The Vermilion County Board has placed their proposed 2026-27 budget and tax levy on display, pending votes planned at their November meeting. The new fiscal year for Vermilion County begins on December 1st.
As Finance Committee Chairman Jerry Hawker explained, the proposed budget comes in at $65,105,037; while projected revenues come in at $59,017,071. Hawker says differences in revenue versus expenses will be made up by reducing some of the “large fund balances” in the Health Department, Solid Waste, the Mental Health 708 Board, Veterans Assistance, Capital Improvements, the County Bridge Fund, PSB rent, and the Law-Enforcement and Traffic funds.
After the meeting, Hawker told CIMG more about excessive money that’s available in the aforementioned funds. He says, why not use some of the money that’s right there, and in effect save some of the taxes on the residents.
AUDIO: I personally thought, we’re talking millions of dollars in some of those funds; we spend spend those in the areas that they’re allocated for.
Hawker also mentioned that for the fourth straight year, the county’s property tax rate has gone down; this time from last year’s 1.236 per $100 of assessed valuation, to this year’s 1.198. He says, please remember, if your property has not been reassessed, the COUNTY PART of your tax bill IS lower. But maybe not when it comes to education.
AUDIO: When you have DACC increasing, two years ago, 17%; and most every school district in the county are going way about their 5% increase…..
Meanwhile, permit applications for two proposed solar farm projects; CVE US IL Rossville 320 in Ross Township, and Gentlebeauty Solar in Georgetown Township; were both passed by the County Board. County Board Chairman Steve Miller commented afterwards.
AUDIO: They are each referred to as “community solar projects.” Which means they have a megawattage of five or less; so it’s not a huge solar warm, by comparison to others that have been discussed.
Two things Chairman Miller mentioned in his comments at the end of the meeting were; first, $4 million dollars is listed in capital improvements for the Vermilion County animal shelter; as the county will continue to figure out how to best apply the $2.5 million pledged for shelter improvements by the Hegeler Foundation. Second, Miller mentioned that a panel of experts on Small Modular Nuclear Reactors will be hosted by the county and Vermilion Advantage, in a special informational program at Danville Area Community College on Wednesday, December 9th.
