The FY2011 Central Area TIF Report

…can be found here (It’s a 64-page PDF so give it a minute to load). As an incorrigible repeat offender I could not stop myself from submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to obtain the following information: 1. The breakdown of the transfers so we can tell how much is going to the…

DeKalb’s Pension Cost Acceleration

[easychart type=”horizbar” width=”420″ title=”Police and Fire Pension Costs in Millions of Dollars” groupnames=”Annual Pension Costs” valuenames=”FY2004, FY2005, FY2006, FY2007, FY2008, FY2009, FY2010, FY2011″ group1values=”1.55, 1.72, 1.8, 1.98, 2.23, 2.38, 2.86, 3.36″ minaxis=”1.5″] Annual pension costs (APCs) are what the city contributes to the pension funds each year. APCs were increasing about 10% annually earlier this…

New Per Capita Debt Numbers

[Update 8:30 a.m.: Table headers edited for clarity.] You’ve seen most of this table before. I’ve updated it with FY2011 data from the new Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR). [table id=49 /] Most of the overlapping increase came from DeKalb Community Unit School District 428. Mind you, these figures reflect only gross bonded debt. The…

Growth of OPEB Participation

Among its 2009 financial recommendations to the City of DeKalb, Executive Partners, Inc. warned that the costs of DeKalb’s retiree health and life insurance plan, known as Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB), would continue to outpace contributions “to infinity.” EPI recommended the city jettison the program ASAP. In confronting the continued growth of what was…

Public Safety Costs & DeKalb’s Financial Health

In last Thursday’s post I shared some preliminary observations about the latest contract between the City of DeKalb and the firefighters’ union. Since then I’ve gotten a little feedback on it behind the scenes. The gist of the response is this: What’s the deal? Does yinn have something against well-compensated public employees? The short answer…

DeKalb’s Ratio of Debt Service to General Fund Expenditures

Once again I am pulling from DeKalb’s Debt Management Policy. This time it’s a limit on debt service expenditures as a percentage of General Fund expenditures. 3. Ratio of Annual Debt Service to General Fund Expenditures The formula for this computation is annual debt service expenditures divided by General Fund expenditures (excluding certain interfund transfers).…