DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register
Jan 08, 2013
Construction of a Hy-Vee grocery store along MacArthur Boulevard is expected to begin this spring, after Springfield aldermen Tuesday unanimously agreed to provide the company with $3.5 million in tax increment financing.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin thanked local businesses and agencies, such as the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Town & Country Shopping Center, for making pledges to jump-start the TIF district. “Hy-Vee will transform a blighted block into an oasis and restore pride to nearby neighborhoods that felt abandoned by major retailers in recent years,” McMenamin said.
Hy-Vee plans to build a full-service grocery store and a gasoline station-convenience store on the site of the old Kmart at 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd., along with the adjoining building that formerly housed Spillway Lanes bowling alley. The company also recently purchased the former Town & Country Shell station, which closed in October.
“I think this is really a great opportunity for not only the residents of the Macarthur Boulevard area, but for the entire community in terms of really removing an eyesore and having a major development that will be a catalyst for other activity up and down the boulevard,” Houston said.
The mayor has previously said that Hy-Vee will be reimbursed by the increment that it generates from its own project. The city estimates it will take 12 to 15 years for Hy-Vee to be paid back.
***
Springfield budget director Bill McCarty said the city would have to make drastic cuts or increase property taxes to make a significant dent in the unfunded liability for police and fire pensions, which now exceeds $200 million. The city plans to use part of an anticipated $2 million surplus at the end of the current fiscal year to make an additional $1 million payment towards pensions.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said that’s not enough.
“Our philosophy is that this problem wasn’t created overnight,” McCarty said. “So yeah, a million dollars is a little bit — some would call it a drop in the bucket. But it’s something,” McCarty said. “It’s starting to work toward a solution as we try and wait for things to turn around.”
For years, the city has largely blamed police and fire pensions for its financial troubles. State-required pension sweeteners and out-of-whack actuarial estimates contributed to the city’s increasing unpaid liability.
In fiscal 2000, the city paid a total of $4.5 million toward police and fire pensions. Today, nearly all of the city’s share of property taxes is devoted to the $17 million-plus bill for police and firefighter pensions.
The unfunded liability for the firefighter pension fund is $112 million. The unfunded liability for the police pension fund totals $95.9 million.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 