Author: joeward7

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Over the objections of three aldermen, the Springfield City Council Tuesday voted to give $30,000 to help advertise a local golf tournament.

The money goes to the Lincoln Land Charity Golf Championship, an official PGA stop on the Web.com Tour, and comes from the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau’s budget, which is funded through a hotel-motel bed tax. The money will go toward marketing the event to bring more visitors to town.

The vote was 6-3. Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin voted against the expenditure. Both DiCenso and McMenamin said they didn’t want to subsidize an ongoing event for the third year in a row.

The State Journal-Register

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

After spending months deciding what should be built on the YWCA block, Mayor Jim Langfelder still needs aldermen to give his choice — a park — a final up or down vote.

The process hit a bump on Tuesday when Springfield aldermen voted to table an ordinance that would lease the city-owned downtown block for 10 years to the North Mansion Y-Block Development Group, led by attorney Don Tracy and backed by Gov. Bruce Rauner. The group would raise $8 million in private funds to create and maintain the park.

Council members wanted to know why the group rejected signing on to a project labor agreement, a move that brought out several union supporters in opposition. They also wanted to know why the sitting governor would have to give written approval during the lease if a building went up on the block. In the end, aldermen tabled the ordinance, which means it will require seven aldermen to vote to move it forward for a final council vote.

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council voted 7-0 Tuesday to pass an ordinance that gives $100,000 in tax-increment financing funds every year for the next three years to Innovate Springfield, a business incubator based downtown.

The city was initially asked for $100,000 from its corporate fund, but the request was put on hold while aldermen contended with the city’s $11.5 budget deficit. Once the request was changed to TIF funds, more aldermen were on board. The contribution represents half of the incubator’s budget. The rest would need to privately raised. In the past, the city has contributed $20,000 to the incubator.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin voted present because he said he wanted to see the terms of the agreement between Innovate Springfield and the city before signing off.

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The State Journal-Register

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal Register

Springfield City Council members unanimously voted down a 4 percent tax on natural gas, which would have raised about $1.2 million to pay for pensions and equipment, at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

The vote was 9-0.

Mayor Jim Langfelder proposed the tax after aldermen complained he wasn’t doing enough to diversify the city’s revenue source. In the first year of the tax, the revenue would have gone toward pension payments and then would have been split between pensions and equipment every year after. The city now spends more on its police and fire pension payments than it collects in property taxes.

Last month, the city council worked through an $11.4 million revenue shortfall by making cuts and raising the city’s sales and telecommunication taxes. At the end of the process, however, the city still had a $2.5 million shortfall with the expectation that pensions payments and wage increases would put the city in another hole next year.

A few aldermen explained why they voted against the natural gas tax, which started a spat between Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer.

McMenamin praised the mayor for bringing up the natural gas tax, though he ultimately said he would not support the tax because his constituents want the city to focus on cutting expenses.

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal Register

For the second year in a row, Springfield aldermen on Tuesday will discuss a 4 percent natural gas tax during its Committee of the Whole meeting.

Mayor Jim Langfelder initially said he would not propose a natural gas tax increase this year after it was voted down by seven aldermen last year. But after hearing concerns from aldermen that he was not “diversifying” the city’s revenue source, Langfelder drafted the ordinance that would

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal Register

Two weeks after they shot down a sales tax increase, Springfield aldermen on Tuesday approved a 0.25-percentage-point sales tax increase to help fill a hole in the city budget for the year that begins March 1. The Springfield City Council also passed the city’s budget, 10-1, after making an additional $365,000 in cuts to the mayor’s proposed spending plan.

The vote to raise Springfield’s sales tax rate from 8.5 percent to 8.75 percent was 8-3, with Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath, Ward 2 Ald. Herman Senor and Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin voting “no.”

The tax increase will go into effect July 1 and will raise about $2.8 million this year. The city is trying to get the state legislature to pass a bill that would allow

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal Register

With the public weighing in on the city of Springfield’s budget at Tuesday’s Committee of Whole meeting, discussion between aldermen and Mayor Jim Langfelder got heated.

Last Tuesday, aldermen voted 9-1 against Langfelder’s proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase that would have brought an additional $4.3 million annually in revenue. As a result, the mayor told aldermen they would need to find millions in dollars in cuts, introduce a new tax increase ordinance or choose to spend down the city’s rainy day fund to make the budget balance.

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Langfelder said when he formulated his proposal in January, he chose to be

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Without discussion, Springfield aldermen on Tuesday rejected an increase in the city’s sales tax but approved a hike in the telecommunications tax. The 0.25-percentage-point increase in the city sales tax was killed in a 9-1 vote, failing for the second year in a row. Only Ward 4 Ald. John Fulgenzi voted “yes.”

On a 6-4 vote, aldermen approved raising the telecommunications tax from 4 percent to 6 percent. Fulgenzi, Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, Ward 5 Ald. Andrew Proctor, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen voted for the tax.

Langfelder has said the sales tax increase — which would have brought the city’s total rate to 8.75 percent and cost people an extra quarter for every $100 spent — was needed to address

NewsTalk 94.7 & 970 WMAY
Jim Leach

Springfield Alderman Joe McMenamin talks more about the city budget, expenditures, and taxes prior to Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Listen to “Jim Leach Show: Joe McMenamin Expands On City Budget, Taxes & More! – 2/6/18” on Spreaker.https://widget.spreaker.com/widgets.js

WMAY

NewsTalk 94.7 & 970 WMAY
Jim Leach

If the votes aren’t there for Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder’s tax hike proposals, the mayor says the next step will likely be layoffs.

And at least one alderman says that’s fine with him. On the WMAY News Feed, Ward 7’s Joe McMenamin said there needs to be a reduction in headcount… especially in the fire department, where he says costs are out of control.

McMenamin predicts the votes are not there for Langfelder’s proposed sales tax hike, and says the mayor will now have to decide where additional cuts will be made.

Listen to the full interview with Ward 7 Alderman Joe McMenamin below.

Listen to “Newsmaker Spotlight: Joe McMenamin – 2/2/18” on Spreaker.https://widget.spreaker.com/widgets.js

WMAY