Daily Herald opinion: Schaumburg makes sad, but wise, choice in abandoning performance center

This editorial is a consensus opinion of the Daily Herald Editorial Board.

The proposed Schaumburg performing arts center on the campus of the village's convention center and Renaissance Hotel made for a very impressive architect's portrait. But this week, Schaumburg village trustees agreed there are more urgent needs for the $27.5 million they've been saving since 2006 to turn the vision into a reality.

It was prudent thinking.

Without question, the 2,400-seat performing arts center would have been an attractive village asset and a nice complement to the Schaumburg Convention Center complex. But trustees also have been wrestling with the idea of putting an entertainment district on the same site, possibly launching soon with an Andretti Indoor Karting & Games facility. So, they faced a point of reckoning on where to put the community's resources.

By setting aside the performing arts center, they gain some freedom to expand planning for the entertainment district, and even more importantly, gather some financial resources that can be applied to more urgent needs - notably police and fire pensions and upgrades of other buildings.

The performance center, expected to cost between $45 million and $65 million, had been intended to open in conjunction with the convention center and hotel more than a decade and a half ago, but those plans were postponed as village leaders reviewed the expenses of constructing all three projects at once. Instead, they began saving a portion of excess annual revenues with the idea that they could build the performance center later.

This week they decided that the $27.5 million they've amassed could be put to better use, and their reasoning was eminently sensible. Burgeoning costs of police and fire pensions are becoming an increasing worry for suburban communities. Now, the village can use a substantial portion of what had been going toward the performance center planning for those costs.

"We need to do more with our pensions," Mayor Tom Dailly said. "Almost every other community in Illinois is facing the same issue. We need to step up and do more."

Under the new policy leaders are considering, Schaumburg will allot $500,000 of surplus revenue to the pensions and divide any remainder between capital improvements and building replacement.

It's hard to look at the futuristic design for the performing arts center and not feel at least of tinge of disappointment that it won't become part of the architecture of the suburbs. But village leaders, like all of us, often have to make tough choices between what would be nice to do and what needs to be done.

This week, Schaumburg village leaders confronted that conflict and made the right decision.