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Boards support village's stimulus extension  Share
At their meetings on Tuesday, June 9, Manhattan's School District 114 and Park District Boards voted on whether or not they would support a one-year extension of the village's stimulus plan. The stimulus plan reduces the amount of impact fees received by all of Manhattan's governmental taxing bodies. Funds from the reductions (totaling $5,000 for a single family home) are returned to the purchaser of a newly constructed home in the form of a rebate. When originally passed, the plan was limited to one year or 200 residential building permits, whichever came first. ''Mayor Borgo called and asked for support for his Manhattan stimulus package program,'' Park President Bob Surdey told his board. ''He wants to consider it for another year.'' ''When you look at it, they did 77 permits (in the last year),'' Surdey elaborated. ''Manhattan was five or six in the county in issuing permits from May of 2008 to 2009.''
According to supporting documents, between May 1, 2008 and February 28, 2009, Manhattan had 62 permits just under Lockport's 63, Frankfort's 77, Plainfield's 78 and Joliet's 149. Manhattan placed fifth out of the 19 communities listed and second of the four Lincoln-Way communities. Manhattan Park District took a stimulus reduction of $21,970.54 in the last year. The district would have collected $87,882.14 before the stimulus reduction but instead received $65,911.61. Surdey told the board he was assured by Borgo the funds would come back in the long haul. ''He (Borgo) told me when he can hit the 150-to-200 permits (per year) again, he would increase the impact fees by $500 to get the money back from the stimulus package,'' Surdey said. It was a unanimous consensus to support the stimulus package. ''Sixty-five thousand dollars is better than nothing,'' Commissioner Eddie Struthers commented. ''I really believe the stimulus package is working.'' ''It helps to continue to move forward on the commercial end,'' Director Julie Kurczewski added. ''They want rooftops, and Manhattan is still showing forward movement.'' Just down the street, the Manhattan School District 114 Board had the same discussion. ''The village, in their effort to promote growth and development, had initiated the stimulus package a year ago to a maximum of 200 permits,'' School Superintendent Butters reported. ''Whether it was because of the stimulus package, or not, Manhattan has issued more permits than Plainfield.'' ''It was my thought that they needed to allow the various taxing bodies to discuss it at their meetings, rather than coming to the taxing bodies and saying this is what we are going to do,'' Butters added. ''They are taking it up for a vote at their next village board meeting.'' ''The question we can't answer is: Would they have had that many houses built without the incentive?'' Jeff Peitrzyk commented. ''As one who has dealt with developers and sat in on many meetings with the village, I believe it is working,'' Scott Mancke responded. ''I am all for doing our part, everyone is making sacrifices.'' The school district sacrificed $31,176.19 in impact fees to the stimulus package, taking a reduction from $124,704.75 to $93,528.56. Not everyone was on board with the stimulus package. ''I don't think it's helping,'' Tim Doyle said. ''We would have had those permits to begin with.'' ''There are four people in Butternut Ridge who came here because of the stimulus package,'' Dawn Murphy countered. ''I've talked to my neighbors, and it is working.'' All school board members voted to support the stimulus plan, with the exception of Doyle. Although supporting the package, Lynnae Ryan wanted clarification and assurance the extension was only until July of 2010. ''The letter doesn't clarify the date; I'll look into it,'' Butters responded. ''I do know the stimulus package is also limited to the 123 building permits remaining from last year's program.'' The stimulus program extension is expected to be discussed at the village board meeting in July, as it is scheduled to expire July 31. Mary Bernhard is a reporter for Russell Publications.
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