Evanston aldermen Monday disagreed about whether they should hold the line on capital spending or make further cuts in the face of the city’s budget crunch.
But they reached no decision — instead asking for more information to be presented by city staff at a meeting in June.
Evanston aldermen Monday disagreed about whether they should hold the line on capital spending or make further cuts in the face of the city’s budget crunch.
But they reached no decision — instead asking for more information to be presented by city staff at a meeting in June.
Aldermen Donald Wilson, 4th Ward; Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, and Coleen Burrus, 9th Ward, seemed inclined to make further spending cuts.
“Unless a project is essential, it should be deferred,” Wilson said, adding that he wants to trim total spending this year.
But Alderman Mark Tendam, 6th Ward, suggested re-allocating potential savings from deferred projects to alley paving and other public works projects in his ward.
And Alderman Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, said it was her understanding the council wasn’t going to discuss taking anything off the list of projects aldermen had approved back in February.
As the project list stands now, the city would spend about $31 million on capital projects.
About $8.2 million would come from issuing new general obligation bonds to be paid by property taxes and another $3.5 million would come from similar bonds issued in previous years.
Of the rest, $5.5 million would come from grants and private donations and $14.1 million would come from revenue from special-purpose funds, including the water and sewer fund.
Related links
Staff CIP memo