In a recent post about the latest Executive Partners, Inc. (EPI) involvement with the City of DeKalb as its financial consultant, I expressed anxiety about a proposal to privatize the city’s water. Turns out, that’s not the EPI proposal for the Water Division, and I’m sorry to have led you astray. It’s a PILOT (not…
Tag: budget
DeKalb’s Pension Picture Updated
I’ve added FY2012 numbers to the set of charts you’ll find in DeKalb’s Pension Funding Progress. They come from the latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). [easychart type=”line” width=”420″ title=”Yearly Funding of Pensions by Percentage Funded” groupnames=”IMRF, Police, Fire” valuenames=”’99, ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10, ’11, ’12” group1values=”101.47, 109.49,…
New Council Gets a Good Start
City of DeKalb employees and the group Ellwood Historic Neighborhood have hatched a new plan just in time to take up a line item in the FY2014 budget: Buy up multi-family homes in the north 5th Ward, convert them to single-family and resell each property at a loss. In fact: “We have worked with a…
DeKalb’s Hiring Spree
The City of DeKalb got rid of 30+ employees at the beginning of FY2011 in order to balance its budget. There followed a year of quiet, but now we’re in the midst of a hiring spree. [table id=70 /] Here is what it has done to personnel expenses. [table id=72 /] And here’s what the…
DARA to Council: Rethink Housing Bureau Structure, Costs at Budget Time
The DeKalb Area Rental Association (DARA) has sent city council members a letter and with general budget recommendations for FY2014. EPI, of course, refers to Executive Partners, Inc., their latest report to the city and the April workshop we talked about yesterday. Jump for more.
EPI is Back
*Post corrected May 21* Executive Partners, Inc. (EPI) was hired four years ago to help put the City of DeKalb on a more sustainable path financially. The fix didn’t take, so they’re back. EPI met with city officials at an April 13 special meeting. Mr. Nuehring stated he will discuss opportunities for revenues. He noted…
Let’s Do the Math (Again) with the Economic Development Fund
The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce wants a new annual allocation from the city. The DeKalb Chamber of Commerce is requesting $45,000 from the city to create an event coordinator position to take over the events that Re:New DeKalb has run for years…Re:New DeKalb will undergo a fundamental shift later this year, said Frank Roberts, the…
DeKalb’s Budgetary Reserves Do Not Mean What You Think They Mean
The City of DeKalb has been re-growing its post-recession General Fund reserve since FY2011, when a large reduction in force coupled with windfall revenues helped the city regain its financial footing. But are annual budget surpluses an indicator we’ve set out upon the right financial path? The latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) is now…
DeKalb’s IMRF Contributions and Their Budget Impacts
Putting together DeKalb’s pension picture has been like a forestry hide-and-seek. Facts are the trees and while facts have been examined, there’s often an underlying feeling that the ecosystem has not yet been adequately described. So I keep going back in. One “specimen” whose significance I failed to fully appreciate earlier is the shortfall between…
DeKalb Property Taxes & City Pensions
The agendas for the council meetings tonight include a public hearing about setting the city’s property tax levy, which they must think will be controversial because you must wade through 112 pages of the PDF file to get to the related items (also see page 114). I was surprised to find out that the levy…