Star Bonds - Dead?

The Links:

stltoday

Belleville News Democrat

Suburban Journals

A couple of items that struck me when reading through these stories.

"The reason is simple," said Rebecca Rausch, vice president of public affairs for Fleishman-Hillard of St. Louis, who served as spokeswoman for developer Bruce Holland and the University Town Center. "For more than a year, Bruce and his team tried to get the support of local mayors and lawmakers, but couldn't get it. Bruce and his team are not moving forward with the University Town Center Development."

I feel this development is strong enough to stand on its own. I understand finding financing is tough right now as many projects people thought were going to happen simply are not because organizations cannot get funding, banks aren't even willing to fund their long planned expansions in some cases.

Maybe the project can be scaled down and started on. If two or three of the anchors begin construction many of the others will come on their own I would think.

The most troubling note I read was this

Holland said in a press release that opponents made it clear they didn't want the development in Madison County.

I don't really remember anywhere along the way any voices saying the project was not wanted in Madison County. The issues with the project were in regards to funding. If he was told that his development was not wanted in Madison County he should have made that more public.

The most interesting part of this whole saga is yet to take place. Where will this "development" move to next. There are some large tenants like LegoLand & Ikea which were rumored in the Columbia Crossing development and were mentioned as part of the University Town Center project as well. These are very large tax revenue producing city changing locations that have an obvious desire to locate in the metro region.

Which town will they turn to next and what funding will the attempt to recive for their business. Time will tell.

Star Bonds - Mayors to Make Their Case

Link to the story.

I think it will get the push before early May. I find myself continuing to follow this story as it seems many of the "major elements" from Columbia Crossing are appearing in the UTC Plan and the Edwardsville are is where I grew up.

Here is an article from earlier this month.

Levee Informational Meeting

I received an email from Gene Bergmann this afternoon containing an open invitation for the public to attend a meeting regarding the levee issues and how they will affect Columbia and Monroe County as a whole. From his email I understand the meeting is being put together by the Progress for Columbia group.

I hope everyone will come to this meeting regardless of who is organizing it. I am sure the meeting will be a good opportunity to get updated with the most recent information concerning the levees. We all should be interested in how the levee issue is progressing no matter who is organizing the meeting.

As sent to me here is the invite.

Public Meeting to Discuss Levee Upgrade

When : Wednesday, May 12 – 7:00 p.m.

Where : Columbia Middle School

Speakers :
-Les Sternam, East West Gateway Council
-Other Civic Leaders from Dupo, Waterloo, & Columbia

Come to hear an update from the key leader of the levee upgrade and the importance of this project for Monroe County’s future development. Their will also be an opportunity to get answers to your questions.

Columbia Budget

The council passed the budget last night with a very quiet and quick 4-3 vote. Alderman Row was out of town, yeas were cast by Agne, Roessler, Ebersohl, & Niemietz while the nays were cast by Stumpf, Hejna, & Oberkfell.

The public comment period which took place before the meeting had a total of two people comment. Former Mayor Lester Schneider said he would prefer there be an itemized list for expenditures out of the capitol development fund. I was the other to comment and made the following statement.

First off I would like to thank Al and Linda for their time to prepare the budget.

I would however not use the term “worst case scenario” when describing either the revenue or disbursement side of this budget. The revenue side will not likely be what is shown in the budget right now. The arrearage money owed to the city will more than likely not be received from the state and it would seem more than likely that the state will miss 3-4 monthly payments over the next fiscal year. The state has not proven that they will be able to do any better than that. Depending on what months the state chooses to not pay, the city could be missing possibly over $250,000 in projected revenue.

These projected shortfalls in revenue can be made up with a few tweaks and not spending what is projected in only a few line items. If legal fees for Columbia Crossing, tourism, risk management, can stay near what they were last year a great amount of this can be made up. It will be difficult but it can be done.

In regards to disbursements I would like to see the council make an attempt at prioritizing the list of capitol expenditures for this year and the next few. While I feel that some of the items that are funded out of the capitol development fund are not truly capitol development items, this is only my viewpoint. I tend to classify road projects, new buildings or building upgrades/improvements along with other infrastructure improvements as true capitol development projects. It should have become very evident last week that while this year the city will be able to fund what they want to make projects with matching or other supplemental funds get done, this may not be possible in the next fiscal year. The capitol development fund will not be able to continue funding the number of projects the city would like to accomplish. Prioritizing projects can take away the strain of choosing which ones to do down the road.

I feel the alderman should engage in some sort of discussion before they vote no on something. Alderman Hejna gave her opinion that total disbursements should not exceed total revenues during the discussion period before the vote but Al Hudzik gave a rebuttal to her reasoning in that expenditures for the Old Town Bond were previously funded but that money is now being paid out. I really never had any indication while the council was discussing the budget either this week or last week that Oberkfell and Stumpf would vote no on the budget.

I had another paragraph prepared for the public comment portion of the meeting but chose not to speak it in fear it would be taken the wrong way by the council. Given now how it is evident they were split on the issue with little to no conversation or voicing of opinions over the budgeting process it seems I should have said what I planned to.

I would also encourage the council to discuss issues. The council must communicate and set aside their differences if the city is to succeed and prosper. It is not my intent to point blame on this issue, as you all must work to improve how you interact with each other on every issue including this budget.

Budget that was voted on. Coming.
Revisions made since last weeks committee meeting.

Remainder of the Budget Meeting Video

I feel these two clips offer the best information regarding the budget. Some good questions were asked by Alderman Row and Stumpf.

I think what is the most frustrating thing when watching the council "talk" about an issue is that they really do not talk to each other. They ask for questions, an alderman will have a question or ask for the other aldermans input or perspective and they all sit and stare at each other.I know some of the alderman take issue with what the others have done in the past but you at least have to talk to each other.

I would encourage everyone to come and voice any concerns you may have regarding the budget tomorrow night before the council meeting at 6:45.

I would watch the whole clip but Alderman Stumpf asks some good questions starting around 2:50 in.


Alderman Row has a good question starting around 2:50 in, but watch the whole clip.

Walmart possibly leaving St. Ann - A "TIF Story" - Continued

A follow up to a story I posted back on the 5th of January. I have to say in this case TIF seems like a bad deal. If Wal-Mart and THF want a store in this part of town they'll build it, I would guess they offer a deal to St. Ann if Bridgeton tells them no.

Link to article at stltoday.com

My questions of the Budget.

I sent my questions over to Al Hudzik yesterday as he is the one putting the budget together along with Linda Sharp. I have a hard time understanding how the city can project the revenue they are when all signs point to similar cash flow to the year we are just finishing up.

My questions in black, Al's answers in blue.

I have looked at this a few times and I see where the money can be made up if this occurs and expenses need to be wrangled in to stay in the black but wouldn't the budget be "more real" & "worst case scenario"if we showed up front with a negative income right below the positive for the arrearage figures the state owes us for the same amount. I understand we need to show the money owed somewhere but realistically that money will not be flowing into the city in the next year, or ever for that matter.

It’s difficult to show a worst case scenario by indicating that you feel some of the projected revenues are not going to be received (even if there is a 50-50 chance of that being the case), because you would then have to make a similar calculation on the reduction of expenses put in the budget that you don’t feel will be spent (e.g. total amount of legal fees) – in order to be able to spend funds, the expense items must appear in the budget; however, steps can be taken throughout the year to reduce the expenses (as necessary) if the income reflected is not received. Additionally, our goal was to show a cash balance at year end greater than or equal to the $288,000 state income tax arrearage – the Draft Budget falls a little short, but other adjustments are being made to meet that goal.

I believe you mentioned the budget reflects $77 a resident for funding from the state. Should we be taking into account that the state will miss at a minimum 3-4 payments? Nothing over the last year has showed us they can or will provide what is owed to us. This would be another (-$250,000) depending on what months the state decides to keep what is owed to us.

I feel there’s a possibility that the state may fall farther behind than the current 4 mos., however, there’s no way to tell; therefore, I wouldn’t know how to estimate the arrearage we are going to see – as stated above, expenses will have to be controlled throughout the year based upon the income we see coming in.

On the same issue should the city figure anything in for the decline in funding the state is proposing to the municipalities in regards to income tax? The reduction from the municipalities share of 10% down to 7%. Again I am not sure when this would take place in regards to them passing a budget but should we take this into account? As the state really has no backup plan and if this reduction do not take place then I feel the missed payments mentioned above would most definitely continue, either case would be a large reduction in revenue, I fear both will happen.

There’s no way to tell what steps the state legislature will take in the matter of the governor’s request on the reduction of the state income tax receipts to the cities – this would take legislative action and is not something the Governor can implement without the legislature; additionally, there’s a possibility that the state will increase its income tax rates (both individual and corporate), and if so, the reduction the governor mentioned in his budget speech may be reduced/alleviated depending on whether the cities receive a portion of the funds attributable to the income tax rate increase.

In regards to the revolving loan fund, I noticed Bon Vivant was listed, I believe this was some improvement work to the facade of the building or it was in a main street improvement program and since the store is no longer there I wondered what the status of that would be. I have nothing against the uses of these funds to help our local businesses, just trying to see what their status would be.

Bon Vivant is current on its loan and it was a topic discussed at a meeting held this morning – this issue will be reviewed and addressed, and I’m sure whatever funds are due the city will be repaid.

Could the city prioritize the capitol development plans in terms of streets and infrastructure plans for the next few years so when they need to be scaled back or cut the community, the council, and the streets department knows what stays and what goes in order of importance and not just what people want at the time.

I feel the capital development plans suggestion is a good one and will try to work on it, however, one thing to keep in mind is that elections are held every two years and the priorities of different councils may change with the election results.

In general I feel Al gave some good responses. I still have an issue with projecting more revenue than anyone can realistically expect.

Budget Meeting

Its been a busy week and I still have a few videos to edit down and get online but I would still encourage everyone to pick up the budget at the city's website and look it over, no one has a reason to complain if they don't voice their issues with the councils plans to spend your money now rather than after the fact.

I did cut parts of the meeting out as no one needs all of the dead space where no one was talking and parts of the budget process and explanation simply are not all that vital to the process as a whole. The first clip states the meeting was a regular session council meeting which is incorrect, it was a Committee of the Whole meeting, I missed changing part of the title clip.

Article with some Levee News

Link to scanned article

More of the same but a few updates on the continuing efforts of Les Sterman

Article on Local Cities and Development

I thought this was a good article showing examples of two cities with very similar characteristics with Columbia. O'Fallon relies on sales taxes from car dealerships like Columbia does and Brentwood is similar in size to Columbia. I would have to say Brentwoods location for development is far superior to locations Columbia could offer but there are many people who drive through Columbia on Route 3 everyday.

Interesting points of view regardless and the story isn't all pro-tif so give it a read.

City Budget Draft

I read through it over the weekend and scanned through it again at lunch today. A couple things jump out that are hard to figure with only this proposed budget in front of me.

1. I cannot tell if the city is forecasting a decline in revenue from the state, it appears they are not.

2. The city has the money owed to the city from the state, Illinois Income Taxes (arrearage) as income. I wouldn't count on this $288,000 ever making it to the city's account. I would figure for the state missing three months payments next year as well.

3. The budgeted amount for the what is now common place transfer of funds from the capitol development fund to the general fund is $445,000 for this year. I know the money is meant to be used on capitol development projects but I would feel better knowing exactly what these projects are up front. Road repairs and new cars are hardly what I would consider a "good" use of these funds. Save the cash and get the main street plan done, construct a new better looking police station/fire station, or repave main street Route 3 to Route 3. I would prefer seeing this money go to large expenditures.

4. $13,000 for seminars, conventions, and meetings. Skip them this year. Save the money. Send two or three people if absolutely necessary. I would applaud the alderman that gives up their seat to the yearly conference.

5. $50,000 for Tourism expenses?

6. A positive of legal fees not being a large projected expenditure and not being large expenditure last year.

I want to hear the council, the city administrator, Linda Sharp, and any department heads speak on their budgets before I comment on any real specifics.

Should be an interesting meeting. I'll see if I can tape it and post it. I have never taped a committee meeting before.

City Budget

The budget for fiscal year '10-'11 I believe will be posted to the city's website sometime tomorrow. The council will discuss the budget at next week Monday's committee meetings and the vote to approve on Monday April 19th. The time for public comment will be Monday April 19th at 6:45 just before the city council meeting.

I would strongly encourage people to pay attention to the process this year. The state will more than likely cut into what the city normally gets back from state collected taxes. It will be interesting to see how the city budgets the money this year.

I have a fear the city will budget anything that can be deemed a capitol development expense item to get its funding from the capitol development fund, this may work for a year or two to adjust for the reduction in state provided money. If the state never increases the funds to current levels then this fund will be depleted and the city will then have to make drastic changes. Also with how the budget has been running lately on the city level funds will be hard to find to rebuild these cash reserves.

I fear the "barebones budget" that will be proposed will not have the reductions that are really needed. If this year should have taught the council something it would have to be that the "worst case scenario" that you plan for can always be much worse than you imagined.

Good Column

This gives a good overall picture of the disaster that is facing our state right now. I am not sure of all of his figures and am going to check his figures on Illinois tax ranking.