The Springfield City Council passed an ordinance authorizing a development agreement with the Springfield Park District for improvements in parks in the Enos Park and Madison Park tax-increment financing districts during a special meeting Tuesday.
The final adoption came with an amendment: The park district won t get money from the city until it makes improvements on the parks, and the money doled out will be on a project-by-project basis.
The amendment further limited the park district to spending any leftover money on two parks Comer Cox and Chamberlain both in the Far East TIF District, which is contiguous to both the Enos Park and Madison Park Place TIF districts.
An ordinance authorizing a development agreement with Springfield Park District for improvements in the Enos Park and Madison Park Place tax-increment financing districts will go to the debate agenda before the Springfield City Council next Tuesday.
It was one of several items moved to that agenda by action of the Committee of the Whole Tuesday.
It engendered plenty of discussion, including an accusation from Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin that the park district is trying to strong-arm the city.
The city has been trying to secure the support of the park district for the Enos Park and Madison Park Place TIF extensions and under the agreement the city would give the park district $655,040 to improve facilities in parks in those TIFs.
Photo: Saga Communications
An argument against tax increment financing is that it takes potential revenues away from, for example, school districts and park districts. Now the Springfield Park District is offering to support some TIF extensions – if the city pays it the money the park district would otherwise lose out on. The TIF districts involved are the Enos Park and Madison Park Place districts.
Ald. Doris Turner (pictured) aired her concerns to Mayor Langfelder, saying for up to $1.4 million, “we are going to get upgrades to two very small parks. It just seems odd to me.”
“The amendment states with any capital improvement within the area,” said the mayor, “if there are any excess funds within the area then that could be used in any TIF district park.”
Always be kind DANYEL ANN “DEE” (WATTERS) PITTS Aug. 30, 1975-Jan. 22, 2020 | JOYEL ROSE “JOY” WATTERS-HALL Aug. 30, 1975-April 3, 2020
Danyel, left, and Joyel
Danyel Pitts never had biological children, but plenty of people called her Mom. From her stepchildren to nieces and nephews to the high school girls she coached in track, many young people relied on Momma Dee for guidance, advice and unconditional love.
Danyel grew up in Springfield with her twin sister, Joyel. Danyel was older by only five minutes, but throughout their lives she fulfilled the role of older sister and looked after Joy.
In college, she cooked for friends in the dorm and was known for taking care of others. She had a more nurturing relationship even with friends her own age, said Tiffany Williams, who met Danyel their freshman year when they both attended Eastern Illinois University on a track scholarship. She was always somebody you could trust.
Langfelder renews push for Enos Park TIF extension as pair of taxing bodies hold out
Nearly one month since the expiration of the Enos Park tax-increment financing district, Mayor Jim Langfelder again pushed for its retroactive renewal Tuesday even as opposition from holdout taxing bodies appeared as stiff as ever.
Langfelder, joined by a handful of community leaders on a vacant residential lot on the 900 block of North Sixth Street, called on elected officials in Capital Township and, to a lesser degree, the Springfield Park District to drop their objections to the TIF’s renewal.
The district, which covered Second Street to 10th Street and Carpenter Street to just north of North Grand Avenue, expired on Dec. 15 upon exhausting its 23-year cycle.