CHAMPAIGN – City of Champaign Township Supervisor Linda Abernathy, facing a serious health challenge, says she won't seek election to a second term this spring.

Abernathy, a 61-year-old Democrat who had a bout with breast cancer in 2006, said she's undergoing tests to determine if the cancer has spread, and said she needs to concentrate on improving her health. She said she will endorse her assistant and the township's accountant, D'Anne Winston, for the Democratic nomination for township supervisor.

"I think it would be a good move for the township to have someone like her with fresh energy," Abernathy said about Winston.

Candidacy petitions for the township supervisor and assessor both must be filed with the Champaign city clerk's office between Dec. 8 and 15. Winston has taken out petitions to run as a Democrat, while no Republican has yet asked for nominating petitions, according to Champaign City Clerk Marilyn Banks.

Abernathy said she announced her plans Sunday at a Democratic Party dinner in Urbana.

"My health has been slowly getting worse to a point where my daughter has been talking to me about getting out from underneath some of the stress," she said. "At some level, I feel I need to find a way to heal myself."

Abernathy said her current relationship with the town board is poor.

The Champaign City Council also functions as the City of Champaign Town Board and, earlier this month, voted to freeze the salary of the township supervisor for two years following the April 7 election.

Board members said the freeze was designed to help win passage of a tax increase proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot, but Abernathy blasted the vote afterward as racist and partisan.

The township assessor position, currently held by Republican Brian Christie, will receive 2 percent annual salary increases during the next two years. Both Christie and Abernathy currently make $58,994.

"The town board unfortunately does not have any real desire, in my opinion, to support the efforts of that office," Abernathy said of the supervisor position.

Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart, who also serves on the town board, said he wishes Abernathy well with her health issues.

But he said he doesn't agree with her characterization of the town board.

"The vote we took (to freeze the township supervisor's salary) was on the next elected official, whoever that may be," he said.

The tax increase proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot would increase the township's tax rate by 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, raising the overall rate to 5.5 cents. The increase would generate an additional $300,000 annually and would cost the owner of a $150,000 home an additional $9 per year in property taxes.

The township has drawn down its financial reserves in recent years, with the trend accelerating after Abernathy took office in 2005 promising to be an advocate for the poor.

On Feb. 1, 2007, she was forced to cut off general assistance, a form of welfare, for about 60 able-bodied recipients and to cut the cash benefit from $223 to $150 per month for another 50 disabled general assistance recipients awaiting word on whether they qualify for federal disability assistance.