Deana Stroisch
A tiff at Springfield city hall escalated Monday, with three aldermen publicly disputing Mayor Mike Houston’s comments that there isn’t any money left in the downtown tax increment financing fund.
Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin called a news conference to “set the record straight” that downtown’s TIF fund has about $10.8 million available for projects. That’s more than enough, they said, to support Downtown Springfield Inc.’s $50,000 request for its “Artification” mural project.
The mayor told the editorial board of The State Journal-Register last week that all the money had been committed and that “we’re into negative dollars in terms of TIF. We can’t fund everything that we’ve committed to at this point.”
McMenamin said Monday he was “astounded” by the mayor’s comments. “There’s plenty of money there to pay current obligations,” he said. “The mayor didn’t explain that to the public. He owes it to the public. He needs to correct his statements and put out accurate information.”
Houston, meanwhile, stood by his remarks to the editorial board.
The city expects the downtown TIF district to generate a total of $26.6 million before it expires in 2016. That includes about $3 million in cash that was available as of June 10.
According to a list of projects provided by the city’s office of planning and economic development, nearly $16 million has already been committed to various projects. Eight other projects are either pending or under consideration, including $1.5 million for streetscape and $2.5 million for improvements to the parking ramp at Fourth and Washington streets.
Edwards also noted that some of the already-OK’d projects may not happen before the TIF district expires, possibly leaving even more money available.
“It is important to look down the road and be judicious with our expenditures,” Houston said. “While the anticipated revenues are projections, I don’t think that those numbers will be far off. It is very difficult to anticipate future expenditures, but we need to do it.”
Aldermen Tuesday night are scheduled to vote on the $50,000 request by DSI to help finance eight murals. The mayor rejected Downtown Springfield’s original request for $10,000 in TIF funds. Cahnman, McMenamin and Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe sponsored an ordinance to set aside $50,000 for the project.
“The mural project employs local artists, creates pride in our downtown, builds on our heritage and history and creates enthusiasm, particularly among the young folks ,” McMenamin said Monday. “I heard a lot of positive comments about it this weekend from young folks, in their 20s and 30s. This is what they want to see happening downtown.
“To be negative on this project is like turning off music at 9 p.m.,” McMenamin said, referring to Houston’s attempt last year to institute a curfew on downtown music festivals. “It reflects being out of touch.”
The mayor said he likes the idea of the murals but still doesn’t support the use of TIF money for the project.
Cahnman, however, said he “can’t think of any bigger bang for your buck.” He also rattled off seven other Illinois cities that have, or are in the process of constructing, similar murals. Murals in Homewood and Pontiac were paid for using tax increment financing, he said.
During an hourlong debate last week, Edwards questioned whether a public art project qualifies for TIF money because a previous art project was deemed not eligible. On Monday, he said he believes the city can use TIF money.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 