More police, more road repairs: Highlights of Peoria's new $262 million budget

• Council members looked to 2021 to pay pension bills in 2022-23
• First new police hires could come in January
• $64 million in roadwork projects get final approval

After weeks of debate over pensions and funding for police and fire departments, the Peoria City Council passed a budget by an 8-3 vote Tuesday. 

Peoria's spending will be set at $262.3 million in 2022, with $242.1 million expected in 2023. 

Public safety pensions remained the lone hurdle for the council to clear going into its Tuesday meeting, and a disagreement over the solution was what led 5th District councilmember Dennis Cyr and at-large councilmembers Zach Oyler and Sid Ruckriegel to vote no on the budget.

These are the budget's highlights.

Council agrees to pension solution

State law dictates local police and fire pensions must be 90% funded by 2040, which leaves Peoria with a $360 million bill due by then. 

The council voted Nov. 9 to end the city's public safety pension fee, paid by every property owner in the city.

Previously:Peoria's city budget is stalled over pension costs. These are the options for paying them

After weeks of sparring over six different options from City Manager Patrick Urich to replace that $2 million, council members agreed to use $4 million in leftover 2021 funds — mostly extra sales tax revenue — to cover the gap over the next two years.

They didn't agree on a long-term solution. 

Andre Allen, the 4th District councilmember, said Tuesday's move wasn't ideal but was the right solution for the time. 

"We have excess revenues, and it would be great to save those for a rainy day and continue to keep our coffers up," Allen said. "But we're able to fulfill our pension obligations, and we're able to do that without cutting public safety and we're able to restore jobs that were lost to COVID-19."

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Oyler strongly disagreed, however. He said using 2021 money to pay bills in 2022 and 2023 was a "path to disaster."

"Where I come from, reserve account is used for rainy days, where you're in a situation where your revenues don't meet what your budgeted expense and revenue expenses were, not to spend that money down in advance," Oyler said. 

Mayor Rita Ali said she hopes the 2040 date to fund pensions can be extended, perhaps to 2060, by state lawmakers. 

30 new police officers to be hired under new budget

The 30 new police officers the council previously agreed to hire for next year remain in the budget, with the council unified over strengthening the department's numbers after a record-setting 31 homicides to date this year.

Police Chief Eric Echevarria projects 10 officers will be hired in January, 10 in May and 10 in September of 2022.

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The Police Department currently employs 198 officers, and some retirements are expected in 2022. 

Major road projects receive funding 

Some $64 million in road work and other capital construction projects is included in the new budget, though several projects are expected to take more than a year to complete.

Among the work:

• Wisconsin Avenue in the city's East Bluff will be receiving $12.5 million for reconstruction. 
• Portions of Adams Street and Jefferson Avenue through Downtown into the Warehouse District will be converted to two-way traffic at a cost of $8.4 million. 
• Allen Road repairs, from War Memorial Drive to Northmoor Road, will receive $2.4 million. 
• Glen Avenue reconstruction from Sheridan Road to Knoxville Avenue will receive $1.3 million in 2022. 
• Work on Glen between War Memorial and University Street will receive $5.5 million.
• Prospect Road from Knoxville to the Peoria Heights village limits at Belmont Place will get $950,000. 
• Western Avenue from Adams Street to Lincoln Avenue will receive $3.3 million. 
• Deerbrook Drive will receive $3.4 million for reconstruction to manage storm water. 

What else is in the budget?

City worker salaries will make up $68.4 million of the 2022 budget and are estimated at $69.8 million in 2023. 

The Police Department will have a budget of $42.4 million in 2022 and a planned $43.6 million in 2023. However, a large chunk of that is taken up by pensions, which total $14.5 million in 2022 and are projected at $15.4 million in 2023. 

The Fire Department is in a similar situation. Its budget will be $34.3 million in 2022 and is planned for $35.6 million in 2023. Fire pensions cost $13.3 million in 2022 and an expected $14.1 million in 2023.

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At the end of her first budget cycle as mayor, Ali said she was pleased the spending plan passed by a wide margin before the holiday, but admitted it was frustrating the process seemed to stall at times.

"I am just really happy that we were not taking people's jobs away, letting people go into the holiday thinking they're going to come back without employment," Ali said. "I think we did the right thing, and the majority of the council agreed we did the right thing."