County budget approved

<p class="p1">The Union County Board of Commissioners this week gave final approval to a Fiscal Year 2015-2016 budget.</p><p class="p1">The budget was approved by the county board at a meeting which was held Monday morning, Nov. 30. The meeting was at the Union County Courthouse in Jonesboro.</p><p class="p1">The commissioners approved a budget for the new fiscal year, which began on Dec. 1 and continues through Nov. 30, 2016.</p><p class="p1">The budget includes county general fund spending in the amount of $5.629 million for the new fiscal year.</p><p class="p1">However, action taken by the commissioners on Monday included approval of an appropriations ordinance which covers only the first six months of the new fiscal year.</p><p class="p1">The six-month appropriation for the period through the end of May 2016 comes in light of major uncertainty surrounding the State of Illinois' budget situation.</p><p class="p1">As of early this week, a budget had not been approved for the state's fiscal year, which began on July 1.</p><p class="p1">Union County Board of Commissioners chairman Richard Cunningham made note of the state budget impasse's impact at Monday morning's meeting.</p><p class="p1">"We think we'll be in pretty good shape through the end of May," Cunningham said.</p><p class="p1">"The commissioners believe that given the state budget impasse that this was the most responsible thing to do," Union County chief information officer Rollie J. Hawk stated about the six-month appropriation.</p><p class="p1">Hawk also noted that the "commissioners expressed their appreciation to the officeholders for their assistance in producing this budget under some difficult circumstances."</p><p class="p1">Board chairman Cunningham said that many, many hours were spent working on the new budget. </p><p class="p1">Cunningham said that county officials worked "long and hard" to maintain current staffing levels. </p><p class="p1">The state budget situation continues to be a major cause for concern regarding the operation of the Union County Highway Department.</p><p class="p1">The highway department depends on allocation of motor fuel tax money from the state. The allocation has not been forthcoming. </p><p class="p1">The chief information officer noted that the new budget is significantly larger than the Fiscal Year 2014-2015.</p><p class="p1">"This is because the budget includes funds that historically were not included in the total appropriations, particularly the 'county taxes (tax collector)' line which accounts for tax distributions to other taxing bodies such as schools, hospitals and libraries," he stated. </p><p class="p1">The budget has been posted online and can be viewed at the county's website: http://assets.unioncountyil.gov/pdfs/budgets/BUDGET_FY_2016.pdf.</p>