Spending to address homelessness, anti-violence measures, food insecurity and business development highlighted topics of discussion Tuesday as the Peoria City Council resumed its annual budget negotiations.
The talks during the regularly scheduled council meeting centered around report-backs from city staff in response to questions raised by council members after their initial review of the $288 million revised 2025 budget a week earlier.
Council member Chuck Grayeb sought details on how city money targeted for anti-violence programming has been spent and how it will be addressed moving forward.
The city’s report indicates Peoria has dedicated about $3.4 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars toward violence prevention, along with $500,000 in Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity money from the State of Illinois.
City Manager Patrick Urich said the police department and Chief Eric Echevarria have outlined areas such as staffing and use of technology as part of the plan to address violent crime.
“We see that some of the violence reduction funding has kind of dried up with the end of ARPA,” Urich said. “However, there are — and I think the police department and the police chief is to be commended for the amount of grants that they've been able to leverage, and continue to find, to help them to provide the support to the department from a technology standpoint, from an operating standpoint.”
Grayeb also wanted to know more about spending on services for the homeless. Urich pointed to Peoria’s support for agencies like Phoenix Community Development Services, the Home For All Continuum of Care and the Salvation Army.
“We have been a significant funder of affordable housing in the city of Peoria and in the Greater Peoria area, and I think that that shouldn't go unnoticed as we talk about issues of how we address homelessness inside the city of Peoria, how we address affordable housing inside the city of Peoria,” he said. “We have literally put our money where our mouth is in terms of providing affordable housing support inside the region.”
With the city still considering an ordinance banning unauthorized camping in public, the report detailed 35 fire department emergency response calls to homeless campsites dating to February 2023. Additionally, the city reports it has spent more than $36,000 in cleaning up various homeless encampments over the past four years.
“We have to remember we have citizens whose very livelihoods depend on what happens downtown. We have a huge economic driver called the Civic Center that must be an appealing, enticing and safe place for people to go at night,” Grayeb said. “We have people who work downtown who need to have an expectation of safety when they leave and goes to the parking decks without disease vectors.
“There are other folks who have rights as well, and I will guarantee you that if you don't know that, you will know it in the days ahead. But we need to take care of the whole thing. We can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.”
Council member Denise Jackson requested information on how much the city has spent on its Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) efforts. Urich reported the city put $1.2 million into CPTED, with $700,000 for clearing vacant lots and $500,000 for a program to upgrade porch and alley lighting.
Jackson proposed taking $50,000 for clearing lots and directing it to the Western Avenue Greenway.
“We have folks that have been there beautifying what could have been blight for years, for several years, and the work is appreciated. People are getting old, and they don't – they get a little bit of assistance with maintenance from public works; they've reached out to the park district, and they have done fundraising in the past,” Jackson said.
“If we want to maintain the beautification of that area and enjoy it, I think at some point we've got to at least provide some support, whether it's in-kind and financial assistance, at least until they're able to recruit younger members.”
However, other council members were hesitant to back that idea without additional information. Tim Riggenbach raised concern over cutting into violence prevention money intended to address vacant lots.
“If we're taking $50,000 away, that's going to affect X-number of lots from high crime areas. I'm not sure if I'm ready to support that without wrapping my arms around what I'm giving up,” said Riggenbach, wondering exactly how the Western Avenue Greenway would use the funding.
“If we could find out what their annual expenses have been historically, then I think that'll give us a better perspective,” he said.
Jackson also stressed a need for Peoria to work at eliminating food deserts, noting the 61605 zip code lacks a grocery store and advocating for Market 309 by Peoria Grown.
“As I've had opportunity to go down and visit Market 309 and talk to people, I have found out that they have had people coming from 61605, 61603, on occasion 61604. They've even had people come from other counties, which suggests to me that while the economy is doing better, one of the biggest struggles many families — and they happen to be families with children — struggle with it, and that is buying groceries,” she said.
“I would like to have an opportunity to maybe get a report back and share some of this information with the council, because I think it's vital. Just like homelessness is a big problem in our community, the problem of food insecurity is equally important.”
Council member Kiran Velpula expressed dissatisfaction with the city’s approach to business development.
“When I looked at these business attraction strategies, it's just I never felt there is any attraction in there,” Velpula said. “We are asking for food, we are asking for money for cutting down the crime. We don't have a corporate tax, so we don't even have a strong platform to attract businesses — it could be any businesses for that sake.”
Velpula suggested Peoria consider something called a “capital investment tax credit” that has been used by other small cities to encourage business growth.
“Basically, it's an incentive to encourage businesses to invest in assets such as infrastructure. What it does is it lowers the business tax liability, it provides financial relief and cash flow, and in bigger places, they also are used to attract the foreign direct investments,” he said. “So I don't know whether that is an applicable situation in Peoria, but again, I'm just trying to research and see whether that could be actually brought in.”
Budget deliberations will continue at a special council meeting on Tuesday, following a required “truth-in-taxation” hearing for the city’s proposed property tax levy of $32.3 million. The hearing is necessary because the operating levy rate increases slightly from 1.3517% to 1.359%, although the total levy rate is virtually unchanged.
Urich said if the council is able to finalize the budget during the next session, a special meeting on Nov. 5 would not be necessary. A vote to adopt the budget is scheduled for the Nov. 12 regular meeting.
