Colfax borrows $750,000 for 2024 street projects
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has approved borrowing $750,000 through two state trust fund loans to cover the cost of street projects completed in 2024.
Over the coming years, some current debt will be paid off while the new debt is added in, said Carrie Johnson, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, at the Colfax Village Board’s October 28 meeting.
The plan is to find a way to “minimize the bumps” to mitigate the tax impact with other debt closing out, said Josh Low of Ehlers, Inc., the village’s financial consultant.
The $750,000 will pay back the general fund, Johnson said.
There is not much cash left in the general fund, she said, noting that there is about $400,000 left in the general fund, and that the village is expecting $200,000 from the state.
Presumably the $200,000 coming from the state refers to the Municipal Street Improvement Supplemental Program (MSIS) grant, which is a component of the Local Road Improvements Program (LRIP). WisDOT will reimburse the Village of Colfax for up to a limit of $165,150 on this year’s street projects.
The village learned that Colfax had been awarded the grant at the April 22 meeting.
The Colfax Village Board accepted the low bid of $709,592 from Skid Steer Guy LLC for the Balsam Street and Oak Street projects at the April 8 meeting.
The village incurred another $30,000 to $35,000 in expenses for Balsam Street when construction crews ran into a problem at First Street.
It was not clear from the discussion where the $750,000 in cash had come from that has already been paid to cover the projects on Balsam Street and Oak Street. The village board has been approving the pay requests submitted to pay the contractor, Skid Steer Guy LLC, as those requests have been received.
According to the village’s audit report from Bauman Associates, as of December 31, 2023, Colfax had $466,415 in the unassigned general fund balance.
Colfax has typically kept $1 million to $1.5 million in the coffers, and borrowing $750,000 before the end of the year will put the money back, Johnson said.
General fund
It was not clear from the discussion what Johnson meant by “coffers.”
The village’s unassigned general fund, which is money that is not allocated for anything and can be spent on whatever the village board approves, has only been at $1.49 million once in the last 10 years.
Money is transferred to the unassigned general fund if there is leftover money in a particular budget year.
According to the 2014 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $762,507.
According to the 2015 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $1.49 million.
According to the 2016 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $736,472.
According to the 2017 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $679,734.
According to the 2018 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $592,784.
At the June 28, 2020, meeting, the village board transferred some money out of the unassigned general fund balance to cover several expenses, and Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer, reported the unassigned general fund balance was $590,789.
According to the 2020 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $461,494.
According to the 2021 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $267,168.
According to the 2022 audit report, the unassigned general fund balance was $592,837.
Auditors
When Jackie Ponto was the administrator-clerk-treasurer for the Village of Colfax, Ponto reported to the village board that the auditors were of the opinion that the village should not keep so much cash in the general fund.
Ponto resigned as the administrator-clerk-treasurer in the fall of 2014.
Keeping a large amount of cash in the general fund was not fair to the taxpayers who had paid their property taxes because the money was not benefiting the taxpayers. If the village was not going to spend the money to benefit the taxpayers, then the village should reduce the property tax assessment, Ponto had told the village board at that time.
Representatives for various auditing firms have said general accounting principles for municipalities indicate a general fund should contain between 25 percent and 33 percent of the general fund expenditures.
The revenue and expense budget for 2024 was $1,323,242.
If the entire budget amount for 2024 was general fund expenditures, general accounting principals would indicate that the village should keep between $331,000 and $437,000 in the unassigned general fund balance.
Resolution
The village board will have to approve the resolution to borrow $750,000 at the first meeting in November, and then the village will have the cash by the end of the year, Johnson said.
The Colfax Village Board approved a motion to borrow $750,000 through two state trust fund loans for 2024 street projects as presented by Ehlers, Inc., on a vote of five “yes” to zero “no.”
Voting in favor of the motion were Village President Jeff Prince and Village Trustees Clint Best, Margaret Burcham, Anne Jenson, and Gary Stene.
Village Trustees Carey Davis and Jen Rud were absent from the meeting.
The application for a state trust fund loan is a multi-step process, Low noted.
Dunn Street
In other business, the Colfax Village Board accepted a bid of $28,800 to add four water and sewer services for the East View development on Dunn Street.
Since the village board approved rezoning some of the lots to “zero lot line” for twin homes, four additional water and sewer services are needed, Johnson said.
Just so the village does not run into this kind of situation again, would it be feasible to put in two services per lot at the beginning? Stene asked.
Yes, it would be feasible, said Rand Bates, director of public works.
The sewer and water mains are the really expensive part, but the services are a minor cost when you add the services at the time the street is dug up, he said.
Now the village is in the position of having to saw cut the street in order to install the services, Bates said.
There also is someone who is interested in building four or five duplexes in the lot across the street, he said.
The lot Bates is referring to is privately owned and is located east of the apartment complex on Big Blue Stem Lane.
Bates said he would have to talk to WestCAP again about extending the sewer and water service from the apartments to accommodate the proposed duplexes.
When Burcham asked if the bid from Skid Steer Guy was the only bid received, she was assured that the village had only received one bid.
The price of $28,800 includes installing four sets of water and sewer services to existing lots and also covers pipe material, labor, digging in rock for one set of services, and base coarse patch for asphalt that is disturbed.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved the bid for $28,800 from Skid Steer Guy for the additional water and sewer services on Dunn Street.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Village Board:
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for parks of $72,643 for 2025, which compares to a budget of $69,720 for 2024.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for Evergreen Cemetery of $33,421, which compares to $23,141 from 2024. The increase is due to some costs that likely will be associated with the Veterans’ Memorial as well as reassigning wages from the street department.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for streets for 2025 of $269,077, which compares to a budget of $262,444 for 2024.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for street lighting for 2025 of $23,500, which compares to a budget of $23,500 for 2024.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for the water utility for 2025 of $365,269, which compares to a budget of $285,640 for 2024.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for the sewer utility for 2025 of $333,629, which compares to a budget of $233,078 for 2024. The sewer utility will be paying increased costs for testing due to more testing requirements that are included in the current Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit than was required for the previous permit, Bates said. The increase also includes $55,000 for debt service payments, operator’s wages, phosphorus removal chemicals and outside services.
• Reviewed a preliminary budget for the police department for 2025 of $281,550, which compares to a budget of $230,950 for 2024. Some of the increase is related to $45,000 for a new squad vehicle. The police chief typically underspends on the budget, and in the past, with a trade-in, the squad vehicle has ended up costing about $15,000, Johnson said.