A request to use $500-thousand dollars in county funds to renovate homes of owners who meet certain income requirements is still being reviewed. Mike Davis of the Vermilion County Land Bank requested the funds in November to help replace roofs, porches, siding and other areas. The money would come from the $14-million dollars in federal rescue funds the county is receiving due to the pandemic.
County Board Chairman Larry Baughn says no decisions have been made yet on how to spend the money….
{Audio: ‘’We are going to take care of in-county needs. When I say in-county I mean the county government’s needs – whether it be the Treasurer’s Office, to the Sheriff’s Department to the Coroner’s Office. And then once we feel like we’ve satisfied those, then we’re going to start working with groups outside of our immediate county government – whether it be the Land Bank and that request, or whether it be CASA or some organization like that.’’}
Davis said the goal of the Land Bank is to help rehabilitate homes so that they can remain owner-occupied and prevent their demolition in the future.
The Vermilion County Board, meanwhile, has started its new fiscal year in very good shape. Steve Fourez, chairman of the board’s Finance and Personnel Committee, told the board Tuesday night that unaudited results show the county ended the past fiscal year with 129-percent of budgeted revenues. And that does not count the approximately $14-million dollars in federal funds the county is receiving due to the pandemic. Fourez said the 2021 fiscal year was probably the best financial performance he has seen in a long, long time.
