Correct.
» I don't have the gavl.
>> Call the joint budget workshop meeting
to order.
>> And um pledge allegiance to the flag,
please.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag, one
nation under the republic for it stands,
one nation under God, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.
>> Thank you all.
Apologize about that.
Let's see. Roll call.
>> Here
>> back
>> here.
>> Clark, excuse me
>> here.
>> Olsson
>> here.
>> Fin Olsson
>> here.
>> Daniel
>> here.
>> My now he's excused. Kavalo
>> here.
>> Recker
>> here.
>> We have one opening, right?
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh public comments.
I've got one here. I don't know if
there's any online, but I got one right
here from Jim Pensel.
» Good evening, Jim Pel 512.
Um, first I want to express my concern
with the 6 p.m. start time of this as
you were with the 5:30 p.m. start time
of this meeting. I ask that these
subsequent meetings are moved to 6 pm.
If there is any interest in having
public participation,
um, I myself had to rush here. Um, I
gota go back to work, but anyways,
In regard to this evening's meeting, um
I'm also concerned that there's not an
agenda item for goals being discussed or
mentioned. It was briefly touched on and
there was uh a staff and director wish
list, but even the costs of that wish
list never made it into this packet. So,
it would be extraordinarily difficult
for the finance
u HR and Philip board to weigh in on
those decisions. Um, and then, uh,
finally,
I'm very concerned that
we didn't take into consideration
the highest rated things by our
citizens, such as public safety and
streets. First,
the very first thing that we're going to
look at tonight is paying ourselves
more. Um and uh which is really
difficult because there's no good data
that comes out for what that increased
cost of benefits are until later in the
year. Um you don't know what your
revenues will be until later in the
year. I'm sure Jessica can get you those
exact dates. But if we don't know our
dollars in yet and the very first thing
we're going to want to do is spend more
money, I think that's a problem. And I
think we need to rep prioritize. Look at
goals. look at what the electorate wants
and maybe not what everyone wants first.
Thank you.
>> Okay, let's see. Amendments from
previous meetings. None. Resolutions.
Number four, resolution 2026-023.
Resolution authorizing the issuance and
sale of up to 1,291,283
in waterworks system revenue bonds
series 20206
and providing for other details and
covenants with respect. There too and
approval of related financial assistance
agreement.
>> Motion to approve.
by early
>> second.
by Zagami. On the question
>> I ask finance need a motion on this.
It's just board.
>> Yes, we could just use board.
>> Just board. Okay. Any discussion? Any
questions on board?
>> My my only question is this was to help
finish well three for anybody to iron
and make these. Is that correct or
>> correct? idea. And I guess I just want
to point out um I guess page 46 of the
packet shows that um with this safe
drinking water loan, we have a little
over $3 million in principal
forgiveness. So of a $4.3 million
project, we're essentially paying $1.3
million and the other $3 million um I
guess the state is more or less uh
taking the cost of. So, um, this
essentially is our agreement with the
state for, uh, the 4.3 million, but we
only have to pay them back the 1.291.
» Okay.
>> And then, um, with our PAS, I guess, uh,
class action lawsuit, they did remove
272,460,000
from the overall project amount. So,
>> I was going to ask about that because I
had to note it down. I was like, what
does that mean? So they can move that
off.
>> Yeah, since we received some of those uh
lawsuit monies, um I guess that's a
portion of it, too. So realistically, I
guess, yeah, the total project is the
4.57.
Um if you take out the 272 that they
said we can't use from our lawsuit, then
it's the say 4.3.
>> I think it said it in there, but how
much was the percentage on the borrow?
It's like two something.
If you go to the next page, the interest
rate is.365
>> and then the total interest over the
grass loan is 333
blah blah blah something like that.
>> Correct. Y
>> you can't use tiff money to fund water
works. It's like kind of like a separate
entity. So we have to do this on their
own.
>> Right. Tiff is closed.
>> Tiff is closed too.
>> Okay. Any more
hearing? No more discussion. All those
in favor say I.
>> I. Opposed. So carried unfinished
business there's seeing that there's
none new business review budget process
and funds presentation review and
equalized value of new net new
construction
» I'm moving right to seven
>> no we have a powerpoint
>> okay
Next.
» Okay. So, this presentation is also on
your laptops. It's on the desktop as a
PDF. So, if you want to open that up to
follow along um better. Um, after
tonight, we will put it on our website
under the 2027 budget. So, anyone that
wants to go back and look through it,
it'll be up there in addition to the
YouTube video that
» it is.
>> Yeah,
>> I'm waiting.
>> I kept looking for something else.
>> I can start with just
a little bit about the budget process.
This is our our first year in a couple
years where we've done joint meetings
with finance and HR and board. It had
been that way in the past and every year
we kind of talk about how we want to do
it because it's it's our choice. So this
year again would be joint meetings. So
just a little bit about the timeline
that we're on. Uh we start these budget
workshops with kind of what are the
priorities, what are we thinking. Jess
is going to go through tonight because
we have a lot of new faces and this is
our first time doing it these joint
meetings in a couple years just about
governmental financing and accounting.
Uh just a little bit of a brief summary
of the funds that we have. Uh we will we
bring forward drafts through these
budget workshop meetings that go through
September and October so we can drill
down into in decisions at each one. we
can talk a little bit about the how
we're going to handle which funds at
which meetings and that kind of comes to a conclusion at the end of October.
It's the end of October because we are
required to do a public hearing posting
and that has to be done 15 days before
the meeting is held. So that we we shoot
for that to go in our regular meeting in
November, which is the third Monday, in
order to make the that to be the budget
adoption, the hearing and the adoption
in order to get the information to the
county for the printing of the tax
bills. So that's kind of our our our
process everyone should have on their
calendars. Uh I I sent out invites for
all of the meetings. they are kind of on
some different dates and at some
different times than our our standard
Monday meetings and that's just so we
can get in those additional meetings
between now and the end of October.
So if if through the process if anyone's
like I wish we had more time or I wish
we could drill down more in that it's
important to say it right away because
it is a condensed timeline and and the
ultimate goal again is to make sure
we're not delaying anybody. The county
prints all the tax bills right at one
time. So if we delay the county, we
delay everybody's tax bills at one time.
So we want to we want to make sure that
we're getting that information to them
by the mid November time frame.
» Okay. A budget is a mathematical
confirmation of your suspicions. So u
when we go through the budget, it is
just a guess. It's our best guesstimate.
We don't know what the snow's going to
do. We don't know if people are going to
be leaving, if we have to rehire, how we can rehire. Um, so when we go
through the budget, when we get to the
end of 2026 and end of 2027, usually the
actuals are not that close. We're close,
but not where a lot of people think that
they should be because they are a budget
that we're doing in September usually.
Okay, before we get into the deep down
into budget season, I really want to
talk about the funds so we're all on the
same page when we're talking the
budgeting of the funds and how they're
how each fund operates.
So, an introduction to government
accounting, state requirements and
regulations, and then where are we? So,
that's the outline of our presentation.
Um, first the introduction. Um
government account is overseen by the
governmental accounting standards board
Gatsby. Um the type of accounting used
is called fund accounting. Um there are
three main types of funds. Governmental,
proprietary and fiduciary. Um the
governmental funds we include the
general special revenue, debt service,
capital and then permanent. Um the
village does not have a permanent fund.
So we'll just be addressing one through
four.
Um governmental funds are we use the
they're accounted for on a modified
acral basis of accounting. Um we'll go
through that in the next page but the
funds are the general fund which is the
chief operating fund of the village. Um
anything that doesn't belong in another
fund ends up in the general fund.
Special revenue special revenue funds
cannot have a majority of their revenues
coming from the tax levy. um usually
they're for a specific um expense. Um
example is refuge recycling. We gather
the special charges off the tax rule and
we put them in our refuge recycling and
that money goes specifically for our
horrors bill and also do does the leaf
pickup and all our on Ryan Street when
we have everyone bring their leaves and
grasses there to process all those
recyclable materials, organic materials.
Um the next one is the debt service
fund. It accounts for the resources and
payments related to long-term debt for
those debt that's taken out for the
governmental funds, meaning it doesn't
include the utilities. Uh the last one
we want to talk about is the capital
projects funds. Um we don't want you to
confuse it with our capital improvement
program. A lot of times we'll talk about
CIP. It's either the CIP fund or the CIP
program. Uh the program includes the
utilities. So when we're planning a CIP
plan, we talk about a road project and
we'll talk about the expenses for the
street, the water sewer and storm. In
the capital projects fund, what you're
going to see is just the accounting for
the streets portion. We do not account
for the utilities in that. So okay, next
slide.
So this is an example of our proprietary
funds. It includes the enterprise funds,
water, source, storm. It also has the
internal service fund. So the internal
service fund keeps track of our dental.
So we are self-insured for dental
meaning that we collect the premiums. We
use um safer is part of that. So we
collect money from the payroll and from
the employees. So we put it in a pot and
then Delta Dental is our administrator.
So when the people go to the dentist,
they send the claims to Delta Dental and
Delta Tendle tells us how much we owe.
So then we they'll take the money out of
our account. We've been really fortunate
with the way that it's been operating
that we've had a surplus. We haven't
raised our rates. Last year was the
first increase for quite a few years.
So, we'll see how the fund is going this
year to see if we need additional rate
increases.
The proprietary funds um these are funds
where the activities there's a fee for
the external users for goods or
services. Um the charges for services
are their primary re revenue source and
similar to private business.
And then we talked about the internal
service fund already.
Um things to know about governmental
accounting again modified acrruel basis.
So we keep track of current resources. I
had a question the other day. Are we
going to see like what we just approved
where Mountain Bet is going to be paying
us back for that building? Are we going
to have a long-term receivable on that?
When you look at our fund balance sheet,
you are not going to see a receivable
necessarily. We'll have to I'm just
going to talk with the auditors, but if
you do see a receivable, you're also
going to see a deferred revenue, meaning
that the governmental rules do not allow
us to include revenue that's not
current, meaning uh 60 90 days or
sooner. So, you're not going to see that
revenue on the books right away. You're
going to see the receivable for Mountain
Bay, and you'll see a deferred revenue,
which matches that exact same dollar
amount. So, uh, another thing we're
going to talk about, um,
oh, the debt. So, when we issue debt,
and you're going to look in the the debt
service fund, you're not going to see a
long-term liability for all the debt
that we have issued. A lot of times
people get it kind of gets in the back
pages. People, well, you don't tell us
how much we actually have in debt. Well,
it's in the back pages by design. Not by
design, but um following the rules, we
do not account for that on the balance
sheet, but if you look at the utilities,
you you would see the the amount of debt
that those utilities do owe. You'll see
the water revenue bonds on the balance
sheet and the geo bonds on the balance
sheet for the water, sewer, and storm.
And capital purchases, that's the last
thing we're going to talk about. Um,
we do budget for capital expenditures in
the fund statements. We just talked
about the capital projects fund. Those
are expenditures. You're going to see
what we anticipate spending on capital
items in that fund, but you are not
going to see it in the utilities. Uh,
the utilities have capital assets on
their balance sheet unlike the
governmental funds. So, you don't budget
assets. So, the only place that you're
going to see where we budget spending
money on capital infrastructure for the
utilities is going to be on our capital
improvement plan. So, just for
clarification, when we're going through
that stuff, if you're looking for
something and you don't see it, um, just
ask, um, it's there. It just may not be
in the place that you're looking for.
Any questions?
It was a lot of information, but I
really thought we need to really be on
the same page. We're going to talk about
governmental funds. Then we're going to
talk about the utility funds. Utility
funds are
their main revenue is that charges for
services. There is no tax money in those
funds. When we talk about the
flexibility, it has a ton more
flexibility than those in the
governmental funds. When we talk about
refuge recycle, all those expenditures
in that fund are financed by the refuge
recycling charges that we put on the tax
bill. They are not financed by property
taxes. So when we talk about
expenditures in that fund,
the choices we make doesn't necessarily
impact the tax bill. They're not limited
by the allowable increase we can do on
our tax bill. general fund is the main
fund that when we're talking about the
amount of revenue we can levy, it's very
limited. A lot of times a strategy that
many governments use is what
expenditures can we kick out of the
general fund because the general fund
has so restricted on the revenues that
we can generate for that fund. And some
people would say you're playing the
shell game.
We are trying to provide the services
that we can with the limited revenue
increases that the state allows. So
if you have any questions, don't forget
to ask. We'll take a couple breaks
because we got more information.
» No questions.
>> Okay.
>> Oh, state.
» Okay. the state requirements. Um we're
going to talk about this because a lot
of these reports that the finance
department works on impacts directly the
budget that we do. Um a good example is
our levy limit worksheet. That's the
worksheet we do for the state that um
controls how much we can increase our
levy. And then we have the tax increment
worksheet. That worksheet is done that
it affects the bottom line of our tax
bill. So it doesn't that increment
doesn't necessarily affect the general
fund, but it affects our tiff, our tiff,
too. Uh statement of tax is a great
summary of all the taxes that are on
your tax bill. That's a form that the
village fills out on and is available on
the do website if you're looking for it.
Another one, municipal financial report.
That report's super important. That one
is directly tied to our transportation
aid. So, if we don't fill that one out
correctly, um that could directly impact
our transportation aid and especially if
we don't file it on time. That's one of
the reports that if you do not file on
time, they will reduce your aid. Uh
expenditure restraint. The village has
qualified for expenditure restraint. We
are over $100,000 right now and has
certain rules and regulations that we
have to follow to um get those funds.
We're going to talk a little bit more
about that too in a little bit.
>> Yes. Levy limits. Municipality may
increase its levy over the prior year by
a percentage increase in equalized value
from net new construction. Net new
construction prior year as any demo and
destruction
is how they determine that number. If
there was no net new construction, the
village would not be allowed to increase
their levy at all.
This is an example. This is the most
current we just got on August 11th. This
is our statement of changes in equalized
value by class and item. That's a report
that's given to us by the state. You can
see um our 2025 equalized values. And
then there's prior year
compensation
and then the economic change. the
economic change. Those numbers are
determined by the state. They're
determined by the sales information from
the area.
Um, it's a I'll call it a makeup madeup
number. It basically inc tells you that
your property is now worth $100,000
instead of um $90,000.
but it really doesn't have a direct
correlation to what you would see on
your tax bill. Um, here's the amount of
net new construction. As you can see,
the village has close to 2% again this
year. And you can see a lot of the
increase came from residential
improvements.
Um, in the end% lower right corner, the
total change for the villages equalized
value was 9%.
The next page, net new construction.
Um, the villages equalized value of 2025
1.9. Our net new construction is 31.3
million and that is an percentage of
1.624. So that's the amount we can
increase our levy over our prior year.
You can see where other municipalities
are on that same line.
Yes.
>> Any questions on equalized value and net
new construction?
They they don't they impact the net new
construction impacts our budget
significantly. When we don't get a big
number, that hurts. Um you can see our
history on this one where we've ranged.
You can see the equalized value, the
assessed, and then how that affects our
net new construction. there is no
correlation.
So, it's really hard to determine and
guess that number.
And you can see the amount of levy
increases that we've had since 2019.
95,000 is pretty good. So, we've had
some pretty good years,
but 95,000 doesn't cover a lot of budget
increase. There's absolutely no tie to
um CPI. So when our fuel is running wild
and we need to cover the cost of that comes out of that 95. Um our
workers comp we our modify factor went
up from86 to 1.17.
>> That's a $30,000 increase. That's taken
out of that number. Um mountain Bay
increase that's taken out of that
number. As you can see that that number
is already in the negatives by taking so
much out of it.
Um this is why we continue to talk about
our struggles. Um we do get some shared
revenue increase. We get some general
transportation increase, but general
transportation increases aren't a
forever thing. We're going to plateau
out. So the money we get from GTA we
need to be using wly wisely.
Um, in our shared revenue, I think last
year we got 30,000.
» Okay.
>> We want to do seventh inning stretch.
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you.
>> So, last year we did uh videos at the
beginning. These are just
they should be a little bit
inspirational. They should be a little
bit fun. It's a way to break up the
presentation.
If there's a video that you all really
like that you think would be good to
share,
send it our way. But it also just, you
know, gives a a rest in the middle. So,
this was a video that we wanted to share
today. They don't necessarily relate to
budget. I just want to I want to point
that out.
>> This acts of generosity
is how simple it is to make people feel
good. I was walking down the streets of
New York City
and a guy walking in front of me, his
backpack opened and a bunch of paper
fell out on the on the street. I didn't
think much of it. I bent down. I
gathered up the papers, handed them back
to him, and pointed out that his his bag
had opened. Now, in our bodies, there's
a chemical called oxytocin. Oxytocin is
responsible for all the warm and
fuzzies, unicorns, and rainbows. It's
responsible for all the warm feelings
and connectedness we have with each
other. Friendship, love. Huge amounts of
oxytocin surge through a woman's body as
she gives birth. This is what is
responsible for the mother child bond.
Oxytocin binds human beings. There are
many ways to get oxytocin.
One of them is acts of kindness and acts
of generosity. It feels good when we do
something nice for someone. It feels
good when someone does something nice
for us. On this particular day, I did
something for someone with no
expectation of anything in return. I got
a little surge of oxytocin. I felt good.
He turned to me and he said, "Thank you.
It feels nice when someone does
something for us with no expectation of
anything in return." He felt good.
I walked to the end of the street. I'm
waiting to cross the street and a total
stranger who happened to be standing
next to me said, "I saw what you did
back there. That was really cool." As it
turns out, witnessing an act of
generosity
releases oxytocin
and he felt good.
And the best part about oxytocin is the
more oxytocin we have in our bodies, the
more generous we become. It is mother
nature's way of trying desperately to
get us to look after each other. I can
guarantee you that that man who
witnessed what I did did something nice
for somebody that day simply because he
saw someone do something nice for
somebody that day. So what if we commit
to do something nice for someone with no
expectation of anything in return?
Imagine what happens at work. Imagine
what happens at home. Imagine what
happens with our friends.
But it must be genuine.
was going to do a pop quiz on does
everyone know who was speaking but then
his name flashed up huge at the end. So
no,
» okay, we'll continue with the lovey
limit worksheet. So exciting.
Uh this is just we can go quickly unless
you have questions there. There's not a
lot to this, but I just want you to
understand that when we do the budget,
when we do the levy, we just don't tell
the state what we want to levy. Um we go
through the calculations. You go to the
page prior.
>> Sure.
Give it a
>> That's a second page.
>> Catch up.
But if you have it on your computers, we
can talk about it. So, when you look at
the levy limit worksheet on the page the
first page of it, um they they give you
your last year's levy and then they add
the personal property tax and then
there's the debt obligation debt general obligation debt authorized
after 20 2005. that was um that's our
that's the money that we levy to pay our
debt that's associated with the general
fund. So 2.15 million. So if anyone ever
asks how much money do we levy to pay
for debt that that's it and it's really
straightforward on this worksheet.
And then we get the adjusted and then
we're allowed to increase with net
construction.
And then and that's pretty much all the
adjustments we get. Um you can see line
one and eight are the same. I'm not sure
how the TIFF closure is going to treat
that. I'm anticipating the top line is
going to be
88,169,
but the bottom number might be 120,000.
That's something we'll have to see how
the do treats a tiff closure. never been
through it at this I think the last time
I was through it I think I was two years
into it um into the village of Weston
like 2009 so I don't exactly reme
remember plus I think the levy limit
worksheet was a little different back
then so this is and then if you look at
line five that's where you're going to
see that tiff is going to be there
there's going to be a percentage there
that's going to allow us to increase our
levy for that TIFF closure.
So, um, very excited to see what that
ends up being. We kind of had had it
calculated
close to $400,000
additional, but when I say that, I also
said we might be having to subtract an
additional $100,000 because our personal
property aid is going up. Um that's that
would be unfortunate
but that's the way the levy limits work.
When we did our tiff increment we that
personal property aid wasn't part of the
calculation.
Um but I think it just goes forward to
how the state is trying to when the
different laws are passed, they have to
try to make
um reports and forms to
follow the rules for each act that was
passed without having all the acts
really relating to one another. So,
and then this next page, if you go to
the next page, that again is just our
general obligation debt that's due in
2026.
So, that includes the interest and
principal payments.
So, if you're ever curious, we we do
bring this worksheet forward so we can
talk about how much we actually pay for
our interest in principal.
Okay, I have a question just on you you
hit it kind of a little bit on the
personal property aids. Is that kind of
a set amount or does it increase with I
didn't think so, but I I just, you know,
>> now the state, this is a good point of
what the state does. We used to have
personal property tax and it was part of
our levy. So when we were able to
increase our levy with net new
construction, guess what? our levy went
up more and right now we we add and
subtract it and that 88 never changes.
When we got new businesses and like
Amazon they had personal property our
personal property aid went up. It
doesn't go up anymore. We're stuck. I
mean, it was nice the state gave us the
money to supplement the personal
property tax for that year, but moving
forward, we don't get an increase.
>> Okay. That's kind of what I thought, but
I wasn't positive. Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> There's a lot of stuff. Um, they say
cable franchise fees, they reduce the
amount that we could collect on that.
They give us a set amount and that
amount doesn't ever change.
There's just a quite a few things that
the state has done. Oh, we're going to
supplement you, but that supplement
number doesn't change.
>> So, that makes it harder and harder for
us to reach our goals because it does
that isn't going naturally up. It's just
a flat fee.
>> Yes.
» Okay. Thank you.
» This is just um part of our public
hearing notice. So, if you go back to
the budget book from 2026 budget, this
is just a copy. These numbers will tie
to some of the um forms that we'll be
showing in the next couple slides.
The expenditure restraint, the main
point here is we received $138,000
for our 2026 budget. We split 88 in the
general fund and 50 in capital.
I said this before and I'll say it
again. I don't know if we can keep this.
Um that means that we'll be getting
$88,000 less less in the general fund.
We talked about the certain rules and
regulations that need to be followed. I
think they're on the next page. Yeah. So
we talk about it.
This form is just super old because when
we close our tiff, we're going to go up,
like we said, around $400,000. Meaning
that we can increase our expenditures
around $400,000.
But the expenditure straight form
doesn't take into account non it doesn't
take into account those type of
situations. It's like if you were to
receive say a half a million dollar
grant you put it in your general fund,
you would kick yourself right out of
this program. But that's where we have
to use the shell game or accounting
smarts and we kick the $500,000 in the
special revenue fund that I talked about
earlier. That's that grant money has to
be used for a specific purpose so it's
able to stay in that fund and it keeps
our general fund within this expenditure
restraint program.
So now, how is that I'm sorry. Can I
just
>> How is that going to uh with the tiff?
>> It might kick us out of the program.
>> Okay.
>> There's a few things I want to look at
and I want to see if any other people
have done it. But one of our recom
things we could maybe do is kick our GTA
general transportation aid out, put the
street maintenance, follow that all into
fund 42, and keep our general fund
expenditures within the restraint
program.
So, you're taking general transportation
aid, which is supposed to be used for
transportation, put it in 42, take the
expenditures,
maintenance, street maintenance, kick
that out, and see if we can keep it
down.
>> Well, will it
>> there? There are not a lot of rules
like there's no rule that will prevent
you from doing it. It asks for what are
your general fund budget? What have you
levied in other funds for this? Like you
can see the debt service and you can see
the aquatic center. They're both up
there and that's what the state looks
like. They look at those numbers.
>> Okay. Cuz I was going to ask if we're
applying some of the tiff funds to the
borrowing.
>> So we're you're talking about the
closure. So when I talked about that, I
said when we close tiff 2. So we're
going to have our audit hopefully
October and at the end of that audit the
auditors will have a final number of
what's left in the tiff district that
needs to be allocated to the other
taxing jurisdictions and what amount
remains with us.
So that final number which we won't know
till after the audit that's the number
and it will not
the expenditure straight program is
based on our 2026 budget and we don't
have anything in there for tiff.
>> Okay I was just wondering
>> so it won't impact it. That's why the
program's so messed up. It doesn't.
There's so many ways around it and you
need to know what you're doing to find
those ways and stay in compliance.
>> So, approximately what would we lose if
we get kicked out of this program?
>> What?
>> How much money will we lose?
>> $138,000.
>> Okay. Okay. So, that's another We got to
find it.
>> 88 is in the general fund. When we did
this, we split it. We split it so
knowing if we ever lost the program, we
wouldn't have to take the full hit.
>> Okay.
>> And that's part of the strategy that we
do for budgeting. Like I said, when you
can kick it out of the general fund,
let's do that because
it it just works out for your long-term
future. You have more flexibility.
» Okay. I was wondering. Thank you. Just
real quick, Michael rent the flash truck
has gone by our gates three times. Just
is he trying to get in or something?
>> Who is it?
>> I don't think so.
>> So, it's a rent the flash. It's got a
big white truck with a a um you know a
gated bed. He's over on this side now.
>> Okay.
>> He came in first here, then he went here
and now he's back there again.
>> Okay.
>> I just didn't know
trying to get trying to find some signs.
Thank you. Sorry about that.
>> This is
Thank you. This is just a copy of the
worksheet that we have to fill out. Kind
of like what I had on that Excel
spreadsheet.
Uh what's my property worth? We're going
to talk about the difference between
assessed, equalized, and appraised. I
know we do this every year, but I think
it's always a great refresher.
>> Assessed value is the value that the
village assessor puts on your property.
We just had a reassessment a couple
years ago. He he did that reassessment
based on the current sales values and he
has to make sure that when he reassesses
everybody the total assessed value of
the village is close to the equalized
value that the state put on and he has
to do it by class. So when he's when
you're looking at the residential,
commercial, and all those other classes,
at the end of his assessment when he
went through the village, he had to make
sure he was with was within a certain
percentage of those.
If there are any issues with someone's
if you know someone that is complaining
about their assessed value, tell them to
go to open book border review. Um, our
assessor does work with people if you
feel that your assessed value is
incorrect. Um, you need to talk to Greg
and you can appear before board of
review. There's always a an out to talk
about your frustrations if you feel that
is not assessed properly.
Equalized value is value put on your
property given by state. State law
requires assessors to be within 10% or
of the state's equalized value at least
once in every four-year period.
Unfortunately, that that sheet I showed
you before with that equalized value,
the state is definitely changing our
equalized value faster. I know other
municipalities are having the same
problem. And unfortunately, it's
municipalities that have to pay for a
reassessment when we are without outside
that 10% boundary. They're not they're
not cheap. It's unfortunate that the
system, my my opinion, is broken. We
shouldn't be forced to pay hundreds,000
or more because the state is continuing
to value our property and our our values
don't keep up with assessed values.
There's got to be a better answer.
Here's an example of a tax bill. It
shows your total assessed value and the
estimated fair market value, which more
or less is the equalized value.
Then the assessment ratio.
The price value. We're just going to
touch on this slightly. This is my what
you're familiar with if you want to go
refinance your home or if you're looking
to take out a mortgage on a new home.
The appraised value is the value that
the banks will look at. Um, more than
likely will be different from both your
assessed and equalized value.
So, where we are now, uh, this goes a
little bit into the next agenda item,
but just revisiting those priorities. We
talked about them both at the finance
and HR meeting and at the board meeting
last week. I was going to say last
month, but that was only last week.
>> These were some items that we had heard.
We just wanted to give a moment tonight
to see if there was any additions or
changes. Again, what sort of happens
from this point is if there are
priorities, we're not saying we can work
them into the budget. What we will do is
as we're putting items together, we
would try to work them into the budget
and bring that back to you and say this
is what it needs.
So maybe I'll I'll give a a
we'll go to the next slide which is just
a little bit about the consumer price
index. um because maybe we'll read that
priority agenda item and then if we have
any if there's anything more to add
outside of those we could have that
conversation then. But I just wanted to
point out kind of where we were last
year to this year on the consumer price
index. The CPI is often a common
uh way of evaluating what the cost
increase has been in the last year. Last
year we were at at 2.7 at the end of
July and this year we're at 3.4.
We're going to talk a little bit more
about this when we get into the agenda
item about uh wages, benefits, and um if
we want to establish anything different
for trustee wages going into the next
term of office. So we uh I have a piece
an RFC that that covers this too.
And then just our our last quote that a budget should reflect the values and
priorities of our nation and its people.
If anyone else has good quotes you want
to share, let us know too because we
would put them into the powerpoints
going forward.
» Moving on to six. Thank you, Jessica.
>> Yeah, thank you.
>> Veryformational.
>> Good presentation.
>> Like I said, any questions, let me know.
We're going through this process, but
there's if you have questions, let us
know.
» Good. Moving on to six, discussion,
interaction on 2027 budget priorities.
Any additional discussion continued from
prior finance and human resources and
board of trustees meetings?
Can we talk a little bit more about
doing longer term goals and would that
be considered a priority? Like setting
having departments set a one year, a
three year and a fiveyear goal. Could
that be something that could be worked
into budgetary when they're proposing
their 2027
saying this is 2027, we imagine in three
years we're going to need X, Y, and Z.
And in five years we could look at a
little bit longer term. Is that
something that could happen?
>> Yeah. I don't know that we could always
establish a number with that but
certainly
what we're thinking for future. Yes. you
know, like we talked last time when you
brought it up, you know, we can bring in
start just populating more and more
spots in the next year's, you know,
three or five year budgets and as you
know, three or five years from now,
it'll have we'll have more population in
there because those are the things,
those are the priorities that we want to
do. I think that's a great idea.
>> I really do.
>> We do that
>> and kind of have a gear mark.
>> Yeah. Somewhat in borrowing. I can
remember we used to they would streets
especially would do a kind of projected
>> correct Michael does it on a CI 2026
2027 2028
>> right
>> I would imagine there's some way that
some of these departments could do
something similar it would be perfect
but something similar so we can start
looking you know longer term if we know
a specific department
is going to need x y and z personnel We
know that in two years they're going to
need an increase which might be another
$70,000 for budget. So we need to start
planning.
>> I guess I would like to ask I mean we
can only ask that like the police and fire would kind of do that also.
>> I think that's a good suggestion
>> because that's where the big funds
besides the street. That's where the big
funds come in is this those three
departments that you know and they they
can kind of control where which
direction we're going. So,
>> and do we have a difference of what a
priority is versus a goal? Meaning a
goal might mean a village is looking at
growth versus maintenance.
>> Then a priority of a lawnmower is
something that the department wants, but
is that a village goal? I would say your
goals are in your strategic plan and
your budget would be your priorities
that you're going to force for that
year. So your your strategic plan would
outline what are those big goals? What's
that long-term vision? Because
making the determination of whether or
not you want it growth or maintenance,
that's a that's a big goal for a
village. you're you're you're projecting
out for a long time saying we're going
to make the determination that we're
only doing maintenance and not growth,
right? Like that's that's a larger
conversation. That's a strategic. So I
would say goals are strategic and and
these priorities are they're really
thinking the next one to two maybe three
years. I mean even our capital plan we
do project out five but it we're
shifting all the time in that. I mean,
we we do, which we're going to talk
about capital here in just a little bit.
You're certainly working on those
engineering plans a year or maybe two
years in advance. Um, but so in five
years, those items could shift
dramatically depending on what happens.
>> And when do we re review that strategic
plan? Out of curiosity, I don't remember
when we did our last one. So, I had that
as part of our priorities if we wanted
to have someone walk through us with
that because our our plan uh it went
essentially through 2025 if we wanted to
have someone come in and and redo our
plan, update our plan um or if we wanted
to reaffirm our four goals that were in
the prior plan that also you know that's
your mission, your vision and your
values.
>> Well, those plans if we bring somebody
in is not cheap. I would say between8 to
$10,000
>> and I I think it coit funds is what paid
for it. It was a it was part of but
thank you
>> um hope to assist with that and we
certainly could do an RFP and see what
um if there would be an entity that
would be you know interested
>> or maybe we need to look at what we had
before and see if that's still our
or do we want to tweak it you know.
>> Yeah. And that for one of our upcoming
budget workshop meetings, we could
add that into the packet.
>> It it's on the website. Um it's off the
administrator's page if to download.
It's it's not a a super large document.
I think it's probably, you know, 12
pages. Uh so it's it's a fast read.
It's, you know, it's not a binder full,
right? Yeah, go ahead.
>> I guess I don't know if we want to make
prompt discussion on just looking at the
priorities that were on that slide and
just making sure that they fit within
the priorities given to us by residents
on the comp plan. Um again reading from
the top of that list with their
importance. We're looking at EMS, road
maintenance repairs, fire, blowing,
salting, trash collection, public water
service, recycling collection, and then
we get underneath 60%.
And 86% of people said road maintenance
and repairs were important and 13% are
currently satisfied. So I'm wondering do
all of these priorities that we've
identified actually fit within
those or are these more staff and board
member priorities versus community
priorities? I'm not saying one way or
another, but I do feel like a couple of
those maybe don't don't fit in those
identified importance levels given to us
by the community.
I I think some of our priorities help
staff time be readjusted toward meeting
um our priorities. I also think
and I I don't have data to support this,
but I also think part of our our road
maintenance concerns from residents are
on projects that are outside of our
control. Um like Business 51, Camp
Phillips Road. Um things that we can't
control the the maintenance on it. Um
because you know I've been on public
works now for a few years and I think
the village does a great job making our
streets a priority and we have a lot of
really good streets around our
community. So it's hard to know exactly
where we would make a priority if it's
street maintenance or street
improvements. Um, at least from my
perspective as a committee member,
because when I think of our system as a
whole, I'm like, we have a lot of really
good streets, we certainly know in our
older part of the village, um, over
toward like the the junior high, there's
an older area that we're we're working
on making improvements. Um, and we we
have that as part of our CIP. Um, but
>> yeah, I rambled. Sorry.
>> That's okay. I said I wasn't really
pushing one way or another. I just, you
know, if we're presented with that
question, how do these fit in? What do,
you know, public safety is like
obviously dominating the top with roads?
So, I mean, a lot of these you could art
articulated public safety, but I just,
like I said, just throwing out there as
a discussion points, you know, how do we answer those questions if we
make sure that priorities that we have
in this room are the priorities of the citizens that were identified for us
with that comp? And I do realize like
you know only 700 residents did that
comp plan but the only data we have to
go off of. So
>> we could maybe delineate these
priorities a little bit better saying
you know if the purchase of one robotic
lawn mower is a priority that is because
they're trying to look at staffing and
reallocate staffing in a better way to
support what was saying. So maybe these
can be delineated out a little bit more.
Don't know if that would
>> Yeah, I don't know what the outcome I
was looking for. So, that really helps,
right, when you bring up a discussion
topic. I just I just thought it was
something we should consider it because
that's something as I was thinking about
earlier today as we were looking at some
of the priorities.
» Well, you know, the robotic if if it
keeps getting brought up, you know, with
Scoffield Avenue, what's the percentage
that we took the grass cutting down by
putting in uh cement, stamped cement, uh
now we've got uh you know, bushes and
perennials and whatever in there instead
of grass. So, it's always been one of my
concerns, number one, they have staff
out there cutting in the middle of a
medium, you know, how dangerous it is.
>> Uh, summer help and and why and then
we've got to put water to it, you know,
to to green it. Um, I I'm, you know,
I've been out southwest and I think rock
and cement and some different colors of
cement are are gorgeous with all that
maintenance. I mean, we we can't even
cut our own lawn right now without
hiring I think Riverside or whoever
helps us out. So, we have a contract
with that. So, the mower, we're looking
I'm sure we're looking at the mower to
help us with payroll.
>> Correct.
>> But what are the limitations of this
robotic mower? How how much maintenance
do we have to have? It can't be out at a
park. I mean, I know they have GPS's, so
if someone steals it, we can track it,
but does it jump up and down off the
curbs? Can, you know, can it only do
this one section at a time, then we've
got to go out there and help it up on a
curb and do the next section? I guess
that's the why I would say we'd want to
get one to see see first how effective
it can be.
>> So so over at the fire department would
be a possibility, you know. Well, we
have personnel there all the time. We
have personnel here all the time.
Otherwise, everything else we'd have to
be out there or checking back on it to
see if it's done with the park or done
with this section at a certain time. I
mean, I know there's some big sections
we do. Um, and maybe that would work. I
don't know what the maintenance is. I
don't know how long they last. I don't
even know how much they are.
>> The district uses them on all the soccer
fields. So they would be a good resource
and they don't check on their I mean
they're not going out there to check on
theirs.
>> No. And there's people there so so they
can help that out. And that's a big
section at one time. Right.
>> Right.
>> It's also fenced in area so it makes it
really easy to keep the robot where it's
supposed to be.
>> Oh, I I look at the lawns. I I look at
personal, you know, people's lawns and I
think they're gorgeous. You know, I
always think that they randomly do this.
No, they don't. They go and they they
put the lines in that you want, you
know. So yeah, so I'm I'm assuming that
that's there to take away some payroll.
Definitely.
>> We cut a lot a lot of lawn, you know, to
the point now that I think years ago we
weren't even identifying where that
labor was going. Now we are. So now we
actually have the labor um slotted to
what is a lawn cutting so that we can
identify if we're up or down each year
or whatever. Okay, good.
>> I think we we talked with the potential
of the facilities or grounds position
because of the TIFF closure and bringing
those funds back that we are paying the
outside firm if if we had that
additional staff help. So I don't don't
necessarily want to say that it would
save on labor, but it would give our
labor the ability to do higher purpose
task than than the mowing.
» Yeah. Go ahead.
>> Why couldn't we put the ground cover in
there? If we put the ground cover, we
don't need to cut it. Mhm.
And it's not really difficult.
So,
I have used it. It work
maintenance.
Well, I don't know what you all think,
but um you know, I know we have a just
two little mediums over on Camp Phillips
and Ross Avenue that have uh a colored
cement one way and then we've got some
uh actually we got a donated from
Everest. They donated some of the extra
turf to put on those other two. You you
drive down Thomas Street in Wasau that artificial turf looks not that
looks pretty good to me. And they
maintain it well. They don't let the
weeds come up on the side.
>> I was
>> and uh unless you don't like it, but I
mean if you want green, it it can
certainly be that. So yeah. Well, that's
the one thing that um when you said that
they keep the weeds out, it it drives me
crazy when you go down these strips
where it's cement or black top in the
middle, then you got all these weeds
coming up in by the cracks and it looks
terrible. I mean,
>> but it's everywhere, you know. So, so I
get calls on Camp Phillips and I go,
"Cam Phillips
>> is the county,
>> right?"
>> You know, or or a road going on the
highway and you're four feet in the air,
>> right? Um I I used to I used to call all
the time on the arrow bar, you know,
right there in that that now got redone
>> and my heavens is three four feet in the
air bushes. And you know what? I I I'm
old enough to know that uh train cars
didn't used to have graffiti and now
they all have graffiti. So is that
something that we're just supposed to
see and look at and not pay attention to
anymore? I don't I have no idea. No, I'm
just saying if we put it down, I would
hope that we
>> do some weed killer on it or something,
you know, once in a while to save, you
know, if it's saving.
>> But public safety, that's number one.
>> I don't follow along with the parks
meetings as much as I probably should,
but the Oclair River Trail, has that
been a goal that's been around for a
while, or is where did that one come
from?
» I I don't know. the
it was a you had put forth those three
from the last meeting. That's why
they're on there and the I it had to
deal with the trees being in the river
which is going to be brought back. Um
they did come and present to parks. We
said that we would work with them and
they're coming for tourism funds which
may be a better fit long term as an
allocation of a portion of tourism to
keep the river passable since we have
made the investment to have access to
the river. And that's basically why I
had brought it up. Access to get to it.
Yeah, there was difficulty. They spoke I
think at a parks meeting there was
difficulty. Louis could probably speak
to that.
>> Well, there's there's
it's a little it could be confusing.
We're not talking about necessarily the
gravel pathway trail that goes along the
river. We're talking about the actual
river, which is a a trail system in
itself, um that the county is working on
trying to make into a much broader trail
system connected with um Wisconsin
River. Um we want to make sure that if
we're going to attract tourism to our
community through that river and
kayaking and other things that it's
passable and it's people are going to
enjoy it and not have to get out and
carry their kayak through brush. Um, so
they presented on some ideas about
areas. They've already done some things,
but some other areas that could um, use
some help and some signage as well to
make sure people know where to go
because there's parts of the river that
where it used to go and now you'll end
up in a sandbar instead of going in a
new channel and it's a river. So, it's
always adjusting. So, um, we did talk
about not necessarily about levy
dollars, but about is there tourism
dollars or grants we could look at for
that. But that's I would say if you're
looking at it in a stance of like public
system, it's a priority that we keep
that
as it continues to develop with the
county, it's attractive to people.
» Anybody else?
>> Yeah, go ahead. I just I guess part of
one of the notes that I put down is just
hoping that we keep in mind if we have
is it $200,000 that has to come back to
the general fund or salaries that was in
the tiff
>> is approximately
>> approx. Yeah. Right. Approximately and
to account for the three firefighters
then we're going to have to look at the
overall budget when departments are
making that budget that we have that
shortfall that we're going to have to
make up. So that has to be I don't know
a goal or a priority when each
department does their budget that we
know that we have to have that
accomplished somewhere. Does that make
sense?
>> I mean the three safer staff are our
percentage of that which is is about
68%. Um that will all be general. So it
will we will account for it in the
general fund and then when we bring back
general we'll we will show you if we
have a deficit and how much it is.
>> Yes. All of police and fire and EMS are general fund. It's about I don't
know 50 52% of the general fund.
» I guess I would just add I mean last
meeting I think the first priority
listed was just maintaining staffing
levels. Um, I know that wasn't
necessarily on that list that was in the
PowerPoint, but I mean that's a big one
for us is just what can we do to just
maintain our current staffing levels. We
hear, you know, with some of the
constraints we have and other um, you
know, revenue, you know, we can't just
say, "Oh, I want to add two people, so
we're going to add $200,000 to the levy
and, you know, poof, we have it." So,
you know, a lot of this is trying to be
figure out how can we more be more
strategic with the monies we have and
make sure we at least can keep the
people we have currently.
>> So,
good point.
>> Yeah, I think that was one of the
priorities that I had mentioned that we
maintain.
Go ahead.
>> Comment.
>> No, I just wonder. Yeah. No. No. Okay.
>> All right. Moving on.
>> Okay. Seven.
>> Okay. So, it's by this being in the
budget or excuse me, in the on the
agenda tonight, it looks like and
there's some been some phone calls on
this is our priority and this is our
wish list and this is what we want. I
can assure you that that's not why this
why these pay adjustments on here. These
are things we just have to work on. We
have to we have to know what these are
before these workshops are done. I can
tell you right now the trustee
compensation for 2729 is a question we
need to ask because we have an election
coming up again. We'll have u a
president and three trustees. We have to
establish what are the what are the
rates going to be if they're if they're
going to even change at all because the
people taking out papers need to know
what they're going to make. I I can tell
you without talking to anybody on this
board, I don't believe they're going to
change. But unless unless there's a
group that wants to change it, they were
changed eight, nine, 10 years ago, um
I'm actually the one that led the
charge. They weren't changed for 24
years prior, I believe. And uh I believe
they're fine right now with the
municipalities. So, I think the the
trustees are that's a fair salary to uh
the county board and to other trustees
or other supervisors out there. uh the
president is actually low. Um but it it
certainly doesn't concern me and I don't
think anyone running for president would
be concerned at all. So I I could tell
you right now I think we can leave that
one right off the table. Uh but you know
several people have brought it up and uh
I'm uh a little
you know it's just it's amazing how some
of this stuff can just snowball into
stuff when it's nothing at all. It's
just it's a question that has to be
asked. It's all we have to do. Go ahead
Barb.
>> Yeah. Well, I agree that
>> unless we want to cut it in half.
>> We want to cut in half. We'll cut it in
half.
>> I just want to read that whole agenda
item because I there's that we move to
agenda item number seven and then read
all those.
>> Sure. Seven. Discussion and or action on
beginning review and discussion of 2027
budget. Are we
>> I was going to do the subsets because it
would be all all three.
>> Yeah. Go ahead.
It's the pay plan adjustment and the
2027 wage increases, the health
benefits, and the direct primary care
update, trustee compensation for the
2027 2029 term and capital improvement
plan.
>> I should right. So, okay. So, there we
are. We're on we're it's open for
discussion.
>> So, yeah. Go ahead.
>> I'm kind of leading off what you said.
You know, I know this isn't going to be the
popular opinion. I'm not going to
probably be well-liked for saying it,
but I think we're doing this backwards.
Um, how do we assign raises to positions
or cola increases when we don't even
know if there's money in the budget to
do it? Um I I feel like we should be
starting from the other side with
revenue, mandated cost, operational
needs, services, um capital, those types
of things, and then start looking at pay
for employees, for board members, for
committees and commissions and all those
different things. I personally feel it
gives a bad look to the fact that our first
budget meeting, our number one priority
is who gets paid what. Um I think it
looks in my opinion, it looks backwards.
We have great staff. We want to keep our
staff. Like Mike said, it's really
important to keep the people we have,
but there may not be money in the budget
for raises. And until we look at those
mandated costs, those things that we
have to have, the state required things,
we don't know what's there to give. And
I think if we are going to talk about
raises and, you know, get people's hopes
up for raises, but then we do the budget
and find out, oh crap, we can't afford
that, and then we're taking it back. Um,
so from a morale standpoint too, I just think it's
incorrect of us to to do it in this
order. Um, I realize that's not going to
change anything for tonight or for this
year, but I just I think we're doing it
backwards.
>> Okay. Anybody else?
>> Well, I think we have to
figure out what we're
maybe looking at. I mean, yes, it it you
know what is the Well, they showed us on one
of the slides the cost of living and
such and uh
I don't know, it's kind of a
>> Yeah, it's important, but I just, you
know, if we talk about tonight, hey,
we're going to look at 3% COLA raises
for everybody, and then at the end of
the budget meetings, we realize, oh
crap, we're cutting things because we
can't afford everything that's on the
list, is I would hate to see us see us
walk it back or take it back. Um because
we're talking about money that we don't
know either.
>> So you're talking about possibly talking
on this subject when it gets closer to
the
>> a little bit further down the line than
just
>> where we're looking at what monies do we
have to work with rather than
>> I had that on my list as well too.
>> I had a couple people I've had a few
people reach out. I actually spent an
hour on the phone with someone today. Um
and and that those few people have have
shared that expression as well. It just
seems like our first priority is let's
get all paid and let's all get raises
and what is the board going to make and I know that that's not the reason
it's done in this way. Um but again,
perception is reality and I just think
it puts the wrong wrong look on it.
>> Well, I guess I I would like kind of an
update at this point on where our health
insurance and such is going if that's
benefits. I mean, are we do we know
what um have they given us any warning
that they're going to increase our
premiums or
>> so as part of the RFC? Well, maybe we'll
do health insurance first and then we
could cycle back to wages. But we do
have placeholders. You know, I think
that this the reason we have this
conversation now is because we we put
placeholders in the budget as as we're
developing it through this process and
we had put a 10% increase in the in the
premium cost. Again, our health
insurance is provided through a
consortium. So, it is not just us. It's
a series of municipalities, businesses,
and organizations that come together in
order not to have the dramatic swings in
healthcare. And then this past year we
went to a direct primary care provider
through our consortium. They cover a
percentage of that direct primary
provider and then the village split the
cost on the rest in order to encourage
people to go there instead of to go to
urgent care or to um go back to the
clinic system. It was a way to have
better access to health care. And since
it's the per month cost to take down
that, we have shown that this year that
we've done that. Um, and we've had very
positive response on the direct primary
care provider. The other piece that that
helps with is that if we ever need to
leave the consortium, which we can, it
was a three-year buy in at the
beginning, which we are through that
point in time. It takes down those
medical care visits to reflect better if
we were a smaller group going out on our
own. Um but at this moment Spectrum has
said and these are very preliminary
numbers that they have gotten but they
are estimating around a 15% increase.
Now last year they told us 20 and we
came in at neg5. So those are very
preliminary. But what we will do because
that it came in at that 15 is as an
initial number is we'll do a form fire.
Everyone here probably has healthcare
form fire is just the way that systems
collect that data in order to price what
a group is. So we will we'll go back
through that. We did it last year and we
will do it again this year. So if we do
have to go out on our own and leave the
consortium, we know what we're looking
at for pricing.
But we have a 10% if it would end up at
15 right now. The way that we're
developing the budget is at a a 10%
premium cost increase in cost.
the piece on the wages and I I do break
this apart in the RFC because
the staff wages are and and
all of our wages are kind of broken into
like a a three-part approval process.
First is that pay plan and matrix that
we've put together and part of our
policy is that we'll develop a pay plan
and matrix. We would we revisit that
every year and at some point if we feel
like we're off kilter with everyone else
if we feel we're really you know we're
getting low in in the market that we
would go back out and have that that pay
matrix looked again. So 2023 is when we
had that approved our our policies say
every 5 years um we have the potential
to go back out if we feel like we we are
offkilter. So, we're still within that five-year window, but the first
piece of that is what do we want to add
to that matrix to bring up those the
minimum, the midpoint, and the maximum
to make sure that we're staying
competitive. So, when we're bringing
people on, we we know that we're
bringing them on at some place that's
within the market.
Then, we talk about the staff increases.
So, changing the the matrix doesn't
change the annual wage. So then when we
talk about staff increases, um I do have
in the RFC that we have a 3%
placeholder. Again, we need a
placeholder in order to kind of tell you
how how is the budget coming together.
Are we are we meeting what our
priorities are that we've put forth as a
board? And then the last piece is that
merit and market. So we have staff, you
know, we we want to keep staff. Staff is
who provide the services, right, that we're offering to the community.
That's every everything happens in the
village because of the staff putting
forth, you know, doing those jobs. So,
if we feel like we need to move somebody
up to hire uh to get them to that 100%
because they're showing those skills and
they're progressing in in their jobs,
that's how we move them slightly higher
because the 3% just moves everyone up to
make sure that we're staying
competitive. And then so we to get them
up to market and then merit um we have
in both cases we've put together a sheet
in which department heads fill that out
and after we get to market you know
progressing in merit showing that that
historical knowledge is how beneficial
that is to the to the village and
providing those services that longevity
that commitment the loyalty to the
village
So wages are really it's a three-part
conversation. It's not just a that one
percentage conversation.
» Go ahead, please.
>> I guess
um little bit of a point of order. I
guess I just want to so we do have three
citizen members here, part of the
finance committee, finance and HR. Um,
and there is discussion in here about
them making recommendations and us
agreeing with those recommendations. I
guess how do we want to do that? Because
I want to make sure that their their um
their opportunity to be a part of this
is just as important as ours. And I feel
like we're doing a lot of board talk,
but um they haven't really had a chance
to talk about um from their perspective.
So I think I'd like to hear a little bit
from
>> committee on these issues
>> and then we can kind of
I don't know I guess I don't know how
that gets mixed in from the board side.
>> Yeah. I I have just a couple of comments
as we're talking about salary. I don't
have just some questions. Um
you mentioned the salary structure um
minimum control point or midpoint and
maximum. I think it would be helpful um
if we knew maybe how many the number of
employees that are at the below the
midpoint and the maximum. Um I think
that would be helpful to know where or
the number of employees that are at the
various ranges within those. I think it
would be helpful to know the compression
between supervisors and employees.
Um I think it would be helpful to know
you gave some um examples of how that
15,000 in merit has been used. I think
it'd be helpful to know a little bit
more maybe some examples of how that
merit has been used. Um and then I think
it would also be helpful to know if you
had said you put um a 3% placeholder in
the budget. I think it'd be helpful to
know the total cost of maybe every 1%
change in salary. So, what is every 1%
the total all-in cost of that? And I'm
talking salary and then what are the
benefits related to that? So, those are
some things that I think would be
helpful for me to know um in order to
make a more informed um recommendation
to the board.
>> Great request.
>> Good. Very good point.
>> Very, very good.
>> Yep.
Do we give raises every year?
>> Are you talking trustees, committees, or
staff?
>> Staff. Just staff. Only staff. Yeah.
>> So, was it 2024 they had 3%. Is that
right?
>> And then 2025 was 3% plus the 15,000
merit and then 2026 was 3% and a pay
grid increase. Is that right? the last
three years
>> the if the grid increases it doesn't it
doesn't equal any salary change. So it's
we do the merit and market and and the
cola. So the 15 is not divided equally
across the board. It's it's put forth
through the recommendations. So I last
year we had a three. I think the year
before that we had a three. I couldn't
tell you because I' I've been here three
years. I couldn't tell you if there's
when was the last time that there wasn't
a cost of living adjustment.
>> I think we froze it from 2020 to 2023. I
think that was frozen.
>> One year there was
>> there was an increase but not a cost of
living.
>> Right. Correct.
>> Along those lines
>> because they were done at two different
times and it was confusing.
>> It it really Right. I mean it was it was
confusing. It was confusing for me as a
board member for sure that I I didn't
quite understand what was happening and
uh I think if we could have had our hand
around it could looked at a little bit
differently but yeah.
>> Was it like COVID dollars or what do you
mean you gave
>> No, it was a cost of living raise
separately than a than a raise
>> at different times of the year even.
>> Uh yeah, a couple months. Yeah,
>> it was
>> well it caught it caught me personally
off work off guard because I kind of
thought, well, wait a minute, we just
gave a raise and and in my world it's a
raise. It's It's not a cost. Well, wait
a minute. That doesn't take care of the
cost of living. Well, wait a minute. A
raise for me is a raise. That's just
what my whatever I've worked in. That's
just what I did. So, that just caught me
a little bit off guard here. So, and
sometimes it was a 3 plus two, a 3+ one.
I mean, it was it was kind of different.
And I know years back back years, I
think there was even some freezes,
>> but I'm I'm talking 15 20 years ago,
maybe.
>> Not even that far.
>> Yeah. Not even that far because I've
been on here now.
>> Michael was here. I was here. Yeah. Um
there was multiple years Jessica was
here.
>> Yeah.
>> That we were frozen.
>> Yeah.
>> Pay decrease too,
>> right? Me trying to dig out those
numbers. It was really hard to try and
figure that out.
>> Along those lines with all the insurance
premium increases, when's does do the
employees share in that ever or does the
village absorb all of the increase every
year?
>> Just real quick, let's just make sure we
answer her that that'll happen.
>> Yes. We'll bring that back.
>> Okay. Go ahead.
>> Just Yeah. wondering is there is it
always the village always incorporates
the entire increase or that we passed on
to employees and if so like how much and
when
>> so that's a has always been part of the
board conversation when we have found
whatever that final number is I believe
the past two years they have the village
has absorbed those costs we do have a
split we do have an 8515 split um it can
be less if you do a wellness benefit but
you you have to
um not everyone one participates in the
wellness benefit then it those could be
changed to a 9010 but that's always a
conversation when we have that final
number and it's been the board's
determination I think the past two years
that that cost has been absorbed
>> and and dental is 100% right
no not anymore it used to be
>> it was a long time ago
>> was it okay
>> Daniel not to put you on the spot I know
this is your very second meeting um with
us. But any thoughts from you? Uh, I
think chairman brought up the point that
I was thinking about because I've been
involved in other municipalities and
they would give them a cost of living
raise and then add on the raise and I'm
like, hold on then that's even more than
what they're saying because you're
compounding for the cost of living and
I'm like so all a sudden it's three, you
know, it's, you know, more than 3%. And
I think that's that kind of misleading
the taxpayer like, oh, you gave him 3%.
No, we didn't. we really gave him almost
4% with everything. So, I'm glad to hear
that that at least has been frozen here
the last few years.
>> The question on the midpoint or the uh
salary changes is that would they also
be included with pay raise too or is
that just a one time?
>> So, our again our you don't move a step
in our matrix. Our matrix is if you add
a 3% it does bring it all up but that
doesn't mean you automatically move into
the matrix right you would when we set
aside the merit and market that's not
allocated at the same percentage across
the way we might say to someone that's
we see is lower that needs to get to
that midpoint a department head would
put that forth and you see that
separately so I think a lot of uh pay
matrix have it so exactly what you're
saying there's a a 3% cola increase and
you move a step on the scale. We don't
move a step on the scale.
>> We just move the scale.
>> We move the scale. But one of the
reasons we move the scale is if the
scale stayed stagnant and someone came
in, then they're already behind everyone
else. That's why the scale has to
continue to grow with how wages grow.
And I just had a suggestion on if you if
it's possible to in these to help the uh
taxpayer understand the increases is
that maybe I take the average
uh village employee salary number and
add in the in the increase and like the
3% so everyone says oh look they're it's
the average is
3% of $50,000 is
know $1,500.
>> I mean, you just see those percents,
you're like, "Well, hold on. What does
that all really mean?"
» What would be approximately the average
salary?
>> No idea. We'd have to look at it.
>> We'd have to look. We can bring that
back though. Where where are we at total
employees not having safer and mountain
bay metro in?
>> Correct.
>> 40 and that includes part-time not
seasonals.
>> 40 40 employees that includes part time.
>> Includes part-time but not season.
>> We have currently you're talking about
two part-time administration
>> and we and and Scott and one.
>> Oh yeah, Scott too.
>> Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. Instead of
a full-time um administrative uh
assistant, we now have two part-times
that are more flex and they they kind of
work out the schedule better. I think it
works better,
>> right?
>> Yet. No, not yet. It's pretty new. It's
pretty new right now.
>> Losing another one.
>> Oh, okay. Well,
>> you just get the kinks worked out and
then
>> a loop.
>> Different opportunities come along to
people.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, if they're good
employees, they should be being hunted
down. That's what I do.
>> So, I I guess that that's a point, too.
I mean, I know I have two two out of our
eight uh street guys that have applied
to go work for a neighboring community
that's looking for a person. So I mean
that that's where some of this stuff
does get a little bit of it is the
priority of maintaining and keeping our
people you know like we can't stay
behind because if we stay behind to
Mark's point people are contacting our
guys they are saying hey we got an
opening over here do you want to come
work for us and now we're training and
trying to learn how to do things and our
service level isn't going to be what it
is it's going to go backwards.
Um,
>> can you mean the municipality?
>> You can see who's hiring right now.
>> What?
>> You can see who's hiring. It's It's not
a long drive from here.
>> Okay.
>> Well, I mean, you know, I'm It's
>> If if I was a neighboring uh community,
I'd be coming after our staff.
Absolutely. So,
>> staff.
>> Yep. I'm I'm used to in my business, I'm
used to a lot of ter That's just the way
it is. I don't
>> I think
>> sometime it's hard to deal with it, but
it's also a compliment. So
>> I think the the part that's tripping me
up here is the priorities. You know,
nothing is listed about staff retention,
right? We're talking about a robotic
lawnmower because of wages, right? Like
we want to reallocate people's time.
Let's put that. Don't put like if I saw
this as a just as a community member
like, oh, the the priority of our
village is to buy a robotic lawnmower. I
would be like, seems like an odd
priority to me as we're sitting here
talking about retention and losing
people. So, it doesn't feel like those
really are our priorities. And so, I
guess I would if we're going to post
this on the website, like I would rather
it be worded differently. I don't I just
feel like a robotic and even in the
minutes or in our last packet, it was
two robotic lawnmowers, right? And so, I
just feel like that's not really maybe
one of our priorities. Like, we clearly
have a bigger priority here, which is
staff retention, wages, which is a big
part of what we're going to decide here,
right? Human capital is huge. So, I
guess that seems like an odd priority to
me and maybe I'm sure cuz I have like a
robotic lawnmower. That's a that's a
priority here. Um, so I guess I would
like to see that as like what's the real
reason behind the robotic lawn mower,
right? It's you want to reallocate your
staff's time. So, we want to
>> if we have to be down a person because
we can't afford them anymore,
>> right?
>> What alternative methods do we have to
still
>> true
>> maintain the facilities we're expected
to maintain?
>> Right. And the robotic lawn mower is not
the problem then it's a retention issue
and that comes back to the border like
we can't
>> could be ordered differently for sure
>> utilize technology to improve
>> efficiently use our staffing yeah
>> but I just blank that's what I was
trying to get at there's there's a
different way you could word that to
present it better uh Stephanie you were
talking about staff retention have we
ever looked at odd things like a 410
workday where they would work 10 hours a
day four days a week and get a three day
>> we do that right Yeah.
>> Okay. Does all staff do it?
» Are salary employees allowed to
reallocate their time so they wouldn't
have to work six days a week?
>> Um, as long as we get stuff done, well,
didn't Rene tell me that she works every
Saturday during summer
seven days a week. Rene
>> I mean, a lot of
>> that on her own.
>> Yeah, that's true.
>> Yeah.
>> What about going back to increasing HSA
a little bit because that would be a
triple tax advantage for employees
whereas a 3% or 4% or 2% would have the
potential of putting some employees into
that next tax bracket.
So would that be a different way of
showing staff that we value them without
just being a straight 3% 3% 3% every
year?
It's certainly something that we could
cost out if we wanted to increase that
HSA,
although I would say it's the majority.
Not everyone is on our insurance. Um,
the other pieces we do offer both an HSA
and a traditional plan. And so even if
you are on our insurance, it doesn't
mean that you are on a high deductible
health plan.
So increasing it,
if I'm understanding correctly, might it
not affect everyone?
>> It might not affect everyone. It might
cause people to switch to the high
deductible, though. That could also be a
possibility.
>> I just want to look at the whole picture
instead of just assuming a 3%. I want to
make sure that we're looking at all of
our options.
>> And certainly it um talking about 410,
additional holidays would be another one
of those items. Are there additional
holidays that we want to offer there?
Municipalities. Some municipalities are
closed on different days than us. Right
now we have nine holidays
>> and two floating or
not?
>> No, we just we have PTO.
>> What are some of the
>> Well, just our offices are open five
days a week.
>> Correct.
>> Where adjoining municipalities are not.
>> Correct.
>> They're closed on
>> through the summer.
>> Yeah. Through the summer.
>> Yep. Okay. Go ahead. What are some of
the holidays that we aren't giving now
that others are?
>> Martin Luther King Day, Junth, Columbus
Day. Those are the big ones that I can
think of that
» given day, right? Veterans Day.
>> Veterans Day. Yeah.
>> We have some wellness incentives too
that they get um Garmin or like cash
cards or anything like that if you do
certain things. Do we have any kind of
wellness incentives that employees get?
>> We do wellness um
I guess contests. We want to say it that
>> yeah challenges. So, if there's the
potential to win a prize if you're part
of the wellness challenge and that can
offset your health insurance premium for
the next year to a 9010 if you you get
your annual exam. If if you um you have
to do a questionnaire and then if you didn't qualify in your annual exam,
you have to complete that challenge,
then you can get that that lesser
premium. Um so, I mean that's a very small number. And then for Garmin,
every two years you can have $45 off a
Garmin purchase.
» Anybody? Everybody
>> is wage going to be the largest expense
that we'll talk about.
>> It's like we're saying all the time and
I was like probably makes the most sense
that we're talking.
>> Yes, by far.
or which is our largest expense they owe
it.
>> They have Oh, so I was just pulling up a
spreadsheet. One of our main expenses we
call them fixed expenses. Um that
includes Mountain Bay, it includes safer
and insurance. Um we also have con and
those are over 50% of our budget. Um we
have no say in that. Those are
contracted. We get told how much we have
to pay. So those increases are already
known. So when we talk about the budget,
>> the board really only has control of
about half our budget.
>> That's general. I mean, what we're
talking about is general.
>> We're talking about general.
>> Your contracts are are 50 52% of your
general.
>> The next is contracted services. So
street maintenance is in our general
fund. That's is it a half a million?
300,000 half a million. That's that's a
huge expense in our general fund that we
don't have we have control over it, but
we just said street maintenance is a
main priority. So, what we've done in
the past is we've shipped those expenses
out of the general fund trying to
maintain that funding it with the
general transportation aid increases not
to affect the general fund so much. Um,
when I looked at my spreadsheet for
2025, I know it's a year ago, but our
wages and benefits were about 27% of the
total budget. So, when we're talking
about that, um, I did find, so the
average hourly wage in 2026 is 63,382.
To give you an idea with that, um, I
have my salaries in a separate column.
So, um I was going to get those numbers
for you.
>> Your 27% is that just general, too?
>> Yes, that was just general fund. And
then so salaries the average is 88,724.
» Okay. You need for salary and what was
it for hourly 63 or
>> 64? 83.
>> Okay.
>> And that that's based on the 2026
estimate. So
>> you by chance have the highest and
lowest in front of you as well.
>> The highest
127
and then the lowest
I don't have the lowest
you can have.
» I don't have it because they're lowest
paid and play left.
What are your hourly?
>> That was hourly.
>> Yeah.
» Questions,
discussions?
>> Not on that. Next item. Trustee
compensation. Yeah, just on if we I took
down good notes on those questions so we
can bring that back to continue the the
conversation at the the next meeting.
But then on that last one that the
actually there are two more trustee
compensation and and capital. Um on
trustee compensation I added that in
because before you take papers you need
to set trustee compensation for the
term. Not that we have to make a
decision tonight. it. But if there was a
strong decision and it was made, then
it's can be budgeted for. But we we do I
did have in the RFC that wallpapers the
earliest that they can be turned back in
would be that December when they could
come out if if people collected all
their signatures and turned them back in
that day. um you you do have to
establish the wage before and it makes
sense to have it budgeted so it's
accounted for and it would only be for
the trustees that are up for the 2729
term that it would impact.
>> Yeah. Well, I wasn't in favor of the
raise to begin that we got back when,
and I think we got one the last term.
Um, where you, um, my term,
we were given a $50
compensation for all meetings that we
attended
>> other than board
>> other than responsibilities.
>> Border review. No, it was but border
review and and
um
I have I do not take it.
>> I don't get it cuz that was
>> Right. Right. And that was voted out
that the new term will not have it. Um,
I just think that the amount of money
that the trustees are paid,
um, minus the extra one that they had
the 50 is more than sufficient.
Um, as I had pointed out
back when, um, if you if you count the
board meetings and the board of review,
you're getting $600 a month.
And I think that's more than sufficient
compensation.
I mean, Mark, your salary probably is,
but this was the trustee salary that if
you do that, um,
>> so the the trustees in the village of
Weston, um, about eight years ago, I
think, is when we did it, um, is $7,200
a year, and the president makes $8,400 a
year. Prior to that, the the prior 24
years was $4,800 and $6,000.
So, it's a $1,200 difference between the
trustee and the president. Um, but yes,
it went from 4,800 to 7,200. And uh, and
I I led the charge on it. We didn't get
a raise for 72 years, some people didn't
want it, one being Barb and some others.
Uh, but looking around for what this
village is doing and how it's growing
and and looking at other municipalities,
the town of Weston chairman gets $14,000
a year. Town of Weston. Um the city of
Scoffield, 2,000 people gets uh 12 or
13,000 hours a year. I'm not
complaining.
>> They weren't numbers one more time.
>> Well, you can look them up, you know.
So, but um you know, so uh the county
board the county board uh um supervisors
I think get 46 thou $4,600.
The the the um the chair was getting um
10 or 12, but now it's like 40.
>> Yeah.
>> It's like $45,000 a year. So, um, uh,
the town of Maine, uh, chair gets,
um, but she also does planning like
30,000 or $32,000.
So,
>> but, you know, they're all out there.
They're all public published. So, so I
I'm I'm I I think the wages are fine
right here. I do.
>> And, uh, you know, some people uh, uh,
we've had trustees that have donated
their money. Um, I know Jim has said
that several times. he donates his for
fundraisers and stuff that he does for
the public safety. Um, so I've heard
some say it's a car payment and I I just get disgusted when someone says
that, but um I think it's a heck of a
service and a heck of a responsibility
and um so that's where we are,
>> right? And I was glad that they we
actually reversed the
>> the 50 um
>> we had a couple trustees that wanted
extra payment on it,
>> right? And like I said,
>> um, they Okay,
>> I was just going to let everybody know
that I have a spreadsheet from the
county clerk from 2025 with a lot of
municipalities in Marathon County with
all the rates of who what they all get
paid. So, if anybody would like a copy
of that, I can email it to you.
>> And I didn't want to be I didn't want to
say what I said, Lisa, but I I'm not
exactly sure, so I don't want to be
quoted exactly the number. I know I'm
very close, but I I don't want to all of
a sudden come out, hey, you know,
Mahoney says 12,000 for, you know, this.
So,
>> can you send it out to all of us?
>> What's that?
>> I can I can if you'd like it. Sure.
Thank you.
>> It's amazing how so many municipalities
don't share, which is
>> they're probably not all on here, so
>> Okay, go ahead.
>> Yeah, I was just going to say if if
they're donating their wages, I guess I
donate donated the $50 every meeting
back to the village. Well, because two
years I could have did it
>> when I was 40 when it was 4,800 for a
trustee and it went to 72 and some of
the trustees said they didn't want the
raise. I said, "Then donate it. Donate
the raise.
>> Go do something good. Do uh what's
that?" Oxycodin. No, that's a drug.
» I I knew I said that on purpose. Very
small a very small attempt at humor. But
what does that uh what does your body
do? Oxy what?
>> Oxytocin.
>> Yep. Hey, cool. you you start going
around and handing out $100 bills,
people are going to be very happy with
you. So, and it might spread to somebody
else.
>> I just decided the village needed it
more.
>> There you go. Good for you. So, here we
go. Yes.
>> I can't take it off my taxes because I
didn't get it.
>> I don't think we need to increase.
>> I totally agree. I think we can move on
from this point if everybody
>> I totally agree.
>> I wanted to make a motion. The finance
committee needs to make a motion and
approve first and then the board if I'm
reading everything correctly.
>> Yes. Right.
>> Okay. So on behalf of the finance and
human resources committee, I make a
motion to leave trustee compensation as
it is going forward.
>> Again, it would be for the 2729 term.
>> 2729 term.
>> I'll second. Okay, that is that cut
>> by Daniels. Any discussion?
Whereas the committee, all those in
favor signify by saying I.
>> I
motion so carried. Now, on behalf of the
board, uh, we'll make the same motion
that the trustee compensation for the
2027 2029 term remains the same as
$7,200 and $8,400. 7,200 for trustee and
$8,400 for president.
>> Second.
>> A motion by
>> I'll make the motion.
>> Oh, you said second.
>> Well, yeah, because I thought you were
making the motion.
>> No, I'm just reading off. Okay, I'll
make that motion that we
>> um motion by Mling.
>> Second by Luiz and um any more in the
discussion? Hearing none. All those in
favor say I.
>> I opposed. So carry done.
>> Now we can go tell all the people that
called and said that that was our number
one priority that that was not our
number one priority and uh it was just a
placeholder. So we have it now it's set
for the next term. So there you go.
Okay. uh capital project funds.
» So as I explained before, this is our
kebab improvement fund. Our this um the
facilities fund, streets fund, and
equipment fund. We keep track of them
separately, but if you were to look at
our financial statements, they're
combined into our capital improvement
fund. So um we keep track of them
separately here. As you can see, the the
projects that you see on the sheets in
front of you are part of the 2026 2027
capital improvement plan. This a plan
was approved about a year ago. We are
moving forward with the plan that was
approved at our next meeting. We plan on
bringing you the borrowing that will
support the expenditures you see on
these next couple sheets. So, um, a lot
of this stuff was already purchased as
approved by the plan, but I thought it
was prudent to bring it forward to show
you what we're planning on spending that
was approved and where the prices are
coming in.
Uh, we will be talking about our next
capital improvement plan will be 2028
2029. We try to borrow in two-year
segments um to reduce the cost of
borrowing.
Any questions on what's on those sheets?
>> So, the 2027 proposed budgets, all of
that stuff and there was stuff that was
already agreed to pass is done.
>> If you have absolutely concerned, but a
lot like for the streets, the
engineering is being done. The contracts
are being signed for those streets.
Correct.
>> Yeah.
>> Just go ahead.
>> I just have one quick question. I'm
assuming it's a perhaps just a coding
error. Um I I'm on page I'm not sure
what page I'm on. Um there's a a million
dollars in the 2027 proposed budget
under workers comp for Howland.
>> Yeah, that would be an error.
>> Okay. I just want to make sure we were
paying a million dollars for workers
comp.
>> Good good question because I had that
not like is that something I don't know
about I need to talk to or to get
educated?
>> Um it could have been just a line below.
It should have been under contracted
services instead of workers comp
>> page 73. 73. Okay.
>> So that number is correct for that
project. It's just in the wrong line. I
need to add a line. Street and curb.
>> We usually budget all the expense for a
project on one line.
>> I just feel that's what you do.
>> Just be time to go home. The only really
big guestimment I'll put on here is that
leak detection. I put a $100,000 in
there. I talked to Sean. It's totally
unknown. They are just doing the
exploration right now for that leak for
the pool. So, obviously, as a reminder,
before any work is done, we always bring
it back here. It's in the plan, but
nothing gets approved,
nothing moves forward without the final
board approval. All contracts for
streets get approved by the board. And
it's just the way that we have always
done things. Final approval, even if
it's in the budget, is done by the
board.
Any questions on the process that we
use? As again, there are no utility
costs in there. So when you see the
Holland's a million dollars, that's the
street portion. There's water source
storm on that, too. Um, same with all
our other roads. We usually have
utilities when we're digging up a road.
We have some utility work right away.
» Jess, do you just want to cover a little
bit about what the how that borrowing
piece looks like at the next meeting?
Just the flow?
>> No, I don't know.
» We We work with Ellers. Oh, Greg already
sent us a projection with what that
borrowing looks like. He does
usually four or five years. He'll send
out a plan. He gives us the estimated
tax impact with equalized value, not
necessarily what will be on the tax
bill, but uses our equalized value and
gives the potential tax impact that we
will see. Um, we will probably get Greg
on the phone. He has done it in the past
where he'll walk through his
presentation and answer any questions.
We use Ellards as our financial
advisors, quarrels as our bond counsel.
Um I reached or I forwarded from the
last meeting I forwarded Greg our
approved bank note and the schedule
and he has already incorporated that
into our borrowing. I do anticipate that
being a little bit differently, being
able to pay off some of the debt early
because we levied $400,000 last year
towards that debt. So, we'll be taking a
big chunk out right away. I'm lowering
that, but yeah, hopefully um everything
goes smoothly and we'll be able to
report and get that approved at our next
board meeting in September.
>> Will we be rated again?
>> Yes.
And so you'll we'll likely also see
they usually put out a media release on
the villages rating afterwards too.
>> We're double A3 right now if that if
anyone cares. It's it's a good we get a
lower rate. The better our rating, the
lower our interest rate, the more people
want to buy our bonds in notes. We're
going to be notes. It's not I think
there is a revenue bond that he'll be
recommending for the water utility. And
the reason that we split it up between
revenue bonds and geo debt is to make
sure we stay well under that threshold
that is um put on by the state. So and
our policy.
>> Yes.
>> On page 75 it's it's the last two pages.
>> Um 75 says transfer from room tax fund
for 2027. And then the last page says
transfer to facility and transfer to
street for 2026. How often do we
transfer between funds?
>> So I record all the bond proceeds in one
fund and then I just transfer it to the
other funds
>> just for simplicity sake. Makes it
easier.
>> Yeah,
that's why I mentioned when that the
financial statements have one fund. Um,
I keep it so I don't have to recreate a
hundred accounts. Um, previous to me,
they actually reported all the funds in
our financial statements. So, that's why
that transfers and they're all separate.
But, um, when we weren't using the
facilities fund for so many years, it's
you don't want to just keep adding and
subtracting funds. that really the
continuity of looking at your financial
statements and comparing when you have
funds dropping and adding every year
isn't very good.
» Yeah.
>> Um for the 2027 budget, I'm looking at
your equipment fund and your streets
fund. They carry relatively high
balances and I see you have interest
income. There isn't anything
specifically budgeted for 2027. I know
you have some limitations as a
governmental entity as what you can
invest in, but do you have a um a cash
management strategy or investment
objectives like a policy or anything
like that?
>> No.
>> Okay.
>> Something we could use.
>> Okay.
>> We add that to our priorities
like
the
» we won't be having much money come. um
we'll be spending that capital
improvement. That's where right now
we're looking at our balance. What do we
want to keep in there and what should we
not borrow for? Um having a policy that
has a minimum in there is probably a
good idea, but looking towards what
should it be, I think that will require
a lot of research and personal
preference. I'm not quite sure
where it should be. Anyone
else?
» Nothing. No more. Our first workshop's
almost done.
>> Don't sound happy.
>> How about if we go into remarks from
staff? Any staff have any remarks?
Everyone's got one.
>> I do. I have one. So every Tuesday we
meet as department directors and we talk
about our frustrations and the future
and what we're planning on and what's
going on with our department. And we
also
we always talk about what's going on at
the meetings. So, one of the things we
talk about is our staff, our staff
retention and the importance of our
staff and how you don't always see that
we are able to do so much with so little
because of our staff. We got good staff.
So, I was on LinkedIn the other day and
I found a really good article. So, I'm
going to read some of it. It's just
going to be really quick. Um, and it's
the most convers controversial item,
$400 I have ever spent as a nonforprofit
leader. So, I simplified this. I did
forward it to our department heads and
they thought it was a really excellent
article and it's an article we we feel
that we would like to share because we
feel this way very much so. So, a few
months ago, I spent approximately $400
on a coffee and espresso machine.
Hear me out. It wasn't the cheapest
machine available. It was certainly
nicer than the basic coffee maker it
replaced.
Um,
but this discussion also exposed a
larger
phys theological
» physiological tension that I suspect
exists in many nonprofit organizations
including governments. Um, what does
responsible stewardship actually mean?
Does it mean spending as little as
possible on the people doing the work?
Does it mean operating with outdated
equipment, avoiding anything that could
be described as a perk, and expecting
employees to accept less because they
work for missiondriven government?
There can sometimes be an unspoken
belief that government slashnot
forprofit employees should work with
holes in their shoes, eat instant
noodles for lunch, and feel grateful
simply because the work has a meaningful
purpose. The mission matters. Of course,
it does. But the work does not happen by
itself. It happens because people answer
emails late at night. They solve
scheduling problems involving hundreds
of teams which hundreds of residents.
They respond with fields and streets
suddenly become unavailable and flooded.
Many of these efforts will not be
visible to the families we serve.
They will however determine the quality
of those families are community
experience. That is why I do not believe
supporting employees and supporting the
mission are competing priorities. In a
healthy organization, they reinforce one
another. Notfor-profit/government
leaders have an obligation to be careful
with money. That's not up for debate. We
should question expenses. We should
compare costs. We should avoid waste,
negotiate contracts, build responsible
reserves, and make sure our spending
reflects our priorities. But responsible
should not automatically mean cheapest.
and refusing to invest in the employees
experience may eventually show up
through burnout, disengagement, poor
service, or turnover. Those costs are
real, even if they're not neatly labeled
on a monthly profit and loss statement.
Could that small investment
help reinforce a culture in which
employees feel valued and therefore
better positioned to serve others?
People need to know that the
organization cares about them, not
simply about how much work it can give
them.
Sometimes supporting the people who
carry the mission is one of the most
responsible investments we can make and
I care immensely about the staff here
and they in turn care immensely about
the village that they serve. What can I
say is our staff are work incredibly
hard. They care about the game. This is
for a soccer organization and the people we serve
which are our residents. They regularly
give more than their job descriptions
require and they do it in an environment
that can be demanding and stressful.
After all, taking care of people is not
separate from taking care of the
mission. It's how the mission gets
accomplished.
So, I'll forward the article. It's a
really good article. I kind of skipped,
but it was this person who was a head of
a not for-profit soccer organization in
Oregon. um she bought a $400 coffee
machine and she got a little flack from
the board. So, um that is a really good
article, but it really reflects our
feelings here that we are trying to make
sure that the staff we serve feel
um they feel good about what they're
doing. So, that's my mission.
>> Thank you.
>> You're appreciated.
Uh, any other staff? Any other remarks?
Uh, let's see. Trustees, any remarks
from trustees? Go ahead.
>> I just like to thank you, the staff, for
sending a card and express your concern
about me. Thank you.
>> Yeah. Welcome back.
>> Yeah. Glad glad you're healthy.
No, just the you know there's a lot of
work there and and I agree that um
we can't just look at
staff for cuts. We got to you know
remember that they are doing a lot with
a lot less people.
>> Okay.
Um, no, I I appreciate you sharing that,
Jessica, and um, obviously I'm I'm
probably a little biased in my opinion
on that because of the fact that I do
work in the public sector. Um, but
with what Michael said earlier about um,
you know, maintaining our staff and
everything, it it is true that the cost
to um, retain staff in a budget is much
cheaper than trying to replace staff
because the cost the time it takes for
staff to go out and seek new applicants,
to find qualified applicants, and to
train them up to the level of the the
people that were already doing the job.
And and it's hard because we can't take
an employee who gets a job offer
somewhere else and be like, "Okay, I'll meet your offer." Like, we just
can't do that in the public sector. So,
it's important that ahead of time we're
taking care of those staff members so
that culture-wise and financially they
feel taken care of. And it can be the
little things. I mean, at my employer,
it was as simple as a grill that our
staff can use to just cook their food
and get together as a team. And people
would be like, "How are you buying a
grill?" But it was as simple as that.
Like it's a relatively cheap thing that
you can use for um helping the team. So
um I appreciate you sharing that and I
think that is an important priority for
us is making sure we're taking care of
our people. So thank you.
» No, Jessica, thank you for doing that
presentation. I know it's a lot to go
over, but I thought it was super
beneficial. So thank you. Yeah, good
presentation on my side, too.
>> Uh, we do have a good staff here and um,
you know, I I made the point of asking
how many people work here because when
you look at 16,000 people, the miles we
cover, um, all the different things and
it's, you know, 40 people around about,
you know, I used to run a grocery store
right down the street that had 250
people, you know, and we never had
enough. And uh the place I was working
at the last 20 years uh if we were we
were down we we had 15 to 20% turnover
at all the time. But uh to retrain a
truck driver at tens of thousands of
dollars and it took your your focus off
of what you should be doing as a
manager, supervisor or something like
that because now you you're you got to
make sure that these people are getting
up to speed having others help too. And
um it's it's invaluable to have a a good
staff and we have one. So, um, uh, I'll
turn it over to the committee. Anything
any remarks?
» None.
>> Good, good questions tonight, by the
way.
>> No, I mean, you I've said it enough for
these meetings and I feel like the same
vibe happens is that the staff feel
unappreciated. And I don't know what
that why that's the vibe I get when we
sit in the um, and so I think we have
some work to do, whether it's on the HR
and the finance committee, but that's
the the vibe I get it. whether it was
the clothing stipen that we couldn't we
eventually came to an agreement on. Um
so I just I think that's an interesting
thing that we need to dive into whether
it's about a grill or a coffee maker or
wages or whatever it is. But that's not
the first time that that's been the
conversation and I think it's something
that we have to look at as a committee.
>> I think um um you know citizens um at
the federal level you can't go at it.
You can't it's too big. It's too it's
too far out there. In the state level
you can't. But local level Citizens can
attack and citizens do attack local
level all over the place. They they
attack on on minuscule things and they
micromanage and I'm not I'm not saying
all of them. I I get some wonderful
calls and some wonderful comments and I
actually would like to share all those
instead of the negative ones I get. But
um we've had staff leave here because
they don't feel appreciated.
>> Yeah. And and they don't they don't feel
anybody speaking up for them. And um but
uh but the local level you can go right
at it. You can tackle all you want. Um
but well said. It's a vibe that over the
years it's it's becoming more and more
prevalent.
>> Yeah.
>> Did you have something to add?
>> No, I mean you're past your staff
comments, but go ahead.
>> Yeah. No, I mean you kind of hit on the
head there. I mean, we had a a drinking
water loan that we were able to get
through, which to be perfectly honest, I
because of other ancillary things
happening in the community. I was almost
a week away from missing the deadline to
get that passed. And that's a $3 million
hit. Had I missed that, nobody would
know. We're still putting in the
treatment facility and we're paying $4
million and that's the cost of business.
Mhm.
>> But because we're able to stay and work
nights and weekends and all of a sudden
realize, hey, I'm catching up on these
things, we're saving our utility payers
$3 million. You know, it's it's those
items that I think are a little harder.
Um, and and I I guess that's, you know,
budget honestly is a very tough time for
a lot of us because we're the ones in
this day in and day out and we know, you
know, 1% of all of our wages is what,
$15,000 or something like that.
Sometimes I feel like we argue over that
$400 cost, but if I'm focused on this
$400 cost, I can easily miss a million
dollar cost
>> and nobody understands. And I guess I do
a poor job sometimes of that. and our
staff the ability to do what they can do
with equipment and materials. It's it
saves the taxpayers dollars. And
sometimes we don't have the the time
that we'd like to put together to show
how our staff raising water valves and
manholes and fixing all those items
before we put an asphalt overlay on
saves the taxpayers $100,000, $200,000 a
year. Um, but our staff's able to do
that. And I guess that's where the angst
starts happening is when they start
feeling underappreciated and the little
things we can do to help them show that
they are appreciated go away. Now we're
getting staff that can't do those
things. So now we're trying to train
them to do it or we've got equipment
that sits because we just don't have the
talented staff anymore. So
>> thank you. Um, Christina or Daniel. No.
Okay.
>> All right. So, future items, uh, let's
see. The next meeting is September 8th
at 6:00 p.m. Uh, let's see. Monday,
September 21st at 5:00 p.m. Monday,
October 5th at 5:00 p.m. and Monday,
October 19th at 5:30 p.m. I think two of
them are are together. Uh, what the 5
and 5:30. The second and fourth one are
with boards.
>> The 21st and the 19th are with boards.
>> Okay. And on the on the 21st and the and
the 19th, if if we need to do a separate
finance, we might start like a half hour
beforehand if there are any financial or
HR things that we need to handle
separately. But we'll communicate with
you if that's if we do need to.
>> Okay. All good. Looking for a motion to
adjurnn.
>> So move.
>> Motion by second by Olsen. Uh anything
further on discussion hearing? None. All
those in favor say I.
>> Opposed. We are adjourned at 7:32.
>> Oh, yeah.
>> Technically never started our meeting
though.
>> Well, technically did it for both of
them.
>> It was on both. Yeah.
>> But just go ahead and adjourn yours.
>> I think we should adjourn the committee.
Yeah. Go ahead.
>> All right. Why don't you guys adjourn
like you know meeting for a month?
>> Yeah. Well, just adjourn. Motion to
adjourn. Anybody?
>> I'll make a motion.
>> Motion by Daniel. Is there a second?
>> Second by Daniel. I'm guessing there's
no discussion. All those in favor?
stay. We're journey.