I have to give credit to the Oshkosh Common Council for knowing how to build drama, they made us sit through two full days of lengthy budget review before getting to the issue of Lakeshore Golf Course. Lakeshore was literally the last budget item discussed on Tuesday afternoon–and it was actually kind of a sad exercise. The course superintendent talked about some replacement equipment they will need next year. Pro Trace Gardner expressed confidence that he could double the size of our Tuesday night match play league next season. And when it was done, nobody on the Council asked a single question–because they realized it was just a dog and pony show.
Of course, once the golf course and parks folks were gone, then the questions were raised–particularly what do you do with a million dollar budget item that gets eliminated after the budget is adopted? One thing that municipal budgets do not feature is a lot of flexibility. Shifting money around and spending designated funds on items that were never included in the original package tends to make auditors and analysts nervous.
Which is why the budget’s total lack of any provisions for the sale of Lakeshore in 2018–and subsequent large-scale infrastructure construction costs–also did not go unnoticed. Three million dollars in revenue and eight million in expenditures are a big deal–but not even a “provisional budget item” was included in either the parks, public works, capital improvement projects, or TIF district budgets.
Of course, $3-million is what we think the city should get for the Lakeshore property–but Tuesday’s investors’ conference call for the Oshkosh Corporation casts some doubt on that. Kudos to the guy from the investment firm that asked about the new Oshkosh headquarters while I was live on the air and unable to join the call in person. Chief Financial Officer Dave Sagehorn said that the company has not budgeted any money for construction in 2018. CEO Wilson Jones also assured investors that the new HQ project is going to be “cost neutral”–meaning the expenses for the project will likely equal what they are currently paying to rent out office space all around Oshkosh–and to maintain their old building.
So here’s my takeaway from the snippets of information that we were provided this week: Oshkosh Corp doesn’t expect to pay a lot for their gleaming new home on the banks of the Fox River–and the City doesn’t want us to know yet that they are going to give away that site for a mere pittance. And maybe Trace will be right about 80-guys playing in that Tuesday night league for one more season.
