NWOTCA

MEETING DATE:  11/9/05

 

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. at the Bowling Green Municipal Complex.

 

New Attendees

Nicole Uribes from Montpelier and Kathie Williams from Pioneer were introduced.

 

Updates on legislation/OML news

OML

The annual OML tax seminar for 2006 is scheduled for July 12-14, 2006 at the Marriott Northwest in Dublin, Ohio.  Last year we donated $250 or $300 to help pay for one of the speakers at the conference.  We will decide at the next meeting whether we want to do the same in 2006.

 

OBG

At a forum Angie attended last Thursday, the site for business return filing was demonstrated.  It should be up and running in February/March 2006.  Anyone interested in the forum presentation can access it at http://munitax.obg.ohio.gov.

Another meeting of the forum group incorporating the changes suggested at the last meeting is planned within the next two weeks.

All cities must be re-certified for the Gateway system for 2006.  The form will be sent out in December; due by January 31, 2006.

The Gateway staff wants to do regional presentations again; don’t have a date yet for our group.

 

Legislation

Doug circulated a copy of HB322 regarding collection of school district tax by the municipality instead of the State.  This is not a mandate; it is an agreement between the municipality and the school district.  The Village of Wyoming, Ohio is one of the few municipalities who base their tax on AGI.  It would be in their interest to have this agreement pass since it would give them access to State numbers relevant to their own tax collections.  The cap for expenses to be charged by the municipality is 1.5%; the monies collected have to be kept separately in their own account.  Doug doesn’t think it will have time to pass because the expiration date for passage is July 1, 2006.

 

Report from Fedor Committee

It was suggested that we find another name for the “Fedor Committee” since it may have a partisan connotation. 

Angie met with Mark Wagner, the Representative for western Lucas County and he is interested with meeting with our group.  Senator Fedor would like us to give a presentation before several state legislators.  Representative Wagner suggested that we not appear in Columbus in front of the legislature.  It was agreed that the month of November, Senator Fedor’s original choice, is too soon for us to be prepared for such a meeting.  Two general decisions need to be made regarding the presentation itself:  (1) should this be regional or state-wide, and (2) should we select specific legislators to invite or should all legislators be invited?

 

Common Form Committee

Creative Solutions has supplied us with a draft copy of a common form.  Their product is called Ultratax.  The committee is going to take a look at Cincinnati’s form because numerous municipalities in that area use their form.

 

2006 NWOTCA Seminar

Mike will check to see if the Maumee Theater is available on October 20th (first choice) or October 6th (second choice).

Consensus is that a half-day format is better than a full day.

Possible topics include the common form, Ohio Business Gateway, and bankruptcy.

 

Speakers/Field Trips

Potential uses for the money in our checking account include fees for speakers, field trips, or a university-sponsored course on an appropriate subject such as office management.

 

Dates & locations for 2006 Meetings

It was decided to try bimonthly meetings rather than monthly meetings in 2006 with a different city sponsoring each meeting.  The second Wednesday of the month seems to be a good day for most of our members.  We will try to find a topic and speaker for each meeting.  The tentative schedule is:

  • January location:  Perrysburg; topic:  bankruptcy.  Pat and Jean will coordinate efforts to obtain a speaker. 
  • March location:  Findlay; topic:  collections.  Jean thinks Mike Burke might be a possibility as a speaker.
  • May location:  Port Clinton
  • September location:  Archbold
  • November location:  Ottawa Hills; possible topic:  auditing business returns.  Kevin Robison has spoken on this issue at OML conferences in the past.

 

In addition to these meetings, there is the annual OML tax conference in July and the proposed NWOTCA tax seminar in October.

Angie will post this calendar on the NWOTCA website.

 

Information Exchange

Doug will forward info on the quarterly GOATA and SWOTAA meetings in November/December if anyone is interested in attending.

 

Port Clinton’s Council has passed legislation reducing the amount of credit they will allow beginning in tax year 2006.  They are also planning to ask for a tax increase.

 

Jean said it is her understanding that the IRS has eliminated the 3 month filing extension and all extensions will now automatically be for six months, which means cities will not get the returns until the end of November.

 

Angie said that Sylvania is starting e-filing for tax year 2005 returns.

 

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 14th at 11:30 a.m. at Nagoya restaurant in Port Clinton.