top of page

CSD Finances and Accountability

decaturish-utz.png

CSD and your taxes

March 26, 2021

City Schools of Decatur is proposing a 2-point millage increase on your property taxes next year. Furthermore, they are anticipating that the digest will grow 7.3% in aggregate.....

read more
decaturish-utz.png

CSD Board duty is clear

March 11, 2021

Decatur Superintendent David Dude has multiple weeks of unexplained absences from the job we have entrusted him to do, a job no less important...

read more
decaturish-utz.png

School Bond vote

October 13, 2015

It should not be news to anyone that Decatur schools are nearly full and estimates show significant growth over the next several years.  To address this, the City Schools of Decatur is...

read more

Municipal Finance and Your Tax Bill

decaturish-utz.png

How city debt works

March 5, 2015

I realize that a conversation about municipal debt is about as riveting as a root canal, but based on what I’ve seen discussed on the topic so far I think some explaining is in order...

read more
decaturish-utz.png

How to read your tax bill

May 25, 2015

There are few topics that can ignite a debate as sharply as taxes.  I suspect the reason for this is twofold:
1. No one enjoys paying taxes, and
2. The compromises necessary...

read more
decaturish-utz.png

Taxes and the EHOST

June 25, 2018

In a previous column, I broke down the components of your tax bill and compared rates across municipalities. In this column, I’ll take those components and compare the difference...

read more

Municipal Transparency and Accountability

decaturish-utz.png

City of Decatur Budget

June 7, 2015

For the purposes of this column, we’ll focus on Decatur’s proposed operating budget, also called the general fund.  The city is proposing a $23.2 million general fund expenditure budget...

read more
decaturish-utz.png

Avondale accountability

October 20, 2019

Let me tell you how a government official would go about enriching themselves at the expense of taxpayers without the public knowing about it. Step one: find an existing city contract...

read more
decaturish-utz.png

Clarity in LaVista Hills

October 5, 2015

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen an interesting brouhaha foment over whether LaVista Hills would be a viable city, fueled by two competing analyses of the proposed city’s finances...

read more
bottom of page