by Mari Radtke
It’s been more than two years since skilled financial management of the Paullina finances has been in place. A (mostly) new administration is taking action to get a handle on the state of Paullina’s balances, spending and revenue. Council held a workshop on Monday July 29 to establish useful facts so a path forward, publicly useful decisions, can be made.
A previously announced but not defined “imbalance” is now explained better. The bank balance of city money is greater than the records in the city’s records shows. Bank statements last year showed big deposits by the bank to the city’s account. At that time, Marty Weber, Security State Bank, Paullina, researched the transactions and explained them as interest correction deposits. The source of the imbalance is not known for sure according to city staff, although software generated “adjustments” are suspected. Work is underway with Williams & Co. staff and software publisher G-Works to resolve the imbalance and put Paullina on a fresh financial start beginning with the July 1 fiscal year.
The workshop revealed current debts and debt (bonding) capacity available. A previous workshop showed council budgeted spending and the financial effects on the correlated revenue source (utilities). At that time, there was not mention of the city’s general fund debt (approximately $225,000) to the city’s electric fund for the ball field lights in the city park. The cost discussion occurred during discussions of utility rate changes.
Current outstanding bonds owed by the City of Paullina are a revenue bond for sewers, and two general obligation bonds. A revenue bond is paid from revenues from utility operations. General obligation (GO) bonds use property tax revenue to pay the debt and interest. There is no capacity limit on revenue bonds. The GO bonding capacity is a 5% of taxable property assessment. For Paullina, that is established as $3,981,548.90.
The sewer revenue bond balance on July 29 was reported as $102,000.00. The first GO bond, issued on September 1, 2017 was for both Maple Street costs and the West Industrial Lot. The reported outstanding balance is $340,000.00. A second GO bond was issued on September 14, 2018 for additional utility work in the West Industrial Lot/ The remaining balance is $495,000. The current available capacity for any new GO bond issues is $3,146,548,90.
Much discussion by the council on July 29 centered on a full page of projects and goals brought to the attention of council and broken down by city activity or fund. Some of the projects, goals or wish list items were duplicated from another “department.” The focus of the work shop evolved into obtaining a priority list and associated costs.
Councilman Steve Heeren was first to state his top 5.
Those were:
1) Removal of excessive sludge in sewer cell #1.
a. This is a just revealed condition found during the installation of the aerators.
b. The estimated cost of the sludge removal is $150,000.
2) Installation of a lift station and 8” line on Wood Street.
a. The pipe cost is $30-$35,000.
b. TCA can bore in the pipe and be paid from telecom revenues owed to the city. No cost was stated.
c. Sewer improvements on Willow Street were discussed in previous meetings, but not during the workshop. The new school construction includes very large drainage pipes into the Willow Street sewer lines.
3) City Hall repairs
a. Water infiltration remains despite numerous roof repair efforts.
b. Large cracks in the wall suggest foundation problems. Council may consider an engineer inspection to determine a proper fix.
4) Construction of a Fire Station
5) Increase housing.
a. The favorite project to develop additional housing options in Paullina was to pay for the engineering of residential lots on Maple and East Broadway Streets.
A sixth project was put on the list of priorities. That is considered a long term plan. Fire protection for downtown Paullina is at risk due to what Fire Chief Ryan Harper has described as insufficient water pressure from those available hydrants. This project would include replacement of all utility infrastructure is a to-be-determined area of the city, water, sewers and electrical. That activity would necessitate the removal and replacement of the streets. Street light replacement and other aesthetic concerns are part of this discussion.
Action for the top five priorities was on the Monday August 5 agenda. First readings for utility price changes were also on the August 5 agenda which is after press time for this story.