A new finance policy is in place in Springfield City Hall, as City Councilors demand to be treated as partners in the development of the city.
Demanding to be kept in the loop about major projects that might need financial support from taxpayers, the City Council voted unanimously Monday to pass an ordinance to require 30 days advance notice of requests to appropriate over $1 million from free cash or the stabilization account.
This new order is a direct reaction to the hurried vote the Council made earlier this year to authorize $6.5 million in free cash to bail out the project to redevelop the former Court Square Hotel building. The work was threatened because of skyrocketing costs for construction materials. The city administration knew about the project’s financial problems in January, but did not come to the Council until March when the developers threatened to stop construction and walk away.
City Councilor Kateri Walsh was so upset about how the administration handled it that she immediately drafted a resolution that the Council passed and then worked to turn it into a law.
“To me, that was an enough-is enough moment,” Walsh said.
With the new ordinance on the books, Walsh said the Council should no longer be forced to act as if it had a gun to the head.
“Unfortunately, in the past a lot of financial issues come before us and we don’t have the appropriate time,” Walsh said. “I think this will make us real partners in the development of the city.”
Under the ordinance, if a request for an order to appropriate funds for a project over $1 million does not arrive 30 days prior to it appearing on the Council’s agenda for a vote, it is automatically referred to committee. The requirement does not affect transfers or appropriations within the city budget.
City Councilor Trayce Whitfield, who chairs the Finance Committee, applauded her colleague for coming up with ordinance.
“It is needed and it is welcome,” she said.
Whitfield and City Councilor Justin Hurst were the only Councilors to vote against the $6.5 million for the Court Square project. They called it a “money grab” for millionaires.