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Warsaw Board of Public Works and Safety approved a contract between the city and Baker Tilly Advisory Group LP for a citywide fee study, not to exceed $25,000, on Friday.
Mayor Jeff Grose explained, “This will be part of what we looked at back in March a few meetings ago where they’re going to take a closer look at property assessments, property taxes, the local income tax, as well as a variety of other things, just to help us continue to be as informed as possible as we look at this (Senate Enrolled Act 1) and the consequences of that.”
SEA 1 is an Indiana property tax relief law designed to save homeowners money by 2028, but it is projected to reduce local government and school funding annually.
Councilwoman Diane Quance pointed out in the contract, there’s a list of departments that will be studied, but the Parks and Recreation Department was not part of that list. She said she knows the Parks Board takes a lot of time to set their fees, but she wondered why they weren’t on the list to be looked at.
Grose said he missed that. He said Baker Tilly are the experts and are the ones who will go through everything and provide the city with the information needed.
“Like I’ve told you, Diane, your service on the council, and, George (Clemens), you know this, I want to gather - (Clerk-Treasurer) Lynne (Christiansen) has been patient with me - as much information, accurate information, that I can get. Baker Tilly always says we may not hit the bullseye, but we do want to provide as much as possible,” he said, apologizing for missing the Parks Department on the list but he would check with Baker Tilly.
Quance said she would just like to see the Parks Department included in the review. Grose said he appreciated Quance identifying that.
“I think my argument is, this is why we need them, this is why we have to go through this so we have as much information as possible,” Grose stated.
Clemens said when he sat on the city council, “people always complained about the cost of these studies ... but it’s critical that we get the experts giving us advice.”
Christiansen said, “And the only thing I can note that maybe they didn’t put it is because the Park Department’s fees are associated with mostly programming. The rental fees for the buildings might be something to really look at to see if those are on par because that probably does go toward helping with the maintenance of the building.”
Quance said the buildings and the Pike Lake campgrounds are probably the two big things that use a lot of manpower.
Grose said he believed Baker Tilly’s reach will be “as far as they can take us to help us with this information.” He said the city needs the expert advice because “there’s multi-, multi-millions of dollars involved here and they’re taxpayer dollars.”
He said the effects of SEA 1 are coming and he wants to be prepared for them.
The Board of Works approved the citywide fee study agreement 3-0.
Christiansen said she would reach out to Baker Tilly to let them know they could include the Parks Department in the study if they chose to.
In other business, the Board approved:
• Payment application no. 10 for $225,813.32 for the Warsaw Street Department facility bond, as requested by Warsaw Community Economic and Development Director Jeremy Skinner on behalf of the Redevelopment Authority. The large facility is being built by Robinson Construction.
• Payment application no. 2 for $13,295 from American Structurepoint Inc. for the ongoing Winona Avenue road project preliminary engineering, as requested by Skinner.
• An engineering contract for $50,000 for a streetscape survey, conceptual renderings, preliminary design documents and engineering study by Jones Petrie Rafinski (JPR) Corp. for a streetscape design for the east side of South Buffalo Street, from the alley to Center Street and then the south side of Center Street from Buffalo to Indiana streets, as presented by Public Works Director Dustin Dillon.
• A memorandum of understanding between the Warsaw Police Department and Kosciusko County to enter into a fiber infrastructure project, as requested by Deputy Chief Bryan Sherwin on behalf of Police Chief Scott Whitaker.
“We currently have a shared fiber line with Kosciusko County for our law enforcement computer booklets, but they’ve actually initiated a new fiber project with Kosciusko REMC that will make a direct fiber all the way out to their other businesses - County Highway, County Work Release Center. So they’re requesting REMC to be able to connect with us to the existing line with have inside our building to complete the full circle fiber connection,” Sherwin said.
The county will cover all the costs and REMC will provide the installation and maintenance. The Kosciusko County Commissioners previously approved the MOU.
• A pay application for $775 from Wessler Engineering to put in some drying beds at the plant expansion, as requested by Wastewater Utility Manager Brian Davison. He said the money is using the remaining funds from the State Revolving Funds loan.
• The closure of the north half of one block of Grant Street between Center and East Main streets for Ryan Johnson’s 40th birthday party, as requested by Johnson. The road closure will be from 4 to 10 p.m., with the party being from 5 to 9 p.m. He said there will be a lot of neighbors and kids invited to the event, with a pickleball court set up.
• An encroachment agreement between the city and Biryani Kitchen, 114 S. Buffalo St., for outdoor seating in the alley, as presented by Assistant City Planner Leah Parker.
• Four travel requests for Warsaw Police Department officers, as presented by Warsaw Human Resource Director Denny Harlan.
• The new hire and change in payroll report, as presented by Harlan.
