September 22, 2017 at 4:23 p.m.
City gets good news on 2018 insurance rates
Finance committee learns rate will be 'significantly' lower than predicted
City gets good news on 2018 insurance rates
Just after Tom Hurlburt, associate library director, outlined the proposed budget for the Rhinelander District Library, Bixby announced that the increase in insurance costs would be just under 2 percent, rather than the 10 percent figure that had been built into every department's budget as a placeholder.
"It will be significantly lower than what we were anticipating," Bixby said. "We had put in (between) 9.2 and 10 percent as an increase, it is not going to be 10 percent."
The announcement caused visible excitement among the committee members, especially chair Mark Pelletier.
"That is good news," Pelletier exclaimed.
Bixby said the 2 percent number for individual coverage may go down even further as the provider has been asked by Boyd Financial Services, which handles the city's insurance benefits, to see if it's possible to go even lower. Bixby said she was expecting to hear back soon on the final numbers for both individual and family coverage rate increases.
"That is the best news of the night," Pelletier said.
All departments have had the higher number incorporated into their proposed budgets under salary and benefits, which make up the bulk of the city budget. Once the increases have been finalized, the new rates will be put into the budget. Those changes will be automatically applied to departments that have already made budget presentations, such as the police and fire departments.
Bixby also presented more good news at the end of the meeting when the budgets for the city's tax incremental districts (TID) were presented. According to Wisconsin Department of Revenue Equalization Bureau's report "Statement of Changes in TID Value," two TIDs have grown over $1 million each in equalized value. She noted that a third showed a decrease in value on paper, but it's fund balance is projected to continue to grow.
"It's kind of a circle as to when you can do things. I can't finalize the increments until I know what our (tax) levy is going to be," she said. "It's the same for all the other taxing jurisdictions, so I left it as last year's final levy numbers so you guys can see."
The budgets she presented does take into account the new equalized values from the DOR, however.
TID 1, the environmental district or Concord Development, increased in equalized value by $1,077,000 from $4,351,300 to $5,428,300 from 2016 to 2017, she said.
"That is the big reason the tax increment amount is going to increase (next year)," Bixby said, adding that because the district is due to show a "profit," there is no projected shortfall payment next year.
"This is the first year that I can remember that it didn't have a shortfall," Pelletier observed.
The increase in equalized value will result in the district gaining a net change of a positive $5,825 next year while it is projected to lose $18,501 by the end of this year.
TID 5, which is for the Job Center, which the county has taken over, will have a zero increase in equalized value and will show a projected $14,085 increase at the end of 2018 after losing $892 on its fund balance by the end of this year. The biggest change with this TID is that it had to transfer $15,000 to the parking advisory fund in 2015 and 2017 but won't have to do so in 2018.
The airport business park, which makes up TID 6, saw its equalized value increase from $3,693,600 in 2016 to $5,437,600 in 2017, for a positive change of $1,744,000. Its fund balance is also projected to be $57,583 at the end of 2018, after reporting a projected balance of -$11,552 at the end of this year.
"Even though it is still an estimate (at this time), this is pretty close to what we can get it," Bixby said.
The downtown TID 8 is projected to lose money in 2018, dropping from a fund balance of $11,676 at the end of 2016 to -$8584 at the end of 2018. This is due, in large part, to the equalized value dropping from -$485,80 in 2016 to -$1,759,200 in 2017. Because of this, it still is not generating any tax increments because it is below the base value, Bixby said.
While it dropped in equalized value by $1,447,600 to $23,522,700 in 2017, TID 9, which includes the new Printpack building, is still projected to grow its fund balance in 2018. At the end of 2017 it is projected to be $2,433,499 and reach $2,567,568 by Dec. 31, 2018.
"So their tax increment went down a little bit there," Bixby said.
"But that balance is huge," Pelletier observed.
Bixby said interim city administrator Keith Kost has said there is potential for new business growth in this TID, but nothing has been finalized yet.
"But he did mention that there is room for this one to grow," Bixby said.
"That is what it was designed to do," Pelletier said. "Now the real ideal thing now would be for them (Printpack) to double the size of that building. That would be the real topper to things."
The Toyota TID 10 also dropped in equalized vale from $6,404,700 to $3,832,100, a $2,572,600 decrease. It is still generating increments, though at a significantly lower rate, because it's fund balance is predicted to continue to grow, increasing from a 2017 balance of $319,981 to $379,678 at the end of 2018. Despite the drop in equalized value, the TID was still producing tax increments and that's the important thing, Pelletier noted.
At the beginning of the meeting, Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport commission chairman Robert Heck told the committee that the airport would not be asking for an increase in funding from either the city or county in 2018. He said this marks the third year in a row that no increase in subsidy is being sought.
"Once again, as mentioned in the newspaper the other day, we're having a good year," Heck said. "Enplanements are up over 1,800 through the end of August, which is very good."
The increase in airport expenses will be met by the increase in revenue, with the total budget for the operation increasing from $987,071 to $992,106, he added.
Heck said the demand to add a third flight into and out of the airport is there, however it isn't feasible at this time due to a pilot shortage.
Heck also pointed out that the airport has been debt-free since 1991.
"We're very pleased with that," he said. "And I think the city likes to hear that, too."
Heck noted that the airport is very appreciative of the support the city and Oneida County have provided.
In regard to the library budget, Hurlburt said library officials are asking for a .72-percent increase over last year, the lowest since 2013. The library does plan to ask Oneida County for an increase after many years of no increases, he added.
Hurlburt said the library had over 100,000 people come through its doors in 2016.
"That is an average of over 400 a day that we are open," he said.
Besides the visitors to the building itself, the library provides services to many other people in the district, he added.
The increase for the budget overall is $45,977.32 with the city's share coming to an additional $16,278.51 or 4.9-percent increase for 2018 to $283,661.37.
The town of Crescent is being asked for an additional $7,565.88, Newbold for $6,353.65, Pelican for $6,616.23 and Pine Lake for $9,163.05.
The total proposed budget request for 2018 was $780,118.
Hurlburt said the overall budget requests each year have not offset their expenses and the administration has closed the gap by continually cutting discretionary costs without unduly hurting patrons. The budget seeks to add 5 hours to a part-time position to better assist in programming and a 1 percent pay raise for all employees.
"Our proposed 2018 budget does cut discretionary costs in the line items for programming, videos, periodicals, travel and training," Hurlburt said. "We have been and will continue to attempt to maintain and increase our programming by reducing the budget providing less costly in-house and drop-in programs and by utilizing money donated by individuals and organizations to cover the majority of our programing expenses."
Bixby's said her departmental budget is projected to decline from $222,784 in the 2017 to $207,273, primarily due to the payroll clerk duties being shared by the administrative assistant on a 50/50 basis.
The committee was set to meet again this week to hear additional budget presentations.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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