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Special Budget
Work Session for FY 06 at Village Hall (At 5:00 to 5:30 PM, Dinner Provided;
5:30 Work Session Formally Begins)
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The General Fund is balanced. The financial model is functioning
well. The exception is the Water
Fund. A 20% increase in the water debt
service charges are needed to meet the new intake debt expenses.
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A tax reduction of 1/10th of
one mill is included.
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All services are maintained and cost
efficiencies included.
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Attached is the Manager’s budget
message, the expected year-end cash balances and supporting multi-year plans.
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Discussion on whether a second work
session is needed prior to adoption on June 6, 2005 is needed.
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The complete line item detail is lengthy
and is available in the Clerk’s office and will be provided at the meeting.
Work Session
Discussion Items
(at 7:00 PM at Barber School)
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Discussion on Pending Village Hall
Construction Items
Renovation of Village
Hall and expansion of the Village of Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Department
was a tremendous boost to staff efficiency, downtown vitality and community
redevelopment.
A year later, staff
is working out a few bugs. The most
significant concern is a heating zone that included a space without outside
walls (the police squad room) with an area that has exposure to the outside
on three sides (the reception area).
Significant under heating for some and overheating for others
resulted. Experimentation with moving
the thermostat simply reversed the problem.
Staff met with the
Construction Manager, architect and the subcontractors and concluded that a
“heating coil” system needs to be installed with its own separate
thermostat. The cost is $7,200.
Had this been
realized during the plan stages the cost differential would have been
approximately $6,000. The Architect
volunteered to reimburse the Village for $2,000. This will more than cover the extra cost by doing it now.
Staff recommends
acceptance of this offer and authorization to make the heating coil
change.
This extra cost will
be covered by project savings not transferred to the Municipal Services
Garage expansion project.
The remaining warranty
items are being completed by Wolverine and the subcontractors, the biggest of
which are the cracking doors. We
anticipate full satisfaction by June 15, 2005.
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Downtown Master Plan Recommendations and
Discussion of Alternatives for Property Owned at 209 South Park (Temporary
Village Hall)
The original plan for
209 South Park Street was to sell this property once the Village’s use was
completed while reserving a 15-foot strip on the water for passage of an
eventual Grand River Greenway.
Discussions during
the Downtown Master Plan resulted in land use recommendations that show the
Village should retain ownership of 50’ of land along the Grand and work to
redevelop the entire west side of Park extending to School Street to the
west. This redevelopment would be to
create a comprehensive “mixed use” redevelopment that would be primarily
residential. It could even include
sale of the non-waterfront sections of Cutler Street for just the right
redevelopment.
The Council opted for
this approach at a work session in April 2004.
The Village’s two
year financing is coming to a close on June 30, 2005. A discussion tonight is needed to reaffirm
this approach and authorize staff to re-finance for an additional term. In this event, three years with no early
payment penalty might be a more realistic term.
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Discussion of Implementation of a
Brownfield Tax Increment Financing District for West End Redevelopment
Projects
A number of
initiatives are taking place in the West End. The most significant one, and the earliest time frame, is
redevelopment of the old Graflex building on West Savidge. Each of these two projects would benefit
from demolition assistance and improved by public infrastructure changes,
streetscape enhancements and Lakeside Trail connections.
This work session
item is intended to brief the Council on the Brownfield Tax Increment
Financing concept.
The key elements are
to seek and be awarded a no-interest loan for demolition and environmental
costs from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. This loan would be paid back from
increased tax revenues generated by the new development. In the case of the old Graflex
redevelopment, condominiums and restaurants totaling $6,000,000 will be
constructed.
The usefulness of
this assistance to the developer means the property can be treated as if it
were a “greenfield.” Since the
demolition and environmental costs are barriers to quality redevelopment,
this Brownfield TIF and loan process removes these barriers and enables a
higher quality of investment than could otherwise occur on a vacant piece of
land.
The only downside is
paperwork for Village staff.
It is recommended
that no funds be borrowed from the MDEQ that cannot be paid back within five
years from the tax increments. (If more
than five years is taken, up to ten more years is possible, but interest is
incurred.)
This Brownfield TIF
involves only the property under redevelopment. It includes no other properties. It enables capture of the school millage while normal TIF’s cannot
do so. It can also co-exist with the
proposed CBDDA Tax Increment District “hibernation.”
Miscellaneous
Announcements or Status Reports
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Applications to Historic Conservation
District (Need one more)
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Watershed Permit with FTCH help ($600
per year) versus a Jurisdictional permit with sampling help
Upcoming Agenda Items (Tentative)
May 2
Groundwater ordinance
TIF Hibernation
Meridian Street
Temporary Closures for Church Use
Waste Collection
Rates
May 16
Potential Budget Work
Session (At Village Hall at 5:30 PM)
TBD
June 6
Budget Approval
June 20
TBD
July 6
Possible Cancellation?
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