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Commitment for expansion renewed Questions surround addition to DeKalb library
By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Despite their concerns about fundraising, DeKalb aldermen renewed their commitment to the library’s planned expansion. Still unknown is whether the city would be on the hook for the library borrowing $6 million from local banks. The library needs to have $15.5 million in the bank by June 30 so it can use an $8.5 million grant from the state to build a 47,000-square-foot addition to the library.
Library Director Dee Coover said she will have more information about the private loan by March 25. She currently is talking with Castle Bank, National Bank & Trust and Resource Bank. “We’re moving as expeditiously as we can, but the banks have to do due diligence and so do we,” Coover said. Library officials plan to borrow the $6 million because they don’t believe they can raise that money
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through private donations by June 30. Instead, the fundraising campaign would go to paying off the loan over a certain period of time. Coover described the situation as fluid. How long the library has to pay back the loan, what the interest rate would be, and whether the city – as the library’s corporate authority – would be held liable if the library cannot pay the loan has not been set, Coover said. “What’s set in stone is the need,”
Coover said. “The need is there. We have the opportunity to use $8.5 million which to everyone’s best guess is a one-time deal.” Library officials already have petitioned the city council to borrow $7.5 million to contribute to the project. With the city chipping in another $1 million in tax increment financing and the library paying $1 million in its own reserves, DeKalb Mayor Kris Povlsen said reaffirmed his support.
“I think for us to have an opportunity to bring in a $24 million project for only $9 million is phenomenal,” Povlsen said. Other DeKalb aldermen expressed similar sentiments, although they all said they want to know if the city’s finances could be affected by the library’s borrowing. “We need to see those things,” said David Jacobson, 1st Ward alderman and a mayoral candidate. “It’s the $6 million question – how, where are we going to pay for that? I have some worries that it’s going to fall on the taxpayers.”
eeling
Automatic cuts Friday may be tough for some
the pinch
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
DeKalb High School student Sabrina Killeen (right) interviews tennis coach Michael O’Neill during class Friday for the student newspaper, where Kileen is the current sports editor.
By the numbers
By ANDREW TAYLOR and JIM KUHNHENN
89 – percent which general state aid payments are prorated. 1.3 million – the dollar amount DeKalb School District 428 lost in funding this year. 572,000 – the dollar amount GenoaKingston District 424 lost in funding this year. 693,170 – the dollar amount Sycamore District 427 lost in funding this year.
The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Who’ll be the first to feel the sting? Jobless Americans who have been out of work for a long time and local governments that are paying off loans to fix roads and schools are in tough spots when it comes to the automatic federal budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in Friday. About 2 million long-term unemployed people could see checks now averaging $300 a week reduced by about $30. There also could be reductions in federal payments that subsidize clean energy, school construction and state and local John Boehner public works projects. Low-income Americans seeking heating assistance or housing or other aid might encounter longer waits. Government employees could get furlough notices as early as next week, though cuts in their work hours won’t occur until April. The timing of the “sequester” spending cuts has real consequences for Americans, but it also has a political ramifications. How quickly and fiercely the public feels the cuts could determine whether President Barack Obama and lawmakers seek to replace them with a different deficit reduction plan. Eager to put pressure on Republican lawmakers to accept his blend of targeted cuts and tax increases Obama has been highlighting the impact of the automatic cuts in grim terms. He did it again Monday, declaring the threat of the cuts is already harming the national economy.
How GSA is calculated
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
DeKalb High School student Courtney Donnelly holds a rabbit Friday as students visiting from Founders Elementary pet it during the school’s Future Farmers of America Barnyard Zoo. During the two-day show, students from within the high school and around the district get to come and interact with and learn about various animals.
General state aid is a formula for education funding that takes into account local wealth and student attendance. In Illinois, most state funding for education goes into general state aid, said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education. The state board administers public education in the state. With the money allocated to them by the Illinois General Assembly, the officials at the state board makes two monthly payments to school districts. Proration occurs when the legislature does not allocate enough money to public education, Fergus said.
DeKalb County schools hit by state budget woes By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com Local school districts are used to receiving only 89 percent of the money state officials promised them, but they are expecting to receive less in the future. With general state aid payments prorated at 89 percent, DeKalb School District 428 lost $1.3 million in funding this year, said Andrea Gorla, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and business. The district’s total anticipated revenues for its education fund, which is its main operating fund, is $62.3 million. “That hits us extremely hard,” Gorla said. The district loses $140,000 for each additional percentage point in proration, Gorla
“When there’s not enough money to fund the claims, the claims have to be prorated. That’s our course of action. ... As the cuts have gotten bigger, we’ve had to spread it out over time.” Mary Fergus spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education
said. With proration expected to occur next year between 80 and 85 percent, that could mean a loss of anywhere between $560,000 and $1.2 million in revenue for DeKalb District 428.
Other school districts are facing similar situations. Genoa-Kingston District 424, which is expected to receive $13.9 million in total education fund revenues this year, lost $572,000 in general state aid, said Brad Shortridge, the district’s assistant superintendent. Sycamore District 427, which expected $37 million this year in education fund revenues, lost $693,170 with payments prorated at 89 percent, said district accountant Nicole Stuckert. General state aid is a formula for education funding that takes into account local wealth and student attendance. In Illinois, most state funding for education goes into general state aid, said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
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