Tax Bills in the Mail June 9
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Treasurer Bill Taylor said the 2010 payable 2011 real estate tax bills will be mailed Thursday, June 9. The first installment is due July 15 and the second is due August 19.
Residents may pay their bills at any local bank, at the Treasurer's Office between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays, via the drop box at the Government Building or online at Illinois e-pay.
Taylor anticipates that the first disbursement to taxing bodies will be completed by July 23 or 24.
"Typically, the first disbursement is 60 to 65 percent (of each taxing body's total extension), " Taylor said.
Delinquent tax notices will be mailed Sept. 23 and the list will be published Oct. 7. The tax sale will be held Oct. 26.
County Clerk Kevin Kern said the total EAV for Perry County is up just over $1 million from the previous year. Normally, the EAV increases $2 million to $10 million each year. However, the assessment factor in Township 5-3 (Pinckneyville) was negative this year. Property values have decreased.
Board members and elected officials are extremely pleased with Supervisor of Assessments John Batteau. This is the earliest tax bills have been mailed in the past nine years.
Taylor said he hopes the tax cycle will run as smoothly in the future. Taxpayers should be able to anticipate when taxes will be due each year.
In other business, the board:
heard from Solid Waste Coordinator Becky Tracy that the Perry Ridge Landfill is now accepting liquid waste. It is wash-out from mouthwash tanks. The liquid is mixed with sawdust. Tracy said the landfill owes $114,000 in fees to the County for the period from Jan. 1 to June 1 of this year. Liquid waste brings in an additional $5 per ton. She also said that the County should receive a host fee on the sawdust that is brought in to mix with liquid waste. The landfill does not agree with that assessment, but it is in the current contract. Perry Ridge has asked for changes to the contract, but the county will not make any changes until it receives all past due fees and interest owed and begins to receive quarterly payments on time.
heard from EMA Coordinator David Searby that Gov. Quinn has requested a Federal Disaster Declaration for parts of the state, including Du Quoin. If President Obama declares a disaster, local governments could be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of their extraordinary costs from the April 19 storm. Searby has already met with FEMA and IEMA to go over the cost figures.
appointed Jeff Ashauer as the person to call if there is a problem with the air conditioning system in the Government Building. The system is obsolete. Ashauer has been working with Commissioner Jim Epplin to find a replacement. It will be some time before they are ready to bid the project. Funding must first be established.
heard from Commissioner Sam Robb that the survey of liquor license fees throughout the state shows Class A licenses cost $405 to $12,000. He contacted 15 counties. The board will not change Perry County's $1,000.
discussed the new legislative map for Illinois. It has not been approved by the Governor, but it is anticipated that he will sign it into law. Perry County has always been split between the 115 and 116 congressional districts. In the past, the dividing line ran almost straight down the middle of the county at a point just west of Pinckneyville. The new line runs northeast to southwest, through the city of Du Quoin. In the past, eight precincts were split. Kern said under the new map, 11 voting precincts will be split. The line travels through residential areas so people on one side of the street are in one district and their neighbors across the road are in another. Kern and his employees will spend the late summer and early fall sending new voter registration cards to everyone in the County.
heard from John Pike and Michelle Bisel of University of Illinois Extension. They are educators for the five-county region (Franklin, Williamson, Jackson, Perry and Randolph). The focus for agriculture education in the coming year will be local foods and small farms. The focus for the youth program will be bullying and career development. Extension is in the third wave of reorganization. Pike assured the board that the Perry County office will remain open. He said it is likely that a Perry County employees will be re-hired. As part of the reorganization, the staff has had to re-apply for their jobs. Pike said the same thing was done with educators.
passed resolutions adopting the 2010 comprehensive economic development strategy developed by Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission and a 2011 update to the plan.