Countywide School Sales Tax Headed to Champaign County Board for Final Vote

The one-cent school sales tax that Champaign County voters approved in April still needs the county board's approval. That's why several area school officials turned out for Wednesday night's county board Policy Committee meeting. Several of them told the committee about how the sales tax would provide money for building new schools and renovating old ones. And like Mahomet Seymour school board member Becky Ryherd, they mentioned how the sales tax would also allow school districts to lower their property tax rates. "Tax abatement was the one thing that's always caught the public's ear", Ryherd said. "They want to see a different way to fund schools.

Ryherd's own school board has promised to commit one third of its sales tax revenue towards property tax relief. But some Policy Committee members, like Republican Alan Nudo, worry that some school boards are modifying their tax relief promises, now that the sales tax has won voter approval. "If there is a difference between what was promised before the April election, and what now a board resolution shows, we need to know why", says Nudo.

The Policy Committee voted unanimously to send the school facilities sales tax to the full Champaign County Board for a final vote on June 18th. County Board Chairman Pius Weibel says he'll ask school districts to explain in writing, any changes they've made since the election in how they plan to use the sales tax money. But Nudo worries that once enacted, the county board has little say over the school sales tax, It has no sunset provision. State law says it can't be repealed by a county board, as long as a school district is using to pay off bonds.