Marseilles misses out on Brownfields grant for old school, Nabisco sites

Marseilles Mayor Jim Hollenbeck informed the City Council on Wednesday the city will not be getting a Brownfields grant that would have been applied to the vacant Washington School and the old Nabisco buildings.

Hollenbeck said a letter from the Environmental Protection Agency said it received 477 applications for the grants and was able to fund 267 of them. Marseilles was not among the latter, but it encouraged the city to apply again in fiscal 2024.

The city should have to put some money into it, but I don’t feel the city should foot the whole bill.”

—  Marseilles Mayor Jim Hollenbeck

The mayor said contractors gave him a ballpark figure for demolition of Washington School of $250,000 to $300,000, if it could obtain ownership of the property, but the city is not willing to put that on the taxpayers at this time.

“The city should have to put some money into it, but I don’t feel the city should foot the whole bill,” Hollenbeck said. “Until we can find some funding, it’ll be on hold … I don’t know what else we can do. We’re going to look at other possible funding – I don’t know what all is out there right now – so we’re looking at maybe another year and we’ll try again.”

Hollenbeck said the situation with the old school is not a unique one to Marseilles.

“I’d like to get it done sooner, but it’s not going to be a cheap prospect,” the mayor said. “I won’t give up on finding a way.”

The council also heard a report from Accounts and Finances Commissioner Bobby Kaminski the budget for the coming fiscal year is on file for review by the public and likely will be voted on in two weeks. At the end of that time, the council can either make changes to it or table it until it’s agreeable to all.

The 2023-24 budget reflects a total revenue of $3,598,550 in the general fund, an increase of $400,775.38 over the 2022-23 revenue of $3,197,774.62, something Kaminski attributes to an increase in the city’s equalized assessed valuation (EAV) going up 3.2%. Equalized assessed value measures the total property value of the city.

“The budget went up, but not out tax base,” he said. “The tax base stayed the same and that’s important.

“We always have a balanced budget … Six or seven weeks ahead of creating this, we go through every department and see what things it might need ... Our appropriations are always padded 15% to 20% in each fund in case we have to go over. Every municipality chases this every year.”

In other action, the council:

Authorized a resolution authorizing the purchase of a new police vehicle.

Granted a driveway variance for 443 W. Bluff Street.

Heard an appeal from Commissioner Melissa Small for citizens to keep their yards in good order and to maintain proper control of their pets with so much more summer foot traffic.