Author: joeward7

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

Unlike their counterparts at the Statehouse, Mayor Jim Langfelder promised that he and the Springfield City Council would pass a spending plan before the next budget year begins on March 1. But there are still plenty of tough discussions to come, including addressing a multimillion-dollar gap in revenue and spending that the mayor has proposed closing with four tax increases.

Aldermen could vote on the tax hikes at their next meeting Feb. 7. Many say

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

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Tax hikes

Aldermen at Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting said little about the natural gas tax and proposed increases in sales, hotel and telecommunication taxes, opting to debate them at the council meeting set for Feb. 7.

In response to a question from Ward 8 Ald. Kris Theilen, Mayor Jim Langfelder said if his proposed increases are voted down, his preference is to use city reserves to bridge a projected gap between income and expenses.

The manager of the Springfield Hilton Garden Inn told the council

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

A round of national retail cutbacks in the Springfield market now includes WALGREENS. The Deerfield-based drugstore chain will close the location at 1155 N. Ninth St. on Feb. 21.

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Walgreens, Kmart, Staples, McDonald’s and Smashburger all have had closings or closing announcements in the last few weeks, beginning with

Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register

Gov. BRUCE RAUNER‘s top lawyer says he believes the governor has followed the state Constitution in his budget proposals, but for those who question if that is the case, he takes comfort in a 2016 state Supreme Court opinion.

DENNIS MURASHKO, who joined the Rauner administration as a deputy counsel and moved up to general counsel in October…spoke last week at the Sangamo Club to the Illinois Government Bar Association.

Springfield Ward 7 Ald. JOE McMENAMIN, president of the group,

Illinois Government Bar Association President and other Bar Association leaders present a check for $4,000.00 to the Spring Street Veterans Shelter in January 2017 after a successful fundraising event.

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

City Water, Light and Power’s finances are in better shape than they have been in years, chief engineer Doug Brown told aldermen at a budget hearing Thursday.

Still, officials with the city-owned utility say they need to plan for costly projects to ensure the coal-fired power plant meets federal regulations in the coming years. Republican President-Elect Donald Trump, who takes office Friday, and his administration could ease some of those environmental restrictions

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

At a budget hearing Tuesday night, the local hotel association reiterated its opposition to the one-percentage-point increase in the city’s hotel tax proposed by Mayor Jim Langfelder. But, responding to questions from a couple of aldermen, a representative from the Springfield Hotel Lodging Association said the hotels might support a higher tax if the city did more with the money to attract tourists.

City officials touched on the tax hike and the mayor’s proposal to

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

Most weeks William McCombs visits his son Jonathan in a small, ranch-style house on Noble Avenue in Springfield. His dad likes to take Jonathan, who has Down syndrome, to visit his grandmother or to get movies at the video store. It’s a great arrangement for them both, his dad says. Jonathan, 34, lives with two other men in a house they rent, run by a nonprofit where he can get the regular care he needs. But it’s unclear if his son will get to live in the Noble Avenue house much longer.

Last month, city officials ruled the house is too close to another group home for people with disabilities. They denied a request for

The State Journal-Register
Bob Gray

The city of Springfield’s corporate budget of $118.5 million for fiscal year 2016 included $82.9 million for police and fire services. The current budget year, which ends Feb. 28, is projected to end with $116 million in revenue collected; of that, about $85.9 million was budgeted to be spent on police and fire.

The next budget, for the fiscal year that starts March 1 and runs through Feb. 28, 2018, has a proposed $87.7 million total budgeted for police and fire, but unfortunately the Corporate Fund is expected to generate about $119 million in revenue (if tax increases proposed by the mayor are not approved). These are unheard of numbers anywhere in the country. If you add

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

The Staples office supply store in Sherwood Plaza will close next month after more than two decades in the Springfield shopping center, the company confirmed Monday. Closing of the store at 2490 Wabash Ave. comes as Sherwood Plaza’s owners ready a major renovation of the center that follows the closing of the anchor Kmart store in December. The Kmart had been in business since 1977.

Staples opened in 1995, according to the Springfield City Directory