Thoughts and notes from Round 2 of the City of DeKalb FY12 budget sessions.
Police Station
Should the DeKalb city council approve FY12 spending as proposed, increases in tax and/or fee rates are looming in the not-so-distant future. Major capital improvement plans for the new budget year include building a new police station either as stand-alone on the West Lincoln Highway location coveted by police chief Bill Feithen or as an addition to the existing city hall building on South Fourth Street.
In either scenario general obligation bonds will likely be sold to cover some of the construction costs. General obligation bonds would require an increase in the city’s property tax rate but an increase in the water utility tax (as an example and likely to happen) could be used to abate the property tax hike. The city has $400,000 per year (for the next 10 years) available due to debt refinancing that it could use to cover about $5 million in debt bonds (for 10 years). Some on the city council have noted that the $400,000 could be used for other purposes.
Revenue projections for FY12 include some $3 million in funds the State of Illinois says it might not pay to DeKalb. That’s about ten percent of the city’s annual operating budget. The Mayor and City Council members sent Gov. Quinn a strongly worded proclamation warning him of the dire consequences that withholding municipal funds would create. If that proclamation is ignored DeKalb (like every other Illinois community) would face some very painful cuts in basic government services such as police, fire and public works.
As painful as it must be for Chief Feithen to hear the words, I’m hoping the city council makes approval of police station construction financing contingent upon the State giving DeKalb the money it is owed.
And when they do approve a new police station I hope they give local contractors like Steve Irving, Chuck Shepard, David Franzene or Russ Smith (and more) a legitimate chance of not only bidding on the work but to provide valuable input on the construction techniques and materials selection. Local contractors are also local taxpayers and local civic leaders. They’re not afraid to question costs on wish list items.
DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport
Staff and city council are looking at a proposal that would regionalize the airport through a voluntary public-private partnership similar to the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation. Read details here.
In the FY12 budget the city needs to transfer in to the airport fund about $250,000 for operations. The airport is sitting on a deficit fund of more than $2 million. It has received more that $25 million in federal and state grant monies.
If DTMA is ever to reach self sustainability it must be more regionalized than it currently is. A voluntary membership organization could generate needed revenues independent of the city’s general fund while spreading costs and benefits to an expanded geographical area. The alternative to voluntary regionalization is the creation of another taxing unit made possible by a referendum.
Open Source Solutions
Sharing code for technological solutions that are free for any city to use—instead of each government independently buying or building their own system—dramatically reduces costs and redundancies.
Civic Commons is a repository of open-source civic software, working to bring an open-source approach to government. The City of DeKalb, and many other governmental units, spend tens-if-not-hundreds of thousands of dollars on proprietary software and licensing issues.
Today is a new day in technology for those who choose to accept it. Those who cling to “that’s the way we’ve always done it” are too expensive for taxpayers.
First Reading FY12 Budget, First Public Hearing
Speak now or forever pay your taxes. The first reading of the FY12 budget is Monday night (May 23, 2011) at 7pm at City Hall. Questions on the budget? Ideas for reducing costs? Thoughts on adding revenue? Inform your city council member how you will vote based on how they will vote? Stand up and be counted.
Can’t make the meeting Monday night? Send the city council an email and express your feelings. They do want to know.
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