Updates at the top:
Ardis: Says that city is going to be transparent as possible Entire budget is online. Asked anyone willing to address council to do so. None do.
Motion to receive and file. Executive session planned. Meeting is over. Damn that was quick.
PIZZA.
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Jacob questions Scroggins: Gambling revenues down significantly. Any reason why? Scroggins: He guesses it’s the impact on the smoking ban. Jacob: Wants city to secure additional information.It has a significant impact on our revenue.
Nichting says staff needs direction on funds. Staff says no.
Jacob: Debt service fairly significant. Can we look at other opportunies to take advantage of lower rates. We’ve already refunded many of our bonds. Short terms rates have not gone down low enough in short term. Savings is not there. Cash has dried out. No one is buying municipal bonds.
Jacob: $4 million increase in property taxes. Scroggins say much is due to debt for library.
Council member Bob Manning still wants to amortize pension benefits. State legislators give out generous firefighter pensions, but don’t have to pay. Manning wants to amortize over longer periods. Says legislators refuse to listen to pleas to help. Manning says State Sen. Dave should be able to help because he’s tight with current governor.
Jacob: This budget is the state in the right direction toward five years budgeting. Scroggins will bring back five year projection, he says.
Spears wonder how utility revenue can be flat. He doubts that electricity use should be flat, considering new construction.
Councilman Ryan Spain: Mentions downward trend toward HRA tax. Maybe people aren’t eating out as much, or eating at restaurant outside city, he says. Scroggins says he doesn’t have access to taxes in other communities at this time.
Jacob AGAIN. I missed it because I had to deal with a chat invitation.
This blog is ECLECTIC. Mostly, I write about politics and media. Sometimes, I post a funny cartoon. Sometimes I post pictures of pretty girls. I am baffled as to why people who visit this blog regularly complain about this.
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I heard Ardis being interviewed on WMBD yesterday. He said something to the affect of “it will be a short meeting on the budget because we basically have no money”. It struck me as funny.
Thank you, Billy, for live-blogging the meeting. You’re the only media outlet covering special meetings now, evidently.
Let me get this straight: Gas has tripled in the last two years, grocery bills are up, the cost of heating your house has gone through the roof, insurance and medical costs are skyrocketing, the economy is currently tanking and people are scared they may not be able to get any kind of credit…and some guy says gambling revenues are down “because of the smoking ban”.
What-EVER. Let me guess…this guy still thinks Obama is a Muslim, too, right? Jeezus H.
Also, are we talking about Peoria here, or East Peoria (where they actually have a gambling boat)? When they ask about “gambling revenues”, are they also talking about buying lottery tickets and scratch offs? And if that’s the case, am I to believe that people aren’t buying scratch offs because of the smoking ban?
http://www.sj-r.com/news/x436986266/Riverboat-revenue-dips-by-121-million
The smoking ban does play a large part of it. Indiana, Missouri, and Iowa casinos aren’t experiencing the same declines.
Again, I ask, are we talking about PEORIA revenues here? How much revenue does Peoria get directly from the Par-A-Dice? Having lived in Nevada for several years, I know very much about the connection between smoking and gambling.
But in this case, it appears to be nothing more than a copout. In my seven years in Nevada (1989-1996), there was one non-smoking casino, advertised as such. It was PACKED nightly for it’s one plus year in business. It was so busy, I found myself going back to stinkhouses, er, smoking casinos, just so I could find an open machine to play.
The non-smoking casino was closed because the owners were caught cheating by the state’s Gaming Commission (the best in the country), and were forced to shut down. To cover their own arses, the owners were quoted in the Reno Gazette-Journal the next day as saying “our experiment failed, gamblers want to smoke”. It was a lie. But the perception sticks to this day.
I’m here to tell you right now, I avoided the Par-A-Dice for many years BECAUSE of the smoke.
But, be that all as it may, I ask again…are we talking about Peoria gambling revenues here? Because I don’t know one single person who won’t go down to the grocery store or gas station to buy a lottery ticket because they can’t smoke. It’s a ridiculous argument, if that’s part of what they’re saying.
B.J. Curb your outrage. Peoria Budget Director Jim Scroggins noted that revenue from the city’s portion of gambling revenue was down somewhat. He was asked by a Councilman George Jacob is he knew why that revenue was down. Scroggins mentioned that the smoking ban MIGHT be a possibility Scroggins made it clear he was not speaking an an authority on the cause. Scroggins is responsible for the city’s budget. He is not affiliated with the gambling industry and was not speaking for them. He has no way of nothing for sure, no more than you can state with absolute authority because you are familiar with a completely different casino in another state from a long time ago in completely different economic environment.
Billy, I appreciate what position Mr. Scroggins holds, but it’s generic throw away statements like these that can snowball, and for no reason. Sorta like the police saying “it was a speed-related accident”. ALL accidents involving a MOVING vehicle have SOME kind of speed attached to them, but that statement makes it look like, “oh, that damn speeder caused a wreck”.
Same goes here. “Damn smoking ban is hurtin’ gamblin’ revenues!” is the automatic cry. But that’s not always the case. So, again, I ask (for the third time), where does Peoria’s “gambling revenue” come from? Does some of it come from the Par-A-Dice? I don’t know. Somebody help me out here. If it DOESN’T, and he’s talking about lottery tickets, the statement was irresponsible and pointless.
Peoria’s gambling revenue comes from the Par-A-Dice in East Peoria. The No Smoking ban has had an effect on their revenues. While Iowa passed a No Smoking law July 1, 2008 (maybe it was June 1) casinos are exempt. Their revenues are not declining and in fact are increasing. Like it or not, the No Smoking ban has had an effect but the economy as it is now also affects the revenues also. Like it or not, No Smoking Law in Illinois has cost businesses money and you can go to almost any small bar, they still smoke in them.
Em, thanks for the answer, and what a sweet deal for Peoria. How does that happen?
Anyway, wages are flat, prices on everything are up, unemployment is up, and are you saying you are summarily adding to this myth that’s “it’s the smoking ban” that is the sole cause of the decreased revenues?
BTW, those small bars being smoked in? They should be paying fines.
I’ve always thought the CW was gambling tended to increase in economic downturns.
Good discussion of gambling effect on public finance here:
http://www.library.ca.gov/crb/97/03/Chapt9.html
What I’d like to know, Billy, is how much of the discussion centered on debt and union wages? Personnel and debt comprise what are arguably the largest portions of total and fixed expenses in the city’s budget. According to their latest financial report, they are in the hole 112 MILLION for employee retirement benefits (p. 73 of 2007 CAFR), half of their capital assets depreciated out (p. 60), Twelve and one-half pages of debt information totaling over 313 MILLION (not including the 100 they will need for cleaning up the river or the 25+ million for paying for the library), and wage increase assumptions of four to six percent.
It’s a sticky mess. I’m only bemoaning the debt issue. It’s out of control. They have no choice but to raise taxes because if they don’t they can not meet their debt obligations, plain and simple. The more debt load they take on, the less variable expenses they have. I would also argue that 112 million they owe for employee retirement benefits is part of debt, so, all total you’re talking about 550 million in debt.
Nice legacy, eh. or is it, feh?
It doesn’t seem the city has included the lawsuits and grievences the Police Union has thusfar won in their case against the Chief. 6 of the 35 grievences and unfair labor practices have gone to arbitration so far with the Union winning all of them. Lt. Dunnigan’s case alone cost the city alone 340,000 in compensatory damages, which the city has yet to pay. The punitive side has yet to go to trial, but it is expected that Dunnigan will win upwards of 500,000 for civil rights violations. Another officer just won his grievence and lawsuit and is expected to get thousands from the city as well. Abiding by the contract and following due process are issues the Chief hasn’t quite grasped yet. Once these start effecting the taxpayers in Peoria, maybe they will understand why we voted no confidence in the chief. And his policies had very little to do with Crime stats. He’s not the one on the street. The common beat cop is and despite getting shafted by the Chief, administration and the general public….we’re still out there doing our job.
No BJ, you should fined, jailed for a period of 30 days and then stripped of your right to vote. You do not know how to live in a free society. You do not know how to live as a free individual. You only know that you are comfortable when the state takes care of you from cradle to grave. Therefore, you should not be allowed to voice your weakness as swaying opinion or as a vote towards the direction of local or national government.
No BJ, you should be fined, jailed for a period of 30 days and then stripped of your right to vote. You do not know how to live in a free society. You do not know how to live as a free individual. You only know that you are comfortable when the state takes care of you from cradle to grave. Therefore, you should not be allowed to voice your weakness as swaying opinion or as a vote towards the direction of local or national government.
You don’t HAVE to repeat yourself, MB.