VILLAGE DISTRICT OF EIDELWEISS
Virtual Public Budget Hearing
Thursday April 22, 2021
The Board of Commissioners held a virtual (via Microsoft Teams) public hearing on the 2021 budget at 7:00 pm on April 22, 2021. In attendance were Commissioners Jay Buckley (JB), Kathy Koziell (KK) and Paula Doyle (PD) and Administrator Donna MacKinnon (DM). Public attendees were Doug Prescott, Kevin Flynn, Jennifer & Greyson Merrill, Terri Hill, Sherri McComish and Dorothy Wondolowski.
The meeting was recorded (video) and will be available for viewing on Madison TV.
At 7:09 pm Commissioner JB calls the hearing to order and described how it would work with attendees being digitally muted during Commissioner’s presentation and then opening for questions and comments afterwards. Public calling in with audio only would be verbally asked for any comments and questions. Those on video would be able to digitally ‘raise their hand’ if they have comments or questions.
After some technical difficulties with projecting the presentation were resolved, the Commissioners presented a powerpoint presentation which included a review of the Reinach Tank project, details on the 2021 proposed operating and water budgets and a review of the proposed warrant articles.
PUBLIC COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS
Doug Prescott (DP) asked about Property and Liability Insurance and asked if BOC have ever considered a D&O policy and/or an Umbrella policy. KK discussed the policy we have with Primex that is specifically designed for municipalities. DP also asked how our vehicles are covered which was answered that these are included in the Primex policy. DP suggested that we might want to consider an umbrella policy in the future.
DP asked why the Reinach Tank payments for 2021 are in the operations budget vs the water budget. The Commissioners explained that this was a specific warrant article and lengthy discussion the year that the project was approved by the voters with the rationale having been to have property owners proportionally fund based on their property value via taxes versus equally distributing funding via the water bill.
DP asked if the Tools & Equipment line in the budget might be too low in light of the explanation provided by KK during the presentation and the actual numbers in 2020. Question was answered that the DPW had recently replaced several old tools and that after consultation with DPW, believe that the number for 2021 is adequate.
Jennifer Merrill (JM) asked about the funding of the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund and why we are not directly funding it partially with the proceeds from the sale of the truck in 2021 that we mentioned in the presentation as being added to the Unassigned Fund Balance. She and Greyson Merrill (GM) suggested concern based on prior actions and statements from the BOC about funding reserve funds. BOC explained that the placement of the truck proceeds needed to flow to the Unassigned Fund Balance by law and then we are proposing that we take funds from the Unassigned Fund Balance to fund the Highway Equipment Capital Reserve Fund. After explaining in more detail, JM and GM agreed that they were clear on this issue.
JM asked about a warrant article passed in 2020 for $5,000 to repave Eidelweiss Drive. JB explained that this was originally a higher warrant article proposed in 2020 for repaving but which was amended to the lower amount of $5000 and passed to do some work on the road but not a full repaving which would be put off until future. This work was not done in 2020 but we did encumber the $5K funds and will be able to spend on this project in 2021.
ADJOURNMENT
JB makes a motion to adjourn the Public Hearing at approximately 8:45PM. KK seconded. Motion Passed 3-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Paula Doyle
Commissioner