Agenda Preview for Finance, Budget and Personnel Committee

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Three Huge Items on the FBP Agenda

City Communicates OnFocus – Three huge items are on the agenda for the Finance, Budget and Personnel Committee tonight (5.15).

The first is a budget resolution for a West 2nd Street Redevelopment Plan. The resolution would take $30,000 out of the revolving loan fund and move it to economic development.

“The West 2nd Street redevelopment area has been identified as a targeted redevelopment site in the 2015 Downtown Master Plan. The West 2nd Street redevelopment area will be the third phase of the 2nd Street Corridor project,” said Josh Miller, Director of Developmental Services in a memo to the committee. “In 2015, the first phase included converting 2nd Street from Maple Avenue to Chestnut Avenue into a more pedestrian friendly corridor. The second phase, the Wenzel Family Plaza, will be a centralized community gathering space in the heart of downtown.”

“The project area is defined as follows: Veterans Parkway to the north, Chestnut Avenue to the east, the properties abutting 2nd Street to the south (including the Weinbrenner Shoe Factory), and S.J. Miller Park to the west. To get a better understanding of what it will take to redevelop this site properly, the Economic Development Board (EDB) directed staff to send out a Request for Proposals (RFP) to study this area in more detail,” according to Miller’s memo.

The second important item is consideration of a city policy for funding non-governmental agencies. This policy was initially created by Alderman Wagner prior to his leaving the city council and has been reviewed by City Attorney Harold Wolfgram.

The policy lays out the rules for who is eligible. According to the policy, in order to be eligible for consideration you have to be a 501c3 with the proper documentation, be in operation for the past 2 years, not affiliated with any political movement, and the money cannot be used as startup funds for the organization.

According to the policy, it also limits requests to the normal budget process unless the organization can provide a presentation to show the need.

The final big-ticket item the committee will consider is the city wheel tax. This was last discussed at a Board of Public Works meeting in December of 2017. At that time Alderman Wagner showed concern over pending legislation at the state level that could change the process for how a wheel tax would be implemented, at that time no action was taken. Alderman Buttke at the last city council meeting asked for the issue to be brought back to a committee.

A wheel tax is an additional fee on your vehicle registration that is paid to the city and can only be used for transportation related costs. Currently Marathon County has a $25 per vehicle wheel tax, according to the State Department of Transportation.

This item is for discussion only and there will be no action.

You can watch this and all Common Council and committee meetings on MGTV channel 991 on charter cable, or stream through the City website.

News Desk
Author: News Desk