Council OK’s $30M allocation for convention center match 

Springfield City Council yesterday approved the expenditure of $30 million from the Spring Forward SGF capital improvement sales tax – all of the estimated proceeds from a half-cent portion of a three-quarter-cent tax passed by voters in November 2024 – to fund a new downtown convention and event center estimated to cost $175 million.  

The Spring Forward SGF tax, as the half-cent portion of the tax is called by city officials, was approved to fund projects consistent with the city’s Forward SGF comprehensive plan. That portion of the tax will sunset in 10 years unless voters renew it. 

The other quarter-cent of the tax approved in November is permanent and is dedicated to public safety, including a police and fire pension fund. 

The appropriation approved by council is intended to provide a one-to-one match for a $30 million allocation from the state – on hold and requiring the approval of Gov. Mike Kehoe for release.  

Council’s decision to use all $30 million of the projected proceeds from the first year of the Spring Forward SGF tax was unanimous and was recommended by the eight-member Citizens’ Advisory Board, which was formed to make recommendations on projects to be funded by the tax.  

According to past Springfield Business Journal reporting, the tax board voted July 30 to use the entire $30 million for the development. 

At that meeting, Tim Rosenbury, the city’s director of quality of place initiatives, explained that the city has to spend $60 million by June 10, 2026, in order for it to receive 100% of the $30 million in restricted funds appropriated by the state legislature. 

“Any amount we spend less than $60 million, for every dollar that we don't spend, we lose the opportunity to get 50 cents. We're leaving 50 cents on the table from the state," Rosenbury said at the time. "This is the urgency that we didn't invite, but it's the urgency that we're faced with." 

To round out funding for the project, Springfield voters will also be asked to support an additional permanent 3% lodging tax on the November ballot.   

At the CAB meeting, Deputy City Manager Collin Quigley answered a question about what would happen if the governor chose not to release the $30 million and voters do not approve the lodging tax. 

"It changes things. It's a complete reevaluation," Quigley said. "We need all those pieces. You've got to have it all."