Audit reveals Janesville city finances strong

During their regular meeting the evening of July 12, Tom Olinger, an accountant with the auditing firm Abdo, told members of the Janesville city council that, based on their 2024 audit report, the city is sitting quite well despite inflation costs. Olinger told council members other cities whose finances he’s audited are having difficulty keeping expenditures flat because of continually climbing prices.

 

He cautioned council members to watch for the effects of inflation on aspects of the city budget. 

 

Olinger observed a minor decrease of about $30,000 in the general fund. Within the sewer fund, $100,000 was paid out of reserves.

 

As far as the budget goes, Olinger informed the council the water fund is the only operating cost that rose slightly to $621,000; he said cash outflows have also slightly increased. He attributed that to water usage being lower due to the wet weather last summer.

 

The sewer fund, he continued, saw a decrease in cash of about $30,000 but attributed it to the additional $100,000 last year which was paid out of reserves for capital improvements. Currently, he said, the city has about $300,000 in the reserves for capital improvements.

 

For the storm sewer, Olinger said the city has $400,000 sitting in reserves, something that has gradually increased. He advised the city to examine whether there are future capital needs that can be paid out of those reserves as the city moves forward.

 

Regarding electricity, he noted As for the electric side, he noticed debt added this year and was related to the transformer project.

 

“Taking a lot at that, the overall cash ended up being an additional $1.8 million,” Olinger stated and referred to the screen where the council members looked at the spike in the cash. “That cash is really just temporary because that is the bond proceeds that came in and is committed to pay for some of the construction costs that will carry into 2025.”

 

The cash flow the $1.2 million in cash for Whispering Creek stayed consistent from year-to-year, Olinger also told the council.

 

The golf course, he shared, had a decrease in cash of $12,000 since the cash from operations broke even while the operational costs increased for this year. The future debt payments, he added, resulted in the decrease.

 

“Not a huge deal, but I would monitor that as we don’t want to have that creep down and have that cut into the cash going forward, too,” Olinger suggested.

 

During the meeting, City Administrator Clinton Rogers addressed a concern from the previous month about vehicles parking on Main Street for too long. Throughout the month, he researched practices in at least twelve different cities.

 

“Quite honestly, it varies in every community,” Rogers informed. “A lot of towns don’t have the limited hours of parking on Main Street.” Among limitations he learned about were signs limiting parking to 24 or even 36 hours; he said his research did not turn up any useful guidance. Rogers inquired of the council whether the city should begin enforcing the three-hour limit or simply remove the signs.

 

“Do we have adequate signage to get the point across?” council member Kyle Luitjens asked; Rogers responded the city does.

 

Discussion indicated any form of enforcement would entail significant expense. Police Chief Steven Johnson mentioned it would be costly to begin devoting officer time to parking enforcement, and not necessary very efficient, since past experience showed vehicles were not always registered to current addresses. 

 

Another idea, making external wi-fi available so business owners could make use of building-mounted cameras to record violations, had also been found to be expensive.

It was suggested, though, that any business owner with a security camera could be invited to record and report violations. 

 

Council member Andy Ahlman suggested “a gentle conversation or warning” had led people to change their habits in the past, and is perhaps the best way to proceed in the future. Police Chief Johnson agreed simply speaking with people can be effective for some violators. “It’s just, you know, getting everybody to have that same change would be wonderful.”

 

At that, Johnson said he would be willing to send out a mailer to the business owners and if a complaint surfaces, the police force can deal with the complaint.

 

Ultimately, the council decided to ask city staff to begin reinforcing the ordinance.

 

In other matters, the council accepted second quarter donations to various funds.

 

The council adjourned at 8:12 p.m.