PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. – At the annual State of the Village address earlier this month, Peoria Heights Mayor Michael Phelan says the village is in good financial shape.
Phelan says the village was struggling for a while with little to no reserves, underfunded pensions, and deficit budgets. Now, Peoria Heights is in a position to have surplus budgets and a general fund reserve of about $3 million.
He says that’s due to a focus on economic development and growing sales tax revenue.
“I think the decisions we have made to support local businesses has paid huge dividends, we’re seeing that last year in the form of an additional increase of 5% in sales tax, and that’s how we pay our bills,” Phelan said.
Phelan says that support comes for big and small businesses in Peoria Heights, with support for the soon-to-be opening Becks Oil gas station and the already opened Cookies dispensary. He says they’re also given out around $725,000 in grant funding to support small businesses in Peoria Heights with whatever they need, including advertising and maintenance.
The village is also continuing to look to build a 50 to 60-room boutique hotel, after KDB did not follow through on their promise for the project. Phelan believes a boutique hotel will be a unique feature of the village that can attract tourists.
Peoria Heights’ budget for capital projects is around $1.4 million, which Phelan says some will go towards water infrastructure. He says some “50 to 60 years” worth of work will need to be caught up on.
“We need to invest a lot of money in infiltration, we need to invest a lot of money in water main replacement, and we need to invest a lot of money in lead service line replacement, which is not only a water issue, it’s a public health issue,” Phelan said.
Phelan says grant money will also be used to fund some of the water infrastructure projects, but says it will take about ten years to complete all the work needed to be done.
Another concern is a decrease in population, with Phelan saying around 5,900 people currently call Peoria Heights home, down from a height of 8,000 in 1970.
“We’ve really lost a fair amount of people since the closing of the Pabst Brewery,” Phelan said. “And not only was it the brewery, but people were also leaving Illinois, they were heading out-of-state and other areas. So we experienced a lot of that loss as well.”
Phelan says the village will hope to attract new residents by doing the basics and putting its best foot forward.
He says that includes supporting the village’s school district with TIF funds, renovating neighborhoods, and improving public works and public safety.
Phelan says the downtown area, parks, and greenspaces are also factors that could convince people to move to Peoria Heights.
He says some of what can be expected to occur next year includes completing a needs assessment in the village fire department from new fire chief Dan Decker.
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