Champaign City Officials to Unveil Budget Plan at Tuesday City Council Meeting

Champaign City Finance Director Richard Schnuer says it's the toughest budget he's ever worked on. But Schnuer says the 109-million dollar budget plan to be presented to the City Council Tuesday night is balanced, thanks in part to 2-point-5 million dollars in cuts to recurrent spending items.

To make the cuts, the Champaign budget plan calls for doing away with 25 fulltime city jobs over the next few years. Schnuer says most of the positions are currently vacant or expected to become vacant due to staff turnover. "We selected those that would have the least impact on services," says Schnuer. "I want the public to be very assured that when they call 911, 911 will dispatch police and firefighters who will come as quickly as usual."

The budget plan also projects a million dollars in new revenue due to new or increased city fees. And it reallocates money between various city funds, to pay for increased pension funding and other items.

Schnuer says the budget proposal for the fiscal year starting July 1st is part of a multi-year strategy to deal with decreasing city tax revenue, due to the recession. The Champaign City Council will work on the budget during study sessions in May --- with a public hearing set for May 19th. Final council passage is set for June 2nd.