2021 audit report approved

Tom Olinger, accountant with Abdo Eick and Meyers, visited the Janesville council on Monday, August 8 to go over the city’s audit for 2021. Council member John Sprengeler was absent from the meeting.

Olinger outlined how the city’s expenditures and funds looked compared to previous years. As a rule of thumb, the city has a 35-percent fund-balance policy, meaning that the city’s benchmark is to set aside 35 percent of its revenues every year.

“You generally want to be between 30 and 50 percent to make sure you have cash flow to get through to the next year,” Olinger explained to the council.

He shared many graphs to give the council a clear picture of the city’s status for 2021 compared to previous years. Tax revenues increased compared to 2019 and 2020 with intergovernmental revenues lower than in 2020. Public safety, capital outlay, and street and highway expenditures increased in 2021.

Thanks to these expenditures, the city spent more than had been budgeted by $3,500: nonetheless, actual amounts for both revenues and expenditures were higher than budgeted. The end result was the city having an excess of $16,102 in revenues which can now be credited to the general fund. Capital project fund balances (capital reserves for police and fire, street projects, for example) decreased  $195,063 from 2020 to 2021, while special revenue fund balances (revolving loan funds, fire, disc golf, etc.) increased by $64,967.

When talking about taxes, Olinger noted that the city is doing a good job of keeping the tax levy consistent. “It’s good to keep it as flat as possible. If you take on future debt, you don’t want any spikes moving forward. It’s good to plan ahead.”

Janesville’s tax rates have steadily decreased and are lower than the average rates in Waseca County and in other comparable towns around the state.

The taxes per capita, however, are slightly more than the average city in the county, although they have plateaued over the years. The average Janesville resident paid $521 in property taxes in 2021, $34 more than the average Waseca County resident.

After Olinger finished his presentation on the 2021 audit, the city council approved the report 4-0.

Council Reports

According to council member Andy Ahlman, the personnel committee met to talk about cost-of-living increases for employees. After going through 2023 adjustments, committee members agreed to raise the annual pay increases from three percent to four percent for the next year.

Mayor Andy Arnoldt attended the light and power board meeting, where the main topic of the evening was figuring out plans to fix the ongoing power issues in town.

“They [city utility workers] are getting in the early steps of fixing the problems,” he stated. “They are setting aside funds for a long-term study to come up with some type of solution to the problem.”

He added that workers are trying to secure a used unit to put into service temporarily. “The new unit we have is up and operational, but they don’t have confidence in it.”

Other Business

In old business, the council greenlit a payment of $183,000 for work completed for the 2022 street and utility improvement project on Allyn Street, Grove Street, and East Street.

The council briefly looked through more of the 2023 general fund finances. City Administrator Clinton Rogers noted that there were only a few minor changes to monies allotted for the library and community development.

“We increased the library budget a little bit,” he noted. “We are looking at options for potentially  constructing a new library building.”

Community development funding was also increased by a few thousand dollars to compensate for all the travel and conference expenses Community Development Director Marley Rohwer has done for the city.

The council approved a liquor license and a road closure on Skookum Street for St. Ann Catholic Church’s annual Fall Festival. The liquor license, upon state approval, will be valid the weekend of September 10, while the road closure will be from Friday, September 9 to Sunday, September 12.

The final action for the night was appointing Jim Mulcahey to take fellow council member Melissa Kopachek’s place on the city’s economic development authority board. He will take her place at the next meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 18. The meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m.