Board learns village finances are in good shape

BOYCEVILLE — The village board listened to a report on the Village’s finances from Tom Cortes of the auditing firm of CliftonLarsonAllen. Cortes reviewed the 2012 year ending report at the village board’s regular monthly meeting Monday night, May 13th.

 In his review he informed the board that the village had over $3.2 million of assets in the general fund but cautioned the board that, all of that amount was not available, because some $2.2 million was in the Tax Incremental District number two. Board member Brian Wolff questioned Cortes about that money being paid back to the village’s general fund. Cortes indicated that was the hope, but noted that sometimes it does not work out that way. But he told the board that the village’s money  in the unassigned fund was “very healthy” with balance of some $450,000.

Cortes also reported on the village’s water and sewer utilities finances. His report indicated that the water utility showed an operating income of $66,383 for the year ending on December 31, 2012. Village President Gib Krueger noted that this figure was some $13,000 less than in 2011. The same was true for the sewer utility, which showed income at $84,480 down some $7,000 from the year before. But Cortes noted that the village spent over a hundred thousand for sludge removal last year.

Board member Jonathan Farrell questioned Cortes about the village’s general indebtedness and was told that they had a debt of $643,310, which was subject to the state’s limit of five percent of the equalized value of all property in the village. “Debt wise you are in excellent shape,” Cortes told the board. The village could borrow up to almost $2 million dollars the report indicated.

Cortes also praised village Clerk/Treasurer, Cindy Swanepoel for her record keeping, noting that they were in excellent shape.

Abandoned Road Still Topic At Board Meeting

At last month’s village board meeting, the board heard a complaint about access by a resident to property off River Road, a street that the village abandoned some time ago. That issue appeared again at this month’s meeting as two of the property owners addressed the board.

After the board listened to both parties, President Gib Krueger noted that after looking over records it was concluded that the old road ended on a section line. But it was discussed that the village took care of it for a longer distance. Board member Herb Dow indicated that when he worked for the village, he snow plowed into the driveway just to turn the plow around, “so I did not have to back up,” Dow said.

Police Chief Dan Wellumson addressed the matter, saying because of the issue he would have a hard time arresting anyone for trespassing. “The court is the right place to get this resolved,” Wellumson said.

Wellumson also noted that he had heard threats about shooting holes in a vehicle. “Let’s not let a property dispute turn into something stupid,” he told the parties involved.

Cross Connection Report

The village has contracted with a firm called Hydro Design to implement the inspection process to make sure that there is no cross connection that would allow water to be pulled back into the village’s water mains from used water from appliances.

Craig Wolf of Hydro Design spoke to the village board about what they would be looking for and had devices that would be installed on water lines to keep the water from flowing backwards.

Wolf noted that his firm will inspect all the public, commercial and industrial water users in the village this year plus 37 homes by the end of October. He explained that each customer of the water utility would get a notice of what is needed to be addressed at their place in order to comply with the new ordinance. He said that if corrections were not made by the customer the village could shut the water supply off.

In other business the board approved changing the time of allowing off sale of beer to reflect what the state rules are. The new time will allow sale starting at 6 a.m. The old rule was no sales before 8 a.m. They also approved changing the term of the municipal judge from a two-year term to four years.

The board was to approve a building permit for the remodeling of the building on Race Street to become the EMS station. But the board had no plans or applications submitted, so they could not act on that matter.

They approved a two-day permit for the firefighters association to sell beer on June 1 and 2 for Thunder in the Pines. The also approved the idea of having advertising signs placed on the fence at Pafko Park to raise money for the Lions Club’s effort to fund new playground equipment at the park.