Mike Peddle, chair of the DeKalb Finance Advisory Committee, is right. Everything’s got to be on the table. Everything includes Dee Palmer and the DeKalb Municipal Band. Everything means, well, everything.
The DeKalb Municipal Band is a tradition that goes back to 1854, and has been uninterrupted by wars, and a depression. Dee Palmer’s tenure as Director of the DeKalb Municipal Band (formerly the DeKalb Band) began in 1948.
The conservative Brendon Gallagher (4th ward) quickly made it known that he would not support any inclination of reducing the band’s budget line item. That led to the brief outburst by Peddle about bringing all things to the table.
The financial picture is that bad. To remain status quo — pay check for pay check, service for service, tax for tax — the City would likely need to borrow roughly the same $1.5 million they’re looking to “extend debt obligations” by to pay for the voluntary separation plan advertised as FY2011’s budget bail out.
And a balanced budget is not what the City of DeKalb needs. It needs a budget that begins to rebuild a reserve fund that has been completely exhausted. It needs a budget that allocates funds for replacing police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. It needs a healthier dose of etc.
Assistant City Manager, Rudy Espiritu, told the FAC and Council that the proposed FY2011 budget included a non-approved utility tax increase. If the Council doesn’t approve the hike then the numbers don’t work. That’s not going to go over very well with taxpayers who are growing ever weary of done deals.
Since the late Mayor Frank Van Buer formed the Citizens’ Finance Advisory Committee revenue projections have underperformed.
| Budget Year | Projected GF Revenue | Actual GF Revenue |
| FY2008 | $28,720,371 | $27,946,110 |
| FY2009 | $30,001,151 | $29,193,758 |
| FY2010 | $29,663,013 | $27,841,755 (est) |
FY2011 General Fund expenditures are budgeted at $28,197,677 for a decrease of 4 percent. There is an expected positive difference of approximately $218,000 between FY2011 revenues and expenditures.
Since the end of FY2008, due to retirements and permanent attrition, 19 staff positions have not been filled. Last year municipal workers, police, fire and administration agreed to wage freezes.
The undesignated, unreserved fund balance in the General Fund is expected to be approximately $50,000 at the end of FY2011. This puts the City at the 0.18 percent fund balance, with the new budget policy being 25 percent.
If revenues for FY2011 meet projections the City faces a roughly $500,000 operating deficit.
Budget talks with the Finance Advisory Committee continue. There can be no sacred cows especially in non-personnel expenditures.
Click Here To Submit A News Tip Or Story
5 Comments
John… I will attend the workshop from 6-6:45. Then I am headed over to the county.
I for one, can say the I don't care if an officers' (police/fire) uniform is dirty, torn, or in disrepair, as long as they do the job. Same thing goes for City of DeKalb employees. I work as a chef, and my employer does not provide me with a uniform, showing up to work dressed in a professional manner is my responsibility. I drive 30 miles each way to work, and receive no mileage, tolls, or car allowance. These are things that I, as a professional in my field am responsible for. I wish I could attend both the CC and the County Board meeting this evening…
I absolutely agree there can be no sacred cows. In fact, imho anybody who says differently either a) has not read this budget; b) does not understand this budget; or c) resides in somebody's pocket.
The balancing act: http://www.citybarbs.com/?p=3954
Ideas for cuts: http://www.citybarbs.com/?p=4077
Every time I dive into this budget, I cannot see any way that DeKalb will get through the next year without borrowing money for operations. Why they are not calling emergency budget sessions every week, I don't know. If I had my druthers, I'd eliminate GF supplementation for the airport, and put it toward the catastrophic liability coverage. I'd also slash the I&T budget by 50% to give us a reserve in case gas and salt go up, and eliminate a bunch of "goodies" like dues & subscriptions, car & clothing allowances to buy a couple police cars.
Why? Because some costs will go up, and because the projections are probably wrong again, and because we shouldn't count on getting all of the $3.5 million from the state.
Mac, what about the health club benefits? How many of us working full or part time have paid fitness club memberships? I agree, it ought to all be on the table. There was a group who gathered donations for the Dee Palmer statue, why can't they gather donations to offset the band? What about the IT budget? As I understand it, the Govt Access tv channel is included in that as well as all of the equipment they use to broadcast the show.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
DeKalb is truly blessed to have a man with the wisdom and knowledge of Mike Peddle as chair of this crucial task force. I respect his opinion on this issue, and think that if anything, he is a bit on the fiscally lenient side here. Cuts need to be made. Much as I enjoy the concerts, the band is something that can be funded privately. I'm sure that the necessary donations would be forthcoming. But there are plenty of other sacred cows that need to be trimmed, and as personnel lines are an extremely expensive part city operations, they will need to be reduced, too. Too many local governments, along with our solons in Springfield, are sitting in place, paralyzed, and hoping for a miracle to come about so that the status quo might be maintained. This is a breach of their fiduciary duty. I think that the only way to make the necessary expenditure reductions is to do so across the board. I have seen shared sacrifice work in the private sector, and it is the only way to avoid bickering and backstabbing when the myriad of interest and pressure groups try to eliminate any reductions in their pet area, and force the reductions somewhere else. This, of course affects someone else's pet interest, and in the ensuing chaos, nothing is done and the entity's' finances go into a death spiral. Management perks need to be eliminated. Salaries reduced, and union contracts re-negotiated to reflect reality. Wage and salary schedules need to also conform to financial prudence. Very few of us get step increases in pay. Public servants who demand these are going to face considerably increased taxpayer hostility. Let us roll up our sleeves and start cleaning up this mess.