Last October, Second District Council Member Barbara Van Auken made a motion to spend $183,750 of the $200,000 that was budgeted in the 2007 Capital Improvement Program for use on the Sheridan Triangle project. That motion was defeated 6-5. Why? Well, there were lots of concerns about the fact that starting this project would require money to be spent in subsequent years to complete it, and “the Council needed to recognize their limited resources” and “decide how to execute strategy to complete projects,” according to the Oct. 9 minutes. There was also a desire to “determine what the priorities were for the entire City” before committing to this project. So it had to wait until after the next budget cycle to get passed.

But my, how things are different when we get to the fifth district’s road project that was approved last night:

The $3.3 million project – $1.175 million of it paid by the city [emphasis mine], $1.175 million paid by Peoria County, $1 million from Northwoods Community Church and $150,000 from developers of the area – targets a road improvement of Wilhelm from Northtrail Drive to Allen and also on a stretch of Allen.

It’s not mentioned in the article, but Van Auken and First District Councilman Clyde Gulley asked Public Works Director Dave Barber if this was budgeted in the Capital Improvement Program budget. Answer: some of the cost was, but not all of it. And furthermore, they won’t know the total cost until after the project goes out to bid. Nevertheless, it passed 10-1. By voting for this project, the council committed itself to spending 2009 dollars above and beyond what the council agreed to budget in the last negotiations, even though the city is projecting a deficit in 2009.

Strangely, on this fifth-district road project, there was no concern raised about the city’s limited resources, or about setting priorities or executing strategies. There was no delay. There was no CIP budget amendment. There was no discussion on where that extra money is going to come from in 2009, whose funding was going to get cut to make up the shortfall.

This all begs the question: Why the double standard?