DeKALB | The city of DeKalb is a municipality that is facing possible future hardships relating to budgeting efforts due to decreased revenue income.

There is no sure length of time that the revenue could be affected, but some believe it will continue in the near future.

“I anticipate the revenue shortfall will be similar next year,” said DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen.
DeKalb is not the only municipality suffering though, some warned.

“I believe the revenue short fall is affecting all municipalities nationwide,” Assistant City Manager Rudy Espiritu said.

At the DeKalb City Council meeting on Oct. 27, Epsiritu projected the city might see a $2 million to $3 million shortfall in revenue.

Although figures showed the budget in the first three months of the fiscal year, cutbacks were still needed.

“We’ve made drastic concessions at the beginning of the year,” Povlsen said. “There will be no hirings, and we’re down about 19 staff members.”

Other cutbacks include looking at the structure of the employee health care benefits, Povlsen said. “We’re looking at more contribution from our employees.”

Also, amongst current measures to combat the possible backlash of a revenue shortfall is a wage freeze for city employees.

The council in the recent past has held against an increase in taxes citizens pay, but the possibility exists.

“I think it’s short-sighted to tell the people we’re not going to raise taxes,” First Ward Alderman Bertrand Simpsonsaid.

The option to raise taxes is one that would be reserved for future plans of action, should the revenue fall short by as much as projected, and also continues the trend in the future.

“I’m not in favor of that,” Povlsen said. “After we cut everything else down the road, it will be a last resort.”

In reality, the city could be facing an even bigger deficit if not for the increase in the Ill. sales tax and liquor tax.

“[It] certainly has helped,” Povlsen said. “We would be facing a bigger deficit.”

Although the state tax increases may have helped in the eyes of some, others do not see it making as much of a difference to the city because of economic trends.

“In the city sales taxes are down 15 percent and income taxes are down 14.5 percent,” Espiritu said.

Even with budget and revenue projections, as well as input from financial consultants, there is no true way of telling what shape DeKalb will be in down the line.

“It’s just something that we have to monitor closely,” Espiritu said.

All comments are moderated before being published. We will not edit your comments, but we also will not approve those that are abusive, off-topic, attack another poster or contain information we know to be libelous or false.

During peak weekday viewing times, most comments will be reviewed within six hours. For more detailed information, click here.

After submitting your comment, check below for a confirmation message.

• Your name:
• Enter text from image:
  

• Your comment:

* 300-character count. HTML formatting will not display.