Carbondale Bytelife

Usually people move from the public sector to the private sector, in the expectation of making more money. The Carbondale Chamber Executive Director is going at it backwards, giving up the ED position in favor of one as Marketing and Public Information Officer over at the SIUC College of Buisness.

Labels: Carbondale, Chamber of Commerce, siuc

If you're free at 11:30 on Tuesday, Mayor Cole will give his annual State of the City address at the Civic Center. The Chamber of Commerce expects about 200 people to attend, much as did last year when he announced his re-election campaign. I tried to find a link to the previous speech but the Southern has this huge "Auction Closing" pop-up on the main page that makes it really hard to navigate around. Phooey.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, City council

According to an email sent out by the Chamber of Commerce, there's a Chamber meting scheduled for this Thursday afternoon (Nov. 1) to hammer out a proposal to take before the city council.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, City council

The vote on this has been pushed back to the next council meeting. The ostensible reason given is so that the Chamber of Commerce could finish polling its members.
There's got to be more to it than that. I received the email asking for my opinion on the inspection fee increase last Tuesday with a Friday deadline so that the Chamber board could discuss it. There wasn't any problem putting together a Chamber position on the sales tax increase within the same time frame when the Chamber asked the membership for its opinions.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, City council

The Southern has an editorial in yesterday's paper supporting both of the upcoming proposals before the city council: the rental inspection fee and the single family grant.

The Chamber of Commerce is also polling its members to get a feel for how they stand on the rental inspection fee.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, City council, development

Here's the Chamber of Commerce's position paper on the proposed sales tax. The Chamber is also mailing out copies to all members.

Carbondale Chamber of Commerce

Board of Directors

August 15, 2007

Official Statement in Favor of the “Proposal to Invest in the Future of Carbondale:”

The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors would like to officially express their support of the proposal submitted by the City of Carbondale for a 0.5% increase in the Carbondale home rule sales tax. After sufficient research and discussion, it is the opinion of the Board that this proposal is a direct investment in the future prosperity of Carbondale and its businesses.

The proposal estimates that a 0.5% increase in Carbondale’s sales tax will generate approximately $2.3 million annually. Due to increases in various operating expenses, the City of Carbondale must find another source of revenue. A portion of this revenue will be used to continue providing its citizens with quality services and to fund many of Carbondale’s diverse community organizations.

Carbondale is in urgent need of a new Public Safely Center, which will house the Carbondale Police Department, Carbondale Fire Department Administration, and Carbondale Emergency Management Services. The Westside Fire Station located on south Oakland Avenue will also be replaced. The current facilities for these departments are inadequate and must be replaced in the near future. The extra revenue generated by the Proposal will also go to fund open space projects such as greenways, bikeways, and sidewalks, which will improve Carbondale both functionally and aesthetically. Additionally, a one-time grant of $35,000 will be given to the Carbondale Park District for necessary infrastructure improvements.

Another portion of the subsequent revenue will go towards funding Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s “Saluki Way” project. This will be in the form of a $20 million donation over the next 20 years, and will primarily support the renovation of the SIU Arena, and the replacement of McAndrew stadium. These two facilities host events year-round, which are attended by thousands of people from across the country. Improvements to these venues will make them more accommodating, and therefore more attractive to prospective event coordinators and entertainers. Increased traffic to the SIU Arena and Mc Andrew Stadium will bring thousands of new consumers to Carbondale businesses. This large investment in SIUC, one of our community’s greatest resources, will likely bring millions of sales dollars into Carbondale, strengthening our economy.

The Chamber Board of Directors considers this proposal to be a clear, specific plan which will directly benefit Carbondale, its businesses and its citizens. As shown in Exhibit 5 of the Proposal, there are defined financial targets that will have to be met to fund the projects in a financially responsible way. It is the opinion of the Chamber that the City of Carbondale has consistently produced accurate forecasts in their budgeting processes over the past several years, and this plan is expected to follow suit. Therefore, we support the Proposal to Invest in the Future of Carbondale, and feel that it will have a positive impact on the members of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, city government, taxes

The Carbondale Chamber of Commerce survey its membership a couple of weeks ago asking for feedback on the position the Chamber should take on the proposed sales tax increase. I heard on WSIU this morning that, based on the survey results, the CoC board has come out in favor to the tax increase. There's nothing about it on the Chamber website yet. I did hear secondhand that, while the members did support the tax increase to fund improved public services, a number did question the wisdom of the $20 million donation for the Arena and stadium projects.

Hopefully, the Chamber will get a position paper out soon.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, taxes

In the hoopla over the sales tax proposal, the proposed changes in the Liquor Advisory Board have gotten short shift. It really doesn't appear that the current set up of an actual board rather than decision making authority vested in the mayor's office slows the process down. I checked with the fine folks at the C'dale Chamber of Commerce and found no complaints regarding the current set-up of the board from any members as far as how long it takes to get a liquor permit approved. The longest time reported for a permit was about 2 months, with most people applying for one getting it approved or not in about 20 days.

Labels: Chamber of Commerce, City council, Liquor Advisory Board

Looks like the C'dale Chamber of Commerce is taking an interest in the sales tax portion of the agenda from last week's city. Executive Director Meredith Rhodes sent out an email to all CoC members asking them to read over Mayor Cole's proposal and send feedback to the Chamber by August 3rd to present to the Chamber BoD on the 14, a week before the City Council meets to vote on the tax.

Labels: Carbondale, Chamber of Commerce, City council, taxes