Comments on: Levy fixed, discord variable

By: Elaine Johnson

Elaine Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:32:36 +0000

The grants are slated for elimination. That money — about $72,000 in 2009 — will revert to the General Fund. The rest of the hotel-motel tax (remember: only eight percent went for Community Grants) will continue to be earmarked for tourism.

Hope someone will alert me if I’ve goofed again.

By: dgmom743

dgmom743 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:58:08 +0000

See? That’s why I asked for the experts to clarify! All of this is very confusing for the average citizen. I thought maybe the Ice Carving Festival might have fallen under the Downtown Management Association’s budget. Which it is not. But if it WAS, would not be TIF funds but a Special Service Area special tax assessment.

So remind me again — and forgive me, I should just look at your older posts — I thought they were eliminating the grants? Or are they just curtailing them? Where will the Hotel-Motel tax money go if they’re eliminating the grants? And I thought that money was supposed to be used to promote visitors to an area? How does will diverting it to the general fund suit that purpose? I could be mistaken, of course; my direct knowledge of the whole thing ends 10 years ago.

Thank you so much for this blog; it is so nice to have a place to go with questions like this!

By: Martin Tully

Martin Tully — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:33:01 +0000

That said, the tax assessment for Special Service Area #2 that covers the downtown business district is the main source of funding for the budget of the DG Downtown Management Association which, in turn, sponsors various events in the downtown every year. But those are not TIF fund dollars.

By: Elaine Johnson

Elaine Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:57:52 +0000

Thanks for correcting my error. I got my “community” commissions confused.

Anyone know where I can hire a good editor?

By: Martin Tully

Martin Tully — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:27:31 +0000

Actually, the 8% portion of the annual hotel/motel tax revenue had been designated as the main funding source for the Community Grants Program, not Community Events.

On the other hand, EJ is correct that the Downtown TIF fund has not been used to pay for any community events. In fact, I highly doubt that would be a permissible use of such funds under the TIF laws.

By: Trish

Trish — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:43:41 +0000

Great idea! Let’s cut the salaries of the village employees, so that you won’t have to miss the Heritage Fest! Do you want to explain that to the family of the worker who puts up the holiday lights around town or the guy that empties all the waste cans.

By: Elaine Johnson

Elaine Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:46:47 +0000

I think you’re referring to the hotel-motel tax, dgmom. The council had earmarked eight percent of the tax proceeds for community events. However, like other tax revenue, the hotel-motel proceeds have dropped significantly.

The H-M tax revenues will revert to the general fund if/when/as community events are eliminated.

The downtown TIF isn’t used for community events (at least to my knowledge; where’s a local official when you need one?)

By: Elaine Johnson

Elaine Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:38:42 +0000

About the ice carving event:

My understanding is that the village will cut the national competition but still offer a more local, and therefore less expensive, version of the weekend.

By: dgmom743

dgmom743 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:37:01 +0000

Maybe I should wait for a more educated person like Mr. Tully here, but isn’t the ice sculpture festival under the Downtown Downers Grove TIF District? That doesn’t come out of the village’s budget, does it?

It’s been 10 years since I’ve been involved in stuff like this, but I was wondering: do they still have that fund that hotels pay into to help their towns pay for events? Does anyone remember/know what I’m talking about?

I don’t think we should shelve anything, but we might need to figure out new ways to pay for events, or put them together ourselves. We are so blessed as a town to have so many service organizations and theater/music/dance groups. We have talent and willing volunteers — maybe we can find a way to work together so these things can keep going no matter what the economy is like.

I don’t know what we can do about the sorry state of the economy at large or our state’s budget woes other than complain to our elected officials. However, we CAN have direct control over what WE do with OUR groups and neighborhoods. We never know what we can do until we try.

By: Elaine Johnson

Elaine Johnson — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:36:24 +0000

That’s actually what they are planning to do, heart. They’re trimming fest expenditures by at least $90,000 this year, but the fest will go on. Looking forward to 2011, they’ll be looking for those corporate sponsorships and other means of “privatizing” HF, including volunteers.

Manpower is one of the fest’s biggest costs, as Schnell pointed out Tuesday night. Village Hall virtually shuts down for those three days, with employees redeployed to man the festival.

The EDC/DG Hospitality Alliance has proven itself very able in the execution of Taste of DG and were mentioned repeatedly as a possible player in future fests. It will be up to the Community Events Commission to plot a new course for Heritage Fest in the future. First up, a more “right-size” festival in 2010.