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Aurora council reviews new Aurora Downtown District, its bylaws and SSA funding plan
Summary
City staff presented the Aurora Downtown District (ADD), a newly formed 501(c)(4) nonprofit to oversee downtown marketing and events with a remainder-of-year budget of $300,000 funded from SSA 1 tax dollars; the law department advised ADD is not subject to Illinois OMA/FOIA but the bylaws include transparency commitments; council directed staff to bring the agreement to city council on unfinished business with an added requirement for annual reporting.
City staff briefed the Committee of the Whole on May 5 about the Aurora Downtown District (ADD), a newly formed nonprofit created to manage downtown programming, marketing and events and to receive Special Service Area 1 (SSA 1) funds on behalf of downtown property owners.
Danielle Tufano, the city’s Downtown Economic Development Manager, told the council that ADD is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and that an interim leadership committee — made up of downtown property owners and business representatives — had finalized bylaws, branding, a new website and hired an executive director. Tufano said the organization’s budget for the remainder of 2026 will be $300,000, paid from SSA 1 tax revenues that are collected from downtown property owners.
Deb Lang, representing the city law department, told the council that because ADD is a private 501(c)(4) nonprofit it is not legally subject to the Illinois Open Meetings Act or the Freedom of Information Act. Lang and city staff emphasized, however, that the service agreement requires ADD to provide the city with budgets, a program of work and other documents, and that ADD’s bylaws commit the organization to hold open meetings and post minutes as a matter of policy.
Council members questioned the process for the ADD budget and whether the city council would vote on appropriations. City staff explained that the SSA structure means the funds belong to downtown property owners and the city acts as the disbursement agent; for 2026 the budget is being handled as an informational item while staff and outside counsel explore whether amending the enabling ordinance or another administrative work‑around will be necessary ahead of the SSA renewal.
Following discussion, the council directed staff to bring the service agreement forward to city council on unfinished business with a modified Exhibit B that requires ADD to present an annual update to the council. The modified approach will allow ADD to begin operations while staff coordinates any needed ordinance adjustments.
Why this matters: SSA funds are downtown property‑owner dollars held by the city for special services in the SSA boundary; creating an independent nonprofit to manage programming changes who receives and administers those funds and raises questions about statutory transparency and the city’s role in oversight.
Next steps: staff will return the agreement (with Exhibit B language) to city council on unfinished business and continue work on the ordinance/administrative details around disbursement and oversight of SSA 1 funds.
