Updated 3/12/2021 6:33 AM
After pivoting for Halloween and the holidays during the COVID-19 pandemic, the St. Charles Business Alliance is hoping for similar success with its St. Patrick s Day celebration on Saturday.
The annual parade is canceled for a second straight year because of gathering restrictions, but unlike last year when all the St. Patrick s Day events were canceled organizers had time this year to create different ways for people to celebrate safely throughout downtown St. Charles.
A year ago, on the Wednesday before the parade, that s when everything kind of went down, said business alliance events manager Amy Curione. We were all ready, but we canceled everything. It really happened fast.
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.