MONROE - The Common Council will take another swing at approving a five-year capital plan tonight, Sept. 18.
The city's Finance and Taxation Committee, on a vote of 3-1, approved the plan for a second time last night, without changes to the numbers, but with an added narrative section to explain the individual departmental capital accounts expenditures. Project descriptions were included as part of the original plan. Tyler Schultz voted against the motion.
Schultz said his resistance to approve was because of the timing of the plan, which comes ahead of more exact figures due out later this month from the 2011 audit and a reconciliation of the cash accounts.
The new vote to send it to council shows some aldermen are becoming more comfortable with the plan.
"I think the committee better understands this as a capital plan (rather than a capital budget)," said Reid Stangel, chairman of the Finance and Taxation Committee. "It reflects the work of the department heads as a future look at what we really need in five years. It's a valuable tool in planning what the city needs, (and) to review each year, pushed out a year to the next for years."
The Common Council sent the plan back to the committee July 17 for the additional explanations, on a 6-3 vote. At that time, Schultz also noted his objection that the plan was moving too quickly through the budget process.
With its new narratives attached, the plan locked up in committee on Sept. 4. A motion, made by Reid Stangel and seconded by Brooke Bauman, to recommend the plan to the council failed to pass on a tie vote, with Schultz and Louis Armstrong voting against.
Last night, City Administrator Phil Rath made his last attempt to get the committee and council approval of the plan, stating that he would not put the item on any future committee agendas, unless directed to do so by the committee or the council. Rath said he'd been trying since June to get the council to adopt the capital plan "as a tool to be used over the next few years."
Rath said the plan, a compilation of projects that department heads foresee in the next five years, is to be used as a guide for him to "plug-in" figures for the 2013 budget. The capital plan, he said, "doesn't establish spending" in the budgets.
The narratives, as well as a line by line scrutiny of the projects, would actually be used by committee and council members during their annual budget process, he added.
Rath also said he was ready to "move forward with preparing a capital budget (for 2013) based on the plan"- an indication that neither council nor committee non-approval of the plan would hold up the budget process any longer.
A draft of the administrator's compiled budget is due Sept. 18, with the finance committee's first review session starting Sept. 24, according to Rath's proposed schedule for the budget process. A public hearing on the 2013 budget is tentatively set for Nov. 20.
Stangel reiterated that the plan's proposed $754,000 to be raised by levy is not a commitment on the committee or on the 2013 budget.
Another $639,000 in the 2013 capital plan is not funded, including $420,000 for street construction, which Rath said in previous meetings could be financed with bonding.
Rath further explained last night that any item in the plan, even if it is approved for the 2013 budget, doesn't mean the item will be purchased.
"If there's a truck, and it doesn't break down this year, we're not going to go out and buy a truck," he said.
No committee members pinpointed a particular problem with the plan.
However, Louis Armstrong pointed out that the council voted 5-4 on July 17 to pass a resolution to keep trash collection services under the city's in-house services, ahead of the capital plan approval. The vote authorized the city to obtain trucks and trash bins for the service using up to $950,000 from the city's general fund at an interest rate of three percent for a term not to exceed 10 years.
The city's Finance and Taxation Committee, on a vote of 3-1, approved the plan for a second time last night, without changes to the numbers, but with an added narrative section to explain the individual departmental capital accounts expenditures. Project descriptions were included as part of the original plan. Tyler Schultz voted against the motion.
Schultz said his resistance to approve was because of the timing of the plan, which comes ahead of more exact figures due out later this month from the 2011 audit and a reconciliation of the cash accounts.
The new vote to send it to council shows some aldermen are becoming more comfortable with the plan.
"I think the committee better understands this as a capital plan (rather than a capital budget)," said Reid Stangel, chairman of the Finance and Taxation Committee. "It reflects the work of the department heads as a future look at what we really need in five years. It's a valuable tool in planning what the city needs, (and) to review each year, pushed out a year to the next for years."
The Common Council sent the plan back to the committee July 17 for the additional explanations, on a 6-3 vote. At that time, Schultz also noted his objection that the plan was moving too quickly through the budget process.
With its new narratives attached, the plan locked up in committee on Sept. 4. A motion, made by Reid Stangel and seconded by Brooke Bauman, to recommend the plan to the council failed to pass on a tie vote, with Schultz and Louis Armstrong voting against.
Last night, City Administrator Phil Rath made his last attempt to get the committee and council approval of the plan, stating that he would not put the item on any future committee agendas, unless directed to do so by the committee or the council. Rath said he'd been trying since June to get the council to adopt the capital plan "as a tool to be used over the next few years."
Rath said the plan, a compilation of projects that department heads foresee in the next five years, is to be used as a guide for him to "plug-in" figures for the 2013 budget. The capital plan, he said, "doesn't establish spending" in the budgets.
The narratives, as well as a line by line scrutiny of the projects, would actually be used by committee and council members during their annual budget process, he added.
Rath also said he was ready to "move forward with preparing a capital budget (for 2013) based on the plan"- an indication that neither council nor committee non-approval of the plan would hold up the budget process any longer.
A draft of the administrator's compiled budget is due Sept. 18, with the finance committee's first review session starting Sept. 24, according to Rath's proposed schedule for the budget process. A public hearing on the 2013 budget is tentatively set for Nov. 20.
Stangel reiterated that the plan's proposed $754,000 to be raised by levy is not a commitment on the committee or on the 2013 budget.
Another $639,000 in the 2013 capital plan is not funded, including $420,000 for street construction, which Rath said in previous meetings could be financed with bonding.
Rath further explained last night that any item in the plan, even if it is approved for the 2013 budget, doesn't mean the item will be purchased.
"If there's a truck, and it doesn't break down this year, we're not going to go out and buy a truck," he said.
No committee members pinpointed a particular problem with the plan.
However, Louis Armstrong pointed out that the council voted 5-4 on July 17 to pass a resolution to keep trash collection services under the city's in-house services, ahead of the capital plan approval. The vote authorized the city to obtain trucks and trash bins for the service using up to $950,000 from the city's general fund at an interest rate of three percent for a term not to exceed 10 years.