CHAMPAIGN – City of Champaign Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy is expected to recommend tonight that a tax referendum should be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot to increase the amount of money the township is able to provide to the extremely poor.

Abernathy, in an e-mail to supporters, said she will recommend that the town board place on the ballot a question asking voters to increase the township's tax rate by 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. The district's current overall tax rate is 3.5 cents.

The 2-cent rate increase would generate an additional $297,000 annually for the township, and allow the district to increase the amount of cash assistance the township provides to the extremely poor. The proposed rate increase would increase property taxes on a $150,000 home by $9 annually.

City of Champaign Township collected $453,000 in property taxes last year. Township voters rejected a 5-cent tax rate increase, by a 2-to-1 margin, in November 2006.

The town board meets at 7 tonight at the Champaign City Building, 102 N. Neil St. The Champaign City Council serves as the town board in City of Champaign Township.

Faced with rapidly dwindling cash reserves, Abernathy ended general assistance on Feb. 1, 2007, and replaced it with the state's transitional assistance program. She wound up cutting monthly assistance for the poor from $212 to $150, and slashed the number of people receiving assistance from 130 to about 50 by no longer allowing able-bodied adults to receive assistance. Now only people with disabilities who are seeking federal Supplimental Security income are eligible.

Abernathy could not be reached for comment.