City Votes to Give Rialto Another $500,000

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet City Council voted to give the struggling Rialto Square Theatre another $500,000 Tuesday night.

The budgeted $500,000 is subject to an intergovernmental agreement with the theater.

The measure passed 6-2 with Councilman Larry Hug and Councilwoman Brooke Hernandez Brewer voting against it.

Just four days ago, Hernandez Brewer pronounced the Rialto “already closed.”
Mayor Bob O’Dekirk said the city has poured $18 million into the Rialto over the last 30 years.

The theater is operated by the The Will County Metropolitan Exposition and Auditorium Authority. In a memo to the council, City Manager Jim Hock pointed out that taxpayers funded the authority to the tune of $11,031,783.68 since 2002, then covered its payroll taxes for four months from the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016.

This spring, Hock said, the city paid more than $300,000 “so that Jeff Foxworthy / Cable Guy /Comedy Party / Vince Gill would not cancel their shows.”

This month, the city forked over another $20,400 “because it was discovered the authority had neglected to pay for its 2015 audit,” he said.

The authority also has millions out in loans and owes vendors, merchants, entertainers and suppliers about a half million, Hock’s memo said.

Before the vote, O’Dekirk spoke of how difficult it has been to work with the Rialto’s operators.

“The Rialto was really put in an unfair position,” the mayor said, calling it a “shakedown.”

“To come to the City of Joliet at the 11th hour, after refusing to cooperate throughout the entire process,” O’Dekirk said. “All of us have been put in an unfair light.”

Will County Executive Larry Walsh attended the meeting and spoke prior to the vote of Joliet’s importance on a global scale.

“We have foreign governments that are investing in Joliet, Will County,” Walsh said. “We have corporate leaders that are coming to Illinois, to Joliet, Will County.”

Walsh also said he has been one of the Rialto’s strongest supporters.