MONROE - The Finance and Taxation Committee voted last week to cut the Green County Development Corporation from the city's 2013 budget, but Mayor Bill Ross is urging council members to reinstate that funding.
The finance committee is waiting for department heads to review the budget changes before meeting at 6:15 p.m. today, Oct. 30 at City Hall, when members are expected to vote to send the final budget changes to the city council for a public hearing and final passage in November.
But that committee meeting will come after a special council meeting at 5:30 p.m. today. The special council meeting, scheduled to discuss the "direction of economic development functions for City of Monroe," was set last week, before the finance committee met and made its budget cuts.
Now some city staff, council members and Ross believe more issues than previously expected will be brought up in the discussion covering economic development.
Ross said Monday he was "getting hit from all sides" to get GCDC funding reinstated, and he sent a memo to members of the council stating his reasons for undoing the committee action he is calling "a mistake." He is asking for the budgeted figures for GCDC and the Chamber of Commerce to be reinstated as presented in the 2013 budget proposed by City Administrator Phil Rath.
GCDC, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1993 to establish a local community development resource for Green County businesses and communities. It is funded by public and private investments. It received $28,670 from the city of Monroe in 2012 and $30,000 in 2011.
Alderman Brooke Bauman confirmed Monday she made the motion in committee Thursday, Oct. 25 to cut all GCDC funding from the budget next year; Tyler Schultz seconded the motion, which passed by 2 to 1, with Reid Stangel, committee chairman, voting against. Louis Armstrong abstained.
Bauman is a member of the GCDC board of directors, appointed by the mayor and approved by council to represent the city. Her term expires at the end of 2014.
According to minutes of Thursday's committee meeting, Bauman said she believes funding GCDC was not worthwhile, because it is ineffective. Schultz agreed.
The minutes recorded Alderman Jan Lefevre also expressed frustration with the organization but that Alderman Michael Boyce stated funding GCDC should be continued. City Administrator Phil Rath discussed some prior GCDC projects and the benefits the organization provides. Rath serves as secretary on the GCDC board of directors.
On the heels of the committee voting to defund GCDC, Schultz moved to increase funding for Monroe Chamber of Commerce, which contracts with the city for economic development services. The $10,000 increase would be in addition to the chambers' requested increased funds for 2013. All totaled, the chamber would receive about double its 2012 funding. Last year, Monroe Chamber of Commerce received its requested $15,000 for 2012, plus an extra $5,000 to encourage the organization to add more office help.
In his memo, Ross states "this vote to defund GCDC sends the wrong message" to local major employers who are invested in GCDC, Monroe and Green County and are "major supporters of the city of Monroe financially and in volunteerism.
"Why would companies want to start up or relocate here when the city doesn't support a county-wide effort for economic development?" he asks in his message. He also asks "... if economic development is so important to the city for job creation, why is less than 1 percent of our 2013 budget going to that effort?"
The budget, as Rath had presented, had a levy amount of about $40,000 more than the 2012 levy - after the committee chose to forego iPads for aldermen and department heads totaling $13,000, according to the city comptroller Bridget Schuchart.
Rath and Schuchart had applied about $700,000 in undesignated funds to help balance the 2013 budget. Much of that money was used to off-set capital expenses and cover a $117,000 shortfall in TID No. 7 debt expenses, Schuchart added.
With the funds left from defunding GCDC ($18,670, after giving the chamber $10,000) and cutting the parking ramp maintenance funds by $26,000, the committee arrived at a levy amount of about $3,000 to $4,000 less than 2012, Schuchart said. The 2012 levy was $6.15 million.
The savings in taxes for property owners will not be significant under the budget now proposed by the committee, Schuchart said.
The finance committee is waiting for department heads to review the budget changes before meeting at 6:15 p.m. today, Oct. 30 at City Hall, when members are expected to vote to send the final budget changes to the city council for a public hearing and final passage in November.
But that committee meeting will come after a special council meeting at 5:30 p.m. today. The special council meeting, scheduled to discuss the "direction of economic development functions for City of Monroe," was set last week, before the finance committee met and made its budget cuts.
Now some city staff, council members and Ross believe more issues than previously expected will be brought up in the discussion covering economic development.
Ross said Monday he was "getting hit from all sides" to get GCDC funding reinstated, and he sent a memo to members of the council stating his reasons for undoing the committee action he is calling "a mistake." He is asking for the budgeted figures for GCDC and the Chamber of Commerce to be reinstated as presented in the 2013 budget proposed by City Administrator Phil Rath.
GCDC, a non-profit organization, was formed in 1993 to establish a local community development resource for Green County businesses and communities. It is funded by public and private investments. It received $28,670 from the city of Monroe in 2012 and $30,000 in 2011.
Alderman Brooke Bauman confirmed Monday she made the motion in committee Thursday, Oct. 25 to cut all GCDC funding from the budget next year; Tyler Schultz seconded the motion, which passed by 2 to 1, with Reid Stangel, committee chairman, voting against. Louis Armstrong abstained.
Bauman is a member of the GCDC board of directors, appointed by the mayor and approved by council to represent the city. Her term expires at the end of 2014.
According to minutes of Thursday's committee meeting, Bauman said she believes funding GCDC was not worthwhile, because it is ineffective. Schultz agreed.
The minutes recorded Alderman Jan Lefevre also expressed frustration with the organization but that Alderman Michael Boyce stated funding GCDC should be continued. City Administrator Phil Rath discussed some prior GCDC projects and the benefits the organization provides. Rath serves as secretary on the GCDC board of directors.
On the heels of the committee voting to defund GCDC, Schultz moved to increase funding for Monroe Chamber of Commerce, which contracts with the city for economic development services. The $10,000 increase would be in addition to the chambers' requested increased funds for 2013. All totaled, the chamber would receive about double its 2012 funding. Last year, Monroe Chamber of Commerce received its requested $15,000 for 2012, plus an extra $5,000 to encourage the organization to add more office help.
In his memo, Ross states "this vote to defund GCDC sends the wrong message" to local major employers who are invested in GCDC, Monroe and Green County and are "major supporters of the city of Monroe financially and in volunteerism.
"Why would companies want to start up or relocate here when the city doesn't support a county-wide effort for economic development?" he asks in his message. He also asks "... if economic development is so important to the city for job creation, why is less than 1 percent of our 2013 budget going to that effort?"
The budget, as Rath had presented, had a levy amount of about $40,000 more than the 2012 levy - after the committee chose to forego iPads for aldermen and department heads totaling $13,000, according to the city comptroller Bridget Schuchart.
Rath and Schuchart had applied about $700,000 in undesignated funds to help balance the 2013 budget. Much of that money was used to off-set capital expenses and cover a $117,000 shortfall in TID No. 7 debt expenses, Schuchart added.
With the funds left from defunding GCDC ($18,670, after giving the chamber $10,000) and cutting the parking ramp maintenance funds by $26,000, the committee arrived at a levy amount of about $3,000 to $4,000 less than 2012, Schuchart said. The 2012 levy was $6.15 million.
The savings in taxes for property owners will not be significant under the budget now proposed by the committee, Schuchart said.