Board eyes fiscal 2027 projects after convention center allocation  

With a 10-year charge to recommend the use of proceeds from a half-cent sales tax, Springfield’s Citizens’ Advisory Board voted at its July meeting to put its entire first year’s estimated income – $30 million – toward a planned convention and event center.  

With that fiscal 2026 recommendation approved and allocated by Springfield City Council on Aug. 25, the eight-member CAB met yesterday to look ahead at what to do with tax revenue in fiscal 2027, which starts July 1, 2026.  

Voters in Springfield approved a three-quarter-cent tax in November 2024, with one-quarter of the funds to be used for public safety and police and fire pensions, while the other half-cent was to be dedicated to projects consistent with Forward SGF, the city’s comprehensive plan.  

The public safety portion of the tax never sunsets, but the half-cent portion that is the board’s charge is capped at 10 years unless voters renew it.  

At its meeting, the board discussed its initial plan for fiscal 2027. That calls for $5 million to be spent on community and neighborhood initiatives, $10 million on improvements to parks and trails and the remainder, more than $35 million, unallocated.  

The board voted to recommend a $500,000 allocation to the city’s Public Works department to pay for consultants for the projects that are ultimately selected. The expenditure would require City Council approval.  

A meeting report from the city notes, “The goal is to identify projects by early 2026, with first-round construction beginning in summer 2026.”  

With the suggested allocation, Public Works can begin preparing for that work, the report states.  

Extra funds 
One board member, retired Missouri State University President Clif Smart, questioned during the meeting whether the consultant allocation, initially proposed at $1 million, needed to come from the tax proceeds.  

“I understand the need for consultants, so I’m not opposed to that,” Smart said. “But I just wonder, since we’ve already allocated the $30 million and council has approved it for this year, could that money come from a different source? Does that consultant money have to come from this group, or could it come from somewhere else in the budget?”  

A report from city Finance Director David Holtmann showed that the board has more than $30 million per year to work with.  

Holtmann said tax collection began on April 1, 2025, with $7.2 million already in city coffers. Additionally, in fiscal 2026, proceeds from the tax are estimated not at $30 million but at $31 million – $1 million more than originally projected.  

Over a 10-year period, Holtmann said, the tax is estimated to bring in $337 million in total collections plus $2.5 million in potential interest income, meaning the board can anticipate having roughly $340 million to spend over the course of a decade.  

Holtmann said if the board wanted to take the consultant fee from the current year’s proceeds, that money is there.  

Smart suggested allocating only $500,000 for consultant fees, rather than the $1 million recommended. That half-million consultant expenditure was offered in the form of a motion by CAB member Andy Peebles and unanimously approved by the board.  

Consultant fees  
In an interview after the meeting, Collin Quigley, assistant city manager, explained why the city requires outside consultants, rather than having staff handle the planning for projects.  

“Our staff, they’re busy, obviously, doing other work. This is new work,” Quigley said.  

He added that the city typically has an outside designer for larger-scale projects.  

“That’s what we’re looking at, really, here,” he said. “It’s not really different than how we deliver large-scale projects. We’re just needing to get that brought in up front, in this budget year, to begin that work so we’re ready to go when the funds are available for the project.”  

He admitted consultant fees don’t sound as appealing as something like a new trail, but all significant projects include professional services.  

“All of those projects, you have that basically 20% that’s going to design work – to all the soft costs. We just need to do it up front,” he said.  

The board will not hold its previously scheduled September meeting. Its next meeting is set for 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 22 – a longer meeting to cover both months – in the Busch Municipal Building fourth-floor meeting room.