Committee approves memorial fund agreement with Waukesha County Community Foundation

The Waukesha City Finance Committee voted to approve an agreement establishing a donor-designated permanent memorial fund with the Waukesha County Community Foundation, to hold state grant dollars and additional donor contributions related to the Waukesha Christmas Parade memorials.

Tony explained the agreement places the dollars into the foundation's pooled endowment, which carries fees and a distribution policy. "It is, 4.5 percent of the average assets that are being managed," Tony said, and he estimated that on roughly $519,000 the distribution "comes out to roughly, dollars 24,000 a year." He also described the foundation's long-term return target of about 7.5% after expenses and outlined an internal project team that would meet annually to set maintenance priorities and budget requests.

Committee members pressed on three areas: the need for a professional trustee versus a simple index fund for donors' tax deductibility (the Chair noted donations to the foundation allow tax deductions), how reimbursements and requests would be processed, and contingency steps for unexpected large expenses. Tony said the process for an unforeseen expense would be to "send that over to the foundation and explain the situation to them so they can take it to the board." Members debated whether the roughly $24,000 annual distribution would be sufficient for maintenance and noted options such as contracting services, using volunteers, or seeking exemptions from the foundation to exceed the 4.5% distribution in exceptional years.

After discussion, a motion to approve the agreement carried by unanimous voice vote. Staff will form the memorial maintenance project team and incorporate distribution requests into the city administrator's budget process for review during regular budget cycles.