May 05--After aldermen's hesitance last week to grant Batavia Public Library $100,000 to remodel its outdoor staircase, officials Monday chose to withdraw the request.
On April 28, the council's Committee of the Whole voted 7-6 against offering financial assistance for the project, but the decision wasn't a done deal. The council awaited two more votes from Ald. Carl Fischer and alderman-elect Michael Russotto, but library officials chose to withdraw their application before Monday's final vote.
"We withdrew because the conversation subsequent to the request led me to conclude that the council wasn't going to support it," Library Board President Doug Sullivan said.
Aldermen initially expressed reservations April 21 about giving $100,000 of TIF money to the library, and pushed back a vote to investigate whether the money could come from another source. The library, which is enhancing its exterior with about $950,000 in projects, asked the council earlier this year for the TIF money.
TIF funds are generated by freezing the amount that taxing bodies receive from a certain area, making improvements that raise property values, and then keeping the additional property tax revenue in a designated TIF fund.
Library officials asked for the city's contribution to improve the library's back entrance -- a stairway at Wilson and Water streets that fans into downtown. Officials plan to widen the top and make it more attractive, which they say will help funnel people to the area.
They also envision engraving "Batavia Public Library and Reading Garden" on one of the staircase's two walls. The second wall would be engraved with a quotation about reading.
While library officials felt the staircase remodeling would be the aspect of the project most attractive to city officials, Sullivan said he understands their reluctance to support it financially.
"I certainly understand their position, where they didn't necessarily see a correlation between future EAV growth and that particular project," he said.
Sullivan mentioned the possibility of applying for TIF funding to cover a separate project: The remodeling of an unattractive stretch of road on Water Street, which borders the library. Sullivan said the strip of property is in disrepair and lacks both a sidewalk and healthy plant life.
"I believe it's in the city's long-range plan," he said. "Perhaps a partnership for beautification would make sense right now."
Despite the lack of TIF funding, the library will pursue the staircase improvements, which will be funded by the library's capital fund. The other repairs, which will cost $850,000, include replacing the wood covers of the library's front columns, redoing outdoor hand rails and replacing swinging doors.
Mayor Jeff Schielke said Monday that he regretted the outcome of the process. He had supported funding the staircase improvements, and called the contribution last week a "win-win" for both the library and taxpayers, who wouldn't have to pay higher taxes to the library to cover the project.
"We have 850 to 1,000 people visiting downtown a day. It's a clear beneficiary having the library in the downtown area," he said. "It's a major asset to be able to spend money to enhance it and not have to put it on the back of taxpayers."
Among those who voted against funding the project April 28 was Alderman Marty Callahan. He said he voted "no" on behalf of his constituents, who contacted him via email and Facebook with overwhelming opposition to spending the TIF money on the project.
The city predicts that the TIF District 3 fund might also have to borrow money from the city's general fund to pay for upcoming expenses for other downtown projects, he said. These projects include the new Walgreens, which is using TIF incentives to build its replacement store on Wilson.
Callahan also said this wasn't the right time to use valuable city money on the library since the city could lose up to 50 percent of its state funding with the approval of Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed spending plan.
"Right now it's extra belt-tightening time until we have more information," he said. "Bad decisions are what got us into this state. I don't think we need to be compounding them."
meltagouri@tribune.com
