25 Cents For

Champaign County Public Safety

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What Can The Public Safety Sales Tax Support?

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    Veteran's Assistance Commission

    The Veteran’s Assistance Commission (VAC) is dedicated to improving the economic well being and quality of life for the veterans of Champaign County, who served our country honorably in the Armed Forces of the United States.

    Revenue from the Public Safety Sale Tax could allow the County to reconfigure allocations so additional funding can be provided to the Veterans Assistance Commission.

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    Sheriff's Department

    The Champaign County Sheriff’s Department provides primary law enforcement service for approx 50,000 residents in the county and assists municipal law enforcement agencies. The Sheriff’s Office also operates the County correctional facility, provides security at the Courthouse, and oversees emergency management for the County.

    Revenue from the Public Safety Sales Tax could add 2 additional deputies to the Sheriff’s Office to provide more service to the County.

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    Public Defender's Office

    The Public Defender’s Office provides legal services for indigent persons in Champaign County and is dedicated to the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.

    Revenue from the Public Safety Sales Tax could add additional attorneys to the Public Defender’s Office. Based on the Office’s caseload, there should be at least 11 additional attorneys.

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    State's Attorney's Office

    The Office of the State’s Attorney serves the community’s need for public safety and welfare by prosecuting criminal offenders in Champaign County; advocating for the welfare of abused and/or neglected children, supporting crime victims by treating them with respect and navigating the criminal justice process with them, and providing offenders with opportunities for rehabilitation.

    Revenue from the Public Safety Sales Tax could add attorneys to the State’s Attorney’s Office to assist in efficient and effective criminal proceedings.

More Info About The Public Safety Sales Tax

The tax has been in use in Champaign County since 1999. It’s currently a quarter of a cent, an easier way to think about it is it equals 25 CENTS for every $100 spent in Champaign County. The current tax generates between $6.5 and 7 million a year for the County to use on public safety.

The tax does not apply to groceries, titled or registered personal property (e.g., cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, trailers) and prescription and non-prescription medicines, medical appliances, and insulin. This statement is generalization of complicated Illinois tax law.

The referendum question on the ballot on November 5, 2024 is asking voters YES or NO to increasing the Public Safety Sales Tax a quarter of a cent. So instead of 25 CENTS for every $100 spent, it would be 50 CENTS for every $100 dollars spent in Champaign County.

Why Is The Question On The Ballot At All?

The County is responsible for funding and operating the criminal justice system, that includes the court facilities, circuit and judicial clerks, court services and probation, jail, juvenile detention facility, and the offices of the sheriff, state’s attorney, and public defender. Other municipalities in the County do not contribute funds to these entities, but all criminal and civil charges are funneled through this one County-funded system.

Recent reform of the criminal justice fines and fees system has led to a significant reduction in the amount of court costs paid by individuals. Additionally, Champaign County is not a home rule county, and this limits the ability of the County to maintain a stable rate of revenue that keeps pace with the County’s growing population.

You can read the County’s detailed Financial Forecast here. Based on projected revenue and spending, the County will start seeing a decline to the General Fund fund balance starting in 2025. Adjusting the revenue from the Public Safety Sales Tax could prevent the deficit spending, impacts to service delivery, and retain the General Fund (more about the General Fund below).

What Will The Money Go Towards and How Will I Know That’s What It’s Spent On?

State law limits what the public safety sales tax revenue can be used to fund. That’s why it’s called the Public Safety Sales Tax. The money must be allocated to things in the public safety realm. While this limits where this revenue stream is spent, it still affects the overall budget of the County by contributing revenue to the budget in general.

More specifically, the additional revenue can lawfully be used in the following ways -

  • Additional Sheriff’s Deputies for rural patrol

  • More Public Defenders to keep our justice system moving efficiently

  • In the State’s Attorney’s Office it could increase services to victims of violent crime and add additional attorneys to represent them

  • Staff retention at the Juvenile Detention Center so we do not have to send youth out of County

  • additional funding for veterans services - not a public safety issue but the additional Public Safety Sale Tax revenue could allow the County to reconfigure allocations so additional funding can be provided to the Veterans Assistance Commission

Let’s Talk More About The General Fund!

First of all, what is it? Basically, it’s the County’s savings account. The goal is to always have at least 2 months or 16.7% of operating expenses in the General Fund. For the last 5 years, there has been a concerted effort to increase the balance of the General Fund and at the end of 2024 it was at 27%.

Let’s talk about what makes up the General Fund balance.

$15,138,317 - Total in the General Fund

Now we start subtracting.

$1,467,700 - Bond Set-A-Side, the County is legally required to maintain this money in the General Fund to ensure the payment of our bonds. Details about the County bonds are in the budget.

$499,397 - Opioid Funds, these are settlement funds restricted to the use of addressing opioid use in the County. You can read all about what the Opioid Task Force is working on here and view previous meetings on the County YouTube channel.

$1,000,000 - Hospital Property Tax Payment Set-A-Side. The County has voluntarily set aside money in the event the the County does not win the legal dispute with Carle and OSF’s predecessor regarding tax exempt status. If that occurs, these funds will be used to repay the taxes to the hospitals.

Now we’re down to $12,171,220. Of that $4,634,595 is from a one-time federal grant due to COVID and unexpected savings from personnel vacancies (that means open positions at the County - we’re hiring!). It’s great we have the money in the General Fund but we can’t count on receiving it again.

So that leaves our General Fund at $7,536,624. Half of our current General Fund is either restricted in use or based on one-time savings. You don’t want to balance your household budget off of money set aside for other expenses or count on one time savings to keep you afloat month after month. The County doesn’t want to do that either.

BALLOT LANGUAGE OF THE REFERENDUM QUESTION

  • PROPOSITION TO APPROVE SPECIAL COUNTY RETAILERS’ OCCUPATION TAX FOR PUBLIC SAFETY

    To pay for public safety purposes, shall Champaign County be authorized to impose an increase on its share of local sales taxes by one-quarter percent?

    This would mean that a consumer would pay an additional twenty-five cents in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail.