Naperville officials this week agreed to add two new long-term commitments to the local grant program that uses restaurant and bar tax receipts to fund events and programs in the city.
The yearly City Council workshop focused on the $2 million Special Events and Cultural Amenities allocations found officials largely in agreement with recommendations for the fiscal 2015-16 cycle formulated earlier this year by the Advisory Cultural Commission. The group reviewed requests for 89 projects seeking more than $3 million in city assistance, submitting its nonbinding recommendations after a workshop in late January and a public hearing in mid-February.
The largest sum to be allocated, for payment of city services during the Exchange Club’s four-day Ribfest celebration in early July, is $173,972. The smallest award, $201, will go to the Naperville Heritage Society, for its All Hallows Eve event at Naper Settlement next October. Both organizations will use the grants to cover city services. According to City Clerk Pam LaFeber, the 10-year-old SECA program was established to take event-related services provided by city employees at Ribfest out of the general budget.
An estimated $4.7 million will have been collected in municipal food and beverage taxes by the time the fiscal year ends April 30, Finance Director Rachel Mayer said. Of that amount, $2 million is earmarked for SECA grants, plus an annual $40,000 escalator the council added to the capped sum two years ago. Also adding to the grant pool is an expected $87,000 in awards that were allocated in the last cycle and according to program rules must be returned “because several projects came in under budget,” LaFeber said.
The food and drink tax revenue, also as a result of changes made by the council in 2013, is used for additional purposes each year. A $945,000 allocation goes to pay down the city’s public safety pension shortfall, and $500,000 of the tax income funds local grants for social services in the city. Any additional revenue available from the tax receipts is applied toward existing debt payments or other operational expenses.
Added this week to the program are two new annual agreements that will allocate $44,000 for maintenance of public art pieces installed on city property by the Century Walk Corp., and $150,000 for promotion of the city’s restaurants done by the Naperville Development Partnership.
Brand Bobosky, Century Walk’s board chairman and founder, was surprised the council agreed to take on care of the two dozen pieces that are on city sites, about half of the full collection.
“We proposed a three-year agreement so that we could make plans,” said Bobosky, 75, who eventually wants the city to take over the running of the 501(c)3 corporation.
The public art program comprises nearly $4 million worth of sculptures, paintings, mosaics and other items, he said.
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“It’s art. You’ve got to maintain it,” said Bobosky, adding that he’s uncertain how the city plans to go about the task. “I really don’t think they know where to start.”
After considerable discussion, the council members also voted to divide the final $100,000 available among four requests that the ACC had recommended for minimal or no grant money. Poised to receive $25,000 each are the Naperville Municipal Band, for its planned trip to the Texas Bandmasters Association convention in the last week of July; the DuPage Children’s Museum, for funds toward a matching grant that will help build its new AWEsome Energy electricity exhibit; North Central College, to help pay for its performing arts and fine arts season next year; and the Naperville Woman’s Club, for completing its ongoing restoration project at its landmark headquarters in the Old Stone Church on South Washington Street.
Travel expenses and events taking place outside of the city, which was the case in the Municipal Band’s request, normally are not among the permissible uses for SECA funds. Officials said they wanted to make an exception, reasoning that the band has been around for more than a century and a half, and that the event will have the effect of promoting Naperville as a visitor destination.
The awards will undergo a final vote as part of the city’s 2015-16 budget, scheduled for approval when the council meets next Wednesday, April 8.
For retiring Mayor A. George Pradel, the allocation process is bittersweet.
“I will tell you that this is one of the hardest meetings,” Pradel said at the start of Tuesday’s workshop. “I wish we had a fountain of money that we could make these things possible in Naperville.”
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