•December 13, 2023•

by Crystal Reed

The Sullivan City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, December 11 at the Elizabeth Titus Memorial Library. All commissioners were in attendance with Commissioner Chuck Woodworth attending by phone. The meeting began with two public hearings. One was for a proposed federally funded Community Development Block Grant project for storm sewer system improvements and the other was for the tax levy. 

The public hearing on the CDBG grant was in regards to the city applying for a $650,000 community development block grant to help fund storm sewer improvements. The grant is funded by the federal government and administered by the state. The amount of CDBG funds proposed to be used for activities that will benefit low to moderate income persons is $371,540. This was approved later in the meeting under new business.  Read More

•December 6, 2023•

by Ariana R Cherry

The ALAH Board of Education approved a tentative tax levy at their school board meeting Wednesday. November 15. The tax levy was figured at 5.6%. Since the levy is over 5%, it will require the board to have a Truth and Taxation hearing. While the levy is over 5%, it still is considerably lower than last year’s which was 9%. The formula to configure the levy is established by state code. Superintendent Shannon Cheek also looks at other counties when he tries to estimate the EAV (equalized assessed value). In his research, he found that Moultrie County had a 7% increase, Piatt County was at 8% and Coles County was 6%.  There will be a hearing at the next school board meeting in December, and the tentative tax levy will be on file for the next 30 days.

The district received a matching maintenance grant from the ISBE (Illinois State Board of Education) of $50,000 to help cover the cost for the renovations of the bathrooms at Arthur Grade School and Lovington Grade School. Grunloh Construction’s bid of $537,000 was the one awarded to complete the project. Read More