WINONA LAKE - Due to lingering questions and an error, the Winona Lake Town Council tabled an ordinance for an additional appropriation and a resolution for town employee Christmas bonuses.
At Monday’s special council meeting, they had a public hearing on three additional appropriations totaling $740,000. A copy of the ordinance stated $250,000 was for capital expense from the Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) fund; $130,000 was for street paving from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund and $610,000 was for capital expense from the TIF fund.
Part-time consultant Retha Hicks told the council the TIF fund had enough money in it for what was being appropriated from it. “All the other funds had the cash to do an additional appropriation. So it’s not all from TIF,” she said.
Resident Jerry Nelson said usually when he sees a capitol expenditure it’s associated with something. He understood the street paving but he was curious about what the two capital expenditures were associated with, and if one was for a fire truck that had been ordered.
Clerk-Treasurer Heather James said they weren’t for the fire truck. “It is for a bond payment that we made” on the ice rink, she said.
“Both of those?” Nelson asked.
James said the $610,000 was. As for the $250,000, Hicks said they were covering a minus cash balance in the donation fund and thought it was for an accumulation of five to six payments in large amounts that weren’t budgeted for last year.
“How would you spend it out of donations if there’s no money in there? If you’re $250,000 short in the donation fund, can you explain it to me as a resident why you’re paying bills when the fund has absolutely no dollars in it?” Nelson asked. “I realize you can’t conclude the year without dollars, but I’d like to see a little more breakdown than, ‘well, it’s just big bills we paid.’ Is it all related to the ice rink?”
He asked James for a breakdown of the funds.
“I do not have that information with me and Retha and I have been working on that. There were claims paid out of incorrect funds, so we’re trying to get those corrected,” James said.
Before the council approves the money, Nelson said he’d like to see a breakdown of where that money is going. “If it’s going to be $1 million a year on the ice rink, I think the town taxpayers are entitled to know that,” he said.
If it’s all for the ice rink, Nelson wanted to know how much did the ice rink generate in revenue last year. He asked if the town was ever going to get an accounting of what was received and what the ice rink was costing the town annually. He requested again a breakdown of the $250,000 and as it was a public hearing, the clerk’s office should be able to tell him that.
“If you don’t have it right now, and you’re going to pass an ordinance, you’re going to do all these other things and I don’t have a clue as a taxpayer what’s in that $250,000,” he said.
Councilman Barry Andrew said Nelson’s questions were legitimate questions and they were questions and answers that he was looking for, too. “But I also think that we need to extend a level of grace to Heather and her team knowing that she came into a position that had a lot of stuff involved with it, and I think that her and Retha are doing the best they can right now with what they’ve got,” he said.
James won the election this year over incumbent Laurie Renier, but had to step into the position a couple months early - after a caucus elected her - after Renier resigned in October due to a number of issues.
Nelson asked the council Monday if they were going to spend about $1 million based on “the good faith of Heather, who is clerk-treasurer. Retha is an employee. Heather is the clerk-treasurer and she should have the answers.” He again asked what the $250,000 was going toward.
Councilman Jim Lancaster asked Nelson if he had any other questions regarding the public hearing on the additional appropriation.
“Yeah. Can you tell me, is all $860,000 going to the rink?” Nelson asked.
James said it was not. The $610,000 was, but otherwise she said she could only speak to what she has seen in the time she’s been in office. “We are working with Baker Tilly to go through and correct when funds have been paid out of the wrong fund, and that’s why it’s not clear right now all the expenses,” she said.
Of the $250,000, Nelson asked how much was going toward the rink. James said she did not have a clear number on that yet. Asked if it was more than $100,000, James said yes. Asked if it was more than $150,000, she said, “Not that we’ve been able to identify yet.”
After the public hearing on the additional appropriation was closed, the ordinance for it was up and Lancaster asked for a motion on the ordinance.
Councilwoman Ashley McGinnis said the fund report showed the TIF balance was only $91,000, though Hicks stated there was money in there to cover the $740,000. “Am I looking at it right? Am I not seeing something?” she asked.
After reviewing the ordinance and a fund report from the council, Hicks apologized because “TIF is not the one that is going to be supporting these. EDIT is.”
Nelson asked then if the legal publication the town had printed in the newspaper was wrong. Hicks said yes, and James said it would have to be republished.
“And that’s my fault because I didn’t check the numbers,” Hicks said.
Lancaster said they’ll table it then until next week. Hicks said the legal advertisement had to be published in the newspaper 10 days before the meeting. The next council meeting is Dec. 19, so Lancaster said they could move that meeting. James said she wasn’t sure if they could get it published in time.
Lancaster said they could table the ordinance and then James could let them know when they could change next week’s regular meeting to in order to complete the business. The council then moved on, though no motion was made and approved to table the ordinance.
The next item on the agenda was a resolution for town employee Christmas bonuses at an amount to be set by town council. Lancaster said it was up to the council if they wanted to provide Christmas bonuses and for how much. Two years ago, it was $275, he said, and last year it was $500 per employee.
McGinnis asked which fund would the bonuses come from so the council would know how much money they were working with. James said she knew it was budgeted, but as for where it was coming from probably depended on the departments.
McGinnis also asked if James had talked to the State Board of Accounts (SBOA) about giving bonuses. She has seen some conflicting information about bonuses. James said that was not something she specifically addressed to the SBOA.
Councilman Austin Reynolds said that with McGinnis’ concerns, he moved to table the bonuses until the next council meeting to get some answers on them.
McGinnis said she wanted to know how much was budgeted for bonuses, where the money was coming from and if it’s OK with the SBOA and how much was OK.
No one seconded Reynolds’ motion and no vote was taken on his motion, but Lancaster said they would table the bonuses as well. The council moved on to discuss a bonus for Park Director Holly Hummitch.
The Park Board took money from their budget - $400 - and proposed that be given to Hummitch as a Christmas bonus. That would be on top of what the council tabled. McGinnis said the board has done that in the past and it was acceptable then. She motioned to approve the bonus, Reynolds seconded it and the motion was approved.