Naperville council not interested in sponsorship

Despite the creative efforts of the city's finance department, Naperville councilmen say they have no interest in putting the city "up for sale" to crawl out from a growing deficit.

In a memo this month, Finance Director Karen DeAngelis suggested the council consider new potential long-term revenue streams, including corporate sponsorship of events, programs or assets; exclusivity rights for an official product of the city; or naming rights for buildings and structures.

"In reality, having a program that allows for revenue from the creation of an official chicken sandwich of Naperville or the Riverwalk brought to you by XYZ company is an interesting idea," DeAngelis said Monday. "But the reality is that any such program would take as long as 12 to 18 months to implement and wouldn't help us until at least 2014 or beyond."

With projected flat revenues, decreasing home values and increased debt, the city could be facing a $2.3 million to $4.8 million deficit in fiscal year 2012, and gaps as large as $18.3 million through 2014.

In the meantime, DeAngelis suggests the city gather public opinion on such a plan while staff members look for smaller, short-term test programs for the city to explore.

Following the Nov. 30 budget workshop, City Manager Doug Krieger is expected to issue a survey to council members to get their response to a number of cost reductions, service changes and potential revenue sources. DeAngelis said municipal sponsorships likely will be on the list.

Such sponsorships are not a new idea. As far back as 1998, Sacramento, Calif., granted exclusive vending machine rights to Pepsi for about $500,000 a year. And in late 2009, KFC created a program to provide money to fill potholes, which were then stamped with the corporate logo, in Louisville, Ky.; Cleveland, Ohio; and Birmingham, Ala.

But several councilmen and Mayor George Pradel lined up Tuesday to squash the idea.

"I'm all for looking for innovative ways to enhance the budget but I don't think anyone wants to see potholes filled courtesy of McDonald's or KFC," Pradel said. "That would cheapen the people we are actually serving."

Councilman Grant Wehrli said the proposal isn't reasonable and the staff has more immediate problems to address.

"We've worked tirelessly for decades in Naperville to build a brand of a sense and feel of community," he said. "I don't want to put the city up for sale for sponsorships that may or may not last."

Councilman Doug Krause called the idea ludicrous.

"I'm not selling the city out just to put clutter all over the place," Krause said. "You can count on one hand the number of billboards in the city and that's for a reason, so why would I support putting logo things on manhole covers? That's ludicrous."

James Boyajian needs more information but said he's also leaning toward opposing the idea.

Councilman Dick Furstenau said he might consider the idea, but only for the right price.

"I'm not going to say no and I'm not going to say yes, but it would have to be in the millions and millions (of dollars) for me to let someone plaster stuff all over town," he said. "But I appreciate the creativity of staff who bring all us kinds of ideas even if they're not all great."

Some of the other revenue choices councilmen are faced with include again increasing the local gas tax, boosting the refuse pickup fee, increasing the local utility tax and increasing the city's ambulance fee by $200 across each Medicare fee category.

The next revenue workshop is scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 25.