Champaign County Administrator Makes Case For Facilities Referendum
Seal of Champaign County, displayed in the County Boardroom at the Brookens Administrative Center in Urbana. Jim Meadows/Illinois Public Media
The Champaign County Board is expected to vote Thursday night on whether to place a referendum for facilities on the ballot for this November. The initiative would raise the county’s sales tax one quarter of a percent for a period of 12 years. County officials estimate this tax increase would generate 50-million dollars to be used for county facilities. Illinois Public Media’s Brian Moline spoke with Champaign County Administrator Rick Snider about the proposal, including plans for the county jail.
Snider says if the referendum passes, the sales tax increase would cost the average Champaign County consumer about twenty dollars per year. He says the county would also consider moving its offices out of the Brookens Administrative Center in east Urbana and returning to downtown Urbana.