Jacksonville City Council Delays Passage of Appropriations Budget to Jan. 27, Passes Solar Updates

By Benjamin Cox on January 14, 2025 at 9:29am

The Jacksonville City Council had a quick meeting last night because one of its major action items had to be pulled from the agenda.

Finance, IT, and Personnel Committee Chair and Ward 5 Alderman Don Cook requested that the 2025 Appropriations Budget be pulled from the agenda last night.

Cook says that the committee is still fine tuning the budget and wants the alderman to have enough time to look at it before making a decision: “We are just kind of fine-tuning the budget. We have not been able to get a draft copy out to the aldermen. We want to make sure that they see it first before we proceed any further with it.”

Cook says the appropriations budget provides the city with a cushion on spending: “Basically, it’s 10% above the operating budget. It gives us a cushion that says if we exceed a particular department’s operating budget, we can rely on that 10% that gives us the authority spend that 10% more than what the budget is by law.”

Cook told the city council that the appropriations budget would be ready for action at their next meeting on January 27th.

Without the appropriations budget on the agenda, the city council approved a 20% matching payment out of the Motor Fuel Tax Fund to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The payment will cover the full cost of replacing a major water main on West State Street during the final phase of the downtown turnaround project to revitalize the square.

The council also approved a second and final reading to amend the city’s solar ordinance which adds a third category to allowable business solar panel arrays. The category stipulates that at least 60% of electricity generated by a constructed solar panel array on a particular site must be consumed on that site. The amendment along with the council’s approval last night of a special use zoning permit will pave the way for Reynolds Consumer Products on East Morton Avenue to begin installing a multi-acre solar array on the northwestern portion of their property to power the manufacturing plant.