Dan Petrella
The State Journal Register
After using last year’s “State of the City” address to push for a sales tax increase to pay for infrastructure upgrades, Springfield Mayor Mike Houston didn’t include any new policy proposals when he delivered this year’s speech Wednesday afternoon.
Instead, the mayor, speaking to a gathering of The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, outlined the three-year, $86.6 million improvement program now underway and highlighted other ongoing projects. Those included the new Hy-Vee grocery store set to open later this spring on MacArthur Boulevard and the upcoming construction of the Carpenter Street underpass beneath the 10th Street rail corridor.
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‘Stay the course’
Houston also highlighted the ongoing work to prepare for the consolidation of train traffic from Third Street to 10th Street and the safety improvements that will be made along Third in the meantime, the nearly completed repairs to the formerly deteriorating Chatham Road bridge, downtown streetscape improvements, and the planned Stanford Avenue extension.
Houston also noted the role tax increment financing has played in spurring development, including $3.5 million for Hy-Vee, $888,000 to help the Kidzeum renovate its space in the 400 block of East Adams Street, and $5 million toward the $15 million renovation of the convention center.
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Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, who also attended, said the state of the city’s pension funds was notably absent from Houston’s remarks. “You’d expect the mayor to emphasize all the positives, but we have to remain mindful of the negatives,” McMenamin said.
The city’s unfunded liability in its police and firefighter pension funds grew by more than $50 million from fiscal year 2010 to 2013, and the city’s contribution rate to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund is the highest its ever been, he said.
After the speech, Houston said the city is making the required annual contributions set forth by its actuaries in order to bring the police and fire plans to full funding by 2040 as required by state law.
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 