Friday marks the official beginning of summer, but mid-June has recently been the time when property assessments were released.

This year, however,  with assessments released in February, Monroe County Treasurer Kevin Koenigstein announced tentative 2025 due dates for property tax payments for 2024 during Monday’s meeting of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners.

The due dates for the first and second installment of Monroe County property tax bills will be Sept. 19 and Nov. 14. 

Koenigstein noted the timing of the current tax cycle is the “earliest in 10 years.”

He also noted his office and that of Monroe County Clerk Jonathan McLean have the “courtesy of taking our time” due to the earlier-than-usual publication of property tax assessments on Feb. 12.

While there are still a few calculations and reviews to be completed, Koenigstein said the county’s part in getting tax bills in the mail will be finished by the end of this week.

He said Fike & Fike Inc. of St. Louis will be printing the bills in early July, and the bills should be in the mail by the next county board meeting date of July 7.

Koenigstein also suggested the Fiscal Year 2026 budget hearings could be begin as early as Sept. 22 since his office would be in a good position to begin the process, although budget creation will likely not begin in earnest until October.

In recent years, budget hearings and the tax cycles have overlapped due to tax bills not being mailed until as late as October in 2024 and mid-September in 2023.

Koenigstein also noted the timing of the due dates for property taxes remain in the back half of 2025 despite the bills being sent two months earlier than in recent years, explaining any changes to annual property tax due dates would need to be done gradually if the property assessments continue to be released toward the beginning of the year.

Commissioner Vicki Koerber said the current levy for Monroe County this tax cycle is lower than that of last year, adding the next budget will likely continue the trend of lower county taxes.

Koenigstein noted this decrease, which totals $32,657.52, is possibly due to the Oak Hill bond being paid off. 

Funding of Monroe County government and departments represents just under 12 percent of the entire tax bill.

Koerber warned those in the Waterloo School District to anticipate a higher overall tax bill due to an 11.19 percent levy increase – from $25,879,975.78 billed in 2024 to $28,774,975.24 included in the tax collection due later this year.

Local school districts in Monroe County make up slightly under two-thirds of the total property taxes collected for a given fiscal year. 

The current tax cycle marks the first round of property tax assessments for Monroe County Supervisor of Assessments Dawn Goff, who was sworn in late last year to fill two years of the unexpired term of Carl Wuertz, who retired.

Monroe County Board Chairman George Green commented after Monday’s meeting he had been hearing good reports about Goff’s work on assessments and related duties.

After speaking about the tax cycle, Koenigstein presented a semi-annual review of the county’s financial position. 

He reminded commissioners the county’s fiscal year runs Dec. 1 to Nov. 30, making June 1 the midway point for the current budget.

Koenigstein began by reporting record growth in the county’s one-quarter percent sales tax, calling it the “heartbeat” of a figurative financial body.

Koenigstein said a record for the tax is set each month, with a total increase of about 12 percent compared to last year at this time. As of May 31, revenue from those taxes has already exceeded half of the nearly $2 million projected for the current fiscal year.

Similarly, revenue from income tax is up 8 percent from the prior year and stood at 58.13 percent at the halfway point of the current year.

Another department’s revenue has already exceeded its FY25 projection.

Monroe County Circuit Clerk Lisa Fallon and her department have already brought in over $140,000 against projected income of $124,200, making the circuit clerk’s revenue at nearly 115 percent of its budget line with six months left.

Koenigstein said the FY25 budget anticipated a significant drop in circuit clerk revenue with the implementation of pretrial release and elimination of bail throughout the state.

“It just has not gone down,” Koenigstein reported.

With the record sales taxes, better-than-expected numbers from the circuit clerk, “good revenue growth” for interest-bearing accounts and continued revenue from inmate housing at the Monroe County Jail, Koenigstein was confident revenue would exceed expectations and lead to a $1 million dollar surplus for the county’s general fund.

He also noted funds from the American Rescue Plan Act need to be spent by the end of the current calendar year, adding much of the interest revenue was gained through investment of ARPA funds.

With most departments at or below expected expenses, Commissioner Doug Garmer correctly suggested no cause for concern with how the fiscal year is proceeding. 

The only department which is slightly above projected expenses is the “emergency services” line, which accounts for just under $1 million.

Koenigstein said the overage was due to “labor issues” for emergency personnel which led to higher employment compensation numbers than predicted. 

Overall, “everything looks really good” for the next six months, Koenigstein said, adding the county is one of few which has a fully-funded pension system for its employees, leading to a 2 percent decrease on the rate charged to participating entities in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

Koenigstein told the Republic-Times most IMRF participants have a rate between  6 and 7 percent compared to 4 percent for Monroe County.

Regarding next year’s budget, McLean suggested department heads could submit budget requests prior to hearings as a way to prevent “information overload” and help with meeting minutes.

McLean said it “seems like we rehash” information  multiple times during the budget process.

Koerber said she doesn’t mind the “repetitiveness” that sometimes occurs during budget hearings since they involve use of taxpayer money. 

“For complex departments, I’m traditional,” Koerber said, further asserting her desire to go through the minutia of the budget during the hearings.

In other business, Monroe County Public Safety Director Kevin Scheibe reported the renaming and renumbering of more than 4,000 addresses in Monroe County has begun. 

Per state statute, if more than two addresses exist on a section of a road branched from a main road and sharing the name of the road must be changed to eliminate delays in emergency response. 

The process began last year, and Scheibe says it has gone well so far this year. 

He said his department made changes in four different sections this month, but his goal moving forward is to update addresses at a rate of three areas per month.

He said there are changes underway on LRC Road near Wartburg, D Road near Valmeyer and in the Renault area.

Scheibe added his department has been checking on reflective house numbers – which are required on all houses – but found more than 350 buildings so far which are “not marked appropriately.”

Also during the meeting, Monroe County Engineer Aaron Metzger presented his semi-annual report on ongoing and upcoming county projects.

He reported the culvert replacement on Baum Road in Maeystown is completed. 

The area was the location of flooding last year, and it was determined a larger culvert would ease flooding issues in the area near Maeystown Civic Association Park.

Metzger also reported the results of an Illinois Department of Transportation letting that produced a construction bid which came in significantly under estimate. 

The project will resurface Route 156 from the entrance to Valmeyer at South Meyer Avenue to Cedar Bluff, then down Woodland Ridge to Bluff Road.

The Village of Valmeyer applied for a state highway improvement grant in early 2022 for the project. 

Commissioners then approved Metzger’s semi-annual report showing expenditures and revenue.

During the beginning of the meeting, John Conrad was reappointed to the Monroe County Flood Prevention District.

The next Monroe County Board meeting will begin at 8:15 a.m. July 7 at the Monroe County Courthouse.