Politics & Government
BID Delays Vote on Recommendation To City Council
Advisory board will continue discussion on BID boundaries and assessments.
The clock is ticking for Business Improvement District officials to come up with a recommendation for the City Council after delaying a vote on possible changes to BID boundaries and assessments.
After discussing the results of the BID subcommittee report on possible changes, subcommittee member Daniel Boyer strongly requested more time to speak to properly prepare a report. A tentative date for a special meeting has been set for Jan. 9, 2013.
All four present board members, with Annette Nemeth absent, voted in favor of establishing the special meeting where a vote on a course of action could take place.
Boyer heavily emphasized that his report was not ready to be voted on the BID members to be presented to the City Council, having only spoken to about 10 merchants and added that he needs far more feedback and more preparation.
The report discussed at the Dec. 5 meeting presented certain changes, including eliminating assessment fees for certain BID members and lowering assessments for others. The goal with that suggestion was to show Village merchants that the BID can "do more with less," Boyer said.
Boyer said the idea to expand the Village to include businesses to the south and along Bennett did not yield a big improvement for those businesses and that the concept of "The Avenue" as a marketing tool, it put businesses along Glendora Avenue at an unfair advantage.
Another strong concern Boyer had was that misinformation was prevalent among the businesses he spoke with and that stronger communication was key.
Village realtor Gary Boyer said that the proposal to eliminate certain merchants from the BID was not addressing the issue and that businesses have said they are not getting their money's worth.
"A little over a year ago, we were talking about expanding the BID. Now, all of a sudden we're talking about making it smaller. We have a lot of talent in this village and we shouldn't be surrendering this," Gary Boyer said.
The 2014-2015 assessments will be subject to a protest vote. If more than 50 percent of the weighted votes are against proposed assessments, then the assessment would fail, Kugel said.
A vote for or against BID assessments for 2014-2015 will take place in May.
