Or: The Case of the Manager’s Embrace Due to multiple delays, DeKalb experienced some $1.5 million in cost overruns on two road and bridge projects that were completed in 2024. The city was able to cover the resulting budget deficits in 2025, but had to pull money out of the operating reserve to do it.…
Tag: public works
TIF spending for streets in FY16 did not come anywhere near what DeKalb is claiming
The setup: During the special Committee of the Whole meeting of Monday evening, DeKalb council members were discussing with staff a proposed budget reduction in 2018 for the street improvement program in our two TIF districts, specifically a staff recommendation to cut in half the usual $1 million budgeted for streets in the TIFs. During…
City Still Losing Water Customers
These are the numbers of City of DeKalb water billing accounts for the past 10 years, as reported in DeKalb’s FY2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial report released last month. [table id=93 /]
Two Poodles Bring Zombie Housing Ordinance to Council
DeKalb’s Committee of the Whole agenda for Monday includes a zombie ordinance. Enclosed is an old draft of an ordinance prepared by Klein Thorpe, and Jenkins in which property maintenance items were at one time included in a former draft of the Chronic Nuisance ordinance. The Housing Task Force rejected the ordinance, and Council already…
City Layoffs
Here is a comment that popped up in another post this afternoon: Well as of today start to look for your own way of provideing some city services. Twenty employees got laid off today, and 10 others were taking the early retirment package, and reportly 2 got terminated. So what does this mean no one…
CPI & Waste Management
The City of DeKalb is getting ready to approve a new 4-year agreement with Waste Management (pp. 122-128) for residential pickup of trash. One proposal is to tie increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), allow for a minimum annual increase of 2% and cap it at 6% no matter what fuel prices are doing.…
The First Step
One of the citizen commenters at the council meeting last night brought up the City of DeKalb’s Management Pay Plan. She was scandalized by the leap from Step 1 to Step 2. It is easy to see why. Grade One starting pay, for example, is $18.158 per hour but on the first anniversary it jumps…