County’s New Budget Year “Going To Be Tight”)

Members of a committee of the Vermilion County Board were told this evening (Monday, June 2, 2025) that the next budget year is “going to be tight”.  Bill Pickett has the story…

Jerry Hawker, chairman of the Board’s Finance and Personnel Committee,  commented after the committee reviewed how $14-million dollars in federal ARPA funds were allocated earlier….

{AUDIO:  “We had way more requests than we had money for, but we were able to help a lot of the communities – clear from Hoopeston to Ridge Farm – out east and west.  So we covered a lot of the county.  A lot of the villages got assistance through the program.  So I think we did a good job on spreading it around throughout the county, and not just dumping all our money into one project.”}

Hawker noted most of the ARPA funds are being used to upgrade two county buildings…

{AUDIO:  “A lot of it did go towards renovating the heating and air conditioning, of course, of the courthouse and Cannon Building.  And now we’re in the process of replacing windows. Most of them have been replaced at the courthouse and now they’re here at the Cannon Building.  Those are long-term improvements that will last us a long time.”}

The federal ARPA money was received by the county to help it recover from the pandemic.  But Hawker (shown in photo) notes that was a one-time infusion, and it’s time to start planning for a new fiscal year…

{AUDIO:  “The budget’s going to be tough – real tough.  We paid some salaries – or quite a bit of salaries – out of ARPA funds that were authorized to do so, so that we were able to build-up our General Fund.  But we’re half-way through the General Fund and we’re already down to 11-million (dollars).  At the same time last year we were at $20-million.”}

The county’s new fiscal year does not begin for another six months.

Meanwhile, the amount of money in the General Fund will grow as county residents pay their real estate taxes.  Some people were standing in line Monday at the Joseph G. Cannon Building making those payments.