The McLean County Board on Thursday was presented with fiscal year 2025 budget projections that include a slight decrease in overall spending, a property tax decrease and higher salaries for county employees.
The overall $137 million plan includes about $9.6 million, or 6.5%, less in spending than 2024 — a change county administrator Cassy Taylor said is largely due to the phasing out funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act. That could mean fewer infrastructure projects in the near future, but some areas are set for more investment.
The board will vote on the budget in November.
One goal the county hopes to meet in the coming year is retaining and recruiting more good employees, a difficult task without competitive salaries compared with other counties. Taylor said this is the motive behind a 4% bump in salaries and benefits for county employees in the budget proposal. She hopes it will aid the county in staffing historically difficult jobs.
“I think it’s [salary increase] most significant for those hard-to-fill positions. I think it’s most impactful for them,” Taylor said.
“So our nursing staff, our corrections staff, our attorneys, some of our circuit clerk staff, those have been the positions that have been most impacted recently.”
Estimated assessed value [EAV] for properties in McLean County have seen significant increases in recent years, most recently an 11% rise last year. In light of this trend, the proposed budget lowers the property tax rate by 3.3%, but that still has the potential to provide additional revenue. Taylor said the funding will aid infrastructure repairs, benefits for veterans, and maintenance that would be delayed under tougher financial circumstances.
“Being able to address some of the infrastructure projects in years where we have a little bit of a boon assists us when we have those lean years,” Taylor said. “So we are planning ahead in the case that this slows down.”
The budget plan comes with a five-year outline for capital projects, including many improvements to government buildings. All projects will be considered individually by the board, but include renovations to the Law and Justice Center, the Government Center, and the Juvenile Detention Center, among others.
Overall, the budget presentation reflected the board's priorities of conservative budgeting and the goal of stability in variable circumstances. If the budget passes in November, it will take effect the following month.
