Peoria County’s tentative budget for the 2027 fiscal year maintains the current property tax rate, fully funds pension obligations and covers costs for new laundry and kitchen facilities at the Peoria County jail.
County administrator Scott Sorrel said the proposed $183 million spending outline emphasizes service efficiency and maintaining infrastructure.
“This year’s recommended budget really reflects the priorities of the county board, and that is continuing to be the best value for Peoria County taxpayers,” said Sorrel.
“Probably the biggest priority for the county board right now is reinvesting and continuing to invest in our public infrastructure. That includes both roads and bridges, but also our buildings, because we, at the end of the day, are merely just stewards of those assets for the taxpayers.”
Sorrel said the work at the jail represents the initial upgrades in a three-phase improvement strategy for the facility.
“That project, which is already fully funded with a variety of different sources, is going to be probably in the $7 million to $8.5 million range. We’re actually hoping to go out for bid with that before the end of the year,” said Sorrel.
He added the Peoria County Board’s current plan for the future phases of the jail renovations is to take a “pay as you go” approach.
“That means that when we get to phase two, which is a substantially larger phase — it could be as much as $20 million — we need to start building up our reserves so that we have cash on hand to fund that project when we’re finished with the kitchen and laundry project,” said Sorrel.
“To that end, we’ve been able to dedicate $1.5 million in the [2027 fiscal year] general fund operating budget to be put into future reserves exclusively for phase two construction costs.”
The financial plan estimates total county revenue at $170.3 million, which will be augmented by $12.7 million in “planned use of fund balance” to even the ledger.
“That really is intended to be used for one-time projects and not operation. So, a good example of how we use those dollars is maybe a bridge project,” said Sorrel. “Bridge projects are typically very expensive projects, and so we’ll build up reserves over time.
“Once we have adequate reserves to fund that bridge project, then we go ahead and move forward with the actual project itself.”
Sorrel said the county’s general fund balance sat at roughly $35 million as of the end of July, the most recent financial period reported to the board. The proposed budget maintains that figure, with anticipated general fund revenue and expenditures even at $67 million.
He stressed the budget keeps the general fund balanced and the tax rate unchanged at around $0.82 per $100 of a property’s assessed value, without needing any staffing cutbacks.
“We continue to want to be an employer of choice by making sure that we’ve got good compensation and benefits to attract and retain the best talent possible, [and] we want to be very focused on service delivery and doing things efficiently as possible,” he said.
Following committee meetings in late October to review and discuss the figures, the budget is expected to go before the full county board at its Nov. 12 meeting.
