Committee approves donor-designated memorial fund agreement with Waukesha County Community Foundation

The Waukesha City Finance Committee voted unanimously to approve a donor-designated permanent memorial fund agreement with the Waukesha County Community Foundation to support maintenance of parade memorials on Main Street and in Grady Park.

Tony (last name not specified), a city staff member presenting the item, said the foundation received a state grant and that the fund as presented contains about $519,000 in assets. He summarized the foundation’s fees and distribution policy: the pooled endowment charges a quarter-percent fee each quarter (1% annually) and the foundation’s distribution policy uses 4.5% of average assets for annual distributions. “So in this case, if it's $519,000 that are within that fund, it comes out to roughly, dollars 24,000 a year,” Tony said. He added the foundation’s long-term return goal is about 7.5% after expenses.

Tony described an internal administrative procedure: a parade memorial maintenance project team will include representatives from the mayor/city administrator’s office, engineering division in public works, and parks, recreation and forestry staff. The team will meet at least annually to identify maintenance needs and costs; the mayor/administrator member would incorporate that into the executive budget for finance and council review and approval.

Committee members asked how distributions and reimbursements would be handled. Tony said expenditures would be submitted to the foundation for reimbursement and that typical reasons for distribution rejection would be limited to nonprofit-status loss or organizational dissolution. He also said that, from a budgetary perspective, the city would show revenue where the expenses are shown to net the appropriation.

Alderman Lemke asked why the city should pay a 1% fee instead of using a simple market index; Tony said using the foundation allows donors to make tax-deductible gifts to the fund through the community foundation. Members asked about maintenance needs at the two memorial sites, staffing constraints for lawn care, and options such as contracting out landscaping or seeking volunteers.

Alderson Elvin Slaven moved to approve the agreement; the motion was seconded by Alderson Moulson. The committee approved the agreement by voice vote with no recorded roll-call tally.