Updated 3/4/2021 5:51 PM St. Charles Finance Director Chris Minick has a term for the budget difficulties the city's endured for the last year: the "COVID deficit." At last weekend's city council retreat, for the first time Minick outlined for Mayor Ray Rogina and the aldermen the ongoing impact of a "COVID deficit" that will create a nearly $3.2 million hole in the projected budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year that begins on May 1.
Minick said projected revenue of about $47 million is shy of a normal year where the city would expect $49.25 million. A significant amount of the decrease is from hotel/motel tax revenue that's projected to be at $750,000, compared with $2.2 million in a normal fiscal year.