Town Council - Special Meeting

Call to order a special meeting for the Normal Town Council for Monday, December 8th, 2025. Please call the RO. Mayor Cous here. Mr. Preston, Miss Lawren, here. Mr. Buyers, here. Mr. Roberge, here. Miss Smith here. Mr. McCarthy

here. We'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. [snorts] We have one public commenter tonight. Um, and we're going to do that at the beginning of the meeting. Chad Pacy, if you want to come forward, just a reminder, state your name for the record. And you have three minutes. Evening council members, mayor, residents of Normal. Uh, thanks for the opportunity to speak tonight as you consider the proposed tax levity for the people of this community. When residents pay taxes, they do so with a simple expectation that their families, their homes, and their neighborhoods will be protected. Public safety is not a luxury. It is the foundation on which a strong community is built. And today, that foundation is showing signs of strength. Our firefighters stretch thin. Response times in several areas are going to be increasing. Staffing levels are not matching the service demands of this community. These issues are not theoretical. They are real, measurable shortcomings in public safety that affect every person who calls normal home. If a resident if residents are being asked to invest more, they deserve full transparency about what they're currently not receiving. We, the firefighters who serve this town every day, would not be standing here if this were not a last avenue in the chain of command. We have followed every internal process, raised concerns throughout appropriate channels. We are here only because these issues tied directly to safety can no longer wait. Just as you have scheduled this meeting to discuss taxes and the future of normal, we are just asking you to schedule a dedicated

work session specifically focused on the concerns we have brought forward. Not a brief exchange, not a status update, a structured collaborative session where we can present the data, answer questions, and work together to ensure taxpayers receive the level of protection they deserve and have been promised. Our simple is our request is simple. Meet with us. Let's address these issues openly and constructively so that we can move forward as true partners in providing a safer, stronger normal for everyone. Thank you.

Again, a special meeting and this is to vote on an ordinance authorizing the 2025 property tax level levy. Motion for approval, please. So moved. Second. Thank you. Um, go ahead.

Uh, sure. Thank you, Mayor and Council. I don't have much new to add. The what you have before you is the property tax levy and proposed ordinance that reflects the conversation from our November uh the mid November meeting, second meeting of November. The date just slipped my mind. The only thing different here before you this evening in terms of the dollar amounts uh reflects council's action from that November meeting in that it no longer reflects a $500,000 levy for the general fund, but rather puts those dollars into the IMRF allocation. So this entire property tax levy is directed at retirement and pension obligations as well as the annual levy for the normal public library. Thank you.

Comments or questions, Mr. Buyers? Thanks, Mayor. Just a couple of questions and a quick followup. Thanks, Miss Reese, for u reminding us what was discussed the last meeting. I I actually wasn't there, so I appreciate that. And and when you're talking about the uh IR IMRF contributions, what we're talking about is our our police and and firefighter pension funds, that that's what we're talking about. So would it be correct that 100% of the town's levy this year is going towards those pension funds for police and firefighters? Is that correct?

Um not not quite. The pension goes towards police um excuse me, the property tax levy funds police pension obligations, fire pension obligations, Illinois municipal retirement fund, which would be our non-union employee pension funds, and then Medicare obligations. So, all retirement related expenses. Okay, thanks for clarifying that. And can you remind us what um state mandates there are uh regarding municipal pension obligations? Is it like a 2040? There's a a goal that we're trying to hit. Can you remind us kind of what that that state uh mandate? Yes. It's 90 the state is 90% by 2040 in terms of funding level. Our our um town of normal goal is 100% funded by 2040.

How are we doing so far? Are we on track for that or we made we made good progress uh last year. Both police and fire are over the 60% mark which we haven't seen in a while. And um so we we are confident that we're moving forward in the right direction. and [clears throat] this particular proposed levy continues our progress toward 100% funding by 2040. That's great. And and my last question is, I mean, hypothetically, let's say we we kick the can down the road and we didn't kind of continue the steady progress like we've made. I mean, what happens then come 2035, 2036, we're approaching that 2040 date and we haven't kind of diligently, you know, funded these pensions. I mean, what what kind of comes in that situation?

Uh, that's a great question in terms of a crystal ball question. I don't know what the risk would be with any state mandates to be 100 or 90% funded by 2040. So, I don't know what the risk would be if we're on target to be short of that. Um, in terms of the town of normal strategic plan and our goal to be 100% funded by 2040, if we pulled back on that, that would significantly um cause us to be quite short of our goal. Thank you.

I I would add too u that we work with an actuary who gives us uh guidance in terms of what we need to allocate for for pensions to meet that our obligation of 100% by 2040. So we fund accordingly. Um, and to clarify, the property tax is covering our intended funding of the police and fire pensions in total, but uh, even with this $500,000 shift to IMRF. Um, is the general fund still expected to pick up some of the obligation for Medicare and Social Security and some of IMRF?

Yes, that is true. This does not fund 100% of our IMRF obligation. Um so we will take some additional general fund revenues to make up that difference. In addition for police and fire um pension 100% this this levy goes towards police and fire pension and a little bit of replacement tax goes to public safety pensions as well. And um I was curious about um the increased property values and um there have been there has been news that we have new properties coming onto the rolls as well as some inflationary increases in property tax values or and home values. I you responded that about 1% of the levy is coming from new properties and about 6.4% is coming from growth in existing uh property. So it's not necessarily just an inflationary impact. It is recognizing that we are adding new properties to our tax base.

Yes, that's true. Thank you. I I would point out too that um that 6.4% is not just inflation. It's increase in property value based on on home sales and and how they're valued. Thank you. Further on this call. Mr. Preston, no. Miss Lauren, I Mr. Buyers. Hi. Mr. Roberge. I Miss Smith. I Mr. McCarthy. Yes. I mayor Cuz

I that the levy is approved. Item six is an ordinance authorizing the abatement of 2025 property taxes for debt service. This is something we do every year uh to indicate that we have the adequate funds to fund our geo bond debt payment. Approval. Second.

Discussion on this item. Um, Mayor Cruz, thank you. I just wanted to point out on page pack and page 5.5 of the item you just approved, which was the levy, it does uh indicate in the ordinance 5.017 million to be levied for debt service. That was in the previous action item. Now, the important thing is to ask you to abate that. So, that is not included in the levy. And we, as Mayor Cous indicated, we do that every year because we do have adequate funds through other general revenue sources to make our debt service payments. Please call the role. What? Oh, I'm sorry.

Just for clarity because I in reading over the packet, um, by all we would be able to fund the bonds with property tax, but normal routinely makes it a practice of saying no, we've got those dollars in our general funds and it's about 5 million. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Please call the role. Miss Loren, I Mr. Buyers, hi. Mr. Roberge, I Miss Smith, I Mr. McCarthy, I Mr. Preston, I mayor Cous.

I That ordinance is approved. Uh any council concerns before we adjourn? Motion forjourn. So moved. Second. Please call the RO. Mr. Buyers. I. Mr. Roberge. I. Miss Smith. I. Mr. McCarthy. Hi. Mr. Preston. Hi. Miss Lorenz. I. Mayor Cous. Hi. We are ajourned. Thank you.

Okay.