The Marion County Board rejected the first proposed levy increase for next year’s property tax bills before the amount was lowered and received the required two-thirds vote.
The initial increase was 3.9-percent, which was lowered to three percent.
After the first review of the budget, Finance Committee Chair Dr. Creighton Engel had indicated they would not need any increase. But at Thursday night’s meeting he said the amount of reserves had been trimmed by a few hundred-thousand dollars.
“We may have a line item that was not increased enough, so we may have to increase that more. You are looking at maybe funding a project that is now coming in and you estimated and now its gonna be more. Its just things at the last minute you can run into so everything is not final till its final.”
Engel felt the three percent increase in the levy over last year’s property tax collections was a good compromise. He notes with tax caps, if the county doesn’t take advantage of assessment growth in the first year they can’t ask for it later.
The board also approved its budget for the coming fiscal year. The general fund totals $12,221,352 and is balanced. However, Engel is concerned about future years due to the high rate of inflation and rising wages for county employees that are needed to keep them.
The board had hoped to approve a new contract with the laborer’s union before passing the budget, but were told the final agreement was not quite ready.
Highway Engineer Mike McCormick told the board the Illinois EPA is requiring an environmental study before improvements to the Green Street Road and portion of the Odin Road could move forward. The contract with Hutchinson Engineer was amended to include an $11,490 agreement to do the study.
The board agreed to pay half the cost of two township bridge projects through the joint bridge program. They include a $41,607 project to repair a bridge on Crowley Road in Raccoon Township and a $9,467 project to repair a low water crossing on Landmark Road in Iuka Township.
McCormick reported the Illinois Department of Transportation will open bids on Monday for the rebuilding of Heinzman Road from Kell to the Route 161 Extension to truck route standards.
County Treasurer Gary Purcell reported he has made a third distribution of this year’s property tax receipts to the taxing bodies. 97-percent of the total property tax bill has now been distributed.
The board was told the Marion County Jail now has 95 prisoners, including 22 federal inmates. Four juveniles are currently in detention and one adult prisoner apiece are being held in Clay and Jefferson County for security reasons.
The board approved the appointment of Tony Smith to the South Central Illinois Regional Planning Commission to replace Carson Smith.
