INFORMATION #2 10-02-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission September 20, 2006 5.1 Staff Up-dates Bryan Adams informed the Commission that David Berg was at water school. The Security department has acquired 19 new security accounts this last month. The Med-Alert security system has been very successful. The Foster Water Tower is being emptied for the winter, and hydrant / valve repairs are being done. APP A did a study on average contributions paid to the cities by their municipal electric utility. The overall national average is 5.3% and in 2005 the Elk River Municipal Utilities contributed $720,571 or 5.56% to the City of Elk River. Bryan also briefed the Commission on the open house at the landfill for the addition of the 4th LFG engine. Bryan also informed the Commission ofthe poor condition the Hwy 10 street lights are in. The City or MN DOT needs to address this issue. Glenn Sundeen reported on the status of the three road projects that are currently underway. Work continues on the feeders and substations. The numerous projects can cause scheduling conflicts at times causing a crew to be pulled off one job to go to another. Theresa Slominski informed the Commission that she received the abatement check for $15,270 (penalty and interest) from the 2004 sales tax issue. Also received were the two capital equipment sales tax refunds of approximately $95,000. Theresa gave an update on the IRS issue. There is a software Power Manager user group meeting that some of the staff are attending. This will be very informative as there will be other users there and also the programmers. Troy Adams displayed a map he has been working on that delineates the numerous feeders on the electrical distribution system. Troy has been working with the GPS information for current mappmg. 5.2 Review Utility Web Pae:e For the last couple of months staffhas been working with M.R. Danielson Advertising to develop a web site for the Elk River Municipal Utilities. Theresa Slominski demonstrated the web site and the future choices that will be available. Greg Scherber and Michelle Martindale from the utility staff have been spearheading this project and have been doing a great job keeping it moving forward. 5.3 Update on MN Department of Revenue A letter from Steve McDonald of Abdo, Eick & Meyers, LLP, regarding their review of the MN Sales Tax and Use Audit was discussed. The sales tax collection versus remittance issue was resolved along with the verification of the connection fee issue. It seems that several other municipal utilities have been recently audited and have had similar results. John Dietz mentioned he would like the auditors to help the utility out with the changing tax laws for the future. The final amount has been agreed upon with the State, $140,887.95 tax and $13,938.96 interest for a total of$154,826.91, and is due by November 21 st.