MARION — Mayors from several southern Illinois cities held a news conference Thursday morning at Marion City Hall to discuss what Governor Bruce Rauner’s proposed 50 percent cut in the municipal share of state income taxes known as the Local Government Distributive Fund would do to their communities if the state legislature and the governor sign in into law. It would go into effect July 1.
“This will be devastating to us. Centralia will lose over $650,000,” said Centralia Mayor Tom Ashby.
Marion Mayor Bob Butler says his city is trying to figure out how it will make the cuts work in Marion and it’s not looking pretty.
The city would stand to lose $800,000.
Marion leaders are looking at a 1.5 percent cut across the board to balance the budget meaning delays could happen to certain infrastructure programs and certain purchases would be put on hold.
Carbondale would lose $1.25 million. Sesser would lose $97,000. And West Frankfort would see a loss of just over $405,000. For more on this story, go to our Facebook page.