City of Mt. Vernon, Illinois

City Council Workshop Meeting

Monday, February 8, 2010

 

 

 

The Mt. Vernon City Council met for a Workshop Meeting on Monday, February 8, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1100 Main Street, Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

 

The purpose of this Workshop Meeting was for discussion of the 2010-2011 Budget Process, TIF Funds discussion and discussion regarding Outside Funding Sources.

 

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley called the Workshop Meeting to order.

 

Roll call showed present: Council Member Mary Burgan, Council Member Dennis McEnaney, Council Member Todd Piper and Mayor Mary Jane Chesley.  Absent: Council Member David Wood.

 

City Manager Ron Neibert began speaking about the budget process.  He explained that the process will be streamlined somewhat for the 2010-2011 Budget.  There will be a meeting at 9:00 a.m. on February 18, Thursday, in Council Chambers to go over the process with the departments.  The small departments will be given one week to return their budget papers to Finance and the larger departments will be given two weeks.  The small departments will then meet with the Finance Director and City Manager the weeks of March 3 to March 12 and the large departments will begin to meet with them the week of March 22 to 26th. There will then be the revenue meetings. City Manager and Finance Director will then hold their meetings to make any changes. 

 

The Council will then hold a Workshop Meeting on April 12 to go over the Tentative Budget, which has to be displayed then.  Council discussed also having possible meetings on April 14 and April 19 for time to go over the budgets before they are finalized.  The budget has to be finalized by April 30 but hopefully it will be done for a short meeting to adopt it on April 26, 2010.

 

Council Member Dennis McEnaney asked if the Operating Budgets and Capital Budgets could be separated for Council to review. 

 

Finance Director Merle Hollmann stated that the budget is always a conservative budget. Discussion was held regarding having at least one months of operating expenses left after the end of the year.  Council stated that they would actually like to see us have 2 months worth left. Discussion was held regarding that this would cause large budget cuts to each department to be able to do this. Cuts in operations to where the City could not offer services at the level we do now. Mayor Chesley stated that we do not want to digress in services and operations. Council Member McEnaney stated that he thinks Council should have some philosophical discussions regarding the operating balances. City Manager Ron Neibert spoke regarding the Fiscal Policy being part of the Comprehensive Plan. Mayor Chesley stated that she was in favor of several shorter meetings since they would be dealing with numbers.  Council agreed. Mr. Neibert said that he would like to have a draft of the Fiscal Policy done in May or June.

 

TIF FUNDS

 

City Manager Ron Neibert stated that the TIF Funds have to be obligated by April 30 for the year. Mr. Neibert went over the Downtown TIF funds. Mr. Neibert spoke regarding the original funds to form the TIF and the money borrowed to use for the TIF.  He stated that this amount could be paid off now and there would still be funds left plus there should be another 30 or 40 thousand more coming in from taxes. Council concurred that the loan should be paid off now if there were no penalty.

 

Council Member McEnaney asked who the members of the TIF Committee are and he stated that he would like to see a copy of the guidelines they use for the TIF Funds.  Mr. Neibert stated that the committee meets and considers TIF requests then give recommendations for the funds. City Manager Neibert gave the names of the TIF Committee and stated that there was one seat open due to the death of one member.  Mayor Chesley stated that she is looking into someone to replace that member.

 

Council discussed the new TIF that would be forming out near the Interchange.

 

OUTSIDE FUNDING SOURCES

 

City Manager Ron Neibert spoke regarding Grants awarded and Grants applied for and low interest loans applied for.  Mr. Neibert gave Council a list of the grants for the 2009 year. The City has received several grants and has applied for several more. Mr. Neibert also spoke regarding drug seizure funds received. He explained that this money could only be used for certain expenditures. Council Member McEnaney congratulated Mayor Chesley for aggressively pursuing grants. He asked if the City should hire a Grant Writer for full time searching for grants and applying for them.

 

City Manager Ron Neibert stated that he would like to report that the EPA has approved the permit for the new Wagner Road Lift Station.  The EPA will fund this project in full.  There will be no reimbursement for any costs of this project.

 

Council discussed setting Workshop Meetings for the entire year.   Mayor Chesley stated that the 2nd Monday of each month is when she thought Council had agreed to meet.  Council agreed. At 3:30 p.m. in Council Chambers on the second Monday of each month.

 

The next scheduled Workshop meeting will be on March 8 at 3:30 p.m. This would be for the budget process and Mayor Chesley stated that she would like the school districts, District 80 and District 201 to present a short presentation of their education programs.  Council Member Dennis McEnaney stated that he would also like to discuss littering.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Motion by Council Member Todd Piper to adjourn this Workshop Meeting.  Second by Council Member Mary Burgan.  Yeas: Burgan, McEnaney, Piper and Chesley.  Absent: Wood.