Voters in Washington will have an opportunity on the March 17 primary ballot to express their opinion on whether golf carts should be allowed on some city streets.
The Washington City Council this week approved placing a non-binding advisory question about golf carts on the ballot.
Taking the advice of City Attorney Mark Walton, council approved a simple question: "Should the City of Washington permit the operation of golf carts on city streets in some capacity?"
Walton said all the question will do is gauge public opinion, so it needs to be short, sweet and to the point.
"The more ambiguity there is in the question, the less useful the answers are," he said.
Alderpersons Paula Johnson and Mike McIntyre each said they haven't received feedback from many people about the golf cart issue.
"But the ones I've heard from are either exceedingly pro golf carts or exceedingly against golf carts," said Johnson. "I don't feel like I have a good temperature of the residents. I think we're looking to take a temperature and we can answer questions if they come up."
The vote to place the question on the ballot was 7-1, with Brandon Moss casting the lone dissenting vote.
Moss said the golf cart issue doesn't rise to the level of needing an election ballot as a tool to gather public opinion.
Property tax levy increases 4.1%
The council approved Washington's 2025 property tax levy, payable in 2026, of nearly $2.4 million.
That's an increase of $95,000, or slightly more than 4.1%, over the previous year. The levy proposal passed on a 6-2 vote, with Moss and John Blundy dissenting.
In a related action, council did not include $477,250 in the 2025 levy to pay the debt service for a 2023 bond for stormwater work.
Enough funds will be raised by a 0.5% sales tax established in 2022 for stormwater projects.
Other items the council approved:
• A tax increment financing [TIF] agreement with the owner of a building at 104-106 N. Main Street, which was the home of Foster Jewelry for about 70 years. Mud Creek Mercantile has opened on the ground level of the building. The business is expected to create three full-time and three part-time jobs, and generate $8,000-$12,000 in home rule sales tax revenue and $4,000-$8,000 in state-shared sales tax revenue annually. The second story of the building will be residential. The estimated cost of the renovation project is between $162,500-$227,500. Under the terms of the TIF agreement, the building owner will receive a not-to-exceed $50,000 in TIF funding.
• Reimbursing Grist Mill Ventures about $9,200 with TIF funds for interest costs incurred by the company in November from the construction of the Tangled Roots Craft Beer & Kitchen restaurant. The city's total TIF payments for the restaurant since 2021 now exceed $839,300. Interest costs will not be reimbursed after December.
• A preliminary plat for Mallard Crossing Section Five, which will have 30 single-family residential lots on about nine acres. The subdivision will generate about $260,000 annually in property tax revenue after its buildout and resident occupancy, according to city staff. Infrastructure construction is expected to begin in the spring.
• A payment of $23,100 to Holiday Outdoor Decor of Allentown, Pa., for the community Christmas tree installed by city crews at Washington/Sunnyland Plaza.
• Reimbursing the Washington Fire Department about $22,700 for an extensive kitchen remodeling project at the fire station. Most of the cost of the approximately $77,700 project was covered by a grant from the Lowe's Points of Light Foundation.
• A request by city staff to increase tree maintenance costs $10,000 to $35,000 for this fiscal year to cover the unexpected need to remove trees in the Catherine Road reconstruction and Business Route 24 resurfacing projects. Durdel and Sons of Peoria is doing the work.
• Extending an agreement with Millennia Professional Services of Morton to provide construction engineering assistance for the Catherine Street reconstruction and Cedar Street drainage projects through the end of the fiscal year for a not-to-exceed cost of $218,000.
Snow parking ban violations
Highlights of city staff's and Mayor Lilija Stevens' reports to the council:
• Police issued 20 tickets during the snow emergency parking bans last week.
• All five Christmas trees in front of City Hall have now been decorated by students from city schools. From left to right looking from Walnut Street, the schools are Beverly Manor School, Lincoln Grade School, Washington Community High School, Central Intermediate School and St. Patrick School.
• The owner of the Get Yourself Motivated [GYM] in the Cherry Tree Shopping Center purchased an undeveloped lot south of The Hub on North Cummings Lane and has tentative plans for a new building to be constructed there in the first quarter of 2026.
• Stevens' final "Let's Talk Washington" session of the year will be from 11 a.m. to noon Dec. 27 in the Washington District Library meeting room at Five Points Washington.
