The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Meeting
Thursday, March 6, 2014 – 6:30 p.m.
Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room
Delhi, IA
The meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District Board of Trustees was called to order by President Steve Leonard at 6:30 PM at the Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room.
Trustees present: Leonard, Kramer, Schneider, Burger, Gifford by phone and Kray by Skype
Trustees absent: Davidson
Visitors: Mark Brewer, Larry Peter, Dave Larson, Larry Aschbrenner
Agenda reviewed by Leonard. Motion made by Burger to approve agenda, Schneider second, all ayes, motion passed.
Public Hearing opened for FY Budget 2015. Kramer gave a summary of the budget and advised she met with Carla Becker, County Auditor, to reflect what is currently happening this year with the FY 2014 budget. Please see the attached budget below for details. Kramer also wanted to note that the income from our 4% property tax is increasing with a difference of $164,000 for FY 2014 to $202,000 in FY 2015. The overall summary is our total resources amount to $11,131,568 and our estimated expenses are $11,105,140 leaving a balance of $26,428. Again this is an estimate of what we think our projected revenues and costs will be. Burger added the budget was developed with budget finance committee members who include Burger, Kramer, Davidson, Jim Locke, Marilyn Cook and Tom McLaughlin.
Public comment during Public Hearing – Larry Peter asked about taxes on the dam property. Kramer said if we had to pay property tax once the dam is built it would be very troublesome as the dam will be a large asset in dollar figures. Burger said tax exempt status for sales tax is beneficial because without it we would have to pay sales tax on all products required during the construction phase. Very optimistic that we will be exempt. Peter asked if all the exemptions get approved, would we be able to just purchase an item at Norbys, for example, and be tax exempt. Leonard said normally the ruling for municipalities is that you are tax exempt for items the municipality is under contract for and his understanding is that we are sales tax exempt per current code of the State of Iowa. If you need to just buy a hammer, that is different as there is a difference between contractural and non-contractural needs.
Larry Aschbrenner asked if a contractor buys materials under our name would they be tax exempt and Leonard advised yes. Does it matter if the items are purchased in a different state and Leonard said no, it is dependent on where the items are delivered.
Burger reiterated that the budget is purely a guestimation at this point. Burger made motion to close public hearing at 7:45 and Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard asked for motio to approve budget and so moved by Burger, Kramer second. All ayes, motion passed.
Public comment – Dave Larson said he understands we may have to cut trees down on DNR owned property. Leonard advised there is an Iowa state law that trees cannot be removed from April thru the end of August because of bats. We will have to be cognizant of cutting down trees on DNR property and the Rocky Nook property we just purchased. We will be trying to get this done before April 1st and he is sure there will be a call for volunteers.
Mark Brewer wanted to confirm the status of our permits – that he understands we have one permit but we require another. Leonard explained a federal permit is required to do both phases of our construction and we recently received that so we can proceed with Phase I construction. Phase II also requires a permit from the state and we are working closely with the DNR to receive that permit. We had not met all the criteria for the Phase II permit until today because we were required to own certain property by the dam to proceed, however, that property was closed on today. The DNR will now be sending a public notice to all residents of the lake and several properties downstream to notify of the impending construction. We are suggesting all property owners to respond positively for the construction. After the public notices are sent the permit process will continue and we are expecting the state permit in June or July. Will parties on leased land receive a letter also and the answer is yes, every tax payer/property owner in the district was our understanding.
Motion to adjourn by Schneider, Burger second. All ayes, motion passed and meeting adjourned at 6:59 pm.
Comb_Rec_Facil_&_Water_Qual_Dist_Miscellaneous_Authorities_Budget_2015 (5)