CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
title
Receive the August 2020 Financial Report and approve actions providing financial flexibility in the 2020 and 2021 budgets (Item 1 of 2)
body
DEPARTMENT: Finance Department
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Mayer, Finance Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
The Financial Advisory Board (FAB) has reviewed monthly financial reports through July and expressed support to utilize available options that will increase financial flexibility in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BACKGROUND:
The other item on the City Council agenda related to this item is:
* 20-928
The City, region, and nation continue to experience the ongoing economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in mid-March. To provide Council with current data to make strategic financial decisions at the appropriate time, staff is bringing a financial report to the Council at its second meeting of each month.
In July, Council provided staff with direction to develop the actions necessary to increase the City's financial flexibility through 2020 and 2021. Those items included removing restrictions on certain revenues and increasing borrowing with the goal of maintaining core services at their current levels.
DISCUSSION:
New Information
Ongoing developments continue to shape the pandemic's financial impact on the City. Since the July 21 Council meeting, the following new events occurred:
* COVID-19 Cases Rising: The City is divided by county among two of the state's 11 public health regions. Both regions have seen increases in the COVID-19 positive test rate in recent weeks. The Region 7 (Will) positivity rate has risen from 5.2% on July 20 to 6.7% on August 8. The Region 8 (DuPage) positivity rate has risen from 4.2% to 4.6% during that same period. Per state guidelines, if a region meets certain criteria such as a positivity rate of 8% or higher for three consecutive days, new mitigation strategies can be mandated. New mitigation strategies may bring additiona...
Click here for full text