Daily Archives: June 24, 2008

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Library

Council to give library board $28 million

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I realize I’m going to get criticized for never being happy no matter what the outcome, but nevertheless, the city council’s vote tonight to give the library $28 million with no strings attached left me scratching my head.

First of all, how did they come up with $28 million? One of the concerns about the library’s plan was that $35 million was too much in light of the city’s (and, ultimately, the taxpayers’) other obligations. Apparently, $28 million is not too much, since it was approved. But why? Why not $29 million? Or $6 million? Or $34.5 million? How did $28 million become the magic threshold?

Well, I confirmed after the meeting what I suspected was the reason: The $7 million reduction is the cost of upgrading the Lakeview branch. You may recall that several council members suggested that the library board wait to upgrade Lakeview until the effects of a new northern branch on Lakeview’s patronage could be determined. Fair enough.

But cutting the full $7 million pegged for Lakeview was rather simplistic. Lakeview is still going to need some upgrading. The library board isn’t going to just leave it to rot and they’re thinking: is it time to replace your ac unit? Even without expansion, it still needs capital improvements, such as air conditioning repair and technology upgrades. Professional AC Repair Services in Boca Raton can help achieve this.

So what should have happened? The item should have been deferred until after the library board met, put together a revised proposal — basically the same plan as before, but with the Lakeview expansion removed — and presented it with the new price tag to the council. I don’t know what that price tag would have been, but it’s a safe bet it would have been more than $28 million and considerably less than $35 million. Then the council should have voted on that.

Instead, we have a rather artificially-set limit that guarantees cuts will have to be made elsewhere in the plan, but no one knows exactly where yet, nor how little or how drastic those cuts must be. First district councilman Clyde Gulley realized this and asked if the cuts were going to come out the plans for the south side (Lincoln branch). Despite the equivocal answer he received, he voted for the plan anyway, just like almost everyone else.

I feel confident that the library board will make good decisions about where to cut, but just find it a bit boggling that the council wouldn’t vote for a $35 million plan with plenty of detail, but would happily vote for a $28 million plan that lacks some potentially significant specifics.

City of Peoria, HOPC

HOPC meeting rescheduled for July 25

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From a press release (all caps in original):

THE REGULAR HEART OF PEORIA COMMISSION MEETING SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008, HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008, AT CITY HALL, 419 FULTON STREET, ROOM 404, AT 8:00 AM.

The chair and vice-chair of the commission were both unable to meet June 27, hence the rescheduling.

One thing that will be on the agenda is the seeming lack of enforcement of the Land Development Code. One question I’ve been asked is whether the supposed lack of enforcement is real or merely perceived. I’ve been asked, for example, if I’m just pointing out all the exceptions and not acknowledging the alleged majority who comply. That’s a fair question, and something we will explore at the next meeting. No one will be happier than I to discover there is far more compliance with the LDC than non-compliance, but I have to admit I’m skeptical of that being the case.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Library

Library district idea a quick fix, not a long-term solution

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Establishing a library district sounds like a reasonable solution to the deadlock that’s been taking place between the appointed library board and the City Council. It would solve a couple of problems: (1) it would make the library board directly accountable to the voters, instead of being appointed by the Mayor; and (2) it would require that a referendum be passed by the voters before they would be able to raise their tax rate, which would keep the board fiscally conservative and force them to make a compelling case to the public before raising taxes.

But establishing a library district would also freeze the district’s boundaries at their current position, so library services would not automatically be extended when the city annexes more land. Territory annexed to the city could also be annexed to the library district if the residents there so desire, or they could go without library service. The library director sees this as a downside, but doesn’t elaborate as to why this would be a bad thing.

One argument could be made that the library district wouldn’t be automatically capturing the new tax revenue from the northern growth; but on the other hand, they wouldn’t have to provide services to them either, so it seems like a wash to me. More importantly, though, it’s bad at a more basic and philosophical level: The city shouldn’t be divided into “haves” and “have nots” where library services are concerned. We already have a city divided into three school districts (Peoria, Dunlap, Limestone), and we’ve seen how inequitably those services are delivered to city residents as a result. There’s no sense in creating the same kinds of problems with our library system.

I’m still hopeful that the library board and city council will reach a compromise that will update and modernize the library system at a cost that is reasonable and acceptable to all parties. They can consult on how they can do it through the Metro District.