Macomb city leaders say the community must receive STAR Bonds from the state in order to move ahead with the proposed economic development project anchored by a sports complex.
But now the city faces a possible roadblock caused by a change in federal SNAP guidelines.
At issue is a state law that requires at least half of a STAR Bond district be located in an underserved area.
Mayor Mike Inman said the city followed that guideline before submitting its application to the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in advance of the June 1 deadline.
But in July, updated data from DCEO showed the area in Macomb no longer fit the description.
Inman said the state told them there was a .2% decline in the number of SNAP recipients in that census tract, meaning it no longer qualified as an underserved area.
“I don’t know that raw number, but it literally cannot be more than a handful of individuals,” Inman said.
He said the drop in SNAP recipients is due to recent changes in the federal guidelines for the program.
The city hoped DCEO could make an administrative change in the criteria, but Inman said state law does not allow that.
He said other communities seeking STAR Bonds are now in the same boat, so they are lobbying state lawmakers to use their fall veto session to alter the law. They’re seeking a five-point change.
“It covers what we need to cover. It also takes into consideration some of the other communities’ asks, and we believe we will be successful in getting a coalition to get together to convince the General Assembly to make that decision in our favor in the fall veto session,” Inman said.
STAR stands for sales tax and revenue bonds. They allow municipalities to finance major developments with government bonds up to $75 million and use sales tax revenue generated by the completed project to pay them back.
The bonds are meant to encourage private development.
The city is on the verge of hiring Russell Construction to serve as the project’s master developer. The company is a general contractor and development group based in the Quad Cities.
The city council must still approve hiring the firm.
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