Illinois begins its new fiscal year later this week. That carries some uncertainty for the City of Peoria, even though most operations will carry on as usual.
There’s a lot of unknowns. Governor Bruce Rauner wants to cut local income tax payments by 50-percent, but lawmakers are slow to embrace that proposal. Another possibility is a property tax freeze for local governments. Most of Peoria’s property tax revenue goes to pay for pension costs. City manager Patrick Urich says a freeze would affect that payment process:
“That money’s going to have to come from somewhere. So we’re going to have to find other revenue sources, that currently are used to pay for operations, we’re going to have to shift those into covering pension costs.”
Urich says a $150,000 grant for road work at Alta and Radnor roads is also at risk due to the state’s budget woes. He says regardless of state issues, the city faces a more than $5 million deficit next fiscal year.