Peoria council approves township estimated tax levy after supervisor outlines reserve goal

The Peoria City Council unanimously approved a request from the Town Officials Budget Committee to set the town estimated tax levy at $1,419,540 with an estimated tax rate not to exceed 0.074315.

Township officials presented the request as item 25-275 during the Sept. 30 special council meeting. The motion to approve was moved by Council member Gordon Young and seconded by Council member Allen; the council voted unanimously to adopt the estimate.

The township supervisor, who answered council questions at the meeting, said the reserve target is “simply to get a balanced budget.” The supervisor described historical reductions to the levy before their tenure and said the township has been monitoring reserves for about four years. “So far, our reserves have come down. They’re not coming down at a drastic rate, and I do not think that it would be in our best interest to see a drastic fall in the reserves,” the township supervisor said.

Council member Cyr asked whether the supervisor had a target measured in months of operating reserve. The supervisor said six months of reserves would not be realistic under current revenue conditions and said that, without a plan to raise levy revenue, reducing reserves to a six-month minimum would be “detrimental.”

The motion carried unanimously; the council cast ballots and the clerk recorded the passage of the levy estimate.

The action authorizes the town to proceed with the levy estimate; as finance staff noted during discussion of other items the council’s acceptance of an estimate is not a binding voter-level levy but places the amount on the table for later tax-setting actions by the city and county.