This week’s number: $33 million The city’s streets could need $33 million in repairs over the next five years, but a key funding source for the work will dry up by the end of the decade. That has city leaders considering options including increasing the sales tax to generate more revenue. Of the $1.5 million…
Tag: budget
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 to Tell if a City of DeKalb Account is On- or Off-Budget
City of DeKalb’s use of administrative tow fees brings up lots of questions, such as how many of these off-budget accounts the city has and whether their collective use rises to the title of “shadow budget.” I don’t have the answers to the above questions, but I do know that even off-budget transactions are included…
Towing Fee Account Story Generates More Questions
The Daily Chronicle may have just published one of the most important investigative reports ever written about City of DeKalb finances. Since early 2013, the DeKalb Police Department has used around $300,000 of the $350,000 collected in administrative tow fees to buy a wide range of items outside of its regular budget. There are a…
City of DeKalb had ‘Excess Expenditures’ of $3.1 Million in FY2013
**Update, noonish: Just picked this up on Twitter: IL Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) is sponsoring legislation to help prevent thefts of local government funds. One of the key provisions includes auditors’ sharing copies of the management letters with the governing bodies of counties and municipalities.** Recently I became aware that each annual financial audit includes…