The City of Monmouth was forced to make many budgetary changes in response to the Governor’s stay-at-home order and a loss in tax revenue.
At Monday night’s City Council meeting, Administrator Lew Steinbrecher told aldermen that the anticipated shortfall from the COVID-19 pandemic would be about $1 million.
The City receives about $4.1 million annually from State Shared Revenues from Use Tax, Income Tax, Personal Property Replacement Tax, and Sales Tax. The city also has the Home Rule Sales Tax, which is collected by the state and disbursed to the city.
The Governor’s executive order has severely impacted all of the tax revenues the city sees. Additionally, the revenue problem is further compounded by state mandates that restrict or prohibit the city’s ability to raise taxes or fees and the lack of statewide pension reform, which is taking revenues that have traditionally supported municipal services.
Steinbrecher discussed several of the measures that have been implemented in order to maintain financial stability.
WGIL previously reported that the city had furloughed 10 employees, including two police officers, one public service officer, two full-time dispatchers, and three part-time dispatchers. Additionally, two new firefighters in the department who had not yet completed the fire academy were also furloughed.
Steinbrecher tells WGIL that the furloughed staff are still city employees and the municipality is paying for their health insurance. He says how quickly they can bring back the furloughed employees depends on how quickly business returns to normal.
The city also removed the purchase of a new patrol car for the Police Department and the transfer of money from the City’s general fund to the fire truck reserve fund were removed from the budget, freeing up $112,475.
Woodard & Curran’s operating agreement was reduced for a total savings of $384,000 annually, coming out to $32,000 a month.
The fireworks display on July 4 was canceled this year, saving the city $10,000.
A spending freeze has been instituted on all unnecessary expenditures not deemed essential in the delivery of City services and non-union city employees have voluntarily agreed to defer their annual salary adjustment to August 1.
The city’s general fund will need to borrow from the Water/Sewer fund reserves to help cover the loss of tax revenues, thus creating an obligation on future general fund budgets.
The Governor’s shelter-in-place order was extended through May 30. On Tuesday, the Governor released his five-phase plan to reopen Illinois, doing so in regions.
