NWOTCA

MEETING DATE:  10/12/05

 

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. at Bowling Green’s new community center at 1245 W. Newton Road.

 

New Attendees

Bev Smythe from Bellevue and Connie Busch from Whitehouse were introduced.

 

Updates on legislation/OML news

OML won’t be meeting until November, so there is nothing new to report at this time.

 

Report from Fedor Committee

Angie said the small Fedor committee (made up of Angie, Doug, and Peter) would be meeting with Senator Fedor on Friday and should have a better idea after the meeting as to what type of format a proposed meeting with other State legislators would take.  Possible formats include a presentation versus a question/answer session.  Potential topics for focus include: 

v     Better documentation on utility filings

v     Consolidated returns

v     Sharing of State information

 

Uniformity discussion

It was suggested that our group might want to consider working with other Ohio groups to develop one common form acceptable to all Ohio municipalities, the idea being that accountants would be more likely to use one state-wide form versus multiple area-wide forms.

 

Angie said our common form group has met with two representatives from Thompson Creative Solutions (fka AccountWare) and they are interested in working with us toward a common form.  They should have some type of format available for us by mid-October.  The thought is that if we have to accept a generic form, let’s at least try to develop one we like.  Angie would like a 2D barcode that can be downloaded into her city’s software and she said the people who are trying to develop on-line filing are very interested in that.

 

New Business

Since few of us remembered to bring a copy of our NRR form to the meeting, it was decided that we should all send a copy of our form to a member of the common form committee.

 

Members agreed that it could be useful to have a speaker come in to enlighten us on the bankruptcy process, especially since new rules are going into effect.  Pat will try to contact Gordon Barry, a Toledo attorney specializing in bankruptcy, to see if he might be able to speak at one of our upcoming meetings.

 

Jean will set up a spreadsheet to track utility payments from the State and pass it on to the rest of us to insert our information so we can make comparisons.

 

Several cities in our group have initiated steps to accept tax payments through Official Payments.  The general consensus was that no ordinance is needed to institute this program.

 

NWOTCA seminar

Next year is seminar year.  If we’re going to have one, we need to start planning.  It would be a good time to introduce preparers to:

v     Local e-filing

v     Common form

v     Official payments

The Maumee Theater was proposed as the location.  Peter suggested that we get the preparers involved; give them a form to give us feedback on their likes and dislikes. 

We need to start thinking about:

v     All day session or ½ day?

v     Food

v     Date

v     Cost

 

We discussed what to do with the balance in our checking account.  Suggestions included field trips, attending an educational seminar, and bringing in speakers.

 

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 9th at 9:30 a.m. at the Bowling Green’s city offices.