Waukegan committee backs $5.5 million for risk reserve, approves $1.1 million for corridor and engineering; parking garage left in TIF

Waukegan — The Committee of the Whole voted March 3 to allocate portions of casino-generated revenue, approving $5.5 million for a city risk-management reserve, $1 million for Washington Street Corridor Phase I engineering and $100,000 for general engineering services. The committee also confirmed that the $1.5 million parking-garage repair will remain budgeted in TIF 8 rather than be paid from the casino revenue allocation plan.

The decision came after roughly two hours of discussion about competing proposals for how to spend the pool of revenue generated by a temporary casino. Corporation counsel told the committee the casino tax fund is projected to generate $16,476,700 through the end of the fiscal year on April 30. Aldermen reviewed three plans — a mayoral plan and alternate proposals from Alderman Felix and Alderman Turner — and attempted to find points of agreement.

Why it matters: The committee is allocating one-time, casino-derived revenue that the city expects to transfer into destination accounts by formal resolution if the Committee and full council agree. Members described the risk-management reserve as a contingency for legal judgments against the city; they said engineering and corridor funding would advance capital planning and project design for downtown redevelopment.

The proposals and debate

Corporation counsel opened the discussion by describing the revenue allocation plan and the amount available through April 30, which counsel gave as $16,476,700. The mayor’s proposal would allocate nearly the entire amount across multiple priorities, while Alderman Felix’s alternate plan placed a smaller amount into the risk-management reserve and added items including water-system upgrades and sidewalk repair.

Alderman Florian urged the committee to vote first on items that appear on multiple proposals, saying, “Let’s get that done,” and specifically named the downtown parking-garage repairs and Washington Street Corridor engineering. Alderman Felix moved to accelerate consideration of the revenue-allocation item and Alderman Guzman later moved to vote on Alderman Felix’s full package; that full-package motion was withdrawn during discussion.

A separate motion put forward by Alderman Florian (seconded by Alderman Felix) asked the committee to allocate $5.5 million to the risk-management reserve, $1 million to Washington Street Corridor Phase I engineering and $100,000 to general engineering services. After limited additional discussion, the committee called a roll call vote and the motion passed with the majority voting aye. The roll call as read in the record shows: Alderman Martinez — Aye; Alderman Felix — Aye; Alderman Newsom — Aye; Alderman Turner — Aye; Alderman Donaldworth — Aye; Alderman Florian — Aye; Alderman Hayes — No; Alderman Bolton — Aye. The chair declared the motion passed.

Separately, committee members discussed the downtown parking-garage repair, which had been shown in some proposals as payable from the casino revenue allocation plan. Several aldermen and staff noted the garage repair already is budgeted as a TIF expense (TIF 8). After discussion, the committee directed staff to leave the parking-garage repair funded from the TIF rather than from the casino allocation funds.

Other items noted in discussion included a previously approved $1.2 million interfund transfer to the library capital fund for HVAC replacement (the committee had unanimously recommended that transfer earlier) and a developer request that $900,000 not be drawn from TIF for an upfront payment tied to a development deal.

What the vote does and what comes next

The committee’s action instructs staff to prepare resolutions that would authorize transfers from the casino tax fund to the destination accounts identified by the committee. Corporation counsel explained the transfers will be formalized by resolutions on a future council agenda. The committee adjourned to allow the scheduled city council meeting to begin at 7 p.m.; members said further RAP deliberations will resume at a subsequent committee meeting if needed.

Quotes

“Yes, I want to make a motion to move up the, the rep allocation item forward,” Alderman Felix said when asking to accelerate discussion.

“I’m gonna put a motion to actually vote on the complete 4D for citywide proposal,” Alderman Guzman said while proposing full approval of Alderman Felix’s plan, though he later withdrew that motion to pursue narrower consensus items.

“Let’s get that done,” Alderman Florian said when urging votes on items common to multiple proposals.

Ending

The committee left in place the previously committed $1.2 million for the library HVAC, confirmed the downtown parking garage repair will be treated as a TIF expense, and approved transfers to the risk-management reserve, Washington Street Corridor engineering and general engineering services. Staff will draft the required resolutions to effect the transfers for consideration by the full City Council at a later meeting.