As of 1:30 on Nov. 4, 2020, it appears that the Champaign County Forest Preserve referendum to increase the tax rate in order to take care of a $3.7m backlog of repairs and to maintain the six outdoor preserves throughout Champaign County has passed.
The Champaign County Clerk’s office will continue to count mail-in ballots until Nov. 13. But after counting all in-person ballots on Election Day, all early voting and all mailed ballots that have thus far been received, the vote total stands at 49,572 (56.81%) in favor of the measure and 37,692 (43.19%) opposed.
“We’re thrilled,” Champaign County Board President Andrew Kerins said Wed. afternoon. “We put in a lot of time and energy in thinking about this and planning for this.
“We’re grateful because we’ve had such an amazing crew of volunteers, stakeholder groups and people that really helped to step up and just work tirelessly, during a pandemic, no less, to make connections with people to share information and to share stories about why the forest preserves are so important.
“We’re so grateful to the residents of Champaign County for trusting us and recognizing that those resources are going to protect and conserve our natural resources for generations to come.”
The forest preserve district has been committed to protecting water, soil, air quality and wildlife habitat throughout Champaign County for 72 years. The 2020 measure is the first voter-approved tax increase in those seven decades.
With the $5.33 annual increase per $100,000 of home value, the district will turn to their 5-year capital plan to address road, bridge and dam issues; to improve paths and repair bike paths; to replace equipment that is past its life expectancy and to upgrade and renovate facilities that have not received repairs since the 1960s.
“The list kept growing and there just wasn’t enough money coming in for us to be able to complete all the projects that needed to be done,” Kerins said.
He added that the board wanted to wait and see what happened at the polls before they committed to too much within the next year, but upcoming board meetings will help guide that process.
“We’re so grateful that so many people, you know, took the time to vote, and so many people took the time to learn about the issue,” he said.
Thousands of people found a newfound appreciation for the 4,000 acres of forest and prairie, whether they were walking, running, kayaking or fishing over the spring and summer months of the pandemic.
Kerins said that the upper-60 and 70-degree temperatures during Election week will help people celebrate the victory in the days ahead.
“We want people to go out and enjoy it right now,” he said. “It’s great we have this weather this week so that people can go and spend that time outside and enjoy the weather and the color that’s still there on the leaves, focusing on their emotional health and their mental well being.
“I know that from personal experience being out there, whether my family is playing, hiking or going for a walk, and everything seems to be a little bit better.”
