DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow, Assistant City Manager Gary Boden and First Ward Alderman Chris Hoagland addressed the InterFraternity Council Tuesday night on a proposal dealing with the bus system in the Greek Row area.

Sparrow said when streets on Greek Row were built they were never designed to carry a bus system. These streets include Normal Road north of Hillcrest Drive, Ridge and Blackhawk drives and the intersection of Greenbrier and Russell roads.

The system involves about 1.2 million rides to and from Greek Row per year, Boden said, and now funds are needed for repair on those roads.

Boden said reconstruction of north Greek Row streets would be a 50-50 cost sharing between the residents in special service area and the general fund of the city.

Half of the funding would be in the form of a property tax increase on property owners in that area who would, in turn, add it on to rental charges, Boden said. It would total $85,000 during 10 years which comes to $1-$2 per person per month in rental fees.

Sparrow said, “My sense of the (city) council is that they will vote to remove the bus system from that area” if the funds cannot be found.

Hoagland said the discussion of the issue in the spring and summer concluded that “funds weren’t available from any other source” and “people wanted buses. I was following what the residents want.”

The proposal would include all multi-family properties but disclude single-family residences of DeKalb and the businesses.

There will be another meeting involving Sparrow, Boden, Hoagland, Student Association President Jim Fischer and IFC President Tom Zur tonight at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St., to further discuss the proposal.