***Note: This was originally published in June 2016. I am posting an updated version today, since the referendum ended up on the April 4, 2017 ballot instead of last November’s.*** The DeKalb County Health Department is trying to persuade our county board to place a referendum on the November election ballot to begin levying a…
Tag: budget
DeKalb City Manager Oversteps Purchasing Authority Again
Recently I came across this City of DeKalb memo circulated via a council meeting agenda in October: With former Commander Smith’s retirement in June, the City faced an immediate crisis by not having on-call IT personnel who are familiar with the City’s specific computer systems and able to keep them operational at all times. On…
If at First They Don’t Spend All, They Try, Try Again
***Update 12/13: I did not make the meeting last night, but have been told that the RFP discussion has been tabled or postponed.*** ***Update 12/12: Some of the comments about the RFP on Facebook are interesting.*** A memo accompanying Item G8 of tomorrow’s DeKalb city council agenda starts like this. The Information Technology Department conducted…
Ald. Jacobson’s Budget Remarks
Many thanks to DeKalb County Online for isolating DeKalb council member Dave Jacobson’s comments of November 28 on the proposed 2017 budget. The two men showing disrespectful body language are Mayor Rey (far right) and Fourth Ward Ald. Bob Snow (second from right).
Fighting Over Scraps
The Chronicle posted an article online last night about council’s fight over the proposed annual budget that begins January 1. The article says that city staff presented a draft budget with 75% cuts in the social services allocations. This is different from the online version available to the public, which shows the line item (account…
DeKalb’s Decaying Support of Social Services
**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,…
Balancing a Budget through Neglect of Neighborhoods
In “Mayor’s View: DeKalb in Solid Financial Shape for 2017,” John Rey is claiming that DeKalb is in fine financial shape. This will be his campaign refrain, but it’s nonsense. DeKalb has been spending more than it’s been taking in, the steep rise in spending is primarily due to over-staffing, and the foremost casualty is…
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…
DeKalb’s $10 Million Budget Hole
I’ve had a preliminary look at DeKalb’s FY17 budget. The proposed operations (General Fund) budget, which begins in January, has $2.8 million in additional spending for personnel alone when compared to the FY16 budget that ended June 30. (I am ignoring the current six-month “FY16.5” budget at this time.) Biggest jumps: $743,000 more in regular…
Sycamore Versus DeKalb: Comparison of City Clerks
Once upon a time, City of Sycamore and City of DeKalb had duly elected, full-time city clerks. Sycamore still has one. DeKalb’s, however, was destroyed in 2013. Low compensation and transfer of powers to the city manager’s office have deprived us of elected clerks and clerk candidates ever since. Whatever the city thought it was…