The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

City Property Taxes Raised

An ordinance increasing the tax levy for the Carbondale Public Library and the property tax in the city was approved 6-0 at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

Councilman Steve Haynes was absent from the meeting due to personal reasons.

The Library Board of Trustees President James Duggan said until 1993 the library had always operated with a fund balance. However, in 1993, the city asked the library to decrease the levy to allow the property tax in the city to decrease.

"Once the fund was exhausted, the city began subsidizing that budget," Duggan said.

The city discussed the issue at a previous council meeting, as well as holding a public hearing at Tuesday's council meeting. A tax levy is a law that establishes how much property tax revenue a public entity would receive.

The increased levy would compensate for the funding usually provided by the city.

"We're not decreasing funding for the library," said Councilman Chris Wissman. "We're just changing where the funds come from."

The levy increase will also allow the library to rebuild the fund balance it had previous to 1993.

"That will, at some point, be their savings account to dip into for their financial needs," said Mayor Brad Cole.

Furthermore, this is something he said he has been discussing with the library's board for several months.

The tax levy is $637, 097, which is an increase of $178,866 from last year's levy.

The ordinance will increase taxes by approximately $20 for people who own homes around $75,000 and by approximately $35 for people who own a home assessed for roughly $120,000.

However, the council spent almost one hour discussing an ordinance that approved a special use permit to allow the Center for Comprehensive Services to put a group home at 625 Rigdon St.

Several community members voiced opposition to the permit because there is another group-home already present in the neighborhood. But representatives from CCS said the city could not deny the permit without violating the Fair Housing Act.

Yet when Corene McDaniel asked members on both sides if they met before the meeting to work out some issues, neither side said they made any such attempts.

McDaniel then said she was concerned that some of the issues argued between the two parties may have been worked out prior to the meeting. In addition, she said many issues that come before the council could be worked out before the meeting.

Cole and Wissman both agreed, and Wissman said that more proactive steps are needed, while Cole urged community members to talk through issues before the meetings.

In other business, an ordinance passed that would allow City Manager Jeff Doherty to stay in his position until December 2007.

"You have been quit an asset," Councilwomen Maggie Flanagan said.

 

 

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