Tag Archives: Town of the City of Peoria

City Council, City of Peoria, Taxes

Township property taxes are going up

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On the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting is this item under Town business:

RECOMMENDATION: Approve the Proposed Estimated Tax Levy of $2,179,219 with an estimated tax rate of .13663 for the Town of the City of Peoria and enter this action into the permanent record.

The item goes on to say that “the proposed estimated levy of $2,179,219, represents a 2.5% increase in the aggregate levy over last year’s tax extension.” Translation: taxes are going up. The tax rate itself may not be going up due to increases in home values (EAV), but don’t let that fool you. When a government body levies more money than the year before, that’s a tax increase.

City Council, City of Peoria

Liveblogging the City Council 10/12/2010

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Good evening, Chronicle readers. I’m back at the City Council meeting this week, and there’s a relatively short agenda this evening. The meeting is starting a little early — the Town of the City of Peoria is having a meeting from 6 to 6:15 p.m., and then the regular City Council meeting will begin. The Town meeting is pretty interesting, actually. The Town Supervisor Joe Whalen wants to lease a new office on Glen Avenue for a couple thousand dollars a month, whereas they’re currently located in City Hall for free. Upon questioning as to why City Hall can’t accommodate his needs, he couldn’t give any good reason (people have to walk up and down stairs, and other horrors). When asked if he looked at city-owned property, he says he was offered space at the bus depot, but he was concerned about security. There were other locations downtown that were not considered because Whalen felt there wasn’t adequate parking.

I can’t believe (a) Town Supervisor is an elected position, (b) this guy got elected, and (c) that he makes over $80,000 a year. Van Auken asks why it’s okay to have child care at the bus station, but security is an issue for his office? Whalen says he doesn’t run the child care center, but he does run the Town Supervisor office and he doesn’t feel safe having “his girls” down there (an apparent reference to female employees). Despite all this discussion, Irving moves to approve leasing the building on Glen, seconded by Turner. It passes unanimously.

The space they’re leasing is 1,896 square feet at 624 W. Glen Ave. (near Sheridan), for $11 per square foot. That comes out to about $1738 per month, or $20,856 per year. They’re going to pay this despite the fact that they have ample space available in the Twin Towers (Whalen doesn’t want people to have to go upstairs and is concerned about kids running around) and the bus depot (as previously stated, Whalen is concerned about safety). What a waste of money!

There are several proclamations tonight which I don’t usually cover; once the meeting starts, I’ll update this post throughout the evening. Here’s tonight’s City Council agenda:

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