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Tag: financial advisory committee
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…
Stop Wasting the Financial Advisory Committee on Budgets
From a Northern Star article this week: City manager Anne Marie Gaura said the finance committee typically reviews the budget and looks at policy recommendations and general fund balance. “The goal is to utilize the finance advisory committee in the most effective means of how to benefit the budget and the community,” Gaura said. “It’s…
Meeting Comments & Questions
— Aldermen Gallagher, Baker and Kammes should be ashamed of themselves for voting against receiving and filing the Hope Haven emergency shelter expansion proposal. Instead of saying “no,” maybe they could talk about what it would take to overcome their misgivings. But, that would be too much work, I guess, and most of all too…
Notes from the “Lunatic Fringe”
I love being called “lunatic fringe” by a City Council member. I really do. Let them show the world how far this body has fallen in matters of decorum and discipline. Let them demonstrate how much they despise the people they are supposed to be representing. Folks ought to know exactly who’s responsible for running…
City Budget: Mulling Over Police, Fire and More
In 2008, in the midst of a self-proclaimed fiscal crisis, City Council voted to allow the (former) Community Development Department to obtain a new SUV. This is symbolic, see? The Police and Fire departments have had to put off replacing vehicles and some equipment since then. The Police Department, in particular, is getting nickel-and-dimed on…
City Budget Open Thread…Mayday! Mayday!
The proposed City of DeKalb FY 2011 budget has total expenditures going up by about $5 million over last year, mostly due to increased spending on the downtown TIF, health insurance and the airport. The budget as drafted will be balanced IF: there are cuts of 25-30 staff (or, alternatively, everyone takes a 12% pay…
MICA
Tuesday night at the joint City Council–Financial Advisory Committee meeting, staff announced they had researched several providers of liability insurance and had made a decision on a favorite, an outfit called the Municipal Insurance Cooperative Agency (MICA). There were three red flags when the MICA plan was laid out. One was that we were not…