Monday, July 9, 2018

What you may not know: Week of July 9

The Appleton Common Council is back from our Fourth of July break and we've got a busy committee week ahead. Most of the notable meetings this week all occur on Monday:

Central Equipment Agency Review Committee, Monday, 4 pm

The 2019 budget process is well underway for city departments, with first drafts of budget requests and capital project requests due to the Mayor's office today. This afternoon the Central Equipment Agency's Review Committee will meet with an agenda including many of those requests as part of the budget process.

The CEA is the arm of the city that owns and maintains most of the city's vehicles used across all departments. The departments get their vehicles through the CEA, which collects funds from the departments for their maintenance and estimated eventual replacement costs. The committee that oversees this process is made up of two alderpersons (Alderman Chris Croatt and I) and two department heads (Finance Director Tony Saucerman and Department of Public Works Director Paula Vandehey).

Today that committee is expected to make a recommendation on vehicle purchases requested as part of the 2019 budget. That list includes over $3.3 million in acquisitions, including a new fire truck at an estimated $676,000, 18 new vehicles for the Police Department and five new pieces of equipment with a value of over $200,000 each for the Street Department. Additionally, the 2019 plan calls for over $2.5 million in equipment due for replacement to be retained for another year.

Because of the way the CEA is budgeted, the vast majority of these expenses will have no impact on property taxes: The departments have paid into CEA annually over the years to establish a fund to use to finance the replacement of their vehicles and equipment.

Municipal Services Committee, Monday, 4:30 pm

The Municipal Services Committee has a packed agenda for Monday with a presentation, several street design hearings, two scheduled votes on final street designs and proposed fee changes for refuse carts and parking.

Starting in January of 2019 staff is asking council to approve our first sanitation service fee in four years: The cost difference will depend on the size of a resident's garbage can but will be between $.20 and $.50 per week for most households.

Memos attached to this week's agenda explain the change a bit: The amount of money Sanitation receives via property taxes has remained flat since 2015, and the fund balance for the Sanitation Fund's capital reserve will fall below 25% of annual expenses in 2019 unless some action is taken. Additionally, the city anticipates needing to spend $600,000 in the coming years to replace over 12,000 garbage cans that are over 25 years old.

Additionally, data attached to the agenda shows that, for most customers, Appleton's sanitation fees will remain below the rates charged by some of our neighbors (including Grand Chute and Little Chute) and we continue to conduct Bulk Item Collection much more frequently than any municipality in the area.

There are, as of this writing, fewer details available on possible parking rate increases for 2019. The item is included on the agenda for discussion but there are no attachments or memos on staff recommendations.

Finance Committee, Monday, 5:30 pm

At 5:30 pm or as soon as Municipal Services wraps up, the Finance Committee also has a very busy meeting planned. The headline from this meeting is likely to be the committee's recommendation to the full council related to Appleton's share of approving the Fox Cities Sports Facility Project, expected to be constructed in Grand Chute and financed using Room Tax dollars.

The council has had a good deal of time to review the documents on this issue: We received them well in advance of the holiday but have not had a chance to act on them yet due to the holiday gap in our meeting schedule (council did not meet on July 4, our regularly scheduled date). I know Grand Chute and the others involved are eager to get this project going, but I hope both those active in the project and those observing from outside will understand and appreciate our desire to do our due diligence on a project of this scope.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

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