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Logan County Board
County Board votes to abate tax levies
[November 12, 2026]
The Finance Committee of the
Logan County Board met on Tuesday, November 10th for their regular
monthly meeting. The committee held their meeting in the first-floor
courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse starting at about 6:20 p.m.
The meeting started late, having originally been scheduled to start
at 6:00, due to the Safety Committee meeting running over. Among the
several items on the agenda, the committee voted on and approved two
tax abatements.
Five of the six committee members were present for this meeting
including Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Vice Chairman Kathy Schmidt,
Keenan Leesman, Lance Conahan, and Andrea Hinton. Dale Nelson was
absent. Kevin Knauer, as well as members-elect Ryan Coughlin and
Cindy Gleason were in attendance as well.
After roll call was taken and guests introduced themselves, the
committee moved on to the approval of minutes. There were a lot of
minutes to approve, as the Finance Committee had four meetings in
October. Conahan stated that the meeting minutes were “a mess” and
Kuhlman stated they looked like they were put together with AI.
Conahan made a motion to table the minutes until the next meeting,
and everyone agreed.
There was only a single item under old business, and that was the
fiscal year 2027 (FY27) budget. Kuhlman asked if that item was
supposed to be on there, as the board held a special regular meeting
the day before to post the FY27 budget for the legally required
fifteen days. Conahan shared that Justin Harmon of Bellwether had
made the changes the board discussed in that previous meeting.
Additionally, he shared that they received their second bill from
Bellwether. They pay the company twice annually for their assistance
in putting together the yearly budget with two installments of
$6,000 each.
Next was new business, with a renewal of the county’s Geographic
Information System (GIS) contract. Conahan stated that he met with
County Assessor Jennifer Bryant earlier to confirm that the monthly
amount of $300 comes out of the GIS fund. Leesman asked if the
contract was exactly the same. Conahan stated that he knew the price
was but sent Bryant a message asking if all the details were the
same. She quickly replied in the affirmative, and the committee
passed the contract renewal.
Items two and three under new business were separate Community
Benefit Fund (CBF) requests. The first was from the Central Illinois
Veterans Commission (CIVC) in the amount of $100,000. Schmidt
immediately asked what the limit was on their grants from the CBF.
After some searching, she shared that they set a limit of $7,500 per
request.
What followed was a discussion over funding to the account. In
short, the county previously made an agreement with Cresco Labs
that, to operate in the county, they would pay a predetermined
amount each quarter that the county would put into the CBF. Cresco
then claimed that they had overpaid the county, discontinuing all
payments for about two years. Schmidt has been working with someone
from Cresco on getting those payments continuing. She shared that
the amount would be $25,000 per quarter. Conahan shared reservation
that the county should be held accountable for Cresco overpaying and
asked about payments from the two years Cresco had discontinued
payments.
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Discussion
returned to the CIVC request, with Schmidt stating she felt the
amount was too high and made a motion to give their limit of
$7,500 instead. Her motion was not seconded. Looking through
documents on his laptop, Conahan shared that the CIVC’s request
was $50,000 for an executive director, and $50,000 for
construction materials. The committee decided to leave this item
on the agenda under old business for December’s meeting.
The second request was for $10,000 made by the Mt. Pulaski
Township Historical Museum. This amount was for structural
improvements, something the committee was not sure they would be
able to assist with. The committee previously came up with a
list of things they would give money from the CBF for and did
not think that the museum’s request would fit their requirements
but spent time looking for the requirements in previous month’s
meeting minutes. The committee previously denied a request to
assist the Atlanta Museum with building improvements and wanted
to make sure they were consistent with their approvals and
denials.
Knauer shared that he felt the committee should take a look at
their requirements again and consider revising them. He shared
that he felt there were requests that may not meet the
committee’s requirements but still qualify as a benefit to the
community. Not being able to find the information in their
requirements, the committee voted to move this item on to old
business for next month as well.
The final two items on the agenda were for tax abatements. Both
were for bond payments, with one bond being for the “Courthouse
Public Facility Sales Tax Alternative Revenue Source,” and the
other being for an “Alternative Revenue Source.” One of these
tax levies was originally put in place in 2020, and the other in
2012. The committee approved both with no discussion.
Afterwards, the committee quickly approved their bills and then
opened the floor to public comments. No one had any comments, so
the committee adjourned the meeting.
[Matt Boutcher]
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