By Adam Studzinski

NORMAL – How Normal will use its portion of the revenue from the new sales tax increase is a little clearer after Monday night’s Town Council meeting.

The council is mostly in favor of how staff has recommended spending the funds left after 25 percent of the new revenue goes to mental health care.

Councilman Kevin McCarthy liked the amount of emphasis being put on infrastructure projects.

“Nearly $2 million of this, concrete streets, asphalt streets, sidewalk repair, and a building maintenance,” said McCarthy. “Those are part of our various plans, but what this allows us to do is accelerate that.”

For now, the town is moving forward with the idea of putting $390,000 each towards Connect Transit and business development. That could change, depending on what Bloomington decides to do with its portion of the revenue.

“As I was told by the mayor of the City of Bloomington, that they were not against these and were not committed to not funding them, but were going to continue the discussion and try to identify funds,” said Normal Mayor Chris Koos. “And they were dealing with some issues the first year that they felt that they needed those funds for.”

Koos recommended the town decided how to allocate funding over the first year of the sales tax increase, then re-evaluate in the next year. The council agreed with the idea.

Something not on the list of items to be funded is a new sports complex for the Twin Cities. Councilwoman Cheryl Gaines hoped some funding is eventually put towards that type of facility.

“All of these sports have something for kids that keep them busy, and it’s not even just keeping them busy,” said Gaines. “It’s teaching them skills. It’s teaching them how to work as a team. It’s teaching them how to think and plan.”

How Normal will spend its portion of the revenue will not officially be decided until the town approves its budget next year.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].