HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda 06-10-2024TOWN OF ITHACA
BUDGET COMMITTEE
Monday, June 10, 2024 - 12:00 p.m.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/5063713554
AGENDA
• Review and approve meeting minutes from May 13, 2024.
• Review and discuss Draft Capital Improvement Plan 2025-2029.
• Review and discuss 2025 Fleet Replacement Schedule.
• Discuss Laserfiche – possibility of moving software in-house.
• Review 2024 Sales Tax Receipts.
• Review and approve May 2024 Budget Amendments.
• Review 2024 Interest Earnings and Investments.
• Other Items.
Next Meeting: Monday, July 10, 2023 - 12:00 p.m.
1
BUDGET COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes - May 13, 2024
Committee present: Eric Levine - Chairman, Pam Bleiwas, Rod Howe
Staff present: Donna Shaw, Marty Mosely, CJ Randall, Judy Drake, Joe Slater, Dan Thaete
The meeting was called to order at 12:00 p.m.
AGENDA ITEMS:
• Review and approve meeting minutes from February 12, 2024.
Moved: Pam Bleiwas Second: Rod Howe Motion: Passed
• Review and discuss 2023 Fund Balance and Working Capital.
The Committee reviewed and discussed the 2023 Fund Balance and Working Capital.
• Preliminary Discussion – Benefit Assessment Fees for 2025 Budget.
The committee reviewed and discussed the Sewer Benefit Assessment Fee. We will capture
approximately 1,000 additional units from Cornell University in 2025. Public Works recently
discovered that CU has not been assessed units for their sewer flow to IAWWTF. This would result
in approximately $100,000 in additional revenue, assuming the 2024 rate of $98.56. Due to
anticipated capital needs at the IAWWTF we are looking at raising the rate to $110.00. Exact needs
at IAWWTF will not be known until their CIP Project is complete in 2025 but we are anticipating
raising $500,000 in benefit assessment fees for current projects.
The committee also reviewed and discussed the Water Benefit Assessment Fee. We are anticipating
keeping this rate the same for the third year. The 2014-A bonds were retired this year which
reduces payments by $91,000. A couple of the 2009/2011 projects from the 2020 refunding were
also paid off which reduced payments by $94,000. Total 2025 debt service will be approximately
$200,000 less than 2024. This will enable us to earmark $532,000 for current projects.
2023 Fund Balance General (A)General PT (B)Highway (DA)Highway PT (DB)
Unassigned Fund Balance 12/31/2023 2,956,211 2,712,151 774,977 2,614,983
2024 Budgeted Operating Expenses 5,433,064 2,297,442 1,167,423 3,851,548
Target - 40% of 2024 Budgeted Expenditures 2,173,226 918,977 466,969 1,540,619
Fund Balance Over 40%782,985 1,793,174 308,008 1,074,364
2023 Working Capital Water (F)Sewer (G)
Current Assets 3,479,551 3,089,401
Current Liabilities (619,887) (419,750)
Total Working Capital 12/31/2023 2,859,664 2,669,651
2024 Operating Budget 3,452,516 4,397,421
Working Capital % 12/31/2023 82.83%60.71%
2
• Approval and Authorization of a Partial Bond Redemption from Debt Service Fund Balance.
The first call date for the 2014-B bonds is December 15, 2024. Paying off the road improvement
portion of this bond will require $284,000. We already have the funds set aside due to a project
not completed on lower Sand Bank Road (in 2014). This will be the last of the road improvement
bonds.
• Review March Sales Tax and Mortgage Tax Receipts.
Sales tax receipts have been a bit sluggish in 2024 with the first quarter receipts being 97.43% of
the same period last year. Last year sales tax receipts totaled $4,602,747. We have received
$1,060,253 of the $4,300,000 budgeted (24.7%). We are looking to raise the sales tax budget to
$4,500,000 in 2025.
• Review 2024 Interest Earnings and Investments.
The Committee reviewed and discussed the Interest Income Report through April. In 2024 we budgeted
$829,970 in interest across all funds, an increase of $376,440 over the $453,530 budgeted in 2023.
Year to date we have earned $551,637.25 in interest. Overall, this represents 66.5% of the budget and
is 26.5% higher than in the same period last year. We will continue to monitor interest rate projections
over the next few months leading into the 2025 budget.
• Other items.
Chris Herbert will start as the new Finance Officer on June 3rd.
The City Fire contract expires in December of this year. We have had one meeting with City
officials to discuss potential changes. Currently, we pay a percentage share of fire department
expenses based on the ratio of taxable assessed values of properties in our Fire District 1 and the
City which is currently approximately 32%. If we use total assessed values (to include exempt
properties) that ratio drops to approximately 26%. An analysis of the total IFD calls shows a
similar ratio of 26% to Town of Ithaca residents. We are hoping to complete negotiations by
September 1st so we can budget accordingly.
We have come to an agreement with Cornell regarding the annual voluntary contribution. The
attorneys are currently working on contract language, and we expect to bring it to the Town Board
on June 10th.
We are anticipating obtaining two agricultural easements this year. These would be purchased
from the Open Space Plan Reserve.
We are considering bringing the Laserfiche software in-house which would require purchasing the
software license. Tompkins County currently pays the software license fees and allows
municipalities to use the software. This comes with limitations, and we are currently discussing
the cost effectiveness of bringing this in-house. This will be discussed at next week’s P&O meeting
and next month’s Budget meeting.
The first draft of the 2025-2029 Capital Improvement Plan will be available for the next Budget
Committee meeting.
3
919 Elmira Road has a new owner. We will be working with them to develop the Restore NY grant
proposal for the property.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:39 p.m.
Next Meeting: Monday, June 10th at 12:00 p.m., Town Hall - Aurora Room or Zoom
#
Equipment to be Auctioned / Traded & Replaced
Useful Life
Original Purchase
Price
Year
Purchased
Replacement Cost
(Budgeted)
Age of
Equipment
Since
Purchased
New
Annual Repair
Costs (2023)
Lifetime Total
Repair Costs
(Parts and Labor)
Projected Auction
Price / Trade
Mileage /
Hours
Green Fleet
Options
1 2015 Freightliner 10-wheel dump truck 8 231,033.00$ 2017 360,000.00$ 7 $4,465.32 $37,598.37 40,000.00$ 61,600 no
16 2015 Ford F450 One Ton (Mechanic's) 10 56,418.50$ 2014 85,000.00$ 10 257.94$ 10,832.24$ 25,000.00$ 66,382 no
56 2018 Ford F450 4X4 One Ton Dump 7 55,426.28$ 2018 90,000.00$ 6 1,164.09$ 14,829.33$ 25,000.00$ 31,747 no
64 2019 Ford F350 4x4 Super Cab w/plow 6 46,636.01$ 2019 75,000.00$ 5 1,831.88$ 10,028.11$ 15,000.00$ 107,234 no
38 2008 Power Screener 10 59,000.00$ 2012 85,000.00$ 12 1,421.03$ 7,377.23$ 15,000.00$ 1,349 no
T7 2015 Locke Trailer (15 Ton (Bobcat/Mini Ex) 10 12,432.00$ 2015 40,000.00$ 9 1,403.33$ 4,045.44$ 10,000.00$ NA no
Total Projected Auction Income 130,000.00$
New Equipment to be Added to the Fleet
XX Codes Vehicle $50,000.00
785,000.00$
Total Auction Income 130,000.00$
Total New/Replaced Equipment 785,000.00$
Estimated Projected Auction Income 130,000.00$
Total Estimated Cost Including Items Sold 655,000.00$
Town of Ithaca - Proposed Fleet Replacement Schedule 2025
Total New Equipment
Budget Implications – Savings – of bring LF In-House
Records Management Tasks – Saving HOURS of Staff Time = $$$ - Offset Costs
If LF was brought in-house; Records Management – Permanent and 6-year we would be able to:
make multiple workflows for each department and EACH document series (minutes, easements,
capital projects, planning projects, W&S projects, human resources, accounting, taxes) with different
levels of retention and access security,
make workflows that would put bills and receipts – School and Town and County, W&S on each
property for owners to access,
make links that could attach a single scan of an easement or project file to the 1,5,10,100 parcels it
runs through or from which it was made,
develop a workflow that kept all “campus” documents in one folder with multiple subfolders of the
individual buildings or businesses in them (think EcoVillage or South Hill Business Campus in
addition to the obvious colleges)
make workflows and security levels for project files – separating out the project details from the work
up to it and the conversations and background information that is useful to staff in the future, but not
part of the permanent record, but all in one place,
we would be able to manage documents by their retention/purge our repository every year
*A lot of the above would also decrease our paper and printing costs.
Daily/Monthly Tasks – Saving HOURS of Staff Time = $$$
we would be able to use LF as a day to day processing platform for processes that are not automated
yet:
vouchers – I still print out and sign a voucher and give it to accounting
townwide trainings/sign offs – digitally sign off and meta data would prove staff had completed
the task
tax/water bill receipts – you scan one – label the information in each section – Scan them all, or
better yet, import them - LF sends them to each property
contract management – status reports, tracking signatures, payments and expirations
** Town Clerk processes could be moved from OG to LF as they are not tied to a property in many ways,
AND the City has proven they can make it print onto the NYS forms (which OG still cannot)
I know there is more, the options are endless IF we have control and the expertise to do it, which luckily,
at this point, we have an opportunity to get.
General Comments from Town Clerk’s Office
Laserfische is an incredibly powerful program. I believe we could integrate into any number of processes
we do right now, day to day.
Laserfiche, even in its hampered state, still saves us literally a hundred hours of staff time a week, and that
is conservative in my opinion.
We haven’t even touched the surface of its tools and capabilities because we don’t have administrative
rights to our Laserfische repository. We can’t develop workflows or business management processes as
they are called.
Background and Promises
All documents and large drawings would be scanned, and workflows made to send the documents to our
repository according to the folder structure we set up, which mimics our LegDrive and Property filing
system that was downstairs. The County and a member of the City’s IT would develop workflows to put
the documents where they go.
We were told a singular document could be linked to numerous properties, so one master document
remained but was “linked” to all properties it touched. (think easements)
What happened – Thousands of our records/documents were scanned under a grant and we continue to
scan them.
Workflows were made for property files, legislative files, planning files and engineering files.
Current Status – The only workflows still working on a consistent level is the legislative documents
workflow.
The property files workflow functions partially, but we have lost a lot of the added abilities to
combine, separate and organize. Duplication is happening and the historical files do not match up to
the OpenGov workflow.
We have spent over 1 year trying to work with outside vendors to do what we could do in-house if we
had access to our repository.
General Highway Fire
Part-Town Part-Town Protection TOTAL
Liability Month B1120 DB1120 SF1120
Month Collected 1,808,000.00$ 2,092,000.00$ 400,000.00$ 4,300,000.00$ 0.4205 0.4865 0.09 1.0000
January February 152,604.54$ 176,575.62$ 33,762.07$ 362,942.23$
February March 138,233.12$ 159,946.73$ 30,582.55$ 328,762.40$
March April 154,961.64$ 179,302.96$ 34,283.55$ 368,548.15$
April May 141,970.80$ 164,271.53$ 31,409.47$ 337,651.80$
May June -$ -$ -$ -$
June July -$ -$ -$ -$
July August -$ -$ -$ -$
August September -$ -$ -$ -$
September October -$ -$ -$ -$
October November -$ -$ -$ -$
November December -$ -$ -$ -$
December January -$ -$ -$ -$
TOTAL COLLECTIONS:587,770.10$ 680,096.83$ 130,037.64$ 1,397,904.58$
TOTAL - 2024 BUDGET:1,808,000.00$ 2,092,000.00$ 400,000.00$ 4,300,000.00$
% of 2024 Budget Collected: 32.5% 32.5% 32.5% 32.5%
COMPARISON
PERIOD 2021 2022 2023 2024 TO PRIOR YEAR
January 241,976.77$ 349,600.04$ 369,199.97$ 362,942.23$ 98.31%
February 220,287.15 300,462.74 337,692.85 328,762.40 97.36%
March 392,202.28 396,743.39 381,368.08 368,548.15 96.64%
1st Quarter 854,466.20$ 1,046,806.17$ 1,088,260.90$ 1,060,252.78$ 97.43%
April 281,825.36$ 350,840.20$ 342,491.40$ 337,651.80 98.59%
May 284,332.00 366,126.50 330,916.42 - 0.00%
June 431,611.13 330,348.56 439,575.52 - 0.00%
2nd Quarter 997,768.49$ 1,047,315.26$ 1,112,983.34$ 337,651.80$ 30.34%
First 6 Months 1,852,234.69$ 2,094,121.43$ 2,201,244.24$ 1,397,904.58$ 63.51%
July 314,638.93$ 384,844.57$ 381,575.33$ - 0.00%
August 312,514.79 358,575.22 371,801.20 - 0.00%
September 472,220.61 458,984.88 500,254.60 0.00%
3rd Quarter 1,099,374.33$ 1,202,404.67$ 1,253,631.13$ -$ 0.00%
First 9 Months 2,951,609.02$ 3,296,526.10$ 3,454,875.37$ 1,397,904.58$ 40.46%
October 292,143.63$ 350,174.18$ 361,449.84$ - 0.00%
November 302,394.38 340,396.99 380,310.91 - 0.00%
December 436,657.63 496,300.24 406,111.25 - 0.00%
4th Quarter 1,031,195.64$ 1,186,871.41$ 1,147,872.00$ - 0.00%
ANNUAL TOTAL 3,982,804.66$ 4,483,397.51$ 4,602,747.37$ 1,397,904.58 30.37%
COMPARISON
PERIOD 2021 2022 2023 2024 TO PRIOR YEAR
April/May 158,060.48$ 134,965.47$ 78,588.88$ 114,273.58$ 145.41%
October/November 224,517.51 269,365.59 107,631.22 - 0.00%
ANNUAL TOTAL 382,577.99$ 404,331.06$ 186,220.10$ 114,273.58$ 61.36%
SALES TAX COLLECTIONS
For the Year Ending December 31, 2024
2021 - 2024 COMPARISON OF SALES TAX COLLECTIONS
Mortgage Tax Collections
MEETING OF THE ITHACA TOWN BOARD
June 10 , 2024
TB Resolution 2024 - xxx: Approval of Budget Transfers, Amendments and
Modifications for May 30, 2024.
Whereas, the Town Finance Officer has reviewed all budgetary revenue and appropriation
accounts for the period ending May 30, 2024, and
Whereas, this review disclosed certain budgetary revenues and expenditures requiring transfers,
amendments or modifications summarized below:
General Town-wide Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
A1430.428 College Course Reimbursement 1,600
A1430.423 Employment Ads 1,600
A1990.499 Contingency Account 20,000
A1680.400 Contractual 20,000
A1680.497 Tools & Supplies 57
A1680.496 Time Warner Cable RR 57
A1990.499 Contingency Account 778
A1920.488
Taxes/Assessments on Town
Property 778
A5681.203 King Road West/Buttermilk Cross 6,948
A7110.271 Heavy Duty Truck 6,948
A7110.272 Medium Duty Truck 73
A7110.275 Excavating Equipment 1,851
A7110.276 Park & Turf Equipment 1,924
A5681.203 King Road West/Buttermilk Cross 5,488
A7110.276 Park & Turf Equipment 5,488
A7110.275 Excavating Equipment 76
A7110.279 Miscellaneous Equipment 76
A5681.203 King Road West/Buttermilk Cross 934
A8540.276 Park & Turf Equipment 934
A1990.499 Contingency Account 2,195
A8540.276 Park & Turf Equipment 2,195
A8540.275 Excavating Equipment 481
A8540.276 Park & Turf Equipment 481
General Part Town Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
Highway Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
Highway Part-Town Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
DB5112.453 Road Repairs 22,395
DB5130.276 Park & Turf Equipment 22,395
DB5130.272 Medium Duty Truck 184
DB5130.279 Miscellaneous Equipment 184
DB5112.453 Road Repairs 6
DB5130.279 Miscellaneous Equipment 6
Water Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
F1380.400 Contractual 9,325
F8340.276 Park & Turf Equipment 9,325
F8340.272 Medium Duty Truck 55
F8340.279 Miscellaneous Equipment 55
F1380.400 Contractual 782
F1680.491 Hardware & Equipment 782
Sewer Fund
Budget Transfers
Account Description From To
G8120.272 Medium Duty Truck 36
G8120.279 Miscellaneous Equipment 36
G8120.470 Repairs & Maintenance 5,348
G8120.276 Park & Turf Equipment 5,348
G1990.499 Contingency Account 5,369
G8120.276 Park & Turf Equipment 5,369
Resolved, that this Town Board authorizes and directs the Town Finance Officer to record all
budget transfers, amendments, and modifications, including all other changes deemed
appropriate and necessary.
FUNDS JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER TOTAL Modified
Budget % of Budget
General Fund 36,461.25$ 62,030.76$ 43,833.18$ 41,330.07$ 39,406.01$ 223,061.27$ 285,235.00 78.20%
General Part-Town Fund 11,533.53 12,350.55 11,097.57 11,556.90 11,679.65 58,218.20 64,542.00 90.20%
Highway Fund - DA 5,113.68 5,976.20 6,126.39 6,636.41 5,723.46 29,576.14 40,000.00 73.94%
Highway Part-Town Fund - DB 18,366.41 20,261.21 18,763.97 20,953.13 18,961.06 97,305.78 119,023.00 81.75%
Water Fund 12,430.47 17,772.38 16,703.00 15,464.13 15,181.95 77,551.93 79,000.00 98.17%
Sewer Fund 13,699.05 14,047.10 11,037.45 11,591.66 11,427.73 61,802.99 80,000.00 77.25%
Risk Retention Fund 651.74 640.14 745.00 699.09 771.88 3,507.85 7,100.00 49.41%
Fire Protection Fund 16,428.86 27,178.49 26,991.55 26,532.47 23,827.17 120,958.54 150,070.00 80.60%
Debt Service Fund 1,432.36 1,617.03 1,776.92 1,807.15 1,816.83 8,450.29 5,000.00 169.01%
TOTAL - Operating Accounts 116,117.35$ 161,873.86$ 137,075.03$ 136,571.01$ 128,795.74$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ 680,432.99$ 829,970.00
2023 Interest Earned 91,107.04$ 114,844.13$ 117,306.87$ 112,778.77$ 113,965.71$ 112,133.49$ 96,431.09$ 118,139.13$ 110,887.82$ 109,323.57$ 105,119.42$ 96,159.70$ 1,298,196.74$
Investment Balance Interest Rate Maturity
Savings 82,166$ 4.00%n/a
CD - 12 Mos.5,221,280 5.10%4/12/2025
CD - 12 Mos.5,127,717 5.20%11/28/2024
CD - 12 Mos.5,098,512 4.80%12/28/2024
CD - 6 Mos.4,070,065 5.20%10/29/2024
NYCLASS 13,074,142 5.23%n/a
TOWN OF ITHACA - INTEREST INCOME FOR FY-2024
Investments
as of 5/31/2024