In considering how to divvy up unspent funds from 2023, Springfield City Council members have different ideas on what should take priority.
The City Council discussed and debated how to use nearly $6.5 million in carryover funds from the 2023 budget and other financial sources in an effort to make the best use of the money.
City government staff narrowed down a long list of needs across Springfield for council members to consider, including funding for crisis cold weather shelters, renovations to Historic City Hall and safety equipment for firefighters.
Despite council members’ differences, some consensus was met on funding certain priorities. The City Council is slated to decide how to allocate the carryover funds at its Feb. 26 meeting.
Requests in excess of funds available
Funding requests for the seven projects presented to the City Council added to more than $13 million, well in excess of the carryover funds available:
- $1.35 million to sustain the Springfield Fire Department’s inventory of self-contained breathing apparatuses (SCUBA), which are all set to reach their ends of use in 2026;
- $6 million to cover price escalation and additional obstacles associated with renovations to Historic City Hall;
- $3 million for LED lighting, fencing, parking lots and scoreboard enhancements at the Cooper/Killian Sports Complex, which is already set to undergo $27.4 million in improvements beginning in 2024;
- $2 million to help fund the Renew Jordan Creek project, which is also slated to begin this year;
- $400,000 to take inventory and assess the city’s 700 miles of pedestrian sidewalk and its compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act;
- $100,000 for costs associated with crisis cold weather shelters, including safety and security needs;
- $182,000 for the design and engineering to connect a ½-mile gap of the South Creek Greenway Trail.
“This is just a small list of needs within the city,” Springfield Director of Finance David Holtmann told the City Council. “These kind of rose to the top as the city managers and the departments were discussing these items.”
While the carryover funds are not enough to cover all of those project costs in full, city staff suggested utilizing other resources to stretch the $6.5 million as much as possible. Other funding sources include remaining American Rescue Plan Act funding and nearly $1.7 million in level property tax bond contingency. Of the listed projects, only the renovations to Historic City Hall would be eligible for the bond contingency funding.
Crisis cold weather shelters are top-of-mind
Councilmember Monica Horton encouraged the $100,000 investment for crisis cold weather shelters, suggesting the funding be used for shuttling services, incentives for volunteers and addressing safety concerns, citing recent incidents that prompted a temporary closure of a cold weather shelter.
“The thinking is that $100,000 would certainly be able to look at those three targeted areas for the rest of the season, which goes until April, but it might also cover what would be needed to get them jump started for the next ravaging, cold, frigid weather season,” Horton said.
Gage said that funding shortfalls for renovations to Historic City Hall and improvements to the Cooper/Killian Sports Complex would likely need to be made up by debt issuances to see the projects to completion, prompting a suggestion from Councilmember Derek Lee that the City Council consider downgrading the Cooper/Killian project.
“We’re spending so much money there… these other things seem significantly more important to me personally,” Lee said.
Though a $3.88 million reimbursement from the state government for improvements to Hammons Field is available to be used for other projects, Holtmann cautioned against it, pointing to “significant repairs and maintenance needed on that facility.”
City Manager Jason Gage encouraged council members to wait until the specifics of those capital improvements, which will be funded equally by the city and the Springfield Cardinals, could be determined before allocating the reimbursement elsewhere.
Some of the additional financial resources, combined with the carryover funds would cover some amount of most of the projects listed. City staff’s recommendations, along with further input from council members, would fund the crisis cold weather shelters and South Creek Greenway Trail in full, and partially cover the requests of everything else except Renew Jordan Creek.
Councilmember pushes for investment in police
Councilmember Craig Hosmer argued for carryover funds to be used to recruit more police officers in a department and a profession that has experienced high levels of vacancy since 2020.
“It doesn’t take rocket science,” Hosmer said. “If you pay people a little bit better, you’re going to get better people, you’re going to get more people.”
Gage cautioned against the use of carryover funds for ongoing expenses associated with staffing, especially in times of decreased growth in sales tax revenue.
“At the end of the year, it’s carryover, it’s one-time, there’s no guarantee you’re going to have that revenue and that margin there in the upcoming years,” Gage said. “Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.”
Hosmer suggested the Springfield Police Department’s contribution to the carry over funds — nearly $2 million from its salary budget — be reinvested in strategies to recruit and retain officers.
Mayor Ken McClure agreed with the need to find a solution for the understaffed police department, suggesting a proposed sales tax could help fund that, but argued the usage of carryover funds for that purpose contradicted “every budgeting principle.”
“I don’t disagree with that at all, but it has nothing to do with the carryover funds,” McClure said.
Councilmember Abe McGull agreed with McClure, alluding to instances where government departments are spending just because they have leftover money.
“If a department cannot utilize those funds that were earmarked for certain expenditures, we don’t want them going out and just buying stuff just to be buying,” McGull said. “We want to put that money back to use when we have immediate needs. And it sounds like there’s some immediate needs that could clearly use the money.”
