VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
OPERATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
MARCH 5, 2018
CALL TO ORDER
Trustee Guethle called the meeting to order.
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Dale Berman, Trustee Mark Guethle, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Mark Carroll.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Public Works Director John Laskowski.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS – None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Approval of the Operations Committee Minutes dated February 5, 2018
Motion for approval made by Trustee Curtis and seconded by Trustee Carroll. All in favor. Motion approved.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Overview of 2018-2019 Budget Presentation
Bill Hannah reported that the draft budget will be finalized at the end of March and discussed at the first Committee of the Whole meeting in April.
-General Fund Revenues
Sales tax revenue – estimated to be up 2.2% for the current fiscal year at $4,680,000 and projecting a 1-1/2% increase next year.
State share income tax revenue – down 1% in the current fiscal year through 9 months of revenue. Projecting 1.5 million dollars for the current year. For next year, given the fact that we do not know what will happen with LGDF (if the reductions will be restored to that of the previous year), we believe there will be increased economic growth.
Property Taxes and 2.1% CPI Factor – those are spoken for with the pension contributions requirement for next year.
Use Tax revenue from online sales continues to go up strongly. The revenue predicted for next year is $480,000.
Building permit revenue – budgeted $225,000.
Investment Income – see that rising
DUI/Towing Admin Fees – increasing over this last year from $40,000 or $50,000
Video Gaming – continues to increase.
Off Track Betting – will return since the Turf Room will be reopening an Off Track Betting at their site. This could result in an extra $30,000 of revenue for the Village next year.
– Operations
In all departments, there is an increased need to provide services to the community and to other departments and employees. There is an increase in repair and maintenance of facilities, equipment, vehicles and an increase in ground expenses. Staff is looking at better ways to utilize certain employees’ time. The question is, how can we accomplish this without raising taxes and fees? Staff examine the current taxes and charges for services and came up with two options:
Rebalancing topic #1 – Increase in water rates of 15 cents (from $3.55 to $3.70 per 1000 gallons), but decrease the sanitary sewer rates from 35 cents to 15 cents. The combined water/sewer rate would go down 5 cents per 1000 gallons through this change.
Steve Bosco mentioned that the water rate survey was matched up with 13 other communities in the Fox Valley area. The average bill for North Aurora was $55 and the range for the other communities ranged from $64 to $130 for a bi-monthly bill. North Aurora’s rates are significantly lower and the Village has not raised its water rates in 9 years.
Rebalancing topic #2 – Staff looked at the Village’s current telecommunication tax. We currently have a tax of 4% (3% of that goes to the capital projects fund for infrastructure. 1% of that goes to the general fund). The max telecommunications tax per state law is 6%. Most communities are at the maximum and all of it goes to fund operations. Trustee Curtis said that she was against any increase if it is not needed. Hannah said that does not want to increase taxes and are looking at all options.
Hannah said that staff is looking to temporarily change the allocation of the telecommunication tax for a two-year period. The suggestion is to have 2-1/2% of the 4% go to the General Fund and 1-1/2% to the Capital Projects Fund. This would be a temporary shift of about $97,000.
The Village has, with Woodman’s, a 15-year 5.2 million dollar economic sales tax incentive agreement. This agreement will be satisfied earlier than the maximum 15-year period. It will probably be satisfied around the middle of the fiscal year 2020. Staff has discussed evaluating the feasibility of modifying our sales tax levy.
The Village is looking to hire a part-time employee to assist in accounting duties. The Village is also looking to eliminate the intern position, making it a full-time position assisting management and other department heads. Bosco noted that none of the department heads currently have assistants.
OLD BUSINESS – None
OTHER INFORMATION – None
TRUSTEE COMMENTS – None
ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn made by Trustee Curtis and seconded by Trustee Carroll. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
