City can support township without tax increase
By:
Friday, October 31, 2008
If members of the Champaign City Council support an increase in the township fund for general assistance, they can pay for it with city funds – and without going to the taxpayers.
Voters in Champaign are being asked to support a 2 cents per $100 of assessed valuation increase in their property tax rates to support the general assistance program in the City of Champaign Township. The tax increase would cost the owner of a $150,000 home about $9 a year.
But there's an easier, and less costly (to taxpayers) way to support the general assistance program: the Champaign City Council could use the funds it already has to support the general assistance fund, which provides a minimal monthly stipend to the poor.
The proposed 2-cent tax increase would yield about $300,000 a year, a comparative pittance in the city of Champaign's $68 million budget.
But city council members, many of whom say they support the increased spending, have declined to spend it from city coffers, favoring instead more property taxes.
They can help both the township and their constituents by either cutting $300,000 in spending from the city budget or by taking that amount from the $5 million-plus fund balance the city expects to have at the end of the fiscal year. It's a matter of priorities.