Lee County finance committee advances draft budget and levy; moves 20 Joseph E. Meyer resolutions to full board

The Lee County Finance Committee voted to send the county’s draft budget and a proposed levy ordinance to the full county board for final action and also moved 20 Joseph E. Meyer resolutions to the board agenda.

The committee acted after presentations on county revenues and expenditures and a discussion of timing for property-tax distributions and the county’s public-safety sales-tax fund. Reid Acree, presenting the monthly treasury report, told the committee the county is “right on pace with our revenue projections” and that a timing difference in property-tax receipts contributed to a larger year‑to‑date general‑fund revenue figure compared with a year earlier.

The committee’s action matters because the draft budget and levy together set next fiscal year’s spending plan and how much property owners will be asked to pay. The levy proposal would raise the county’s tax rate to 0.8242 per $100 of equalized assessed value (EAV), producing an estimated $13.03…