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2020/11/09 - Mayor's Column: Financial Audit

­“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
­­­

One of the frequent questions that I receive, even more so during the last seven months, is regarding how the City’s Finances are doing. With the financial impact of COVID-19, State imposed restrictions and the loss of business, many want to know how their city is doing.

On Wednesday, November 18th at 6:30 PM at City Hall we will hold our 13th Town Hall Meeting.  During this meeting we will discuss the impact from COVID and our May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2020 Fiscal Year Audit, and the budget process for the upcoming year.  

Due to limited space for in-person attendance in the Council Chambers, we will have a signup sheet at City Hall for those that would like to come in person. We will also have it available by Zoom for those that would rather participate remotely.

You can register in advance for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tCUwuPVnRbOH5K3eJG_uEg

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Here are a few highlights from the Audit:

  • The City’s Net Position increased by $12, 205,592.
  • One Department impacted by COVID was our park department.  Park revenue was down $135,000 because of cancellations due to COVID. This was the impact from January 2020 to April 30, 2020.
  • The tax rate for 2019 (charged in 2020) was .9227. This was the third year in a row of decreased real-estate rates by the City and the lowest rate since 2010.
  • There were no new taxes or fees and no increases to any taxes or fees.
  • The City’s long-term debt was lowered by $3,862,462.  During the last three years, the debt has been lowered by over 16%.
  • The City had no material expenditures in excess of budgeted amounts for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2020.
  • We have maintained solid reserves which have helped maintain our services to the citizens and businesses of O’Fallon, while many other Cities have had to reduce services or increase costs.

If you would like to know more about the finances of your City and how we go about preparing our budget, I would urge you to attend the Town Hall on the 18th either in-person or virtually.

On a separate note, all of our businesses in O’Fallon need our local support during this trying time. But, with increasing rates of COVID-19 in the State and County, I want to urge all our citizens and businesses to abide by the regulations and take proper safety precautions. It would be disastrous to see further spread of the virus to our citizens which could in turn result in state action taken against all our local businesses as we saw early on in the pandemic.

As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open (virtually, at least)!