Champaign County voters will get a chance to say whether they want to raise their property tax rates to help the financially strapped county nursing home, or allow the county board to sell or otherwise dispose of the facility.

Champaign County Board members approved both questions for the April 4 ballot, during a more than four-hour special meeting on Tuesday night.

The Champaign County Board will discuss three possible referendum questions concerning its financially strapped county nursing home at a special meeting Tuesday evening.  The choices are --- help the nursing home with a special sales tax or a property tax increase ….  or give the county permission to sell or close the facility. One of the three proposals could wind up on the ballot in the April 4th local elections.

Voters in Champaign County could be asked this fall to support a 1/4-cent sales tax to address facilities needs. County Board Chair Rick Snider says priorities include closing the downtown Urbana jail, and expansion of the satellite site, as well closing the Brookens Administrative Center to move county government to downtown Urbana. The county board would have to approve the plan by August 18 for the question to appear on the November ballot.

Champaign County Board members want more information about the finances of the county nursing home, before they decide on a proposed tax referendum to fund the home.

A tax hike to fund the county nursing home is part of a package of recommendations that the Champaign County Nursing Home will consider at its Thursday night meeting.