HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget Committee Minutes 2-13-2023
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BUDGET COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes - February 13, 2023
Committee present: Eric Levine - Chairman, Pam Bleiwas, Rod Howe
Staff present: Donna Shaw, Debby Kelley, Judy Drake, Joe Slater, Marty Mosely, Dan Thaete, CJ Randall
Meeting was called to order at 12:01 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS:
Set 2023 Budget Committee meeting dates.
The consensus of the Committee was that meetings will be held at 12:00 p.m. on the second
Monday of the month. Due to vacation schedule, the March meeting will be on Monday, March 20
at 12:00 p.m.
Discuss 2023 Budget Committee priorities.
The committee identified the following topics as priorities for 2022:
- Review Reserve Funds and Accounts.
- 2023/2024 Bond Issue.
- Review Town’s Long-Term Debt and Debt Service Schedules.
- Consideration / Recommendation for the Town's contribution to:
Reconsider contribution to TCAT.
- Review / revision of the Town’s Investment Policy and Investing of Town Funds.
- Review / revision of the Town’s Procurement Policy.
- Review voluntary payments to organizations.
- Five-Year Financial Projections 2024 - 2028.
- Property Tax Cap for FY-2024 and recommend 2024 Property Tax Levy.
- Five-Year Capital Improvement Plan 2024 - 2028 and 2024 Capital Budget.
- 2024 Ithaca Town Budget.
- Prioritizing Town’s Weatherization Project.
Discuss Town's Reserve Funds and Accounts.
The committee reviewed and discussed the report on the Town’s reserve funds and accounts as of
December 31, 2022. All funds and accounts are in good condition as of year-end 2022.
There was some activity in the Open Space Plan account with the NYS Parks reimbursement received
for the Culver Road property purchase. There is also a pending purchase of the Cortright Property
for $316,000 for future trail extensions.
The Highway Equipment Reserve Account is $400,000 in case of untimely heavy equipment failure
that needs to be replaced. Currently, there are supply chain delays with delivery of some current
year heavy equipment purchases being delayed 18-24 months. The current fleet and future
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replacement needs is being evaluated and one option may be to use this reserve to order equipment
now for 2024-2025 replacement.
The SJC Account in Sewer Fund has three parts and includes $63,228 designated to pay the Town’s
share of jointly owned sewer interceptor lines. The 2022 budget included $86,205 for the Stewart
Park Pump Station Rehabilitation which will deplete this fund. This project has been delayed. We
will look to allocate additional funding for jointly owned sewer interceptor lines. There is $496,465
designated for the Town’s share IAWWTF bonded debt. There is $755,363 remaining for capital
projects after the Town’s $265,720 contribution to the Boiler Replacement Project at the IAWWTTF.
A copy of this report is attached.
Update on Sales Tax Collections through October 2022.
- Sales Tax Collections: The Committee reviewed the Sales Tax Collections Report for 2022.
Through October, Sales Tax collections are 112.2% of budget. Sales Tax collections through
October 2022 total $3,646,700 compared to collections of $3,243,753 for the same period in
2021, which is an increase of 12.4%. We increased the sales tax budgeted in 2023 to $3,750,000
from $3,250,000 (sales tax budget from 2020-2022).
Update on 2022 Interest Revenue and Investments.
Interest earnings for 2022 totaled $284,978 which was $188,612 over the $96,366 budgeted. We
currently have two certificates of deposit earning between 3.85 and 4.50%. A third certificate of
deposit was set up to secure the line of credit required by NYSEG for the streetlight conversion. The
certificates are laddered and mature every few months. We will be opening a fourth certificate with
Tompkins Community tomorrow earning 4.6% for 12 months. Currently there isn’t any investments
with First National Bank of Groton.
The interest rate on our savings account increased from .11% in January to 3% in December. NYCLASS
is earning 4.35%.
Review and Discuss Property Tax Exemptions (Capital, Infrastructure and Volunteer
Firefighter/EMS).
The committee discussed the property tax exemptions on the Town Board agenda that evening. The
capital and infrastructure exemptions were discussed last year. The Volunteer Firefighter/EMS
exemption is new and the Village of Cayuga Heights encouraged it’s passing to benefit their
volunteers. The County also recently passed this exemption as well.
Review and Discuss Projected Fund Balance for 2022.
A full report wasn’t available yet. In General Fund we budgeted to use $575,000 in fund balance in
2022 plus there was an additional $450,000 in encumbrances that rolled forward. Combined, we
should have used $1,025,000 in fund balance in 2022 but we only used approximately $88,000 in
General Fund. We will continue to analyze and discuss setting up capital reserve funds in the coming
months. We can set up a Debt Service Reserve fund to make the bond payments on the PWF
expansion and/or set up capital reserve fund for future building improvements (weatherization).
General Part Town Fund gained $517,000 in fund balance in 2022. That was due to increased fee
collections and sales tax. We will want to consider moving this to the Highway Part Town Fund to
be used for Road Improvement Projects. It’s my understanding that we can move money from
General Part-Town to Highway Part Town because they have the same tax base.
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Other Items.
Mr. Howe reminded Committee members that we will be looking at dissolving the Light Districts
later this year.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:44 p.m.
Next Meeting: Monday, March 20th at 12:00 p.m., Town Hall - Aurora Room or Zoom