On July 22, 2010, the City of DeKalb received a No Further Remediation (NFR) Letter from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for the property it owns at First and Locust streets (AKA “skating rink site”).

[A]n NFR Letter signifies that compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements has been achieved, all corrective action (if any) has been completed, and no further corrective action is necessary for the protection of human health, safety and the environment.

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This is primarily a “No, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth” message. Anyway, feel free to use this space for commenting on the cat story, the TIF articles from the Daily Chronicle, city budget, etc.

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:

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I jumped in about 7:30 last night, in the midst of citizens’ comments so the proclamations must have taken a long time! Here’s my assessment of what I saw.

The Bad

The saddest part, of course, was Council’s approval of almost all of ReNew DeKalb’s wish list. With that they closed the door on the possibility of using TIF funding for the badly-needed police station expansion for the next 10 years; an option that, in light of our poor financial position, we should have held onto.

Also, the city left out something important in its repayment calculations. It’s all well and good to ask whether we can repay the $12 million if EAV within the TIF drops another 5% or 10%, but nobody mentioned what the threshold is for real trouble. Why is a 10% drop the arbitrary worst-case scenario? Is it because we’d hit trouble at 11%? 15%? Holy cow, I can’t believe nobody asked. This is a failure of imagination that could really end up biting us.

The Good Read the rest of this entry

Third Ward Alderman Pam Verbic did finally return my e-mail inquiry regarding her employment at Barb City Manor, confirming that she has worked there part-time for the past three years.

You will recall that such a connection will require her abstention from votes on BCM and TIF 2.

Thanks to others who made the same inquiry, the cumulative effect of which may have helped influence the decision to respond.

Freshly published in the Daily Chronicle:

To the Editor:

During the March 8 DeKalb City Council meeting, 4th Ward Alderman Brendon Gallagher made a plea to the community for support during the upcoming budget preparation period. According to the meeting minutes, Ald. Gallagher “asked that the citizens be empathetic with the current financial situation facing the City. He stated that Council has delayed raising taxes, and are faced with a deficit and harsh realities.”

To my mind, most of the “harsh realities” are borne by DeKalb taxpayers whose city government still lives in 2005 when it comes to prioritizing spending.

I also question the ways this unit of government chooses to demonstrate empathy and support of its residents.

Allow me to illustrate. Read the rest of this entry

Northern Star‘s article on the impending demise of DeKalb’s synthetic skating rink:

Because The Skate School was not at fault for the decline in patronage, Biernacki said he is sure the council will relieve the contract.

“We pursued [the ice rink] with widespread community support,” Biernacki said. “That support did not translate into patrons.”

Biernacki said there are many choices for the council to make in regards to the future of the ice rink. “We need to look at all of the options,” Biernacki said. “We could reprogram the rink or mothball it for a while. It’s still up in the air.”

Oh, my. There’s a whopper packed right in the middle. Let’s pull it out and eyeball it for a min. Read the rest of this entry

The mayors of DeKalb and Cortland each stood his ground on matters of conscience today in the Northern Star.

–In a letter to the editor, Mayor Povlsen defends his decision to keep applicants to the 3rd and 7th ward alderman positions secret, equating and applying a “code of ethics” he followed as a counselor at Ben Gordon to his current, public responsibilities.

–Mayor Seyller frames the landfill as an either-or question — either the county approves the current expansion proposal or we have to truck our garbage out — and he bemoans the opposition’s having “tied kids to it.” Bonus quote: “I don’t know for a fact but I would think that there is another school somewhere on the face of the Earth that is within a mile away from a landfill.”

–What the heck. Let’s throw Pam Verbic in here, too. The new Third Ward alderman answers the Star‘s questions about her new job, noting that she also works full-time elsewhere but not sharing where that “elsewhere” is. If Ms. Verbic still works for Barb City Manor, a property owned by the City of DeKalb and funded by its TIF 2 District, we have a right to know.

The Sweet Home Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is proposing an ordinance that would require the City of Chicago to dedicate 20% of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funds toward affordable housing each year.

Hmmm. Should DeKalb have such an ordinance? How about for job training? Why or why not?

Bonus: YouTube: “Let’s Talk About TIF” [h/t S.V.]

Here are facts obtained recently from the DeKalb Park District about its agreements with the City of DeKalb: