The case of the expanding budget wishlist
On August 26, the City's Finance Committee met for the first time this year to take a look at the first round of capital budget requests. They heard presentations of spending plans for building inspection, information technology, police, planning and TIF, pedestrian and bicycle projects, public lands, forestry and conservancy lands, public works (streets and non-street projects), water resources, vehicle replacement and general administration.
The City's self-imposed target is capital spending of $3.5 million annually to be financed by borrowing, i.e. excluding capital spending on projects financed by TIF, grants and other revenue sources. Of those $3.5 million, $2 million are to go towards road reconstruction, maintenance and repair. It seems as if the City might be able to reduce this latter amount after 2025 or so, since its aggressive road reconstruction program undertaken in 2015 after years of neglect will have been successfully completed, and street spending will be able to focus more on preventative maintenance. So far for the good news.
Capital borrowing requests exceed the stated overall target by almost two million dollars (see chart above), so the Finance Committee, and the Council, will have to do some trimming back. This happens through negotiations with department heads, and is part of the annual autumn budget ritual. The two following years should be even more interesting, based on current spending requests.
Capital borrowing, by the way, is only a small part of overall capital spending (capital spending is spending on lasting items, and thus distinct from general-fund spending on operations), the total requests for which amount to over $21 million for next year (see chart above).
The mystery of the official hats
Middleton district 2 alderman Robert Burck displays impressive mental flexibility depending on which official hat he's wearing.
As regular readers of this newsletter know, on August 18 the Middleton Common Council held a debate about ways to help local businesses through the coronavirus pandemic. At the beginning of the meeting, the owner of Scooter's Coffee, a drive-through coffee shop on University Avenue, had implored Council members to allow him to install a so-called monument sign in the public right-of-way to allow for better visibility from the street - a vital component of his business model. He has been fighting the City Hall bureaucracy, especially the Public Works Department and its lobbying arm, the Public Works Committee (PWC), since the end of last year to get approval for the sign, but to no avail.
The Public Works Committee denied permission on March 9 (motion made by district 2 alderman Robert Burck, and seconded by district 6 alderwoman Susan West). The Plan Commission then granted permission, contingent upon approval of a licensing agreement by PWC. On June 22, the latter revisited the issue but took no action, effectively denying the request again.
During the August 18 debate, Robert Burck, wearing his alderman's hat, 'suggested that the City take a look at non-monetary ways to help local businesses, explicitly providing Scooter's Coffee and their need for a better sign-location as an example (...) The Council approved a motion by district 4 alderwoman Emily Kuhn, seconded by Kathy Olson, to refer the matter back to PWC for reconsideration' [Middleton e-View newsletter 13].
Following the Council's referral, PWC did discuss the sign application again on August 24, but again it took no action apart from directing Public Works Director Shawn Stauske to inquire at the County whose right-of-way it actually is, and if it is possible to 'vacate a portion' of it.
The Committee members were concerned about liability and creating a dangerous precedent if they allowed a commercial sign in public right-of-way. Robert Burck, wearing his PWC member's hat, made no effort to push the issue, and neither did Susan West. But, at the latter's request, the Scooter's Coffee sign is on the agenda for this coming Tuesday's Common Council meeting, as 'temporary signage accommodation'. It will be interesting to see how the Robert Burck wearing his aldermanic hat will vote on September 1.
Meanwhile, the coffee shop has short-circuited PWC's dithering and installed a mobile, inflatable sign at the location.
The secret of the late-fee waiver
Another PWC item on the Council's agenda is the recommendation to waive the late fees normally imposed the City's Water Utility for customers who don't pay their water bills on time, for the third quarter of this year. This is not quite as altruistic as it seems, however.
The State had decided, via the Public Service Commission (PSC), to waive local late fees until July 15 in view of the financial hardships caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Those late fees could now be resumed, but since the expiration of the waiver is not synchronized with the City's billing cycle, it would mean having to reprogram the software. The cost of that would be around $4,000, about the same as the amount collected in late fees. Plus, there is always the possibility that the Water Utility might recoup the lost late fee revenue as a covid-19 related expense when it applies for future rate increases. Computer-programming costs could not be recovered that way.
PWC did also recommend, however, that the Council extend the late-fee waiver until the end of the fourth quarter, i.e. until December 31, as well (those late fees might eventually also be recoverable).
The curse of the lost liquor licenses
The old Fitzgerald's locale at the corner of Parmenter Street and Lisa Lane is probably not going to reopen anytime soon. Since the former supper club was sold several years ago, the sprawling building has been going through intermittent remodeling work under a couple of owners. The first attempt at reviving the place in the form of a Korean-style barbecue restaurant with karaoke bar ran out of steam, and the operator lost the liquor license for non-activity.
Here we need to open a brief parenthesis into the labyrinthine world of alcohol licenses. The City of Middleton's Code of Ordinances does allow the City to revoke a liquor license if 'the premises to which it applies [does not begin] regular operation within (12) months from the issuance of the license or fails to be in operation for any consecutive six (6) month period while holding a license'. This is especially important in the case of so-called quota licenses, which are limited in number by State statute (their number is based on population), and for which there is often a waiting list. The expiration clause prevents licenses from being hogged by phantom establishments and thus wasted.
Businesses that can't or don't want to wait for a quota license to become free can apply for a so-called reserve license. The City still has half a dozen or so of these licenses available, but as opposed to the quota licenses, they come at a high cost: $10,000 a pop (for the initial license, not the renewal; the renewal fee is a still hefty $600). This cost is imposed by the State, but, like most other municipalities in Wisconsin, the City used to reimburse these license-holders via property tax rebates. A few years ago, however, the State made that practice, and any other reimbursement mechanism, illegal.
The quota and reserve licenses are full liquor licenses for on-premise consumption (bars, restaurants); different rules apply for just beer and wine sales, tasting rooms, retail outlets, ... the perverse imagination of legislators is boundless when it comes to making life miserable for people who are just trying to earn an honest crust. And parenthesis closed.
A second attempt to revitalize the old Fitzgerald's, currently still underway, would turn the place into a barbecue restaurant-cum-sports bar-cum-event space under the name of Billow (the full name is Billow Sports Bar & Smoke House, LLC). On August 20 of last year, the Common Council, following a recommendation by the License and Ordinance Committee (L&O), approved a reserve license for Billow.
All alcohol licenses come up for renewal annually in June, although the renewal process takes several weeks from application to approval, so it is highly recommended to not wait until the last minute. Any license that is not renewed by June 30 is considered to be expired, and, according to City Attorney Matt Fleming, the law leaves no wriggle room and case law exists supporting the severest and narrowest interpretations of the renewal stipulations.
This is what has now happened to Billow. Due to miscommunication between the business owner (Josh Steinhoff) and his general manager, or negligence on the part of the latter (who has meanwhile left his position), the details are not quite clear, Billow missed the renewal deadline.
As Matt Fleming explained, in the eyes of the law the license is now expired, and Billow needs to apply for a new license. They could apply for a quota license, although one business is already on the waiting list and it is at this point anybody's guess as to when a quota license, let alone two, might become available, or pay another $10,000 for a reserve license.
There is a slight possibility that the City might be able to stretch out the payment date for a reserve license (normally it has to be paid when it is approved and issued, but since Billow probably won't open until early spring next year, it could possibly be approved now, but issued, and paid for, later), but that may or may not help the business. As Josh Steinhoff said at the last two L&O meetings, they were within two months of opening when covid-19 hit, and had to rethink their whole business plan. With this rejection (L&O denied the renewal twice, and the Council will probably follow its recommendation on September 1), everything is up in the air again.
But talking about time limits for quota licenses: On December 17, 2019, the Common Council approved a quota license for 'The Roost', a bar/restaurant to be established in the Middleton Market complex on Lisa Lane by the owners of the Mount Horeb-based Grumpy Troll brewpub (who are also the developers of the Middleton Market itself, which is currently under construction). According to the above-mentioned City ordinance, that quota license could become available if The Roost does not open by the end of this year.