Champaign County Board Uses the Last of Its Financial Reserves

The Champaign County Board has approved the last inter-fund loan it can afford, as it tries to keep county government running until new property tax revenue starts coming in this summer.

The County Board voted Thursday night to move up to 250-thousand dollars from the Probation Service Fee Fund to the General Corporate Fund.

County Administrator Deb Busey says they'll put the money back in the Probation Service fund in 45 to 60 days. She says that should hold the county over until property tax revenues begin arriving on June 1st. "And between June and September," she Busey explains, "we will receive about 7 million dollars in property taxes, which will carry us for a tax position until at least next October or November, when we will probably have to re-initiate and start over all the loans that we have taken this year to get us through next spring."

Busey says with this latest loan, Champaign County has borrowed three-and-a-quarter million dollars from various funds to keep the General Corporate Fund in the black.

Finance Committee Chairman Brendan McGinty passed along a warning from Champaign County Treasurer Daniel Welch that the county's reserves are now depleted, and that county expenses must be carefully controlled, while the search for spending cuts and new revenue continues.