We’ve been talking about fuel sales at DeKalb’s airport recently. This was in the context of DeKalb’s new marketing practice of deeply discounting fuel in order to bring in new customers, and perhaps reaching at some point the same successful level of sales of 2013, the good old days when net sales more than covered…
Author: Lynn Fazekas
OPEB: DeKalb’s unfunded liability you’ve probably never heard of
I don’t generally gush over DeKalb’s choices of consultants, but I believe EPI was worth every penny – both times – because of their plain talk about our financial situation and the state of city operations. Too bad DeKalb didn’t take some important advice. One of the harsh realities was and is the OPEB, which…
A fresh look at “old” financial advice for DeKalb
At a recent budget meeting, DeKalb city manager Anne Marie Gaura (AMG) stated that she references the “EPI reports” frequently in financial planning. Because the city’s finance advisory committee might likewise like to revisit EPI findings when it (the committee) reconvenes in 2018, I’d like to introduce EPI to our newer readers (and help refresh…
Raise local fuel taxes? There are other moves DeKalb should make first
Does a drive around DeKalb feel like you’re continually crossing rough train tracks even where there aren’t any? Guess why. The above are actual expenditures for street maintenance. Shown are total expenditures from two primary sources for maintenance, the motor fuel tax (MFT) revenues that are shared with us by the state on a per…
DeKalb’s airport fuel sales were better in 2013
City of DeKalb is extremely happy with airport fuel sales over the past few months, and according to the 2018 draft budget is estimating $416,000 in gross fuel sales for 2017. However, the recent increase is due to deep discounting of fuel, and fuel sales were better in previous years. The airport in DeKalb began…
Sorry, Mayor Smith. DeKalb’s city attorney works for the city manager, not you
Sometime during the six-hour-long regular city council meeting last Monday, the mayor asserted that the city attorney works for the city council. This is incorrect information, and the real story must be understood NOW to help people understand why the city might have just placed potential litigation with the county on the table. Exhibit A:…
Reasons to allow the city manager’s contract to expire
City council is expected to vote tonight on a resolution to “amend” city manager Anne Marie Gaura’s employment agreement, which currently expires at the end of this year. My main concern with the vote itself is that it involves the removal of the expiration date from the contract, even though the DeKalb Municipal Code says…
DeKalb’s failure to fund capital projects looks familiar
Mulling over our current the lack of funding of capital projects and fleet needs, I ended up deciding to contrast the spending from three different time periods, as expressed by transfers (or in the case of 2018, expected transfers) out of the General Fund into the Capital Projects and Fleet funds. I’ve also placed rough…
Handling of DeKalb city manager’s contract renewal is an ugly bit of manipulation — and inconsistent with the ordinance as well
Anne Marie Gaura’s employment agreement with City of DeKalb expires at the end of 2017. That is, it expires unless a resolution presented as a contract “amendment” gets passed by city council on Monday. They’ve placed the item as a resolution to amend the employment agreement on Monday’s council meeting agenda. But it is not…
Let’s discuss right-sizing of City of DeKalb’s workforce
Last night during DeKalb’s budget meeting, the city manager said that DeKalb has 235 employees. She contrasted this with 2007, when she said we had 257 employees. Perhaps she meant full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), but the methodology for those calculations have changed. I do not understand them anymore, so am looking at things in a…