Proposed Urbana Budget Cuts Spending And Staff

The city of Urbana plans to cut half a million dollars in spending and eliminate five full-time positions under a proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The spending plan will be presented Monday night to the full city council.

Mayor Laurel Prussing says the $47 million budget reduces property taxes slightly while increasing revenue from other taxes, including those on hotels and gas sales.

Prussing says she sees wide support for a gas tax that helps pay for road repairs.

"If you see the results of the tax and it's something that you want you're not going to complain about it and we did not get complaints about it. When the city of Champaign passed a 4 cent tax we realized that we are just going to lose money so we also followed with a four cent tax," she says..

The budget for the fiscal year that begins next month doesn't account for the possible loss of state funds. If that happens, Prussing says the city will need to look for further cuts.

The city council plans to vote on the budget at their meeting on June 15th.