474 equipment rental fund line Op- telephone/mobile, pager
Mr. Jackson said they are just paying a long distance bill at Hamilton Street and the cell phone has been down since they signed up for the new plan where everyone is on the same account. He reduced that to $2,000.00. They no longer have any pagers. They might be able to cut that down.
8618 Sidewalks Line Op – Rebates
Mr. Jackson said he they raise that line because of the brick sidewalks. They currently have one person that they need to pay if they ever call him and he thought the bill was about $800.00 and that will come to about what they have.
8520 Street and Alley – Public Relations
Mr. Jackson said only a portion of that will be used this year and that is for Arbor Day.
Alderman Anderson asked if there were any grants or anything that he was aware of.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Mr. Jackson said the only grants he has applied and received was the one from last December and he hasn’t applied for any more yet. That is for forestry and they are usually matching and it is for purchasing the trees and he can usually match it with what he has budgeted.
Alderman Wilmert said there is a grant for free trees with Wilmert Tree Farm and he hasn’t heard anything on that.
Alderman Wilmert went back to line item 7872 and asked why they were going from $20,000.00 to $40,000.00.
Mr. Jackson said they were going to be doing more curb work some spots that are fill in, for drainage, for example a spot over by Washington Monroe School that the rest of the block is all curb so they can get the ditch out of there and the water to drain. That will actually do 5 ½ more blocks. They are doing more and more curb work all the time.
Alderman Anderson asked if it was replacement curb work or new work.
Mr. Jackson said it was both, replacement and adding on. There are spots that have a gap in it and while you are there you might as well get the whole thing done. The sweeper will be able to sweep that whole block.
Page 20
7873 Infrastructure
Alderman Neitzel asked what that $515,000.00 was for.
Mayor Snyder asked to go back to page 18, line item 4016 to provide an explanation since it is a significant bump and it is not all for the landfill. He asked Mr. Jackson to include dollars in the budget next year for summer help to get some folks on through the summer months to help with such as cutting grass, painting, cleaning catch basins and things like that. That is the reason for the increase there.
Mr. Jackson said they increased it $23,000.00 at $9.00 an hour for 40 hours per week with 12 weeks per man. There is also $3,000.00, not to exceed $3,000.00 to work with the county to do the GIS. The signs have to be done through GIS by the end of 2012. They are paying the wage of the county’s part time person and when his wage runs out they will do the same next year.
Mayor Snyder said the county has the equipment were they actually go to the sign and they just punch it in and it records it on the GIS map.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Mr. Jackson said they have all the hardware, computers and programs that the city doesn’t have. He said they had $11,000.00 in for the normal attendant and then $20,000.00 for the summer part time employees and $3,000.00 for the county.
Alderman Neitzel said she has been asked when the company is coming to clean that up.
Mr. Jackson said hopefully they will be here next week to take a look at it again. The company is trying to work a deal out where they can set a base station up here, essentially then they will grind it for free if the city allows them to bring debris in from out of town and the company will grind and bind it and ship it out. The city will have to put water in and possibly more power.
Alderman Neitzel said there wasn’t room for much more. Mr. Jackson said there was room on the back side and they had burnt all the back side. Mr. Jackson just doesn’t like to have people drive back there because the attendant cannot see those coming in. Alderman Anderson said assuming Mr. Jackson can get this worked out and realizing there is an electrical cost. Alderman Anderson what the savings would be in grinding. Mr. Jackson said if they had to pay the company it would be $12,000.00 this year. Mr. Jackson said the company’s goal is to let it get up to 1/4th of what the size is now then they will grind it and will keep it clean all the time. Mr. Jackson said it would save time and money. Mr. Jackson said he has it in his budget, when he has to pay for grinding.
Page 20
7873 Infrastructure
Mayor Snyder said they had a sheet that has Non Home Rule Infrastructure sales tax fund- FY13 as of 3/10/12. Mayor Snyder said it does not correspond with the $515,000.00 but this is information and options. He walked them through. He had a meeting, March 9, 2012 with Mr. Jackson about many of these things.
Revenues right now in Infrastructure sales tax fund, or as of March 7 there is $955,122.00
Receipts, conservatively estimated March and April receipts yet to come in this year $120,000.00
Mayor Snyder said Mr. Conzo’s estimate for FY 2013 is $770,000.00 with revenues available for next year about $1,845,000.00.
Expenses have some that are obligated, either agreed to pay or commitments on and are:
Sales Tax payment to Burwell, Sales Tax payment to Xamis, and sales tax payment to Coy’s are each $25,000.00.
Bond payment for Goody’s is $66,560.00 and thought there were one or two payments left.
Sysco Bond payment is $33,370.00.
There is no Wal-Mart payment; all of the payments have been made.
The Sangamon Street parking across from Blue Dog estimate of $25,000.00 for that.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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As part of the downtown grant there is $100,000.00 commitment to match.
All of those total together about $300,000.00.
Mayor Snyder said the rest of the list is potential projects. He has broken them up into different categories. Some have been talked about at this time last year and kind of left in the air and there are also some other ones.
Streets and Alleys
Street Cost
Lincoln Avenue (College to Logan) 3 blocks $450,000.00 (complete reconstruction)
Pulaski Street (couple options) (length and how handled)
Entire stretch Hamilton to LaDue 7 blocks
Hamilton to Sheridan 2 blocks (asphalt overlay) $145,000.00
(reconstruct and take out brick, asphalt) $280,000.00
(reconstruct and concrete) $295,000.00
Hamilton to LaDue 6 blocks (asphalt) $845,000.00
Hamilton to LaDue 6 blocks (take out brick, concrete) $860,000.00
Kankakee Street (Keokuk to railroad) 3 ½ blocks $600,000.00
Burlington (Ottawa to Kankakee) 1 block $150,000.00
Alley options (behind St. John’s United Church of Christ)
Maple to Walnut $ 14,500.00
Alley behind Dominoes and Little Caesars $ 7,500.00
Sidewalks
College Street from Woodlawn to Apartments (by CVS) $3,500.00
Melrose Park $6,300.00
Jaycees Park (triangle on Union) $ 900.00
Curb and Gutter
13th Street from Jefferson to Madison
(less if Street Dept. does work) $150,000.00
APEX site (East side) $3,000.00
Oglesby Street Bridge structure removal
(bridge deck and pilings and rebuild sides) $50,000.00
Bridge maintenance (Palmer) $50,000.00
APEX along Walnut Street $9,000.00
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Alderman Anderson wanted to see a plan for the next 3-5 years. She wants something that says this year do streets (including curb and gutter), next year focus on something different so we are reducing getting that equipment here. Alderman Anderson said it changes from year to year. Alderman Anderson would like to have a plan so they are doing more at one time for less money.
Mr. Jackson said their goal for this summer is to grade every street in town with a number showing worst as number 5 and best streets 1. He said they could put a list together what the worst streets are before they decide which ones to do.
Mayor Snyder said Mr. Mathon has been working with Mr. Jackson to grade brick streets. Mayor Snyder said Mr. Mathon is going to bring that to the Council dealing with brick streets.
Forestry page 21
16-00-06 Forestry
Mr. Jackson said he was basically leaving everything the same.
Page 22 MFT 20-00-06
5296 Logan Street Crossing - Mr. Jackson said that most of that has been paid.
5116 Supplies Material - Mr. Jackson said they bumped it up for a project but they won’t have to order as much salt and they. Alderman Anderson changed the amount to $225,000.00
4014 & 4018 – Mr. Jackson said that is the time when he starts using that.
5280, 5281, and 5292 – Mr. Jackson said they are budgeting the same amount because there is probably a bill for that amount that just hasn’t gotten here. He said the state takes so long to close out their jobs and they are just waiting for the bill.
Alderman Neitzel asked City Treasurer Mr. Conzo if the MFT (Motor Fuel Tax) was coming down. Mr. Conzo said yes. Alderman Neitzel asked if that had been considered in this budget. Mr. Conzo said he had it in the revenue projections as a significant decrease. Mayor Snyder said City Treasurer Mr. Conzo’s revenue estimate was $336,000.00 and then this budget amount is $627,000.00. City Treasurer Mr. Conzo said they have money in that fund with a balance as of 3/7/12 is $840,791.00.
Page 23
22-00-04 4096 & 4098 – Alderman Anderson said she didn’t have anything in there for FY 13 yet. Depends on salaries and once contracts are settled there may be some back pay.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Alderman Anderson said the back pay would also impact 4096 and 4098.
26-01-06 6342 Animal Control – Alderman Anderson said she needed to double check the number. Mr. Conzo stated that it would be a 3% increase which would be $771.00 which is only $385.00 more that $39,036.00.
32-00-06 Crossing Guards – Alderman Anderson said the city gets 2/3rds and the school gets 1/3rd which she thought would be $7,500.00. Mayor Snyder said the agreement with District 27 there will be two crossing guards, one at the corner of 8th and Union and one at the corner of 5th and Jefferson School (whatever the side street is). Mayor Snyder said the city will pay 2/3rds of that this year and District 27 will pay 1/3rd and District 27 will take care if someone is not there. Mayor Snyder said the numbers didn’t justify the cost. Alderman Anderson said the other $7,500.00 she was proposing to cover when police department gets pulled onto crossing guard stations which causes overtime. Alderman Anderson said the city had also been doing administration but the city will not be doing that any longer. Mayor Snyder said that the city pays the crossing guards and the police will do the background checks on any new crossing guards and are to do annual training and for two it will not be extensive or long. Mayor Snyder said there are still some expenses in the police department as well as the Clerk’s office for taking care of the payroll. Alderman Anderson said legitimately there is still expense to the city and the city should move the expenses they are paying out of the general fund to allocate for that other $7,500.00 that would be remaining in that levy.
Mayor Snyder said it is $101.00 per week per crossing guard at 36 weeks and for two of them the cost is approximately $7,200.00. The $7,200.00 would be paid 2/3rds by the City and 1/3rd by District 27. Mayor Snyder said last year for seven guards that came out to a little more than $25,000.00 and there is only $15,000.00 through the levy so the City used General Funds to pay. District 27 this year is going to give the City $7,000.00 to basically help towards those expenses.
Alderman Anderson said the City’s share would be about $5,000.00. Mayor Snyder suggested dropping the levy to what is needed and put the money back in the general fund. Alderman Anderson said the City is expecting to spend about $5,000.00 in direct crossing guard salaries and the rest could help with the training, background checks, cost of issuing checks, and administration.
Mr. Jackson said Sherman Street isn’t going to be a manned crossing anymore and the computer is out on that and the light needs to be redone. He said the City is putting up two every year when they get run over. The computer is around $1,200.00 and didn’t know what it would cost to bore under the road but he and Mr. Mathon were figuring around $5,000.00 total.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Public Grounds and Buildings
Alderman Anderson said she plugged in the same numbers from last year.
5104, 5202, 5212, and 6340 – Alderman Tibbs said all are staying the same.
5432 – Alderman Anderson said the number she has plugged in there is the number Mayor Snyder gave her. Mrs. Gehlbach said they re-classed that yesterday. Alderman Anderson said there was an expense paid out of that line that was incorrect. Alderman Anderson said it was $6,300.00 for a communications bill. Mayor Snyder said it is based on the lease they are talking about with the county and they are basically keeping it the same this year with the CPI increase of January 1.
6435 Contract Service – City Hall – Alderman Tibbs said it was the same. The elevator service people which Mr. Mathon was discussing with them if it would stay the same.
8302, 8304, and 8306 – Alderman Tibbs said they were unknown costs.
8310 – Alderman Tibbs said that covers the streets and alleys, parks around the City, and City Hall and they would leave that at $2,000.00.
8383 – Alderman Anderson said that will be zero here and placed elsewhere in the budget.
8502 – Alderman Tibbs said to leave it the same.
Alderman Tibbs said she has been made aware of the windows in the dayroom in the Fire Department are very unsafe. The bay door will be discussed by Fire Chief Miller. Alderman Tibbs said she had about 5 different things going on.
Alderman Wilmert asked what the garbage quote was. Alderman Tibbs said it was $1,920.00.
Alderman Tibbs said there are three windows in the day room and there is one in the dorm room broken.
Mayor Snyder said the $10,000.00 in 8502 the Architect. It will be expended this year and is the amount they will provide the architect to do the space needs study for the police and fire department with a contract on that. Mayor Snyder asked if some of the windows could come out of 5212. Mayor Snyder said there was $10,000.00 left in that.
Alderman Tibbs said no, that is her unknown budget. She said they would be spending the rest of that real soon.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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5212 – Fire Chief Miller said there is a water line that broke so they are getting that fixed and the cost should be somewhere between $600.00 to $700.00.
Alderman Tibbs said this year $660.00 for the water line, $325.00 pan under the water heater, and $450.00 for Kickapoo Street door. Fire Chief Miller said he didn’t know how much the bill was for the ceiling repair but the exhaust fan that went bad was about $400.00. Alderman Tibbs said the bay door has been hit twice with the engine.
Fire Chief Miller said he had some information on that too. He is working with the insurance company, waiting to see what they will pay, didn’t come out of liability but comes out of property insurance. The replacement for that door is about $4,700.00 and the City’s share is $1,000.00.
Alderman Anderson said they could write the check. Fire Chief Miller said it happened during the change over for the insurance. Mrs. Gehlbach said they had a conference with Calendar. Alderman O’Donohue said you still have $7,600.00 in the budget. Alderman Anderson asked if they could get some of the windows done. Alderman Tibbs said she would check on the cost of windows. Alderman Anderson wants the total cost labor and windows.
Fire Chief Miller said grant wise they might get some help to put a safety floor on Bays 1 and 2 and would like to continue that on Bays 3 and 4. It is a no slip surface on the floor and might get some money from IPRF and the total cost is $8,900.00 to do that.
Fire Department page 10
Fire Chief Miller said 4082 would stay the same.
5104 up to $1,000.00 new printer
5106 up to $3,000.00
5108 up to $300.00
5110 up to $500.00
5202 up to $45,000.00
5206 up to $500.00
6435 up to $1,492.00 contract another two years after this
7864 up to $1,000.00
7865 up to $20,000.00 Chief’s car
7869 down to $3,000.00 new gear
8402 up to $1,000.00
8476 up to $600.00
8650 up to $6,000.00
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Alderman Anderson said it looks like they have cut their budget but they haven’t because they took out the health, life and dental insurance.
Fire Chief Miller said he had spoken with Alderman Wilmert about moving his computer and he checked into having the telephones moved. He was planning on having everything moved in the offices by the end of this month.
ESDA page 21
5208 – Fire Chief Miller said he has used some money out of that this year for batteries. The sirens are fairly new but an issue has come up where two sirens were on Kickapoo Street. He said one quit in 2003 and the other has had the power shut off to it for quite some time. He said both sirens were put in sometime in the late 60’s or 1970. They are inoperable. Some residents would like to see another siren there. To put a new siren up the cost would be $14,424.00 and there is a pole that is still intact. He went out at the last testing and you can hear the storm sirens at the end of Lincolnwood Drive when you are outside which is what they are supposed to do.
Alderman Hoinacki said he would like to see it done. Mayor Snyder didn’t think they were needed. Alderman O’Donohue didn’t think they were needed.
Fire Chief Miller said the closest one that covers that street is Ophir Street and the newer sirens that have been put up have a louder and farther reach. The weather service recommends purchasing indoor weather radios that will work when the sirens are set off. They are $30.00 and they do not have that in their budget.
Alderman Hoinacki said Lincolnwood would be farther out. Alderman Neitzel said that is where she got people saying they can’t hear it.
There was a break taken from 10:06 a.m. and returned at 10:15 a.m. Deputy Police Chief Geriets, Police Chief Greenslate, and Safety and Building Officer Mr. Lebegue were present.
Page 3
4015 - Mr. Lebegue said the one significant change to the budget that he is proposing is in line item 4015 salaries-hourly assistant. He is requesting $9,900.00 to hire a part time employee. This will offset the duties and role that Kathy Vinyard plays in his office. He said Mayor Snyder would like Kathy Vinyard in his office to be utilized for him and a future City Administrator. That would remove a person from his office. Even though she does a small portion for him such as answering the phones and other things that take away from him that he doesn’t have to stop what he is doing every few minutes to do something. He has a lot that he wants to accomplish this next year and this would go a long way in getting that done.
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4016-Salaries-PT Office – Mr. Lebegue said the line should read $7,215.00 instead of $715.00.
5214-Repairs/Maint/Eq. Rental – up to $800.00
6435-Contract Service-Plan Commission down to $0.00
7862-Capital Expense Vehicle down to $0.00
8402-Dues down to $500.00
8474-Telephone up to $2,200.00
All insurances will be taken out of this budget as well.
Alderman Wilmert asked about the phones.
Mr. Lebegue said he has one mobile phone and what goes into that is the fax, internet, and local and long distance. He thought in the near future they’ve looked at it before and hadn’t looked further by trying to get more bundling of those services. They have AT&T, Comcast, and Frontier. They did get a savings with the cell phones because they pooled all of that.
Alderman Anderson said that Demolition would be in appropriation.
8620-Zoning Expenses-Books, etc. down to $500.00
It was agreed to put 4015 and 4016 together.
Alderman O’Donohue said he wanted $10,000.00 to tear down a house.
Mayor Snyder said back on page 9 line item 6460-City Wide Cleanup. He will be telling everyone soon about something what they can do this spring and still allow the city to have most of those funds to have that available for this year. He thought they could do the cleanup effort and have some money out of that. He too liked having something allocated for that.
Alderman Anderson asked if they had something that the city has the capability of demolishing this year.
Mr. Lebegue said there were two structures he thought the city could go after and demolition. They are on North Sangamon and both fire damaged buildings, small and he had a tendency to think they could get those down in the next two months. These are small structures and are not very large. He did not think they would have to go through the remediation of the asbestos because of the nature of the fire and that is what happened on Willard. He was told to tear down the house on Willard and thought this would be the same case.
Mr. Lebegue left at 10:26 a.m.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Page 12 – Police
Police Chief Greenslate said everything was flat lined and the only increase he asked for was in Capital Expense (Page 13). The only increase he asked for was in line item 5106-Supplies – Gas & Oil.
Alderman Anderson told Police Chief Greenslate that she was zeroing the insurances as she has done in the other lines.
Police Chief Greenslate said the changes that he gave them. He realized they won’t have 4011-Accrued Overtime next year. That $14,000.00 needs to go into regular overtime. There is no more carrying overtime. As of March 7, 2012 the remaining budget is $11, 948.00 and he has $27,000.00 on the books and didn’t think they would see that much. They will be going over this year because everyone turned in their overtime.
Deputy Police Chief Geriets said the officers could still carry over but declare it as comp time and they can’t ask for it in pay later which was always a thorn in their side. They could just throw it in and say they want paid for it.
Police Chief Greenslate said he was requesting 3 vehicles, the computers, radios, equipment that goes with it. Earlier this year the police department received a grant and bought ten new portables and half of them are paid for. They don’t know if they will get another grant the next fiscal year but would like to try and replace the rest of the handheld radios. They have an application in for a new squad car and if they would receive that grant it would cover 3/4ths of the cost and they have money left over from 2008 Department of Justice the money is sitting out there. That would reduce at least one of the cars that he is requesting.
Police Chief Greenslate on the crossing guards there was a meeting recently and they are looking at a reduction in staff. Alderman Anderson said the City’s portion is 2/3rds but they did bump that up to $5,000.00 in the crossing guards.
There will be funds moved to handle the overage in the gas & oil line. Alderman Anderson said she would be looking at those transfers the end of March or first of April.
8420-Schools/Conferences
Police Chief Greenslate said they just had some training last week and he doesn’t have a bill for that yet. The training was for their annual firearms simulation where they have the video, tazer, and handgun training. They still need to have fire arm training and there will be some cost there.
Deputy Police Chief Geriets said drug officer has schooling. Police Chief Greenslate said they are sending an officer to overweight truck inspection. Deputy Chief Geriets said it would probably cost $2,000.00.
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Finance Committee Meeting
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Police Chief Greenslate said the number 1 item against lawsuits is the training. Time and time again agencies get their training cut and that is where the attorneys are able to get them for failure to train. He said having good police and procedures and training are the 1st and 2nd defense against liability. He thanked Deputy Chief Geriets for coming today to help answer any questions.
Mayor Snyder said for information there is $402,939.00 left.
Police Chief Greenslate, Deputy Chief Geriets, and Fire Chief Miller left at 10:38 a.m.
Economic Development Page 17
Mr. Maniscalco said he had given them a lengthy packet. One item was retail products etc. because of funding the City has given to the partnership. The partnership is asking again for $25,000.00. Their goal for the future is to drive the operations cost down to approximately 9%. Their last report showed 19% for the operations cost and have driven that down by about 4 percentage points in three months.
Mr. Maniscalco said they were requesting $5,000.00 for the CEDS fund. He knew that had been a contentious issue in the past and there have been a lot of questions about that. The CEDS application due to a lot of work has finally moved out of Chicago and into DC and is just waiting for the rubber stamp of approval. The Heartland Partnership which is the CEDS district that the partnership would be joining has already been told by EDA to modify their boundaries to include Logan County within their new boundaries and is a huge step forward. Heartland Partnership has already provided them with an invoice for a significant amount of work they have done in doing that application and the boundary modification. The way the EDA will be giving funds to regions or communities is on a CEDS by CEDS basis. People need to be a part of a CEDS if they plan to get funding from the Economic Development Agency through the Federal Government. CEDS will also include the partnership in a regional campaign through the Heartland Partnership that Logan County has not been a part of in the past. That marketing campaign not only goes throughout Illinois but also it will go nationwide. They have seen in the past the Heartland Partnership goes to conferences and other opportunities as far as Las Vegas and other places where they work to solicit and bring businesses back to their CEDS region. Since we have not been a part of that we have not felt any of the benefits from that. Through the CEDS funding the partnership will see some of those opportunities.
Alderman Anderson said the CEDS is not currently in the budget. CEDS was in the line in the years past and they did have it in appropriations. She said there was a lot of good information in the packet that they provided and Mayor Snyder has that and to feel free to talk to him.
Mr. Maniscalco said it is on the partnership’s website.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -15-
Alderman Anderson said the partnership is asking that the City put the $5,000.00 for CEDS back in the budget and would make it $30,000.00.
Alderman Neitzel asked if that meant the partnership would be affiliated with Peoria.
Mr. Maniscalco said the partnership would not be affiliated but would have opportunities open to them that they could benefit from. The partnership could make decisions on their own and do essentially what they wanted to do. This will hopefully open up some opportunities for Lincoln and Logan County for sure. There are some very large sums of money they could pull from.
Alderman Neitzel and Alderman Wilmert wanted to have it in the agenda.
Mayor Snyder thought Economic Development Partnership, Flow thru, Logan County Regional Planning Commission, Main Street Lincoln and the Railsplitter Association should be put together so they are easier to find.
Mr. Maniscalco said they were now generating activity on the CEDS. He thought there had been some confusion as to what the CEDS money was used for by his predecessor. He told the City that was not happening now. He will be showing the City what the money is being spent for.
Mayor Snyder said Mr. Maniscalco mentioned Las Vegas. That is the annual conference for the shopping centers and Buxton has talked about how valuable that is for reaching out for additional retail opportunities. He would like see down the road, whether partnership or City, now we are members of the International Shopping Centers as a government entity and he would like to work towards having a presence there whether through CEDS or partnership somehow.
Mr. Maniscalco said they had just received a bill from the Heartland Partnership this last week for $3,600.00.
Page 16 – Logan County Regional Planning
8602
Mr. D’Andrea said they were asking for the same amount as last year. He gave them a budget for this year. The County Planning Commission is now contracting for the Director of Services from a County employee.
Alderman Anderson asked what they would use the $9,700.00 for.
Mr. D’Andrea said at this point they were not sure. They had an election of officers at the last meeting. Now that they have cleaned their house they are turning their attention to actual planning functions.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -16-
Mr. D’Andrea said they have started planning for White Pass which is an IDOT grant opportunity for transportation related products. The four projects brought forward were bike trails, bike paths, recreational and trails were the preferred product to pursue grant monies for. There have been different projects done by different groups throughout the county for the past several years. He is looking to create a unified division for bike paths for communities including Route 66, greenways plan and projects have been planned for that.
Mayor Snyder said the other three options that could be looked at for future planning were:
Local roads and the impact of the state allowing 80,000 pound trucks on certain roads but bridges not being built for 80,000 pounds and how that creates bottlenecks and how it is difficult for farmers to get grain to the market. Another one was looking at a local highway authority. Right now there are the county department, all the township departments, local street departments, and what it would look like if all those were together providing services as one entity providing services. The other was coming up with a long term plan for the Logan County Airport. He said Mr. D’Andrea has done a yeoman’s job in getting everything straightened out and the information where it needs to be.
Page 9
Balloon Fest
Jennifer Lovett from the Chamber Office and is the events coordinator. She gave a presentation on Balloon Fest. They are requesting the same amount of $5,000.00. The new BBQ competition went very well last year as well as the sidewalk chalk.
Page 16 & 17
Main Street Lincoln and Flow Thru
Mr. Seth Goodman is the President of Main Street Lincoln said they are composed by a 90% new board. Their goals are to educate the public in regards to Main Street Lincoln, promote Main Street as well as the downtown area, encourage business expansion, retain current businesses, bring more events downtown as well as work with the city on the current grant. They were asking for $15,000.00 for the City’s contribution.
Mr. Conzo said in looking over the profit loss statement that the barbecue did very well and of course the Art of Wine does well and has for several years.
Mrs. Rohlfs said they had a budget in front of them. The budget for the Christmas parade was in there and she didn’t think there were any documents that they gave City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach. Not all of the expenses were accounted for on the parade. Main Street gets ½ of 1% from the Hotel/Motel tax. The county gets the other half of the hotel/motel tax.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -17-
Page 17
Railsplitter Association
Alderman Anderson said there was $5,000.00 in the budget which includes the Christmas parade and Railsplitter Association. The line says fireworks but the city did not give any money to that.
Mr. Sutton he was here to ask for the same $2,500.00 as last year. They are adding some new items to the festival. The last three or four years they have managed to open the gates in the black. This year they will have a new annual music festival.
Page 15
Alderman Anderson said this has all the insurances. The health insurance know what their costs are to July 1 then they go up 3 1/2 % and she is calculating a 5% increase for the last four months of FY.
Page 7
Mayor’s Budget
4016-Salaries-P/T (Kathy Vinyard) went up to $13,593.75 comes in lower usually
8402-Dues/Donations went up to $800.00
8420-Schools/Conferences went up to $2,500.00 with his election to Board of Directors for municipal league the league doesn’t pay travel expenses for him to attend meetings.
Page 2
City Administrator
4012-Salaries-Apptd went up to $60,000.00
Page 9
Contingent Department
6460-Citywide cleanup – Mayor Snyder said they had someone coming in Tuesday
8476-GIS Development – Mayor Snyder asked to change that line to website. Cost for website domain name each year.
Alderman Anderson asked about the safety grant and if they needed to do anything in the departments. Mayor Snyder said he would prefer it be in the Mayor’s line for $19,400.00.
Alderman Anderson with it being in the Mayor’s line he can better control how those funds are spent within the department. There will be a little oversight there.
Page 9
Alderman Anderson said the health insurance for retirees is disappearing. Everything else on this page is the same other than she bumped the surety bonds up a little bit and they will have to put a bond on for the City Administrator.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -18-
Page 9
6432-Centralized dispatch contract – Alderman Anderson said this includes the dispatch contract and the communications contract which are separate. She asked if there was a problem with separating those out. She was afraid someone coming in might not remember there are two pieces to that.
Mayor Snyder said he wanted to consolidate the appraisals in 5404, 5406 and 5407 for $1,500.00.
Alderman Anderson said the City Attorney line was left the same and Mayor Snyder is having some discussions on that.
Merit Commission and Audit Fund
Alderman Anderson said there was no change. She thought they had one more year on it.
IMRF
Alderman Anderson said they are waiting on numbers.
Page 1
Clerk’s Office
4010 Mrs. Gehlbach said Elected Officials is compiled of Aldermen, City Treasurer and City Clerk’s salary.
4012 Mrs. Gehlbach said the appointed would be Mrs. Fulk and she wanted to put in for an increase for her and the other half is in the sewer line.
4013 Mrs. Gehlbach said there is nothing.
4016 Mrs. Gehlbach said was for Ms. Davis.
4014 Mrs. Gehlbach said she was putting in for an increase on Mrs. Riggs.
Mrs. Gehlbach said all the insurance comes out.
Mrs. Gehlbach said they are looking at an upgrade for the software. New software would be $40,000.00 to $50,000.00 for accounting.
Alderman Wilmert said they could out source a data base conversion and it would be cheaper.
Mrs. Gehlbach said to upgrade the sewer software it would be $10,100.00. WTI will be doing a demo with Mrs. Gehlbach on the 23rd.
Page 25 Sewer
4013 – Mrs. Gehlbach said it will be a new person and it will be less. The new gal starts on March 15, 2012. She said the new salary would be $21,849.00.
4014 – Mrs. Gehlbach said she is proposing to bring in a part time person.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -19-
Alderman Anderson said they budgeted for a part time person in the City Clerk’s budget and one in the Sewer budget.
Mr. Conzo said they have seen tremendous accomplishments in the last ten weeks in the City Clerk’s office. A lot of things have gotten done especially with regard to the Sewer collections but also numerous other things. This is not a place where you want to skimp on salary lines. We have an excellent City Clerk and Deputy City Clerk and they put in a lot of uncompensated time. Thought it was well worth and there is a need for part time people so the Deputy City Clerk and City Clerk don’t have to continue to work 60-70 hours per week.
Alderman Anderson said they have been the benefactors of endless hours of manpower from Mr. Gehlbach and Mrs. Fulk that aren’t reflected because they are salary. Part time help is needed in there so they can have some of these things done like the window and phone answering so they can concentrate on the things to make the office run more efficiently.
Mrs. Gehlbach said with her training a new employee it will pull her off everything. She said she was going to see if Mrs. McCabe could continue to come over for three or four weeks and will help make the transition smoother.
Alderman Anderson said they will meet again March 31, 2012.
Alderman Anderson said she would be updating the numbers.
Pages 29 and 30
Alderman Anderson said the revenue that was projected by City Treasurer Mr. Conzo was $11,268,000.00 but the total projected is $12,438,000.00. There is $1.2M more in expenditures than the City has in projected income. The infrastructure number of $515,000.00 comes out of non home rule. The rest is the unfunded liabilities on the two pension plans (Police and Fire). The City doesn’t have the money to fund the two pensions and the only fund is the revenue that comes in. The fire pension is unfunded by $398,167.00 and the police pension is unfunded by $241,407.00.
Alderman O’Donohue said they were down to $15,000.00.
Mr. Conzo said there will be beginning balances and they do not know for sure what they will be.
Alderman Anderson said from the revenue projected to their expenses and this does not reflect any back pay. There is no surplus.
Alderman Anderson was hopeful when they get a City Administrator in they could get some kind of plan like they talked earlier about consolidating things.
Lincoln, Illinois
Finance Committee Meeting
March 10, 2012; Page -20-
Mayor Snyder said the department heads were to turn in equipment list. The department heads were to turn in a list of major equipment they have, what year purchased, condition and those types of things so they could look at long term replacement.
Alderman Anderson thanked Alderman Neitzel for donuts and Alderman Horn brought the fruit.
The City Council’s Finance Committee Meeting adjourned at 11:59 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by,
Risa Riggs
Recording Secretary
City of Lincoln