DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Finance Committee met July 1.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Finance Committee of the DeKalb County Board met virtually via Zoom on Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Chairman Bagby called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Those Members present were Mr. Scott Campbell, Mr. Steve Faivre, Mr. John Frieders, Ms. Dianne Leifheit, Ms. Linda Slabon, and Chairman Tim Bagby. Mr. Jerry Osland was absent. A quorum was established with six Members virtually present and one absent.

Others present via Zoom included Mark Pietrowski, Karen Cribben, Pete Stefan, and Greg Millburg.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Faivre and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

It was moved by Ms. Slabon, seconded by Mr. Frieders and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes of the June 3, 2020 Finance Committee Meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

UPDATE ON PROPERTY TAX PENALTY WAIVER

Mr. Stefan shared an update provided by DeKalb County Treasurer/Collector Christine Johnson that Ms. Johnson’s Office made their second tax distribution on June 26th and they have now sent out $120.8 million or 52.6% of the funds they are charged with collecting this year.

In comparison, in 2019 they had collected 52.9% at this time of the year, in 2018 it was 53.4%, and in 2017 it was 53.2%. Basically, the distributions have varied by only tenths of a percentage point each year which is not considered material.

In regards to the waiver of penalties, 69 taxpayers availed themselves of the waiver program and 116 parcels had penalties waived that amounted to $8,696.37 in total waived penalties.

Mr. Osland joined the Zoom meeting virtually at 7:08 p.m.

COVID-19 IMPACT ON COUNTY FINANCES

Mr. Stefan presented an updated Dynamic Revenues Report depicting the early stages of impact that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the County’s FY 2020 budget. He also provided the Committee with numerous revenue charts depicting historical revenue trends of some key revenues for the County. Those reports and charts are attached as exhibits to these minutes.

Ms. Slabon requested clarification on what the liability month reference was in regards to sales tax. Mr. Stefan reported that referred to the month any particular sale was made in and thus the sales tax liability was incurred in that month.

Mr. Frieders asked questions in regards to the lag in Motor Fuel Tax revenue. Mr. Stefan responded that those are based on volume of fuel sold and had no bearing on the price of fuel.

Mr. Frieders asked about the varying amounts of income tax receipts from month to month. Mr. Stefan explained that the highest revenue month has traditionally been May since income taxes are usually due in April but that will shift to August this year as income taxes are not due until July this year. Other factors affecting income tax revenue are the timing of payroll withholding tax remittances, quarterly tax payments, and annual tax payments.

Mr. Campbell asked if an overall estimate of revenue shortfall had been made. Mr. Stefan responded that initial estimates were about $2.3 million for a low impact scenario, $3.3 million for a moderate impact scenario, and $4.3 million for an extreme impact scenario. He also explained that as of December 31, 2019, the General Fund had a fund balance of about 41% of expenditures and it could fall to 30% or so by the end of 2020 which is still above the 25% target.

Mr. Stefan reported that the County has spent $260,000 in Commodities and Services through June for unbudgeted COVID-related items. That number doesn’t take into account any personnel numbers. Some of the $260,000 will be reimbursable but some won’t. Mr. Stefan reported that unfortunately the more information he gets the less confident that he is that much of any of it will be reimbursable for departments other than the Sheriff’s Office and the Health Department that are considered essential frontline workers in the fight against the pandemic. He is hearing that some of the dividers, shields, sanitizers, masks, and gloves, unless you are a healthcare worker or emergency responder, the granting agencies are considering those increased operational costs, which would not be reimbursable. He is waiting for additional guidance from FEMA because there is a lot of negative feedback and pushback about that so they are going to issue additional guidance. Everything that is FEMA-eligible will be reimbursed at 75%.

CLAIMS REVIEW

Mr. Stefan highlighted that the June County Claims included the early stages of the body camera program purchases and that all outside agencies received their funding in June. Mr. Bagby asked questions on whether or not the Employee Assistance Program had an implicit bias training component, on the various shredding costs across departments, and on the water and sewer bill at the County’s Waterman facility.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Campbell, seconded by Mr. Frieders and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:51 p.m.

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/min20-finjul.pdf