DeKalb Times

DeKalb County officials have said county revenue sources aren't as big of a concern as they originally thought they would be due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

DeKalb County Finance Director Pete Stefan projects a shortfall of approximately $600,000 across all revenue sources, the Daily Chronicle reported. This would put the county at $1.5 million below budget projections for fiscal year 2020, but just $52,000 short for fiscal year 2021. 

“March, April and May were definitely hits," Stefan said. "But since then, those numbers have stabilized." 

Before June's partial reopening in the county, Stefan had said the county was expecting anywhere from $2.3 million to $4.3 million in losses from the coronavirus pandemic. 

"Had those [March, April and May] trends continued, the county would have been heading down the heightened path of revenue reduction for the year," Stefan said. "Had they increased in intensity, a worse case scenario closer to the severe path would have materialized. And had they slowed down their pace of reduction, a path closer to the moderate path would have been the result."

Motor fuel tax revenue is also expected to be less for the next budget year. Stefan said it will be approximately $200,000 less, according to estimates. 

“That one’s expected to continue, with a lot of remote working occurring,” Stefan said. 

The county has also received aid through $6.6 million worth of grants, some of which will spread out over multiple years, he said. Despite the pandemic, local use tax, which online sales fall under, has been bringing in more revenue than usual. 

“The local use tax, the one bright spot, the one positive number on this page, that keeps chugging along,” Stefan said. 

But he still expects the general fund to be down by $187,000. 

“So much better than what we had expected when this thing first started,” he added.