 Treasurer provides a look at first eight months' revenues
City Treasurer Les Plotner presented his "State of the State"
version of city finances to council members Tuesday night. The focus
of his report was a comparative between this fiscal year's revenue
and the revenues of the previous year.
On the whole, the revenues of the city are exceeding the expected
budget amounts for the fiscal year 2008-2009. However, Plotner
pointed out that at this same time in the last fiscal year, revenues
were also exceeding projections but at a greater rate than they are
this year.
He cited that last year the revenue from income tax was 8.9
percent higher than projected, and this year it is only 5.45 percent
higher. Plotner says he doesn't expect the 5.45 percent increase to
hold through the end of the year.
The same is true with sales tax collected. While the figure at
the end of December is higher than expected by 5.23 percent, last
year this same line of revenue exceeded the projection by 12
percent.
Plotner says these are signs of the economic condition the
country is in, and he's not expecting any large excesses in either
income tax revenue or sales tax revenue this year.
He also pointed out that revenue generated from the
telecommunication tax is 13.12 percent below what it was at this
same time last year. He says that he has no explanation now for the
dramatic decrease but will be investigating it further.
(See table with figures below.)
City to seek firehouse funds
Council members approved a letter be written and signed by fire
Chief Kent Hulett and Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman that would seek
federal funds for a new fire station for the city of Lincoln.
Alderman Buzz Busby, who said that the city should attempt to get
economic stimulus funds for the project, made the motion. Hulett
added that the city should not only seek federal stimulus funds, but
state funding as well. He cited that the city of Taylorville has
completed a new fire station, replacing one that was only slightly
over 30 years old, and did so with federal and state funding.
Hulett added that many things need to be considered regarding
this new station, including the best location and the actual size of
station needed. He said that due to space constrictions, the city
fire department has equipment housed in three separate locations,
and this does sometimes hinder response time. About the location, he
said that when called to the west end of town it can take up to
seven or eight minutes to respond from the uptown location.
Council approves mayor's Lincoln Planning Commission appointment
The mayor announced to the council that Lincoln Planning
Commission member Don Vincent had resigned for health reasons.
The mayor asked that the city appoint as his replacement former
county board member Richard "Dick" Logan. Council members voted 8-0
to approve the appointment, with Verl Prather and Joni Tibbs absent.
Council amends enterprise zone
In the city's portion of the Lincoln/Logan County Enterprise
Zone, builders are offered "waiver of all development and permit
fees for work in and related to development of the (enterprise)
zone." Specifically, sewer connection charges, excavation permit
fees and building permit fees are subject to reduction.
By offering incentives that reduce construction costs, the
enterprise zone is used as a tool to attract businesses looking for
a place to build or expand their operations.
A couple of years ago Alderman Buzz Busby began calculating the
costs to maintain and operate the wastewater treatment facility and
the sewer line system. He saw that costs were not keeping up with
current and future needs. He directly correlated the increasing
capacity consumption at the treatment plant to new business
developments and said that the city could not afford to continue to
offer this exemption and be ready for the costs of the next
expansion.
Last night the council agreed by vote to no longer waive sewer
tap fees.
[to top of second column] |
Waivers extended for potential new business
One business, Helitech, is in process of making decisions about
building in the enterprise zone. Joel Smiley, executive director of
the Lincoln & Logan Economic Development Partnership, asked on
behalf of Helitech that the business be grandfathered into the
ordinance above to have the sewer tap fee waived.
The sewer tap fee at this location was estimated at $1,500.
Helitech is looking to build in the vicinity of Sysco Drive. The
city acted as the developer for that area as part of an agreement
that brought Sysco to town. The developer pays for water lines to be
installed and typically passes that cost on to the entity building.
In an agreement with Illinois American Water, the city, as
developer, is entitled to seek a reimbursement from the business.
The water main cost for the proposed location was estimated at
$5,357.
Council members voted on each of the requests and agreed
unanimously to measures that would waive both the sewer tap fee and
the water main reimbursement fee for Helitech, if they were to build
on the lot being considered or in an enterprise zone.
Smiley was present for the vote and told council members that he
was very optimistic about this project and hoped to be bringing
further good news within the next couple of weeks.
Mayor asks council to take over Heritage Days and Fourth of July
planning
At the council workshop meeting on Jan. 13, the mayor asked
council members to consider what they would like to do in proceeding
with the annual Heritage Days events that are held in conjunction
with the Fourth of July celebration.
The annual celebration has been one of the mayor's projects for
the past few years. She explained that it would be up to the new
mayor to decide whether or not the celebration goes on into the
future. However, she said this is a time-sensitive issue that the
council needs to decide whether or not to go forward with this year.
The mayor said that there are funds set aside for Heritage Days,
and those funds include a $5,000 contribution to the Lincoln Park
District to assist in paying for the $10,000 needed for the Fourth
of July fireworks display.
She said that if the council chooses not to go ahead with
Heritage Days, then there needs to be a decision made about what to
do with the funding that is currently set aside.
Heritage Days was started in conjunction with preparing for and
celebrating the city's sesquicentennial. That committee continued
the yearly, multi-day event, combined with the Fourth of July
celebration, and funds were built to support the Abraham Lincoln
Bicentennial events that are being celebrated in the city all of
this year. (See article:
'The First City to Live the Legacy' commemorates Lincoln, Ill.,
connection to Abraham Lincoln. Heritage Days is included in the
list of Lincoln-related events.)
When the topic was raised this week it was tabled for a later
date.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related article
 |
A "STATE OF THE STATE" LOOK AT REVENUES
RECEIVED THROUGH DECEMBER, 2008 COMPARED TO REVENUES RECEIVED
THROUGH DECEMBER, 2007.
Note: The figures in parentheses are projections if
the current rates would continue to the end of the fiscal year
ending April 30, 2009, but that would be unlikely, according to
Plotner.
|
INCOME TAX (8 Payments) |
|
|
|
FY 2008-2009 |
$1,011,546 |
|
|
FY 2007-2008 |
$ 959,255 |
FY 2007-2008 Revenues Over Last
4 Payments Were $454,204 Which Includes F/A Payment of
$90,847 Rec’d in May ’08 |
|
Dollar Increase |
$ 52,291 |
|
|
% Increase Over Last Year |
+5.45% |
|
|
Budget for FY 2008-2009 |
$1,400,000 |
($1,465,750) |
|
NON-HOME RULE (8) |
|
|
|
FY 2008-2009 |
$ 503,212 |
|
|
FY 2007-2008 |
$ 472,681 |
FY 2007-2008 Revenues Over Last
4 Payments Were $247,192 |
|
Dollar Increase |
$ 30,531 |
|
|
% Increase Over Last Year |
+6.45%
|
|
|
Budget for FY 2008-2009 |
$ 690,000 |
($ 750,404) |
|
TELECOMMUNICATIONS (8) |
|
|
|
FY 2008-2009 |
$ 295,355 |
|
|
FY 2007-2008 |
$ 339,968 |
FY 2007-2008 Revenues Over Last
4 Payments Were $144,521 |
|
Dollar Decrease |
$ 44,613 |
|
|
% Decrease Under Last Year |
-13.12% |
|
|
Budget for FY 2008-2009 |
$ 500,000 |
($ 484,489) |
|
SALES/USE TAX (8) |
|
|
|
FY 2008-2009 |
$1,778,091 |
|
|
FY 2007-2008 |
$1,689,690 |
FY 2007-2008 Revenues Over Last
4 Payments Were $882,631 |
|
Dollar Increase |
$ 88,401 |
|
|
% Increase Over Last Year |
+5.23%
|
|
|
Budget for FY 2008-2009 |
$2,500,000 |
($2,660,722) |
|
REPLACEMENT TAX (5) |
|
|
|
FY 2008-2009 |
$ 221,485 |
|
|
FY 2007-2008 |
$ 228,639 |
FY 2007-2008 Revenues Over Last
3 Payments Were $133,424 |
|
Dollar Decrease |
$ 7,154 |
|
|
% Decrease Under Last Year |
-3.12% |
($354,909) |
|
December, 2008 IML Projections
Indicates a 6.3% Drop in Replacement Tax In FY 2009 Which
Would Be May 2008-April 2009. |
Les Plotner, City Treasurer (January 20, 2009)
[Table copied from
scan of treasurer's report] |
