DeKalb has specifically outlawed video gambling for a long time, but on Monday, the city council will begin considering an ordinance to allow it. Please take the poll at right and leave a comment here (or at the Facebook page) that explains your answer if you wish.
Category: City Watch
DeKalb’s Pension Funding Progress
The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) includes a table called “Schedule of Funding Progress” for each pension fund that the city is responsible for. An actuary determines the fund assets and liability, and from these are calculated the percentage that the fund is funded as well as the unfunded liability in dollars. I’ve pulled numbers…
Safe/Quality Housing Recommendations: A Matter of Trust
Soon the DeKalb city council will be deciding what steps to take, if any, in response to recommendations made by the Safe/Quality Housing Task Force and by its own staff. They include proposals for a “disorderly house” ordinance, issuance of Crime Free Lease addenda, and regulations for the registration, licensing and inspection of rental properties.…
Updated Year-Over-Year Revenue Tracking
I’ve re-visited previously published revenue tables in an ongoing effort to monitor DeKalb’s financial recovery. Are we yet on solid financial ground? Make the jump to see what you think. (FYI this is a long one, folks.)
Joint Meeting of City Council & Housing Task Force
The meeting is Tuesday, June 26, 6 p.m. in DeKalb council chambers. The joint meeting is a signal that the work of the Safe/Quality Housing Task Force is almost done and that proposals will come up for votes at council soon. The city’s agenda does not list specific items, so I got mine from the…
Latest City of DeKalb Employee Wages
…have been published at DeKalb County Online.
Reaction to the New Planters
[Update 6/21: Here’s another reaction to the new planters. The person who took this photo says at least four of the planters had been toppled as of Wednesday.] There’s already been a lot of discussion about the new City of DeKalb/NIU ashtrays urinals planters at the City Barbs Facebook Page. I don’t want to duplicate…
Zorn on Holiday Pay for City Workers Who Don’t Work Holidays
Eric Zorn poses a question on this Sun-Times story in his blog: The Sun-Times story on the rocky negotiations between the city and the firefighters union notes that one area of contention is Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal that only firefighters who work on holidays be awarded holiday pay: Former union president Bill Kugelman (said)…“ Holiday…
Basement-less Police Station, Costs of Moving a Sewer Line: Related?
[Change of title, minor reworking completed about 9:40 a.m.] From the Daily Chronicle yesterday: DeKALB – Some members of the DeKalb City Council raised concerns Monday about the lack of a basement in the new DeKalb police station. The issue surfaced while a representative from PSA Dewberry, the architecture firm in charge of designing the…
Dixon Redux from Yet Another DeKalb Point of View
The appearance of “Dixon Embezzlement Serves as ‘Case Study’ on Oversight Practices” over the weekend gives me another shot at commenting on this story (now that I am out of the hospital, hopefully for a good long time). Thanks, Rockford Register Star! First, let’s take care of the error in the story.