Village Board — Minutes

Village of Benton November 09, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Scott Cruse, Chuck Wartner, John Perkins, David Ralph, Cal Robbins, Jill Knight, Kenneth Farrey Absent members: Village employees present: Sonya Silvers, Jim Goffinet, and Brian Hammill Others Present: The regular board meeting of the Benton Village Board was called to order by Village President, Scott Cruse, at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator Building at 244 Ridge Avenue on Wednesday, November 09, 2022. In compliance with the open meeting law, proper notice of the meeting had been posted in four public places; the Zephyr Depot, Benton State Bank, Benton Post Office, and the Benton Business Incubator Building. Motion (Robbins, Knight) to approve the minutes from the regular Village Board meeting held on October 19, 2022. Roll-all ayes. Carried Motion (Perkins, Robbins) to approve the minutes from the Special Village Board meeting held on October 24, 2022 after correction of heading date is made. Roll-all ayes. Carried Jim mentioned that the board should consider replacing the water main on Main Street before 2028 when the state will be completing a repaving project down Main Street. The water main was installed in 1992 and the pipe used is not holding up. There have been four main breaks in the past year. The DNR and DOT would need to be involved and this project would need to be put out for bid by 2026 at the very latest. Scott will reach out to the engineer to get a possible cost estimate for the project. Brian reported the police department is almost moved from the front of the building at 34 W. Main Street to the rear of the building, where he will be stationed until the office at the incubator is ready. The lease for the current location is up December 31st, 2022. Stats for the month were presented. Chuck presented stats for shared revenue over the past twenty years along with general fund balances since 2011. The state policy is for the unassigned fund balance to equal 30% of expenditures, once a municipality falls below that 30%, it is state mandated to get that fund balance back up within two years. The Village is getting ahead of this with their budgeting process. This year expenses were looked at line item by line item by the clerk and finance committee through several meetings. Currently the Village has no debt and in a meeting back in August, the auditor recommend the Village look into adding debt to the Village. This would allow an increase in the levy limit and help with revenue flow in a time where revenue is limited and expenses keep raising. The Finance Committee researched several aspects of raising the levy by adding the debt. Spreadsheets were put together with comparable information on property tax mill rates and assessed values. Rates in Benton were lower than others in the area. The added debt to the levy will raise Benton’s portion of the mill rate which is only a fifth of the contributing factor to the property taxes. The village is looking at adding a $100,000 loan. Motion (Farrey, Robbins) to approve the recommendation from the Finance Committee to borrow a $100,000 short-term loan from Benton State Bank. Roll-all ayes. Carried The claims against the Village were presented for payment. Motion (Knight, Perkins) to pay the claims against the Village. Roll-all ayes. Carried Meeting adjourned at 7:17 p.m. Motion (Ralph, Wartner) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried