Village of Oswego Committee of the Whole met Aug. 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
CALL TO ORDER
President Ryan Kauffman called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
Board Members Physically Present: President Ryan Kauffman; Trustees Tom Guist, Kit Kuhrt, Karin McCarthy Lange, Karen Novy, Jennifer Jones Sinnott, and Andrew Torres.
Staff Physically Present: Dan Di Santo, Village Administrator; Tina Touchette, Village Clerk; Jennifer Hughes, Public Works Director; Jason Bastin, Interim Chief of Police; Andrea Lamberg, Finance Director; Rod Zenner, Community Development Services Director; Joe Renzetti, IT/GIS Director; Kerry Behr, Project Engineer; Bridget Bittman, Community Relations Manager- Marketing; Kevin Leighty, Economic Development Director; Steve Raasch, Facilities Manager; and Dave Silverman, Village Attorney.
PUBLIC FORUM
Public Forum was opened at 6:00 p.m.
Lee Hoffer addressed the Board regarding impact fees. He was a School Board member for 8 years; Village Board previously got rid of impact/transition fees; he pushed for impact fees; School Board pushed to have an impact study done; there was a proposal to cut impact fees by 50%; saw there was an increase of 6.5% on tonight’s agenda item; not a good basis to look at and compare fees with other communities; Oswego is mostly residential; other communities have more industrial; look at what has been done in the past; 70% of the tax bill goes to the school district; impact fees affect the whole community; not valid to tie into CPI; don’t think it’s the Village’s responsibility to be competitive; responsible to the residents; only benefits the developers with the impact fees lower.
There was no one else who requested to speak. The public forum was closed at 6:06 p.m.
OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.
NEW BUSINESS
F.1 Change in Fiscal Year
Director Lamberg addressed the Board regarding the transitioning from fiscal year to a calendar year. She noted the following communities have changed from fiscal year to calendar year: Aurora, Barrington, Batavia, Brookfield, Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, DeKalb, Evanston, Glencoe, Glen Ellyn, Glenview, Highland Park, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, Naperville, Oak Brook, Orland Park, Park Ridge, Peoria, Rockford, Villa Park, Wheaton, Winnetka, and Woodridge. The following was presented to the Board:
Benefits
• Eliminates timing difference between the levy and budget.
• Aligns the payroll/tax year to the budget.
• Positions infrastructure projects more closely to the budget cycle.
• Presents challenges with the budget
• Provides improved timing of procurement of infrastructure projects.
• Limits us now with vendors bidding on projects
Drawbacks
• Budgeting for the transition year is imprecise and will likely result in increased budget amendments.
• Trending for the first two years after the transition is difficult.
• ERP programming is dependent on ERP provider availability.
Timing
• The Transition Year, TY25, would run for 20 months from 5/1/2024 through 12/31/2025. o Two full construction cycles
o Two full property tax cycles
o One full and one partial compensation adjustment cycles
o One full winter/plowing season.
o One audit/year end/State Comptroller filing.
• The first fiscal year with the new timing would be Fiscal Year 2026 which would run from 1/1/2026 – 12/31/2026.
Board and staff discussion focused on why 20 months instead of 8 months; State will not accept two yearend submittals; financial system only allows one year; reports will be off by one year if doing an 8-month stub year. Director Lamberg will be preparing an ordinance, for the next Board meeting, for the change from fiscal year to calendar year. There was no further discussion.
F.2 Review Development Impact Fees
Administrator Di Santo addressed the Board regarding impact fees and presented for conversation, direction, and input.
Board and staff discussion focused on needing several discussions before making a decision; land cash is supposed to be used for acquisition of land; not one developer paid the 2005 impact fees; in 2014, taxing districts got together to fund a study; in 2015, new fees implemented; in 2017, fees implemented for townhomes and apartments; transportation fee is for newly annexed properties; so far in 2023, new homes starts are above 300; CPI increase was in 2005; reviewing fees periodically; using water connection fee to pay for the new water source; some of the neighboring communities use the 2001 study; tried to compare apples to apples on new construction; Plainfield is the highest on total fees; not recommending increasing more than $3,000.00; limited room to increase with apartments; half of the communities in the list do not charge impact fees; last appraisal, on the current fair market value, was done in 2015; will discuss water rates at the next Committee of the Whole; if there are any increases to fees, Sonoma Trails and Diamond Point may go away; could grandfather these developments; converting the Kendall County Transportation Impact fee to an Oswego Regional Infrastructure fee for Wolf’s Crossing; adopt an ordinance to waive school impact fees for senior housing; doubling the Fire impact fee for senior housing; capital projects; 6.5% is too much for developers; have to do something for the fire department; shuffle the percentage around; talk about increasing each year versus a percentage increase auto added each year; connection fees for water to help out residents; shifting fees around; the Kendall County Transportation Impact fee cannot be shifted to the fire department; will hold an intergovernmental meeting with other taxing bodies; will clarify other taxing bodies’ budget details and capital projects; $3,000.00 is guesstimated; concerns with increasing too much; difficult for the Village to get regional and industrial because we are not close to interstates; concerned with what other communities are doing; wanting development, residential, and growth; number one thing businesses are interested in is growth; currently in discussions with the school district; not wanting to unduly burden the school district because of the growth; essential to get other taxing bodies’ capital needs; not every community is giving to the school district; in the past, communities would provide information on what they paid; updating the fair market value; changing from schools and giving to the fire department; school district is getting the tax money but no impact of students for senior developments; did not include Naperville in the numbers; a lot of information to digest; not allowed to charge impact fees on senior developments that do not have students; careful with not going too high; can see a few increases; if it’s not broken, don’t fix it; percentage of interest saved if having to bond out; whether the review period should be every two years; grandfathering developments that have approved project plans; direct impact on transition period.
Board agreed with the following:
• Converting the Kendall County Transportation Impact fee to an Oswego Regional Infrastructure fee
• Reviewing fees often to make sure we are in line with fees
• No escalators
More discussion on impact fees will be needed. There was no further discussion.
CLOSED SESSION
There was no closed session.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 7:07 p.m.
https://www.oswegoil.org/home/showpublisheddocument/6184/638302165478430000
Alerts Sign-up