PEORIA, Ill. – The Peoria County Board later this month will consider a plan that will help get out from under the debt it incurred owning and operating the now-former Heddington Oaks health care facility.
The County Board’s Finance Committee Tuesday approved of a plan that, in short, will move portions of future county surpluses from various funds into the county’s Long-Term Care Services Fund, which is nearly $4 million in the hole right now, owing money on $11 million in bonds.
“(The County would make) an annual transfer of 50 percent of the fiscal year’s surplus from the General Fund, transfer that to the Long-Term Care Services Fund, until there are sufficient reserves to pay that $11,075,000 principal balance,” said Heather McCord, Peoria County Chief Financial Officer.
McCord says the bonds will be paid off by 2032 if they’re not otherwise re-financed, but cannot be repaid early.
“We’re not certain what the surplus will be for Fiscal (Year) ’23; but, let’s say it’s $2 million of a surplus in the General Fund,” said McCord. “Half of that, or a million dollars, would be then transferred at some point in Fiscal ’24, to the Long-Term Care Services Fund, to start eliminating that debt.”
Other parts of the plan the full County Board will vote on later in the month, including shifting some property tax dollars, and using a surplus created when they eliminated the internal county auditor position.
The county has since sold the Heddington Oaks facility to Carle Health, which will use it for a mental health treatment facility for youth as part of its “Young Minds Project.”
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