**Update 2:15 p.m.: The Daily Chronicle has posted the Memorandum of Understanding referred to in the press release. Don’t miss the confidentiality rules (Item 16) on page 7.** The following is a press release from the Preserve Our Neighborhoods group, the organization that sparked a recent town-hall style meeting to clear the air on the…
Pension Discussion Reveals Council’s Dysfunction
I am loving the budget talks, mostly. They make me feel like the city is in much better hands than it used to be. For example, in response to a question from a Financial Advisory Committee member last Saturday, the city manager confirmed: Revenues that for the previous year had been spent out of (off-budget)…
A New Community Development Department
The special joint meeting between city council members and the Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) on Saturday filled in a lot of blanks, even for — or maybe especially for — folks who have reviewed the FY2015 City of DeKalb budget including its excellent Transmittal Letter. One of the changes proposed by city manager Anne Marie…
Why the General Fund Budget is Bigger This Year
FY2014 General Fund Budget: $30.87 million FY2015 General Fund Budget: $35.22 million Does this reflect $4 million in revenue growth for City of DeKalb? No, it does not. For one thing, FY2015 currently shows a deficit of $586,800. It is not a balanced budget (at least not yet, though they may not be done with…
Library Budget Figures Look Pretty Interesting
An alert reader tipped me off that the DeKalb Public Library added about $10.5 million to its fund balance last year (see FY2013 column, bottom line; click & magnify to see it bigger). Nice, huh? Wherever did it come from? Let’s check the revenues. Hmmm. Not here, either — and we still have to account…
Meet the New Boss
Behold the new organizational chart of the City of DeKalb. It’s part of the draft budget for FY2015. Recommended reading: the city manager’s 14-page Transmittal Letter to the council, which begins on page 8 of the PDF file. Spend some time with it and see if you don’t feel like you’re finally in the loop.…
Confronting Reality at Last? We’ll See
From the Daily Chronicle today comes “DeKalb aldermen confront budgeting issues.” During their Monday discussion of the budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, DeKalb aldermen were told the city will need to cut services or boost revenue in order to maintain operations in the coming years. Beginning July 1, alderman were told,…
How Much Change IS Afoot in DeKalb City Government? Maybe Not Enough
The Daily Chronicle notes that new DeKalb city manager Anne Marie Gaura has made some personnel changes. I am particularly gratified by this statement: The moves all deal with personnel issues, a subject on which employers are generally limited on what they can say, but they could have announced they happened. The Chronicle’s actual main…
Observations: Yesterday’s Town Hall Meeting with NIU
NIU president Baker and the mayor each spoke to the group, as did NIU vice-president Bill Nicklas and an architect who explained the process involved in the development of the Bold Futures Thesis. In a nutshell, NIU wants to transform the thesis into a real plan for better use of the physical campus in nurturing…
Can DeKalb Really Help Fix NIU?
The Daily Chronicle’s editorial board scolded a group of residents this week for being total NIMBYs hating on good and necessary change. [D]espite all the benefits that our communities draw from having the university here, there is resistance to ideas that could change the nearby neighborhoods, particularly the Ellwood historic and Hillcrest neighborhoods, where residents…