The Marion County Board has agreed to provide $150,000 towards a $1.4-million downtown parking lot project if the county receives a state grant to pay the rest.
However, some board members were concerned about committing to the match including Board Chair Debbie Smith.
“This particular grant doesn’t request from any entity to provide money to back it up. A lot of your municipalities don’t have that kind of money to do it. So is this what the County wants to do, commit this much money not knowing if we are going to have it. Right now we are already over on ARPA funds.”
The board was told at the special Thursday night meeting that the work they want to complete under the federal COVID relief money (ARPA) appears to be $200,000 to $300,000 over what the county will be receiving. If all projects are kept, the overrun would have to be paid for through regular building committee funds.
Law Enforcement Committee Chair Steve Whritenour also warned of decreasing revenue in coming years.
“As far as court fees and fines and things we have been getting several hundred thousands of dollars, but with the State Reform Act, that money is going to go away. So we are talking a couple hundred thousands dollars right there that the County has been getting that they are not going to get.”
Smith and Whritenour were joined by Sharon Woodward in voting against making the $150,000 commitment.
But others on the board say they have to do something with the property they own in the 200 block of North Broadway that is now uneven pavement used for parking after a gas station and donut shop building were torn down.
Building Committee Chair Dr. Creighton Engel noted no project was possible if the county was forced to use only the $150,000 in local funding.
“Something is going to have to be done with that. A lawsuit is going to cost you more than $150,000 guaranteed. It’s a roll of the dice. We have $700,000 in that budget, the building portion of that, and we’ve committed about $85,000.”
Engel said if they removed some of the amenities, such as the electric car charging stations, they were still looking at a $1.2-million project. The plans include 50 parking spaces, green space, and a pavilion as well as the charging stations.
Trish Lund of the South Central Illinois Regional Planning Commission told the board while the local match was not required it would enhance their chances of getting the grant. She expects the state will announce the grant recipients around June. The application has to be filed by Monday.
