**Correction and clarification added 11/30** In DeKalb’s fiscal year budget for 2008, $214,000 was allocated in the legislative department budget for social services funding. Two years later, the amount was reduced to $150,000, because the city was still experiencing post-Great Recession budget crises. The funding has never been restored. It’s been at $150,000 ever since,…
Category: Payment Due?
Surprise! What Management Analysts at City of DeKalb Don’t Do
Fun tidbit has come my way, and by “fun” I mean enormously dispiriting. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated 10/31/2016: Please provide examples over the past three months (8-1-16 to 10-31-16) of analysis documents produced by anyone holding the title “management analyst” within the city of DeKalb’s employment. This request is entirely for the…
This is Why Your DeKalb City Property Taxes Have Gone Up So Much
People have been asking me why their city property taxes went up sharply this year. While much of it has to do with your assessment, of course, here’s the rest of the story. [table id=95 /] Until recently, City of DeKalb levied property taxes for pensions and FICA only. I went back as far as…
More Gift Card Info
A couple of weeks ago, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request regarding DeKalb’s practice of buying gift cards for employees, the latest round of which occurred in December 2015 when City of DeKalb spent $5,400 on “employee holiday gift cards” for some 230 city employees. Among other things, the FOIA request asked for…
Part 2 of Account 8306, Special Events
It has come to my attention that clarification is needed on the post about the General Fund “special events” account named 8306. If you contact City of DeKalb and they tell you that 8306 is for events such as helping with the expenses of July 4th festivities at Hopkins Park, that is 100% correct. However,…
Account 8306, Special Events
City of DeKalb has an account in its General Fund called “Special Events,” 8306 in the budget. I always thought special events were public events, such as the open house that was held for visitors to tour the new police station. Then I came across an expenditure of $5,400 for Target gift cards for employees…
College Town Partners is All About TIF
Yes, “is.” Emails obtained by Michael and Misty Haji-Sheikh of Preserve Our Neighborhoods show that even though collaborators ultimately rejected formal incorporation of College Town Partners in May 2014, the intention remained to suck sweet, sweet tax dollars out of City of DeKalb via Tax Increment Financing (not even getting into NIU and use of…
One Step Closer to the Edge
Look at that nice, wide gap between General Fund revenues and expenditures during FY2011 and FY2012. [easychart type=”line” width=”430″ title=”GF Revenues and Expenditures Net of Transfers” groupnames=”Revenues in Millions, Expenditures in Millions” valuenames=”’11,’12, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’16” group1values=”29.2,29.1,28.9,30.7,32.7,33.3″ group2values=”27.2,27.3,27.9,29.1,31.5,32.9″ minaxis=”27.1″] (All figures are actual as reported in annual city budgets, except FY2015 numbers are the…
New Annual Financial Report is Out
City of DeKalb released its Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30. I’m sure city staff will also release the Popular Annual Financial Report (PAFR) as they did last year. It’s a dumbed-down version of the CAFR that nobody asked them to compile, but they get some sort of…
Retail on the Bottom
David Patzelt of Shodeen Group, LLC, sent a nice thank-you letter to the DeKalb city manager for attending a meeting between Shodeen principals and city officials in the matter of Shodeen’s latest project proposal. The letter was included in the agenda packet for Wednesday’s meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. It outlines Shodeen’s arguments…