City of DeKalb seems to have a lot more trouble than usual lately with day-to-day operations. Let me count the ways. 1. I turned on my laptop at 5 pm last evening to watch Mayor Smith’s State of the City address, but the meeting was not streaming — some kind of technical issue. Later I…
A look at the county’s nursing center renovation project, and what it might mean
I have a dark red brick on my mantel that came from the old DeKalb County Home, now known as DeKalb County Nursing and Rehabilition Center (DCNRC). On one side of the brick is a sketch of the Home, on another a short history of the facility in dates and names. The brick tells me…
Shooting oneself in the foot at the DeKalb airport
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…
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…