Joliet ponders transportation center cost as deficit grows

The city of Joliet, Ill., is embarking on a $42 million public project at the same time its latest budget proposal shows the bank account running dry by 2012, the Herald News reports. The state of Illinois is putting $32 million into the future transportation center, a place that Joliet city officials believe will stimulate business growth downtown and beyond. Joliet would be on the line for $7.5 million required for the project. The transportation center is conceived as a one-stop location for trains, buses and other modes of transportation. It also would be the first stop outside of Chicago for the future high-speed rail line to St. Louis, which city officials believe will attract visitors to Joliet and even potential new businesses because of the proximity to the big city. The city council still has to vote to spend the $7.5 million and the votes appear to be lining up in the "yes" column. The money is available from impact fees being paid by CenterPoint Properties as it develops its massive intermodal industrial park on the south end of the city. BNSF is contributing $2.2 million because the project includes a reconfiguration of railroad tracks that will make it easier for freight trains to move through Joliet. But a decision on spending $7.5 million of the CenterPoint money on one project will come at the same time that the council is reviewing a 2011 budget proposal that eats up $16 million in city reserve funds to plug a deficit. The problem gets worse in 2012, according to city budget projections, because remaining reserve funds would be spent and deficits would get bigger in future years. The projections do not include any answers on how future budgets will be balanced. But City Manager Thomas Thanas said the deficits already have been cut back because of spending reductions and a smaller workforce. The 2012 deficit at one time was forecast to reach $67 million. "We have that down to $21 million," Thanas said. "We spent the last two years cutting $46 million out of the deficit." Those cuts, however, have included a smaller police force and fewer public works employees as the city has reduced its total workforce by 135 positions. Unions have made certain concessions, too, by delaying raises and agreeing to pay towards their health care premiums to ease a city budget crisis. Union leaders already have objected to the use of another grant worth $1.16 million to relocate an existing fire station because it would require a match from the city of $600,000. Councilwoman Jan Quillman also opposes that project, but she said there's a big difference between the fire station and the transportation center. Quillman called the $32 million state grant "the best thing that ever happened. It's a huge shot in the arm for downtown Joliet." The relocation of the fire station would have limited value, she said, but the transportation center will be used by people in Joliet and throughout Will County. The transportation center also is being planned at a time when the city has come under criticism for spending money in the past on big projects, including Silver Cross Field and the Splash Station Waterpark. But Councilman Joseph Shetina said the city needs to forge ahead on the transportation center. "You shouldn't be in public office if you can't take the heat and do something like this," Shetina said. "It's a huge thing for Joliet. It's a huge thing for the surrounding area."