FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING

NOVEMBER 1, 2016

Committee Member Mr. Evers opened the meeting at approximately ­­­5:30 p.m. Members of the Committee in attendance were Mr. Evers, Mr. Hoefle and Mr. Zuren. Present from Council were Mr. Meyers and Mr. Kasunick, Mr. Spotton. Council President Ms. DePledge was absent and excused.

In attendance from the Administration were Mayor Morley, Finance Director Schindel and Law Director Klammer.

Also in attendance were members of the public.

Members of the audience that were recording the meeting:

PROPOSED:

Discussion of the General Levy Renewal.

Mr. Evers: I will now turn the meeting over to Ms. Schindel for a detailed report on what it is and what it is for.

Ms. Schindel: In researching all of the various city levies for the last couple of months. All of the discussion that we’ve had I was informed by the County that our general $1.8-Mill Levy is in the final year of collection. Now because we pay a year later than when it is accessed or valued we will be paying for it in 2017, therefore the city will actually be receiving the money in 2017 but it will be over. That’s it…the amount of the funds is approximately about $408,000.00 after all of the uncollectable. We need the money. If you place it in the May primary special should there be a primary election it would be May 2nd with a filing deadline of February 1st. It will run anywhere from $15,000.00 to $25,000.00 to put it on the ballot. We need the money. That is a renewal.

Mr. Evers: You said $15,000.00 to $20,000.00?

Ms. Schindel: Yes $15,000.00 to $25,000.00. It is based on the number of precincts that you have and we have twelve precincts from what I was told.

Mr. Evers: Mayor Morley?

Mayor Morley: Ms. Schindel and I have been going back and forth with this. The good news is our resident’s have not voted down a renewal. So you could take the chance of putting the renewal on in November but if it fails…we only have one shot and then it’s gone. If we are going to look at a Safety or any other kind of levy for May we need to possible so that we get two chances. If we go to November and it fails then we just lost $408,000.00.

Ms. Schindel: And it is no longer a renewal.

Mayor Morley: So then we would have to go get a new levy for the General Fund.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: This is a question for the Law Director. Just a general question on…this renewal is $1.8-Mill if that was altered in any way would it still be deemed…it would not be deemed a renewal if it was change anyway. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Evers: Mayor Morley?

Mayor Morley: We did do that before and the issue with the new levies…what part don’t we get full credit for anymore on the new levies? There is something…on the new levies…

Ms. Schindel: There is something on it and I can’t recall it at this exact moment but I will.

Mayor Morley: We thought about doing those years ago with changing it. We were worried that if we changed it and altered it and throw it on we are out the renewal money. That is why we didn’t do that in the past.

There were no objections.

Mr. Klammer: What are you trying to accomplish?

Mr. Zuren: Instead of having multiple levies…have larger levy. I still like the renewal verbiage because….

Mr. Evers: Mr. Spotton?

Mr. Spotton: Would this bring in the same amount of money with the reassessment?

Ms. Schindel: That is today’s money.

Mr. Spotton? That’s today’s money? Okay.

Ms. Schindel: Because it was less.

Mr. Klammer: The other good news is if you were on in November…if you were to put a Safety Levy on you are getting bangs for $15,000.00.

Ms. Schindel: Or $25,000.00. You get two for the price of one. I double checked.

Mayor Morley: Just to clarify with the difference between the numbers the $15,000.00 more likely if there is a judges primary from what I gather already out. There are multiple judges for the parties so I would imagine that there would be a primary.

Mr. Klammer: There will be a primary?

Mayor Morley: There will be a Willoughby primary probably.

Ms. Schindel: Willoughby Court. Then it becomes a special and a primary.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: That may have answered my question. If there is a primary in September is that an option to up a levy on also? If there is an internal race that has a primary for the city?

Mayor Morley: The internal race would be until September. Again the way that our Charter is we would be the only one on.

Mr. Zuren: But if we have to have one any way is that an option to put a levy on at that time also?

Mr. Klammer: I think that we would have to pay for it…

Mayor Morley: We will go back to the primary that we had in 2013 that cost us $15,000.00 when the extra candidate came in at the end.

Mr. Zuren: So if that happened again…do we have the option of putting a levy on in September also?

Mr. Klammer: Yes….I would imagine a reason as to why not. You’re saying because you’re spending the money then?

Mr. Zuren: It’s just three more…right why…it’s just three options next year instead of two.

Mr. Klammer: Spend $15,000.00 for May and $15,000.00 for September.

Ms. Schindel: Then it would be $25,000.00. Twenty-five thousand dollars is if there is no primary. It drops down to…they are guessing $15,000.00 because of a primary. Then we would have a lesser cost because there are going to be a few other people voting for other issues in the area.

Mr. Evers: Are there any other questions?

Mr. Klammer: I always remind everybody because we have new council is that it will give time for Squires to prepare the legislation. Remember that it is two steps that we talked about so you have that extra time to get it the County and to get the approval back from the County…a little bit of lea time to make a decision. If you are going to does a Safety Levy or something like that. I should say Safety because that confuses…

Mr. Evers: Mayor Morley?

Mayor Morley: I just want to throw out because I have had some discussions with Councilman Zuren. If we are going to do one levy if that is what we think…and if it is going to be you pick fire, police or whoever it has to be for the full amount of that department. So if it is $1.6 or $1.8 to run the Fire Department that is the levy that you go for. You don’t go for…we are going to bring $800,000.00 and we are going to $800,000.00 from the General Fund from the Fire Department. That is what the Chief’s and the Director’s are worried about. If we are going to do one we make sure that we cover it for today’s cost and put a little buffer in for future years.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: I am just looking for an estimate. Would that be about $7-Mill or $8-Mill levy to cover one of the two departments? Just taking an estimate off of $400,000.00 at $1.8-Mill…does it just calculate out to about $7-Mill to raise $1.6 or $1.8 Million?

Ms. Schindel: I would have to get back to you on that. I don’t know the numbers for sure.

Mayor Morley: I am trying to remember…we put $6-Mill on in 2010 or 2011 maybe…I don’t remember what the total was…income coming in.

Ms. Schindel: I thought that I was told that $1-Mill was $350,000.00.

Mr. Evers: It is a little less than half. One Mill is a little less than half.

Mr. Evers: Are there any other questions on this? Mr. Meyers?

Mr. Meyers: If we assume that there is going to be a primary in September then the cutoff of the September election…if we were going to do a second levy it would be somewhere around the beginning of June?

Mayor Morley: The petitions for At-Large or for the Mayor’s would probably have to be in by July sometime. Our numbers and this is one of the things that we were looking at to change if we opened up Charter…the way that our Charter reads screws us up and it doesn’t match up with the Board of Elections. It would probably be and I imagine it is usually the middle of July is when the petitions would have to be in. Then we would probably have to act there. Right now rumor is that there are two for Mayor so far. You never know they might just come out of the wood work. One more and there will be primaries…At-Larges. I can’t answer that at this point and if it did is about July is when our petitions usually have to be in. All of the years that we’ve had them before I don’t think that nothing will change now.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Hoefle?

Mr. Hoefle: Mr. Klammer has it been determined as far as with the Safety Levy can we have one or does it have to be split?

Mayor Morley: I forward that email.

Mr. Hoefle: I am just saying why?

Mr. Klammer: Because the statute is real specific as one prevision for Police and one prevision for Fire and then there is a provision that allows them to be combined but just for Townships.

Mr. Hoefle: Okay that is what it was just for Townships.

Mr. Klammer: I double checked with Squires on it and they confirmed it.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: This is a question for Director Schindel. Are there any levies that are expiring next year that we have to address?

Ms. Schindel: To the best of my knowledge it is 2018.

Mayor Morley: We did road and fire in the same year. So those are good.

Mr. Zuren: Those are all five year renewal…is that how they are all set up?

Mr. Evers: Yes.

Mayor Morley: One or two year’s maybe.

Ms. Schindel: I have those exact dates in my office and I can get them for you.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: Just to clarify your comment before about $25,000.00 for the cost of putting levies on the ballot. Is that for the whole year…the limit? Or is that just for…

Ms. Schindel: That is just for the one election. That is to cover their cost.

Mayor Morley: If we did three specials it would be up to $75,000.00. Ms. Schindel double checked with the Board of Elections today.

Mr. Evers: Committee move it forward? Mr. Hoefle?

Mr. Hoefle: Yes move it forward.

Mr. Evers: Mr. Zuren?

Mr. Zuren: Move it forward.

Mr. Evers: Moving forward 3-0 vote. Are there any other questions for Ms. Schindel at this time?

PENDING:

There is no Legislation Pending.

MAYOR’S COMMENTS:

Mayor Morley had nothing to report.

There were no further questions or comments.

LAW DEPARTMENT

Mr. Klammer had nothing to report.

There were no further questions or comments.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Ms. Schindel had nothing to report.

There were no further questions or comments.

MISCELLANEOUS:

REGOGNITION OF PUBLIC:

Bernie Lemay, Lakehurst Dr., Eastlake

Mr. Lemay: On the renewal levy how long is the levy for? And can you change the term of the levy to make it longer without it being a renewal or keeping it a renewal?

Mr. Klammer: My inclination would be is that everything needs to be the same. I never thought about the term parts if Council wants…

The meeting was adjourned at 5:44 p.m.

tms

APPROVED: ___________________________

DATE: ______________________________