Batavia aldermen expressed reservations April 21 about giving TIF dollars to the Batavia Public Library for improvements. Ultimately, they pushed back a vote on the issue to investigate whether the money could come from another source.
The library, which is refreshing its exterior with about $950,000 worth of projects, asked the council earlier this year if it would contribute $100,000 of TIF money to the project.
TIF funds are generated by freezing the amount that tax bodies receive from a certain area, making improvements that raise property values, then keeping the additional property tax revenue in a designated TIF fund.
On April 21, the aldermen stressed that the library is a great asset to the city’s downtown, but questioned whether allocating city TIF money to improve the library was an appropriate use.
“I’m a big fan of the library and any support we can give them is good,” Ald. Nicholas Cerone said. “But I’m concerned about giving TIF for something we can’t see a return on.”
Library officials asked for a contribution to the project 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 downtown.
Library Director George Scheetz said he plans to explain to alderman at the April 28 meeting why the library asked for the TIF dollars. He said there is precedent for similar funding, such as when the city granted TIF dollars to the Batavia Park District for Riverwalk improvements.
Widening the stairway and adding lettering that identifies the building as the city’s library is a good fit for meeting TIF guidelines, he said.
“This ties into the entrance of downtown,” Scheetz said, adding that the idea for the stairway project grew out of previous city streetscape projects.
The rest of the repairs include replacing the wood covers of the library’s front columns, redoing outdoor hand rails, replacing swinging doors, renovating sidewalks that have shifted, and extending the library’s outdoor book deposit area. The funding for that part of the project – about $850,000 – is coming from the library’s capital fund.
City administrator Bill McGrath told the council in a memo that, while the improvements won’t specifically generate additional tax revenue for the TIF fund, “the renovation may attract more people to the downtown area thus generating sales for existing businesses.”
Like Scheetz, he compared the exterior improvements to other “streetscape” projects the council has approved for the downtown and recommended the transfer of TIF funds to the library.
Ald. Dave Brown and Ald. Alan Wolff said they were supportive, and Mayor Jeff Schielke agreed that improving the entrance would boost downtown, but others said they “were on the fence.”
Ald. Jamie Saam suggested gifting the money from the general fund instead, and the aldermen decided to take another look at the issue April 28 after staff examined whether that was feasible.
Aguilar is a freelance reporter for Chicago Tribune.
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