HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-12-17 Finance Committee Minutes '
FINANCE COMMITTEE '
December 17, 2003
Councilor Attendance: Farrington, Gratwick, Allen, Palmer, Cashwell ,
Staff Attendance: Cyr, Caruso, Smith, Little
1. Consent Agenda ,
A motion was made and seconded to approve the Consent agenda items a. & b. '
a. Workout Agreement— O'Connor— 222 Howard Street
b. Quitclaim Deed — Hamm —212 Warren Street ,
2. Bids/Purchasing
a. Engineering Services —Airport— Edwards & Kelcey - $62,900 ,
Caruso explained the engineering services were for construction of the new de-
icing containment area. There are 95% federal, 5% state matching funds with ,
the airport matching the remaining 5%. A motion was made and seconded to
approve stafPs recommendation.
3. Taxpayer Request '
Bangor Housing Authority purchased property in February 2002 and failed to file '
the required exemption forms with the Assessor until May 2003. Therefore,
taxes were assessed and paid in fiscal year 2003 in the amount of $448.64. As
the exemption has been filed no taxes were assessed in 2004. The time frame
had passed where the City Assessor could abate the 2003 taxes, so the Housing '
Authority is requesting that the 2003 taxes be refunded. This is not an
uncommon issue, many taxpayers find themselves in this or similar situations. A
motion was made and seconded to approve stafPs recommendation to deny '
Bangor Housing Authority's request.
4. Online Airplane Registration ,
Staff is seeking the Committee's approval to apply to the State Department of
Transportation to allow City of Bangor airplane registrations to be completed on- '
line. The airplane needs to be housed in Bangor and Bangor receives the excise
tax on the airplane. Currently, the taxes are paid to the state and the state
reimburses the City, which, in the last fiscal year, was $28,000. A motion was '
made and seconded to approve stafPs recommendation. In response to Gratwick,
Little explained it is up to the taxpayers to register their airplane or boat to the
City. The State does provide each municipality with an annual listing so that the �
municipality can compare it to their registrations. Lillian Smith, Appraiser in the
Assessing Office indicated that she does receive notification from the State if an
airplane has not been registered and then Assessing picks it up as personal '
property. Assessing then contacts the individual to find out the status.
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' 5. Assessor's Update— Personal Property Taxes
' Staff provided an overview of the personal property assessment process and
updated the Committee on its' progress for fiscal year 2005 assessments. Smith
indicated that the declaration forms are being mailed out. The only change in
' this years form is that at the top of the form a warning has been added that if
personal property is not reported that it will trigger an assessor's audit. The
overall personal property value for the City is approximately $269,000, which
' generates about $6M in revenue. There are approximately 2,900 personal
property accounts. A tracking form has been put place to track how many do
not declare and how many do with no change from the previous year. The last
report determined that 765 did not declare. The State changed the deadline for
, which businesses can apply for their business equipment tax refund program.
Changing the application time period affects two fiscal years for the City and
basically doubling the work of the Assessing staff. When new businesses open
' in Bangor, the Assessing staff meets with them to explain the personal property
tax process. Businesses not declaring are compared to other similar type
businesses for personal property tax computation.
1 6. Order, Transferring Unexpended Capital Funds for the Purpose of
Purchasing Council Chamber Chairs
' This Order is a result of a recent Government Operations Committee meeting,
where the purchase of council chamber chairs and its corresponding funding
' were discussed. It was requested that the City look for unexpended capital
funds. As the request would transfer funds between departments (from Public
Works and Fire capital accounts to a City Hall capital account), a Council Order
' will be necessary to transfer the unexpended funds. Allen had thought the
monies would be available in the undesignated fund balance account rather than
departmental capital funds. Farrington opposed the purchase of new chairs due
, to the upcoming difficult budget year. Palmer felt it is not a prudent time to
purchase new chairs and suggested a future consideration to include the entire
Chambers. Allen asked if the funds be held for future renovations to the
' Chambers. Cyr indicated if the Order under discussion is not approved the funds
will remain with the designated projects. The item will come before the Council
during the budget projed. Allen withdrew her motion to purchase the chairs.
' 7. Discuss Change in Finance Committee Schedule
, With the impending Committee structure changes, Councilor Farrington
requested that the Committee discuss the possibility of changing the regularly
' scheduled Finance Committee meetings. As one of the currently proposed
changes would be the elimination of the Strategic Issues Committee meeting,
discussion focused on whether there is sufficient interest by the Committee to
, request that the Fnance Committee meetings be changed from the 1�` and 3`a
Wednesdays to the 1�` and 3r0 Mondays. The item will be discussed at the
Strategic Issues Committee level for recommendation by the full Council.
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