The Finance Committee met 05/22/2023. They took up three action items and were over and done in under 5 minutes.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
The first item was a request to approve a 2023 Budget Amendment of $22,040 to record the purchase of a vehicle by the Hazardous Materials Fund from the Central Equipment Agency. It was approved unanimously with no discussion.
The second item was a request to award the city’s 2023 masonry repairs project contract to Masonry Restoration, Inc for a project total (including contingency) not to exceed $177,675. This also was approved unanimously without any discussion or questions.
The final item was a request to approve a cash advance from the Stormwater Utility Fund to the Wastewater Utility Fund in an amount not to exceed $3 million instead of issuing a long-term revenue bond in 2023.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) as to clarify what was going on with this. “Are you saying that we only need a small amount of money during 2023 and this would basically be a bridge loan between the two utility pots of money, the funds, and then those funds will be paid back later when we go out for the larger amount of money in 2024. Is that correct?”
City Finance Director Jeri Ohman confirmed her understand was correct. The city had originally expected they would need to borrow $9.5 million, but eventually determined they would only need $3 million in 2023. Their debt advisor had recommended looking at short term loan options so that they could pay a reduced fee. The city ended up deciding to advance the cash from one fund to the other in order to avoid fees entirely and then when they issued revenue bonds in 2024, they could pay back whatever they ended up borrowing form the stormwater fund. Because it was merely a transfer of dollars from one city fund to another, there would be no interest or fees associated with the transfer.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the request.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1101376&GUID=C64D1FE1-9254-4D92-A874-DDBE5A19CEAD
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