HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget/Finance Committee Minutes 02.21.2017 MINUTES
BUDGET/FINANCE COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 21,2017 5:35 P.M.
COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM
MEMBERS PRESENT: Emelie Eaton Chuck Dickerson
Doug Poehls Tom Nelson
OTHERS PRESENT: Bethany Keeler Mark Mace,Mayor
Heidi Jensen Brent Peters
Chairman Eaton called the regular meeting of the Budget/Finance Committee to order at 5:35 p.m.
There was no public present.
The next scheduled meeting will be March 7, 2017 at 5:35 p.m.
The minutes of the February 7, 2017 meeting were presented. Chuck made a motion to approve the
minutes as presented, seconded by Doug, motion passed.
The Mayor has reviewed and signed the January journal voucher. Doug made a motion to approve
the January journal voucher, Tom seconded,motion passed.
The Utility Billing adjustments were reviewed by the Committee. Bethany noted that there was
nothing unusual about the adjustments. Doug made a motion to approve the UB adjustments, Tom
seconded,motion passed.
The monthly financial statements were reviewed by the Committee. Bethany stated that 58% of the
new fiscal year has expired and the City is at 39% revenue collected and 28% of authorized
expenditures spent. She then went briefly through the report. It was noted that all of the first half of
tax revenues had been received. The Water Fund's revenues will continue to spike due to FEMA
funds being received. Last meeting Emelie asked why the Solid Waste Fund's revenue increased by
almost $100,000 in October. Bethany said that she looked into the increase in October's revenues and
discovered a data entry error. The revenues for that month had an extra digit entered, which caused the
incorrect revenue to display. The error has been corrected and Bethany thanked Emelie for asking the
question. Bethany also noted that both Neva and Kelly worked really hard on reconciling this month.
Payroll was posted into the wrong month and this created an issue with reconciliation of the cash
accounts. Doug made a motion to accept the financial statements, seconded by Tom, motion passed.
There were no Purchase Requisitions.
The Comp/Overtime report for PPE 01/29/17 was reviewed by the Committee. There were no
questions regarding this Comp/Overtime report. The Comp/Overtime report for PPE 02/12/17 was
also reviewed by the Committee. There were no questions regarding this Comp/Overtime report.
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The Payroll Register for PPE 01/29/17 totaling $182,353.83 was reviewed by the Committee, along
with PPE 02/12/17 totaling $170,101.59. Chuck asked if the union employees are paid overtime when
they work a funeral on Saturday. Kurt explained that they are paid overtime but the additional cost is
billed to the citizen for the Saturday burial. Doug complimented the public works team on doing a
great job with the drains. Tom made a motion to recommend approval of the payroll register to the
Council, Chuck seconded the motion, motion passed.
Clerk/Treasurer's Comments:
Budget Worksheets: Bethany is still working on the budget worksheets. All department heads have
turned in their budgets. Tom asked Bethany what percentage of reserves the City was running at.
Bethany stated that she would have those numbers ready at the next budget finance meeting.
Mayor's Comments:
The Mayor had no comments.
Other:
Update from Kurt on the Dumping Station: Kurt was present to answer any questions regarding the
dumping station. Tom stated that when the project was brought to the council, it was his
understanding that it would be modeled after the Billings station. The interest from haulers was
looking good initially but numbers are down. Kurt stated that in order to build the station DEQ had to
approve the project. DEQ would not allow any dumping into the headworks so the flow had to be
restricted to 10%of the total flow. The pump was installed to restrict the flow in order to meet with
DEQ's request. The station also could not take in any contaminated, or"blue water", because of the
small amount of flow the station has. A screen was installed to sift out any trash,however the haulers
did not want to empty the screen. At one point a pair of rubber gloves were sucked into the pump and
it tripped the pump. Heidi stated that she felt the biggest question was regarding revenues. The
revenues are not supporting the investment at this time. Corrections need to be made in order to
increase the revenues for the station. Kurt stated that the basket that was installed to catch trash would
overflow when two haulers would dump back to back. To prevent the overflow, they installed grating
behind the basket. Revenues are down during the winter because haulers are not working when it's
frigid cold outside. Kurt stated that he expects December through February revenues to be minimal.
Emelie asked if Kurt felt the spring through fall revenues would make up for the poor winter revenues.
Heidi stated that if the summer revenues do not increase,they would review the business plan and
make corrections. Heidi stated that they need dumping requirements and installing a wireless doorbell
to notify city employees that someone is there to dump may help. They will allow the city employee to
go out after the dumping is finished and check the trash basket.
For the Next Agenda:
Jean and Sheri from the court will be present to discuss the reporting of time pays.
The meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m.
Res ectfully submitted,
Bethany eeler, City Clerk/Treasurer
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