State law allows for the creation of “Special Service Areas.” In a Special Service Area (SSA) the property owners agree to pay an extra property tax and the funds are then used by the City to provide "special" services which are only provided within the service area of those paying into the fund. Geneva’s Downtown Special Service Area No. 1 (SSA1) was adopted in 1978 and has been modified several times. SSA No. 1 funds parking lot acquisition, construction, maintenance, snow plowing, and ancillary services.

Our downtown Special Service Area No. 1 expires in 2023. The City supplements SSA No. 1 every year with revenues from the “General Fund.” An online chart details the revenues into the fund per year, as well as General Funds transferred into this restricted fund by the City (during the annual budget process).

Additionally, specific capital projects in the downtown are funded through one of the other City budgets. For example, the 2012-13 construction of the Campbell Street parking lot was funded through the City’s Capital Improvement Project fund; purchase of the land was through the SSA fund. In 2011-12 the City resurfaced “parking lot 50” (the center of the block bounded by State, 3rd, James, and 4th, through the Capital Improvement Project fund). Long range capital plans for SSA No. 1 average $114,000 to maintain the parking lots in the area. Current debt service (funds were used to purchase property for parking lots) is $32,000 per year.