USDA Reminds Village of Rules for Water, Sewer Loans
After examining the last few audits for the Village of Tamaroa, Marsha Gajewski of USDA Rural Development found the village was not in compliance with federal regulations regarding the 1975 sewer loan and the new water loan.
Prior to consolidating their accounts, the village had had restricted reserve, depreciation, operations and maintenance and bond and interest accounts for the 1974 sewer bonds.
The bonds would have been paid off in 2015. However, the board voted to use $30,000 from the sewer money market account and borrow approximately $35,000 from the railroad fund to pay off the bonds in January. Gajewski said she does not have the exact amount owed, but will find out Thursday and contact the village.
Tamaroa's Treasurer Margaret Lee also needs to open reserve, short-lived assets and bonds and interest accounts for the new water loan.
The accounts must be funded monthly up to an amount dictated by the federal government. The reserve account will hold one year's payments, the short-lived asset account will hold approximately twice that amount and is used for emergency repairs. Those accounts and the bond and interest account will all be savings accounts. The village's water checking account can be used as the operations and maintenance account.
The village makes annual bond payments of approximately $72,000. Those bond payments are made in May and November each year.
In addition to the new accounts, there are annual documents Lee must complete and final title policies and letters Village Attorney Matt Foster must submit regarding the loan.
Tamaroa must also pay for an A133 audit since the village received more than $500,000 from the federal government. The special audit should have been done in 2011 and 2012, but the auditors did not inform the village or perform the audit.
Gajewski said to make sure the auditors charge only for the extra work, which should be about $1,000.
She said the village's auditors, Emling and Hoffman, also should have presented their findings in person to the board. Trustee Bill Place said he will make sure that it is a condition of the next auditing contract.
In other business, the board:
• heard from Place that residents should be encouraged to call their federal representatives and ask them not to close Tamaroa's post office. He expects the Tamaroa Post Office may be closed in the next round of cuts by the Postal Service.
• voted to give Richard Kurtz a $25 reward for alerting the village and police to the vandalism of the lawn in front of the Community Center. The suspects were caught and jailed. Foster also asked that the village notify Asst. State's Attorney David Searby as soon as a damage estimate is received so Tamaroa can recoup the cost.
• agreed that Place should contact a structural engineer to conduct a preliminary study of currently unused portion of the Community Center. The board hopes to renovate the 3,800 square foot space. Renovations will include removing walls and consolidating support poles.
• agreed to change the rental policy for the gymnasium to include the front of the building at no extra costs. There will no longer be street shoes, chairs, tables or food allowed in the gym.
• agreed to give each of the six full- and part-time employees a $125 Christmas bonus and a ham or turkey.
• voted to accept a three-year electricity contract with Energy Me, locking in rates at 4.999 cents per kilowatt. The village had a one-year contract with Glacial Energy which moved to a month-to-month contract when it expired. The rate on that contact was tied to an Index and is no longer providing great savings.
• granted verbal approval for George and Bryant Lively to hold a special event featuring girls in bikinis on mechanical bulls. The board also discussed amending the liquor ordinance to allow Lively's establishment to stay open past 1:30 a.m. to serve food only. Liquor would not be served past 1 a.m. The issued will be discussed again in January.