Forces some city workers to miss normal payday
Read more: Local, Mt. Sterling, Illinois, Budget, Payday, Government, Economy, Politics, Community, Paychecks, Didn't get Paid
MT. STERLING, ILL. -- The list of cities and counties affected by the budget struggles in the state of Illinois continues to grow.
This month is the first time the city of Mt.Sterling has not received its usual monthly tax reimbursements from the state.
It also was the first time the city couldn't meet its payroll.
13 city employees in Mt. Sterling didn't get paychecks as expected on Monday, March 1st.
KHQA's Jarod Wells spoke with a city alderman, who says the city is scrambling to figure out what to do next.
City workers in Mt. Sterling aren't making as many phone calls these days. The city is limiting the use of land line and cell phones to save money, since the state missed this month's payment.
3rd Ward Alderman Matthew Bradbury said, "Last Thursday, we called the state because our checks hadn't been received yet. The reply from the state was that they weren't sending any checks."
That leaves Mt. Sterling wondering where to turn for revenue.
Bradbury said, "And obviously the quickest way to obtain that is to divert funds from other areas and into the general revenue fund to meet those needs."
The city has moved $90,000 from the sewer fund into the general revenue fund so those 13 city employees who didn't get paid Monday will get their paychecks Wednesday, March 3rd.
Bradbury said, "We're very limited. The only options we could find and be within the law and the statutes is to borrow from other funds, which require us to pay that back within the fiscal year that we divert those funds."
Mt. Sterling must put that $90,000 back into the sewer fund by the time its fiscal year ends on April 30th. Alderman Matthew Bradbury says the city will wait to see if the state comes through with its payment before any other action is taken to replace that money. Without that state money, the city will have to get a bank loan.
Bradbury said, "Hopefully the state will realize what burden it has put upon the cities and the counties and find ways to get the revenue to where it needs to go."
Mt. Sterling has put a spending freeze on normal monthly purchases. Spending for pest control, uniforms and equipment is on hold. Also, money to put the finishing touches on the new EMS facility has been frozen.
Bradbury said, "That would've been a tremendous advantage to us if we would've known days, weeks in advance. Obviously they knew the money wasn't there, why didn't they let the municipalities know?"
Bradbury says the city plans to keep up its usual services, even without that state money.
Effective March 17th, Mt. Sterling is switching to direct deposit for its employee payroll.
That change already had been decided before the city's funding issue with the state of Illinois this week.
