The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Normal’s revenue stream, but less than planners feared, thanks to some adjustments made this spring, the Town Council heard at Monday night’s meeting.
Still, officials agreed with Finance Director Andrew Huhn’s assertion that what lies ahead is unknown related to COVID’s impact this fall, and that the town should move forward with the adjusted budget.
“Generally speaking, we are either at or above our expectations in terms of revenue, which is a good thing, for the first quarter at least,” Huhn said, during the council meeting, held online via Zoom, and broadcast live on YouTube.
City Manager Pam Reece told council members, despite the good news, officials plan to hold the line.
“This is just a snapshot in time. This is what we know today, and still we are maintaining our original assumptions,” she said. “There are still so many things we don’t know regarding the long term. So we aren’t going to recommend any modifications to our assumptions.”
On May 4, town officials presented the council with how they thought the pandemic could affect its general fund. Financial planners made adjustments to handle what they estimated would be a $10.4 million COVID impact. About $7.8 million in revenue decreases were expected in several tax categories.
Huhn’s report Monday showed lower revenue in the key period of mid-March through June, when the statewide shutdown closed many businesses and town programs.
He credited the lesser impact to a combination of savings from cuts in salary and programs, as well as from electric carmaker Rivian’s decision not to accept a $1 million payment. In particular, he said cultural arts and parks and recreation saw less spending, because of the shutdown.
The actual negative impact has been closer to $4.1 million, according to Huhn, because of conservative budgeting and closely tracking expectations compared with actual revenues.
“We’re certainly watching the numbers very closely,” said Huhn, adding officials will know a lot more about the March-to-June period by the end of September. That’s when the council starts to hear proposed budgets for next year, he said.
Mayor Chris Koos and several council members praised Reece and Huhn for the conservative budgeting through the pandemic while urging residents to wear masks, and to social distance to cut down the odds of a future shutdown. The economic impact of that could be the death knell for many local businesses, Koos said.
“We’ve got a lot of discipline we’ve got to maintain in terms of going forward, in terms of social distancing and wearing a mask in stores and things like that,” Koos said. “We’re not out of the woods on this yet.”
Several council members spoke up in agreement.
Huhn said Normal doesn’t expect to regain its past revenue levels for another year or two because of the pandemic. In the meantime, finance staff willl develop a plan for the reserves and other possible cuts to budget.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the council approved plans to amend its fiscal 2019-2020 budget, to roughly $137 million in revenue, and nearly $134.5 million in expenditures.
That’s a nearly $7 million increase in the town’s revenue, and about a $5.5 million increase to its expenditure budget. Both adjustments mostly come from refunding a 2009 bond issue, and surplus transfers, according to council documents.
Additional action taken at the meeting included the council:
- Amending the Rivian site plan to allow for building additions, parking lot changes, landscaping and other projects, at 100 North Rivian Motorway, Normal.
- Approving an agreement with the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office. This moves some management of its Community Development Grant program, as it pertains to Normal environmental reviews of historic sites, into the Town of Normal offices.
- Approving a three-year contract with Hoerr Construction Inc. for about $411,650 to handle the 2020 sanitary and storm sewer cleaning and televising.
- Moving ahead with an Oak Street water main replacement project, by selecting George Gildner Inc.’s $545,600 bid.
- Reapproving the preliminary subdivision plan for Pheasant Ridge.
- Reapproving the final plat of Nussbaum’s second and third subdivisions, relating to Nussbaum Transportation, 19336 North 1425 East Road.
- Awarding Wilcox Electric a $119,900 bid to replace a standby emergency generator for the West Booster Station.
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