BLOOMINGTON - Some of the nearly $2 million the city will spend on downtown will go toward visible improvements such as trees and decorative streetlights.
But the bulk of the money - about $780,000 - will go toward replacing underground water mains.
On Monday, the City Council will consider its priority list for spending an unexpected $1.9 million in tax increment financing money that has to be designated for downtown work by Dec. 31.
Just a few weeks ago, the council learned it had the money after its TIF account was audited. TIF money is generated within a designated district and must be used to redevelop that area. So, despite the city's tight general fund budget and $4 million deficit, the city must use the money downtown.
If the money isn't committed by Dec. 31, the money will be given to taxing bodies that had to forego some tax revenue from properties within the TIF.
Although the city needs to make quick decisions, downtown advocates hope the underground work can be coordinated with a $298,000 project to replace sidewalks and add trees, benches and streetlights.
"Let's make sure we are doing the two projects in a more coordinated, planned effort," said Downtown Bloomington Association President Greg Koos, who is executive director of the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St.
Koos said attention is most needed between the 300 and 500 blocks of North Main Street and between the 100 block of East and 300 block of West Front streets.
Past projects funded by TIF money include about $12 million to help private developers pay for renovating buildings such as the Livingston office building, 102-108 W. Washington St., and the Ensenberger Building, 212 N. Center St., and updating the fronts of buildings. But similar projects are not high on the council's current list because there is little time left to evaluate them, said City Manager David Hales.
The DBA still wants about $200,000 to help owners spruce up the building exteriors in the next year, Koos said, but the proposal has little support on the council.
Developer David Bentley had hoped he would qualify for $960,000 for his $4.2 million project to renovate the CII East building, 102 S. East St., and two adjacent properties.
"We may not be on the list but I'm hoping we are not out of the running," Bentley said.
Although the council has its eye on about seven downtown projects - such as fire hydrants and accessible ramps - Hales used the proposed purchase of two Verizon parking lots for $125,000 as an example of why the council needs alternate ways to spend the TIF money.
The lots, on the northwest and southeast corners of Market and Main streets, are part of a pending sale between Verizon and Frontier Communications, and it's unclear whether the local phone company can remove them from the sale, Hales said.
The parking lots are located between downtown buildings. A long-term downtown redevelopment plan suggests multi-story buildings on those lots would better fit the character of downtown.