2019-252 Ordinance Adopting the Fiscal Year 2020 Budget and Appropriating Monies for the Purpose of Defraying the Expenses of Departments and Funds of the City of Decatur, Illinois for the Fiscal Year Beginning January 1, 2020

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„1 GENERALFUND REVENUE NOTES ■ General Fund revenues, consistent with the past,are driven primarily from state sales and use tax, local sales tax, and state income tax, all collected by the State of Illinois and distributed on a monthly frequency to local governments by the Illinois Department of Revenue. The 2020 budget includes $32.8 million from these revenue streams, representing 47% of General Fund revenues of $70.5 million, as compared to the 2019 projection of$32.0 million, representing 47% of General Fund revenues of$68.3 million. The underlying assumption of the growth rate in each of these state distributed revenue streams is consistent with recent historical trends and current economic factors. ■ Property tax revenues for the General Fund have been calculated in accordance with the City Council's instructions on August 6—that the new levy attempt to keep the dollar cost for the average property owner about the same, but adjust to take account of newly annexed properties, new construction and other additions to the city's aggregate equalized assessed value. ■ Utility tax revenues have been adjusted to reflect anticipated new annexation (newly annexed properties will be required to pay utility taxes—an increase), and greater efficiencies by users (a slight decrease). ■ Revenue from Township Road & Bridge will also increase as a result of annexation, because although the city does not set the township road and bridge levy, it receives half of what the townships levy on properties inside the city of Decatur. ■ Revenue from telephone utility taxes and cable N taxes are projected to decline, despite annexation, because of a multi-year pattern of increased transitions to wireless services. ■ Video gaming machine fee rates are unchanged in accordance with council instructions; however, revenues will increase slightly because the State of Illinois has permitted liquor establishments to go from 5 to 6 machines (and permitted truck stops to have 10 machines). ■ Staff proposes that the City Council take the necessary legislative steps to impact General Fund revenues in four ways: o Because the costs of lake management far exceed revenues from lake use, it is proposed that lake use, pier permits and duck blind fees all be increased by five percent(5%), which will increase total lake use fee revenue to$220,000; but that half of this revenue be transferred to the Water Fund in FY 2020,with the remaining half transferred to the Water Fund in FY 2021. o The city is owed hundreds of thousand of dollars in outstanding parking fines and fees from previous years. It is proposed that a three-month amnesty be declared by the City Council—running from January 1 to March 31,2020—during which time the city will accept outstanding and delinquent parking charges without late fees or interest. After March 31, 2020 all outstanding parking fees from the last 5 years will be referred to the appropriate court for the full amounts. We have estimated that this action, if approved, will generate$100,000 for the General Fund. o It is proposed that the city adopt a new revenue by requiring that vacant and foreclosed properties be registered with the city. Owners of vacant structures will have to pay a registration fee,and banks foreclosing on vacant structures will have to pay a fee. Many other cities have adopted such a charge (which would be collected by an outside agency that specializes in this process), and could have the effect of encouraging more owners to do something productive with properties that can be rehabilitated ($100,000). o It is proposed that fees for many categories of building permits be increased to reflect rates in other central Illinois communities, and the costs incurred by the city to complete inspections($250,000). ■ Although an indirect consequence of the above changes, the staff also anticipates an increase in Administrative Court fines and fees that will result from implementation of a residential inspection program, increased code enforcement related to neighborhood revitalization, parking amnesty and a program to more closely regulate structure vacancies and foreclosures. City of Decatur 8 2020 Budget