Village hears from auditor, nearing borrowing limit
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BOYCEVILLE – At the opening of the regular monthly meeting of the Village Board on Monday evening, May 10th, they heard a report about the Village’s finances from Jonathan Sherwood from the auditing firm of Clifton Larson Allen LLP.
One of the items that he pointed out to the board was that the village is “fairly highly leveraged.” His report indicated that because of several projects that required borrowing funds it has put the debt at 72 percent of the limit to which the village is allowed to borrow. The Village’s general obligation debt limit is five percent of its equalized valuation and that amounts to $2,664,835 and with the current debt being $1,931,949. “Be mindful of the debt limit when planning future projects,” Sherwood told the board.
The Village’s current equalized valuation is $53,696,700, about five million dollars more than the previous year. However, the debt limit did improve in the past year as the report for the year ending in December 2019 had the debt limit at 82 percent.
Another item that was brought up at length was the financing of the village’s two Tax Incremental Districts (TID). Sherwood told the board, “The Village has not got their full investment out of the projects.” He told the board that the TID District’s will have to be closed out with a negative balance. The report indicated that the village has a negative $3.2 million dollar balance in the two districts. “The good part of this is that the village will not owe any money to the other taxing districts,” Sherwood said.
Sherwood touched on the Village’s cash on hand. He talked about the spend down of cash reserves since 2015, with the bottom last year due to the spending of funds on several projects and that grant monies for those projects did not come into the village until 2021. The cash and investment grew by almost $365,000 last year.
Sherwood also reported on the Village’s utilities noting that the water utility had an operating income of $9,324 compared to 2019’s figure of $46,151, while the sewer utility had an income of $13,339 compared to $14,037 in 2019.
In reports from village department heads, the board learned from Darlene Lee, Village Clerk/Treasurer that the Board of Review will not be held until November and the revaluation will start in July.
Don Rose, head of the Public Works Department reported that two fire hydrants had to be moved because of the State Highway 170 project.
Police Chief Greg Lamkin informed the board that his department handled 137 officer calls last month and he pointed out several cases for the board.
He responded to assist Dunn County Sheriff with a domestic disturbance and he assisted with scene control as a large group had gathered and two suspects were taken into custody.
Four suspects were identified and felony charges were referred to the DA’s office over a report that two vehicles were vandalized.
Lamkin reported that five school staff members were injured by a combative student who was referred for felony charges to the DA’s office and Human Services.
Lamkin also reported that they collected 29 pounds of drugs from the Drug Take Back program recently. He also noted that his department would be involved in three trials this month.
There was a discussion about building permits. Lamkin told the board that a person had a hundred dollar project with the permit costing $25.00. “I thought that was excessive,” he told the board. After some discussion the board set a $1,500 minimum for permits.
