Superior council approves 2015 general fund budget; reduces Moccasin Mike landfill subsidy

The Superior Common Council approved the city's 2015 general fund budget on Sept. 16 and voted to reduce the transfer to the Moccasin Mike landfill from $1 million to $500,000, a change councilors and staff said will require additional landfill funding decisions in 2016.

Chris, a finance staff member who presented the budget, told the council the proposed general fund revenue for 2015 is about $27,766,000, with taxes making up roughly 45.9 percent of that total and intergovernmental revenue about 45 percent. The presentation described a package of balancing actions and cost-management measures, including a proposed move to a high-deductible health plan that the presenter said reduces projected premiums by about 6 percent.

The budget includes a $342,000 contingency for a pending salary study and does not plan service level reductions for 2015. Finance staff and the mayor made two corrections during the meeting: the tax-levy increase in the memo should be $232,000 (not $332,000), and the noted debt-service increase should be $41,837 (not $141,000), Finance staff clarified.

Councilors and staff emphasized the city's landfill funding problem. Chris said the budget reduces the general-fund transfer to Moccasin Mike to $500,000 for 2015 but warned the city will need additional solutions by Jan. 1, 2016 to avoid a growing deficit in the landfill fund. "We see no capacity in the general fund to be subsidizing the landfill as it has been in the past," Chris said.

Councilor Sweeney told colleagues, "there's no question anybody's mind in the finance department or the city that the landfill is our number 1 financial problem." Councilor Herrick criticized the state tipping fee assessed on landfill tons, saying, "this is not the city's fees. This is the state of Wisconsin charging us to put our own refuse in our own dump." Finance staff said the city's annual payment to the state for the fee is about $1.6 million.

The council approved several items related to landfill operations and capital work during the meeting. Public works director Gettman recommended awarding a contract for intermediate cover material at the Moccasin Mike Landfill to LSC Environmental Products of Appalachian, N.Y., for $73,044.69; the motion passed. Staff noted an updated quote that reduced the cost by nearly $4,000 (to about $69,000) after the agenda was posted. The council also approved an alley reconstruction contract to M. Joma Inc. of Ashland, Wis., for $118,923.95.

Councilors approved the budget as corrected by voice vote. The presenter noted that if the budget were not approved that evening, the council had scheduled Oct. 7 for additional review and Oct. 21 as the public hearing date needed to meet the tax-roll deadline on Dec. 1.