The Finance Committee met 01/20/2025. The item on the agenda that resulted in the most discussion was the request to approve a $274,000 Non-State Grant to go toward the library project.
There was extended discussion about whether accepting this grant would increase the library project’s budget by $274,000. Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) proposed an amendment aimed at clarifying that accepting these grant funds would not increase the budget, but it failed by a vote of 2-2.
There was some discussion about how an amendment was not needed in order to be assured that the library project’s budget would not increase and the committee ended up voting 3-1 to approve acceptance of the grant without amending it.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
Library Executive Director Colleen Rortvedt told the committee that the library had applied for this grant last year. They had requested $1 million but ended up only being awarded $274,000. The grant functioned as a reimbursement for expenses already paid. She told the committee that it was not an offset to the $26.4 million portion of the project that was covered by city taxpayers, but it could go toward the $12 million in donations the city was seeking or ensure that they could cover any additional costs of the projects. Although Director Rortvedt indicated they did not have plans for additional costs.
Director of Parks and Recreation Dean Gazza, who oversees building projects, told the committee that they were trending well budget-wise in spite of the fact that they had had to take on some additional costs including an extra library move and the bid for the geothermal system coming in $400,000 higher than expected. The only reason the budget would increase would be to absorbs those additional costs, not because the overall scope of the project had been expanded.
Alderperson Hartzheim asked if there was a way to amend acceptance of the grant “to make sure that it is not an overspend on the original budget of the library?”
Finance Director Jeri Ohman responded, “We could put in phrasing that it is to be considered part of the 12 million of private funding.”
Alderperson Hartzheim made a motion to amend, stating that the reason for the amendment was “to make sure that our taxpayers know that we’re not trying to up the budget on this library, that we made a promise that the library would not cost more than x amount of dollars.” That motion failed by a vote of 2-2.
Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) did not think the amendment was necessary because the library project’s budget was already set at $40.4 million and accepting the grant in and of itself, particularly given that it functioned as a reimbursement, could not increase that budget. The only way to increase a project’s budget was to come back to the Common Council and ask for approval to increase the budget.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) had the perspective that this would not change the taxpayer’s commitment. She said, “[M]y commitment to my constituents was that the we would not change the taxpayer burden from that 26.4 million. If, by some miracle, we’d gotten a grant for a million dollars, or if some anonymous person decided that they wanted to give the library $5 million, the taxpayer’s commitment maybe there would be some budget alterations there. But the— you know, I will never vote for the city to take on or to spend more than that 26.4 that we committed to and budgeted to”.
Alderperson Hartzheim responded, “I made a promise that $26.4 million would be the maximum that taxpayers in this city would pay for this library as well. However, if $274,000 comes in, I want them to pay less than $26.4 million out of their pockets.”
The committee ended up voting 3-1 to accept the grant without any sort of amendment; however, Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) stated, “I do share some of the concerns that Alder Hartzheim has, but I’m going to vote for this to move this along to the Council, and if someone wants to refer it back to committee or clarify some of the things on the Council floor, so be it.”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1253659&GUID=0F248836-AEF5-4FBD-8A1D-C18C6C7137BE
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