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What is the role of local government? Is it to provide for reliable infrastructure and also the safety of its residents? Or is it to use tax dollars to subsidize businesses, bail out derelict property owners, provide direct incentives to companies to redevelop plots downtown, spend millions on the homeless crisis or incentivize residents to maintain their homes?
City government in Wheeling is doing a bit of all of the above -- and more -- in its approach. Members of this current council -- Mayor Glenn Elliott, Chad Thalman, Ben Seidler, Rosemary Ketchum, Jerry Sklavounakis, Ty Thorngate and Dave Palmer -- are walking a fine line in redefining the role of local government from an entity that serves its constituents to one in which the constituency is instead made beholden to government.
This is not just a Wheeling problem. Local and state governments across the country are being asked to do more in how they support communities and businesses. It's part of the ongoing fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the federal government flooded trillions of dollars into the market to help businesses, governments and families survive. It's a fundamental reshaping of how we think -- and what we expect -- of government.
This past week, Wheeling council discussed a plan that would provide direct cash payments -- to a maximum of $10,000 -- to local businesses being financially impacted by the ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project. City leaders are working through a strategy that would allow eligible businesses, based on earnings in either 2019 or 2022, to receive assistance if they can prove their sales have been impacted by the downtown work.
This would be in addition to other tax relief being offered.
While the circumstances are unusual, the city does find itself somewhat painted into a corner right now. In recent years council has spent millions on everything from falling-down structures to new roofs for homes and also the homeless, so why not businesses downtown? And the last thing Wheeling does need is for the Streetscape project to wrap up in summer 2025 with no businesses remaining on Main or Market streets.
That's where Wheeling finds itself at the end of 2023. Council will decide early next month whether to move the downtown relief plan forward. If they do -- and it's likely that will happen -- City Manager Robert Herron needs to ensure solid controls are in place. Payments to any eligible business should be made quarterly, following an audit of how money from the prior quarter was spent. Business owners need to provide assurances to the public that they will weather the storm. If tax dollars are to be used in this manner, there needs to be a full accounting of their impact.
If you're downtown every day, it's clear to see the need for assistance to these businesses is real. No one is questioning that. Too many people are actively avoiding downtown because of the project.
However, using tax dollars in this manner deserves more scrutiny than it appears city leaders are planning now. Council members' first responsibility must be to the taxpayers -- all of the taxpayers. Each of them must keep that in mind as they consider this option.