A proposal to keep Peoria’s tax levy dollar figure unchanged from a year ago suffered a narrow defeat during Tuesday night’s special city council meeting to continue budget negotiations.
Council member Denis Cyr made the two-pronged motion, asking to keep the levy at $29.9 million instead of the $32.3 million recommended by city staff in the budget draft.
“At this point, the City of Peoria has never been in such a great financial position. We are, so to speak, flush with money right now,” said Cyr, who also proposed using $2.5 million in general fund dollars to cover the resulting gap.
Ultimately, the plan fell by a 6-5 vote with Chuck Grayeb, John Kelly, Zach Oyler and Kiran Velpula joining Cyr in the minority. The first item’s failure rendered the second item moot.
While the tax levy amount for the 2024 tax year (the 2025 budget year) is higher, the total levy rate remains virtually unchanged at 1.550%. The levy increase results from a 7.3% rise in assessed property values, with the city intending to put the money toward its growing police and fire pension obligations.
“It's not a proposed tax increase; it's the fact that the values went up. So, the manager did his job and built a budget based on the rate,” said Oyler. “But from there, it's on us to decide what to do next. So, we have to make the conscious decision to reduce the rate to compensate, and give some of that back and help the taxpayer.”
City manager Patrick Urich estimated Cyr’s proposal would have dropped the rate to about 1.45%. Those voting in the majority called the idea “counter-intuitive” and “fiscally irresponsible,” considering the future public safety pension costs.
“It's clear that the EAV increase of 7.3% is something that we should be celebrating,” said Tim Riggenbach. “As I was talking to a colleague today about the pension obligation and how in the world are we ever going to get out of it, and he said we have to grow our tax base. So here we are growing our tax base, and the first thing we're going to do is cut the tax rate?”
Mayor Rita Ali said Peoria needs to prepare for a fiscal storm on the horizon and taking this step would weaken the city’s position and impact core services. Others opposed indicated a need to err on the side of caution.
“Having the foresight to want to provide some relief to our constituents is very important, and as someone who is doing his best to balance his own family's budget, I completely relate,” said council member Andre Allen. “Although, I think we have to be sensitive to the fact of making a short-term decision that will have long-term consequences and really having an impact on basic core services later on for our constituents.”
The meeting included a required “truth in taxation” public hearing regarding the levy increase. The only speaker was Anita Meeker, who has filed to run as a Republican against incumbent Democratic township supervisor LaTrina Leary. Meeker said the increasing property values don’t actually result in a financial benefit for the owners.
“The thing that upsets me about that is, unless I sell my home that has no meaning to me today. I realize nothing from my house value increasing,” said Meeker. “I'm pleased that Peoria is thriving and doing well, but the taxpayers just can't take another burden.”
