Village Board approves Tax Levy with no need for Truth in Taxation Hearing

Three new part time police officers are hired

By ARIANA R. CHERRY
Staff Writer

At the beginning of its most recent regular meeting of the Arthur Village Board, a few of its members discussed the recent Christmas parade in downtown Arthur on Saturday evening, December 4. “The Christmas parade was very nice. We had a nice crowd in town and it was a nice evening,” commented trustee, Jim Fleming. Other members echoed his comment.

Grant Corum of Public Works shared that he was happy to have the street sweeper up and running again.

“Getting the street vac up running was great. We’ve been using it about three times a week and getting the streets cleaned up,” he noted. Grant also mentioned the city workers had been busy lately changing everything over from spring to winter and putting up all the Christmas decorations as well.

Treasurer Mike Hilgenberg reported that there was a total of $103,637.84 in expenditures which the board approved.

Moving forward, board members moved onto new business, beginning with discussion and action regarding a request from the Knights Sports Boosters to hold a 5K run during the 2022 Strawberry Jam. It was discussed that the boosters support all the sports in all four towns (Arthur, Lovington, Atwood & Hammond) in grades 7-12. Many uniforms were purchased and the 5K race would help pay for the costs. The proposed plan is to schedule the race for the morning of June 4 and sign-ups for the race would take place outside the Arthur Welcome Center.

After the school Christmas break, the boosters hope to have a map of the race route to present to the village board. The event was approved for June 4 with the stipulation that Chief Goodman would approve the map once it has been presented.

A sign to place at both ends of town in light of their most recent achievement was approved for the Cross Country Team.

Three part time police officers were hired for the Village of Arthur with a starting pay of $28/hour with an increase to $30/hour after 30 days at the Chief of Police’s discretion.

Officers Derek L Ramussen, Nicolas T. Marina and Emily F Bradley were all hired to join the team.

“I thought they were all excellent. They were pretty impressive people and dollars counted when we upped it a little bit. We got some pretty good people,” commented Trustee Todd Dukeman.

Officer Emily Bradley also works part time for the Tuscola Police Department, Nicholas Martina is from the Sullivan Police Department and Derek Rasmussen is employed part time by the Villa Grove Police Department.

All of their departments have been notified that they will also be working part time for the Village of Arthur as well.

The applicants were hired through word of mouth through all of the nearby agencies. The officers will begin once they receive their uniforms and have been sworn in.

The board approved an engineering service proposal in the amount of $59,900.00 from Farnsworth Group for the city’s water tower project to begin around April of 2022. The EIPA had a backlog of loans to process and the project would have to be pushed back, so the village decided to lump the project with other projects that had through their capital improvement plan. Even if they plan to apply for loans, the interest rate is only at 1% and they also are hopeful that they would also be able to receive some loan forgiveness that could also be taken advantage of.

Along with the water tower project, the village is asking the residents of Arthur to share any interesting photos of water towers that they may see to help provide some inspiration for the project. If you see a unique water tower somewhere, feel free to take a photo and share it on the village’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/VillageOfArthur/).

After speaking about the new water tower project, Ordinance 12-06A2021 concerning the 2020-2021 Tax Levy was discussed. Every year, there is the ability to tax 5% above last year’s extended amount or less than 5% without having a truth and taxation hearing. Most municipalities stay under the 5% for the most part. Certain funds within the budget have a maximum rate that they can go up each year and they also have the maximum spend from the beginning. This year, the village’s funds are healthily balanced. The village has been fiscally responsible with all of their levels. Last year, they levied at $520,965 and this year it went up $1,502 levying at $522,467,

At the end of the meeting, the board discussed and approved end of the year bonuses (who were employed as of December 6, 2021) for the amount of $250 for full time and $50 for part time.